Tall Midget wrote:
good dolphin wrote:
I think the special teams has a chance to be the best unit Taub has coached. I really feel they are going to have a major impact on field position both when recieving and kicking. This has always been a relatively unnoticed factor in their success over the years: Bad Bear offenses had short fields and got in range for their dead on kicker. Overrated Bear defenses had teams pinned back inside their own 20 requiring unreasonably long drives to score.
However, this year, the offense should be able to convert those field goals into TD.
This Bear D is going to get absolutely gored by anyone with a big back who wants to run between the tackles...but how many teams do that these days. There is only one in the division.
1)Who has overlooked the quality of Bears special teams performances in the past? Toub is continually touted on Chicago sports talk radio as a potential NFL head coaching candidate (Mully and Hub are particularly egregious in their sycophancy on this topic). Devin Hester is revered as a divine figure within the city. And on this very board, Bear drafts are regularly celebrated if they yield two or three special teams aces. I think your observation has inverted reality. Special teams are not overlooked among Bears fans and the Chicago sports media; rather, they are overemphasized.
2)Why do you expect the return game to be better this year than it was last year? Knox is injured and the increased touchback factor on kickoffs will continue to be a problem. I want to share your optimism but don't understand why I should.
3)Can we really count on the Bears offense to be a dynamic force this year? Personally, I have no idea if the ultimate responsibility for the offense's design rests with Tice, Bates or Cutler. This kind of decentralized power works great within democracies, but I'm not so sure how it will affect the functioning of a professional football team. And the offensive line is still scary, as is Brandon Marshall's tendency towards complete and utter psychopathic lunacy. While the meatball in me says the offense will be good, the unit's structural flaws are impossible to ignore.
The special teams are recognized as excellent in the abstract rather than in their specific impact on the game.
I don't just expect the return game to be better but the entire special teams. The Bears picked up three impact special teamers in the off season in Costanzo, Weems and Thomas. They also drafted a top special teams guy late in Mc Elroy. He was the best return man in college football. I think he will make the team on his ST ability. They lost Graham, who was fantastic, but Costanzo is every bit the player, if not better. I look at him as being able to do more than Graham (kid of like Ayabedejo) because of his size. I know they picked up Weems to be the return man but I am really interested to see Mc Elroy return in this practice games.
OL sucks. However, I see the Bears absolutely killing teams with 10 yard out patterns this year. They are quick and effective and the Bears have the personnel for it. I don't think they will be dynamic in a Raider way with throwing deep. I just don't see how a team is going to hold them to three and outs with the diversity talent they show. The OL is bad.
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