Thread: Matt Cavanaugh our new QB coach, Thoughts???

I've not been getting on here much lately as I'm still licking the wounds incurred by Lovie Smith's blind eye he constantly turned to the offense and defense's lack of shutdown ability to keep games low enough scoring to accommodate an offense that at best would score three touchdowns a game. Note that I'm doing my damnedest to compare Lovie Smith's teams to the great Bears teams of the 1980s and early 1990s, when the defense never gave up more than 12-13 points a game and that was the sole reason why the team managed to win -- because the team wouldn't average scoring more than 19-22 points per game (except for the '85 team).

I haven't gone on here yet to see who the chump is who will serve as our defense coordinator, or know what type of defense we will run. All I know is that we have a head coach who has tutored some of the best quarterbacks to come along in the NFL over the past 30 years, both in college and in the pros. This is all new to me, albeit I'm a few days late to the dance.

That being said, if Matt Cavannagh learned anything from his time with Bill Walsh, we're in really good shape. The West Coast offense is what is being used primarily in the NFL nowadays and it's been that way since the early 1980s when the 49ers brought it on the scene. We may not run a split back back field like the 49ers of the '80s/90s, the Packers of the '90s under Mike Holmgren, or the Eagles teams of the past 14 years under Andy Reid did, but the offense will be predicated on short to intermediate passes with a few runs here and there to keep the opposing defense honest. Matt Forte will probably start being used like Roger Craig, and isn't that what we've been screaming to have happen now for the past five seasons? While Cavannagh won't be calling plays and isn't even the offensive coordinator, I think his input from his valuable experience with coaches like Bill Walsh will prove to be beneficial for us. If Cutler can be like Brett Favre was in Mike Holmgren's offenses in Green Bay, I see no reason why this offense can't score 27-28 points per game right off the bat, bad offensive line and all.

Kudos to Trestman. You got a guy who learned from one of the great offensive minds (Bill Walsh) in the history of professional football.

Originally Posted by bearsinhouston

No, letting Bates go was probably for the best. Having two rings is good, but even better when you had something to do with the wins. Even people that never played a part get rings if they are on the team. I am just going by the his lastest work. With the Jets. If there was ever a bigger QB meltdown, I haven't seen it.

I have a good friend who's a big Jets fan and a big part of the reasons for that meltdown had to do with the Jets having similar issues to what the Bears have experienced. Poor blocking and a lack of quality receivers. Then add Tebow into that mess and Sanchez is looking over his shoulder every week.

Sanchez is nowhere near the QB that Cutler is either. In this case it would be totally unfair to go by Cavanaughs "latest work" anymore than you could say that Earl Bennett or Michael Bush aren't good football player because they weren't very productive in 2012. That's way too limited for a fair evaluation.

It seems to me like we went though this a year ago when the Bears were looking for a new GM and we had guys going Phil who? WTF, he's just a scout. Why don't we get a real GM like that guy from NE Pioli. How does all that look today?

Originally Posted by matsellah

Could this hire... have ANYTHING to do... with the fact... that.... Matt 'Freakin'' Cavanaugh...

...is... INTIMATELY... familiar...

...with the West Coast Offense?

Spoiler

Maybe Joe refused the job offer? Naaaah.

(nice call, Butka)

'Bout time this was said too. Wade Phillips is a pretty respected defensive coach but he's make a very poor choice for the Bears since he's strictly a 3-4 guy. Every guy who has credentials isn't necessarily a fit. Emery hired a guy who he could work with so that they can build what needs to be built and it seems to me Trestman is doing the same thing. I think that formula works and I'm not gonna question what some guy did last year with some other team and what those stats were. They're totally meaningless today.

Originally Posted by soulman

'Bout time this was said too. Wade Phillips is a pretty respected defensive coach but he's make a very poor choice for the Bears since he's strictly a 3-4 guy. Every guy who has credentials isn't necessarily a fit. Emery hired a guy who he could work with so that they can build what needs to be built and it seems to me Trestman is doing the same thing. I think that formula works and I'm not gonna question what some guy did last year with some other team and what those stats were. They're totally meaningless today.

I think you hit on a key point there Soul. People just want "The Big Name" and are clueless about the fact that a team is a complex set of many moving parts that have to flawlessly fit together. Everyone thought the Eagles had "The Dream Team" a couple of years ago because they had "The Big Names" and that, in fans minds, automatically equated to success.

The NFL doesn't work that way.

We have a new GM and a new head coach. They now must fit together a group of men who can work together as a team to achieve a championship. It's not just an exercise in signing "The Big Names" and waltzing to the Super Bowl. It's a bit more complex than that.

I am really happy with the moves I'm seeing the Bears make here. I am excited about the 2013 season. It's going to be a GREAT time to be a Chicago Bears fan. Let's sit back and enjoy the ride.

The Bears are going to score at least three more points a game next season than they did this year. That's pretty significant because the team only averaged 23.4 points a game, so three more points a game would put the team up to about 26 points per game. That would take a lot of pressure off the defense. The defense won't have to be so dominant in order for the team to win, though I suspect it most certainly will be every bit as strong as it was this past season.

You know something? I don't remember the last time the Bears averaged more than 26 points per game. I know in 1985, the team averaged 28 a game, which led the NFC and was second in the league, but I honestly don't remember that year very well because I was only four years old and paying more attention to Transformers and G.I.Joe than I was sports at that time. It's nice to know that we're adapting our team to the way the rest of the league is operating. While it's important that we have a great defense so our opponents can't outscore us, it's equally important that we have an offense built to survive shootouts in the case that our defense struggles.

Gone are the days of Ed Hughes where the only dynamic to our offense was to run, run, run, and then run some more. Now we're going to make whoopie with the football by throwing it around, possibly throwing the ball to set up the run. Won't that be nice for a change to have an exciting brand of offensive football in Chicago?

There IS a resume to consider...

He backed up Joe Montana in the 80's.

He was a chief member of Wanny's staff.

He coached up Sanchez last year.

Am I doing this right?