Do you think the Bears simply don't put a high value on blocking?

I listen to what people say, but I pay more attention to what they do. Actions speak louder than words. At least that's been my observation over the years.

So, I watch the actions of the Chicago Bears under Lovie Smith's tenure. I see a lot of good things (mostly good things....I like the guy as coach). But one thing seems clear (to me anyway), that they don't place a high value on the blocking part of football.

Earlier this year Tice stated he was fine with our existing oline players, and we didn't need to upgrade any in the draft. We didn't. We finally had a guy to help us with blocking in Tyler Clutts (one of the best blockers I've seen on the Bears in the past few years) and we cut him. We'll keep a 4th TE instead. None of our TE's can block very well, including Spaeth.

So, my gut feeling here is that you can see the positions on the roster that are most highly valued under Smith, and the middle-valued positions - and then the blockers. It looks to me like they really don't believe they need to invest much into this resource.

Maybe they're right. And I hope they are, because I see a lot of mediocre talent, and none that stand out (Carimi may, but we don't know that yet). They do have a 1st rounder in Spencer that we brought in from Seattle, but I don't see anything exceptional there. C.Will was the "left tackle of the future" when we drafted him, but he doesn't look like much of a tackle to me (and that's where they chose to play him this year).

Blocking and tackling, are not looking so hot this year. To me, those skills are basic to success. Even at the high school level. Certainly at the pro level. But not in Chicago. Not under Lovie Smith anyway.

wouldn't appear as they do.... since their OL has basically gone unbuilt with quality players for years

What is killing this team and will continue to kill it's chances to even play in a SB again is that Lovie Smith does not place enough emphasis on fundamentals at least as it relates to his offense.

He may be able to right a book on defensive football but he gives up way too much ground to his OC. As result we end up with one OC asking to obtain players who only fit a specific style of offense and become useless for anything else and then replace him with another who can't see the forest for the trees as far as the inability of his blockers to block.

There isn't one "elite" head football coach out there who doesn't understand the need for solid line play to operate his offense behind yet even with a coach who is supposedly one of the best in the business at coaching linemen we still have problems and now at the end of the preseason not established starting five. Top that off with the fact that we just released the most consistent blocker we had on the team and the answer to this thread starter is pretty obvious.

No, we don't place anywhere as much emphasis on it as we should. When you go back to the heydays of the Halas era you can find any number of HOF OLineman and when Ditka resurrected the Bears in the 80's he rebuilt the entire line he inherited. Guys who had blocked for Walter Payton's 1000 yard rushing seasons were gone overnight and replaced by top draft choice OTs and younger slimmer, more athletic OGs who Dick Stanfil developed. It's pretty obvious by now that Mike Tice is no Dick Stanfil and that our attempts at drafting OTs has met with no success at all.

Fortunately I trust Phil Emery's recognition of this situation and I trust that next year he'll be as aggressive at fixing that problem as he was about getting some receiving talent and a power RB in here this year. He had an offensive mess to clean up when he got here and he'd done what time and money have allowed him to so so far. Step two in the rebuilding of the offense starts next spring.

If this offense fails to reach it's potential this year then I can Mike Tice and promote Jeremy Bates to OC. The entire success of the offense depends on the ability of that line to do it's job and those guys are Tice's hand picked players. If they fail there is no one else to blame but Tice, his poor personnel decisions, and his stubborn need to keep players he LIKES and let players he NEEDS go.

Is there another team that anyone can think of that has used castoffs, experiments, 7th round picks,stood pat in the draft, FA, and merry-go-rounded as much as this team? Is there any other team that over-emphasized one side of the line (D-line) at the expense of the other?

And if there is how did that work out for them?

If they don't adhere to fundamentals and have at least a few tenants of foundational football it will fail. Plain and simple.

I understand and applaud the resurrection of the wr corps. But in order for that to bear fruit the line has to do it's job. It needs TALENT.

