Thread: Should we do a clean slate evaluation of everything?

Originally Posted by soulman

Well no matter what that research tells us the Bears don't have the excess cap space or draft picks to make any major changes defensively for 2013. Any move away from what we play now will need to be gradual and I'm sure that has played a major role in the coaching search.

The reality is we have players who play extremely well in the system we use now and until we can replace them with others we're pretty much stuck where we are defensively and where we are isn't a bad place to be stuck.

We have one All Pro CB another is a Pro Bowl CB (the only time two from one team have ever been elected Pro Bowl starters) we have a Pro Bowl DE, a WLB whose been to so may Pro Bowls they just decided not to elect him this year even though he had another Pro Bowl year, we have a future HOF MLB who should return, a Pro Bowl 3t DT who needs to be resigned, a LDE who had a break out year and has future Pro Bowler written into his script, and a pretty good looking all purpose playmaker who was our 1st round pick last year.

So why would anyone want to breakup that gang or force them to play differently than they have? I'm like Emery. Convince me that we could do any better playing a different style of defense with this bunch or that we could somehow afford the guys it would take to make a major change in that defense now.

Couldn't agree more. Well stated. Why "fix what ain't broken"? This isn't a 4-12 team looking at a multi-year rebuild. That cap space we do have needs to be dedicated to LT, TE, and retaining a few key guys we need re-signed. We are down two draft picks too. There simply isn't the wherewithal or the need to make major defensive changes. Tweaks, adjustments, tinkering...sure. Switching base formations altogether...no way.

This is just an educated guess and we will never know for sure unless Emery says so, but I would bet that a number of HC candidates were eliminated or at least de-prioritized from consideration for this reason. I think it's more likely than not that Emery strongly preferred from the outset an HC who would focus mainly on the O, keep the 4-3, retain Marinelli, and be content to "reinvent the wheel" defensively. He set the bar pretty high otherwise in his press conference and I doubt anyone "convinced" him to alter his thinking on that.

If we were a team that was needing a complete rebuild..switching to a 3-4 would be fine... i think the 3-4 is the better defense myself, i think the scheme is better against today's offenses... and i also think there is much more talent available through the draft to build a 3-4 defense with... however, the bears a playoff aspiring team.. a team with quite a few in their prime/old players, and making that switch now would not be smart... that would mean that if our offense improves under our new coach and new OL pieces, our D would take a step back and we are now right back where we are this offseason.

if we want to make a switch to a 3-4.. then wait until the right time to do so

How man ytimes have we heard the term "continuity"?

Our Defense was a top 5 unit, and they were the definition of "continuity" Those players that we have now know that 4-3 defense well enough that when we are healthy we are nearly always going to have a top 10 defensive unit.

I would like to see us continue to run a 4-3, but if the new coach is good enough to make massive changes on Offense and switch us to a 3-4 AND have success, all the more power to him.

doesnt usually work like that ^

we have no one to play OLB... MAYBE peppers in his heyday could have done so, but even then i have my doubts, and certainly not now... dont fix what isnt broken... we are interviewing a ton of candidates so i doubt finding a guy who isnt adament on switching to a 3-4 THIS year is going to be a problem

I don't care what we have talent wise on this team. If you did this extensive of a search for a hc then you should have faith in the guy you hire. If he wants to keep the defense status quo so be it no harm easy transition and keep vets happy. But I'm not castrating my hire from day one. If he wants to change the defense then my job as gm is to evaluate who stays who goes and where we go from there so that the new defense can succeed. Really if we did switch to a 3-4 it just gets tricky at nt and what to do with Melton. Urlacher obviously would be gone and Briggs was wanted by 3-4 teams. I think peppers and McClellan would be our pass rushers. Won't be pretty early but hey you do what your coach wants