I think it's apparent now that we wasted a couple years with the end of Lovie. It's obvious now that Lovie's inability to hire/persuade any offensive coaching talent to join was holding this team back more than we even realized (and I seem to remember realizing it weekly).

Trestman may not be the guy but it's not a coincidence that immediately after Lovie's departure, you've an offense that looks like it knows what it's doing and isn't just a placeholder until the defense can get back on the field.

Sure, the personnel is better but that's because there are now offensive coaches on the team that demanded that the offensive personnel get better, with an actual idea of what talent was needed and how it could be used (M.Bennett), not just great athletes that we think can help us somehow (K.Davis).

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Just as they fix the offense, the defense got old.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

Spot on, Doctor. Imagine the possibilities if Trestman had had that world class defense as well.

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I don't really disagree with everything here, but I do think it's still early to declare that the offense has been fully professionalized. Even Martz's offense looked great and coordinated during the early part of his first year. Of course I expect Trestman to achieve success, but just saying...

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Successful calls:

Kyrie Irving will never win anything as a team's alpha: check
T.rubisky is a bust: check
Ben Simmons is a liability: check
The Fields Cult is dumb: double check

2013 CSFMB ROY

Biggest difference is Cutler isn't running for his life on every snap.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

I agree in part, but I see distinct differences. First off, the line blocks. Second, we are throwing checkdowns. Third, we get to the line of scrimmage and don't look like chickens with our heads cut off.

I remember Martz's first year against Dallas. They were blitzing 8 defenders, and we threw a quick slant to Greg Olsen. Everyone thought it was "brilliant." However, it still looked helter skelter, and we got lucky that Dallas was that stupid. It never had cohesion, timing, or organization like I had hoped for. He made a few adjustments, but the underlying problems were still present. I see much more cohesion, timing, and organization with this offense.

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Great post. Remember it well. Both fans and media were so quick to praise Martz and Lovie using that one play as an example.

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Team Cutler.

Good points, and of course I hope the cohesion and organization continues. I do believe there is something to Cutler's quote about it taking 2-3 years to really get in sync with a new playbook, but for now I definitely like what I see.

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Successful calls:

Kyrie Irving will never win anything as a team's alpha: check
T.rubisky is a bust: check
Ben Simmons is a liability: check
The Fields Cult is dumb: double check

2013 CSFMB ROY

Agreed 100%. Getting to the line of scrimmage being absolutely the most important in my mind. Interesting the lack of false start penalties so far this year. Plus, I think there's something to be said for the confidence that a team has when it is organized and feels like it knows what it's doing and Jay's not freaking out and yelling to the sidelines for a play to be called.

And this is against what is believed to be 2 pretty good defenses. I'm looking forward to playing some crappy Ds.

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Did they finish the game with a timeout in their pocket?

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

Completely disagree Doc. I think there is far better talent on offense than there has been since the mid 90's. Trestman didn't demand it (remember he didn't really watch the NFL) it was Emery trying to cover his ass. Even with the improved talent Cutler is still driving everyone crazy. Better question is how great would Lovie's teams have been with a competent offense? We saw a glimpse of it in 2006 with Rollercoaster Rex.

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This.

I don't think the line has been much more than competent but that is light years ahead of where it was the last two years and has made all the difference in the world. One little thing that stuck out to me yesterday was on Cutler's first quarter run for a first down. He felt pressure and instinctively ducked, as he has been used to getting his shit pushed in on the those situations in the past. This time he ducked and seemed surprised when he still hadn't been touched. He regained himself and ran for that first down.

Cutler seems to be generally more interested in displaying his mobility this year, which was always a big part of his game when he has been going well.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

But what has changed? Emery was here last year. There was no vocal offensive coach saying "I need this".

Sure, Lovie's teams would have been great with a competent offense but that's my point. Who's fault was that? Lovie couldn't get a single decent offensive coach in here, not one. Martz was a outdated witch doctor that Lovie was forced to take because he had no other options. Offensive coaches saw this as a place to go and die. I put that on Lovie. He chose to put the sole focus on defense at the expense of the offense. He lacked balance in his approach and offensive coaches that came in here clearly could see that. It's even more obvious now in retrospect.

They had to get rid of Lovie and hire an offensive coach since it was the only way that this offensive would ever get leadership.

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I think we're overlooking offensive issues because the Bears are winning. No doubt it's good to win while you work out the kinks but we could easily be looking at an 0-2 team and complaining about the play of Cutler and Forte.

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GO BEARS!!!

