http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...eed-to-close-the-talent-gap-in-the-nfc-north/ Well, this of course on the surface has nothing to do with the dolphins, however if you peel back the surface and look at what a combination of mediocre drafting+trading for Cutler has left in Chicago, and apply it to Miami. Then the connection between what the Bears are dealing with and trading the tops of the next 3 drafts for a qb, leads to in the end. I don't think for a second Angelo is half as talented at finding low cost/high production players as Ireland has been, however, taking away that many picks, even for a upper tier Qb, does lead to the talent gap I've spoken of, it is massively difficult to overcome the deletion of talent effects such a trade creates. Add in their core, Briggs/Urlacher/Peppers, are all over 30, this team is going downwards and fast, the next GM will have a job ahead of them.
Didn't the Bears go to the NFC Championship game last season? Weren't they 7-2 before Cutler went down?
7-9/11-5/8-8 As Phillips points out, they have a talent gap that will only grow moving forward which is why Angelos was canned as no one had worse drafts recently
They didn't give up that much for Cutler in reality. Look what what Oak gave up for Carson Palmer, and he is not half the player Cutler is right now. Cutler gets a lot of grief, but played well in spite of lack of weapons, and lack of an offensive line. Drafting the Bear Jew was a gesture too little to late. Bears fans were tired of him all but ignoring their o-line, and bringing in patches instead of addressing the problem, and having Martz's schemes only compounded the issue. I agree in the fact the next Gm will have some work to do, because as soon as Urlacher hangs his cleats up for good, they are in a world of hurt. I won't even bring up him not paying Forte
-not paying Forte turned out to be a good move -lack of picks meant they had to roll the dice on Roy Williams -look at what the rest of the division has done in the draft Mainly take high picks that start quickly yr after yr, that put the bears in a situation they had to pay Gholston a 400k signing bonus just as a camp tryout and the Lb corps is just getting older, adding Merriweather, whom many Dolphins fans were screaming to sign, added virtually nothing to the defense. Bears are ripe for a blow up and rebuild.
Not at all, GM fired and OC cut loose, you tell me Angelo traded the tops of 2 drafts for Cutler, they are 26-22 since trade, when that Qb goes down..you have Caleb Hanie to keep your playoff hopes alive.
They went 11-5 and to the NFC Champisonship game the second season with Cutler, and started out 7-2 before Cutler went down. The issue was relying on Hanie to back up Cutler, not trading for Cutler.
That's what happens when you have that Qb as do everything anonymous, when they go down, you are the Colts. You also lose the ability to build a better team around him as the talent gap grows in the division as the Bears CEO pointed out, Angelo tried to make it work via UDFA's and busts and trade backs, did not pan out. Adn let me add, when they let Olin Kreutz walk as a FA and wound up starting J'Marcus Webb at LT, a 6th rd pick from a small college (and nephew of Richmond) they could make it work with Cutler, he went down and that stopped working.
Jay Cutler is hardly a warning. I'm pretty sure there are quite a few teams who wish they had Cutler.
That's were I disagree. The Bears are a talented team. Trading those picks didn't destroy the team, Cutler going down and relying on Hanie did. Now, I agree with the premise that Angelo did screw the team over with his poor drafting. However, even if he did hit on some picks, they would still be in the position they are in because of the drop off from Cutler to Hanie.
Eh, when you bring in Martz to take advantage of your newly acquired Qb, that pretty much is the end of any power running game, the Bears were starting Tinomosa in 2010, by 11, they had no one to replace him. Chris Harris was waived, Major Wright was not the answer. Which is the downside to putting it all on the Qb, in a league were a Qb can be knocked out of a gm/couple of games/season, is this unforseeable?
And Johnny Knox going down. Once again, though, this happens in the NFL, which is why you need at least competent depth, when say Jennings goes down in GB, how many guys are ready to step up their games to replace him? That is why you need every once of talent you can acquire.
I seem to recall the Bears defense beating the snot out of us, not their offense behind Cutler. That team will go as far as their defense takes them. 2010, Chicago had the 4th ranked scoring D; that's why they went 11-5. It wasn't because of Cutler's 20th rated QBR and 21 INTs (4th worst in NFL). 2011, Chicago has the 14th ranked scoring D, and their defining players were injured and nearing retirement. Urlacher will be 34. Peppers will be 32. Tillman will be 31. Briggs is 31. They have virtually no pass rush at DE outside of Peppers. When those 4 guys are done, Chicago will likely lose their identity, and Cutler & a dismantled Bears defense will be no match for both the Packers and Lions high-powered offenses.
I don't think anybody buys the argument that Chicago would have been better off not trading for Cutler.
Only those stretching to make a point...... THE REAL lesson of Chicago (and INDY from Oside) is that MMoore is a perfect backup after you acquire a BETTER Starting QB. He is not Hannie he is not Painter. Moore is our Morrall to a Griese; he is Hostetler to Simms, he is Reich to Kelly. He is the type of backwards hat wearing QB you want on the sidelines to step in and step up when needed. Now, you go acquire the QB that improves over what Moore does as a Starter, and you retain Moore to hold the clipboard, then go to battle with the talent on the roster and you can consistently obtain the goal of the franchise.
Right. Aaron Rodgers and Jennings go down and GB isn't making the playoffs... Tom Brady and Wes Seller go down...no playoffs... Joe Flacco(not very good but point remains) and Ray Rice go down, no playoffs. Matt Ryan and Michael Turner, no playoffs. You should get the point. Not many franchise can make the playoffs in this league with their franchise QB and top weapon being out. Off the top of my head. MAYBE the Steelers if Big Ben and Mendenhall went down. But Mendenhall isn't in Fortes league and not nearly important.
IMO the lesson from Chicago is how much of a difference a franchise QB makes. And I wouldn't even classify Cutler as a particularly good franchise QB. He does certainly lift his team though, just not enough IMO. What I see in Chicago is that they are a top 4 or 5 team in the conference with Cutler playing and something like 1-5 since he went down. The expectation that drafting some other players would have made up the difference is laughable. Odds are they would have had maybe one good player out of the bunch who had nowhere near the impact that Cutler does. It's like a lesser version of what we saw in Indy. Once your franchise QB is gone so are your realistic chances of competing for a SB.
100% agreed. Cutler was the only thing that saved angelo from getting fired 3 years ago. The Bears likely would have made the playoffs had they simply signed a competent backup QB, like ahem Matt Moore, instead of relying on Hanie because he looked decent for a half in the NFC Championship game
Bears are going to be in trouble in the next few years. Most of their talent aside from Cutler is on the wrong side of 30.
Stat of the Week Attention, all personnel men in love with Alabama running back Trent Richardson high in the first round: Following a regular season in which none of the six leading rushers in football were drafted in the first round, here were the five leading rushers over the weekend: Player, Team Rushes Yards Rookie year, draft status College Arian Foster, Texans 24 153 2009, undrafted Tennessee Isaac Redman, Steelers 17 121 2009, undrafted Bowie (Md.) State Brandon Jacobs, Giants 14 92 2005, round 4 (110) Southern Illinois Pierre Thomas, Saints 8 66 2007, undrafted Illinois Ahmad Bradshaw, Giants 14 63 2007, round 7 (250) Marshall As we look ahead to the divisional round, here's an interesting note about the final eight teams left in the Super Bowl derby: Only one, Denver, starts a first-round running back ... and Willis McGahee's on his third team, in the twilight. Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/20...1/08/wild.card.round/index.html#ixzz1izC6WfRo This is from Peter King's column. I'm just putting here for discussion purposes.
