Thread: Dropped passes are killing us. Poor run-blocking killing us.

Man WTH....??? This is plain retarded....How in the hell are we going to get to the playoffs????

Hester has no trade value. He's not the same return man he was 3 yeas ago, and he's not anything special on O.

JABF, again, if he needs to be targetted 8 times then I agree he's going to kill us. He's not a guy that can be targetted that often. He's a guy that needs to be targetted 4 times a game in hopes that he might break a big play. But you start relying on him to make play after play, he's going to hurt you. We don't disagree w/that; but he has a place on a team if he's the 4th option. But a 4th option should not get targetted 8 times a game; or really even in key situations...I'm not saying he's a great WR, but he's not the worst I've ever seen, even on this team.

Originally Posted by Riczaj01

Hester has no trade value. He's not the same return man he was 3 yeas ago, and he's not anything special on O.

JABF, again, if he needs to be targetted 8 times then I agree he's going to kill us. He's not a guy that can be targetted that often. He's a guy that needs to be targetted 4 times a game in hopes that he might break a big play. But you start relying on him to make play after play, he's going to hurt you. We don't disagree w/that; but he has a place on a team if he's the 4th option. But a 4th option should not get targetted 8 times a game; or really even in key situations...I'm not saying he's a great WR, but he's not the worst I've ever seen, even on this team.

lol the dolphins love us... maybe they could give us something for hester

Originally Posted by JustAnotherBearsFan99

The good news is that the offense is "fixable" this off-season. Our 2012 season was doomed before it began, due to the fact we didn't fix the offensive line. But this is something that will be fixed this off-season through the draft AND free agency.

Clearly we need to acquire WR's and TE's who can catch a football. I worry that I'm going to have a heart attack before this season is over - watching Hester, the "hands of stone" drop another key pass. The guy is killing our team. Here's the deal. I don't care where he is on the WR depth chart. If he can't reliably run routes and catch a football, then he's no good to us. Yes, even the #4 WR has to be able to actually CATCH a football. I'd rather have a slow guy who can catch reliably, than a fast guy who can't run routes or catch a football.

But I think these things ARE fixable this off season.

I agree wholeheartedly with everything you wrote, JABF, both above and in your opening post to this thread. I understand the concerns some have expressed about the "aging" of some key players on defense, but outside of Urlacher the others (Pep, Izzy, Briggs, Tillman) all have tread left on the tires and are playing still at a very high level.

THE OBVIOUS PROBLEM THAT NEEDS TO BE ADDRESSED AS A HIGHER PRIORITY THIS OFFSEASON IS THE OFFENSE.

We have beat the dead horse of adding talent to the OL ad nauseum. It is absolutely vital to acquire TWO NEW OL STARTERS via FA and the draft this year. I don't think anyone disputes that.

Beyond that, I'm going to repeat what I've said before and argued with Ric about. Yeah, I'm talking Hester here. Call him whatever you want--a #3 WR, a #4 WR, whatever--he's a useless drag on offense 95% of the time. Even in the few games where we have had both Jeffery and Bennett healthy/available, Hester has taken way too many snaps/targets away from them thanks to our stupid coaches who continue to beat their heads against the wall of believing he's a "weapon" on offense. He isn't. He's useless even when used properly (in the slot) as yesterday definitively proved. He adds nothing a mid round speedster slot WR couldn't add better and cheaper (ex. TY Hilton of Indy). Randall Cobb dusts him as a crossover returner-receiver by a mile. Dump him and his salary for whatever you can get, which is probably only a late round pick at this point.

Weems can take over returns, backed by a new rookie draftee slot WR. Hester may still be a better return man (though his days as a game-changer are over) but Weems covers as well as returns kicks and is far cheaper. Not only is Hester one-dimensional (STs only), he's one-dimensional on STs! Time to move on. We need a #4 slot WR who can actually catch the ball and develop.

I won't even discuss Kellen Davis and the TE situation because that's so clearly a disaster that nothing needs to be said. Rosendoom put it best when he demonstrated that there are several #2 TEs in the NFL who are more productive than our #1.

Remember when you were a kid and chose up sides for basketball in gym class? And you thought that big tall muscular kid picked for your team was going to be a cant lose beast? Only to find out in the game that he was just a clumsy oaf with no hand-eye coordination? That kid is Kellen Davis.

The lightning quick kid on your track relay team who lost the race by fumbling the baton transfer all the time is Devin Hester.

Originally Posted by justanotherbearsfan99

oh, ric, i couldn't disagree with you more. This entire "hester experiment" has had him drop passes at key moments for years now. I've seen it. You've seen it. It has flat killed us. As i said earlier, a guy like b.marsh drops balls too - but he more than makes up for it - by making spectacular catches in every game. There is a "net gain" with having him on our roster.

Hester?

He's pathetic as a receiver both running routes and catching the football. There is no redeeming factor with hester. In the end, he can't help our team, but only hurt it.

Hey, the bottom line for me is this:

1. Blockers need to be able to block.

2. Tacklers need to be able to tackle.

3. Receivers need to be able to catch a football.

bingo.

Originally Posted by Smoking Jay

do you think we could anything for hester in trade?

At this point, trading Hester + Davis might net a late rounder. But it would also free up several million in cap space. Do you see a point in keeping TWO St-only "WRs" on the roster?