Bleacher Report - Articles by Eric Willoughby

Where Do the Chicago Bears Go in the Draft?

Eric Willoughby — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 10:25:23 -0500

This has been something driving me insane for weeks now. What positions are the most important for the Bears? What player is the best player in that position, in that round, and how does that player compare to another position player in that same round?

This is a difficult assessment. DE v. CB, WR v. OG/OT, FS v. RB, etc. Personally, I think the first priority should be secondary. Second priority is WR. Third Priority DE. Fourth Priority O-Line. Fifth and last priority is a change-of-pace RB for Matt Forte!

Now, when putting these priorities to the 2009 NFL Draft. My priorities don't necessarily reflect my picks by round! I think their are better OG/OT in the first three rounds. And better WR's in the first two rounds.

I think there are better FS's in later rounds (four, five, and six). I think there are DE's and CB's in either Round One or Round Three. I think there is a RB in round 6 that would be a great change of pace back for Forte!

So, I have went back and forth, top to bottom, side to side; And finally decided how I think we should draft to get the best "quality" out of this draft. Sometimes I won't get the best player at the position I want, because I feel we can get better talent in that round from a different position.

So, if you disagree I understand, just know I've spent a lot of time racking my brain over this!

First of all. It will matter what the Bears do in Free Agency. If we get a DE or CB or FS or WR, then that dramatically changes the selections I would make in the draft. But for the team as it is RIGHT NOW. I would do this:

Round No. 1 - I have been split on this for weeks. Trying to think if its more important to have a DE, OT, or CB. Our offensive line is ridiculously old. Our DE's didn't create a pass rush last year? But I still believe there is a lot of talent in that position on our roster.

And our CB's did not cover well enough to allow our DE's to get a pass rush last year! But in the end I think my number one pick in the draft would have to be Vontae Davis CB Illinois.

Round No. 2 - No doubt in my mind our No. 2 pick better be a WR by the name of Hakeem Nicks from UNC.

(We have two third rounders this year) Round No. 3 - Trevor Canfield, OG Cincinnati Like I said earlier, we need to add youth to our line and start finding replacements for these older guys.

Round No. 3 (second pick) - Phillip Hunt, DE Houston. This guy will be a great value pick at DE in the third round. He has very good speed, and I feel he will be one of the best DE's in the draft!

Round No. 4 - Ramses Barden, WR Cal Poly if he is still on the board this would be an amazing pick up! If he is off the board, A.Q. Shipley, C Penn State (Olin Kreutz is going into his last year of his contract). We need somebody for him to mentor for the future of the bears!

Round No. 5 - No doubt in my mind, I think the best steal in the draft = David Bruton, FS Notre Dame. He is a big hitter much like Mike Brown, he would fit the Bears' system very well...And he has very good speed for a safety and also is a great ST's player!

Round No. 6 - Keegan Herring, RB Arizona State (This guy is the second fastest RB in the draft. We need a speed guy as a change of pace to Forte...I think this guy would fit that role very well)

Round No. 7 - Robert Brewster, OT Ball State (If he is still on the board, this guy played 47 straight games and was 1st team all MAC. MAC players are typically very hard working players and go on to be successful in the NFL).

If Brewster is not on the board - Eric VanderHuevel, OT Wisconsin. Normally very good O-line products come out of Wisconsin. I think if we pick up either of these OT's in the seventh round it is a great value!

So, With all of that being said my draft looks like this: CB, WR, OG, DE, WR or C, FS, RB, OT.

Fourth round if we get a Center then we picked up a OT, OG, C! And we have two youthful guys already on the line...That would make a future line for years to come, and one of the most important things is keeping a line healthy and together for a long time!

Fourth round if we get WR in Ramses Barden he has the potential to be the third best receiver in the draft in my opinion. He is a huge physical receiver!

All in all though, in this draft that I have we address every position possible just by draft, without going out and spending millions on free agents. We addressed my No. 1 priority secondary. Wr, DE, O-Line, and even RB just via NFL Draft!

Imagine if we now pick up a Free Agent like Boldin (WR), or Peppers (DE), or Newman (CB) or Dawkins (FS). This Chicago Bears team has the potential with this draft and this free agency to make a run at the Super Bowl again next year...but the question I always have is...

Do we really trust Jerry Angelo to make all of these smart decisions or is he only going to draft defense?

2009 Chicago Bears: Will They Make the Right Moves This Offseason?

Eric Willoughby — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 12:46:33 -0500

As the 2009 season approaches, will the Chicago Bears make the necessary moves to be a title contender once again?

This has already been addressed on the defensive side of the ball, as the Bears have hired a new DB coach, D-Line coach, essentially a new LB coach with the demotion of Bob Babich, and Head Coach Lovie Smith taking over the play calling on defense!

If there is one thing to get excited about, it's that three of these coaches are getting back to what they do best: Lovie Smith is much more suited as a defensive coordinator and will be working in that area a lot more this season; Bob Babich is much better suited for LB coach, where he coached up Briggs and Urlacher just two seasons ago, and his demotion will take a lot less pressure off of him!

