He's out there waiting to be had. A real playmaker at DE would do more to transform this team than anyone else at any given position. A real pass rush would cover up a lot of the deficiencies in the secondary, and a real threat from the exterior of the line would make Tommy Harris that much more effective on the inside.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4875540

_________________
Fire Phil Emery

He can go anywhere he wants and where he wants will not be here.

_________________
That's my purse! I don't know you!

He will go where he will be paid the most money and be given the most freedom to work. That could easily be here.

_________________
Fire Phil Emery

If he goes anywhere in this division he will go up north to Green Bay. He can work within their 3-4 and he knows it.

_________________
That's my purse! I don't know you!

He already said he doesn't really care anymore if he's in a 3-4 or not. He just wants the freedom to be able to move around and make plays. You design a defense around Peppers.

_________________
Fire Phil Emery

Exactly, he will fit there. That would be one bad ass sick defense to have clay II and peppers coming from each side every snap.

_________________
That's my purse! I don't know you!

He would cost a lot of money. At this point I would prefer to avoid him and Boldin unless the price is right.

_________________

Lovie doesnt design Defenses around his players.

_________________
CSFMB 2014 Nascar Pick 'em Champion

We don’t have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven’t taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much. — Ronald Reagan

Lovie doesn't design defenses, period.

_________________
CSFMB 2014 Nascar Pick 'em Champion

We don’t have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven’t taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much. — Ronald Reagan

Except for, you know, they did exactly that the last two years. They completely overhauled the system after 2007 to accomodate the change in personnel. But nice try.

_________________
Fire Phil Emery

Well then, that gives me tremendous confidence in the Peppers plan.

_________________
You know me like that.

The Bears Defense in 2008 & 2009 sucked, with each year worse that the previous.
Making changes that make you worse are bad changes.

_________________
CSFMB 2014 Nascar Pick 'em Champion

We don’t have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven’t taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much. — Ronald Reagan

The system has essentially been a compromise concerning what to do when you have no legitimate pass rish on defense. Answer: you blitz like crazy with players that aren't particularly well adapted to the blitz. Peppers would solve a lot of that.

Securing a top pass rusher should have been a priority a long time ago, given that, all things being equal, you'd rather have your head coach work from within a system he is most comfortable with rather than having him change to weaknesses in his personnel. Lovie's failure hasn't been a refusal to adapt; it's been a refusal to adapt well. That's a failure, to be sure, but seeing as how you're going to be working with him as coach for at least one more year, the Bears should be finding players that will be of maximum benefit to the coaching staff. And in the case of Peppers, it's not like he'd be poorly suited to another defense if Lovie is fired next year. Really good pass rushers are valuable in every defense.

_________________
Fire Phil Emery

They've been trying to do that for 5 years. They're not very good at it which is why they all should have been launched.

But, while I'd love to have Peppers' talent here, they'd likely end up paying too much for too long to someone on the wrong slope of his career.

_________________
You know me like that.

Well, you've gone and contradicted yourself now, since you said that no changes were made. So there's that.

But you also don't know whether the changes made were correct or not. It's obvious that 2008 Bears defense was worse than the 2006 Bears defense. It was also better than the 2007 one. It's a complicated story, but it goes something like this.

2005-2006: the Bears defense is one of the most dominant in the NFL, especially while Tommy Harris is healthy but even after. This is under the essentially "pure" Tampa 2 system.

2007: The system is mostly similar but plays substantially worse. The pass rush in particular regresses, as Mark Anderson plays significantly worse and Tommy Harris spends most of the year in various states of injuredness.

2008: The defense is no longer dominant, but also no longer a liability; they are better than average, perhaps not top-10 but probably not far outside of it either. The Bears are no longer playing within a Tampa 2 system.

2009: Same system as 2008, but with much worse results.

The significant break would be between 2007 and 2008. But things got better, not worse. Had Lovie insisted upon playing his system, they probably would have been even worse that in 2007 (the pass rush didn't really improve in 2008). The irony, of course, is that people still think that the Bears are a Tampa 2 team, which THEY ARE NOT, and have not been for the past two years.

