2011 NFL Season

[GFB]

It must be awful to be a fan of such an incompetent organization. When was the last time the Bears played a meaningful game?

Meaningful games and organizational incompetence are not mutually exclusive, cognitively dissonant as it may seem. The Bears are a bumbling shoestring operation that wins roughly more than it loses in spite of itself, perpetuating the pervasive go-for-the-bronze mentality that allows the team in Green Bay to run a better organization than the team in the world-class city in every quantifiable and unquantifiable aspect.

Well, it must be more mutually exclusive than you are making out to be, because my Lions haven't exactly bumbled their way into any Super Bowls or Championship games in the last 50 years (more or less), let alone two appearances in the last 5 years.

The Bears may not be the Packers or Steelers from an organizational viewpoint, but they are far from being (historically) the Lions, Browns, Bengals, Chiefs, Dolphins, etc... I hate to imagine the whining coming out of Chicago if the Bears suddenly became the Bengals for the next 30 years. So you're having one down year where you might be slightly terrible (which you're not). You are 2-3 with a cakewalk of a schedule coming up in the second half, yet Bears fans act like they've just struck the iceberg.

[CS85]

Obviously in perspective to other franchises, it sounds brash to make such a huge complaint about the team I love. However, just because the Bears have had their shares of success over the years doesn't mean I'm exempt from being irate with them. Their regular season records/division titles/etc are on paper, but to watch how this team is managed off the field and to see the continuously frustrating product on the field warrants vocalizing my disdain.

[BBTV]

So the Eagles are contemplating bringing in a defensive "consultant"? WTF did they think when they made the offensive line coach the defensive coordinator? Seriously, we all knew back in February that this was a disaster waiting to happen.

I have no idea how you can trust a man who can't even manage his own body, let alone his own family, to manage an entire football operation. He's a failure as a father, and he's just going to end up having a heart attack or getting diabetes so it's probably time for him to go and focus on things more important than football.

[Saintsfan]

I have no idea how you can trust a man who can't even manage his own body, let alone his own family, to manage an entire football operation. He's a failure as a father, and he's just going to end up having a heart attack or getting diabetes so it's probably time for him to go and focus on things more important than football.

The tone of that comment is a bit over the top. Imperfect people can be good coaches. And Reid has been a good coach.

That being said, since McNabb was kicked out of Philadelphia, Reid has been on borrowed time. (And in fairness noone now would say that was a bad decision). He doesn't have anyone else to blame for a lack of a title now.

[TheOldRoman]

I have no idea how you can trust a man who can't even manage his own body, let alone his own family, to manage an entire football operation. He's a failure as a father, and he's just going to end up having a heart attack or getting diabetes so it's probably time for him to go and focus on things more important than football.

The tone of that comment is a bit over the top. Imperfect people can be good coaches. And Reid has been a good coach.

That being said, since McNabb was kicked out of Philadelphia, Reid has been on borrowed time. (And in fairness noone now would say that was a bad decision). He doesn't have anyone else to blame for a lack of a title now.

Don't you get it? That's the charm of BBTV. Pulling the "I'm not a real 'sports fan' because I'm too cool for school" card while wishing serious injury on a coach or pitcher in the next sentence.

[TheOldRoman]

At least Chicago's moving the ball themselves this drive.

EDIT- also it seems Cutler's replaced Farve as the media's new darling qb.

Seriously? Where have you heard/read that? All I have read is how he was a baby and a whiny bitch for asking out of the football paradise that is Denver, he is a terrible teammate, he doesn't care about the games, he's not a leader, he isn't tough enough, he doesn't want to win, as evidenced by his bad fundamentals, he is lazy, it's his fault for getting sacked because he doesn't throw the ball away, he quit on his team, etc. Honestly, the media picks on Cutler more than any current QB. At least they have a love/hate relationship with Romo, and will revert to fellating him after he has a good game. When the hell has the media ever overhyped Cutler?

And for the imbeciles such as Trent Dilfer who blame Cutler for not throwing the ball away, that argument shows complete ignorance of the Bears. He is hit on half of his pass attempts! If he were to throw the ball away everytime he felt heat, the Bears wouldn't score and his statline would be 4/25 for 30 yards.

[IceCap]

Just what I picked up from the Monday Night game. The announce crew seemed to be going out of their way to praise him. I get that he was pressured the whole night, and that he didn't really have an opportunity to play his best game, and that warrants a mention. It just seems like they went out of their way to remind us that Jay Cutler is a fantastic quarterback, no really we're serious.

[TheOldRoman]

Just what I picked up from the Monday Night game. The announce crew seemed to be going out of their way to praise him. I get that he was pressured the whole night, and that he didn't really have an opportunity to play his best game, and that warrants a mention. It just seems like they went out of their way to remind us that Jay Cutler is a fantastic quarterback, no really we're serious.

