What Packers fans can learn from the Bears

[net]

Like kids on Christmas Eve, Packers fans have been dreaming about spending all that cap money on FA's, which certainly will put us in the Super Bowl(cough!).

Lets take a moment to examine the Chicago Bears.

I went to their website and they announced one of their first free agent signings....Dante Wesley from the Carolina Panthers....A SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER.

No big-name lineman. No QB, receiver, they are talking about extending Lance Briggs' contract.

Seems the Bears are fairly confident that the team they have is good enough to win the North division and reach the playoffs again.

They signed Muhammed last year as big name, but have been fairly low key. Muhammed filled a role for them, but Bernard Berrian might be their best end, and he wasn't a free agent.

Lovie Smith and the front office have put together a solid philosophy regarding an unmovable defense, and just enough offense and special teams. They won the division last year with a rookie at QB most of the season. What does that tell you about having the most high-powered offense in the league, like Indy?

Pittsburgh is very similar to Chicago. Put together a competent running game, a stout defense and don't make mistakes. Compare the Packers to that and maybe you start to see the difference. Jim Bates did a miracle with the talent on defense, but the Packers defense still is nowhere near as good as the Bears. Green and Gado are still unknowns, as we will see if Green can come back from injury, ditto with Gado and whether he was a one-year wonder. The Bears are coming back with a solid ground game.

I truly don't believe the route to success lies in signing big name free agents, ala the Vikinks. I believe it lies closer to the Lovie Smith philosophy and the draft and a solid plan are keys to that.

It appears some holes will be filled, but it will take some time before the Packers move forward. And the answer, based on the last few Super Bowl winners, is not in becoming a hog in free agency. Do I think the Packers will be better? Lets see how things shake out after the draft.

 

[GakkofNorway]

the bears were not a 4 - 12 team last season.

 

[P@ck66]

net..

looks like your "Bears" of very little offense weren't good enough to get past the Panthers in the playoffs last year, and they got whupped in their own house...

hahahahahaha...

You still need a good QB with receivers...net...

GB still needs Brett Favre.....

(I guess Dallas, SF, Pittsburgh, Denver..etc...have all of those rings because they had no QB and no offense..eh?)

 

[GakkofNorway]

but they got to the playoffs 66, they had a good season, we didn't.

 

[TOPackerFan]

If the Packers really want to be as good as the Bears were last year, the answer is to have a good long string of 4-6 win seasons, like they did, so we get a bunch of top 5 or top 10 draft picks. That's the reason the Bears are able to do what they're doing right now in Free Agency.

 

[GakkofNorway]

you mean 4 - 6 losing seasons lol

 

[DePack]

I think he means 4-12 seasons......but we all get his point. sometimes you need to be at the bottom for a while before you can move up.........unless you draft like the Lions!

 

[TOPackerFan]

you mean 4 - 6 losing seasons lol

No, I meant 4-6 win seasons i.e. a bunch of seasons with 4-6 wins.

 

[hoos]

Not sure how you can compare the Bears and Pack in FA this year. They are in "if it aint broke, don't fix it mode" whereas we are not.

I agree that we shouldn't go out an overpay a bunch of FAs just to say we signed some, but it is necessary that we plug some holes with FAs and be more agressive if we want to be competive this year and retain Favre.

 

[Bruce]

No offense to any one, but I do not believe the Packers can or should learn anything from the Chicago Bears.

The Bears, a once proud franchise has had two decent seasons (only to get quickly bounced from the playoffs in the last decade and a half.

They looked decent last year, but they looked decent in 2001 too, only to quickly fall back to form.

I am not insulting their squad -- they are the legitimate North Division Champs (a feat only accomplished by the Packers 3 X, da bears once and NEVER by the Vikings and the Lions). But they are going to have to go much further, before I start declaring they are a club to learn lessons from.

 

[cheesey]

If you look around the NFL, LOTS of teams have made lttle, or no moves. You have to be certain that a FA is WORTH the millions being thrown at him before you take such a HUGE chance. Otherwise, you take a big hit for nothing. The draft will provide the Packers with some FRESH help i think. And making sure you have money left for that time is important. Plus, what Favre does will impact it all too. Just my opinion.

 

[net]

I dropped this in as a type of bait thread.

Bruce, a bit surprised. I was referring to Lovie Smith's approach to building a solid team without spending gobs of money on FA's who cost much and don't pan out. The team there is different now, winning through solid play.

