2015 NFL Offseason

[BBTV]

This was at Franklin Field in 1962. That's not really that long ago - can you imagine an NFL game with that backdrop today?

Heck, could you imagine a prime time, nationally televised game taking place there now?

Holy cow - that's amazing! And that turf! And that intro! And Marlboro! And the guy who looks like Dolemite!!!

[The_Admiral]

I can listen to Howard Cosell talk about anything.

Anyway, can't be disappointed with what the Bears are doing. They're acting like a real NFL operation, not Grandma's Football Shop. Now that they're over their stupid "no prior head coaches" rule, I feel like they're ready to make any number of thoughtful decisions for once.

[TheOldRoman]

Like I said, I had no problem with them having not hired an experienced coach. Mike McCarthy turned out much better for the Packers than Ray Rhodes. And hell, they could have done something like hire Rich Kotite or Bill Callahan.

But it seems like Fox is actually a good coach, and most of the time good, experienced coaches aren't free agents. The biggest change will be that he's been very good at hiring up-and-coming coordinators. He hires the right people, and people want to work for him. It'll be a huge departure from Trestman randomly picking an OL coach to be OC and Lovie seemingly intentionally hiring incompetent coordinators so he wasn't threatened.

[TheOldRoman]

It now looks like the Bears have hired Adam Gase as offensive coordinator. Wow. Everybody has said "Peyton Manning was the real OC of the Broncos," but still, he was highly thought of. Had the Niners not derped by promoting the ballboy to HC or the Broncos not coaxed Kubiak to come over, he likely would have had a head coaching job somewhere. Add him in with Vic Fangio, who is a greatly respected defensive mind, and this is a huge departure from the ne'er-do-wells the Bears have trotted out as coordinators the last 15+ years.

[CS85]

Bears have had their best offseason, personnel wise, I've experienced as a fan, but the road is long. They've got to make a decision on Cutler before March 12th, I believe, and it's pretty important to their cap. They don't have the roster to run a 3-4, still have a ton of bad contracts on their hands, and Pace will need to prove he can draft. Despite all those obstacles, the right people are in place, and for the first time in forever it looks like the Bears are competently run, in spite of the dopes above Pace.

[The_Admiral]

Like I said, I had no problem with them having not hired an experienced coach. Mike McCarthy turned out much better for the Packers than Ray Rhodes. And hell, they could have done something like hire Rich Kotite or Bill Callahan.

But it seems like Fox is actually a good coach, and most of the time good, experienced coaches aren't free agents. The biggest change will be that he's been very good at hiring up-and-coming coordinators. He hires the right people, and people want to work for him. It'll be a huge departure from Trestman randomly picking an OL coach to be OC and Lovie seemingly intentionally hiring incompetent coordinators so he wasn't threatened.

The other big change is that his personality is just that of a football coach. The McCaskeys kept hiring these flimsy pseudo-intellectual weirdos (coach and GM) to prove how sophisticated and worldly they are because they can't cope with the fact that they owe much of their wealth and privilege to Mike Ditka, a beer fart that thinks it's a person. Fox isn't Ditka because no one will be Ditka, but at least he resembles your basic concept of what a football coach is.

The Bears still won't be good because Trestman and Emery nuked the joint and the other three teams in their division are better than they are, but at least it'll get better.

[TheOldRoman]

The other big change is that his personality is just that of a football coach. The McCaskeys kept hiring these flimsy pseudo-intellectual weirdos (coach and GM) to prove how sophisticated and worldly they are because they can't cope with the fact that they owe much of their wealth and privilege to Mike Ditka, a beer fart that thinks it's a person. Fox isn't Ditka because no one will be Ditka, but at least he resembles your basic concept of what a football coach is.

I think you are romanticizing this hire too much. Lovie was plenty "coachly," and he was respected by his players. Dave Wannstedt was a football coach in his demeanor and appearance. In fact, if I'm casting a TV show or movie for football coach, I'm probably looking for someone who looks like him. But of course, he wasn't good at it. The Emery hire was maybe questionable in retrospect, but it wasn't completely out of left field like Trestman was. Emery made the decision to hire Trestman, presumably after they bonded discussing Dungeons & Dragons strategy, but I don't think the McCaskeys influenced him one way or another on the hire.

