Chicago Bears vs Green Bay Packers

Yeah, but I think these rosters were coming from different places. I've been a fan of Mayfield since the moment he stepped out in an U of OK uniform. Having him out there with the absolute best young defensive talent a draft can give you... Well, I think they're looking at a very similar blueprint to that of Chicago's, this year. Once they get the coaching situation set for next year, I think the team should legitimately be eyeing the playoffs from the get-go, which is saying something.

 

Thats interesting Lyman. I take you at your word and take that on board.

Well, yeah. But each team is on their own path, as long as you can really see it moving in the right direction its ok. Now the Bears improved quicker than any of us here thought and it has been a big leap forward. I think the same can be said of the Browns tho, particularly if you look at things post Jackson. What are they 4-3? Thats a winning record. That projects to 9-10 wins over a season. Given their record last year thats a pretty amazing leap.

The talking heads are all yapping about the Bears 1 year turnaround cos they just went last to first. But this isn't a 1 year turnaround, its a 4 year turnaround. Thats how long Pace has been here. And yes brass now looks very smart(for a change) giving him that extension, which many inc me couldn't believe at the time. And yes Pace did knock last offseason straight out the park. But he pissed away 2 long seasons with Cutler. He pissed at least 1 year away with Fox. He spent money like Scrooge McDuck during that time.

Those 2 years were both painstaking and largely unnecessary imo. For a Bears fan this has been a long time coming.

 

Well thats something that i wonder about dline. Is the team playing ownership/Dorsey into a position of almost having to keep Williams next year?

 

The answer to that question is tricky, because I believe ownership and Dorsey may very well end up having differing views. But if Williams keeps the team playing like this, it would be hard not to keep him in the job. This is one of the story lines that I find incredibly intriguing for the coming weeks / offseason. This could be a real turning point for the franchise, and it'll be interesting to see how it plays out.

 

Maybe Lyman will enlighten us as to where the control lies re the HC position.

You've frequented the Browns board more than any of us here dline, do you kinda follow them too a bit? I don't although i do remember some of those 80's Browns teams fondly. And to be brutally honest, i like to see bad teams around the league improve that aren't the Lions.

 

Same to you dline. Her father got her into hockey as a little girl, hell their entire family is all about the Blackhawks, she had season tickets for a long time and has amazing recall of players stats from back into the 70's, and I can't remember why I even walked into a room. As far as our gifts go she gets me Bears tickets, and I get her Hawks tickets, best of both worlds right there.
I Love the Shhhhh rule and the fact that she has to enforce it because she gets it, that's freaking awesome.

 

This may not be the place to discuss the Browns moving forward, but since you asked . . .

IMHO, the single thing that is paramount to the Browns' future success is the continued development of Baker Mayfield. To that end, the prudent thing to do would be to retain Freddie Kitchens as Offensive Coordinator. The difference in the Browns' offense after he took over when Todd Haley was fired was amazing. There are two easy ways to ensure that happens.

One, retain Gregg Williams as the Head Coach. Or, two, hire Bruce Arians as Head Coach and retain Williams as the Defensive Coordinator. With option one, we're still looking for a DC. Williams has hinted that he would promote his son into that position and I'm not so confident that would be in the best interests of the Browns.

With option two, the only major change to the current coaching staff would be the name on the office door of the HC. Kitchens worked under Arians with the Cardinals and I doubt Arians would replace him. Obviously, Arians could replace William's as the DC but (other than to bring in "his guy"), why would he? I believe the positives of carrying forward with the same defensive philosophies and schemes far outweigh negatives. If he wants to bring in one of "his guys", hire a new ST Coordinator to replace Amos Jones. Special Teams play has been very costly to the Browns this year.

 

Yeah I too think that Browns team the needle is finally pointing up, a completely different team now than I saw last Christmas eve in Soldiers Field.
I still remember the two Browns fans sitting in front of us, these two dudes were pretty cool although we did razz them a bit.
Whenever they drew the wrath of the Bears faithful they would turn around and yell "We're 0-14!" lol

 

Nice. pm me her address im gonna send a basket of fruit as thanks for all the future W's she guaranteeing us by having our lucky charm at the games.

 

Don't worry about that, original thread has already altered course anyway. bww's fault. Lazy schlub.

 

Lyman I think Arians would be a nice fit and better suited to develop Mayfield. As far as your option 2 Nagy kept Fangio on board when he came here and how did that work out for him? So there is that.

 

Yeah the same thing I accused babyfan when she made a new music thread, I called her out on her being lazy and she admitted it....Wait a minute baby and BWW are both lazy I bet babyfan is also BWW.

 

Are you calling BWW a mexican yoga instructor that has a propensity to drink crappy beer and blow lines of dudes in the back of her van?

Sounds about right.

 

You know we're both going to be spending some time in baby's office so I guess we'll find out.

 

That's a fair point. Williams may be coaching himself into a Head Coaching job somewhere else if he doesn't get the Browns' job for all I know. But, he does come with a sordid history from "bountygate". I guess I'm just too big of a fan of organizational consistency. To me, the cleanest move would be to try and retain as much of the current coaching staff as possible (with the exception of ST Coordinator, Amos Jones).

 

I think you would have to consider any teams that hire Williams would most likely already have an established QB so that pool is shallow, as more an more teams seem to be leaning on bringing an OC in as HC especially those with a QB they want groomed, or one they are about to draft. Arians sounds like a great fit and if he can retain Williams that would be an ideal situation.

 

Ariens would be the one to get the most out of your players. He turned around the Colts and the Cardinals.

 

It has gotten to the point where when I see his number get called rage wells up in me that's just unreasonable. It's not his fault he's a 3rd stringer and just trying to do his best. It is his fault that for whatever reason, Nagy feels the need to trot him out there when we have TWO very dynamic playmakers at RB. I honestly feel like he doesn't like Howard for some reason and is trying out Mizzel for next year. I have nothing to back this up at all, just a feeling.

http://espn.go.com/espnradio/chicago/play?id=25561073 - this is a post game interview with Nagy by Waddle and Silvy. Interesting listen, he basically says he was able to fake punt and go wildcat because he believed in his Defense, and that they responded to that adversity. He drives me nuts with the cuteness, but there are two things I can't deny:
1) He has this team playing at a high level, and believing. They would easily run through a brick wall for him, and that says a lot.
2) He generally says the right things. I'm curious how he's going to handle adversity that comes our way, but for right now winning cures all ills.

Finally, my own tale of my wife since we're swapping stories. As you guys know, I was stupid and married a Packer fan, but she hates football so I don't mind. But she made me proud when I was telling her how much and why I hate Rodgers, and she said, "yes, he is a total douche, I'm on board hating him and wishing he was sacked every play". She went to HS with Danica Patrick, and thinks she's a total entitled bitch, so she also said, "yeah, he's acting just like his girlfriend, spoiled and blaming why he sucks on everyone else". She's not wrong here. Notice how he's gone to shit since dating her? Coincidence? I think not!

I still can't believe we are Kings in the North once again. Bear down and time to make some noise in the post season!

 

Duuuuude!!!

 

All of you. Every single last one of you, including the ones who did not chime in on this thread but most especially tuna and Mongo have one place and only one to be. That would be my office. And that would be right bloody now.

Wanna know where the leopard skin came from? I chewed it off the animal with my teeth while he was still frantically trying to run away from me ...




And this is the other side of my office ...