Brad Biggs Mailbag 9/6/2016

[AlexM]

Sept 7, 2016 8:12:55 GMT -6 JABF said:

How much of an upgrade is Josh Sitton over Matt Slauson? -- @kylebeckrich

I think it's fair to classify Sitton as a considerable upgrade over Slauson. Sitton has played at a high level for the Packers and really has been considered the leader of the offensive line in Green Bay. As I have written in the mailbag numerous times, the Bears' evaluation of Slauson's play last season was substantially different than the public's evaluation of him. What matters here right now is how much of an upgrade Sitton is over veteran Ted Larsen. Because ultimately I think most see Larsen as the odd man out on the line. The Bears will want to get second-round draft pick Cody Whitehair on the field as a rookie and coach John Fox has already said he considers center to be Whitehair's best position. This move should make the Bears better up front.

Biggs is my favorite writer covering the Bears.  I found this interesting ^^^^^

The OL is looking better for this season, and I would expect it to be even better next season too.  I'll bet Cutler is feeling a bit better about the OL too.  I can't wait to see the results in the Houston game.  I would expect some problems with the blocking due to the OL changes, but I'm also going to be watching their overall performance.  It should be a good test.  Wouldn't it be an amazing start to our 2016 season to come away with a win in this first game?  

 

You know whats funny JABF? And its something absolutely unthinkable 3y ago, in my opinion, if somebody would ask me to pick any 2 guards to have for my Bears (injuries aside) I would pick exactly Long (love the guy, true Bear) and Sitton (high quality, and ex-Packer!). It is really incredible, when you think about it

[Deleted]

I want to be clear about what I posted and say that I don't expect any coaching staff to be able to turn bad football players into good ones.  That issue and the lack of talent would be on Pace and his staff.  Conversely if we are drafting well and the raw talent is there but not ascending and the team is not winning more often that is on the coaching staff.

That's what I believe this year will tell us.  Ideally we should see an ascending team with ascending talent.  I also believe that must show up on the scoreboard and in the W/L column.  It's a competitive team sport in long established professional league and they do keep score.  So should we.

If we don't hit 9 or 10 wins that doesn't mean I favor tossing Fox and Pace to the street it only means that I will begin to question the process they're using to build a consistent winner.  I'm far less interested in selling out the future for one Super Bowl appearance and a trip back to mediocrity like we experienced after the 2006 Super Bowl than I am in knocking the Porkers off their spot as the NFL darlings and perennial chosen NFCN champs.

Alex has asked three of us to write a Monday post game column and I've chosen to focus mine on the growth and progress of the team and the franchise in general towards the goal mentioned above.  There was a time in ancient history when the Bears were the team to beat if you expected to be recognized among the great teams yourself.  I want that era back again and I intend to continue tracking the progress of Fox, Pace, and the McCaskey's towards that goal.

[mpbears68]

Sept 7, 2016 1:40:53 GMT -6 @soulman said:

Sept 6, 2016 23:39:25 GMT -6 blueshoes said:

So , basically what he's saying here when you boil it down : the Bears need better players and are a definite 'work in progress' .

Pretty much I'd say.  That and possibly revealing what some of us have suspected all along about McPhee's knee and his surgery on it last February.  It was not a simple "scoping".  In all likelihood he has a degenerative condition and they did surgery to help it heal faster but it failed just as one of the videos on micro-fracture surgery I posted indicated it can. I sense another Tommie Harris kind of deal about to happen here but if they can continue to use him as a role player in a rotation they may get another year or two out of him before the knee is completely shot.....or maybe not.

So yeah it's a WIP and has been for awhile but now it's being done by a staff with a better handle on what it takes to win consistently and what players they need to do that with.  There are no 5 year rebuilding plans in the NFL any longer.  Fox and his staff all got four year deals so the expectations are that by year two the team has improved enough to at least compete within their own division.  To me that means no less than a 3-3 record or better against the NFCN.  It also means we can't go 1-7 at home this year either.  Overall I think three more wins and a 9-7 record is barely acceptable because I feel they should finish 10-6.

If they fall short of that or finish the season with a losing streak then it's time to begin to look at the body of work of Ryan Pace as a GM in charge of supplying personnel and John Fox and his staff in their role of developing personnel.  The vet FAs we've signed have to produce and the younger players have to show evidence of good coaching and step up to challenge vets.  If that ain't happening we're going nowhere fast because we don't get 10 1st round picks to draft impact players with every year.  We have to develop some out of lower round picks and UDFAs too.  So this will be a very pivotal year as far as measuring progress and it has to show up in the W/L column at least to a degree.

By "WIP", I hope everyone means "arrow pointing up".  This is definitely a better team than at this pointe last two years as those depth charts posted by JABF illustrate.

Is it a serious playoff/deep run contender?  Nope.  But I think 8 wins is a good benchmark and 10 isn't all that far-fetched.  The schedule isn't very daunting and the division looks weaker than it was just a short time ago.

The Bears have two top-10 picks about to hit the field for the first time in real games.  I expect these guys to produce.  I'm sick of Carimi, Williams, and Shea type results.