FOF 5.1a - One-and-Done Bears

[QuikSand]

The “One and Done” Challenge – A FOF 5.1a dynasty

The idea behind this challenge started in this thread (http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/~fof/forums/showthread.php?t=32705), where a few of us got to talking about building a team completely out of one rookie class, and never adding any more players, period. A couple people have already launched theirs, but I remain intrigued enough by this concept to give it a go myself.

I don’t know how seriously I will take this, but I will follow the rule completely – no replacing for retired or injured players. Any losses we take will just be losses. Any player who won’t re-sign is just gone, period. I think this will add some real new dimensions – not to mention that we’ll be stuck with a pretty sad-looking roster for the bulk of the career, I suspect.


I’m starting a new career with the Chicago Bears, decided essentially at random. I deliberately tank the first season, to try to lock up the first overall draft pick. My game plan will have us running right up the middle on essentially every play – that ought to ensure a dreadful record for the year. Sure enough – we go 0-16 (not even close!), and lock up the top pick for the first year of the bona fide challenge.

By the way – I have turned GM firing “off” – I’m in this for the long haul, and am sure that this team will stink for some time, maybe all the time. At the very least, I want to be able to finish what I start here.

[QuikSand]

2005 offseason

Since this career will have a narrower focus than most, I’m going to try to lay out my steps pretty clearly.


Staff Hiring

Landing a good scout, right now, is a top priority. I need to have the best possible assessment of this draft and rookie class – these are all the players we will ever have. I’ll try to get good developmental coaches, if possible, but the scout is the most important thing.

I offer 31 year old scout Herb Burks my maximum of $510,000 – more than anyone else is making, period. He quickly accepts, and we get our top choice – VG with Young Talent, and his only blue mark is a “fair” with DBs. I’m pleased.

Our defensive coordinator is actually particularly good with DBs, so perhaps we will offset that weakness in our scouting.

Our new Head Coach is Karl Ostrander – also a pretty solid guy. He rates Excellent in offensive playcalling and avoiding injuries – and that’s a great foundation right there. Very Good in discipline, and then average with motivation and defensive playcalling. Solid pickup – he is 59, so he ought to be able to serve the full 5-year contract fine.


Rookie Draft Planning

Obviously, this is the crux of the entire career – to have any kind of long term success, we are going to need to populate this team as effectively as possible with enough decent players from this draft, that we can just get by on team cohesion and marginal players everywhere else. I will doubtlessly drop down from the #1 pick to scoop up more selections, but on top of that I need to plan carefully.

Overall, I am going to let the players dictate the system, rather than the other way around. With secondary coverages – if I land a CB early (and I’d prefer to), I’ll probably build the coverage scheme around him. As for the offensive line – I think that we’ll probably look for balance overall, and wherever we get passable talent, we’ll try to make do. I will, however, be looking for run-stoppers all along the defensive front – this team is going to be bad, opponents are going to be leading, and they are going to be running – this is not an option, we need to be prepared for the running game.

Taking a QB early – a big decision. It would be fairly obvious to try to start out with a monster QB, and build whatever you can around him. There is an obvious standout in this draft, but I’m not totally convinced that’s the way to go. I have had an awful lot of luck getting modest breakout players after the draft, and with playing time, it seems that QBs can really develop – even from very modest means. I’m thinking that the way to go might well be to go after the really tough-to fill positions earliest, and to go from there.

If we can get out of this draft with solid players at DT, CB, WR, and LT – and then a few suitable fillers at other basic positions, I think that’s basically all we could ask for. My thinking is that the pass rush is going to be a very secondary concern here – if someone develops, fine, but I’m open to using one-dimensional players as needed, and that will no doubt include some linebackers who can play DE, etc. If we grab a promising QB along the way, great – but I won’t be looking until after the first round or two are up.

[QuikSand]

Rookie Draft

We get our first look at the rookie class. Shocking – the top prospect is indeed a quarterback. Matt Frederick is rated 53/89 by my scout, and looks like a total monster. Might he be enough to get me to reconsider my original position on not taking a QB early? Probably not – but if I trade down to #3 or #4 and he’s still there, all bets are off.

DT Teddy Davidson is exactly the guy I’d love to start out with, if we happens to slide down a few spots. I judge that as unlikely, and so I’m thinking about where else I might be going, assuming the very top players are gone, and we are picking at #8 or #10 or so.

Walter Soustos is the best CB, but isn’t such a standout that I’m deeply intrigued. RB Lester Harrison looks like he will be a monster, and should be around for a few spots – he’d be a possibility, too. MLB Bruce Wiggins would be another possible candidate – he’s a nearly complete player, and has some markings of a breakout.


So, we trade down to #2, and get Washington’s 2,3, and 4 picks in the deal. Fine. They take CB Soustos – a guy I wasn’t even that wild about, leaving the stud DT and QB sitting there. I can safely move down to #3, in that case, and swing a deal with New Orleans to get their 2 and 3 picks, for our 1 and 7. They go after a monster RB – even better than Harrison, who I mentioned above. I’m still eyeing up that DT for us… but QB Matt Frederick is still there as well, and he’s very tempting indeed.

I am completely torn between the QB and DT, so I decide to deal down once again, and pick up some capital – and essentially let the other teams decide for us. It basically couldn’t be a bigger decision – starting with a franchise QB or a monster DT would send us in two completely different directions. We move up from round 6 to round 2 in the deal, and slide down to pick #4. The big bang effect of trading down is rapidly dissipating.

...more to come...

[QuikSand]

Tennessee, at #3, takes the top DE available, and my two standout players are still here. Now, I have some capital – including the top four picks in round two – and I’m wondering if there’s any way we might be able to get both of these guys. If I take the DT now, and the QB continues to slide – maybe I could trade up and select him later in the first round? Probably too good to be true.

I swallow hard, and go ahead -- we take DT Davidson with pick #4, and intend to keep a fairly close eye on QB Matt Frederick.


DRAF PICKS SO FAR…

Pick Pos Player Board Dash Sole Strg Agil Vol Draft After PostCamp
1.04 DT Teddy Davidson 8.6 4.74++ 30+ 42++ 7.48+ 34 66/85

[QuikSand]

I am shocked… shocked… to see QB Frederick just fall and fall. I had originally decided that he’d be too expensive to trade up for, and had basically removed him from my thoughts.

But when he slips to #8, I am surprised. He falls all the way to the middle of round one, and feel that I have no choice but to move up – now, the price is much more reasonable than at #5, where I was once very seriously thinking about grabbing him. A 2,3, and a 4 get me the #17 pick in round one from Baltimore – and we are in business. Welcome aboard, captain – a passing team it will be.


DRAFT PICKS SO FAR…

Pick Pos Player Board Dash Sole Strg Agil Vol Draft After PostCamp
1.04 DT Teddy Davidson 8.6 4.74++ 30+ 42++ 7.48+ 34 66/85
1.17 QB Matt Frederick 8.4 4.54++ 44++ 25++ 6.98++ 1 53/89


Matt Frederick looks about as sure-fire a QB as I have seen – he is rated at the very top of every combine area, has a miniscule 1 rating for volatility, and is already well-developed. Monster, I say, monster. What a steal.

[QuikSand]

I make one more deal to move up and get the last real run-stopping LB in the draft at pick #12. I have used up several of our extra selections at this point, but I feel like we landed three serious foundation players. We’ll just have to do our best to surround them with some complementary parts with hat we have left.

