Who should be the 2014 DC for Da Bearse?

BullHeaded · Post #1 » by **BullHeaded** » Fri Oct 18, 2013 5:39 pm

In all the 4-3/3-4 discussion, the big fat question is who is the right DC for the Bears? Maybe it's Tucker, maybe it's someone else. But with so many guys on defense coming out of their contracts at the same time and four young LBs/DEs... if we wanted to scrap the current scheme and do something new, now is the opportune time to do it.

I'd look at Jim Leavitt, the LB coach of the San Francisco 49ers, and I'd consider transitioning to a 3-4 with him.

Linebacker whisperer- He came to SF in 2011 and while you can't give him credit for Ahmad Brooks and Patrick Willis's outstanding performances, look what he has done with Bowman and Aldon Smith. I believe 3/4 of these guys are first or second team all pro.

Ability to run an entire defense- Before SF, he was the inaugural head coach for the USF Bulls where he coached for more than a decade. He took a program which probably should have been Division II and had them ranked as high as number 3 in the nation with a damn good defense. If he could handle that much responsibility and with that kind of success, I think he could run an NFL defense.

Why a 3-4 instead of a 4-3- If you have someone who is that good at developing LBs, you probably want a scheme that puts 4 LBs on the field instead of 3. Just like when Rod Marinelli was running the show it made more sense to have 4 DL on the field instead of 3 because he was so good at grooming them.

Cons- Hoke. I'm not sure if Hoke and his coverages would be compatible with Leavitt's defense or if that would be too much turnover in a short amount of time for Hoke to be comfortable with. I think Hoke is one of the best at what he does and it would stink losing him... but possibly he'd be on board. Also, I think Leavitt would be the next Dick LeBeau and I could see him getting tapped as a HC candidate down the road. If we went this route, you'd hope that even if he fled, there'd be a positive legacy left behind in a protege or something.

Anyway, that's my pitch for Jim Leavitt as the Bears DC in 2014. I think he'd be the perfect steward for the defensive side of the ball.

Flopper · Post #2 » by **Flopper** » Sun Oct 20, 2013 2:47 pm

Mel Tucker will be the 2014 defensive coordinator. Switching to a 3-4 would require a complete personnel overhaul and I can't see the Bears doing that when their best defensive players are 4-3 guys. There's also a pretty good chance that Cutler will be back next year, so it makes even more sense to retool on the fly since they'll be counting on the defense to be competent enough to support the QB they just signed to a huge contract.

patryk7754 · Post #3 » by **patryk7754** » Sun Oct 20, 2013 6:43 pm

Eric Washington- Panthers D-line coach and former bears coach.

I'd suggest the Chiefs d-line coach but he's like 70

Louie Cioffi- Browns secondary coach.

MalcolmXing · Post #4 » by **MalcolmXing** » Sun Oct 20, 2013 8:09 pm

It's scary how big Marinelli was for us..or maybe it was Lovie.

Lovie 2014 DC?!

patryk7754 · Post #5 » by **patryk7754** » Sun Oct 20, 2013 8:39 pm

MalcolmXing wrote:It's scary how big Marinelli was for us..or maybe it was Lovie.

Lovie 2014 DC?!

There's no way he comes back to the bears. Especially to a lesser job. I wouldn't be surprised is he wasn't offered HC positions anyway. Probably the Bucs.

blumeany · Post #6 » by **blumeany** » Mon Oct 21, 2013 1:23 am

I was going to lay a lot of this on the players, but I'm noticing the defense getting worse and not better. That usually falls on the coaches.

I kind of wish the Bears had some one waiting in the wings right now, but I don't think they do. We know they wanted to keep Marrinelli, but he walked.

But yeah, I'm completely underwhelmed by Tucker.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

BullHeaded · Post #7 » by **BullHeaded** » Mon Oct 21, 2013 7:10 pm

Flopper wrote:Switching to a 3-4 would require a complete personnel overhaul and I can't see the Bears doing that when their best defensive players are 4-3 guys.

Lance Briggs, Stephen Paea and Chris Conte. These are the only three guys I can guarantee will be starters on this defense next year. I don't think Conte or Paea are worth committing to a coach or scheme for and all three are versatile enough to handle a scheme change. Am I missing something?

bearadonisdna · Post #8 » by **bearadonisdna** » Mon Oct 21, 2013 7:25 pm

briggs.

The Explorer · Post #9 » by **The Explorer** » Mon Oct 21, 2013 7:45 pm

Michael Singletery.

On another note, emery/trestman made a really bad hire in Mel Tucker, who could be a bottom 3 DC in the nfl. He's that bad.

blumeany · Post #10 » by **blumeany** » Mon Oct 21, 2013 9:46 pm

The Explorer wrote:Michael Singletery.

Pass! At least Mel Tucker keeps his pants around his waist. :rofl:

blumeany · Post #11 » by **blumeany** » Tue Oct 22, 2013 1:19 pm

As I've mentioned before, the 3-4 is not some magical system that is SO much better than the 4-3. In fact, many would say the 3-4 is harder to build. A good defense comes down to a good DC and good talent. You can't expect to be consistently good without both of those.

BullHeaded · Post #12 » by **BullHeaded** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 6:32 pm

blumeany wrote:As I've mentioned before, the 3-4 is not some magical system that is SO much better than the 4-3. In fact, many would say the 3-4 is harder to build. A good defense comes down to a good DC and good talent. You can't expect to be consistently good without both of those.

