Angelo has failed General Manager 101. Its the QB stupid

[fleet]

It is time for Jerry Angelo to get called on the carpet, even more than Lovie

Angelo take note. You have found some nice talent, built a nice defense, but you never took care of your backside

it always has been about the Bears Quarterback search.

we can talk about anything else on this team, and its all inconsequential. You build around a franchise quarterback. Its just that simple. If you thought you could go about this by building a team without finding a quarterback first you were wrong. Backwords. If you and Lovie believ in Rex, wow, you both missed your biggest challenge

That is why all Bears GMs fail.
That is why you fail (to Quote the venerable Yoda)

[treyZz]

I love how Angelo gets all the credit for drafting players.

Lovie BUILT the defense - Angelo didn't.

I have never liked Angelo, but have grown to like him a little. With that said he has been too scared to draft an OL since Columbo & has never figured out the QB situation.

[dougthonus]

It's not that easy to get a good QB. We have had the personnel to compete. I mean we made it to the superbowl. If we stick with Rex all year then I'll blame Lovie for sticking with him, and I love him as a coach.

[NLK]

I'm sorry, I can't agree with doug on liking Lovie. Granted I'm hating Lovie after losing to his childhood team, but not realizing to go to the bench when it was out of hand, particularly QB, is just stupidity. Unless he's being ordered from his superiors, aka Angelo. If we could trade coaches in the league, I'd opt for Herman Edwards (sure Bellichick would be #1, but I doubt the Pats would give him up). Mr. "YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME" wouldn't be afraid to rock the boat at this point. And knows how to fire his team up in a professional matter (w./out cursing, but still yells!)

[SLCceltic]

angelo missed with benson


thats why i was pushing so hard over the summer to get the skins #6
we could have the real AP out of OU and would have had several suitors for benson while his stock was still high

every game he plays, it gets lower and lower b/c the rest of the league is seeing now




my point is that grossman and benson will not work-----grossman and a stud back would work
or
benson and a stud qb

this is where angelo has failed----with an LJ or LT and olsen playing a lot more; grossman would be more than enough



a stud disgruntled back already in the league, or a back through the draft is much easier to obtain than a franchise qb
i'd like to see 2 new studs, but rb's are much easier to come by

[SLCceltic]

I'm sorry, I can't agree with doug on liking Lovie. Granted I'm hating Lovie after losing to his childhood team, but not realizing to go to the bench when it was out of hand, particularly QB, is just stupidity. Unless he's being ordered from his superiors, aka Angelo. If we could trade coaches in the league, I'd opt for Herman Edwards (sure Bellichick would be #1, but I doubt the Pats would give him up). Mr. "YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME" wouldn't be afraid to rock the boat at this point. And knows how to fire his team up in a professional matter (w./out cursing, but still yells!)

herman edwards is an idiot
he is a master of the press conference and a duma55 everywhere else

this team lacks discipline; esp when the game seems in hand
i fault lovie for this, but that is all i fault him for

brian griese was not the answer last night, the answer is a significant upgrade at rb or qb
griese is a downgrade

[dougthonus]

I'm sorry, I can't agree with doug on liking Lovie. Granted I'm hating Lovie after losing to his childhood team, but not realizing to go to the bench when it was out of hand, particularly QB, is just stupidity.

Let's see, pre-Lovie, the Bears sucked balls for like a decade with the exception of one lucky season where we had 3 wins off of fluke plays.

With Lovie, we've been an elite team in the NFC 2 of the 3 years and made it to the superbowl, and that's with him coaching a team with absolutely no one at QB. Seriously, name a team with a worse QB than Grossman to make it to the superbowl. That's a pretty big accomplishment to do so well with such horrid weakness at by far the most important position.

Mr. "YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME" wouldn't be afraid to rock the boat at this point. And knows how to fire his team up in a professional matter (w./out cursing, but still yells!)

How has Mr. "YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME" done as a head coach over the past 5 years?

[NLK]

-= original quote snipped =-



herman edwards is an idiot
he is a master of the press conference and a duma55 everywhere else

this team lacks discipline; esp when the game seems in hand
i fault lovie for this, but that is all i fault him for

brian griese was not the answer last night, the answer is a significant upgrade at rb or qb
griese is a downgrade

2che'! Well I can agree with the latter two of your points, moreso on the discipline. I remember one of the posters stated Manning was up on the receivers when the cowpolks were inside the 5 yd line. And he backs up another few yards, and luckily he wasn't passed on, since barber scored. But Manning's reaction afterward, according to one of our own Chicago forum regular, shouted back vividly at our coaching staff. Obviously, there is dissension, whether its the players or the staff, we'll find out soon enough.

