Ho Sit Down! Week 13 - Roy E Williams

When you give the general public an opportunity to voice their opinion, you need to be prepared to hear some pretty stupid shit. Maybe I'm just saying that because I think that most people I come in contact with on any given day are, in fact, stupid. It's not because I think I have a superior level of intelligence... it's just that I like to take a step back, apply common sense, and make rational choices in my everyday life. But after 26+ years on this Earth, I'm slowly coming to the grips that most people don't actually do this. Whether it's the oblivious MF driving 60 MPH in the left lane while you lay on your horn behind them or the grimey MF who refuses to wash his hands before spreading his dick germs all on the bathroom door handle, a lot of people just don't use the thinking part of their brains.

So what did I do?

I went straight to them for their opinions.

I decided to let the people vote for who deserves the Ho Sit Down! treatment for week 13. We polled eight NFL experts -- seven are Bears fans and one is an unbiased 49ers fan living in Chicago -- to see how they answer the following question:

"If you could pick one person who fucked it more than anyone else in the Bears loss to the Chiefs, who you got?"

After such a poor offensive display against KC, I'm not surprised at the variety of the answers. What was surprising is the fact that the only person to vote for Jerry Angelo was the only person that's not even a Bears fan. And while he's definitely right about this whole thing being JA's fault, we're not gonna talk about how Angelo failed to recruit a legitamate backup QB, in case Cutler went down.

I was (almost) shocked to learn that only two people voted for Caleb Hanie. Hanie was the first response I received, as well as my vote (had I registered to vote), so I figured he might run away with this poll. Hanie missed badly on throws to open receivers when he wasn't busy making poor decisions (like holding on to the ball too long instead of throwing it away). But since Hanie only received two countable votes this week, he'll have to try a lot harder to get the HSD! treatment next week.

The runner up in this week's poll was Mike Martz. Although he only came one vote shy of defending his HSD! belt, he just couldn't do enough to come out with this week's award. But with the incredible perseverance that we know him for, we can all expect Martz to be in the running again next week and beyond.

That brings us to this week's scapegoat (and first time recipient of the HSD! honors)... Roy E Williams.

Williams struggled throughout the game to get off the line of scrimmage while being jammed. He lost his footing a few times and was a general non-factor. It wasn't until the most crucial drive of the game that Roy E made his presence felt, dropping a potentially game-tying TD with 4:01 left on the clock. Not only did he not catch the big brown thing flying at this head, he decided it would be smart to play popcorn with it in a sea of KC defenders, allowing the ball to be legally up-for-grabs. When the Chiefs came down with the interception, that pretty much wrapped it up.

Personally, I think Hanie fucked it way worse than anybody else with his poor play, but since my vote doesn't count this week (and only this week), I'll bring it full circle with the most important theme of the 2011-2012 Bears season... Roy Will did not have one MF first down celebration for the second straight week. Now, it's kinda hard to celebrate a first down when you don't have any catches and it's hard to catch the ball when it's only thrown in your direction one time all game, Caleb Hanie. But this is the NFL, and we can't blame anybody but Roy E Williams for a ho-ass-zero-FDC performance against the Chiefs. So Roy E, this one's for you...

HO SIT DOWN!
HEY!
HO SIT DOWN!
HEY!
HO SIT DOWN!

@1stdownroywill

Ho Sit Down! Week 12 - Mike Martz

If you're going to be anywhere near Greensboro, NC this winter you need to check out a basketball game at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. Although I've never seen a game at NC A&T personally, it was brought to my attention a couple years ago that this is officially the Crunkest Gym In America. You see, when a player on the opposing team fouls out, the Dawg Pound goes HAM Newton on them and emphatically helps them off the floor with Maceo's "Go Sit Down" as the soundtrack. While the song might not be anything special on it's own, I love the fact that the Aggies fans have adopted this tradition when somebody fouls out against them. So much so, that I decided to bring you a new weekly feature to Bear Down Chicago Bears called Ho Sit Down. Each week we will highlight one person that fucked up so bad that they deserve the Ho Sit Down treatment.

And what better person to get this thing rolling than Mike Martz?

