If anyone is wondering what our playoff scenario is looking like...

[nebearsfan70]

if the Bears can't orchestrate a trade for Cutler, they are stuck with him, so it makes no sense to use #1 on his replacement if he won't be replaced. Especially since the team has so many other holes.

Kinda what I'm thinking too.

 

[nomoreshoop]

Jameis Winston kicks ass big time.
The idea of the draft is to get what you think is clearly the best player at his position literally or at the spot in the draft.
I bet Green Bay nabs him late, and he becomes a terror for them in a few years.

On a totally different topic,
Too bad we spent so much $ for two crummy DL, now we can't go after Suh.

 

[cubzzzfanincali]

Jameis Winston kicks ass big time.
The idea of the draft is to get what you think is clearly the best player at his position literally or at the spot in the draft.
I bet Green Bay nabs him late, and he becomes a terror for them in a few years.

On a totally different topic,
Too bad we spent so much $ for two crummy DL, now we can't go after Suh.

On Winston, if he kicks that much ass, he will go Top 5, meaning the Bears would have to trade up for him. That's an idea I completely and utterly oppose.

The more interesting issue is your second comment. I presume by "crummy DL" we spent big on, you are referring to Allen and Houston. As for Houston, I don't think the best run defender on the team is "crummy." Yes, I know he didn't rack up sacks, buit he was fantastic against the run, which at the risk of reminding everyone of the obvious (how long ago was last offseason), was the 2013 Bear defense's primary problem and why Houston was brought here. So as far as he goes, I don't really agree with you. I think it is very unlikely that you could replace his value to this roster at the $6.99 mil cap hit he comes with next year. Assuming....of course....that he comes back healthy.

As for Jared Allen, I really don't know what to think. He is definitely playing better at this point in the season. He still isn't very good against the run, but his pass rushing looks a lot better. At a $12.5 million cap hit next year, and all of it in dead money, he is expensive, but it saves us nothing to cut him. It is not an analogous situation to what we faced with Peppers last year as a result. I'm guessing that even if we wanted to, we won't cut him.

It is going to be interesting to see how this Bears offseason goes. To me, the biggest disappointments for their salary cap levels have been Cutler, Bushrod, Jennings, and Allen. When you factor in dead money, unless we can trade them, Cutler, Jennings, and Allen aren't going anywhere. We have 37 guys signed at $108 million in cap space. The guys who could save us real cap space, Forte and M. Bennett, they've probably played well enough to stay. I'd say Bushrod is the only significant figure who is at any cut risk, and I doubt the Bears cut a left tackle (especially one with big dead money hits in '16 and '17 remaining as well). If I were going to affix the label "crummy big $ guy" to people on this team, I would be more likely to tag it on Jay and Jermon than Houston and Allen.

Again, it will be an interesting offseason. The cap is projected to be around $143 million, which if true the Bears would have around $35 million as-is. Assuming a few million for draft, no use of the franchise tag obviously, and the need to extend Jeffery and maybe Matt Forte (somewhat debatable), you have to figure the team has somewhere around $15-20 million for free agents. That's not too bad. I don't know if they re-sign Paea or not, to me he isn't worth more than maybe $3.5, but the Bears will probably overpay him. He has played a little better lately.

 

[JoeyTourettes]

Good post cali... agreed.
We also have to know who will be coaching this rabble. If Trestman is back then the offense stays the same. Plus an Olineman (center is still unsettled w/Garza on a 1 year deal this year- is DLP the answer? No extra money needed there) they will need to upgrade @ RT... Is that a FA signing?

I wouldn't mind seeing another RB to help spell Forte- a bigger back that can pound the line. Not sure what KaDeem is yet. You can get cheap 1 year deal for a back up RB.

Defense- We need to spend multiple draft picks on LB/Safety/Corner... I'm afraid they won't have the money in FA to add much to the Dline. Again the question of who is coaching- will change this too. I highly doubt they go to a 3-4 coach, they just don't have the players/money to flip schemes in one offseason. And who knows a new coach will want to bring in some of his own guys too.


I don't know the FA list of who's available at the positions of need- but it's going to be a very interesting offseason- I'm just pissed we are talking about it with a month left in the season.

 

[nomoreshoop]

any defense can stop the run, just get fatter and bigger players.
how about stopping ol Aaron, Brady and a few others that squat in the pocket and torch the defense.
pass rushing is what it's about, just ask the Ryan Family.

 

[cubzzzfanincali]

no, not any defense can stop the run. That's pretty obvious. Last year's Bears?

Most great defenses start by stopping the run first. Not all, but most. The Ryan family would be the first to acknowledge that. That's pretty much Football 101. Teams pass a lot more these days of course, and a good pass rush is just as important, but there are plenty of examples of great pass rushing teams that sucked on defense because they couldn't stop the run. Jacksonville has a great pass rush, hell they are third in the league in sacks. But their defense totally sucks shit, and that's primarily because they can't stop the run. Tennessee is another one. They are great pass rushers, their run defense sucks, and their defense overall surrenders a lot of point as a result.

Last year's Bears couldn't stop the run, it was the primary problem with our defense, and look at the result. Of course that team couldn't pass rush either.

 

[nomoreshoop]

You just got through saying that Houston and Ratliff were great run stuffers, but we know their injuries have allowed the run defense to regress. Many of us complained earlier in the year that Houston was a poor pass rusher. That fits exactly into what I said, get bigger and fatter on D to stop the run. I guess you just like to argue.

 

[cubzzzfanincali]

You just got through saying that Houston and Ratliff were great run stuffers, but we know their injuries have allowed the run defense to regress. Many of us complained earlier in the year that Houston was a poor pass rusher. That fits exactly into what I said, get bigger and fatter on D to stop the run. I guess you just like to argue.

I actually never mentioned Ratliff. I haven't discussed his run defense one single time this whole season. I like it when people attempt to put words in my mouth because they either can't read or don't want to.

As for Houston, he was splitting snaps between DE and DT, and as a DT, he is far smaller than average. He is slightly bigger than most DEs, but not by much. And he is about the same quality DE as the guy he replaced on our roster, Corey Wootton.

I like to argue when stupidity gets thrown in my face. But your points are falling flat again. Yeah, the Bears could put 4 pass rushers out there, get a few more sacks, allow teams to average 9 yards per rush against us, and lose even more badly. Fortunately, as bad as the Bears coaches may be, they aren't as dumb as you.