Thread: What will it take for Bears offense to take off?

I think Jay does in fact have some gravitas. But he's been placated by the firing of Martz, the acquisition of Bmarsh and AJ (thank you Phil Emery). Tice is a stubborn guy it appears, I don't think he would give ground to either Bates for play calling or Jay for power. I can't see how a power grab by Jay would improve his position, if he fails he pigeon-holes himself by any future OC/HC and is gone.

Not a move a franchise qb makes imo.

I blame Jerry Angelo.

Cutler and the offense will do enough to get us far this season. We saw this in 2005, 2006, and 2010, and it nearly happened in 2008 until we lost to the Texans to knock us out of the playoffs. Historically, the Bears have always been more about defense than offense. This was true in the 1940 NFL Championship Game, when the defense pick off Sammy Baugh eight times. Then-Redskins head coach Ray Flaherty even said it himself: "The T-Formation didn't have anything to do with it. It was the defense." It was also the case in 1963 when the Bears won the NFL title. The Bears that year only scored about three touchdowns a game, and many of those points came off of the defense and special teams. And then there were the 1980s, with the exception of the 1985 team. The 1984 Bears NFC Championship Game runners-up only average scoring 20 points per game. The 1986 team that went 14-2 only averaged 22 points per game. And the 1988 Bears, who also went to the NFC Championship Game, only average 19 points per game. While none of those three teams in the 1980s won the Super Bowl because they just didn't have the quarterback to get the job done, they proved that they could win with the defense leading the way.

That being said, I think we all know what needs to happen. Lovie Smith needs to have a come-to-Jesus meeting with Tice and tell him his philosophy about offense: "We get off the bus running." Tice's teams up in Minnesota often were in the top 5 in rushing, including one year when they led the league in rushing. (I think that was in 2003, but I could be wrong.) He used tight ends over the middle and Jimmy Kleinsasser as an H-back. So, what is the deal? Why aren't we doing the very same things offensively that led Tice to a decent career as Minnesota's head coach?

I think a lot of it has to be what motown had to say: lack of execution. I remember watching a Penn State football game back in the mid-90s. They ran simple offensive formations, nothing to surprise anyone in any way, shape, or form. However, those simple offensive formations, the off-tackle runs out of the Wing T and playaction passes, all worked perfectly because the offense executed those game plans. Hell, you read yourselves where Tice said he scratched out two deep passes from his offensive scheme because Cutler got sacked after he attempted to throw the ball down field. We can place the main part of the blame on the offensive line not giving Cutler enough time to plant his feet and deliver a quick strike to his receivers. However, I think these limitations the offensive line, our tight ends we have used thus far, having Alshon Jeffery out with a broken hand, and the paltry play of Hester at wide receiver have tied Tice's hands to a certain extent. He's become a tentative play caller and as such, is calling the games way too conservatively.

I think Tice will wind up becoming a very good offensive coordinator. That being said, this is contingent on the fact that he is going to have to get over the fact that J'Marcus Webb is the left tackle of the future. While Carimi is struggling, we must be patient and realize that he is merely experiencing the very growing pains that every offensive tackle in the NFL deals with. I expect that by this time next year, he will be 100% better because he will have had one full year of real time NFL action under his belt. Garza is blocking for us pretty well for the most part, but he is going to have to watch those false start penalties. And Lance Louis was a steal of a 7th Round pick. He may wind up a Pro Bowler someday at right guard. Rachal? Meh, I think he will be replaced with someone out of the draft this coming offseason and he will be moved down in the depth charts or cut. But Webb? What can I say? He's on pace to give up another 11-14 sacks again this season at left tackle, and now that he's been in the league for three years, I find that to be utterly intolerable and inexcusable for this coaching staff and the front office during that span of time to simply ignore him being a problem. Where the hell did Tice see that Webb was going to be a solid left tackle is beyond me.

This offseason, with what we saw Emery do in the way of getting the kinds of players who would quickly turn this team into contenders, I expect to see some major moves. I think he's going to be in the hunt for a new left tackle, and there are three out there this offseason whom he can check out and see if they can be had by us (Long, Bushrod, and Clady). I suspect that we will draft a guard in the first two rounds of the draft, possibly a center, and I think that he may look in the third round for a wide receiver who can replace Hester. Obviously, there are the concerns defensively that Urlacher may not be around for much longer past the next two or three years, so he will address that maybe in the first round if an interior linebacker is available. But enough about linebackers - this is a thread about offense!

Originally Posted by JustAnotherBearsFan99

I blame Jerry Angelo.

I definitely don't think Carimi is a bust. And since this is really his first full season, I don't even brand him as a disappointment. I really do believe he will be a solid RT for us. Who knows, maybe even an eventual LT.....but that might be a pipe dream.

But even though I don't view him as either a bust or disappointment, I am very very anxious with his play. It's his "on the job training" year. It's pretty tough on Cutler. But I figure we have to suffer through this first full year. It just goes with the territory IMHO.

I think Carimi will be fine. And I would like to make a comparison between he and Chris Williams. Chris Williams was not the type of offensive lineman that Mike Tice would have picked. As soulman and several others have pointed out in the past, he is more of a finesse style of blocker at LT rather than a bulldozer like Tice wants in a lineman. When Chris Williams was moved to LG for the 2010 and 2011 seasons, he went from looking totally out of place to being the best player on the offensive line by the end of '10. In 2011, there was no question that he graded out higher than any other player on the offensive line, including Garza, who was elected as a Pro Bowl alternate in his first season as a C.

To the converse of Chris Williams, Carimi is the prototypical lineman Tice wants. He's big, physical, strong, and plays with a mean streak. He's struggling right now, but I suspect that maybe as soon as the end of the season, you'll see some improvement in the way he plays. I think part of his problem is that he's still trying to find his sea legs after dealing with his knee issues last year. That type of injury takes some time to recover from. Also, because of his injury, and I don't remember who pointed this out, he lost a significant amount of weight. That might explain part of why he's not holding up well against the pass rush, along with his knee ailments. Finally, and this is my biggest complaint on him and it's been mentioned in other posts, a lot of Carimi's problems are in between his ears. Right now, he's having to process a lot of information very quickly and he knows that a lot is expected from him since he was touted by Mike Tice to be a future All-Pro. Carimi is under a lot of pressure right now, and I think it's time for people to just take a step back and let the kid play out his pseudo-rookie season and just give him a chance to develop. He may have dominated in college, but this isn't college football nor is he going up against defensive linemen from the Big Ten Conference. He is going up against the cream of the crop in the NFL and it will just take some time to adjust. Personally, I think he's played better in the past couple of games, perhaps better than Webb, for what it's worth.

I agree on the future, but TWICE Webb is still NOTHING. Zero X's anything ='s....