And let's not forget Rod Marinelli, who is going from 0-16 head coach, back down to his former position as D-Line Coach, where he once was considered among the elite in the NFL!

However, we have seen absolutely no moves on the offensive side of the ball. We need a new receivers coach for sure. And it seems to me that every season that Ron Turner is being let off the hook. The last two seasons this Bears offense has finished in the bottom five of the NFL!

There need to be changes made on that side of the ball as well!

So, after the coaches are out of the way, what else do the Bears need to do in the offseason to become a legit Super Bowl contender once again?

There are a lot of options, so just hear me out!

The first option, and I think the best option is go after some offensive players.

This organization has been hurting offensively for way too long. Let Rex Grossman go and trade Kyle Orton for Donovan McNabb along with a first-round pick in 2010.

The addition of Donovan McNabb would tremendously improve this team: Finally, a real quarterback who makes good decisions, is mobile, and has deep ball and big play abilities! And might not be too expensive with the trade!

Once securing McNabb think 2009 NFL Draft! Now, our Defense needs a safety as we should let Mike Browns salary walk out the door, I love the guy but he is just not reliable enough and not having a true FS has hurt the bears for the last decade!

Now, first-round of the 2009 NFL Draft, pick Vontae Davis CB Illinois and move Charles Tillman to FS! (Now this pick is based up Taylor Mays staying at USC, if Mays declares for the draft, we take Mays hands down and don't need to move Tillman!) (the rest of the picks stay the same)

The rest of the draft the bears needs to be put into these positions: WR, O-Line and DE.

Round two should still have a lot of big play receivers left around, my choice? Hakeem Nicks WR, UNC: good speed, great size, and great hands!

Round Three – Phillip Hunt DE, Houston: This guy has tremendous speed and size; he would be a great guy to be mentored by new D-Line coach Marinelli!

Round Three – Nate Davis QB, Ball State University: Will be the best quarterback in the draft, guaranteed people!!! This will give us McNabb and two young QB's; what better mentor, seriously?

Round Four – Ray Fienga OG, BYU – This guy is about 320 pounds and has a lot of potential, especially in the run-blocking game!

Round Five – David Bruton FS/SS ND, I believe we need to take a safety. If nothing else David Bruton is a hell of a special teams player which would add depth to a category where the Bears struggled last season; kickoff coverage!

Not to mention he is every bit as good, if not better than SS Kevin Payne!

Round Six – Cary Harris CB, USC – This guy will add a lot of speed and playmaking ability to a secondary that never seems to keep healthy.

Round Seven – Robert Brewster OT BSU – This guy is first team all-MAC and normally very hardworking players come out of that conference. He has great size and would be a good complement, along with Williams in years to come!

That was my No. 1 option to the moves that need to be made this off season; I think those moves alone make Chicago a Super Bowl Contender in 2009.

However, if the Bears insist on doing what they always do; stock up on defense, then the route they need to go is as follows:

Spend money in free agency! There are players out there that would be very valuable to your organization. The No. 1 choice is Terence Newman, CB, Dallas Cowboys. That would make Newman the No. 1, and Vontae Davis and Vasher could fight it out for No. 2.

Then we can convert Daniel Manning into an offensive player, much like we did with Devin Hester, or use Manning strictly as a return man!

And Tillman moves to safety and competes with David Bruton!

Now let's move on to the draft:

Round One – Vontae Davis CB, Illinois, moving Tillman to FS.

Round Two – Hakeem Nicks WR, UNC: The Bears need that playmaker at receiver, Nicks brings a completely different kind of threat than hester, in that he can go over people to get the ball!

Round Three –Matt Shaughnessy DE, Wisconsin: If he is available. If not, take QB Nate Davis from Ball State – This guy has a tremendous arm, very mobile, and would be a great QB after Orton leaves next year!

Round Three - Phillip Hunt DE, Houston.

Those third-round picks will add speed and talent to our D-Line and be great players for Marinelli to mentor!

Round Four – Ray Fienga OG BYU.

Round Five – David Bruton FS/SS ND, this guy could compete with Tillman for FS. If Bruton outplays Tillman than keep Tillman at CB, no harm done: then its Davis, Tillman, Vasher, etc.

Round Six – Greg Orton WR Purdue another big guy with some speed!

Round Seven - – Robert Brewster OT BSU – This guy is first team all-MAC and normally very hardworking players come out of that conference. He has great size and would be a good complement along with Williams in years to come!

My second option you just saw was focused a lot more on the defensive side of the ball. The improvement in the secondary in option No. 2 would be tremendous.

Terence Newman is a No. 1 cornerback in the NFL. Drafting Vontae Davis along with Vasher and Bowman and Manning would have a lot of depth at CB, an area the Bears really struggled at all season.

Then moving Tillman to FS and bringing in David Bruton from ND to give him competition, and whoever loses would make a hell of a special teams player either way! If Tillman loses he can go back to CB and possible be the No. 2 or Nickelback!

Defensive End, the addition of one or two young fast speed rushers would be great for Marinelli! Phillip Hunt in round three would do that!

