You got to admit: When this team wins...

[fisi]

...it is a complete and total domination. Miami could still be scoring this morning if there's still time on the clock. Oakland and New England wins were as well. We should have never lost to buffalo and we had green bay. Whats going? The question now is whats stopping this team from greatness ?

 

[DolFan in NE]

Coaching. Not putting your players in positions to be successful and taking 2 and half years to play to what your QB does well while trying to develop other parts of his game. To me, it's 90% on coaching.

 

[psfign]

i still say Buffalo's DL has our OL's number. Maybe with Pouncy back, he can make a difference in the next meeting.

 

[Sons Of Shula]

Coaching. Not putting your players in positions to be successful and taking 2 and half years to play to what your QB does well while trying to develop other parts of his game. To me, it's 90% on coaching.

And after 2 years of failing at the OC position is why Sherman was fired.

Lazor was been fantastic so far and concerning the other "half" of the season you seem critical about, you can't expect the offense to jump right out of the gate with new system. That said, it generally takes about half a season to begin to be able to run that offense as second nature. The fact that T-hill & Co. started to gel as early as game 4 and we've been averaging 30 points over the past 3 games should speak highly of the coaching job that Philbin and Lazor are currently doing.

 

[WesternNYDolfan]

I think alot of it is certainly coaching. But what I will also say is this, it highlights that this team has a much higher ceiling that many on this board want to believe.

...many in the media too. Watching all the shows and listening to Mike and Mike, all you hear about our game is, man what's wrong with the Bears? Giving Miami almost no credit. Could it be we made them look that bad? We almost shut down the GB juggernaut last week, and the D came full circle this week and followed through.

 

[datruth55]

And after 2 years of failing at the OC position is why Sherman was fired.

Lazor was been fantastic so far and concerning the other "half" of the season you seem critical about, you can't expect the offense to jump right out of the gate with new system. That said, it generally takes about half a season to begin to be able to run that offense as second nature. The fact that T-hill & Co. started to gel as early as game 4 and we've been averaging 30 points over the past 3 games should speak highly of the coaching job that Philbin and Lazor are currently doing.

Lazor has been very good...only game I thought he did a poor job in was the Kansas City game.

Team is starting to execute better. Green Bay loss is on Philbin...both teams were pretty close match IMO and in those cases the game comes down to coaching. I still like Philbin though and I know I'm in the minority.

Buffalo has our number...their D-line just blows our O-line up. Too strong up front...and it's not just us cause they've beat some good teams this year riding on that defense and scoring just enough to win...3 point win over Detroit, 1 point win over Minnesota, 3 point win over Chicago...we were the only team they beat soundly. They've only scored 20+ points 3 times this season. We've got to figure out a way to neutralize their front 4.

 

[DolFan in NE]

And after 2 years of failing at the OC position is why Sherman was fired.

Lazor was been fantastic so far and concerning the other "half" of the season you seem critical about, you can't expect the offense to jump right out of the gate with new system. That said, it generally takes about half a season to begin to be able to run that offense as second nature. The fact that T-hill & Co. started to gel as early as game 4 and we've been averaging 30 points over the past 3 games should speak highly of the coaching job that Philbin and Lazor are currently doing.

I 100% agree with your statement. I've very happy with Lazor and what he's doing. He seems to have a brain in his head. My gripe is with Philbin. When you play close games, like the Green Bay game, you're coaching is magnified even more. There have been many game management choices in his tenure here that have left me scratching my head. i do not trust his judgement in close games.

 

[roy_miami]

...it is a complete and total domination. Miami could still be scoring this morning if there's still time on the clock. Oakland and New England wins were as well. We should have never lost to buffalo and we had green bay. Whats going? The question now is whats stopping this team from greatness ?

Blowouts over bad teams and close games vs elite teams is a sign we're turning the corner. We need to keep it going though, need to win in jax at the very least and we need to beat the Chargers, unless Rivers just balls out like Rodgers did we should win half of our games against elite QBs. Because the thing is we have our own offense too, even if our defense can't stop a Rodgers or a Rivers we still have our own offense as a backup plan.

 

[zach attach]

i still say Buffalo's DL has our OL's number. Maybe with Pouncy back, he can make a difference in the next meeting.

Miami knows who buffalo is. Lazor needs to make more screens and quick dump offs to beat the buff rush. Saints did it to us last year.

 

[Sons Of Shula]

I think alot of it is certainly coaching. But what I will also say is this, it highlights that this team has a much higher ceiling that many on this board want to believe.

