BLOG: Listen to the Thunder pt. 3 - Rats on a Sinking Ship

[UOK]

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In the 3rd and final portion of this look back, the 2014 Bears sank to the bottom of the NFL thanks to collapses in every facet of the organization.

[Rusty Trombagent]

good stuff. you can always rope me in with a deadwood quote, put it at the beginning of the article next time.

the farther i get from phil emery, the more i think of him as a tragic figure. i think, where the team was when he took it over, that's rough. the roster wasnt just in shambles, but we were still very much the cult of lovie smith. the urlacher situation was probably never going to work out well (or to a lesser extent, the briggs situation or anyone else who considered lovie a surrogate father).

basically, phil emery died for our sins.

[Hematite]

Sweet Jesus, we as fans have endured a lot!

[botfly10]

no?

[Mikefive]

The sickening part is that at least in terms of results, we've been worse the last 2 years with 8 wins than we were in the Trestman era. Now that's an oversimplification without context, but even so, it's still nauseating to consider that those teams with those coaches outperformed the last 2 Bears teams with their coaches.

Maybe that's my way of asking for a part 4 write up on the John Fox era.

Excellent writing as always.

[UOK]

good stuff. you can always rope me in with a deadwood quote, put it at the beginning of the article next time.

the farther i get from phil emery, the more i think of him as a tragic figure. i think, where the team was when he took it over, that's rough. the roster wasnt just in shambles, but we were still very much the cult of lovie smith. the urlacher situation was probably never going to work out well (or to a lesser extent, the briggs situation or anyone else who considered lovie a surrogate father).

basically, phil emery died for our sins.

I'm actually considering writing up a brief post about Deadwood, and what makes it my favorite show ever, in addition to how disappointing the primary plot of the 3rd season was, as well as the totally unfulfilling ending.

I have no soft spot for Phil Emery at all. It was he infinitely more than Trestman who fucked up the Bears in his 3 years as GM. Trestman was embarrassing and wimpy, but he had some idea of what he was doing, but was the worst possible guy at the worst possible time. He would've been awesome if he was OC during the Jauron years.

The sickening part is that at least in terms of results, we've been worse the last 2 years with 8 wins than we were in the Trestman era. Now that's an oversimplification without context, but even so, it's still nauseating to consider that those teams with those coaches outperformed the last 2 Bears teams with their coaches.

Maybe that's my way of asking for a part 4 write up on the John Fox era.

Excellent writing as always.

There's really not a 3-part story to tell regarding the Fox days, especially since we've only just left them behind. Not saying that Fox didn't deserve to be fired; good riddance. It was more that time will be a bit kinder to him once we get a distance away from the short-term frustrations and respect the return to mild respectability he somewhat restored.

[Richie]

Unfortunately, we're still living in the aftermath of that season. IMO

This organization has changed a lot of faces and done some good things to position themselves for the future. However, we have yet to turn the page on this dark post-Lovie chapter.

Perhaps the Nagy hiring did and we just don't know it yet? Let us hope.

[Richie]

The sickening part is that at least in terms of results, we've been worse the last 2 years with 8 wins than we were in the Trestman era. Now that's an oversimplification without context, but even so, it's still nauseating to consider that those teams with those coaches outperformed the last 2 Bears teams with their coaches.

Maybe that's my way of asking for a part 4 write up on the John Fox era.

Excellent writing as always.

In the Fox era, the only thing worth noting is probably the Thanksgiving Lambeau win and a brief glimpse of hope during that month or so period in 2015.

Other than that, you can basically just sum it up as the bridge period from Cutler/Trestman to Trubisky/Nagy.

It has taken us 3 years to move on from the Trestman/Emery mess and actually position ourselves to take a step forward.

The Fox era just felt like we had one foot in the future and one foot still in the past. Finally, it actually feels like we've hit the "reset" button and have a clean slate.

Maybe things don't get better... and the Pace/Nagy/Trubisky era is also short-lived. However, at the very least -- it feels like we're treading new ground. Which is refreshing.

[Wounded Bear]

Other than that, you can basically just sum it up as the bridge period from Cutler/Trestman to Trubisky/Nagy.

Yeah, that sounds about right.