Drafting a QB in round three – Nate Davis is one of the most underrated guys in the draft. I personally would pick him over Matt Stafford, so getting him in round three is a bargain. He will be a Big Ben type player, comes from the same conference, has that arm strength and allusiveness! He would be a great pickup!

If the Bears stick to either of these options, they will be in the Super Bowl in 2009, guaranteed! Just spend a little money, in reality I only have one Big money move in each option, doing these things are really not that expensive!

USC, Oklahoma, Florida, Texas: Where Do Utah Utes Fit In?

Eric Willoughby — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 08:37:13 -0500

Honestly, they are where they should be. Take nothing away from Utah—finishing undefeated is a tough task, but it does not automatically earn you a national title shot. I commend you and your fans on your season, but you do not deserve to be playing in the BCS National Championship game!

I am so sick of the Utah fans and columnists crying about their team being the “only undefeated,” and therefore they are the only “true” champion. And it is so unfair that we are not No. 1.

First off, Utah’s problem is what we thought USC’s problem was: a weak schedule. However, after watching these bowl games and seeing the Pac-10 go undefeated, I am not so sure we gave them enough credit.

Let’s just dissect Utah’s schedule for a moment: @ Michigan (won by only two points), UNLV (easy game), @ Utah State (easy game), @ Air Force (only won by seven points—are you kidding me?), Weber State (they have a football team?), @ Wyoming (easy game), @ New Mexico (easy game), SDSU (easy game).

Those were their easy games—there were eight of them! Now let’s go on to some respectable opponents. These following games were all played at home, with the exception of the Alabama game at a neutral site: Colorado State @ Utah, BYU @ Utah, TCU @ Utah, Neutral site against Alabama.

Colorado State is like a Purdue in the Big Ten or Stanford in the Pac-10—they are average at best! BYU, if you put them in a BCS conference they would not be ranked, period. TCU is a quality opponent; the only problem they also play in the Mountain West, so it’s not much for the pollsters to look at.

Now at 12-0 with that schedule listed above, how do you feel that you legitimately deserved a shot at the National Title? If Oklahoma, Texas, or Florida played this schedule, would they lose a game? No, they would not.

Especially consider the fact that Utah was not once tested on the road this season, and in their road games against Michigan and Air Force they struggled. Imagine if that would have been Oregon State on the road like USC had to do, or TCU on the road!

USC, in my opinion, deserves to be considered also. They had just came off a big-time win over Ohio State by 32 points and rolled into Oregon State on a high and didn’t come to play in the first half that night. Despite coming all the way back, they were never able to capture the game!

That one game was their only test this season. Nobody else was even competition. Not Ohio State, Penn State, Oregon, Notre Dame, UCLA, California, nobody!

Now I have heard this over and over again: “USC lost to Oregon State and Utah beat Oregon State, so Utah deserves to be ranked ahead of USC.” Again, not a valid point. USC lost at Oregon State, Utah got Oregon State at home. And that rationale is never logical to use it in sports, ever!

That’s like saying, since Ohio State and Penn State both crushed Michigan, and Utah barely beat Michigan by two points, and since USC crushed both Ohio State and Penn State, USC is now the automatic winner against Utah. It can go both ways, Utah fans; don’t get caught up comparing apples to oranges. I’d love to see you and USC play on a neutral field. My guess is it's not going to be pretty!

That rationale is also as dumb as saying since Notre Dame beat Michigan by more than Utah did, that Notre Dame is better than Utah. Does anyone really believe that? Didn’t think so!

If you people actually watched football you’d understand that different matchups present different problems for different teams! The only way to know who would win the game is if the two teams in question actually go head to head.

Now let's look at Oklahoma and Florida, the two teams actually playing in the National Championship. Just forget about Texas and their head to head win over Oklahoma for the purpose of this argument, even though Texas also deserved a shot at the title more so than Utah did.

Oklahoma had by far the toughest schedule in the nation. As of today they have six ranked teams on their schedule in the polls right now. They also have Kansas at 8-5 and Nebraska at 9-4, both coming off bowl wins! So, most likely both of those teams will creep in the top 25 as well, and that will be a total of eight ranked teams this season, plus one more in Florida in the title game.

Their only loss came by way of No. 3 Texas, who arguably is the best team in college football, and that loss came @ Texas. Again, a road test, something Utah didn’t face all season. Does anyone who has a brain think Utah goes to Texas and wins? Didn’t think so!

The only common opponent on Utah’s and Oklahoma’s schedule was TCU, who Utah beat by three points @ home. But Oklahoma beat that TCU team by 25 points @ home. There’s your comparison if you want to use that rationale, Utah fans!

Now Florida, their only loss came by the way of a botched snap on an extra point, in a game where they just didn’t come to play. That loss was to a team in Ole Miss who just stomped, and I mean stomped, Texas Tech, so it was a very legitimate opponent.

Florida’s other games this season were won by an average of 35.08 points, against the likes of Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Miami Hurricanes, Florida State, South Carolina, and Hawaii. By the way these teams were all in bowl games this year! Count them: nine teams in bowl games that they beat by an average of 35.08 points.

