OL preference for Bears:

[dll2000]

1 minute ago, G08 said:

didn't you, before the season started, rip into Hiestand's coaching methods from what you observed at camp?

It was one practice, but yes I wasn’t a fan. Funny thing was I quiet about my thoughts since I was there by myself.  There was a couple of guys nearby me, coaches I believe from way they dressed, verbalizing to each other same things I was thinking. 

It was a funny comment, but a football coach means a lot more than other sports.

 

[G08]

38 minutes ago, dll2000 said:

a football coach means a lot more than other sports

I agree with this whole-heartedly. Players make a huge difference, don't get me wrong, but you can improve a player simply by providing them with excellent coaching and putting them in the right position.

Can you refresh my memory on what you posted? I can't recall in what thread you posted your thoughts

[dll2000]

11 hours ago, G08 said:

I agree with this whole-heartedly. Players make a huge difference, don't get me wrong, but you can improve a player simply by providing them with excellent coaching and putting them in the right position.

Can you refresh my memory on what you posted? I can't recall in what thread you posted your thoughts

Basically he wasn’t correcting mistakes or coaching guys up after they got whooped or at all in live drills.  In non live drills it looked like he was teaching flat palms instead of grabbing and locking inside like everyone else does across all of football and gets away with.  

Maybe he had a reason for it.  Maybe it was just for initial strike which is fine.  I don’t want to unfairly bash him.  Lots of people who know things have great things to say about him.  I just didn’t see it on day I was there or on field throughout season to be frank.  

[abstract_thought]

Wanted to note: the Bears have not had good OL play for most of Matt Nagy's tenure. They've ranked in the bottom 5 of Adjusted Line Yards since John Fox left. The best you can say about them is that they pass blocked successfully in 2018. But they were bad at pass blocking in both 2017 and 2019.

The question of whether this is specifically a coaching or personnel problem is interesting. But given Leno and Massie's lack of pedigree or success elsewhere, it's hard to see this OL as a group of underachievers being held back by poor coaching. We have seen solid seasons from Whitehair and Daniels, but the other OL players range from average players to other teams' cast-offs. So while coaching is obviously a factor in this group's poor play, I don't think it's reasonable to expect greatness from this group just because the Bears hired a new OL coach. Most likely we'll see mild improvement and they'll still be average to below-average when compared to other teams.

Edited May 14, 2020 by abstract_thought

[dll2000]

13 minutes ago, abstract_thought said:

Wanted to note: the Bears have not had good OL play for most of Matt Nagy's tenure. They've ranked in the bottom 5 of Adjusted Line Yards since John Fox left. The best you can say about them is that they pass blocked successfully in 2018. But they were bad at pass blocking in both 2017 and 2019.

The question of whether this is specifically a coaching or personnel problem is interesting. But given Leno and Massie's lack of pedigree or success elsewhere, it's hard to see this OL as a group of underachievers being held back by poor coaching. We have seen solid seasons from Whitehair and Daniels, but the other OL players range from average players to other teams' cast-offs. So while coaching is obviously a factor in this group's poor play, I don't think it's reasonable to expect greatness from this group just because the Bears hired a new OL coach. Most likely we'll see mild improvement and they'll still be average to below-average when compared to other teams.

Also interesting is OL helped make Howard look like one of best backs in league with Fox and he looked terrible under Nagy.  Then they blamed Howard.  So evidence says scheme and/or coaching is at least part of problem for them. 

I think a large unspoken part of the run game failure is the awful TE blocking under Nagy's regime.  The TEs have not been able to make the run blocks on EMLOS that Nagy's scheme asks for on their base IZ play and EMLOS blows it up a lot.   A lot.  

I would add Arians publicly said Massie was a bum after he let him go.  (Don't ask me when or where he said it, but I remember it).  To Massie's credit he went from an awful pass blocker in year one with Bears to an adequate one, but whenever his leg his hurting he goes back to awful.   Leno has always been an overachiever with a ceiling of average.  Also to his credit.  

These have been our bookends for years now with no effort to upgrade them or even provide quality depth.  That is baffling to me.  Also that to date we have been unable to find or create/develop a good blocking TE.  

Hopefully that changes with Kmet.  People say the KC FA TE is also a good blocker.  We'll see.