[size=1]
Pick Pos Player Board Dash Sole Strg Agil Vol Draft After PostCamp
1.04 DT Teddy Davidson 8.6 4.74++ 30+ 42++ 7.48+ 34 66/85
1.17 QB Matt Frederick 8.4 4.54++ 44++ 25++ 6.98++ 1 53/89
1.21 LB Ellis Hawkins 6.0 4.85 30 30+ 6.93++ 55 40/63
2.02 S Ron Mazza 4.8 4.60 39+ 17 7.07+ 99 15/59
2.03 LB Robert Bensen 4.8 4.43++ 26 22+ 7.45 46 31/54
3.01 T Grant McDaniel 4.0 5.18+ 36 19 7.39++ 71 15/48
3.07 WR Larry Thomas 3.9 4.42++ 31+ 22++ 6.77++ 8 32/49
4.01 T Broderick Randle 4.0 5.21+ 35 21 7.61+ 91 07/49
4.07 RB Eric Peterson 3.2 4.86 24 20+ 7.15+ 91 19/36


Ron Mazza is the best DB I could find in round two, and might become a starting corner for us, if he can make the switch effectively. If not, he will still be a critical starter.

LB Robert Bensen looks like he might be good, and ought to be a possible fill for several different roster spots. I expect to see him get time at DE, but possible also DB – this could be a weird team. Without much doubt, it will.

Tackle Grant McDaniel might break out – I like his agality test – and both he and Randle look like capable pass blockers, which will clearly be our main need up front.

I love WR Larry Thomas, and when a mini-run at WR put him in jeopardy, I moved up to get him. Big breakout potential – we’ll be counting on him to be a star for us.

RB Eric Robertson just seemed like the best fit left at RB – we’ll need someone to play there, and the versatility of RBs is valuable unto itself. I had my eye on a very good FB, but he went in round two – way before we were ready to look at that position.

And since we dealt away all our late picks – we’ll have to fill in the remainder of the roster using the URFA pool. I usually have some decent luck grabbing some breakout players this way – so this will be an adventure unto itself. There were several guys I liked in round four of the draft who I hope will still be around after the draft wraps up.

[DaddyTorgo]

that's just so wrong. Lovely...lovely start to the draft QS. Excited to see if you'll have any more (relative) success with this than anyone else.

[QuikSand]

For future consideration, here's a thought:

I think the rule restricting trades to within the current year's draft is too tight for this challenge. I think a fair way to do it woudl be to alow you to accumulate picks in a future year's draft, but only if you end up trading those picks to get back into the current draft.

So - you trade down from #1 to #2 overall, and you might get that team's 1st rounder next season in the deal. Then, you trade that pick to get pick #10 in this year's draft. I think that's still fair, and within the reasonable confines of this challenge concept. (I wish I had thought of this before I got through my first draft)

[QuikSand]

Yes, that was ridiculous -- but it might be exactly the kind f weird break you'd need tomake this really work. I have not gotten to training camp yet, but if we get a handful of breakout players from the URFA class... we might be able to win a few games down the road. A star QB can make a big difference, and I don't see how this guy can miss.

[DaddyTorgo]

let's just hope he doesn't get repetitive concussion syndrome, or something like that. That would totally break you. Eagerly looking, and pondering doing one up myself.

[QuikSand]

Predictably, I am eyeballs-deep in the rookie free agent market, and have no interest in detailing the full litany of stats on each young player. I do think we will get some breakouts, but I’m not really wild about where I think they will come. I’d love to have a surprise at LB or DL, but it looks like we’ll get a couple of wideouts, and maybe one DB. Plus a QB or two – just what I didn’t really need. Backup QBs are fine, and necessary, but that’s not how we’re going to win, if we do.

We go ahead with a pretty vanilla training camp, and have a look at the roster. Now, we’ll start figuring out who is going to really help us here.


Player # Pos Start Exp CE FE CE FE dCE dFE
Frederick, Matt 8 QB 1 52 90 51 90 -1 0
de Loayza, Anthony 5 QB 1 15 46 17 43 2 -3
Spendal, Ken 9 QB 1 13 30 14 26 1 -4
Ingram, Teddy 18 QB 1 12 42 14 38 2 -4
Jean, Ted 4 QB 1 12 40 14 39 2 -1
Ridder, Shannon 13 QB 1 12 47 13 39 1 -8
Fleming, Bryan 15 QB 1 12 32 12 31 0 -1
Kane, Roosevelt 2 QB 1 7 28 10 33 3 5
Brady, Martin 17 QB 1 2 23 4 26 2 3
Lucas, Bob 25 RB 1 22 33 24 34 2 1
Gustafson, Brian 27 RB 1 23 38 24 37 1 -1
Holliday, Matt 21 RB 1 22 29 23 29 1 0
Raiola, Herb 26 RB 1 20 39 21 35 1 -4
Rogers, Bernard 37 RB 1 19 33 20 30 1 -3
Stevenson, Percy 42 RB 1 19 32 19 28 0 -4
Peterson, Eric 40 RB 1 18 32 19 27 1 -5
Sugarman, Terrance 49 RB 1 13 20 14 20 1 0
Clinton, Neal 44 RB 1 11 13 12 14 1 1
Money, Dan 46 FB 1 22 36 24 36 2 0
Clements, Rick 34 FB 1 19 40 21 38 2 -2
Blake, Victor 24 FB 1 18 35 18 34 0 -1
Lockett, Ernie 41 FB 1 11 19 12 19 1 0
Cobb, Sedrick 86 TE 1 19 40 20 36 1 -4
Cardona, Josh 89 TE 1 18 32 19 30 1 -2
Martin, Andrew 87 TE 1 15 32 17 31 2 -1
Thomas, Larry 80 FL 1 32 50 34 55 2 5
Sheldon, Brant 82 FL 1 11 27 12 27 1 0
Gaylor, Kevin 88 SE 1 17 34 19 39 2 5
Assanie, Clyde 83 SE 1 16 30 17 28 1 -2
Pearson, Billy Joe 81 SE 1 11 28 13 28 2 0
Sanner, Mitchell 53 C 1 17 38 17 34 0 -4
Sims, George 59 C 1 12 26 13 26 1 0
McNeil, Nicky 50 C 1 11 34 12 34 1 0
Kinney, Peter 55 C 1 8 47 10 46 2 -1
Blair, Walt 52 C 1 8 38 10 37 2 -1
Foust, Brett 69 C 1 8 28 9 26 1 -2
Henson, Harry 62 LG 1 16 36 18 37 2 1
Diamond, Ed 67 LG 1 14 32 15 30 1 -2
Lake, Deion 73 LG 1 14 32 14 32 0 0
Tatum, Hardy 75 RG 1 10 35 12 35 2 0
Muscarella, Derek 63 RG 1 7 37 9 36 2 -1
McDaniel, Grant 78 LT 1 16 50 20 51 4 1
Jefferson, Amos 66 LT 1 17 32 18 32 1 0
Randle, Broderick 72 LT 1 7 50 11 50 4 0
Francis, Justin 79 LT 1 17 35 19 37 2 2
Gerald, Ken 64 RT 1 8 34 8 30 0 -4
Andrykovitch, Bucky 10 P 1 41 54 42 50 1 -4
Nadeau, Victor 7 P 1 25 32 28 37 3 5
Porter, Broderick 16 K 1 15 44 16 40 1 -4
Hughes, Wendell 76 RDE 1 21 30 23 31 2 1
Summers, Doug 77 RDE 1 18 28 18 27 0 -1
Westbrook, Travis 98 RDE 1 12 39 15 39 3 0
Schwartz, Timothy 99 RDT 1 27 38 28 38 1 0
Davidson, Teddy 96 RDT 1 64 86 63 86 -1 0
Spencer, Preston 95 RDT 1 13 38 15 38 2 0
Hawkins, Ellis 58 MLB 1 36 63 35 61 -1 -2
Lucas, Gilbert 91 MLB 1 19 35 20 35 1 0
Rabens, Rob 57 MLB 1 12 36 14 35 2 -1
Cobb, Doug 56 MLB 1 13 37 14 32 1 -5
Bensen, Robert 51 WLB 1 31 55 34 55 3 0
Montgomery, Joe 93 SLB 1 13 32 14 31 1 -1
Giles, Tim 92 SLB 1 11 35 13 32 2 -3
Mott, Conrad 90 WLB 1 20 42 22 40 2 -2
Scott, Jon 54 WLB 1 14 32 15 33 1 1
Winters, Toby 48 LCB 1 12 31 13 29 1 -2
Hampton, Oliver 29 RCB 1 13 19 14 19 1 0
Greer, Emmanuel 30 RCB 1 11 28 13 28 2 0
Butterworth, Jose 47 RCB 1 11 36 13 36 2 0
Weliczka, Conrad 43 RCB 1 11 40 13 37 2 -3
Mazza, Ron 45 FS 1 17 60 19 56 2 -4
Turnbull, Walter 28 SS 1 14 28 15 25 1 -3
Garcia, Broderick 22 SS 1 13 35 15 34 2 -1
Kaplan, Earnest 38 SS 1 10 35 10 31 0 -4
Gibson, Carlton 35 FS 1 14 40 16 37 2 -3
Harris, Greg 20 FS 1 12 39 15 40 3 1
Cuevas, Kenneth 33 FS 1 7 37 8 33 1 -4