[blumeany]

Sorry Doug, you're comparing a road apple to a bird turd. Sure, Lovie has done better than DICK JAURON and DAVE WANNSTED. But seriously, that's like saying Bill Cartwright did so much better than Tim Floyd!

Lovie Smith shouldn't be judged by what he did, but rather what he didn't do. He had his team in the Super Bowl and watched his ship sink instead of plugging the hole. Then, he continued to ride his QB the next season - and who knows when the madness will end.

Fact is, they have protected Rex as if he were this albino boy in the bubble that can't be exposed to the outside world. They put all their money on this guy and never let anyone have a chance to compete with him out of fear that it would (Please Use More Appropriate Word) his progression to being the greatest QB of all time - or at least their franchise. But the fact is: if Rex was really our franchise, or he was really a great QB just struggling to find his way, he would beat out the competition anyway. Instead, he was given a free ride and all the excuses in the world whenver he made a mistake. A better coach (Lovie isn't a bad coach) would have pulled the plug earlier. A great coach would have made damn sure that there was some competition in the off season and would test to see if his franchise QB was really his franchise QB. However Lovie and Jerry just sat with their hands folded, praying that Rex would finally deliver. Instead he took another dump on them. So, shame on them for not having a back up plan.

[dougthonus]

Sorry Doug, you're comparing a road apple to a bird turd. Sure, Lovie has done better than DICK JAURON and DAVE WANNSTED. But seriously, that's like saying Bill Cartwright did so much better than Tim Floyd!

I must have missed that time Bill Cartwright got the Bulls to the NBA Finals or had them as elite teams in the East in consecutive years. That's surprising, because I would have thought I'd have noticed.

Lovie Smith shouldn't be judged by what he did, but rather what he didn't do. He had his team in the Super Bowl and watched his ship sink instead of plugging the hole. Then, he continued to ride his QB the next season - and who knows when the madness will end.

How is it Lovie's job to plug the hole? Isn't that Angelo's job? I think he should go to Griese this year, but I think that would have been crazy to do last year.

A better coach (Lovie isn't a bad coach) would have pulled the plug earlier.

No coach would have pulled the plug last year. I think giving him 3 games this year is reasonable.

How many teams in the history of the NFL have made it to the superbowl with a QB situation as bad as the Bears?

[treyZz]

Benson could not have been traded.

His contract is too big and it would be too much of a cap hit for any team to take.

[BigUps]

Angelo deserves credit for late round picks (Hester, Anderson and so on), however his first round picks have been atrocious. He's been awful with them and hasn't gotten much out of them.

Here are his first round picks and highlight picks from each year:

2001
David Terrell (1)
A-Train (2)

2002
Marc Columbo (1)
Alex Brown (4)
Adrian Peterson (7)

2003
Michael Haynes (1)
Rex Grossman (1)
P-Nut (3)
Lance Briggs (4)

2004
Tommie Harris (1)
Bernard Berrian (3)
Nathan Vasher (4)

2005
Cedric Benson (1)

2006
Daniel Manning (1)
Devin Hester (2)
Mark Anderson (5)

2007
Greg Olsen

As you can see, its not an impressive list for 1st rounders. Tommie Harris is his only sure fire first rounder that he's selected. In fact, he had a great draft in 2004. I didn't even include Tank and Leon Joe. Outside of that, he's bad and Olsen hasn't shown enough yet to be truly included.

BTW, his QB selections have been Rex, Orton and the late great Craig Krenzel. Its safe to say he doesn't scout QB's too well.

[NoSkyy]

2006
Daniel Manning (1)
Devin Hester (2)
Mark Anderson (5)

I'm pretty sure Manning was a 2nd round pick. But good point. Wouldn't mind seeing where in the first round he was picking though.

[treis]

The thing that I just don't understand is that there were QBs available that are clearly better than Rex. Schaub, Leftwich, and Garcia were all available for nothing, and the Bulls just inexplicably passed.

[Howling Mad]

The thing that I just don't understand is that there were QBs available that are clearly better than Rex. Schaub, Leftwich, and Garcia were all available for nothing, and the Bulls just inexplicably passed.

Someone getting excited?

[dougthonus]

The thing that I just don't understand is that there were QBs available that are clearly better than Rex. Schaub, Leftwich, and Garcia were all available for nothing, and the Bulls just inexplicably passed.

Well Leftwich was definitely available cheap eventually. I'm not sure when the Jags made their decision to move him or if they were looking to trade him earlier as well.

Schaub was trade for a move up from 10 to 8 in the 1st round and 2 second rounders. I wouldn't call that cheap.