I think it's pretty safe to assume that Martz reads BDCB because after we gassed him up last week for his play calling against the Chargers, his head returned to its normal, over-inflated levels and his creative juices squirted all over the place.

We could single out the fact that he didn't tone down his play calling for Caleb Hanie, who was making his first career start. We could focus on the Bears RB's only getting 22 rushing attempts when they averaged over 5.5 yards per carry. We could bury him for calling a trick play on 2nd and 1 at the OAK 7 yard line.

But what made me want to tell that ho to sit down more than anything on Sunday, was that when the Bears needed to march the entire field at the end of the game, Devin Hester was on the sidelines. From what I noticed, he didn't get a single snap on offense the entire game, which is stupid in its own right; but it really pissed me off that they didn't have him out there on the final drive of the game.

The Bears got the ball back with 56 seconds left in the game and down by five points. With the drive starting at their own 4 yard line, the Bears needed to go 96 yards without any timeouts. So instead of putting their best homerun threat on the field (or second best, if you're one of those Johnny Knox D-riders), they put slow ass Sam Hurd out there.

Now, I like Sam Hurd and I think he needs more offensive snaps. Even though he's not fastest WR or the best route runner, he's a big target that catches the ball when it's thrown his way. But in this scenario, his lack of speed warrants keeping him on the sidelines since you're going up against the clock and don't have time to change personnel between plays.

Obviously, Hester has his own shortcomings as a receiver and has struggled with drops this season, but he is still capable of reaching the end zone from anywhere on the field. He could slip one tackle and take it to the house on any play.

So for the simple fact that the Bears had to race down the field but chose not to line up their fastest player, we are telling Mike Martz' ho ass to sit down!

HO SIT DOWN!
HEY!
HO SIT DOWN!
HEY!
HO SIT DOWN!





@1stdownroywill

Straight Killa, No Filla

The Bears put on an impressive offensive display in their week 11 win over the San Diego Chargers. Jay Cutler made some incredible throws and three different receivers each had big games. Cutler was the clear player of the game, but I want to give some well deserved credit to Mike Martz for calling a brilliant game vs SD.

The Bears tried running the ball early, but were faced with 8 man fronts which prevented them from finding success. So Martz opened the passing game to take advantage of the defense that was keying on Forte. It was clear that the Chargers didn't want Forte to beat them, so Martz called on his receiving corps to step up and make some plays. Still, he never fully abandoned the run, making sure to control the clock after gaining first down after first down.

Martz also did a good job of mixing in short passes with the deep ones to keep the coverage honest, and put Cutler in a position to make plays downfield. He was able to spot a weakness in defense when the Bears threw for first downs on three consecutive plays in the 1st quarter. And then again in the 3rd quarter, the Bears went for three consecutive 1st downs through the air (all to Roy Williams). Martz saw the advantage his offense had at this point and went for a bomb to Johnny Knox who was tackled near the goal line.

Even though the Bears were having a lot of success, Martz stuck with that straight killa and didn't filter it out with some bullshit trick plays. This is two weeks in a row where he didn't call the wildcat at a critically bad point in the game. The Bears were able to do anything they wanted on offense versus the Chargers and Mike Martz was a big part of that.  He called a brilliant game today, so we'll see if it goes to his head. It likely will.

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@1stdownroywill

Who Run It?

The gameplan to beat the Lions is simple... run the fucking ball. In the Bears three losses this season, they're averaging an underwhelming 14.7 rush attempts per game. That number is even exaggerated because they ran 24 times vs Detroit, bringing that average up. In the loss against the Packers, we all remember Martz only giving Forte 9 rush attempts and the New Orleans game was no better with the Bears only attempting 11 rushes all game.
In the Bears 5 wins this season, they are averaging 29.6 rushes for their RBs. The higher the total number of rushes, the better chance they have to win. Of course when you have the lead you have more freedom to run the ball; but the primary reason the Bears won each one of those games is their commitment to the run early. It opens their entire offense, especially play-action.
This offensive line is built to run block much better than it is to pass protect. They have good collection of size with enough quickness to get out in front of Forte and clear it out before he throws it in. When they're able to get the ground game going, it makes it so much easier for them to protect Cutler and give these WRs time to get open. But when Martz goes away from Forte and starts chucking it all over the place, that's when the offensive line gets in trouble. They need to run it early and often to keep this offense playing well. I think it's important that the Bears reach the 25 rush attempts milestone in order to win.
We have to give Martz some credit, though. It seems like he finally gets it... at least for now he does. During this three game win streak, the RBs have averaged 30.7 attempts per game. The question is, 'Will they stick with the run or will Martz get bored and start chucking?' Martz has been very creative with the run plays he's drawn up this season. He still gets to put in his motions that he loves so much and try to confuse the defense. Hopefully that will keep him interested because the only thing that can stop Matt Forte is Mike Martz.