Okay – let’s look for breakout players first. 13 players on the team showed a bump in potential rating – that’s not too shabby. Our top two players held firm, which is also very good news. It looks like we’re going to have some pieces of the puzzle to work with here.

We are, however, certainly going to have some holes to fill. As nearly as I can tell, we have nothing much on the OL, nothing much at LB other than our top pick, and nothing much in the secondary. We’ll do our best to develop some of these guys, but there are guys who have a long way to go to be worth a damn.

[QuikSand]

When I get a chance, I intend to detail the roster, position by position. I'll try to give a sense of what we have on hand, and what we'll need to do with them.

Cutting down will be difficult - need to think about long-term flexibility, as well as overall ability.

[tucker342]

I'll be reading:)

[QuikSand]

Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
Frederick, Matt 8 QB 1 51 90 4 yrs
de Loayza, Anthony 5 QB QB 1 17 43 2 yrs
Spendal, Ken 9 QB 1 14 26 2 yrs
Ingram, Teddy 18 QB 1 14 38 2 yrs
Jean, Ted 4 QB 1 14 39 2 yrs
Ridder, Shannon 13 QB 1 13 39 2 yrs
Fleming, Bryan 15 QB 1 12 31 2 yrs
Kane, Roosevelt 2 QB 1 10 33 2 yrs
Brady, Martin 17 QB 1 4 26 2 yrs


I didn’t want to end up dry at QB, despite the top draft pick – so I went very heavy here. Frederick is the franchise player, of course, but Kane was a +5 in camp, and Brady a +3 – both will make the team, and we’ll need to keep them happy. I expect to keep de Loayza also, though he disappointed me – I was almost sure he would break out.


Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
Lucas, Bob 25 RB 1 24 34 2 yrs
Gustafson, Brian 27 RB RB 1 24 37 2 yrs
Holliday, Matt 21 RB 1 23 29 2 yrs
Raiola, Herb 26 RB 1 21 35 2 yrs
Rogers, Bernard 37 RB 1 20 30 2 yrs
Stevenson, Percy 42 RB 1 19 28 2 yrs
Peterson, Eric 40 RB 1 19 27 4 yrs
Sugarman, Terrance 49 RB 1 14 20 2 yrs
Clinton, Neal 44 RB 1 12 14 2 yrs


I drafted Peterman, but after a disappointing camp, it’s a wide open race here. Lucas is reasonably well-rounded, and had a +1 camp, so he’s the favorite now. Gustafson has some solid skills, and is probably making the team as well. Peterson has a few very good skills, but that’s it – he will make the team, but I don’t know what to expect from him. Neal Clinton has almost no apparent skill – but he did pop one point in training camp, which suggests that he may have some upside. I don’t think we can afford to leave any plus player off the roster – plus, Clinton has the right weight to switch around, if needed.


Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
Money, Dan 46 FB FB 1 24 36 2 yrs
Clements, Rick 34 FB 1 21 38 2 yrs
Blake, Victor 24 FB 1 18 34 2 yrs
Lockett, Ernie 41 FB 1 12 19 2 yrs


Dan Money is the starter by default, but we have nothing to speak of here. I think this team’s offense will use a healthy dose of multi-receiver sets, since we are pretty empty at FB, and also at TE. Clements has some potential as a receiver, but none of these guys is ever going to post real numbers.


Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
Cobb, Sedrick 86 TE TE 1 20 36 2 yrs
Cardona, Josh 89 TE 1 19 30 2 yrs
Martin, Andrew 87 TE 1 17 31 2 yrs


Martin is the most well-rounded, Cardona is probably the best receiver, and Cobb the best blocker. For this team, probably going pass-inclined on offense, none ought to make much of an impact. I’ll predict Cardona ends up with the best career offensive totals.


Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
Thomas, Larry 80 FL FL 1 34 55 3 yrs
Sheldon, Brant 82 FL 1 12 27 2 yrs
Gaylor, Kevin 88 SE SE 1 19 39 2 yrs
Assanie, Clyde 83 SE 1 17 28 2 yrs
Pearson, Billy Joe 81 SE 1 13 28 2 yrs


Larry Thomas was a monster +5 breakout for us – a huge addition, now the anchor of our skill position fleet. He also shapes up as a top flight kick returner – very nice also. This looks like our strongest position, other than QB perhaps – Kevin Gaylor is also a +5 breakout, and looks like he’ll be our big play man on the outside.

Assanie was picked to be our special team stud, but I have switched RBs Herb Raiola and Bernard Rogers to WR, and both of them look like threats to take that role. In the end, Raiola will make the team, and Assanie is on the fence, but will likely stick.


Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
Sanner, Mitchell 53 C C 1 17 34 2 yrs
Sims, George 59 C 1 13 26 2 yrs
McNeil, Nicky 50 C 1 12 34 2 yrs
Kinney, Peter 55 C 1 10 46 2 yrs
Blair, Walt 52 C 1 10 37 2 yrs
Foust, Brett 69 C 1 9 26 2 yrs
Henson, Harry 62 LG LG 1 18 37 2 yrs
Diamond, Ed 67 LG 1 15 30 2 yrs
Lake, Deion 73 LG 1 14 32 2 yrs
Tatum, Hardy 75 RG RG 1 12 35 2 yrs
Muscarella, Derek 63 RG 1 9 36 2 yrs
McDaniel, Grant 78 LT LT 1 20 51 3 yrs
Jefferson, Amos 66 LT 1 18 32 2 yrs
Randle, Broderick 72 LT 1 11 50 3 yrs
Francis, Justin 79 RT RT 1 19 37 2 yrs
Gerald, Ken 64 RT 1 8 30 2 yrs


We picked up lots of prospects on the OL, and have three decent-enough guys to show for it. LT Grant McDaniel did break out, and ought to develop into a solid blind-side protector for the QBs. G Harry Henson gave us a +1 in training camp, and locked up a starting spot that way. RT Justin Francis also is in with his plus camp effort. We’ll fill in as best we can with the riffraff, and hope to get something from them over time. I’m a little disappointed here – one or two more plus players would have given me real room for optimism.


Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
Andrykovitch, Bucky 10 P 1 42 50 2 yrs
Nadeau, Victor 7 P 1 28 37 2 yrs
Porter, Broderick 16 K 1 16 40 2 yrs


We’re fine here – punter broke out, and we ought to be okay, period. I may keep three guys, as I don’t want to get cut off for an illegal roster by having one guy retire early. We’ll see how precious that 53rd roster spot turns out to be.


Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
Hughes, Wendell 76 LDE LDE 1 23 31 2 yrs
Summers, Doug 77 RDE RDE 1 18 27 2 yrs
Westbrook, Travis 98 RDE 1 15 39 2 yrs
Schwartz, Timothy 99 LDT LDT 1 28 38 2 yrs
Davidson, Teddy 96 RDT 1 63 86 5 yrs
Spencer, Preston 95 RDT RDT 1 15 38 2 yrs


I didn’t really go deep enough here, and we’ll have to keep everyone, I suspect. Fortunately, no major busts – but also no major talents, I don’t think. DE Travis Westbrook might end up being a nice one-dimensional run stopper, and will probably get the starting job right in the middle for us. Davidson looks like a titan, though he’s not the run-stopping standout I had hoped for – he’ll only be rated 85-90 or so there. Oh, darn. DT Schwarts is probably better suited to play DE, and will get a shot.


Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
Hawkins, Ellis 58 MLB 1 35 61 4 yrs
Lucas, Gilbert 91 MLB MLB 1 20 35 2 yrs
Rabens, Rob 57 MLB 1 14 35 2 yrs
Cobb, Doug 56 MLB 1 14 32 2 yrs
Bensen, Robert 51 SLB SLB 1 34 55 4 yrs
Montgomery, Joe 93 SLB 1 14 31 2 yrs
Giles, Tim 92 SLB 1 13 32 2 yrs
Mott, Conrad 90 WLB WLB 1 22 40 2 yrs
Scott, Jon 54 WLB 1 15 33 2 yrs


Ellis Hawkins will be a solid run stopper, but his surrounding skills are surprisingly low – in ordinary circumstances, he wouldn’t have been worth a first round pick. But, I felt I needed a real run stopper at MLB, and the options were very thin. Robert Bensen is a pure pass rusher, and I expect to slot him at DE first.

That leaves two starting spots for the rest of these bums, and I have no clear idea what to do. Conrad Mott is just a run stopper, but might be okay at the weak side – that leaves the strong side wide open. Gilbert Lucas might be the best we have – but this is a real weakness, and I’m disappointed that we don’t have one more acceptable player here.


Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
Winters, Toby 48 LCB LCB 1 13 29 2 yrs
Hampton, Oliver 29 RCB 1 14 19 2 yrs
Greer, Emmanuel 30 RCB 1 13 28 2 yrs
Butterworth, Jose 47 RCB 1 13 36 2 yrs
Weliczka, Conrad 43 RCB RCB 1 13 37 2 yrs
Mazza, Ron 45 SS SS 1 19 56 4 yrs
Turnbull, Walter 28 SS 1 15 25 2 yrs
Garcia, Broderick 22 SS 1 15 34 2 yrs
Kaplan, Earnest 38 SS 1 10 31 2 yrs
Gibson, Carlton 35 FS FS 1 16 37 2 yrs
Harris, Greg 20 FS 1 15 40 2 yrs
Cuevas, Kenneth 33 FS 1 8 33 2 yrs


The secondary is a mixed bag. I am thinking that we will go with a bump-and-run system in coverage – that seems to be our collective strong suit. Ron Mazza is going to b pretty solid, it seems, and we have a couple others who ought to be passable. Conrad Weliczka might b our best cover corner, and my big decision might be whether to use Mazza at CB or safety. I like what I see in S Carlton Gibson, who will start at safety, and might turn out to be a really useful role player for us.

[Coffee Warlord]

I have a distinct feeling you're gonna be praying for a few injuries in the preseason, just so you can start burning up IR spots. :)

[Buccaneer]

I certainly understand that this could be a total monster. If you get hit with injuries, you could end up with an invalid roster, I understand that.
You said this but never provided an answer. Where would you get another player to meet a minimum roster requirement if you can't fill in all of the holes?

[3ric]

I don't think he will - if it happens, it's <i>finito</i>

[QuikSand]

I don't think he will - if it happens, it's <i>finito</i>

Correct.

I have extra players everywhere but P/K.. so I need to dodge a retirement there. But if I lose a player at DL (where I unwisely left myself only 6-deep), I'll have to move over a LB or OL to fill in the roster spot, and probably get a comletely useless shell after the position switch.

[Celeval]

I don't think he will - if it happens, it's finito
That's the difference in our rules, I think - I went ahead and added into mine that if a player retired with no way to fill the slot, I could sign the worst available free agent to take his place.

Not that the worst K/P would leave me any shot of winning.

[QuikSand]

I dunno. While my initial rule is pretty firm, if something very quirky happens -- like a P/K retirement after four years -- I'll probably break the rule with a 0/0 player, just to maintain the career. Just noting this in advance -- within reason, I'm sticking with the rules, but only within reason.

[QuikSand]

...thinking... is there any sort of player editor tool that would let me switch a WR to K? That would be better than just pickin up a new guy...

[QuikSand]

Preseason

I make the relatively painless cuts down to 60 players, and we get ready for the preseason. I keep most of our top-tier players on the bench, and we will give the starting time to the reserve-caliber guys who need it.

We don’t really learn a lot about this team in the preseason – we’re bad, no shock there. We can’t run much, and we can’t stop anyone. It looks like a typically bleak opening season – though we have yet to lift the cover off Matt Frederick at QB, so he could change things a bit.

With 2 players on IR, we will end up with 55 players going forward into the regular season. We have to make some tough cuts to get there. I make the tough decisions, and we pare down to the necessary squad – it just doesn’t bear much resemblance to an actual winning team, at this point.


Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
Frederick, Matt 8 QB QB 1 51 90 4 yrs
de Loayza, Anthony 5 QB 1 17 43 2 yrs
Kane, Roosevelt 2 QB 1 10 33 2 yrs
Brady, Martin 17 QB 1 4 26 2 yrs
Lucas, Bob 25 RB RB 1 24 34 2 yrs
Gustafson, Brian 27 RB 1 24 37 2 yrs
Peterson, Eric 40 RB 1 19 27 4 yrs
Sugarman, Terrance 49 RB 1 14 20 2 yrs
Clinton, Neal 44 RB 1 12 14 2 yrs
**Money, Dan 46 FB 1 24 36 2 yrs
Clements, Rick 34 FB FB 1 21 38 2 yrs
Cobb, Sedrick 86 TE TE 1 20 36 2 yrs
**Cardona, Josh 89 TE 1 19 30 2 yrs
Martin, Andrew 87 TE 1 17 31 2 yrs
Thomas, Larry 80 FL FL 1 34 55 3 yrs
Gaylor, Kevin 88 SE SE 1 20 39 2 yrs
Raiola, Herb 26 SE 1 15 42 2 yrs
Rogers, Bernard 37 SE 1 15 37 2 yrs
Pearson, Billy Joe 81 SE 1 13 28 2 yrs
Sanner, Mitchell 53 C C 1 17 34 2 yrs
McNeil, Nicky 50 C 1 13 34 2 yrs
Sims, George 59 C 1 13 26 2 yrs
Henson, Harry 62 LG LG 1 18 37 2 yrs
Lake, Deion 73 LG 1 15 32 2 yrs
Tatum, Hardy 75 RG RG 1 12 35 2 yrs
McDaniel, Grant 78 LT LT 1 20 51 3 yrs
Jefferson, Amos 66 LT 1 18 32 2 yrs
Randle, Broderick 72 LT 1 11 50 3 yrs
Francis, Justin 79 RT RT 1 20 37 2 yrs
Andrykovitch, Bucky 10 P 1 42 50 2 yrs
Porter, Broderick 16 K 1 17 40 2 yrs
Hughes, Wendell 76 LDE 1 24 31 2 yrs
Schwartz, Timothy 99 RDE RDE 1 24 37 2 yrs
Summers, Doug 77 RDE 1 19 27 2 yrs
Westbrook, Travis 98 RDE RDT 1 15 39 2 yrs
Davidson, Teddy 96 RDT LDT 1 66 86 5 yrs
Spencer, Preston 95 RDT 1 16 38 2 yrs
Hawkins, Ellis 58 MLB MLB 1 35 61 4 yrs
Lucas, Gilbert 91 MLB SLB 1 21 35 2 yrs
Rabens, Rob 57 MLB 1 15 35 2 yrs
Bensen, Robert 51 SLB LDE 1 34 55 4 yrs
Montgomery, Joe 93 SLB 1 14 31 2 yrs
Cobb, Doug 56 SLB 1 13 32 2 yrs
Giles, Tim 92 SLB 1 13 32 2 yrs
Mott, Conrad 90 WLB WLB 1 22 40 2 yrs
Scott, Jon 54 WLB 1 16 33 2 yrs
Winters, Toby 48 LCB LCB 1 14 29 2 yrs
Butterworth, Jose 47 RCB 1 15 36 2 yrs
Hampton, Oliver 29 RCB 1 14 19 2 yrs
Weliczka, Conrad 43 RCB RCB 1 14 37 2 yrs
Mazza, Ron 45 SS SS 1 19 56 4 yrs
Turnbull, Walter 28 SS 1 15 25 2 yrs
Kaplan, Earnest 38 SS 1 12 31 2 yrs
Gibson, Carlton 35 FS FS 1 16 37 2 yrs
Harris, Greg 20 FS 1 16 40 2 yrs

[QuikSand]

2005 Season

Into the opening season we go – I have no expectations that this is going to be much of anything but a developmental experience. Without getting into a ton of detail, I am starting out with the game plan that I used with my FOFL team – and with the secondary coverage scheme tweaked to focus on bump and run. The offense is a not quite a run-and-shoot, but does feature multiple WR sets frequently, including a 4WR set on many regular occasions. We’ll get the ball in the air quite a lot.

In our very first game, we take a serious injury to CB Butterworth – we really don’t have the talent to start suffering potentially permanent damage, to be honest.

We are competitive in week two, and actually eke out an overtime win in week three. It is a very bumpy ride, but we stay close in a lot of our losses – indeed, we lose four games by three points, and certainly could have turned a couple of those into wins, if we had the moxie. We struggle to a 2-14 record, about what I’d have expected from this lot. I did shuffle things up a bit in the backfield – but our running game wasn’t dreadful, at least.


2005 Summary for Chicago Bears

Record: 2-14
Winning Pct.: .125

Chicago Bears Team Rank
Rushes 330 32
Rushing Yards 1417 32
Yards Per Carry 4.29 6
Pass Attempts 598 1
Completions 317 12
Passing Yards 4010 4
Yards Per Attempt 6.70 17
3rd Down Conversions 35.8 31
Points Per Game 14.1 30
Turnovers 34 29 (T)
Turnover Margin -19 32

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 521 31
Rushing Yards 2129 29
Yards Per Carry 4.08 19 (T)
Pass Attempts 515 12 (T)
Completions 323 26 (T)
Passing Yards 3659 20
Yards Per Attempt 7.10 26
3rd Down Conversions 47.3 28 (T)
Points Per Game 22.1 28
Turnovers 15 31 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 7 at GBY 24
2 11 BAL 22
3 20 WAS 17
4 3 at CAR 30
6 17 at DET 20
7 20 NOS 23
8 21 MIN 24
9 9 ATL 20
10 16 at TBY 24
11 14 GBY 17
12 7 at CLE 19
13 10 at SEA 13
14 13 CIN 21
15 14 DET 34
16 13 at PIT 19
17 31 at MIN 28

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
8 Frederick QB 597 317 4010 6.71 18 25
**Team --- 598 317 4010 6.70 18 25

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
25 Lucas RB 112 418 3.73 2
40 Peterson RB 93 306 3.29 1
8 Frederick QB 61 300 4.91 1
49 Sugarman RB 35 210 6.00 1
**Team --- 330 1417 4.29 5

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
88 Gaylor WR 132 71 863 12.1 117 5
80 Thomas WR 138 71 901 12.6 101 4
37 Rogers WR 104 63 849 13.4 117 5
26 Raiola WR 109 57 871 15.2 83 2
86 Cobb TE 46 25 273 10.9 25 2
**Team --- 597 317 4010 12.6 529 18

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
58 Hawkins ILB 142 37 2.0 0 0 13
91 Lucas ILB 84 22 4.5 0 0 7
48 Winters CB 72 19 0.0 1 0 11
96 Davidson DT 71 29 6.0 10 0 1
90 Mott OLB 61 25 3.0 0 0 3
45 Mazza S 48 23 0.0 3 4 7
35 Gibson S 43 12 0.0 0 2 5
43 Weliczka CB 43 24 0.0 1 0 7
98 Westbrook DE 42 25 2.5 5 0 0
20 Harris S 36 11 0.0 0 1 7
54 Scott OLB 34 12 1.0 1 0 1
99 Schwartz DE 32 14 6.0 11 0 0
51 Bensen OLB 30 18 1.5 7 0 0
28 Turnbull S 29 8 0.0 0 0 0
38 Kaplan S 26 8 0.0 0 0 3
29 Hampton CB 18 6 1.0 0 0 2
**Team --- 908 305 29.0 39 7 67



So – on offense. QB Matt Frederick, the real deal. A 4,000-yard season right off the bat. Sure, he tossed 25 picks, but that’s to be expected. I didn’t think it was conceivable that we’d have that much success throwing the ball, but Frederick was definitely up to the task. Gaylor and Thomas were both very productive at WR, no surprise, and even Bernard Rogers made quite a little splash for us.

Typically for a bad team, our defense put up some gaudy numbers – MLB Hawkins is probably a lock for DROY and maybe even DPOY. LB Gilbert Lucas isn’t much of a player, but he got big tackle totals on this defensive system, of course. DT Teddy Davison was very solid – and is developing rapidly, too, while DE Timothy Schwarts is passable so far. CB Toby Winters was a bit of a surprise – I didn’t expect much, but he seems to have some decent potential. Ron Mazza is going to be the leader of this secondary, though – he’s looking good (but not great). We need to come up with more than 7 interceptions if we’re going to have any kind of chance to compete, though.

