Regarding Mac. He is by far my favorite radio personalty (in sports).What really really pisses me off about him though, is his man crush on Ron "Chico" Rivera. Just because the two of them sucked down some pops while Mac was on the beat report in '85 or whatever doesn't mean that Rivera gets a pass on everything.

Rivera was an average player during his career. He was an average coach with great talent. Players called him out last week for his lack of coaching ability. Players said "Rivera just expected guys to be in the right spot". That's not coaching. I can see the 1/2 time adjustment now... "guys we're getting our brains beat in. We know what we got to do just go out there and do it."

Players called him a "ME" guy. His defenses gave up 24 pts a game during the playoffs. He took a demotion just to stay in football this year. During the SB Urlacher challenged Rivera's play calling from the field. How ridiculous is that?

Everyone's so worried about Tank Johnson giving up secrets. Well Rivera certainly knew the Bears overall, more so then Tank. The knowledge Rivera had about his own defensive unit certainly did not help the SD offense at all.

I'm not sure what Rivera did to deserve Mac's loyalty and devotion but seriously... Mac give it up, Chico sucks.

i dunno if he sucks as a coach or not. i do know that i could be the Dcoord of the bears, and with those players, id still have a good defense.

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Some of your points seem misguided, though I dont completely disagree with you. Kruetz is the one who called him a ME guy, and even though hes an All Pro Center, the guy is a meathead who has shit for brains. I cant take his opinion seriously, and he said that in response to Rivera allegedly calling Rex a mental midget, and Kruetz is so ultra-defensive about Grossman I have to think that comment was just pretty much made up. As for the defense last year, a ton of it had to do with no Tommie and Mike Brown, and the run defense was just awful. I think Lovie was completely behind the firing of Rivera and the jury is still out on how good of a head coach he is. I think overall Rivera was used as a scapegoat for what was a very flawed team in the first place not winning it all last year.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Somewhat on topic, but Lawrence Holmes continues to say that Ron Rivera is going to be a NFL head coach in the near future because he's one of the better young coaches around.

It's such twisted logic because Holmes probably couldn't name the offensive/defensive/etc coaches of 95% of the league, but yet Rivera is better than all of them ? Maybe he is, but how could anyone come to that conclusion without knowing who he's being compared to.

After Holmes made those comments, he then went on to say that Babich is doing a really nice job because he's taking better advantage of his talent by blitzing more often. Is this to say that Rivera wasn't taking full advantage of the defensive's talents ?

Rivera is a clown. Any monkey could be the Bears DC when the defense is healthy. What sets apart the good DCs from the bad is how they make adjustments (which we NEVER see), how they teach (bring up to speed) young players, and how they scheme when players get injured. (Remember seeing any line stunts during the SB?)

Those are the reasons why the Bears defense has averaged giving up 24 pts a game in the last 4 playoff games, going back to the Carolina game.

Rex Ryan is a much better DC then Rivera. Ryan should get a shot at a HC job long before Rivera.

Thug, Mac has and was critical of the Bears and Ron Rivera's defense after the Superbowl and also after that Panthers playoff loss two years ago. I'm not for sure what pass Mac gave him...

Tommie and Mike Brown missing were way bigger factors than the reasons you just mentioned. Which young players on the defense were not brought up to speed last season? For the most part players like Harris, Manning, Anderson all stepped up and had good seasons.

Thug + Lovie Smith = MATCH!

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

can you explain this? i'm curious.

You miss the point, the Bears will never win with REX, period. Maybe they can draft another SHORT, overhyped quarterback in a few years, the great Jimmy Clausen. Boy, does he suck.

They just went to the Super Bowl with Rex.

BD, they went to the Super Bowl in spite of Rex.

He did make some plays in the playoffs to help get them there, but they went to the Super Bowl largely because of a very good defense and Devin Hester returning kicks.

To say they can't win Rex as the starting QB is wrong though because we did.

Answer to the question... 1.

That would be the D-coordinator who coaches in the Super Bowl and then is dismissed after all of the other jobs are full where teams employ the same scheme he teaches.