Cutler definitely avoided some criticism with that final drive. But, the criticism would go directly to the defensive line and their ability, lack of ability, to pressure anybody. It's troublesome and could really come back to haunt them against Roethlisberger.

Nice to see Frey make a few plays on the defensive side.

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There are defensive issues too, Nas. Once again there was no pass rush from the front 4, and the Bears allowed a couple of long sustained scoring drives. Fortunately they held the Vikes to 2 FGs late in the game.

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The offense looks different because there is a TE that can catch and they completely overhauled the offensive line. For the last 3 years they gave Tice crap and told him to make it work. Obviously that wasn't Emery's fault but it doesn't change the fact. This doesn't excuse Lovie but player personnel does matter. For years I always said he got the most out of his players. That was more of an indictment of Angelo.

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GO BEARS!!!

True. I thought the defense would be done last year but they still manage to come up big when needed. I believe the pass rush will get better when they get in better game shape.

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Do you honestly think if Lovie demanded they get a competent LT, that they would have told him no? They obviously discussed it, Angelo told him they'd address in the draft and Lovie was obviously OK with that.

So, either Lovie didn't have any say, didn't want any say, or was OK with whatever Angelo wanted. Any of those scenarios are on Lovie. He had enough pull after his relative success to call some shots and he either didn't or didn't think he needed to.

Within 10 months of getting a new coach, there's a whole new line with experienced NFL players and a couple draft picks, a new experienced TE and a fleet of other skill players that weren't here before. If a new coach can get that done, why couldn't Lovie?

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Again I think it was Angelo. That's why I believe Lovie was allowed to stick around last season. Angelo tried to address the issues with multiple first round picks but they were busts. Emery hit on 2 in his second draft. If he had missed we would be complaining about Webb and James Brown.

This is the most talent I've seen since the 90's. Trestman benefits. We should too.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

I'm not sure that yesterday was the right day to judge the offense unless you think Devin Hester is going to go for 250 yards in many games going forward.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

This is true. The eye test tells you it is night and day better even with the errors. Obviously there isn't a lot of tape yet but potentially this could be a great offense.

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GO BEARS!!!

No, too easy. It went on too long for it to be just on Angelo. Lovie let it happen.

Angelo certainly shares some of the blame with a number of poor drafts. But, offensive coordinators didn't avoid this place because of Jerry Angelo. They did it because they realized that offense was an afterthought on Lovie's team.

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Toub would have sacrificed someone for touching that ball that came out of the end zone to push it out of bounds.

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It was a smart play.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

I don't think you are being fair to Lovie. They picked Williams, Carimi and Columbo in the first round during his tenure. What could Lovie do with Angelo giving him damaged goods/busters. Then, when most GM are picking development OL in the middle rounds, Angelo was busy drafting safeties.

Leave all the talent the same...if the coaching staff was Lovie HC and Trestman OC rather than Trestman HC and Tucker DC, would results have been demonstrably different?

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Martellus Bennett is my new favorite Bear. Two tough TD catches this year and, holy cow, he can that jump. He got some serious air on that pass in the back of the end zone. Bit of a funnyman too.

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Sex isn't dirty, sex isn't a crime. It's a loving act between two or more consenting adults.

-Hank Kingsley

I'm being way more fair to Lovie than you guys. You act like he had absolutely no power and it's obvious that isn't true. Wasn't the story how much the McCaskey's loved the church-going, nonswearing Lovie?

What he was supposed to do after Columbo or certainly after Chris Williams is tell Angelo that my job is on the line and I'm not leaving it to you getting me a 7th round LT and and another prospect RT. Go get me a real guy that plays in the league.

But, that obviously wasn't important to Lovie. His defense can score and that will be enough. He never sought offensive talent for his team...for years.

You can't just say "well what would Lovie have done with this talent" because this talent wouldn't be here with Lovie and that's the point. He never wanted it. Well, he may have wanted it but he never demanded it. And that's obvious because as soon as an offensive-minded guy walked in the door, suddenly here's the NFL talent.

Now, it may go the other way and Trestman loses the D because of lack of interest. Time will tell.

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Only because the Vikings batted it out of the end zone. If they fall on it in the end zone, its a touchdown for them because Weems touched it.

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I think we need clarification on the rule because it wasn't explained well.

As I understood it, since MN touched it first, Weems could muff it through the end zone and get a touchback if the Vikings touched it again. If the Vikes didn't touch it again, it's Bears ball on the 2. As long as the Bears never controlled the ball.

But, I don't think even Weems understood the rule because, per his quote, he was going to grab it and start doing some laterals because "once they touch it, anything goes" which isn't correct I don't believe. The Bears can't ever possess the ball and make that work.

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