Overall – we’re shaky, but not the worst team in the league, which is nice. The run defense and pass offense managed to stay out of the bottom third, so we have something to work with there, it appears. I see some building blocks – it sure would be nice to be able to draft another tier of guys to step in and fill these gaping holes…


As we wrap up – LB Ellis Hawkins does indeed grab the triple awards: First Team LB, Defensive Rookie of the Year, and Defensive Player of the Year. Actually, playing MLB for this pretty crappy defense, he could amass some awfully impressive tackle totals before it’s all said and done…

[QuikSand]

2006 offseason

We retain everyone, re-sign our DC, and have the entire team under contract for this year already. Pretty smooth offseason, really. This career can move quickly in that regard.

We quickly skip through free agency and the draft, so we are right into the preseason, and looking again at the roster situation.

Below, I’ll show the roster ratings as of the start of last season, and then the before and after of this year’s training camp. The change columns are the net of both increments, not just this year’s camp – so we’re picking up the offseason adjustments to a lot of players, too (most of which are negative, of course).


Start of 2005 season 2006 precamp 2006 post-camp
Player # Pos CE FE CE FE CE FE dCE dFE
Frederick, Matt 8 QB 51 90 67 89 72 89 21 -1
de Loayza, Anthony 5 QB 17 43 17 42 19 42 2 -1
Kane, Roosevelt 2 QB 10 33 11 37 14 37 4 4
Brady, Martin 17 QB 4 26 5 34 7 34 3 8
Lucas, Bob 25 RB 24 34 27 35 27 35 3 1
Gustafson, Brian 27 RB 24 37 24 36 25 36 1 -1
Peterson, Eric 40 RB 19 27 18 23 19 23 0 -4
Sugarman, Terrance 49 RB 14 20 14 20 15 20 1 0
Clinton, Neal 44 RB 12 14 12 15 13 15 1 1
**Money, Dan 46 FB 24 36 24 35 25 35 1 -1
Clements, Rick 34 FB 21 38 23 37 25 37 4 -1
Cobb, Sedrick 86 TE 20 36 23 33 25 33 5 -3
**Cardona, Josh 89 TE 19 30 18 27 20 27 1 -3
Martin, Andrew 87 TE 17 31 17 30 18 30 1 -1
Thomas, Larry 80 FL 34 55 42 58 45 58 11 3
Gaylor, Kevin 88 SE 20 39 26 43 27 43 7 4
Raiola, Herb 26 SE 15 42 18 39 20 39 5 -3
Rogers, Bernard 37 SE 15 37 17 35 18 35 3 -2
Pearson, Billy Joe 81 SE 13 28 13 29 15 29 2 1
Sanner, Mitchell 53 C 17 34 19 31 19 31 2 -3
Sims, George 59 C 13 26 13 26 15 26 2 0
McNeil, Nicky 50 C 13 34 13 34 14 34 1 0
Henson, Harry 62 LG 18 37 22 37 25 37 7 0
Lake, Deion 73 LG 15 32 15 32 16 32 1 0
Tatum, Hardy 75 RG 12 35 18 35 19 35 7 0
McDaniel, Grant 78 LT 20 51 28 51 32 51 12 0
Jefferson, Amos 66 LT 18 32 19 32 20 32 2 0
Randle, Broderick 72 LT 11 50 10 49 12 49 1 -1
Francis, Justin 79 RT 20 37 26 38 29 38 9 1
Andrykovitch, Bucky 10 P 42 50 43 47 45 47 3 -3
Porter, Broderick 16 K 17 40 18 38 19 38 2 -2
Hughes, Wendell 76 LDE 24 31 25 32 25 32 1 1
Schwartz, Timothy 99 RDE 24 37 26 38 27 38 3 1
Westbrook, Travis 98 RDE 15 39 19 40 21 40 6 1
Summers, Doug 77 RDE 19 27 19 27 20 27 1 0
Davidson, Teddy 96 RDT 66 86 72 84 74 84 8 -2
Spencer, Preston 95 RDT 16 38 17 37 18 37 2 -1
Hawkins, Ellis 58 MLB 35 61 41 61 45 61 10 0
Lucas, Gilbert 91 MLB 21 35 24 34 25 34 4 -1
Rabens, Rob 57 MLB 15 35 14 35 16 35 1 0
Bensen, Robert 51 SLB 34 55 39 55 42 55 8 0
Montgomery, Joe 93 SLB 14 31 14 31 16 31 2 0
Giles, Tim 92 SLB 13 32 12 30 14 30 1 -2
Cobb, Doug 56 SLB 13 32 12 28 13 28 0 -4
Mott, Conrad 90 WLB 22 40 24 40 26 40 4 0
Scott, Jon 54 WLB 16 33 17 32 19 32 3 -1
Winters, Toby 48 LCB 14 29 18 29 19 29 5 0
Weliczka, Conrad 43 RCB 14 37 20 36 21 36 7 -1
Butterworth, Jose 47 RCB 15 36 16 37 18 37 3 1
Hampton, Oliver 29 RCB 14 19 15 19 16 19 2 0
Mazza, Ron 45 SS 19 56 25 53 27 53 8 -3
Turnbull, Walter 28 SS 15 25 15 22 15 22 0 -3
Kaplan, Earnest 38 SS 12 31 13 27 13 27 1 -4
Harris, Greg 20 FS 16 40 19 41 22 41 6 1
Gibson, Carlton 35 FS 16 37 17 34 19 34 3 -3


As we prepare for the preseason, we have to consider depth chart decisions. Plus, unless we get a couple of injured players in the preseason (perversely crosses fingers) we may have to make a cut or two to get legal – as we’re carrying 55 players.

After the preseason, we are easily down to 53 after a few injuries (including CB Jose Butterworth, on IR again), and I do some tinkering with the lineups.

- At RB, I’m starting out with Bob Lucas again, but we’ll use Eric Peterson as our #2 option a good deal.

- At WR, we use our 3rd and 4th spots pretty heavily, and I rotate in two new faces there – RB Brian Gustafson and WR Billy Joe Pearson ought to both see plenty of playing time in those spots. Herb Raiola is basically the odd man out, and Bernard Rogers will see only spot duty.

- At C, I use George Sims – we really have no good option here, so I’m just going to rotate guys around.

- At DE, we’re going with Wendell Hughes as a starter, dropping LB Bensen to play as a ‘backer this year

- At LB, Robert Bensen will start at the strong side spot, and Lucas becomes our top backup everywhere

- At S, Greg Harris gets the start over Carlton Gibson, who becomes our top backup DB


At the outset of the season (admittedly with DT Davidson out of the lineup with an injury) here is our scout report – it’s pretty humorous:


From: Scouting Department

Starting Positions Assessment:
Very concerned about starting running back
Very concerned about starting fullback
Very concerned about starting tight end
Very concerned about starting split end
Fairly concerned about starting offensive left tackle
Very concerned about starting offensive left guard
Extremely concerned about starting center
Extremely concerned about starting offensive right guard
Fairly concerned about starting offensive right tackle
Very concerned about starting defensive left end
Very concerned about starting defensive right end
Extremely concerned about starting defensive left tackle
Extremely concerned about starting defensive right tackle
Very concerned about starting weak-side linebacker
Extremely concerned about starting left cornerback
Very concerned about starting right cornerback
Very concerned about starting strong safety
Very concerned about starting free safety
Extremely concerned about starting kicker


There’s not a whole lot we’ll be able to do to mitigate that, but it is amusing to read.