Rivera might be a bad HC or DC, but I think that says more about those organizations than it does Rivera

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Just caught this thread. A lot of misinformation here. Some people are really ignorant. Rivera is a good coach. He worked his way up from QC assistant under Wanstedt (making peanuts) to being the D-Coordinator for the best defense in the league in a short number of years. He hasn't gotten a head coaching gig because it's not easy to get a head coaching gig with all of the retread coaches. A lot of teams want experience. He couldn't have taken a head job during the superbowl run. You can't work for two teams at once in the same league, and he wasn't about to walk out on the Bears.
And some of you may be happy with the blitz-happy Bob Babich. I saw Tony Romo, a second year starter, absolutely pick apart the blitz on Sunday. Hillenmeyer coming on a blitz? Hit the tight end who he left alone. Urlacher coming on the blitz? Hit TO on a 10 yard drag over the middle. Zone blitz? Find the man who the 285 pound D End is trying to run with.

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"Tubby? Oh yes, Tubby."

Well said.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

OK MR.Misinformation... What year (2004-2006) were the Bears the "best defense in the league"?

Furthermore, during Rivera's run as Bears DC the Bears defense gave up 24 pts a game average in the playoffs.

2005 Division playoffs Bears 21 Panthers 29 (this w/ an extra week of rest & preparation)

2006 Division playoffs Bears 27 Seahawks 24
2006 Conference playoffs Bears 39 Saints 14 (WOW )
2006 Superbowl Bears 17 Colts 29

Is this playoffs points allowed the marking of the "best defense in the league"?

Honestly, not sure. That was my understanding. I could be wrong.

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"Tubby? Oh yes, Tubby."

It's my opinion that they were the best D in the league the last two years. I don't think I'm THAT far off base.

And is it that big of a surprise that playoff teams with good offenses would score more points? Even those numbers are a little skewed by turnovers (at least, the Panthers and Colts games).

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"Tubby? Oh yes, Tubby."

I'll give you 2005. Statistically the Bears were the 2nd best defense. 2004 & 2006 they weren't even close. Unless you want to throw in the special teams last year.


I thought the saying was "defense wins championships"

The most disheartening loss for Rivera was the SB. What was the one thing that could have helped the Bears defense in the SB outside of a blizzard (which is not happening in Miami)... a driving rain. Any 2 year old could see Manning wasn't accurate over 15 yards. He passed deep twice all game. Once for a TD when our secondary slipped. But if you remember Wayne had to practically run backwards to make the catch. And the other pass we intercepted. Rivera was afraid, played soft and we got killed in the short passing game and running game. Hell we were still in it a half time. Rivera could have made an adjustment. But I don't think he knows what the word adjustment means.

I see Mac's been on the site but doesn't want to defend his Man crush. That's weak sauce.

Stats can be misleading. A lot of times teams got garbage yards off the Bears because they had an early big lead.

Defense wins championships? You're using a cliche as your arguement? THAT is weak sauce.

I don't think that the Bears were the first team to be picked apart by the best quarterback in the game. And it's hard for the D to be productive when they're on the field most of the second half.

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"Tubby? Oh yes, Tubby."

The Bear defense was pretty much average near the end of last year and the playoffs, other than the NFC championship game. Tim Rattay picked that defense apart.

It's a cliche because generally it's true.

No need to look any further then the Colts playoff run last year
Wild Card KC 8 Colts 23
Division Ravens 6 Colts 15
Conference Pats 34 Colts 38
SB Bears 17 Colts 29. (7 pts thanks to Hester)




Jake Delhome and Matt Hasselback are not exactly the best QB's in the league.

the bears and cheifs scores were moreso due to offensive ineptitude

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They were both 2005 Pro Bowl quarterbacks. Matt Hasselbeck never picked apart the Bears...and I wouldn't give Jake Delhomme the credit for the playoff game 2 years ago as much as Steve Smith. I believe this is a reference to Peyton Manning.

It was.

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"Tubby? Oh yes, Tubby."

Manning didn't play against the Bears in all 4 playoff games Rivera was DC. That was my point about limiting the best QB in the league.

I'm not seeing a point really. The Bears have been one the best defensive teams for the past couple of years & would this year too if injuries don't continue.

One of the best, not the best. Assembled by JA. When injuries or playoff time comes a DC shows his stripes that's all.

I'm not sure anyone's saying they were "the best". But just out of curiosity, who were the best defenses in '04, '05 and '06?