I think it was warranted. It bears mentioning that all he has is a really good RB. He has the worst offensive line and the worst receiving corps in football. Seriously. I challenge anyone to come up with a worse unit on any team. His leading receiver is a rookie undrafted free agent. They have two specialteamers at receiver and their starters (Knox/Hester) are the same player - a 4th receiver. Other than the injured Carimi (who will be great), the offensive line is made up of a mediocre Roberto Garza and guys who wouldn't make but one or two other rosters. The fact that Cutler was moving the ball at all is damn near miraculous. I thought it was nice that they pointed out how hard he had it and how good he was playing. Unfortunately, those points will fall on deaf ears in terms of football "experts" blaming him for getting sacked and blowhard fans who will blame him for the loss. I would prefer they announcers broke down every play like that and blamed linemen for missing blocks, blamed receivers for dropping passes or batting them up to get picked, blamed Johnny Knox for cutting off a route because he got a tiny bump, etc. But no, we get Joe Buck smugly blaming Cutler for "overthrowing" a receiver when that receiver cut off his route because he didn't know the damn play. We get Cutler being blame for overthrowing a receiver when the ball hits him in the hands.

[BlueSky]

Pretty good line in PFT's power rankings:

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15. Buccaneers (No. 8; 3-2): Instead of wearing the throwback creamsicles against the Niners, the Bucs opted to play like those teams instead.

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[DCDuck]

I have no idea how you can trust a man who can't even manage his own body, let alone his own family, to manage an entire football operation.

[NEW.ERA]

I have no idea how you can trust a man who can't even manage his own body, let alone his own family, to manage an entire football operation.

I could be wrong, but at least Madden didn't have a crazy son or sons?

[DCDuck]

I have no idea how you can trust a man who can't even manage his own body, let alone his own family, to manage an entire football operation.

I could be wrong, but at least Madden didn't have a crazy son or sons?

Meh, Madden has always been on the "chunky" side.

As for family, I don't know how someone can expect a man to be able to watch his adult sons like a hawk while being coach of a professional football organization. I always felt that bringing up that incident was a cheap shot at Andy Reid and another excuse for Eagles fans to hate him. Plenty of other people have family issues, and that's without having to spend 16 hours a day on the job seven days a week.

Yeah, we get it, Eagles fans. Reid is not "one of you". He's not the fire-and-brimstone tough guy you all yearn for. Mike Singletary and Denny Green are both available, why don't you go hire one of them? You'll finish 7-9 every year, but hey, at least you can say your coach isn't "soft".

[FiddySicks]

Tony Dingy must be an awful coach then...

Seriously, not a good argument, BBTV. Some of the most successful people in their fields have horribly screwed up family lives. it doesn't always translate directly over.

[ninersdd]

Yeah, we get it, Eagles fans. Reid is not "one of you". He's not the fire-and-brimstone tough guy you all yearn for. Mike Singletary and Denny Green are both available, why don't you go hire one of them? You'll finish 7-9 every year, but hey, at least you can say your coach isn't "soft".

Then Vick and co. can see Singletary drop his pants when they're losing. Denny Green would probably have had a heart attack by now at the press conferences if he were their coach.

[BBTV]

I have no idea how you can trust a man who can't even manage his own body, let alone his own family, to manage an entire football operation.

I could be wrong, but at least Madden didn't have a crazy son or sons?

Meh, Madden has always been on the "chunky" side.

As for family, I don't know how someone can expect a man to be able to watch his adult sons like a hawk while being coach of a professional football organization. I always felt that bringing up that incident was a cheap shot at Andy Reid and another excuse for Eagles fans to hate him. Plenty of other people have family issues, and that's without having to spend 16 hours a day on the job seven days a week.

Yeah, we get it, Eagles fans. Reid is not "one of you". He's not the fire-and-brimstone tough guy you all yearn for. Mike Singletary and Denny Green are both available, why don't you go hire one of them? You'll finish 7-9 every year, but hey, at least you can say your coach isn't "soft".

He doesn't have to spend 16 hours a day on the job seven days a week. We treat these coaches like they're surgeons or doing something really important - what are they possibly innovating or inventing that forces them to spend that many hours on the job? And if his children are in such dire straights and he chooses to continue to spend 16 hours a day on the job, then that says something about the man. You need to have priorities in life - he had made enough money years ago to support his family for life. For some reason he chooses his team and cheeseburgers over them.