[QuikSand]

2006 season

We actually start out the season with a nice win, at home over the Lions. Nice to get off on the right foot. The run is over in week two, however.

After just a little bit of playing time, my only disgruntled player, LB Giles, is okay again – that was pretty easy to do. He might find himself moving to DE soon anyway, like it or not.

After one more win, we take a tough loss – and suffer a real injury. LB Ellis Hawkins is out for the year with a serious knee blowout. This could be tragic news for us – he was our only legitimate run stopper, and now we’re in real trouble at LB, period. If the injury hurts him long term, we’re screwed.

We nonetheless bounce back with a win in week 5, and are amazingly a 3-2 team at this point. Our secondary is getting decimated by injuries, and we are desperately trying to patch things over there – but it’s getting bad.

After week 6, we get even worse news. DT Davidson is also down with a blown-out knee. So, our only two solid defenders are both gone for the year, and have looking injury shadows over them. This could be a huge blow to our hopes for respectability. I am cursing as I type.

Halfway home, we are a fairly respectable 3-5, but our defense is just imploding with injuries. Here’s a snapshot through the midpoint:


2006 Summary for Chicago Bears

Record: 3-5
Winning Pct.: .375

Chicago Bears Team Rank
Rushes 174 32
Rushing Yards 622 31
Yards Per Carry 3.57 26
Pass Attempts 302 7 (T)
Completions 172 7
Passing Yards 2065 5
Yards Per Attempt 6.83 13
3rd Down Conversions 38.4 22
Points Per Game 16.7 23
Turnovers 9 5
Turnover Margin +7 4 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 251 25
Rushing Yards 1109 29
Yards Per Carry 4.41 27
Pass Attempts 267 11
Completions 158 14 (T)
Passing Yards 1721 8
Yards Per Attempt 6.44 12
3rd Down Conversions 49.1 30
Points Per Game 19.2 15 (T)
Turnovers 16 8 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 17 DET 13
2 13 at MIA 24
3 20 at NYG 13
4 14 SFO 19
5 16 ARI 3
6 17 at STL 31
8 17 MIN 27
9 20 at DET 24
10 at SEA
11 at GBY
12 NYJ
13 CAR
14 NED
15 at MIN
16 at BUF
17 GBY

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
8 Frederick QB 302 172 2065 6.83 9 5
**Team --- 302 172 2065 6.83 9 5

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
25 Lucas RB 77 221 2.87 1
8 Frederick QB 41 183 4.46 0
40 Peterson RB 33 120 3.63 1
49 Sugarman RB 19 82 4.31 1
**Team --- 174 622 3.57 3

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
80 Thomas WR 81 53 788 14.8 106 4
88 Gaylor WR 69 35 408 11.6 68 1
81 Pearson WR 47 27 325 12.0 26 1
34 Clements FB 28 16 134 8.3 21 0
27 Gustafson RB 31 15 172 11.4 36 0
25 Lucas RB 15 9 40 4.4 15 1
**Team --- 302 172 2065 12.0 299 9

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
35 Gibson S 41 16 0.0 0 0 4
51 Bensen OLB 40 18 1.0 0 0 4
58 Hawkins ILB 39 9 1.0 0 0 1
90 Mott OLB 38 17 0.0 1 0 2
20 Harris S 35 11 0.0 0 1 1
45 Mazza S 26 5 1.0 0 2 2
91 Lucas ILB 24 10 1.0 0 1 2
99 Schwartz DE 23 9 5.0 8 0 1
98 Westbrook DE 22 13 2.0 2 0 0
43 Weliczka CB 19 7 0.0 0 0 3
48 Winters CB 18 7 0.0 0 0 5
76 Hughes DE 16 2 2.0 8 0 0
96 Davidson DT 16 2 1.5 3 0 0
92 Giles OLB 11 4 1.0 1 0 2
29 Hampton CB 11 4 0.0 0 2 5
28 Turnbull S 10 4 0.0 1 0 0
95 Spencer DT 9 3 0.5 1 0 0
**Team --- 441 149 16.0 26 7 33


QB Matt Frederick continues to play very well, and WR Larry Thomas is out of his mind as our top offensive weapon. I have switched over to Sugarman at RB, hoping that he can be a little more creative – as our OL isn’t doing much to help things. We’re getting by on defense as best we can – Mott is stepping in at MLB as a pure run stopper, and ought to end up with a pretty big tackle number himself when it’s all over.

[Celeval]

Heh... and here I thought I was doing pretty well. ;)

QS - what are you doing with your draft picks? Selecting and not signing, or trading them away for nothing?

[QuikSand]

Heh... and here I thought I was doing pretty well. ;)

QS - what are you doing with your draft picks? Selecting and not signing, or trading them away for nothing?

I traded them all to Arizona, by alphabetical convenience, for nothing. Just for ease of follow-through.

[Cap Ologist]

I was thinking last night that you wouldn't have to worry so much about being over the cap. If you sign all your plays to identical length contracts, you can ignore the cap because the only penalty is losing a third rounder.

[jbmagic]

maybe it better to not sign your draft picks

this way no computer team has an advanage who you trade them too

[QuikSand]

2006 season, continued

We eke out a couple of close wins, and manage to even our record at 5-5. It’s really our air game doing the work, though the running seems to be a shade better behind Sugarman and Peterson. In the locker room, all is well – so no reshuffling needed, it seems.

After briefly tasting that rarefied air of “winning record” at 6-5, we get mercilessly drubbed three straight games, and lose any hopes of an improbably postseason berth. For our last couple of games, I sit down Matt Frederick, and we’ll give Rosie Kane a chance to take a few snaps – I don’t want him to totally lose his developmental opportunities. Two tough losses close out the year, but it’s probably worth the effort to get Kane some time.


2006 Summary for Chicago Bears

Record: 6-10
Winning Pct.: .375

Chicago Bears Team Rank
Rushes 325 32
Rushing Yards 1240 32
Yards Per Carry 3.81 20
Pass Attempts 583 2
Completions 330 7 (T)
Passing Yards 3673 10
Yards Per Attempt 6.30 23
3rd Down Conversions 38.6 23 (T)
Points Per Game 14.1 31
Turnovers 30 27
Turnover Margin -6 23 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 510 31
Rushing Yards 2200 32
Yards Per Carry 4.31 27 (T)
Pass Attempts 508 5 (T)
Completions 316 19 (T)
Passing Yards 3438 13
Yards Per Attempt 6.76 21
3rd Down Conversions 45.7 27 (T)
Points Per Game 21.3 27
Turnovers 24 18 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 17 DET 13
2 13 at MIA 24
3 20 at NYG 13
4 14 SFO 19
5 16 ARI 3
6 17 at STL 31
8 17 MIN 27
9 20 at DET 24
10 7 at SEA 6
11 31 at GBY 10
12 27 NYJ 17
13 3 CAR 30
14 3 NED 34
15 6 at MIN 31
16 13 at BUF 27
17 3 GBY 33

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
8 Frederick QB 489 281 3199 6.54 14 16
2 Kane QB 94 49 474 5.04 2 5
**Team --- 583 330 3673 6.30 16 21

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
49 Sugarman RB 106 364 3.43 3
25 Lucas RB 79 233 2.94 1
8 Frederick QB 67 308 4.59 0
40 Peterson RB 64 299 4.67 2
**Team --- 325 1240 3.81 6

