Fact or Fiction: Mike Tice is in over his head as a playcaller.

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Originally Posted by claymore58

While I do think that Tice needs to improve,I also think that players need to execute.
The Texans game was an aberration,it seemed like the Bears were snakebit from the start.
But,by failing to execute,(or hang onto the ball) they dug a hole they couldn't get out of.
Unlike many others,I don't think the better team won,I think the Bears failed to take
advantage of what was there to take.
The picks and the fumbles could have been overcome,considering the final score.
That hole was not so deep,that it couldn't be escaped.

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Agreed.

The first play on O was a damn good call (that seam route was there all day and the Bears dropped it several times). I can't blame KD too much for fumbling there. He shouldn't have but it was a hard hit on the ball that came immediately after KD turned upfield to run. I definitely do blame him for the drops that came later and the drops/missed blocks he's had pretty much all year starting with the very first offensive series of the season against Indy.

The running game was mismanaged by Tice AGAIN. Bush was underutilized (no excuse on his fumble for sure). Forte wasn't used well as a receiver nor where any stretch plays calls. I don't recall any screens either, at least not until the 4th Q.

Bennett/Hester were also screwed up in the passing game with the former getting too few targets and the latter too many. With Jeffery out, EB needs to be on the outside and Hester or occaisionally Weems/Sanz in the slot. DH is not a competent flanker...why can the Bears not get that thru their thick heads?

And no doubt late in the game the apparent instructions to Campbell to "not risk the ball" was stupid. Deep shots should have been taken by then (what's to lose at that point?) and downfield open receivers were overlooked too often for 2 yard checkdowns. In the last 5 minutes it needed to be RB screens to Forte and some deeper shots to Bennett and Marshall. If it is picked, it's picked. That was the only chance left by that point to win/tie the game. We weren't going to put together a 15 play, 80+ yard drive in those conditions against that defense with time running out and the running game stymied.

Just watched an interview with Tice from earlier this week. One thing he harped on was keeping positive and projecting positive energy in the locker room. I liked that a lot.

The Bears offense isn't as bad as you might think. I was looking at stats last night, and while the Bears rank damn near the bottom in total yards, yards per game, passing yards and passing yards per game.... running the ball they are 9th in total yards and yards per game, as well as scoring.

It looks a hell of a lot worse than it actually is. I wish Cutty was having a better year though.

The line problems WILL get fixed. Emery is not an idiot. When protection is good, Cutler needs to make better decisions and perform better. I am a big fan of Cutler and think he will. However, the performance against the Texans gave me pause. His decisions were not good and neither was his performance. Schaubs was not good either, so I am giving Cutler a pass and saying it was due to the conditions. The line was good and can not be blamed in the Texans game.

When the line gets fixed, I expect Cutler to perform like a top 10 (preferably top 5) QB. If the same crap happens, I'm off the Cutler loveboat.

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Originally Posted by The Benjamin

The Bears offense isn't as bad as you might think. I was looking at stats last night, and while the Bears rank damn near the bottom in total yards, yards per game, passing yards and passing yards per game.... running the ball they are 9th in total yards and yards per game, as well as scoring.

It looks a hell of a lot worse than it actually is. I wish Cutty was having a better year though.

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Originally Posted by The Benjamin

The Bears offense isn't as bad as you might think. I was looking at stats last night, and while the Bears rank damn near the bottom in total yards, yards per game, passing yards and passing yards per game.... running the ball they are 9th in total yards and yards per game, as well as scoring.

It looks a hell of a lot worse than it actually is. I wish Cutty was having a better year though.

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Running the ball is what we do best. We have one of the best RB tandems in the NFL. And our oline is at its best run blocking. Our pass blocking is a team weakness.

Wouldn't you think we'd play to our strength and run a bit more?

Everything bad that happens with the offense seems to surround our passing game. Cutler holding onto the ball too long, and getting sacked and fumbling & the ints and drops that kill drives.

There have been times when we've been in 3rd and short, or on the goal line, and we've tried to pass and failed - and I've about had a heart attack watching, because those situations were ones when we could have EASILY run the ball and been successful.

I'm not upset about Tice learning of the job,I still see him as an upgrade from Martz.
While there have been some head scratching moments,and things fans might do differently;
At times,the offense has been productive,in spite of the Oline issues.
Part of the problem has been the adjustment to the Oline issues,going max protect limits
the offensive options;fewer routes,and the opposing D can load the box against the run.
So,in effect,his hands are pretty much tied by a sub par offensive line.

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Originally Posted by bearsinhouston

The line problems WILL get fixed. Emery is not an idiot. When protection is good, Cutler needs to make better decisions and perform better. I am a big fan of Cutler and think he will. However, the performance against the Texans gave me pause. His decisions were not good and neither was his performance. Schaubs was not good either, so I am giving Cutler a pass and saying it was due to the conditions. The line was good and can not be blamed in the Texans game.

When the line gets fixed, I expect Cutler to perform like a top 10 (preferably top 5) QB. If the same crap happens, I'm off the Cutler loveboat.

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I mostly agree. My only addition to what you are saying is that its never going to be perfect for Cutler, we all have to understand that. At some point we are going to have to set all excuses aside and ask this guy to make plays for us.

The line was terrible last year and we had no receivers but Cutler was getting it done regardless (this was against a much more talented front end schedule btw). Blame the coaching, blame Cutler locking into B. Marshall, blame it on the rain, BLAME JERRY ANGELO! It really doesn't matter what we think at this point. We are all just along for the ride, lets hope the second half of this roller-coaster is as good as the first half!

Go Bears

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Originally Posted by JustAnotherBearsFan99

Running the ball is what we do best. We have one of the best RB tandems in the NFL. And our oline is at its best run blocking. Our pass blocking is a team weakness.

Wouldn't you think we'd play to our strength and run a bit more?

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As a general rule, run blocking is always easier. For those of you who haven't played think of it like this:

Run blocking: Linemen get to go out and be aggressive. They have a target and they get to go attack it. The only real difficulty is getting to your second assignment on time (second level LB's and rushing DB's etc. etc.)

Pass Blocking: You are waiting to be attacked! It totally sucks... It's a lot harder to stop someone from getting by you when you can't attack them and take who YOU want out of the play. You don't see a lot of pancakes in pass blocking schemes for a reason.

Fact! It is obvious to anyone that Tice is so over his head it isn't even funny. IMO they should give the play calling duties to Bates. We have so much potential but yet it's squashed away by horrible Coaching. For example the packages we use Hester in he looks loss out there it isn't even funny.

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Originally Posted by JPosh2012

Fact! It is obvious to anyone that Tice is so over his head it isn't even funny. IMO they should give the play calling duties to Bates. We have so much potential but yet it's squashed away by horrible Coaching. For example the packages we use Hester in he looks loss out there it isn't even funny.

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But Bates was brought in to help with the pass game since Tice knows little about the pass game, and more about the run game. No idea how much or how little Bates is involved.