2013 Bears Post-Mortem

Basically, the thing I was concerned with most has come to pass: the Bears got Lovie Smith back, but in an offensive guise. One side of the team did a great job while the other side floundered. I could argue that Smith had 1.5 sides intact if we include the stellar play of Dave Toub's special teams units, and that's actually an advantage over Trestman. The mitigating factor, of course, is that Trestman is brand new as head coach, with an entirely new group of coordinators and position coaches. To get an entirely new system in place, along with a completely new offensive line, and be as effective as the Bears were (regardless of which QB was at the helm) was impressive. On the other hand, to watch the formerly consistent defense completely flop was deflating. Like the offense with Coach Smith, the defense is what needs to be the measure of Coach Trestman. If the defense was merely mediocre, they could have knocked out the Packers a week before facing them. He was brought in to fix the offense, just as Lovie came to shore up the defense. So far, the Bears exited before the playoffs despite some outlying hope near the end of the season. I can stomach losses, but I can't stand watching the conservative play of what's supposed to be a powerhouse offense. Turn those horses loose. Learn the unstoppable plays and run them at 4th and 8. Much, much worse is the sloppy, unprepared play of the defense that was #16 overall just two years ago. It's possible that the stars are too old and injury-prone now. It's possible that the guys with remaining contracts are just playing them out with little or no verve. Either way, no Lovie Smith defense would have let a live ball sit there on the turf. The defense needs someone other than Tillman and Jennings at corner (to relieve them and eventually take over), they need a whole pile of safeties (clean house), not sure what to do about linebackers, and the line sucks, too. It's hard to tell how much of it is a talent deficit, and how much is a coaching deficit, though. Jon Bostic looked unstoppable in the pre-season, and could still be a great player, but he sure looked like a rookie in games later in the season. Urlacher looked like a world-beater in his rookie season. We'll see, but unless they get a new coordinator and a phenom or two in the draft, I'm not sure how long I'll stay engaged in 2014. All the bluster about who should be quarterback is wasting valuable time.