Are You Ready for Some Football

[Imran Siddiqui]

[q=rah]So while his mental skills may improve, the physical package isn't going to and I'd hate to put the years into developing someone who I can't see being succesfull in the long haul. Back to the drawing board. [/q]

On another forum I saw a point made that the Bears have a SuperBowl championship quality team RIGHT NOW. With free agency and the cap, there is a very small window for teams to win the SuperBowl (unless you are incredibly good at identifying talent or scheming game plans). The Bears can't wait for Grossman to develop, because who knows how many star players will be priced out.

It's a solid theory, but I'm not sure who is available. Though I still wonder why Griese didn't get more snaps.

Oh, and rah . Always classy and respectful, all the while being proud of your team (though I don't bear ill will towards Sava as much, 'cause I know half the time he's doing it to get a rise out of other people).

[mrmitchell]

Congrats Colts.

Congrats Imran. If I was off, at least I was way off. But with your pick, the only possibility I had to win was picking the Bears. Not that it changed my mind, I genuinely was going for them before and after I read your posts.

[Frozzy]

On another forum I saw a point made that the Bears have a SuperBowl championship quality team RIGHT NOW. With free agency and the cap, there is a very small window for teams to win the SuperBowl (unless you are incredibly good at identifying talent or scheming game plans). The Bears can't wait for Grossman to develop, because who knows how many star players will be priced out.

The Colts have had a Super Bowl calibre team for the past four years, the Patriots for four... those are two of the best run organisations in the game, and it is difficult to name many others similar in the modern era. The fact there are only two shows how difficult it is to keep a competitive team going

[Lord Avalon]

I will say this: Peyton did cut that meat!

Ack! Thppbbt!

[Jaguar]

The Bears have a shorter Super Bowl window than the Colts and Patriots. The reason is fairly simple: it takes longer to disassemble a great offense than it takes to disassemble a great defense.

Look at the Packers in the 1990s, for example. They had a top ten offense every year, simply because they had Brett Favre. The Colts are competitive every year because they have Peyton Manning.

On offense, a single great quarterback can create an instant offense. Tom Brady has a fairly pedestrian supporting cast full of guys like Jabar Gaffney and Patrick Pass. The Patriots still have a good offense, though, and they can depend on having a decent offense for years to come. Why? Because they have Brady locked up.

With a great defense, or even a good one, the removal of one or two players can cause the whole thing to fall apart. For example, it wasn't so long ago that the Titans had a great defense. Then they became horrible when they lost Samari Rolle and Jevon Kearse. Now they're becoming good again.

A more current example: just look at the Bears. If they had Brown and Harris on the field yesterday, would Dominic Rhodes have run all over them? Would Wayne have gotten past the two deep safeties? I doubt it. The point is that when a great defense loses a player or two, it can lose a lot of effectiveness very quickly.

Lance Briggs, anyone? If they lose him, that alone might make the defense regress to mediocrity. In the Tampa 2, the WLB is the most important player. (The original player to fill that role was future Hall of Famer Derrick Brooks.)

On defense, you can't win with a single great player. The Bears defense relies on about four players (say, Harris, Vasher, Urlacher, and Briggs) to be great. Not only that, but it also depends on some good players, like the defensive ends and Tank Johnson and Mike Brown. And it also depends on the fairly average, Hunter Hillenmeyer-type players to play decently. That's why it's much easier to cannibalize a great defense in free agency, and that's why the Bears have a short window.

It's to their credit that they've put together such an incredible defense, but their window to come up with a decent offense will be very short. It might even be already gone.

[Flubber]

Now that football is over, do you guys focus on hockey or basketball? I know that I take in football with Hockey but in the summer when there is neither, I pretty much just go BBQ annd whatnot

[b etor]

hockey.
basketball

[Flubber]

Originally posted by b etor
hockey.
basketball

Excellent !! a woman with good taste in sports !!

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Flubber
Now that football is over, do you guys focus on hockey or basketball? I know that I take in football with Hockey but in the summer when there is neither, I pretty much just go BBQ annd whatnot

I don't like basketball. I watch hockey. But I start watching European soccer .

Oh, Jag, nice analysis. I agree that defense is a much harder side of the ball to build. And the loss of one or two players can really impact a great defense. When Tommy Harris went down, the Bears run defense definitely suffered.

[b etor]

b etor being referred to as a woman rather than an FBI person.

[Donegeal]

Originally posted by Flubber
Now that football is over, do you guys focus on hockey or basketball? I know that I take in football with Hockey but in the summer when there is neither, I pretty much just go BBQ annd whatnot

FOOTBALL IS NEVER OVER!!!!!!! It's just moved into a different phase. This phase is called "Off-season".

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Donegeal


FOOTBALL IS NEVER OVER!!!!!!! It's just moved into a different phase. This phase is called "Off-season".

So I take it you spend 6 hours each weekend ruminating on potential trades or draft picks?


See the light-- watch hockey!! Faster and harder hitting and they even sometimes fight !!

[SlowwHand]

The draft. Come on April!

[Jaguar]

Colts take LB or DT in the first round. Maybe DB if they feel like it, but probably not.

No second rounder, because they traded that for Booger McFarland. Third round, probably another defensive pick, unless they want to partake of this year's excellent WR class. I could see Johnnie Lee Higgins Jr of UT El Paso, or Steve Smith of USC being available late 3rd.

Possible free agents are Freeney, Harper, June, and Rhodes, and they're pretty close up against the cap. My best guess is that they find a way to keep Freeney, let Harper and June go, and keep Rhodes only if he will stay for the vet minimum.

[Drake Tungsten]

Who cares about the draft? National Letter of Intent day is on Wednesday...