[DCDuck]

He doesn't have to spend 16 hours a day on the job seven days a week. We treat these coaches like they're surgeons or doing something really important - what are they possibly innovating or inventing that forces them to spend that many hours on the job? And if his children are in such dire straights and he chooses to continue to spend 16 hours a day on the job, then that says something about the man. You need to have priorities in life - he had made enough money years ago to support his family for life. For some reason he chooses his team and cheeseburgers over them.

If he was spending 8 hours a day on the job, like a "normal person", I'm willing to bet you and half of Eagles Nation would start questioning his work ethic. Being a NFL head coach involves long hours. Film study, practice, meetings with the media, meetings with assistant coaches, et cetera.

And yes, Bucfan56 brings up an excellent point. Nobody uses Tony Dungy's son as evidence that the man is a bad coach, Super Bowl ring or not. Because honestly, if you compare Dungy's resume with Reid's, the only difference is that Dungy has won a Super Bowl while Reid has not. Who else has family issues? What about Bill Belichick's 19-year-old son getting probation for a drug conviction? Any talk about how he's made terrible decisions in life or how he's a poor example of a human being? No. Didn't think so.

Your statements sound more like you don't realize just how much work, time and effort are required to be a NFL head coach. Because if you did, you simply wouldn't have said what you did. It's patently false. But instead you try to make Andy Reid's personal life into some sort of logical reason that he can't coach the Eagles.

[infrared41]

He doesn't have to spend 16 hours a day on the job seven days a week. We treat these coaches like they're surgeons or doing something really important - what are they possibly innovating or inventing that forces them to spend that many hours on the job?

16 hours a day? Is that all? What, is Reid some sort of pansy? Real football coaches spend at least 18 to 20 hours a day on the job.

Seriously though, I agree 100% with what you're saying. I've always wondered why football coaches have to work 20 hour days. You hear announcers and talking heads blabbering on about how "Coach X shows up at the team facility at 4am and he doesn't leave until 3am" as if it's a good thing. It takes 8 coaches (or however many each team has) 120 hours each to prepare for a sixty minute football game?

Not to mention, how in the hell can anyone be effective at anything when they're operating on three hours of sleep per night? It's no wonder football coaches behave like idiots during games. Either someone is lying about the hours these guys put in, or these coaches are are spending a good deal of those 20 hours a day taking naps in their offices. No way can a human being go 20 weeks (more if you make the playoffs) on 20-25 hours of sleep per week.

I've always said that it takes a special kind of idiot to be a football coach.

[BBTV]

He doesn't have to spend 16 hours a day on the job seven days a week. We treat these coaches like they're surgeons or doing something really important - what are they possibly innovating or inventing that forces them to spend that many hours on the job?

16 hours a day? Is that all? What, is Reid some sort of pansy? Real football coaches spend at least 18 to 20 hours a day on the job.

Seriously though, I agree 100% with what you're saying. I've always wondered why football coaches have to work 20 hour days. You hear announcers and talking heads blabbering on about how "Coach X shows up at the team facility at 4am and he doesn't leave until 3am" as if it's a good thing. It takes 8 coaches (or however many each team has) 120 hours each to prepare for a sixty minute football game?

Not to mention, how in the hell can anyone be effective at anything when they're operating on three hours of sleep per night? It's no wonder football coaches behave like idiots during games. Either someone is lying about the hours these guys put in, or these coaches are are spending a good deal of those 20 hours a day taking naps in their offices. No way can a human being go 20 weeks (more if you make the playoffs) on 20-25 hours of sleep per week.

I've always said that it takes a special kind of idiot to be a football coach.

Right. Other extreme statements aside, I'm serious about the 16-hour thing. They used to talk about how Dick Vermiel slept at the Vet and saw his wife once or twice a week. That's an indication of a social or mental problem, not job dedication. I understand loving your job and wanting to figure things out, but we seriously put coaches up on a ridiculously-high pedestal.

I can't comment on the Dungy situation or any of those other coaches because I don't really know much about them, but having lived here and watching the situation with Reid's kids play out, I have little respect for him as a man and as a father. It's not even that I care so much because I'm not a "rah rah" fan, but his arrogance and belittlement of the media is frustrating to listen to week-in and week-out.

[Mings]

No way can a human being go 20 weeks (more if you make the playoffs) on 20-25 hours of sleep per week.

I've been doing that for 5 year now (well closer to 30 hours, although I'm rocking 12 hours from Friday-today this week). Architecture majors are hardcore.

Now for football related, how about those Bengals? Heck yes! Who Dey!

[Lights Out]

What always cracks me up is that according to the media, every head coach works these insane hours, but we still have the Rich Kotites and Josh McDanielses of the world coaching NFL teams. That suggests to me that the ridiculous hours are a product of institutionalized inefficiency, not any groundbreaking work on the game of football.