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One nice bright spot of the defense this year was the D line, which had it's ups and down but we saw a lot of nice development form Paea, Melton, Wootten and McClellin. Cliff Levingston would submit that a 3-4 scheme might be better suited to what we have going forward:

NT: Paea. Not the bulkiest guy in the world but country strong. The NT's job is to hold at the point of attack and Paea can do that, ICLO.

DE: Idonije, Melton, Wootten. Really, really nice interior rotation there of guys who can play the run and also get after the QB. Idonije is getting older but still has some nice years left and Melton is just getting started; he'd be the prototypical 3-4 DE. Wootten could bulk up a little bit but he'd fit pretty well as a rotational guy. Or, perhaps we keep Collins around as a 3-4 DE and let Wootten go.

OLB: McClellin, Peppers. Peppers isn't as natural a fit here and we'd ideally bring in someone else for the long-term but no one has ever questioned Peppers' athletic ability and he can drop into coverage from time to time. On the other side, McClellin came into the draft as the prototypical 3-4 OLB.

ILB: Briggs, Roach (Urlacher). Cliff Levingston puts Urlacher in parentheses because he might not be back. He's getting up there in age and might be to partial to Lovie to even want to come back. No matter, Roach and Briggs are prototypical ILBs for the 3-4 with run stopping and coverage skills: they both play like 3-4 ILBs right now in the current Cover 2 base scheme.

Thoughts?

I don't agree with the premise - but I don't think Peppers would have any problem playing a 'JJ Watt' type DE/OLB in a 3-4.

Melton could play DE

Shea OLB


Briggs would be the most out of place in a 3-4.

Magilla_Gorilla wrote:Briggs would be the most out of place in a 3-4.

He wouldn't be out of place whatsoever. He's be an ILB, not an OLB, and play exactly in the same manner as he does now, mostly responsible for run support and coverage.

Yeah, we don't have the personnel nor the speed to effectively run the 3-4. Our DTs are gap pursuers and speed rushers, not a chance either Pae or Melton are anchors. Any dip in defensive line productions means our secondary gets exposed in something other then cover-2. Which could present problems.

That said, getting McLellin is a start in that direction and I foresee the switch as well.

Early similar to my thread in training camp Cliff. Good on ya.

I dont agree Pae is a 3-4 NT. You need a real thick one with a big butt. The rest I clearly agree with. We would need to draft a linebacker too. But Shea already stands up on e in awbil when the Bears go hybrid

Corey Wootten was actually viewed as a prototype 3-4 DE as a prospect and definitely is a great fit for it imo. As is Mclellin at OLB, obviously. I think Briggs also makes great sense as an ILB. After that, it gets a bit murky. Paea, while "country strong," doesn't have the bulk to clog the run lanes like most NTs do. I'm not so sure that he's an ideal NT. Peppers is an interesting case and it remains to be seen if he even remains on the team past this season or gets cut. However, I think at this point of his career, with his size, he makes much more sense at DE than OLB in the 3-4. That leaves Melton. I'm really not sure if he can be successful as a 3-4 DE. You're essentially limiting his biggest strength which is his pass rush ability. Honest to God, I think he'd have to drop at least 30 and play as an OLB. Granted, given that he's a FA, I doubt he has ANY desire to do that when he can be one of the highest paid DTs.

Either way, as far as defensive schemes go, based on Emery's roots, it seems that the likely direction would be a 3-4/4-3 hybrid ala Baltimore or NE.

Switching to a 3-4 defense will signal a complete rebuild, which I don't have the patience for. We're an offensive minded head coach & competent O-Line away from winning a Superbowl next season. It would be terrible for us to completely blow everything up for a rebuild, IMO.

Why would you want to change a defensive scheme that worked so well last season?

BIGGIEsmalls 23 wrote:Switching to a 3-4 defense will signal a complete rebuild, which I don't have the patience for. We're an offensive minded head coach & competent O-Line away from winning a Superbowl next season. It would be terrible for us to completely blow everything up for a rebuild, IMO.

Agreed.
In my opinion to avoid a complete rebuild, keep Marinelli as DC. That side of the ball was WORKING, and Marinelli's coaching style defensively could make Lovie's firing negligible.

If the Bears run a 3-4 next season, I'm gonna need a garbage can.

The coach must be "adaptable and flexibility to make the players we have fit toward making a run toward a championship," Emery said. "We want to win now. We want to win that championship now. It is about now."

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap100000 ... to-win-now

This sounds like a man that has no intentions of allowing the next coach to change our defense.

BIGGIEsmalls 23 wrote:

The coach must be "adaptable and flexibility to make the players we have fit toward making a run toward a championship," Emery said. "We want to win now. We want to win that championship now. It is about now."

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap100000 ... to-win-now

This sounds like a man that has no intentions of allowing the next coach to change our defense.

Woot woot.

Well, the Cowboys are leaving the 3-4 & changing their defense to a version of Lovie's Tampa 2:

Three days after firing Rob Ryan, the Dallas Cowboys have hired Monte Kiffin as their new defensive coordinator, according to sources.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The Buccaneers finished in the top 10 in total defense and scoring defense in 11 of Kiffin's 13 years and won the Super Bowl in 2002. He was one of the architects of the Tampa-2 system that many teams employ today and was able to build his defenses around Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks, Ronde Barber, John Lynch and Simeon Rice.

Kiffin will have to re-tool a defense that has been in a 3-4 scheme since 2005 and might lose outside linebacker Anthony Spencer to free agency.

http://espn.go.com/dallas/nfl/story/_/i ... as-cowboys

Kiffin is a damn good coach. Good move by the Cowboys.

I'm wondering if other teams will begin to shift from the 3-4 back to the 4-3. I think that most teams were originally switching to it because it was the "flavor of the month".

Magilla_Gorilla wrote:Kiffin is a damn good coach. Good move by the Cowboys.

I don't see him as much of an improvement to Ryan. To get the Cowboys into the playoffs again, they've gotta change the offense, not the D.

Jake0890 wrote:

Magilla_Gorilla wrote:Kiffin is a damn good coach. Good move by the Cowboys.

I don't see him as much of an improvement to Ryan. To get the Cowboys into the playoffs again, they've gotta change the offense, not the D.

That defense will for sure be top ten next year and maybe top five because of Kiffin.

patryk7754 wrote:

Jake0890 wrote:

Magilla_Gorilla wrote:Kiffin is a damn good coach. Good move by the Cowboys.

I don't see him as much of an improvement to Ryan. To get the Cowboys into the playoffs again, they've gotta change the offense, not the D.

That defense will for sure be top ten next year and maybe top five because of Kiffin.

The problem will be fitting those players from their 3-4 defense into a 4-3 defense.

They got two CB Ware will be able to adjust and they have Lee. If they draft a DT they should adjust just fine imo

patryk7754 wrote:

Jake0890 wrote:

Magilla_Gorilla wrote:Kiffin is a damn good coach. Good move by the Cowboys.

I don't see him as much of an improvement to Ryan. To get the Cowboys into the playoffs again, they've gotta change the offense, not the D.

That defense will for sure be top ten next year and maybe top five because of Kiffin.

Not doubting that their defense won't be good, but the offense is going to be the same: Coming up short in the big moments, and unable to effectively use Romo.