Bears RBs combined rush attempts per game:
vs ATL - 26
vs NO - 11
vs GB - 9
vs CAR - 30
vs DET - 24
vs MIN - 28
vs TB - 31
vs PHI - 33
vs DET - 31
vs SD - 27
vs OAK - 22
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Trent Dilfer: Big Douche or Biggest Douche Ever?

I have a problem (well many problems but let's stay focused). My problem is with ESPN "Analyst" Trent Dilfer. This clown is a cereal Bears hater and more specifically a Jay Cutler hater.

I live by the moto "to each his own." I could care less what your opinion is, but if you believe in it then stick to your guns. If your thing is to rip into a player or team any chance you get, go for it. I do this all the time, I'm as guilty as anyone but that is what makes America the best country in the world. You can say and write whatever the fuck you want about almost anything. I just used the word "fuck" in a sentence, THAT'S FUCKING AWESOME!

What I don't like about this is when doucher Trent Dilfer pounces on Jay Cutler whenever anything is wrong with the Bears. His latest gem:

"Jay Cutler was introduced to this offense last spring in organized training activities. He went through an entire training camp with it. He was force-fed all of the information by Mike Martz and shown clearly what this offense is about. They use complex protection schemes and utilize one back in the backfield most of the time. It puts a tremendous burden on the quarterback to know who's blocked and who's not blocked. Ultimately, it's Jay Cutler's responsibility, when secondary people are coming, he needs to know they're either being picked up by my offensive line and my backs, or I'm responsible for them with hot throws. Regardless of what the issue is, ultimately it falls on Jay Cutler to get the ball out of his hands and to prevent these sacks and the turnovers that come with them."

Listen here Difler, you were a terrible football player. I don't care that you were part of a Ravens team that won Super Bowl XXXV. As far as I'm concerned, you did next to nothing helping Ray of Light and the Ravens win that game. 12-25 for 153 yards would win you nothing without playing with the 2nd greatest single season defense of all time. All you did was not fuck things up, good for you. I bet the 29 other backup QB's in the league that year would have killed to be in your position. But I regress...

I'm not saying that terrible football players such as Dilfer are all bad analysts. There are loads of sub-par ex-football players that are enjoyable to listen to while breaking down a situation: Charles Davis, The Bears very own Tom Waddle, Mike Golic and Ron Jaworski are players that had varying levels of success in the league but are knowledgeable and present information as well as any analyst around. The afore mentioned analysts do not step out of their comfort zones and attempt to analyze situations they were never exposed to. Example: Tom Waddle is never going to tell you what it's like to have to work against bracket coverage on the outside like Randy Moss. Sure, he'll be able to explain the concepts of it but as we all know, Waddle excelled over the middle and was less of a downfield threat. If he wanted to tell me what it's like to have your bell rung going across the middle, the guy has vast experience doing that and you know he's speaking from real-life experience. Bottom line, you need to take everything these guys say with a grain of salt.

This brings me back to Dilfer. This guy has never know what it's like to be a QB that is counted on to win games and make everyone better. While I'm not disputing that it is ultimately Cutler's responsibility to know where pressure is coming from, the O-line and Mike Martz need to have idea as well. This last week there were at least 5 sacks that were a direct result of the outside tackle blocking down on a double team instead of picking up the blitzer coming free off the edge. The tackle needs to be more aware of possible pressure. Last week doesn't fall on Cutler. When you're forced to have to make plays for your team to be successful, you need to take chances and hold the ball to let receivers get open. You also need to be confident in knowing the O-line will be able to pick blitzers up. Last time I checked, all these offensive lineman were in mini/training camp as well and were "force fed" the offense just like Cutler. Don't pin all the blame on him. While I can admit he needs to do things better, this one is on the line and Martz.

