Brad Biggs Slaughters Jerry Angelo’s Record on Offense

In his “Ten Thoughts” column this week Brad Biggs, normally not one to aggressively venture into column land, takes JA to task on the offense’s record during his tenure with the organization.  He writes:

So, I did a little research over the last 10 seasons of the Jerry Angelo era (four offensive coordinators) to see where the Bears stacked up. The No. 1 team from 2010 (San Diego) was assigned 1 point and the 32nd team from 2010 (Carolina) was assigned 32 points and so on. Every team in each of the past 10 seasons was assigned a point value dependent upon where it ranked in total yardage that season. The Bears finished 30th last season, their worst finish since ranking 32nd during the Terry Shea Experiment of 2004.

Then, I added up the point totals for each club. The team with the least number of points (Indianapolis 55) tops the list with the best offense. What did I find out? Since 2001, the Bears are tied with the Cleveland Browns for the worst offense in the NFL in terms of yardage based on assigning a point value for the finish of all clubs every season. They each totaled 265 points. Buffalo was next worst with 247.

Nothing shocking.  A million quarterbacks, a million coordinators, several years without quality linemen…etc.  It has been a poor offensive era in Chicago.  But I find it rather alarming that Lovie Smith has chosen three offensive coordinators during his tenure with the club and all three run entirely different offensive systems.  Clearly we have a head coach who doesn’t know what he wants to do on the offensive side of the ball outside of running the ball after exiting the bus.

Matt Bowen Attempts to “Fix” the Bears Offense

There is nothing groundbreaking in Bowen’s analysis of the broken offense but you won’t be surprised to find all five of his keys involve coaching decisions.  Here are the two I’m most in agreement with:

1. Change the run game: Martz wants to use his O-Line to pull on the Stretch G (front-side guard pull strong), the Counter OF (front-side guard pull weak), etc. Why not get back to basics, run the Lead Open, Lead Strong or the quick inside trap out of the one-back look? Matt Forte can hit the hole, get up field and produce. Win up front, put a body on the linebackers and play some physical football. Quick, downhill plays.

3. Align Hester inside of the numbers: This has been talked about since Martz arrived in Chicago, but why aren’t we seeing more of it? Think about this: Hester vs. a No.3 CB from the slot. With his lateral quickness, a two-way go (work both inside and outside release) and open field ability, there is no question I would have him working inside. Runthe option route, the seam and the 3-step game. That’s where he belongs in this system.

These are both no-brainers.  And yet they’re not being done.

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Picks Contest Update

Only FQD1911 registered a perfect Week Three.  A majority of you lost out with the Lions only managing a push.