Add their loss to another bowl team, and that makes 10 of the 12 games versus bowl eligible teams.

I don’t know about all of you, but I’d rather be in the Mountain West, agreed?

Notre Dame's New Year's Resolutions

Eric Willoughby — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 03:19:46 -0500

1. Keep Charlie Weis in the press box!

There it was finally, the schematic advantage he promised, well we all saw it in the Hawaii game. He is use to being an Offensive Coordinator in the press box where he can see the holes and how to beat the opposing defense; so keep him there!

2. Keep the additions to the offense and the returning players.

We have our top offensive starters returning in 2009 with Clausen, Floyd, Tate, Allen, and Rudolph!

Now for the additions: Offensive Line is of Importance for Running Game as well as pass protection: The addition of Chris Watt (Top 5 OG) and Zach Martin (12th ranked OT) will improve our balance of run/pass. Shaquelle Evans, 6’1 203 pound WR! Top 3 WR recruit in the nation: this will give Notre Dame the best set of WR’s in college football with, Floyd, Tate, and Evans.

Stick with Armando Allen as the primary ball carrier. This kid has ridiculous speed is a good receiver out of the backfield and did better in short yardage situations than the other backs as well. Athletes Cierre Wood, E.J. Banks, Theo Riddick, Jordan Cowart, and Nyshier Oliver will add even more versatility to an already potent Irish offensive attack in 2009.

We have a kicker in the making: Recruits Ben Turk (sixth ranked) and Nick Tausch (28th ranked) will improve our kicking game.

3. Hang on to the emergence of a defense that has been missing for almost a decade.

The return of Darrin Walls will surely help this Irish defense!

4. Add the following players on defense:

Tyler Stockton – 290 pound DT from New Jersey. Top three DT in the nation will be sure to help ND in stopping the running game! Zeke Motta – S - 27th ranked safety in the nation will help fill the loss of David Bruton our best defensive player. Carlo Calabrese – ILB – 225 pounds – 11th ranked ILB in the nation He will be a force to be reckoned with. Marlon Pollard – CB - 23rd ranked CB in the nation will help in stopping the passing game! OLB – Dan Fox 56th ranked in nation will be a great addition.

5. Use Hawaii as a jumping off point.

That thumping of Hawaii could be the beginning of a new age in ND Football. I know some of you will say “it was Hawaii” but it wasn’t just Hawaii, it wasn’t just the win, it wasn’t just getting the monkey off of our back in bowl games: “IT” was the way we played, the way we won, the way our young players like Clausen, Tate, Floyd, Allen seemed to emerge as more than just underclassmen!

And the way our defense that was in early season a big negative, over the last four weeks of the season they did nothing but get better week after week after week in watching our offense hit the wall.

It just all came together in one night and could be something that ND fans see as a turning point. The Defense played a terrific game against a good Hawaii offense. The Offense played an excellent game against a fast, physical Hawaii defense. Both sides of the ball came to play for the first time all season, and they played for 4 quarters too! This was something ND was missing, but they came out with that fire in their eyes and I think just maybe we found something.

2009 is coming and the Irish are going to turn some heads: Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Feel Like Booing Chicago Bears Fans? Look No Further Than the Sidelines!

Eric Willoughby — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 02:06:42 -0500

Despite the great performance given by the players last night, it was all kind of brushed under the bus by inadequate coaching down the stretch.

As we have seen time and time again this season, Lovie Smith and Ron Turner cannot manage a football game, especially with a lead.

Without sound like a hypocrite; what were we doing in the second half of that game playing with such carelessness for the football?

Last week, I will admit, that I said we went into a shell offensively against Jacksonville when we got the lead. But, that is not to say that against the Saints, one of the worst rush defenses in the NFL, that we neglect the run all second half!

Why does it seem our coaches have everything backwards when it comes to play calling? We have no courage to make the tough decision to go for it when we should, but at points in the game where we just need to punt or take a field goal, we all of a sudden find courage to go for it!

Against the Packers, a terrible rush defense, we chose to throw it all game! Then we have Minnesota, a great rush defense, and we chose to run for most of the game in key situations. Then against Jacksonville, in the second half, who had a weak secondary, we chose to run all second half.

Now against a terrible run defense in the Saints, we chose to pass all second half giving Drew Brees at least two more possessions than he should have had!

Our offense again after playing a good first half, only mustered three points in the second half again!!!

So let’s recap the horrendous decisions/execution coming from the sideline in the second half.

First, we chose to pass way too much! We only ran the ball five times; yes, five times the whole second half, while throwing the ball 23 times. That is 23/28 or 82 percent of the time throwing the football.

Could somebody remind me again what the Chicago Bears are based upon? I thought it was smash-mouth football. To run the ball and control the game and play the field position game and let you defense give you opportunities? But I guess I could be wrong.

Maybe now we have turned into the New Orleans Saints, who rushed 17 times in the second half and only threw the ball 20 times. Now, that is what we call balance 20/37 or 54 percent of the time throwing the football.

