Puzzling Offseasons: Bears, Vikes

[Harlan Huckleby]

But oddest of all, to me, was trading Greg Olsen - the one player besides Devin Hester that Packer fans seemed to fear a bit.

I found this a puzzling move too. I think an explanation I read somewhere was "Greg Olsen was underutilized in their offensive system." Change the offense to fit a talented young player. Throw him the ball, don't throw away the player.

[sharpe1027]

Sports Center had a bit this morning that said the Lions were over the cap, something like 8Mil. It should be interesting to see how they cope with that.

[Scott Campbell]

What up Fritz?

1) QB - 1 guy who has a couple games experience and was div II guy. 1 guy off a practice squad and 1 guy a rookie. With absolutely no offseason what would you propose? They got a guy with experience to play the position until the rook is ready. Who publicly states we suck? Nobody.
2) They signed a left tackle with 54 starts when they realized the dude who is supposed to play at 335 is 390+. Makes sense to me.
3) With not a great cap situation, giving a dude with 1 good year and a potentially career affecting injury is a huge gamble. Could work out for the Hawks. The dude has great hands.
4) DL - They have younger guys. Kevin's suspension's gonna sting though.
5) They have a bunch of receivers in camp, no idea how that will shake out.

Holy cow. Wist sounds more upbeat.

[pbmax]

I found this a puzzling move too. I think an explanation I read somewhere was "Greg Olsen was underutilized in their offensive system." Change the offense to fit a talented young player. Throw him the ball, don't throw away the player.

Not with Mike Martz you don't. Same with Al Saunders and the other 3rd generation Coryell guys.

[sheepshead]

Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.
Napoleon Bonaparte

[pbmax]

Holy cow. Wist sounds more upbeat.

Rodgers Super Bowl MVP has thrown him for a loop. He's practically giddy.

[Bossman641]

I'm not sure what the Bears are doing. The only thing that could have made it sweeter was if Forte had held out. It sounds like Martz wanted Spaeth. He also personally wanted Manumaleuna last year so let's hope Spaeth turns out just as well. Olsen was the only receiving threat that scared me just because he could get down the seam. I really hope Martz jumps ship after this year, that will just compound the Bears mistake.

[Fritz]

What up Fritz?

1) QB - 1 guy who has a couple games experience and was div II guy. 1 guy off a practice squad and 1 guy a rookie. With absolutely no offseason what would you propose? They got a guy with experience to play the position until the rook is ready. Who publicly states we suck? Nobody.
2) They signed a left tackle with 54 starts when they realized the dude who is supposed to play at 335 is 390+. Makes sense to me.
3) With not a great cap situation, giving a dude with 1 good year and a potentially career affecting injury is a huge gamble. Could work out for the Hawks. The dude has great hands.
4) DL - They have younger guys. Kevin's suspension's gonna sting though.
5) They have a bunch of receivers in camp, no idea how that will shake out.

Ras! Good to hear from you!

As for the comments about Olsen, and finding players to fit the system, I think that is true in football but not so much in other major sports. Especially basketball. In that game, the coach needs to tailor his system to the kind of talent he has.

[smuggler]

The Vikings also lost Ray Edwards, with retirement and suspension I think they might only be returning Allen to the DL to start the year. Greenway was franchised so their LBers will be as good as they were last year, their secondary is a mess and I'm pretty sure that they don't have an NFL caliber safety on the roster. I'm no expert but I have played Madden and when you run the cover two there are these two giant blue circles that are supposed to be the responsibilities of safeties--They are going to astound everybody with their shittiness this year.

The Bears got Roy Williams who I thought was a great signing. He was actually good in Det with Martz and is leagues ahead of any of their other WR in terms of talent. If Cutler to Williams can be 1/10th of what Cutler to Marshall was like then their offense is 3x better this year. Marion Barber was a little head scratchy--I don't see how he's worth 5 mil. Its pretty Jerry Angeloesk to horde busted DL guys like Gholston and Okoye. They got ripped off for Greg Olson only getting a 3rd in return. Go ahead and trade him, Martz doesn't use him anyways but at least get good value. Worst move might be letting Daniel Manning walk. He was a damn fine player and I'm not sure they have an NFL caliber safety on their roster anymore either.

+1 Rep for insights.

On another forum I frequent, a Bears fan predicted their 2011 season as 11-5. He predicted victories over GB (once), NO, SD, and KC. I made a bet that the Bears could not defeat 3 of those 4 teams. Wish me luck, haha!