Chicago Bears midseason report card: D plus

At 2-6 I really don't know how you could grade the results any higher so you'd have to lift the lid on specific performances and also on who or what to place the blame on for that start.  I can do that to a degree.

Some would like to give more grace for all of the injuries we've sustained.  I won't and I'll be happy to say why.  First of all we were pretty healthy going into game one and yet the team played like it was still preseason.  Obvious poor game planning and preparation and a failure to make any half time adjustments in a game we were winning at halftime smack of poor coaching and that is on John Fox.  Game two wasn't much different.  In it at the half out of it by the end of the 3rd quarter.

Then there's the "next man up theory" which in our case actually was nothing but a theory.

So no, Foxy Loxy won't get a pass on all that from me or his christley poor personnel decisions like Lameford over Howard and Carey, or Floyd over Houston, and White over Meredith and most of all for being at the bottom of a QB controversy that should never have begun in the first place.  I really don't get why guys think he's so great and want to play for him when he backs his vet starters as poorly as he has.  Can I give him an F- ?

Fangio is still managing to somehow pull rabbits out of hats keeping us in games with a banged up defense until they get worn out from being on the field too much.  Too little depth and not enough top shelf talent yet but somehow he manages. Loggains is better than I thought he was earlier and much better when he has a full set of tools to work with and a HC who isn't kibitzing or handcuffing his schemes and play calling.  IMHO for 7 games he was simply giving his boss what his boss asked for which was to play not to lose so he did and we lost anyway.  Monday night was obviously very different.

The unit grades can stand because they're commensurate with the results.  Great efforts don't count in the W/L column but there were some and I think those were covered pretty well.  The bigger problem is we can't have just four or five standout players out of 22 plus a PK,a Punter, and a return specialist.  We need more than that.

So we turn a corner now and play our second season.  Any hope the Fox will be able to point to progress will have to come from the next 8 games because only 1 of the first 7 showed any.  Let's see where we stand in late December as far as both the offense and defense are concerned and more importantly have Fox and Cutler done enough individually at their jobs to have earned another year.

Agree w/all of that Belliot. That's nothing against Young, he's been fine, but only 2 guys have really stood out on Def every week, Hicks and Freeman.

Howard might have been a O standout if he had gotten to start wk 1, but he didn't, got to give him more time, in that sense Whitehair/Sitton both are the standouts on the O side.


I'd give the O a D- and the Def a C-. The Def is 16th in ppg. Bears O is dead last in ppg, so I think D- is probably being gracious, it's only their ability to move the ball that keeps them from a complete fail.

Hawk, isn't that about the same has a guy having a good job, a nice car, he dresses well, and has a great looking beard and $50 razor cut but he always goes home from the bars alone and never gets laid? 

It's kinda like saying we always do just enough to lose ya know.

I gotta side with belli and ric on this one.  Those stats don't mean much because we played worse than the stats indicate on both sides of the ball.  There's lots of non-productive yardage in those stats.  Yards that didn't result in a score or in a FG rather than a TD.  That second deal is huge.  That's another 4 points per FG ending drive.

Defensively we've cratered at time in the second half or later in the 4th Q when we didn't have an offense that could recover.  We've struggled getting off the field on 3rd and 4th down.  Hell the one TD Minny did get came on a 4th and long pass where we should have either buried Bradford or had better coverage or both.  We've actually given up a lot of plays like that.

There's good stats and bad stats just like kind words with no good deeds behind them.

I don't think his read on the defense is all that good either.  Game in game out Freeman has been the rock.  Hicks won't get the ink Willie gets but he's been just as important as far as holding and understaffed DL togther while Goldman heals.  Still 6 sacks in just 4 starts playing in a rotation is some great play and he can do that when he's fired up.  I don't know where he gets the part about playing the run has never been his strength though.  That's not correct.

It's a hit and miss piece with a lot of crap thrown up by a guy who see things all that well but whether you want to give them and F or a D or a D- or whatever to not be at least 4-4 now is pretty criminal in my book.  It's kinda like rating how dead someone is.