[ramentaschen]

The sickening part is that at least in terms of results, we've been worse the last 2 years with 8 wins than we were in the Trestman era. Now that's an oversimplification without context, but even so, it's still nauseating to consider that those teams with those coaches outperformed the last 2 Bears teams with their coaches.

Maybe that's my way of asking for a part 4 write up on the John Fox era.

Excellent writing as always.

In the Fox era, the only thing worth noting is probably the Thanksgiving Lambeau win and a brief glimpse of hope during that month or so period in 2015.

Other than that, you can basically just sum it up as the bridge period from Cutler/Trestman to Trubisky/Nagy.

It has taken us 3 years to move on from the Trestman/Emery mess and actually position ourselves to take a step forward.

The Fox era just felt like we had one foot in the future and one foot still in the past. Finally, it actually feels like we've hit the "reset" button and have a clean slate.

Maybe things don't get better... and the Pace/Nagy/Trubisky era is also short-lived. However, at the very least -- it feels like we're treading new ground. Which is refreshing.

well said Richie

[ramentaschen]

excellent write up of a terrible era for Bears fans


thanks UOK

[The Marshall Plan]

The sickening part is that at least in terms of results, we've been worse the last 2 years with 8 wins than we were in the Trestman era. Now that's an oversimplification without context, but even so, it's still nauseating to consider that those teams with those coaches outperformed the last 2 Bears teams with their coaches.

Maybe that's my way of asking for a part 4 write up on the John Fox era.

Excellent writing as always.

In the Fox era, the only thing worth noting is probably the Thanksgiving Lambeau win and a brief glimpse of hope during that month or so period in 2015.

Other than that, you can basically just sum it up as the bridge period from Cutler/Trestman to Trubisky/Nagy.

It has taken us 3 years to move on from the Trestman/Emery mess and actually position ourselves to take a step forward.

The Fox era just felt like we had one foot in the future and one foot still in the past. Finally, it actually feels like we've hit the "reset" button and have a clean slate.

Maybe things don't get better... and the Pace/Nagy/Trubisky era is also short-lived. However, at the very least -- it feels like we're treading new ground. Which is refreshing.

One of the things that really held us back when Fox was here was the transition at QB. Jay Cutler was on the decline and we didn't address QB until Fox's last year when we drafted Biscuit and that's a 2-3 year project. Too little too late.

Obviously there were other factors (Glennon, play calling, one dimensional offense, injuries, defense coming into its own, revolving door at kicker after Gould), but the QB situation shouldn't be left out of this.

[Richie]

The sickening part is that at least in terms of results, we've been worse the last 2 years with 8 wins than we were in the Trestman era. Now that's an oversimplification without context, but even so, it's still nauseating to consider that those teams with those coaches outperformed the last 2 Bears teams with their coaches.

Maybe that's my way of asking for a part 4 write up on the John Fox era.

Excellent writing as always.

In the Fox era, the only thing worth noting is probably the Thanksgiving Lambeau win and a brief glimpse of hope during that month or so period in 2015.

Other than that, you can basically just sum it up as the bridge period from Cutler/Trestman to Trubisky/Nagy.

It has taken us 3 years to move on from the Trestman/Emery mess and actually position ourselves to take a step forward.

The Fox era just felt like we had one foot in the future and one foot still in the past. Finally, it actually feels like we've hit the "reset" button and have a clean slate.

Maybe things don't get better... and the Pace/Nagy/Trubisky era is also short-lived. However, at the very least -- it feels like we're treading new ground. Which is refreshing.

One of the things that really held us back when Fox was here was the transition at QB. Jay Cutler was on the decline and we didn't address QB until Fox's last year when we drafted Biscuit and that's a 2-3 year project. Too little too late.

Obviously there were other factors (Glennon, play calling, one dimensional offense, injuries, defense coming into its own, revolving door at kicker after Gould), but the QB situation shouldn't be left out of this.

It was an awkward situation with Cutler's contract still having two years left of guaranteed cash on it. Then, after 2015... I think there's a chance that Pace was genuinely intrigued by his performance that season and wanted to see what Jay would do in 2016.

I'm not excusing the fact that we didn't address QB earlier. Rather simply attempting to put some rationale behind the decision.