[dfwabel]

The Jim Tomsula Wikipedia page is taking such a beating

[The_Admiral]

The other big change is that his personality is just that of a football coach. The McCaskeys kept hiring these flimsy pseudo-intellectual weirdos (coach and GM) to prove how sophisticated and worldly they are because they can't cope with the fact that they owe much of their wealth and privilege to Mike Ditka, a beer fart that thinks it's a person. Fox isn't Ditka because no one will be Ditka, but at least he resembles your basic concept of what a football coach is.

I think you are romanticizing this hire too much. Lovie was plenty "coachly," and he was respected by his players. Dave Wannstedt was a football coach in his demeanor and appearance. In fact, if I'm casting a TV show or movie for football coach, I'm probably looking for someone who looks like him. But of course, he wasn't good at it. The Emery hire was maybe questionable in retrospect, but it wasn't completely out of left field like Trestman was. Emery made the decision to hire Trestman, presumably after they bonded discussing Dungeons & Dragons strategy, but I don't think the McCaskeys influenced him one way or another on the hire.

Lovie looks like Ditka next to Trestman, but just as we quickly forgot how generally competent his teams were, we also forgot that we pulled our hair out over his Quaalude-soaked press conferences and his passive sideline demeanor. Surely things that the weird McCaskeys liked, though not so much as the fact that he worked dirt-cheap on his first contract and was an observant Christian.

Can we agree that Dick Jauron was the McCaskeyest hire ever? Michael probably saw that he went to Yale and was like "oh, heavens me, what a good man" in his little eunuch whimper of a voice.

[TheOldRoman]

Surely things that the weird McCaskeys liked, though not so much as the fact that he worked dirt-cheap on his first contract and was an observant Christian.

Why do you have to say stuff like this? I'd imagine that most of people in football are Christian, and it wasn't like Lovie proselytized in press conferences. Furthermore, Trestman is Jewish.

But yes, Jauron was a very Michael McCaskey hire. But I'm not sure if he actually made the call on that one, since his botching of the Dave McGinnis hire lead to his mom firing him almost immediately.

[CS85]

Surely things that the weird McCaskeys liked, though not so much as the fact that he worked dirt-cheap on his first contract and was an observant Christian.

Why do you have to say stuff like this? I'd imagine that most of people in football are Christian, and it wasn't like Lovie proselytized in press conferences. Furthermore, Trestman is Jewish.

But yes, Jauron was a very Michael McCaskey hire. But I'm not sure if he actually made the call on that one, since his botching of the Dave McGinnis hire lead to his mom firing him almost immediately.

Pretty much my thoughts on Michael McCaskey.

[The_Admiral]

Surely things that the weird McCaskeys liked, though not so much as the fact that he worked dirt-cheap on his first contract and was an observant Christian.

Why do you have to say stuff like this?

The McCaskeys are devout Catholics and make it their business to let you know. You can't say it doesn't come into play.

[TheOldRoman]

Surely things that the weird McCaskeys liked, though not so much as the fact that he worked dirt-cheap on his first contract and was an observant Christian.

Why do you have to say stuff like this?

The McCaskeys are devout Catholics and make it their business to let you know. You can't say it doesn't come into play.

I don't read on the family that much, so I didn't know they were devout Catholics until a story mentioned it a few weeks back. But how did it come into play, and why would they hire a Jew directly afterwards? I don't know that Lovie is even Catholic, and like I said, it would probably be harder to find a non-Christian in football than a Christian. My point was more that you seem to make broad generalizations based on religion or project stereotypes, such as your whole "Reinsdorf is prolly racist because he's a Jew from New York" thing a while back.

[CS85]

Bears, as expected, bring in Adam Gase to be their offensive coordinator. I heard he interviewed quite poorly and came off as pompous, according to rumor, but the Bears could've done much worse.

Fantastic coaching staff in place.

Bears went from:

GM: Emery - charming doofus with a knack for bloviating & drafting poorly

HC: Trestman - nice man without a scrotum who has no idea how to coach an NFL team

OC: Kromer - glorified line coach who betrayed his team to media then cried about it, yet kept his job

DC: Tucker - fiery-yet-terrible coordinator who his own roster couldn't believe was retained in 2014

ST: DeCamillis - reasonably competent yet despised by former players/fans and failed to instill discipline whatsoever

to

GM: Pace - young star-in-the-making exec who's busted his ass so far

HC: Fox - old guard stupidly fired by prior team with a track record of success and merits instant league-wide respect

OC: Gase - projected head coach who was praised by players & peers, lateral move due to poor interviews

DC: Fangio - arguably best defensive coordinator in NFL who built a monster in San Francisco

ST: Rodgers - no-nonsense guy who values fundamentals

Nice start. Time will soon come to mangle the hell out of this abominable roster and draft the future.