And let’s not forget, the Saints are built to throw 80 percent of the time, but their coaching staff established balance and time of possession by running the ball in the second half. Whereas the Bears coaching staff became one-dimensional!

So, at halftime, the game was 21-7, and the Saints had not once taken the ball from outside the Bears 50 and scored. They only scored because of a fumble on the one-yard line by Orton/Kreutz.

In the second half, what most people would do as coaches is control the clock. Lovie Smith and Ron Turner decided to come out throwing! Did they possibly forget they have Matt Forte? One of the best backs in the league!

He only ran the ball 11 times all night. You have to be kidding me. We only had 227 total yards of offense, why? Because we were pass happy!

You cannot control a game and sustain drives without a running attack. If it wasn’t for two pass interference calls on poorly thrown balls by Orton, then the Bears would have lost last night!

Ok, so the Saints came out in the second half with the ball and we forced them into an interception. Then we drive all the way down the field for the first time in the game and “butterfingers Davis” drops the pass again (why is this guy playing?) and it gets intercepted.

Huge change in momentum, going from taking a 24-7 lead or 28-7 lead to now giving the Saints great field position at the Chicago 45 with the score 21-7. The Saints punched it in and now it is 21-14 with 3:44 to go in the 3rd Quarter.

Next possession, we ran the ball a little right? No, we ran once and threw twice, forcing a 3 and out and taking a whole 1:36 off the clock! Wow, what time management.

Saints took the ball down the field, for the only time all night from the NO 25 to the Chicago 12 and were forced to a field goal. Again, the first time all night they were able to sustain a drive over 50 yards and come away with points!

Now, there is 9:07 left in the game. We will certainly run it now and control the clock right? No, we run once (on second down every time) and take a whopping 1:16 off the clock! But wait, there’s more!

Instead of punting from our own 47, we call a fake punt, what? The pass lands incomplete, don’t like the rule for why it was incomplete, but that’s another article!

Is this guy Lovie Smith seriously a coach in the NFL? You have a 21-17 lead with 7:48 to go in the game, and have the ball at your own 47 and you call a fake punt?

Especially when your defense has only given up three points all night long when the Saints have a long field? The game is probably over if we punt it deep inside the 20.

So now the Saints take over at the Chicago 47 with 7:31 to go in the game. 1st down; five yard rush: second down; four-yard pass: 3rd-and-1 now approaches, Anthony Adams gets a huge push and stuff the fullback dive!

Now i'ts 4th-and-1 and the Bears defense gang tackles Thomas in the backfield for a five-yard loss giving the Bears offense the ball back with just 5:29 to go at the Chi 43. Remember the saints burned two timeouts early in the half so they only have one left!

Certainly this time, after all the mistakes, we have learned our lesson, and we are now going to run the ball and pin them deep right?

Nope. Instead, on first down, drop back and throw an incompletion. Then on second down, clearly we will run? Nope. We throw again, and it is intercepted and returned to the Chicago 31.

If only we had ran the ball on 1st down taking the clock from 5:29 to approximately 4:45. Then, run the ball on second down taking the clock from 4:45 to about 4:00. Then, run on third down and get the Saints to use that final timeout!

Then there would have been about 3:50 left and we could have punted it inside the 15! They would have had to drive 85 yards for a touchdown with 3:50 left and no timeouts. And that’s considering the fact we can’t get a first down rushing!

Remember, the saints only had one drive all night over 50 yards that resulted in points and it was only a field goal. By the way, that drive took over seven minutes!

So now the Bears defense is put in another terrible position and they can’t come through twice in less than a minute! The Saints score a touchdown and take their first lead of the game.

I remind you that if we would have only ran the ball on 14 of our 28 second half plays that would have taken approximately five to six minutes off the clock!

Think about it, nine additional runs to get to 14 rushes. That’s nine plays and 40 seconds on the play clock which is 360 seconds or six minutes! The game would have been over!

Our offense did then rebound though, and then came possibly the worst coaching job in the game as far as clock management!

We had the ball at the NO 25 after completing a first down pass to Brandon Lloyd, and we had two timeouts and 0:55 left in the game! We chose to run another play instead of calling the timeout.

Then only leaving us with 0:30 before the snap and 0:19 after the Olsen catch. Then we called the timeout! Now, instead of having 0:40 seconds on 2nd-and-four from the 19, we now have a 2nd-and-4 from the 19 with 0:19 left in the game!

We get all the way to New Orleans' nine with a 1st-and-goal, but now there is only 0:12 left in the game, there is no time to run three plays even to try and win! Now, if we had called the timeout that would still leave 0:33 left on the clock, so we could run, pass, do anything!

Now we only get one shot at the end zone. Interference should have been called on the play, but it wasn’t. Even if it was there was only 0:07 left and not enough time to run a play, just too dangerous with the playoffs on the line!

In the end, the Bears won the game in overtime. I just hope Jerry Angelo is watching these tapes at the end of the season! Because this Bears team is good, very good. And if they had a better coaching staff, they would already have 10 or 11 wins this season.

The coaches repeatedly don’t learn from their mistakes and cannot make good/smart game time decisions or manage the clock at the end of the game.