[MrPrettyBoyFancyLad]

not only that, i think there were better years, years that offered more qb talent, that would've been more advantageous to go after a qb.

[Richie]

not only that, i think there were better years, years that offered more qb talent, that would've been more advantageous to go after a qb.

Interesting, but... we weren't drafting QB at any point from 09 through 14. We just weren't. We were firmly committed to Cutler in those years. Especially with Cutler under his initial contract through 2013 and the team competitive with him out there. It just wasn't going to happen... it wasn't going to happen in 14 either, just months after his big extension. Hindsight is 20/20... but regardless of what you think of Cutler, it didn't make any sense. We had committed to him.

That really just leaves 15 and 16. In those years, Winston/Mariota and Goff/Wentz went #1 and #2. We didn't pick until the latter part of the top ten. Paxton Lynch also went #26 in 2016. Then, we took Trubisky in 2017.

So, the only 1st round QB that we legitimately passed on was Lynch (I think we're all cool with that). TB was very set on Winston, and it would seem that Tennessee felt similarly about Mariota (despite draft day reports we were interested). That really just leaves Wentz and Goff as the guys we MAY have been able to trade up for. I don't know if we had the firepower to pull it off... I don't know that we should have.

Wentz seems like the only true/confirmed hit out of those four. Goff had a very nice year, but I think he still has a good deal to prove.

I'm kind of just okay with how it played out.

I actually see more of an argument for waiting until this (2018) draft class to select a QB. As it is stocked with QB's projected to go in the 1st round. This is initially what I thought we were doing when we signed Glennon.

[MrPrettyBoyFancyLad]

i wanted Lynch. i really did. i am relieved Pace decided not to go after him.

[The Marshall Plan]

not only that, i think there were better years, years that offered more qb talent, that would've been more advantageous to go after a qb.

Interesting, but... we weren't drafting QB at any point from 09 through 14. We just weren't. We were firmly committed to Cutler in those years. Especially with Cutler under his initial contract through 2013 and the team competitive with him out there. It just wasn't going to happen... it wasn't going to happen in 14 either, just months after his big extension. Hindsight is 20/20... but regardless of what you think of Cutler, it didn't make any sense. We had committed to him.

That really just leaves 15 and 16. In those years, Winston/Mariota and Goff/Wentz went #1 and #2. We didn't pick until the latter part of the top ten. Paxton Lynch also went #26 in 2016. Then, we took Trubisky in 2017.

So, the only 1st round QB that we legitimately passed on was Lynch (I think we're all cool with that). TB was very set on Winston, and it would seem that Tennessee felt similarly about Mariota (despite draft day reports we were interested). That really just leaves Wentz and Goff as the guys we MAY have been able to trade up for. I don't know if we had the firepower to pull it off... I don't know that we should have.

Wentz seems like the only true/confirmed hit out of those four. Goff had a very nice year, but I think he still has a good deal to prove.

I'm kind of just okay with how it played out.

I actually see more of an argument for waiting until this (2018) draft class to select a QB. As it is stocked with QB's projected to go in the 1st round. This is initially what I thought we were doing when we signed Glennon.

And in a way that's exactly how the situation should've played out. The worst thing in football is that 7-9 to 9-7 range where you're never really competitive but then you're never really rebuilding either because the draft position isn't there and the team could be in cap hell.

At least over the past few seasons our record has been bad enough to get good draft position (which Pace has done a good job on) and our cap situation is good. It's not perfect, but after we cut Glennon, McPhee and a couple others we're great.

This offseason has me the most excited in years. New head coach from an Andy Reid program that churns out good HCs. Fangio is retained. Biscuit year 2. #8 pick. Good salary cap standing with free agents to be had that can help. For me that's Landry, Janikowski and Austin (if the Rams cut him).

[MrPrettyBoyFancyLad]

well, i'm so pleased we got by that piece of shit, cutler, but i'm not yet totally sold on trubisky. on one hand, he's shown that he makes good decisions by avoiding bad, bone-headed, forced errors like jay cutler, but in that training wheels of an offense we ran last year, i couldn't get a bead on whether he really possessed dynamic talent at qb or no.

if trubisky doesn't advance this year, i would be up for doing this whole going after a qb again in 2019, although pace may lose a job in the meantime since he's made his stand on trubisky hill.