The Packers can learn from them. I rarely agree with TT on much, but I agree with his judicious choices in free agency. I really wouldn't care if he spent another dime in free agency, since the potential risk of failure is much higher than a draft pick gone bad. The Packers have spent a nice chunk of change already(and more if they sign Vinateri), but what I see is not a tremendous "up" from the signings. Manuel is slightly better than Roman, Pickett is a wash with Grady. Green and Kampman were already on the squad. Garder is an unknown, probably more potential than Chatman at receiver, Barry should be an upgrade over Whittaker in the line. Gardner and Barry are the two 'ups' I see, where they upgraded from a year ago, the rest is a wash.
Vinateri would be(is) a slight upgrade from Longwell. Lots of money for stay even or slight improvement.

By the way Pack66...all those teams you mentioned didn't win the Super Bowl, either. Pack66....in 2015 will the Packers still need Brett Favre?

"offense fills the stands...defense wins championships"

 

[cheesey]

There isn't a blockbuster FA out there like Reggie White, where you can say "This guy can turn a team around" so i'd rather have TT be careful with the money. Why just spend it to spend it?

 

[gado35]

i agree that we should not go spend money for the sake of spending it, but there are places on our team where we should upgrade, and right now we have the money to do so.

 

[Gopackgo82]

I like to think of the Lakers when they signed Karl Malone and Gary Payton. They had an awesome team on paper with Shaq, Kobe, Malone, and Payton. They were good for one season, but then the team fell apart without winning the championship. The Lakers have sucked since then.

A team built through free agency is usually good for a couple years and then they suck for 5 years or more. If you build a team through the draft and add in low key free agents, the team is usually good for many years. Look at the Patriots of the past 5 or 6 years. They didn't have many huge names during their first Super Bowl winning season, (many of their guys became big names though) in fact they got rid of most of their biggest names at the time. Terry Glenn, Drew Bledsoe, and Lawyer Milloy all got the boot. Besides Rodney Harrison, I can't think of one big free agent signing they made. If we don't look at the Bears, then we should look at the Patriots.

 

[PackerSacker54]

Like kids on Christmas Eve, Packers fans have been dreaming about spending all that cap money on FA's, which certainly will put us in the Super Bowl(cough!).

Lets take a moment to examine the Chicago Bears.

I went to their website and they announced one of their first free agent signings....Dante Wesley from the Carolina Panthers....A SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER.

No big-name lineman. No QB, receiver, they are talking about extending Lance Briggs' contract.

Seems the Bears are fairly confident that the team they have is good enough to win the North division and reach the playoffs again.

They signed Muhammed last year as big name, but have been fairly low key. Muhammed filled a role for them, but Bernard Berrian might be their best end, and he wasn't a free agent.

Lovie Smith and the front office have put together a solid philosophy regarding an unmovable defense, and just enough offense and special teams. They won the division last year with a rookie at QB most of the season. What does that tell you about having the most high-powered offense in the league, like Indy?

Pittsburgh is very similar to Chicago. Put together a competent running game, a stout defense and don't make mistakes. Compare the Packers to that and maybe you start to see the difference. Jim Bates did a miracle with the talent on defense, but the Packers defense still is nowhere near as good as the Bears. Green and Gado are still unknowns, as we will see if Green can come back from injury, ditto with Gado and whether he was a one-year wonder. The Bears are coming back with a solid ground game.

I truly don't believe the route to success lies in signing big name free agents, ala the Vikinks. I believe it lies closer to the Lovie Smith philosophy and the draft and a solid plan are keys to that.

It appears some holes will be filled, but it will take some time before the Packers move forward. And the answer, based on the last few Super Bowl winners, is not in becoming a hog in free agency. Do I think the Packers will be better? Lets see how things shake out after the draft.

Good post Net. I couldn't agree more.

 

[PackerSacker54]

net..

looks like your "Bears" of very little offense weren't good enough to get past the Panthers in the playoffs last year, and they got whupped in their own house...

:-? 29-21 is an *** whooping?

 

[Zero2Cool]

Fixed your quote box PackerSacker54.

 

[gopackgo4]

Yeh Defense wins it. But the bears D isnt that good we moved all over them.

 

[PackerSacker54]

Yeh Defense wins it. But the bears D isnt that good we moved all over them.

Do you understand football at all? All the yards in the world don't mean squat if you can't put up points or at least enough points to win(see Steve Smith in the first game against the Bears in 2005). The main priority job of a killer defense is to keep the other team from scoring points, you know points? Those things that they put on a scoreboard to determine the games outcome. Guess what? The Bears defense was the best in the entire NFL this season by allowing just 202 points this season, divided by 16 games means they allowed an average of 12 points per game( not even two tds per game on average). Their defense wasn't that good? Yeah right. Greenbay put up just the average points allowed aginst the Bears by totaling 24 points in two games. Anyways, why are you here? You admitted you're a Bucs fan now and they aren't even in the division anymore. By the way, your Bucs allowed 72 more points than the Bears did in 2005 and averaged about 17 points per game allowed. The Bears defense was better. Enjoy yourself, you've just been enlightened.