Now, that doesn't mean things are as good as they could have been. Imagine a chef that's really good at making steak. Unfortunately, he's hired to cater an all-vegetarian wedding. He has two options:

A: Serve really good steak and piss off the customers
B: Serve mediocre salad and get mediocre results

Lovie Smith might know the Tampa 2 system really well, but he would have gotten horrendous results with the personnel over the past two years. This is why they switched. It's not that the system is necessarily bad, just that the circumstances required a switch. So instead they served mediocre salad. A better chef may have done better, or perhaps you could have hired an all-vegeterian chef (although query what you do when circumstances change again). But the switch is absolutely vital. If you stick to your strength, you will fail.

_________________
Fire Phil Emery

That's not a chef. That's a guy that's really good at making steak.

A chef can make lots of things with the ingredients he has on hand or other ingredients that are easy to find.

_________________
You know me like that.

Lovie's food looks, smells, & tastes like shit!

_________________
CSFMB 2014 Nascar Pick 'em Champion

We don’t have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven’t taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much. — Ronald Reagan

the bears should try to make a move for osi umenyiora if they are looking for a pass rusher. he is disgruntled in new york for being treated as a specialty pass-rusher, and the giants have shown a recent history of having not a lot of patience with unhappy campers. he is going into a contract year, and the giants new DC is perry fewell, a 3-4 guy. the giants could be shopping one of their many DL, and he may not be as expensive as he used to be. i think he is a very good rusher, but i think he was exposed as being not a very good run stopper, but the whole defense was shit last year so it is hard to tell. the lack of a secondary hurt the pass rush for them as well. i think he can be had for a lot cheaper than peppers, and could have quite an upside. he is still pretty young.

I get what you're saying, but it's not all that complicated. The reality is that Lovie is only successful when he has top tier talent that fits his system... and in that case, what competent coach isn't?

The defense was fine -- not spectacular, but fine -- in 2008 with neither top flight talent (with the exception of Briggs and Urlacher) nor with his system.

_________________
Fire Phil Emery

Nooooooooooooooooooooo !!!! lazy player ,unless contract is coming up....not the j.p. of old when he first came out to carolina, if you view him as the best available at the time consider ; p. daniels,m. muhhamad,k. stewart all were the best available at the time ......see how that worked out for the bears ,no,no,and no

Are you sure? The guys at NFL Network said they definitely expect him to go to a 3-4 defense at OLB, they said he's been mentioning that all season basically.

I havent actually heard him speak about the topic at all.

_________________
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

I think Chris Williams, in his 1st full season on the left side, based off of how he looked at the end of last year and assuming that your typical player improves in their 2nd year starting in the NFL on the OL, should be OK at LT. Will he be a Pro Bowler? Probably not. Will he need help against premier pass rushers? Probably. But the right side is our glaring hole. Without a legit pass blocking RT, which Schaeffer is not (he's a run blocker built more like a Guard), that is where Cutler stands to get annihilated.

This Offense is designed to beat the blitz by spreading out Defenses with a half dozen tiny speedsters running all over the field and basically filling every possible hole downfield on every play. If you have a good QB who can get the ball out of their hand quickly, this Offense can terrorize aggressive Defenses. Where the weakness lies is against teams that can get penetration off the edge from their front four, which primarily comes off the edge. A zone blitz is not typically effective against Martz's scheme because DL typically can't drop fast or deep enough to get on a 5'9", 185 lbs. 4.3 WR like a Devin Hester or Johnny Knox.

Based on this Offense and our personnel, the Bears #1 Offseason priority should be to go after the top OT in Free Agency with everything they've got. Then I would go after the top DL with everything else you've got. Finally, in the 2nd tier of Free Agency, I would try and upgrade the Safety spot, find a quality 3rd down back type, maybe a backup veteran QB in case Cutler does go down, and find some interior OL depth.