The key is in the last sentence. We have so many players coming out of contract we could pretty much design the talent around the coordinator. To me it's simple: make sure we get the best defensive mind we can get this year regardless of scheme. If we decide its Mel Tucker and we stand pat, so be it. If its a coordinator who favors a 4-3, or man coverage, or zone coverage, a 3-4, blitzing whatever. Just get the right guy and then restock the cupboards with the guys who fit the scheme. I wouldn't be afraid of a 3-4 though. So many teams run it nowadays you could find guys with experience in that front. That said, I wouldn't change for change sake. Find the best possible guy to lead the defense and let him run the defense his way.

blumeany · Post #13 » by **blumeany** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 8:06 pm

As good as Lovie's defense was, let's not forget a couple things:

1. It had its rough years.
2. It's effectiveness was HIGHLY dependent on personnel.

Bears Defensive rank in points allowed (because A. that's what it's all about and B. yards can be deceiving, particularly in the Tampa 2)"

2004 - 13th
2005 - 1st
2006 - 3rd
2007 - 16th
2008 - 16th
2009 - 21st
2010 - 4th
2011 - 14th
2012 - 3rd

So, out of 9 seasons under Lovie, we were a top 5 defense in 4 of them, with our best string of years being '05 and '06. Whose was on those defenses? Prime Urlacher, Briggs, and Tillman. Mike Brown and Chris Harris at safety. Nathan Vasher having career years at CB. Obunleye and Brown combining for 16 sacks (Urlacher had 6 SACKS in 05 as well). Tommie Harris was up the middle (3 sacks) with Tank Johnson who had 5 sacks that year. In '06, Mark Anderson had a breakout year with 12 SACKS! Harris had 5. Brown with 7, Ogun with 6.5. Even Ricky Manning?!!? had 2. Tank threw in 3.5.

Those other seasons? Middle of the road to bottom of the pile.

So, point is, it's not all scheme and a change of scheme this year or next won't guarantee success. Emery is going to have to draft and trade his ass off to get this defense to even middle of the road. I can't really put it all on Tucker yet because of the talent he's dealing with.

BullHeaded · Post #14 » by **BullHeaded** » Thu Oct 24, 2013 2:42 pm

blumeany wrote:As good as Lovie's defense was, let's not forget a couple things:

1. It had its rough years.
2. It's effectiveness was HIGHLY dependent on personnel.

Bears Defensive rank in points allowed (because A. that's what it's all about and B. yards can be deceiving, particularly in the Tampa 2)"

2004 - 13th
2005 - 1st
2006 - 3rd
2007 - 16th
2008 - 16th
2009 - 21st
2010 - 4th
2011 - 14th
2012 - 3rd

So, out of 9 seasons under Lovie, we were a top 5 defense in 4 of them, with our best string of years being '05 and '06. Whose was on those defenses? Prime Urlacher, Briggs, and Tillman. Mike Brown and Chris Harris at safety. Nathan Vasher having career years at CB. Obunleye and Brown combining for 16 sacks (Urlacher had 6 SACKS in 05 as well). Tommie Harris was up the middle (3 sacks) with Tank Johnson who had 5 sacks that year. In '06, Mark Anderson had a breakout year with 12 SACKS! Harris had 5. Brown with 7, Ogun with 6.5. Even Ricky Manning?!!? had 2. Tank threw in 3.5.

Those other seasons? Middle of the road to bottom of the pile.

So, point is, it's not all scheme and a change of scheme this year or next won't guarantee success. Emery is going to have to draft and trade his ass off to get this defense to even middle of the road. I can't really put it all on Tucker yet because of the talent he's dealing with.

Great post. Not assigning blame to Tucker, but when you are scheduled to have the type of turnover this defense is about to have, it is the most opportune time to make sure you have the best guy at the top. You don't need to worry about a roster full of players re-learning a new scheme and you can target the best acquisitions for the new defense. If we end up getting 5-6 new starters who fit a defense we're not sure we want to keep another year later, that spells setback.

Susan · Post #15 » by **Susan** » Thu Oct 24, 2013 4:05 pm

bearadonisdna · Post #16 » by **bearadonisdna** » Fri Oct 25, 2013 10:09 am

urlacher.

MalikJoakim24 · Post #17 » by **MalikJoakim24** » Thu Oct 31, 2013 2:42 pm

Bring this guy back:

patryk7754 · Post #18 » by **patryk7754** » Thu Oct 31, 2013 6:17 pm

MnM24 wrote:Bring this guy back:

Why would he leave a head coaching job to be DC?

MalikJoakim24 · Post #19 » by **MalikJoakim24** » Fri Nov 1, 2013 1:44 am

patryk7754 wrote:
MnM24 wrote:Bring this guy back:

Why would he leave a head coaching job to be DC?

I heard he's getting canned

BullHeaded · Post #20 » by **BullHeaded** » Fri Nov 1, 2013 5:36 pm

MnM24 wrote:
patryk7754 wrote:
MnM24 wrote:Bring this guy back:

Why would he leave a head coaching job to be DC?

I heard he's getting canned

Before the season started, that was the word. Now that the Panthers are competing for an unexpected wild card berth and have a top five defense, do you still think this is the case? If so, he'd be my co-favorite with Jim Leavitt. I just don't think he's getting fired.