 

[Obi1]

Yeh Defense wins it. But the bears D isnt that good we moved all over them.

Do you understand football at all? All the yards in the world don't mean squat if you can't put up points or at least enough points to win(see Steve Smith in the first game against the Bears in 2005). The main priority job of a killer defense is to keep the other team from scoring points, you know points? Those things that they put on a scoreboard to determine the games outcome. Guess what? The Bears defense was the best in the entire NFL this season by allowing just 202 points this season, divided by 16 games means they allowed an average of 12 points per game( not even two tds per game on average). Their defense wasn't that good? Yeah right. Greenbay put up just the average points allowed aginst the Bears by totaling 24 points in two games. Anyways, why are you here? You admitted you're a Bucs fan now and they aren't even in the division anymore. By the way, your Bucs allowed 72 more points than the Bears did in 2005 and averaged about 17 points per game allowed. The Bears defense was better. Enjoy yourself, you've just been enlightened.

Easy big Guy....

Why are YOU here? Aren't you a Bears fan?

 

[Gopackgo82]

Yeh Defense wins it. But the bears D isnt that good we moved all over them.

Do you understand football at all? All the yards in the world don't mean squat if you can't put up points or at least enough points to win(see Steve Smith in the first game against the Bears in 2005). The main priority job of a killer defense is to keep the other team from scoring points, you know points? Those things that they put on a scoreboard to determine the games outcome. Guess what? The Bears defense was the best in the entire NFL this season by allowing just 202 points this season, divided by 16 games means they allowed an average of 12 points per game( not even two tds per game on average). Their defense wasn't that good? Yeah right. Greenbay put up just the average points allowed aginst the Bears by totaling 24 points in two games. Anyways, why are you here? You admitted you're a Bucs fan now and they aren't even in the division anymore. By the way, your Bucs allowed 72 more points than the Bears did in 2005 and averaged about 17 points per game allowed. The Bears defense was better. Enjoy yourself, you've just been enlightened.

Easy big Guy....

Why are YOU here? Aren't you a Bears fan?

He's here to keep us honest. Some of us need that. :wink:

 

[Obi1]

Big difference between keeping someone honest and putting down the Packers and their fans...

 

[Zero2Cool]

Big difference between keeping someone honest and putting down the Packers and their fans...

Check out the other thread 'Faith'. Packer fans ripping the Packers for having a top ranked defense in Passing. No matter what the Packers do its never good enough for some of the fans.

 

[PackerSacker54]

Yeh Defense wins it. But the bears D isnt that good we moved all over them.

Do you understand football at all? All the yards in the world don't mean squat if you can't put up points or at least enough points to win(see Steve Smith in the first game against the Bears in 2005). The main priority job of a killer defense is to keep the other team from scoring points, you know points? Those things that they put on a scoreboard to determine the games outcome. Guess what? The Bears defense was the best in the entire NFL this season by allowing just 202 points this season, divided by 16 games means they allowed an average of 12 points per game( not even two tds per game on average). Their defense wasn't that good? Yeah right. Greenbay put up just the average points allowed aginst the Bears by totaling 24 points in two games. Anyways, why are you here? You admitted you're a Bucs fan now and they aren't even in the division anymore. By the way, your Bucs allowed 72 more points than the Bears did in 2005 and averaged about 17 points per game allowed. The Bears defense was better. Enjoy yourself, you've just been enlightened.

Easy big Guy....

Why are YOU here? Aren't you a Bears fan?

Last I checked the Bears were still in the same division as the Packers. I'm here because goPackgo (GoBucsGo) came to the Bears boards and asked some Bears fans to come over and talk smack. Now the smack talking is fun and usually pretty harmless, but it's just not interesting like adult level discussions of rival football, that's why I'm in this forum. There have been some pretty good points made by Packers and Bears fans alike on here and hey, at least I'm not your typical troll who has nothing to offer but BS slanderous rips on Favre, unrealistic predictions and the ever so popular (with Bears, Lions, Vikings fans) Packers suck quote and my dad will beat up you dad blah blah blah BS. I try to at least bring something solid to the table. goPackgo, obviously doesn't know much about football if he/she is going to state that the 2005 Bears defense "isn't that good" and yes I'm going to defend my team, I know you guys would do the same especially when the stupidity of goPackgo's statement is as obvious as it is. besides goPackgo disowned your beloved Packers months ago on the Bears board and claimed loyalty to the Bucs so you guys probably don't want to be defending this "fairweather fool".