‘Tis the season to throw some blame around. Maybe I’m just getting ready for Festivus’ Airing of Grievances or maybe I’ve just hit my breaking point on this Chicago Bears season. It’s time to hold someone accountable for the train wreck that is the 2011 season and that person is Chicago Bears GM Jerry Angelo. He is the Grinch Who Stole the Bears Season. Follow me to the other side to see how the Grinch stole our season.
Depth Misperception
The 2011 Chicago Bears rosters is a lot like a Hollywood movie set. Like when you walk into the library that’s full of books, but they’re all just cardboard facades and there’s nothing behind them. After you get past Cutler and Forte, there is nothing there. Heaven forbid if Urlacher or Briggs had been hurt.
The way this roster was constructed is shameful. How could you go into a season without a capable backup quarterback? Caleb Hanie had me fooled after his NFCCG performance. He probably had you fooled too. We don’t get paid to evaluate talent. We don’t see him in practice every week. Hanie has been here 4 years. How did we not know what we had (or utter lack thereof) in him? It’s like having a wannabe Nino Brown on your roster…
Con Men
How do you have an amateur drug boss on your team and not know it? What’s worse? You provided him with the seed money (no pun intended) to start up his little venture. Someone in the front office needs to be held accountable for this. Jerry talked about the Bears’ “process” for screen potential free agents and draft picks, but when you have Cedric Benson and Tank Johnson on your resume, it’s a pattern. It’s like when someone tells you that they’ve been in a dozen fender benders, but none were their fault. Yaaa right.
Another First Round Flop?
Stop me if you’ve heard this before. So and so seems like a great guy. By most accounts, he has potential to be a great tackle in this league. He is exactly the player the Bears wanted to select in the first round and they were thrilled he slipped to their draft spot. He also has some minor injury concerns in college that might have made other teams reluctant to select him.
Take your pick of the latest two Bears first round offensive linemen that they’ve selected. Chris Williams missed most of his first training camp with a bad back and never developed into that franchise left tackle the Bears had hoped for when Jerry drafted him 14th overall back in 2008 while Gabe Carimi dislocated a kneecap in Week 2, a similar injury to one that dogged him at Wisconsin. The point is, neither of these guys is healthy enough to contribute.
This isn’t a new problem either. In Jerry Angelo’s first draft for the Bears, he selected Marc Columbo with the 29th pick in 2002. His career bounced back but not with the Bears, who had to give up on him after, yes you guessed it, another injury.
Can’t Catch On
Besides Sam Hurd, who was brought in to re-sod Soldier Field with a new type of grass and play special teams, the Bears addressed one of their most glaring need for a wide receiver with Roy Williams, a washout wide receiver whose lack of ability to catch has proven costly and an undrafted rookie Dane Sanzenbacher,billed as a poor man’s Wes Welker. How has that worked out for you?
It’s a testament to how good Jay Cutler is that this offense has able to do anything. Devin Hester is a gimmick, Johnny Knox is nothing more than a guy who can go run a go route to stretch the field and Earl Bennett is a nice possession receiver and little more. When will someone at Halas Hall realize the importance of putting pieces around Cutler to put him in a position to succeed?
How else did the Grinch Steal the Bears Season? What did I miss?