...many in the media too. Watching all the shows and listening to Mike and Mike, all you hear about our game is, man what's wrong with the Bears? Giving Miami almost no credit. Could it be we made them look that bad? We almost shut down the GB juggernaut last week, and the D came full circle this week and followed through.

 

[GasPed]

We've got to figure out a way to neutralize their front 4.

And Sammy Watkins. The first time we met, no one knew how good he was and he blew us up. NE put Revis on him and that neutralized him somewhat, but I don't think we have an option like that in our tool bag. We better find something though, because he will beat us singlehandedly (again) if we don't.

 

[Sons Of Shula]

Lazor has been very good...only game I thought he did a poor job in was the Kansas City game.

Team is starting to execute better. Green Bay loss is on Philbin...both teams were pretty close match IMO and in those cases the game comes down to coaching. I still like Philbin though and I know I'm in the minority.

Buffalo has our number...their D-line just blows our O-line up. Too strong up front...and it's not just us cause they've beat some good teams this year riding on that defense and scoring just enough to win...3 point win over Detroit, 1 point win over Minnesota, 3 point win over Chicago...we were the only team they beat soundly. They've only scored 20+ points 3 times this season. We've got to figure out a way to neutralize their front 4.

We could be FinHeaven's 1%er's with Roy_Miami as the gangs leader.

In all seriousness though, he offers a lot in terms game planning, etc and other intangibles that are only seen behind the closed doors of an office or X&O meeting. Obviously there would be some learning curve with him transitioning into the HC position and it's extended somewhat further than I would have like to see, but hopefully he is starting to and will continue to overcome some of game day issues. Because I don't see problems with his in-week preperation and coaching abilities.

 

[datruth55]

And Sammy Watkins. The first time we met, no one knew how good he was and he blew us up. NE put Revis on him and that neutralized him somewhat, but I don't think we have an option like that in our tool bag. We better find something though, because he will beat us singlehandedly (again) if we don't.

We did a crappy job in coverage that game. Watkins was running wide open and no one within 10 yards of him. I believe we had Will Davis in coverage on him for part of the game and he was trailing or completely lost most of the game (notice he's not getting much playing time these days). We played the 5-2 and it left huge gaps on the field in the intermediate areas. With Fred Jackson gone and Spiller out with a broken collarbone we won't be so committed to stopping the run, especially with Orton not being as mobile as Manuel. We will have a different approach defensively and all of our players off of suspension.

Won't solve our problem with their D-line though. We've got to move the ball and score on them...we break 20 points on them I say it's an 80% chance we win.

 

[ChambersWI]

We could be FinHeaven's 1%er's with Roy_Miami as the gangs leader.

In all seriousness though, he offers a lot in terms game planning, etc and other intangibles that are only seen behind the closed doors of an office or X&O meeting. Obviously there would be some learning curve with him transitioning into the HC position and it's extended somewhat further than I would have like to see, but hopefully he is starting to and will continue to overcome some of game day issues. Because I don't see problems with his in-week preperation and coaching abilities.

I've openly said that Philbin is losing my confidence a bit, but I'll root for him to succeed. I just think this year in some games he's shown more bad than good. BUT I do not think he gets the credit he deserves for the good.

As for the "what's wrong with the Bears narrative" its because they have the most rounded weapons when you factor in 2 WRs, TE, and RB in the NFL. THe issue, and it's one I'm surprised hasn't been brought up more (and I've brought up a few times), is that as talented as they are they aren't winners. They have a poor mentality, and I've thought that about Cutler since he forced his way out of Denver and Marshall with how he badmouthed Matt Moore.

 

[datruth55]

We could be FinHeaven's 1%er's with Roy_Miami as the gangs leader.

In all seriousness though, he offers a lot in terms game planning, etc and other intangibles that are only seen behind the closed doors of an office or X&O meeting. Obviously there would be some learning curve with him transitioning into the HC position and it's extended somewhat further than I would have like to see, but hopefully he is starting to and will continue to overcome some of game day issues. Because I don't see problems with his in-week preperation and coaching abilities.

Philbin got screwed by being hitched to Jeff Ireland. Ireland refused...or maybe he just plain didn't know how...to get the players that fit the scheme Philbin wanted to run. I'm not surprised by the improvement of the O-line despite having 5 new starters in the first 4 games. We got more athletic and guys that can move and pull...anyone surprised we can now actually run screen plays should realize the garbage Ireland was bringing in was never going to make simple plays like that successful.

So far Hickey seems to get it. I say so far because I've seen GMs have a good first draft or couple of years and then completely lose focus and go down hill quick. I'm hoping Hickey stays the course.