[The_Admiral]

Yeah, this is very encouraging. My God, that first list of personnel is just appalling.

GM: Emery - charming doofus with a knack for bloviating & drafting poorly

Phil Emery: GM of the future?

Hahaha, maybe Phil Emery was just keeping the seat warm for goddamn Jay-Z to be the general manager. Was Bill Barnwell drinking antifreeze for breakfast?

[CS85]

Yeah, this is very encouraging. My God, that first list of personnel is just appalling.

GM: Emery - charming doofus with a knack for bloviating & drafting poorly

Phil Emery: GM of the future?

Hahaha, maybe Phil Emery was just keeping the seat warm for goddamn Jay-Z to be the general manager. Was Bill Barnwell drinking antifreeze for breakfast?

1. I'd never allow Phil Emery to re-introduce himself

2. Maybe Barnwell was captivated by Emery's cowboy boots

[FiddySicks]

Man, could the Niners have come out of this one looking any more braindead? It's gonna be a long and empty season at the overpriced house of pants.

[See Red]

Bears, as expected, bring in Adam Gase to be their offensive coordinator. I heard he interviewed quite poorly and came off as pompous, according to rumor, but the Bears could've done much worse.

Fantastic coaching staff in place.

Bears went from:

GM: Emery - charming doofus with a knack for bloviating & drafting poorly

HC: Trestman - nice man without a scrotum who has no idea how to coach an NFL team

OC: Kromer - glorified line coach who betrayed his team to media then cried about it, yet kept his job

DC: Tucker - fiery-yet-terrible coordinator who his own roster couldn't believe was retained in 2014

ST: DeCamillis - reasonably competent yet despised by former players/fans and failed to instill discipline whatsoever

to

GM: Pace - young star-in-the-making exec who's busted his ass so far

HC: Fox - old guard stupidly fired by prior team with a track record of success and merits instant league-wide respect

OC: Gase - projected head coach who was praised by players & peers, lateral move due to poor interviews

DC: Fangio - arguably best defensive coordinator in NFL who built a monster in San Francisco

ST: Rodgers - no-nonsense guy who values fundamentals

Nice start. Time will soon come to mangle the hell out of this abominable roster and draft the future.

I can't speak for the rest of the guys but I think Fox is somewhat overrated. His career record was hovering somewhere around .500 before Peyton Manning was his QB and his last five or six seasons in Carolina, save for one season I think, weren't all that pretty. But in a league where all the attractive hires seem to be retreads, the Bears could've done a lot worse. At some point, though, you will be driven insane by how conservatively he coaches.

Gase I would've liked to have seen stick around in Denver but he's not at all proven. He's spent the last three years as Peyton Manning's QB coach or offensive coordinator, which would be pretty difficult jobs to fail it.

[Kramerica Industries]

What John Fox has a track record of is landing in places and immediately turning defensive units around. His defense thrived in New York, then he got Carolina from the bottom of the league up towards the top for several years, and then he did the same in Denver. You could argue about personnel improvements made along the way, but he has a say in who to bring in and who not to, and defensive personnel is only as good as the way it is utilized (see: Darrelle Revis in Tampa Bay; ing Schiano).

If nothing else, the Bears defensive disaster should be better in 2015.

[CS85]

So much work to be done, though. Assuming they commit to the 3-4, there's basically nothing in place that will work. Ferguson, Ratliff, Bostic, Jones, and Fuller are basically all the Bears have talent-wise. Jared Allen could be a contract liability and wouldn't really fit the scheme, Willie Houston and the great Lamarr Houston are both coming off of season-ending leg injuries. McClellin isn't NFL talent and Paea will command too much money to play in a scheme that doesn't suit him.

I hope Pace and Cliff Stein enjoy wading knee-deep in the waters of Bad Contract Hell in order to desaturate this roster of filth.