Back To Work Wednesday

It's a back to work Wednesday at Halas Hall today. What are some of the biggest issues the Bears face this week as D. McNabb and the hogs from DC roll into the city of wind?

1. The offense must be in sync - The offensive line, Cutler and Martz must anticipate what the 'Skins will do on defense to confuse. Communication breakdowns that plagued the Bears against the Seahawks can not happen again. Here's to hoping that an additional week together for the O-Line will help the cause (doubtful)

2. Run the ball!!! - There needs to be more balance on offense. Martz must stick with the run game for longer than the first quarter. Let this line run block and get comfortable. Be patient and give Forte/Taylor a chance to wear the 'Skins down and hopefully it leads to a few big runs in the 2nd half

3. Keep McNabb contained in the pocket - The Mt. Carmel product still does his best work when flushed from the pocket. Too many times he'll break contain and is able to wing it downfield to a receiver behind the defense. Keep McNabb in the pocket and the receivers in front of the defense to limit big plays.

They Did It! Bears Solve O-Line Issues In-House

They did it! They actually did it! The Bears didn't even have to look outside the organization to solve their offensive line issues.

A lot of praise was given to Mike Martz after the week 2 game in Dallas for the brilliant adjustments he made. Perennial flip-flopper, David Haugh, even wrote an article stating that we should "enjoy Martz while (we) can" since he's likely to be a head coach next year with his genius qualities. After getting dominated by the Boys' front four on the initial 3 possessions, Martz stops calling 5 and 7-step drops and starts calling for some quick passes to reverse the pressure. Bears start moving the ball and go on to win the game.

Now, after week 6, the critics are out and they're blaming Martz for a lack of adjustments in the embarrassing loss to the Seahawks. So what if he continued to go for the big play instead of moving the chains? So what if 7 of the 12 run plays that he called occurred in the 1st quarter of the game?

It's probably because we don't have the same view that Martz is afforded (a mere 75 yards away from the line of scrimmage), but these critics are failing to see the incredible move that The Genius pulled off....

Imagine that you are THE Mike Martz.

It's halftime and your team is down 14-13. Clearly an insurmountable lead for any other team, but these are DA BEARS we're talking bout (BEARS!). You are Mike MF Martz! You know Lovie's not one for motivational speeches, so you decide it's time to step up and solidify your role with this team. "You got this, you're Mike Martz," you say to yourself while looking in the mirror post-halftime-piss. After rinsing your hands off without using soap, you walk into the center of the locker room and you rally the troops. "I'm Mike Martz! I know what to do. Take a knee with the rest of the guys, Lovie... I'm about to save your job."

After explaining the single adjustment you need to make to win this game, your team is so pumped that the defense goes out and forces a punt on the initial possession of the 2nd half after only 6 plays and one first down. You get the ball back on your own 10 yard line. "It's go time, Michael. Don't chunk this," you say to yourself, knowing damn well you couldn't possibly chunk it with your fool-proof plan. Your team lines up at the 10 with an unbeatable formation... from right to left you have Frank Omiyale at TE, J'Marcus Webb at RT, Edwin Williams at RG, Olin Kruetz falling down the middle, C Will at LG and lifetime 7th Floor Crew member Greg Olsen holding down the fort at LT.

With so much beef on the right side, there's no chance that the Seahawks could stop this play anywhere short of 50 yard line. The ball is snapped, Cutler hands it off to Forte. Forte fakes left and counters back to the right side behind a monster push by Frank Omiyale and J'Marcus Webb. Daylight.... Forte to the 50, 40, 30, 20, 10, 5 and TOUCHDOWN!!!

Oh wait... That's not how it happened? You're Mike Martz; how could it go wrong? "DARN!" Instead of running behind the beef, you call for Forte to follow the dominating blocks of Greg Olsen against puny 323 lb DE, Red Bryant. Instead of the Bears' usual push from the LT position, Olsen gets blown up and Bryant easily takes Forte down for an astounding 0 yard gain. Next play: 10 yard sack for a safety. "You lose, Mike Martz... you loser."