The Bears Continue To Make Changes To Their Coaching Staff

by Brandon on Feb 7, 2012 5:00 PM CST in Green Bay Packers News

Cutler gets his guy Bates in Chicago | National Football Post. While the Green Bay Packers are still the class of the NFC North, the Bears shouldn't be overlooked. They've played in an NFC Championship as recently as the Packers, and they appeared on their way to the playoffs until they lost Jay Cutler for the season.

2011 wasn't Cutler's best season, Football Outsiders ranked him just ahead of Rex Grossman, so the Bears are looking to make changes to their coaching staff. Now he's been reunited with Jeremy Bates, who was his quarterbacks coach in Denver. Though they'd be better off if they could reunite Cutler with his old teammate.

Will Bates make much of a difference? He wasn't their first choice, that would have been former Buccaneers offensive coordinator Greg Olson. The Bears have promoted Mike Tice to offensive coordinator and he'll be using common sense to turn their offense around. Also, Bates was fired by the Seahawks after one year as their offensive coordinator in 2010, which may have been because he recommended Charlie Whitehurst as a starting quarterback.

I've always thought Cutler and the Bears could be a dangerous if they could get him into a good offensive system. These recent moves don't look too promising, and he'll now be coached by his third different offensive coordinator in four seasons.

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The Bears have major issues on both sides of the ball

They need some receiving talent. Even if Johnny Knox comes back healthy and productive as he was in 2011, the Bears need more. Knox was the Bears most productive receiver, with 727 yards. 51 players (!) had more receiving yards in 2011 than that.

Another big problem: their defense is getting old. Brian Urlacher, Lance Briggs, Julius Peppers, Israel Idonije, and Charles Tillman are all north of 30 years old.

They’ve also got to get Matt Forte under contract.

If they can do well in the draft and free agency, and avoid injuries next year, they should have a shot to be competitive. Whiff on any one of these, and it will be much harder.

by DaveInTucson on Feb 7, 2012 8:44 PM CST reply actions

as usual, they will go after some free agents..

there are plenty of free agent wide recievers this year to choose from. A couple will more than likely get franchised (Welker, Bowe, and maybe Colston), but there will be plenty capable receivers that are as good or better than whats on the Bears roster now: Vincent Jackson, Reggie Wayne, Robert Meachem, Mario Manningham, Early Doucet, Pierre Garcon..

I would think they’ll pick up a guy that was better than Roy Williams..it won’t be hard

I love wins. Wins are good for the soul.- Barry Alvarez Sep 25, 2005

We expect to win.- Ted Thompson July 28, 2011

by White92 on Feb 7, 2012 9:18 PM CST up reply actions

won't be hard?

but these are the bears…just because angelo isn’t the GM doesn’t mean they will not find a way to completely botch it.

by packermussupreme on Feb 8, 2012 2:12 PM CST up reply actions

haha..

I hope you’re right

I love wins. Wins are good for the soul.- Barry Alvarez Sep 25, 2005

We expect to win.- Ted Thompson July 28, 2011

by White92 on Feb 9, 2012 8:46 AM CST up reply actions

Sigh

If they can do well in the draft and free agency…

/already longing for the days of Jerry Angelo.

"Perfection is not attainable,
but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence."

"We're nobody's underdog!"
"We don't play scared!"

After further review,
The Munsters of the Midway still suck,
Skol is a four-letter word,
abd those upstarts in Detroit couldn't beat the Little Sisters of the Poor.

by NorthStarr on Feb 10, 2012 1:18 AM CST up reply actions

Love it!

The more time the bares change offenses the better! Just wasting more of Cutlers best years… Not that I’m overly worried about what he or the bares does.

Our Biggest Challenge is how we deal w/ Success!

by Strohman on Feb 7, 2012 10:07 PM CST reply actions 1 recs

Don't forget

That both Cutler and Forte missed significant time when you start throwing out FO ratings. Forte would have probably been a top 5 RB if he had played the full year, and Cutler was starting on a tear when he went down. Those FO ratings are only taking into account the opportunities and games they played in. Not a fair comparison to guys that played the full year.

by Vinz_Clortho on Feb 9, 2012 1:26 PM CST reply actions

Cutler was doing OK before he got hurt,

but only 2 games with a passer rating over 100 all season, which is nothing to brag about. He only threw 13 touchdowns in 10 games, and had 7 interceptions to go along with them.

Forte did have a pretty good season. But wow, the Bears only had 10 rushing TDs in 2011?! That’s surprisingly low for a team that traditionally relies so much on the running game…

by DaveInTucson on Feb 9, 2012 8:23 PM CST up reply actions

Before Aaron Rodgers,

I would never have complained about a 7:10 interception to games ratio, coupled with a nearly 2 to 1 TDs to INTs ratio.

He only threw 13 touchdowns in 10 games, and had 7 interceptions to go along with them.

"Perfection is not attainable,
but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence."

"We're nobody's underdog!"
"We don't play scared!"

After further review,
The Munsters of the Midway still suck,
Skol is a four-letter word,
abd those upstarts in Detroit couldn't beat the Little Sisters of the Poor.

by NorthStarr on Feb 10, 2012 1:24 AM CST up reply actions

17 players had a better TD% (TDs/Pass attempts) than Cutler

including Mark Sanchez, Christian Ponder, Tim Tebow, and Cam Newton.

It wasn’t just Aaron Rodgers. 5 QBs topped 4900 yards passing (and it would’ve been 6 if Rodgers had played week 17), 10 players finished with a rating of 90 or better.

Especially considering how good so many QBs did this season, Cutler’s middle-of-the-pack numbers aren’t that impressive.

by DaveInTucson on Feb 10, 2012 11:55 AM CST up reply actions