Kyle Orton should have known to call the timeout, but I think they told him on the sidelines to run another play instead of taking the timeout.

The game should have been won more than three or four times in regulation, but due to poor coaching and decision making by Orton, in the second half we almost squandered a 14-point lead again!

The defense looked amazing last night, only hurt by bad play calling which lead to interceptions and putting them in bad positions! This team needs to make changes on the sidelines next year or we will continue to not live up to our potential!

Bears-Saints: Chicago's Defense Steps Up in a Big Way

Eric Willoughby — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 01:06:29 -0500

In no way, shape, or form can Bears fans blame the defense for last nights’ potential collapse. This defense continued to bend all night, but would not break; they came up big when they needed to.

In the first half, the Chicago Bears defense held the best offense in the NFL to zero points; that if you disregard the fumble by Orton at the one-yard line, but that’s not the defenses’ fault.

They also held Drew Brees, possibly the best quarterback in the NFL, to his lowest QB rating in a half since early in 2007. The Saints who have the best pass offense in the league against a Bears defense that has struggled against the pass all season.

Well, not last night, the Bears only allowed 232 yards passing and held the Saints to seven of 17 on third downs. Holding the Saints to four three-and-outs on seven first-half possessions. And, in the second half, forced a three-and-out on the Saints' first possession, and an interception on the second possession.

Six possessions in the second half for the Saints, coming up with only three points not off turnovers; that was the only drive where the Saints took the ball from outside of the Bears' 50 and scored points!

Even despite being overworked and on the field for 36:32 out of 60:00, the Bears' defense managed to stop the Saints' offense at crucial points in the fourth quarter.

Remember the terrible play call on the fake punt? Instead of pinning them deep to help the defense, we gave them the ball at the Chicago 47. Well, the Bears' defense stepped up and perhaps saved Lovie Smiths’ job after the fake punt failed.

The Saints took over with 7:31 to go from the Chicago 47-yard line. On first down, a five-yard rush, second down, a four-yard pass, 3rd-and-1 now and Anthony "Big Daddy" Adams comes up huge stopping the fullback dive, leading to 4th-and-1, where the Bears' defense stuffed Pierre Thomas in the backfield for what seemed to be the game-ending five-yard loss.

There were a lot of coaching errors in that fourth quarter, but that is a whole other article. The point is that this defense is getting better every week and is starting to return to form.

They took one of the most potent offenses I have ever seen and made them look extremely confused and inconsistent. Despite the three turnovers, the defense held the Saints to only three points, the best offense in the league to three measly points!

This is the time of year to run the ball and play field position, someone needs to teach Lovie Smith and Ron Turner that, but the Game Ball definitely goes to the Bears' Defense and Special Teams!

NCAA Football Formulas: Putting The BS into BCS

Eric Willoughby — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 04:21:11 -0500

For those not in the know, there are a few rules to the BCS system.

The top two teams, no matter who they are, play in the National Championship Game.

Six out of the final 8 slots in the Fiesta, Orange, Sugar, and Rose Bowl are guaranteed to BCS Conference Champs (ACC, Big East, BIG-10, PAC-10, SEC, BIG-12).

What many people don’t know is that from the last two “At-Large” bids, one and only one Championship team from a Non-BCS Conference (MAC, WAC, Sunbelt, C-USA, Mountain West) can be selected for a BCS bowl, rankings be damned.

The BCS was implemented to produce a “true champion” and provide rankings based upon every factor, this conference nepotism does anything but.

These formulas are based on everything, therefore if everything is calculated then shouldn’t the rankings speak for themselves?

Why the need for conference affiliations and favoritism? If the BCS ranks Boise State higher than Cincinnati, Boston College, and Ohio State based upon every factor shouldn’t Boise State be playing in a BCS bowl instead of all three of these schools (one of which isn’t even a conference champion)?

Ohio State is also ranked No. 10 and Texas Tech is No. 7, but Ohio State goes to the Fiesta over Tech just because of conference affiliations! Tech v. Texas or Oklahoma would be much better than having them blowout overrated OSU! But, they don't want rematches in bowl games either, another problem in itself!

The same goes for a team such as TCU who is ranked higher than Cincinnati and Boston College; however, TCU is not their conference champion.

The rule in the BCS states that if a “non-BCS conference champion school in the top 16 of the BCS standings is ranked higher than a BCS conference champion then the higher ranked school will play in a BCS Bowl". But, like stated above, this only applies to one team!

Does the fact that Utah had such a great season, mean that Ball State, Boise State, and TCU are less talented?

The BCS is essentially saying that the only way Boise State could possibly deserve a BCS bowl would be if Utah had lost a Mountain West game. And even then, Ball State and TCU would still be getting screwed. It’s impossible to distinguish these teams in that manner; they play completely different schedules and (for the most part) are in wildly different conferences!

To help clarify, this is exactly the same as saying that since the SEC has two top ten schools, only one team is allowed to play in a BCS Bowl.

