Packers & Oannes
I'm really puzzled by your invitation? Perhaps, I should offer you an open invitation to explain why you believe what you believe.
The way I think on things is well documented. There's little I could add in this thread to those that confuse you elsewhere. Since, I'm going to ripped for not trying to help you understand my mind.... Here ya go...
You asked why I thought 7-9 for this season...
8-8 was a mirage last season and should've been 7-9 if the Bears had been playing for something.
The schedule, at this point, looks very strong. The schedule does often have a way of adjusting from first perceptions.
I think Favre is a tired old shell of himself QB. I don't expect him to play with the passion he might have if we'd landed Moss. I really thought Randy was the one guy who could rekindle a fire that's been gone for years.
Our secondary is shaky. Safety is a HUGE question mark. Nick Collins is not all that good, or smart, to begin with and God only knows who is going to be paired with him?
Woodson is injury prone. Al Harris is starting to get up there in age and was never a speed burner to begin with.
KGB hasn't done diddly since he got the money and played full-time.
Cullen Jenkins is a budding star but didn't do it enough to know for sure.
Kampman is a favorite with his hustle and intelligence.
Pickett is solid up front and Harrell is an unknown. Cole and Jolly would be hard pressed to make too many other teams. Corey Williams is a personal favorite of mine.
I have little faith in quiet D. Coord. Bob Sanders.
The team doesn't play well at home. Lambeau has a reverse mystique these days.
Offensively, we have no proven RB. No proven TE. An aging Donald Driver and a nice rookie who couldn't stay healthy last year. Koren Robinson would be a huge help if he can stay clean. Jones and Clowney are raw rookies and are unlikely to be any factor in the offense.
The guards are young and need to improve. Clifton's knee is an area of huge concern. No solid left tackle to protect if he's unable to go.
We just don't have one dominant piece on offense at any position
We have a new offensive coordinator with no experience doing it at the NFL.
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I'm shocked anyone would be thinking we're going to be better. All teams improve from within every year. EVERY SINGLE ONE. Some fans are acting like our improvement is taking place in a vacuum. It isn't. We're not getting better while everyone else is the same or worse. Illogical.
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The point of the Urlacher/Hawk thing was that Urlacher had more impact as a rookie than Hawk. It was a comparison of each of them as ROOKIES and their ROOKIE seasons. It was, and is not, a comparison of Urlacher now vs. Hawk. That's been hashed to death in another thread. The funny thing is I got told how dumb I was in the end because everyone agreed Urlacher was a better rookie. That issue puzzled me more than any other so far. Urlacher plays his rookie season and is on every ad known to man because he was such a dominant force. Hawk plays his rookie season and Packer fans have him elevated to where the general population had Urlacher, but no one else does.
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Barnett going to SAM? The staff thought of moving him to SAM which means STRONG SIDE, which is the side of the offensive formation that the TE lines up on. His responsibility would've been covering the TE thus reducing his stats and he didn't want to go.
In previous years, Barnett was considered to be moved to Will...Weakside LB. Why? He's too light to be as effective as he should be in the middle with lineman coming at him. The staff wanted to see more production out of him. Production doesn't mean simple tackling numbers. It means game changing plays. They wanted to put him out on the weakside where there was less resistance from lineman to use his speed and athleticism to make big plays. Also, the staff thought, wrongly, that Hodge would be the better guy for the middle, so none of this happened and Poppinga got in the rotation at Sam.
Enter AJ Hawk... He goes immediately to WILL. Why? He's got the best skill set. That is why he's on the weakside. He'll be more effective not taking on blocks and can use his speed, strength and overall athleticism most effectively at that position. Weakside is the PLAYMAKER position. You get your big plays/game changing plays from that position.
===For whatever reason, everyone wants to argue points that seem pretty clear cut to me.