The interior OL depth, backup QB, and 3rd down back are all quality 3rd Round potential picks and possibly even 4th Rounders in terms of Safeties or interior OL. The RB from Ole Miss could be an option if he falls. So could the kid from USC, but I think he's a 2nd Round player. For QB's, the Bears would have to consider a guy like Colt McCoy if he fell into the top of the 3rd Round, wouldn't they? You would think with his mobility, leadership, accuracy, and decision making ability, Mike Martz would probably love that guy.

Also, I think its interesting to note that the only 1st Round pick that Martz has ever worked with was Alex Smith, right? He certainly seemed to move the arrow up after a year working with Martz, although he's still limited.

Martz has had Trent Green (8th Round, but in today's Draft, that's an undrafted kid), Kurt Warner (undrafted), Jon Kitna (undrafted), and Shaun Hill (Undrafted)...

You would think he would be salivating at the idea of having Jay Cutler and Colt McCoy as his QB's on his roster, right?

Just some thoughts...

Moving Omiyale to RT is certainly an option, but realistically, if your Offensive season hinges on the play of our RT position, would you want to trust in in the hands of a guy who has never even started at the position in the NFL other than a game or two, or would you rather try and find the best rockstar RT you can find in Free Agency as your #1 priority to ensure confidence that the right side is locked down? Can Omiyale play there? Maybe. Can he play there at a high level? Possibly, but its a gamble.

If the Bears had a fringe Pro Bowl type at RT and Williams at LT, I'd feel much better than Williams and Omiyale is all I'm saying. Plus, what is more important in Free Agency than the right side of our line based on our current situation? WR's are no longer a priority, so other than making an argument that the top DL is a good fit, such as Julius Peppers, I'm not sure what else you've got. We could use a Safety, but unless Darren Sharper's floating around in Free Agency, I'm not sure we're finding a gamebreaker out there.

I keep hearing that WR's should be a priority. Why should WR be a priority? Martz's Offense is fully capable for players who are system guys.

Also, on free agency front, we don't know how thin it will be:

1. If the CBA IS hashed out, which I think is still 50/50 despite all of the rhetoric saying otherwise (they do this 12th hour nonsense every time), then the regular allotment of free agents becomes available.

2. If the CBA IS NOT hashed out, restricted Free Agent tags become the norm which limits free agency. But then there is no cap in 2010, so teams will be free to dump every high priced contract on their roster without any cap hit what-so-ever. Plenty of quality vets who are solid guys but get paid exceptional money will be cut loose. This could be the only window teams have to dump bloated contracts without a penalty for doing so, which means a thin free agency class could bloat right back up again with even more quality than in year's past.

For instance, the Bears could be dumping Nathan Vasher, Olin Kruetz, and possibly even Tommie Harris or Brian Urlacher (just as an example) in that salary dump. They could reduce their salary cap figure by nearly $12-25 million next year alone with these moves depending on which guys are cut loose. A lot of other teams, like Dallas, Washington, Denver, Seattle, and Oakland, just to name a few, can dump an enormous amount of bloated contracts that were going to cause them major cap ramifications in the coming years.

If the Bears were 1 or 2 players away from being a contender, signing Peppers might make sense. But for a team that needs help at every single position, tying up a bundle of money in one player might not be the best use of that money. I would rather see that money used to upgrade a few positions rather than just one. Plus, when you look at the Bears history of signing big name free agents, they have not been successful doing so.

_________________
CSFMB 2014 Nascar Pick 'em Champion

We don’t have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven’t taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much. — Ronald Reagan

He won't cost as much as you guys think since there are a limited number of teams that can sign him. These rules are all f'd up.

I think he is lazy and plays when he wants to. Make him an offer. If somebody else is willing to give him more so be it.

There are 8 teams that cant sign him, and thats only if they dont lose one free agent all offseason. He'll have plenty of suitors ready to give him a huge contract. I do agree with your second statement though.

_________________
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

Peppers has a little Tommie Harris in him. They both play when they feel like playing & dont like to practice.

_________________
CSFMB 2014 Nascar Pick 'em Champion

We don’t have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven’t taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much. — Ronald Reagan

Tommie Harris can only dream about having the career Peppers already has had. I see your point, but Peppers is way more talented than Harris.

_________________
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