Or, since the Big 12 had such a great season, that two SEC schools don’t deserve to play in a BCS Bowl. Texas Tech is being left out and has the same record as Texas and Oklahoma against the same teams? (That’s another travesty in and of itself, but it’s a whole other battle.)

Because their schedule has almost arbitrarily been determined to be the most difficult, Utah will go to the BCS and represent the Mountain West. This will leave out Boise and Ball State, both of whom are undefeated (just like Utah) and both of whom are also in the top 12 of the BCS standings. However, the automatic bid conferences will get their teams in no matter what, despite the fact that the Pac-10 had a losing non-conference record, and that the Big Ten and Big East are clearly having down years.

In fact, I would guarantee you that If you match up the top three teams from the Big East (Cincinnati, Rutgers, Pittsburgh), Big Ten (Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan State), and Pac-10 (USC, Oregon, Oregon State) against the top three teams from the Mountain West (Utah, TCU, BYU) and MAC (Ball State, Central Michigan, Western Michigan), that the Mountain West and MAC would have better results against two of these three conferences!

We can even go back to Texas Tech again. If you are saying Big10/Big East/ACC are better than MAC/Mountain West. Then lets say the Big 12 is a exponentially better than the Big East and Texas Tech deserve a BCS bowl much more than Cincinnati!

The whole thing is just ridiculous!

Lastly, if this system is set up upon formulas to generate the best possible rank of teams, then we should just follow the rankings, never mind anything else. Boise State is No.9 in the BCS; Ohio State is No.10, Cincinnati No.13, Boston College No.17.

However, Ohio State, Cincinnati, and Boston College are all getting a BCS game and the highest ranked, Boise State, is not!

Weird huh?

Ball State No.12 in the BCS, Cincinnati No.13 and Boston College No.17.

But, yet again, the highest ranked Ball State is not going to a BCS Bowl. The others are, simply because they play in a conference that is not “proven” better, but “perceived” as being better. But clearly isn’t this season as stated above!

If the system worked they would select the top 10 teams in the BCS Standings to play in the 10 slots for the BCS. But, the truth is it doesn’t work, thus, why they are taking teams that are No.13 and No.17 over teams that are No.7, No.9, No.11, and No.12.

Does anyone really feel that Cincinnati or Boston College deserves the Orange Bowl over Texas Tech; or even for that matter, Boise State, Ball State, or TCU?

The truth is they don’t, as evidenced by the rankings that we keep every season because they are working so well.

The answer is that we need a playoff! College football needs to organize a little better, I love the game but it needs fine tuning.

How about we get all 120 teams to start the season on the same date and then make it a 12 week season. If every team started on August 30^th and had one bye week in the season, even with Championship week, it would be finished no later than November 29^th! The first round of the playoffs could be beginning this weekend December sixth.

Let’s use a 12 team format for example. We will take the top 12 teams in the BCS Standings, still using the BCS as a form for seeding the teams! Give the top four teams a bye week. Then seed the other eight teams 1–8.

USC v. Ball State (No.1 v. No.8), TT v. TCU (No.2 v. No.7), PSU v. OSU (No.3 v. No.6), and Utah v. Boise State (No.4 v. No.5).

Play all four games on December sixth (Week No.1); that will leave you with four winners and four other teams who got a first round bye, bringing us to eight teams total.

Next, we re-seed those eight teams. BCS No.1 v. lowest ranked winner, BCS No.2 v. 2^ndlowest ranked winner, BCSNo.3 v. 3^rdlowest ranked winner, and BCSNo.4 v. 4^th lowest ranked winner. Play all four games in same weekend (Week No.2)(December 13^th).

Also, to keep making money for the Universities they could associate the major four bowls (Fiesta, Orange, Rose, Sugar) with the Quarter-Finals, for example: No.1 v. No.8 could be the Fiesta Bowl, No. 2 v. No.7 could be the Orange Bowl, No.3 v. No.6 could be the Rose Bowl, and No. 4 v. No. 5 could be the Sugar Bowl, with the seedings rotating every year.

All the other non-BCS bowl games would be played too and still make a ton of money for universities!

Now we have only four teams left after week No.2 of the playoffs and it's still only December 13^th.

We could still give the college students two to three weeks off to prepare for their finals, thus eliminating the "academics would suffer" argument, from the 13^th to the 31^st.

On the first of January,the third round / Semi-Finals could start. (No.1 v. No.4) (No.2 v. No.3) And you could even have a consolation game for the losers of the semi-finals to be played on the seventh.

Then the winners play each other in the National Championship game on January eigth, the same way we always have!

This would still give us everything that is needed. Universities get money from Bowl Games, possibly more with this, because there are more games being played!

College students aren’t forced to play through their finals, they would have almost three whole weeks off just like they do now, if we started the season for everyone at the same time, and ended on the same date as well. The season would just have one to three extra games for just 12 teams!

January first is when the BCS Bowls start, January eigth would be the National Championship Game. Therefore, if the season ended on November 29^th and the playoffs started December sixth, there would be plenty of time to have a playoff within the time frame stated above.

What Is Wrong in the Windy City??

