Thread: Gabe Carimi

I think a lot of the problem with Da Bears' LT & RT (with pass blocking) is they are just getting beat off the ball by speedy DTs and OLBs (Giants (pre-season), Packers, Texans, Minnesota) ... this results in a larger than normal first step when trying to set their intersection point and results in being off balance from the snap. Thus you're seeing the LT/RT easily getting turned and pushed back since the defense is basically playing a step ahead and being the aggressor. It also results in the numerous holding calls we see and false starts since they are trying to anticipate the snap to set their feet quicker.

No real fix other than trying to find Tackles with speedy/cleaner footwork in the off-season.

Originally Posted by Nick

Great. We have a center who's a converted guard. A guard who's a converted center. Weve tried Louis at RT, now hes a guard. We traded a tackle we tried converting to guard, now were talking about turning Carimi into a guard?!? Our entire line is nothing but guards!!

" hey look! It's one of our lineman walking down the street!" " dude what position do you play?" "Guard." " no shit!?!?!?!....go figure"

The only reason we played Louis at RT last year we because OMG couldn't handle it and Carimi was lost for the season. Louis became the only game in town. Once he was moved back to OG he proved his worth there. But now he's history for the rest of this year thanks to Jared Allen. Guess we'll see whether or not the NFL has any stones on that one.

So a very weak line gets weaker. EWill played fairly well at LG when he subbed last year but like Spencer he's more of a finesse guy who depends on athleticism than power. Spencer did fairly well at RG last year but failed to nail down the LG spot earlier this year. Brown is a raw rookie without enough reps to trust right now.

So.........it looks to me like Carimi may get a shot as one of those starting OG spots. He's shown that he can run block well and may actually be able to pass block in a telephone booth at OG so here's an opportunity to see whether or not that's a conversion he can make.

Louis is gone for the year and so is Rachal and along with this just about any hope we had of fielding a decent line before the playoffs. I think our goose has been cooked but then again I think it was cooked even before this. If Tice is ever gonna earn his stripes as a line coach and OC this is where he earns his contract.

If he can build his offense behind a patchwork line and score points my hat's off to him but if not he needs to be replaced which in my opinion should already have happened. I wouldn't get all that excited about Sunday's showing. The defense still handed them the ball with great field position and it was more the Jay Cutler show than anything else. He proved once again what he can do once you let him outside of the pocket and just let him make plays.

If we even make the playoffs now it will be because of Cutler's ability to make something out of nothing.

Originally Posted by Nick

Great. We have a center who's a converted guard. A guard who's a converted center. Weve tried Louis at RT, now hes a guard. We traded a tackle we tried converting to guard, now were talking about turning Carimi into a guard?!? Our entire line is nothing but guards!!

" hey look! It's one of our lineman walking down the street!" " dude what position do you play?" "Guard." " no shit!?!?!?!....go figure"

Hail supreme leader!!!!!

Originally Posted by ZenBear

if we make the play-offs?

if the bears win sunday-which they should do-they'll be pretty much a lock for the play-offs...

i think we're talking about marginal differences in very bad offensive lineman here...an offensive line that is worse then last years, in reality...at least last year they could run block...we're 8-3 with a terrible offensive line, it's not like we're going to tank because suddenly our offensive line is slightly worse...

I wouldn't call it a lock just yet Zen even if we do win Sunday which sure as hell is no lock since Seattle usually gives us trouble and always has.

After that we play two division games on the road and indoors and then we've also got GB at home and for whatever reason Lovie finds more ways to get out coached by McCarthy and lose to them every passing year.

Arizona is the only game that to me is a semi-lock. So we could just as easily go 1-4 as we could 4-1 or 5-0. I think we'll need 11 wins to be sure so IF we win Sunday our magic number becomes two. It's certainly doable but not assured.

And I'm not talking about the line getting marginally worse. I'm talking about the fact that in 11 games the entire offense isn't even marginally better than it was in game one and we were 100% healthy then.

This offense has not been able to score against one good NFC team yet so even if we do make the playoffs what are chances if the offense doesn't improve. What are the chances that will happen behind a line that's bound to continue struggling just getting used to it's new parts?

We may make the playoffs but I don't hold out much hope for how we could beat the better teams in the NFC unless some form of miracle happens over these last 5 games. Defense wins championships but not without at least some respectable offensive showing and against the best we haven't seen it.