Ok so this is NOT a defense of Fox. However I keep seeing posts or references comparing Fox to Trestman and saying Fox has more talent to work with. Really? Tillman, Briggs, Peppers, Marshall, Forte, Bennett, Gould, etc. These were all players that Trestman had which Pace let walk or traded. While many of these names were not in their primes it's almost laughable that some would suggest their replacements are an upgrade.
We have the best Oline we had in years with Leno, Sitton, Whitehair, and Long.
We have a TE that equals the production of Bennett when it comes to receiving.
We have a young RB who can produce Forte type numbers.
The only thing we don't have is a WR like Marshall.
With defense we have 2 stud ILBs, some good to great OLBs, one hopefully up and coming OLB, and some great D-line players. The only question marks are secondary and Tillman was never the answer later on in his career with his injuries. We have a safety who was our last decent one since Mike Brown.
This team in my opinion has more talent than the 2013-2014 bears team.
I think it's not simply a talent issue here. I think it is BOTH a talent AND a coaching issue here.
I don't see how Talent is a problem. Lack of depth I agree with but we have talent all around the football field.
Coaching is a problem though.
How many All-Pro players? Zero. How many Pro-Bowl players will we have this year? Zero. How many true (and healthy) playmakers on this team right now? Maybe (if you really stretch it) we have 1 or 2.
And the most important position on the team - the franchise QB - is Jay Cutler.
Yes, coaching is a problem. But we have talent issues too. The talent needs an upgrade for sure.
Ok so this is NOT a defense of Fox. However I keep seeing posts or references comparing Fox to Trestman and saying Fox has more talent to work with. Really? Tillman, Briggs, Peppers, Marshall, Forte, Bennett, Gould, etc. These were all players that Trestman had which Pace let walk or traded. While many of these names were not in their primes it's almost laughable that some would suggest their replacements are an upgrade.
Briggs/Tillman were not the pro bowl lvl talent they were, shit Briggs was part of the problem as he had stopped trying.
Peppers was traded after the first year, and lets face it he wasn't playing like he is in GB.
He did have Marshal, Forte and Bennett, but Fox had Forte and Bennett for 1 year. Gould hasn't been Gould for about 3 years now.
Then again Bennett sucks and needed to be traded b/c Miller is a far better TE and Marty is a malcotent that destroys locker rooms; right seen how NE is falling apart w/him dropping all those passes and killing their locker room? Howard/Langford/Carey are better then Forte(as if that's even a fair equivalent), and right now barely true if at all.
But lets see what was added that Trestman didn't have Freeman/Danny T/McPhee/Floyd(all far better then the LB staff he had) Hicks/Goldman better then the DL he had Sitton/Whitehair/(Vetran Leno)/Long Better then the OL the Bears had only Massie is the weak link here.
WR's and RB TE were better, but I think that's it.
Overall I would still say that Fox has had better talent to work with in his second year than Trestman had. Injuries have had as much or more of an impact than talent. The bigger problem beyond that injuries is a lack of preparedness and a lack of consistency. Both tend to be blamed on poor coaching or poor game plans.
You really can't except that from this situation. Other team are suffering through major injuries too but aren't playing this poorly. The team has added player talent but the man in charge of getting them ready to play each week isn't. That's what's wrong.
We have the best Oline we had in years with Leno, Sitton, Whitehair, and Long.
We have a TE that equals the production of Bennett when it comes to receiving.
We have a young RB who can produce Forte type numbers.
The only thing we don't have is a WR like Marshall.
With defense we have 2 stud ILBs, some good to great OLBs, one hopefully up and coming OLB, and some great D-line players. The only question marks are secondary and Tillman was never the answer later on in his career with his injuries. We have a safety who was our last decent one since Mike Brown.
This team in my opinion has more talent than the 2013-2014 bears team.
We have the best Oline we had in years with Leno, Sitton, Whitehair, and Long.
We have a TE that equals the production of Bennett when it comes to receiving.
We have a young RB who can produce Forte type numbers.
The only thing we don't have is a WR like Marshall.
With defense we have 2 stud ILBs, some good to great OLBs, one hopefully up and coming OLB, and some great D-line players. The only question marks are secondary and Tillman was never the answer later on in his career with his injuries. We have a safety who was our last decent one since Mike Brown.
This team in my opinion has more talent than the 2013-2014 bears team.
We do?
No we don't. Not in Yards TD's, in rec's yes, but then again he has as many rec's as Marty has Targets. Bennett would be playing at a pro bowl lvl if he had the targets Miller has.
We could easily live with Miller if all else was going right. What does he have, one dropped catchable pass? I'll take that vs Marty's I run routes my way approach to TE. Miller's disciplined routes and his hands far exceed Marty's.