Garcia isn't any better than Griese IMO, and he signed for up to 14.5 million dollars over 2 years, which would have been a lot of cap space to allocate given our current QBs.

[Cliff Levingston]

It would've been just as easy to criticize the coaching staff and GM for pulling the plug too early on Grossman last year, had they done it. It was his first full year as a starter after a few starts here and there, but nothing much due to injuries. Had we been a bad team overall, people wouldn't have thought much about Grossman's struggles, other than he's still a young, inexperienced QB learning his way. Alex Smith had a MUCH worse season as a rookie than Grossman had last year... or even as a rookie. But instead, we were a very good team with a chance to win the superbowl, so most people didn't have the patience to sit through Grossman's growing pains.

Cliff Levingston really doesn't have any problems with the way Angelo and the coaching staff handled Grossman. He was picked to be the long term answer at QB and they did a nice job in not giving up on him too early. Those of you claiming that they didn't make him compete for the position; did Leinart, Young or Cutler have to compete for their position at QB currently? How bout Alex Smith? ...Jason Campbell? Nope. You don't spend a first round pick on QB just to put him in open competition; you draft him to be your QB. It would be stupid not to give him every opportunity to make good on your investment.

Now, this season Grossman hasn't taken any steps forward so you're pretty darn sure that he's not the answer at QB. Yea it sucks but at least the management can say they gave him every opportunity to succeed before pulling the plug on him.

ICLO, Grossman would've been a good QB had it not been for the torn ACL and broken leg. He's been a completely different QB than the one we drafted after that.

[treis]

Well Leftwich was definitely available cheap eventually. I'm not sure when the Jags made their decision to move him or if they were looking to trade him earlier as well.

It was near the end of camp that they decided to go with Huard. They then tried to trade Leftwich, but no one bit because it was obvious he was going to be released.

Schaub was trade for a move up from 10 to 8 in the 1st round and 2 second rounders. I wouldn't call that cheap.

My mistake. I don't know why I thought he was given away for cheap.

Garcia isn't any better than Griese IMO, and he signed for up to 14.5 million dollars over 2 years, which would have been a lot of cap space to allocate given our current QBs.

Perhaps, but my point is that the Bears QB situation was dire and nothing was done to correct it.

[dougthonus]

It was near the end of camp that they decided to go with Huard. They then tried to trade Leftwich, but no one bit because it was obvious he was going to be released.

Are you thinking of Trent Green? Huard is on the Chiefs. Garrard was the Jags QB they kept over Leftwich, but they cut Leftwich after he started all 4 preseason games, and I don't know anyone who thought that was obvious. I mean we could have signed him after he was waived though.

Perhaps, but my point is that the Bears QB situation was dire and nothing was done to correct it.

Outside of Schaub, who we've agreed hasn't been cheap, I don't know that Leftwich, Trent Green (if that's who you meant instead of Leftwich), or Garcia would have really solved our problem any more so than just switching to Griese would solve it.

[Susan]

The problems that I've seen on this team go far deeper than the freaking QB position. Besides Rex there have been major problems in every facet in the game besides the kicking game.

Major problems on offense that are equal to Rex's poor play:
1. Olsen being hurt
2. The fumbling at crucial points in the game. 3 fumbles in what would have been the biggest drives of the season so far.
3. Moose is done. He can't get open because he's freaking old. He never was that explosive to begin with but even the last explosiveness he did have is completely gone.
4. O-Line has been dreadful in run blocking. Their pass protection has been pretty good for the most part but they are not getting the holes that the got last year.
5. The running backs have been subpar so far. That's on Cedric. I'll give the running game a pass for the Chargers game but there's no excuse for the performance that was put up this Sunday.

And Berrian's drops last week hurt too but he's been our only playmaker on offense so he should get a pass. Hester sucked terribly on Sunday too. This offense is not one that can have 3-4 80+ yard drives and he had a few muffs and just all around terrible returns on Sunday. I know that Sunday just wasn't his day.

Now I agree that Rex has been dreadful. It's painfully obvious that he can't lead this team like other big time quarterbacks can. But nobody short of the top 4 or 5 QBs in the world can get **** going with the lack of playmakers on this offense. This team needs to get the running game going at all costs. The passing game should pick up a little with Olsen out there and hopefully a Moose benching but getting this team running the ball is imperative.

It's time for a change at QB but there are other major changes that need to be made. Bradley needs to see the field. The line needs to create holes. Benson needs to run like he ran last year and Moose needs to get the hell open or get out of this city.

And if you gave Griese, Grossman or Orton Andre Johnson to pass to, they too would be putting up good stats. Of course not as good of stats as Schuab but QBs need playmakers and so far ours aren't.