RealGM

Post your theories here. All Cliff Levingston has really heard is that Tommie Harris is still hurt, or he just plain sucks now maybe because of the injury. However, that doesn't really explain why Ogunleye, Brown or Anderson can't beat the offensive tackles, or why Marcus Harrison, Israel Idonije or Dustry Dvoracek can't get a push up the middle.

One thing is for sure; our blitzes are back to be dreadful after having some success early in the season. Even if we do blitz, it never ends up with us getting to the QB.

I don't know if it's actually all of the d-line's fault/skill, if you remember on the goal line, pair of our tackles threw the guards RIGHT into Grant and I know Alex Brown still gets to plenty of plays.

Mark Anderson sucks though. For a guy that pass rushes EVERY single down he sure NEVER gets to the QB.

I don't ****ing know.

Tommie Harris isn't healthy? Well he wasn't healthy last year and our DLine still looked way better then it has so far this year.. Dusty is great vs the run but doesn't do much vs the pass. Brown and Ogun have played like they have regressed horribly. And I REALLY don't think I've heard anyone call Anderson's name all year.

This DL is WAY too good to be playing the way they have. Players just don't.... stop being good all of a sudden, do they?

CBS7 wrote:I don't ****ing know.

Tommie Harris isn't healthy? Well he wasn't healthy last year and our DLine still looked way better then it has so far this year.. Dusty is great vs the run but doesn't do much vs the pass. Brown and Ogun have played like they have regressed horribly. And I REALLY don't think I've heard anyone call Anderson's name all year.

This DL is WAY too good to be playing the way they have. Players just don't.... stop being good all of a sudden, do they?

I've heard Anderson's named called. It was somewhere along the liens of "Man, look at that guy. He sucks. He hasn't done **** since his rookie season"

They got absolutely manhandled against a Packer OL that allowed 8 sacks in the past two games and had a running game in the bottom third. I believe they failed to record a quarterback hit at all that game.

I think our DL is playing like the worst in the league.

CBS7 wrote:They got absolutely manhandled against a Packer OL that allowed 8 sacks in the past two games and had a running game in the bottom third. I believe they failed to record a quarterback hit at all that game.

I think our DL is playing like the worst in the league.

What's funny is many of us on the board went into the season thinking DL was the strong point of the team and QB the weak spot! I still look at the names on that line and wonder how we're not doing better. You can blame injury for the Harris performance but, beyond that, I'm just scratching my head.

Yup, I came into the season thinking our defense and Hester could win us 9-11 games. I might be right on the wins, but not even close to how we're getting those wins.

Just look at the players we've got on this team... Brian Urlacher, Lance Briggs, Mike Brown, Nathan Vahser, Charles Tillman, Tommie Harris, Adewale Ogunleye, Alex Brown... they are too good to be playing like ass. Remember 05? Remember most of 06?

I've heard Anderson's named called. It was somewhere along the liens of "Man, look at that guy. He sucks. He hasn't done **** since his rookie season"

Too true. But I really meant I don't think I've heard his name called at all. Like, zero times. Not even "Mark Anderson applied the pressure" or "Mark Anderson with the assist on the tackle".

Oh, another thing that annoys me is why the hell are the DEs slanting(instead of staying in the C/D gap which is outside the tackle/TE, they actually spend some time going inside the tackle, which is absolutely stupid)? Especially in the case of Mark Anderson who should never go inside. I can see how this works against the run but holy ****, that's such a bad idea. Mark Anderson is not going to over power anyone going through the middle.

Maybe it's time to get a new D Line coach. A good D Line coach.

Of these guys only Harris and Ogunleye have ever been good anyway. Harris clearly looks like he can no longer do anything. Who knows what Ogunleye's problem is, maybe just slowing down with age or maybe he's not effective without an effective push from somewhere else on the line.

The Bears defense has been pretty horrible given how much money we are sinking into the defense it's really a reprehensible performance by them as a unit so far.

dougthonus wrote:Of these guys only Harris and Ogunleye have ever been good anyway.

Well I wouldn't go THAT far - Alex Brown's always been a good run-stopping DE though his sack numbers in past years have been respectible, too (5.5, 6, 6, 7, 4.5). And Mark Anderson did have that awesome rookie campaign in which he had 12 sacks as a situational guy. The league has obviously adjusted to him and he hasn't (or isn't able to).

I've got to point the finger at Ogunleye and Harris, though. Harris will show a burst every now and then but he's not showing up on any kind of a consistent basis. He was a part time player in college to take the stress of his knees and NFL teams red flagged him in the draft for it. He gutted through it last year and this year has just been a mess. It's a good thing that fat contract was front-loaded though I'd be surprised to see the Bears cut bait on him. I wouldn't be surprised at all, on the other hand, if Ogunleye is let go and the Bears go DE in Rd1 in '09.

Well I wouldn't go THAT far - Alex Brown's always been a good run-stopping DE though his sack numbers in past years have been respectible, too (5.5, 6, 6, 7, 4.5). And Mark Anderson did have that awesome rookie campaign in which he had 12 sacks as a situational guy. The league has obviously adjusted to him and he hasn't (or isn't able to).

Brown and Anderson are fine, but they aren't star players, they aren't guys who draw double teams. They aren't guys who make a pass rush IMO.