Thread: Jay Cutler wants to avoid coordinator shuffle

Originally Posted by The Benjamin

I call some serious bullshit here.

He just does not want to look like the guy who sent him to the unemployment line. He is already thought of as a coach killer. He wants Tice out and he already knows Tice will be out at seasons end. He just wants to come out with his hands as clean as possible.

^This. If he really had confidence in Tice he would endeavor to attempt to throw it to someone other than Marshall. I can't blame him but he doesn't want to seem the bus driver that runs him over.

Jay brings up a good point though. One that I sometimes forget about. It's a huge benefit to be in the same offensive scheme year after year. And it's crippling to your offense to be starting over each year with a new playbook, scheme & coordinator.

Is it any wonder our offenses have been so bad?

I am trying really hard to be objective about our offensive woes. Cutler does make a valid point.

In addition to Cutler's point, the Chicago Tribune has contacted a number of coaches around the league to get their opinion on Tice. To a man, they said Tice is not our problem. This is an interesting read:

LINK to the article

Opponents absolve Tice of blame


Offensive coordinator gets pass on Bears woes from foes who cite extenuating circumstances


Based on the heat Mike Tice has been feeling, you would think he has been the one who has been giving up the sacks, committing false starts, throwing the interceptions, running the wrong routes and plowing into the backs of blockers.

The Bears offense has a lot wrong with it.

But seeing Tice carries a clipboard rather than a wizard's wand, there hasn't been much the offensive coordinator could do to make it better.

The Tribune asked three opposing coaches who have gone against Tice's offense this year and two front office men about Tice's game planning, play calling and use of personnel. None of them thought he has done poorly.

One defensive coordinator said he would "bet his life" Tice is not the problem with the Bears offense.

"I know Mike Tice is one fine football coach," he said. "Hell, they changed from Mike Martz and said it was his fault, so now they have Mike Tice and now it's his fault. It's easy to tag Mike Tice."

Said one head coach, "I really like the way they try to do things on offense. It just hasn't worked the way they wanted it to."

The offensive coordinator admittedly had two bad games — the road losses to thePackers and 49ers. In both, he didn't help his offensive linemen enough, and against the Packers he was too dependent on the pass. Tice, however, was guilty of having too much confidence in some of his offensive linemen.

Other than that, Tice has been pretty consistent and pretty solid.

The most commonly heard criticism of the Bears offense is it lacks rhythm. And it's true.
But it's difficult to have good rhythm when you are the second worst team in the NFLon first downs. The Bears have gained four or more yards on those just 40 percent of the time. Only the Cardinals, at 39.5, have been worse.

The Bears have run a play that has gone backward 11 percent of the time. Only two teams have had more plays for negative yardage. And that's not including penalties. The Bears offense has been penalized 52 times, fifth most in the NFL.

That's why the offense frequently is in second-and-long and third-and-long, and that's why the offense has no rhythm.

"When you don't do well enough on first downs, it's hard to find a rhythm on second and long," Tice said. "Do you go to get it to third-and-medium, or try to get the first down, or take a shot?"
Negative plays have led to being too reliant on deep balls. According to STATS, 13.1 percent of their pass attempts have been for 21 yards or more. That ranks sixth highest in the NFL.
And Jay Cutler and Jason Campbell have managed to complete only 28.6 percent of those throws.

One defensive assistant said the Bears could benefit from higher-percentage passes. But that's on Cutler as much as Tice because the quarterback often is reluctant to check down.

Originally Posted by MPBears68

Really? Is "continuity" all that holy-grail important? Or is it used as an excuse to avoid or procrastinate on making tough decisions? Would you rather have bad + continuity or improved + "discontinuity"?

The former leads to a ceiling of mediocrity...hey, but at least it's "continuous"! I don't think that's what we want. Point is, if something is clearly not working, and this offense clearly didn't work from a coaching perspective this season, then CHANGE SOMETHING. There's an entire offseason approaching in which to learn a new scheme.

I am not saying it's the holy grail. But it seems reasonable to understand that this can be a factor. Yes, there are other factors involved, but often problems are more complex than we want to admit.

It's worth considering that elite teams are usually ones that have stability with their offensive schemes. They may change OC's when they get head coaching job promotions - but the offense remains solid and unchanged. The QB's at these franchises are in the same scheme year after year.

It can't be good to continually be changing the playbook/schemes and OC. When I try to look at our situation objectively, I do believe our continual changing with playbook/scheme/coaching - almost annually - is killing us.

Look at our defense. Even if you don't like the cover-2, it is apparent that our defenses are usually some of the better ones in the NFL. Part of that success is continuity of scheme IMHO. Sure, we have solid talent too. But it's pretty much been Lovie's defense all these years. It has been perfected to the max.

This can be the case for an offense too. Gotta have talent. Gotta have a solid offensive line. But you also need (at some point) to stop the musical-chairs with the playbook/scheme/coaching.

Originally Posted by JustAnotherBearsFan99

I am not saying it's the holy grail. But it seems reasonable to understand that this can be a factor. Yes, there are other factors involved, but often problems are more complex than we want to admit.

It's worth considering that elite teams are usually ones that have stability with their offensive schemes. They may change OC's when they get head coaching job promotions - but the offense remains solid and unchanged. The QB's at these franchises are in the same scheme year after year.

It can't be good to continually be changing the playbook/schemes and OC. When I try to look at our situation objectively, I do believe our continual changing with playbook/scheme/coaching - almost annually - is killing us.

Look at our defense. Even if you don't like the cover-2, it is apparent that our defenses are usually some of the better ones in the NFL. Part of that success is continuity of scheme IMHO. Sure, we have solid talent too. But it's pretty much been Lovie's defense all these years. It has been perfected to the max.

This can be the case for an offense too. Gotta have talent. Gotta have a solid offensive line. But you also need (at some point) to stop the musical-chairs with the playbook/scheme/coaching.

Objectively speaking-Tice is effete, incompetent, whatever other name you wish to ascribe to him. Now IF he was able to use this offense in the manner which just about anybody can see then yes I would give him another season. Seeing what we see now Martz deserved another year far more than Tice.

No way, no how. I don't want to see continuity of this mess.

Like i said elsewhere, Cutler's opinion only matters on thr guys he playd with, not the ones who coach him