Stop drafting more project than impact players in the first round. Give EQUAL treatment to both sides of the ball, and fill your most pressing needs with TALENT. If a coach or OC can't see his weaknesses or has too much hubris then he should be shown the door.

It really is that simple.

/end rant

Emery has impressed me. I only wonder why WR's were the target instead of the O Line this year.

Still, a choice was made and I'm glad they stuck with a game plan. I think Tice, Lovie, and Emery gambled and projected that someone, anyone, of the personnel up front would really step up their game this year. Appears like a bad beat, but just because the chips seem low now, doesn't mean that that move won't happen. Lets not fold 'um before the first game starts.

That said, I am still scratching my head over Clutts, rather go with 4 TEs I guess. Seems like the current trend, but I'd feel just a little better if just one of the said tight ends were being advertised as a better blocker.

Makes me interested to see if there is something, as a fan, I am missing because right now I feel that blocking is not being valued as highly as it should be.

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Originally Posted by soulman

What is killing this team and will continue to kill it's chances to even play in a SB again is that Lovie Smith does not place enough emphasis on fundamentals at least as it relates to his offense.

Fortunately I trust Phil Emery's recognition of this situation and I trust that next year he'll be as aggressive at fixing that problem as he was about getting some receiving talent and a power RB in here this year. He had an offensive mess to clean up when he got here and he'd done what time and money have allowed him to so so far. Step two in the rebuilding of the offense starts next spring.

If this offense fails to reach it's potential this year then I can Mike Tice and promote Jeremy Bates to OC. The entire success of the offense depends on the ability of that line to do it's job and those guys are Tice's hand picked players. If they fail there is no one else to blame but Tice, his poor personnel decisions, and his stubborn need to keep players he LIKES and let players he NEEDS go.

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Well said. I'm really frustrated with this habit of using scheme to pick players rather than the other way around.

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Originally Posted by A-11

Emery has impressed me. I only wonder why WR's were the target instead of the O Line this year.

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I think it was as simple as Tice telling him the OL was ok. He had OL and WR at least to fix and so IMO, that freed him up to concentrate on the WR situation. He slam dunked that one.

BiH, this thread, is it an over reaction to say the Bears don't care about blocking b/c we cut Clutts?

Shoot Ric - I don't know. I think it was initiated by the cut.

As I said before. The cut surprised me also because it cut a player that actually had a strength were we were weak, but had much more to offer than just blocking. I suspect that just got the wheels turning and prompted the question. Standard forum stuff IMO.

I don't like players leaving when they appear to be current contributors and have their arrows pointed up.

All I can do is tell you that there have been many times that I have seen over reactions and have seen people respond to over reactions or even their perception of over reactions by over reacting. I don't get drawn into it too much. If a thread gets too stale or too weird for me, I just leave it alone. Emotions can run high and then what you get is people that like and get along 90% of the time going after each other. Simply not worth it IMO.

You end up with a bad vibe and it stops being fun. I think we all come here for fun. If we wanted to pick a fight, there are plenty of places to go. Matter of fact, that's why I left the other board. People being intolerant of others opinions. You can be right, but it it worth it to shove it down one anothers throats to be right publicly? Not saying that is going on here, but it was on the other board.

I'd hate to see that happening here. Everyone is great here and I think sometimes people get personally vested in opinions that in the end don't matter. It isn't going to mean you can't make your mortgage or make a difference in your health or affect your family. So, WTH, I say people can have any opinion they want and if I don't like it, I don't have to make sure I shove it down their face. I just say my peace and move on.

WOW, that was a whole lot more typing and soapbox than I ever intended. Sorry for the long post.

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Originally Posted by Riczaj01

BiH, this thread, is it an over reaction to say the Bears don't care about blocking b/c we cut Clutts?

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Again I don't think they should have cut or traded him; but at the end of the day he's not a vital part of the O, and never was.

I agree, people over reacted, then I and some others over reacted to that. But that IS part of the fun. ;p