Eric Willoughby — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 06:04:03 -0500

This Chicago Bears team, virtually the same personnel from the 2006 Super Bowl season, has done nothing but disappoint! What happened, I ask?

Was it the benching of Rex Grossman for essentially no reason? Was it the firing of Ron Rivera as defensive coordinator? Is it the coaching staff? Is it the inability of Jerry Angelo to draft a skill player to improve the offense? How about ALL OF THEM?

Let us start with Rex Grossman’s unexplained benching! He was presumably “beat out” for the starting QB Position...give me a break, Kyle Orton was given the starting role because Lovie Smith was afraid of the fans in Chicago and their disapproval of Grossman.

Kyle Orton has proved nothing, except that in every big game he DOESN’T show up! Since his days at Purdue, he has NOT been a guy who shows up in key games.

Rex Grossman, in 2006, was coming off one of the best years EVER by a Chicago Bears QB, by the way, the team was in the Super Bowl. And Rex Grossman, despite some sightings of “Bad Rex” did nothing but WIN FOOTBALL GAMES!

There was far more “Good Rex” than “Bad Rex”, but let’s face it, the fans in this city did not give him a fair chance. That was step No. 1 in setting the team up for failure!

The firing of Ron Rivera: The defense virtually carried us to the Super Bowl in 2006. In 2005, the Bears ranked No. 1 in the NFL in points allowed per game, and No. 2 in yards allowed per game.

In 2006, they ranked No. 3 in points allowed and No. 5 in yards allowed. Lovie Smith was SO excited about reaching the Super Bowl under the expertise of Ron Rivera that in return, he fired Rivera and gave a promotion to “close friend” Bob Babich!

Since that day, in 2007 our defense ranked No. 28 in yards allowed per game and No. 16 in points allowed per game; and 2008 we currently rank No. 16 in yards allowed, and No. 18 in points allowed. Does anybody else wish Lovie loved Rivera’s football knowledge more than his friendship with Babich? I do!

The inability of Jerry Angelo to draft a Wide Receiver to improve the offense has been haunting the Bears for years. This team has passed on the likes of Randy Moss and Reggie Wayne, who did we get in return you ask? How about Curtis Enis (anyone remember him?) and David Terrell (how about him?).

Do either of these guys even play in the NFL anymore? While not producing a Wide Receiver, he still has not produced a secondary in Chicago either. We waste away our first-round draft picks on D-Linemen, we must have seven Pro-Bowl caliber D-Linemen! And only four need to play!

And then we use our late round picks for the likes of Tillman and Vasher. We passed on guys like Nate Clement and Charles Woodson and Chris McAllister and Ed Reed! Poor drafts for the offense and secondary have hurt us more than ever this year, as it finally seems to be catching up!

Last but certainly NOT least, is it the coaching staff? Is it the combination of Lovie Smith, Ron Turner, and Bob Babich that is sinking this ship? YES YES and YES. Lovie Smith is NOT a leader, something this team needs now more than ever. He babies his players, when he needs to get in someones face! Get angry show some emotion for God’s sake!

Lovie has never been able to make the calls in big time situations...The Super Bowl, for example I don’t know how many times we RAN THE BALL ON 3rd-and-3 or 4. And we got stuffed every single time, putting Peyton Manning right back on the field.

In our last loss to Minnesota, Lovie just kind of threw the players under the bus saying, “If you can’t get it in from there you don’t deserve to win”, when in fact it was the horrendous play calling of himself/Ron Turner that stopped the “team” from getting it in the end zone!

Ron Turner is in love with the fullback dive on short yardage, I am yet to see a QB sneak! We would have beat Atlanta and Minnesota if he would just call a damn QB sneak, if Orton can’t push off his ankle put somebody in who can (I know just the guy)!

I’m pretty sure Rex has scored on two QB sneaks this season, while Orton doesn’t do QB sneaks?? Weird, huh? With this guy Turner it’s just extremely conservative play calling, especially with a lead…we blow games with big leads because of the inability to move the football, it’s not the offense people, it’s the play calling!

Bob Babich—For the life of me I don’t know why he is here besides he is Lovie’s “friend.” He took this team from the best defense in the league to one of the worst in the league with the SAME personal, only now the defense should be better because those players like Vasher, Tillman, Harris, Brown, and Anderson were younger in 2005 and 2006 and had no experience, now they have it!

Our scheme is all messed up...If you’re going to put eight in the box, you better get to the QB, stop FAKE blitzing, nobody is scared, all you have to do is watch tape to know we are just going to drop back into coverage. Or all you have to do is a three-step drop to a slant over the middle because the linebackers/safeties are so out of position that they can’t get there in time.

This is the reason everyone in the windy city is so upset over this season, This team is a SUPER BOWL CONTENDER….being turned into a top notch college football team by inadequate Coaching and Leadership from the sidelines and front office.

This coaching staff has cost the bears at least three or four games this season. Lovie thought Orton was the answer, he is 6-6??? I’ll bet you Rex Grossman has a better winning percentage than .500!!!

But again, coaches decision on who to play...What do you know another wrong decision from this genius staff!