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
80 Thomas WR 159 93 1248 13.4 183 6
88 Gaylor WR 141 70 805 11.5 98 4
81 Pearson WR 93 49 553 11.2 29 2
27 Gustafson RB 55 33 383 11.6 72 0
34 Clements FB 51 30 254 8.4 39 1
**Team --- 583 330 3673 11.1 525 16

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
90 Mott OLB 93 34 2.0 2 1 4
51 Bensen OLB 86 39 5.0 2 0 8
35 Gibson S 66 23 0.0 0 0 5
45 Mazza S 65 19 1.0 0 3 3
20 Harris S 56 25 0.0 0 2 2
91 Lucas ILB 52 23 2.0 0 2 4
98 Westbrook DE 49 29 4.0 5 0 0
48 Winters CB 46 14 0.0 0 1 7
99 Schwartz DE 41 13 6.5 11 0 1
58 Hawkins ILB 39 9 1.0 0 0 1
76 Hughes DE 36 8 3.5 16 0 0
95 Spencer DT 35 15 3.5 2 0 0
43 Weliczka CB 34 12 0.0 0 0 8
57 Rabens ILB 30 6 0.0 0 0 0
38 Kaplan S 22 9 0.0 1 1 3
92 Giles OLB 21 6 2.0 2 0 4
29 Hampton CB 21 6 0.0 0 2 6
96 Davidson DT 16 2 1.5 3 0 0
**Team --- 902 301 33.0 47 13 58



What is the nature of this team? We don’t look terribly inefficient running the ball, but QB Frederick’s running makes a bit of a difference there. The RB group is not terribly effective, though Peterson is doing okay as our #2 option, I think.

We are, however, a passing team, through and through. Frederick faded in the second half a good deal, but still has enormous potential and should get rightside-up after another year or so. Larry Thomas is the real thing, and I expect he will continue to develop well. Gaylor is more limited, but is still a very suitable second target for us. The OL is not abysmal – we allowed 34 sacks, but in some 620 pass plays, that isn’t outrageous.

Defensively, we were weakened by injuries this year – the really big question is what happens when they get healthy. If DT Davidson and MLB Hawkins are either decimated by permanent injury effects or destined to be injury prone forever, we are going to b in real trouble. I know the odds are against us in seeing both come back fully well – but we have to hope against hope.

This year, Conrad Mott did okay against the run – but he’s a one-trick pony, that’s all he’s got. Still, a 17.8 TkPct is pretty solid. And Travis Westbrook did a pretty solid job inside on the line, but he is nowhere the player that Davidson is, either. Robert Benson is probably a better fit at SLB for us, and I expect to keep him there – we’ll rotate in an array or LBs and DEs to play the DE spot, I suspect.

Nobody really stood out in the secondary – Ron Mazza played more than half the year at CB, but he did not post very impressive numbers there, with a paltry 3 passes defensed. Actually, Oliver Hampton – in a reserve/nickelback role – looked like he might merit some more playing time. We’ll see how this works out – we don’t have a lot of great options back there.


This is not a particularly good team, but we are managing to avoid being an absolute disgrace at anything, which is good. If we can get our defenders healthy (crossing fingers, mumbling incantations) then we might have a shot to keep developing toward being a legitimate outfit.


On the season awards – WR Larry Thomas gets a second-team award, but that’s it. No surprise, really.


Incidentally, as we exit the 2006 season, here are my scout’s ratings for my top two defenders:

DT Davidson –- 77/84
MLB Hawkins – 47/61

I’ll keep an eye on that, as we look to next year and getting them back “healthy.”

[QuikSand]

2008 offseason

We’re back and into the next season – and the first order of business is to check out the defensive star players, both returning from major knee injuries:

DT Davidson –- pre-injury 77/84, post-injury 50/59
MLB Hawkins – pre-injury 47/61, post-injury 48/61

Looks like we score one out of two. Davidson, regrettably, has lost a great deal of his run stopping ability – he’s down to 16/38 there. That is, of course, what I cherish most in a DT — so that’s a huge loss for us.

Hawkins looks fine to me – the big worry is that he will become a guy who goes down once or twice every year. With him in the middle, our LB corps is passable. Without him, it’s patchwork at best.


A little more shown here in my camp shot than usual – but I’m now showing the total development and this year’s camp growth (not much, generally):


05 post 06 pre 06 post 07 pre 07 post dTOTAL d07camp
Player # Pos CE FE CE FE CE FE CE FE CE FE dCE dFE dCE dFE
Frederick, Matt 8 QB 51 90 67 89 72 89 79 89 87 89 36 -1 8 0
de Loayza, Anthony 5 QB 17 43 17 42 19 42 18 41 21 41 4 -2 3 0
Kane, Roosevelt 2 QB 10 33 11 37 14 37 17 39 20 39 10 6 3 0
Brady, Martin 17 QB 4 26 5 34 7 34 8 30 9 30 5 4 1 0
Lucas, Bob 25 RB 24 34 27 35 27 35 30 36 31 36 7 2 1 0
Gustafson, Brian 27 RB 24 37 24 36 25 36 27 35 28 35 4 -2 1 0
Peterson, Eric 40 RB 19 27 18 23 19 23 19 20 20 20 1 -7 1 0
Sugarman, Terrance 49 RB 14 20 14 20 15 20 16 19 16 19 2 -1 0 0
Clinton, Neal 44 RB 12 14 12 15 13 15 13 16 14 16 2 2 1 0
Clements, Rick 34 FB 21 38 23 37 25 37 27 36 29 36 8 -2 2 0
Money, Dan 46 FB 24 36 24 35 25 35 26 35 27 35 3 -1 1 0
Cobb, Sedrick 86 TE 20 36 23 33 25 33 24 32 25 32 5 -4 1 0
Cardona, Josh 89 TE 19 30 18 27 20 27 21 27 22 27 3 -3 1 0
Martin, Andrew 87 TE 17 31 17 30 18 30 15 26 15 26 -2 -5 0 0
Thomas, Larry 80 FL 34 55 42 58 45 58 53 60 53 60 19 5 0 0
Gaylor, Kevin 88 SE 20 39 26 43 27 43 34 46 36 46 16 7 2 0
Pearson, Billy Joe 81 SE 13 28 13 29 15 29 19 28 20 28 7 0 1 0
Rogers, Bernard 37 SE 15 37 17 35 18 35 17 34 19 34 4 -3 2 0
Raiola, Herb 26 SE 15 42 18 39 20 39 16 29 17 29 2 -13 1 0
Sanner, Mitchell 53 C 17 34 19 31 19 31 19 28 20 28 3 -6 1 0
Sims, George 59 C 13 26 13 26 15 26 18 26 19 26 6 0 1 0
McNeil, Nicky 50 C 13 34 13 34 14 34 16 34 17 34 4 0 1 0
Henson, Harry 62 LG 18 37 22 37 25 37 29 37 31 37 13 0 2 0
Lake, Deion 73 LG 15 32 15 32 16 32 16 32 17 32 2 0 1 0
Tatum, Hardy 75 RG 12 35 18 35 19 35 21 32 23 32 11 -3 2 0
Randle, Broderick 72 LT 11 50 10 49 12 49 18 52 23 52 12 2 5 0
McDaniel, Grant 78 LT 20 51 28 51 32 51 21 29 23 29 3 -22 2 0
Jefferson, Amos 66 LT 18 32 19 32 20 32 18 29 19 29 1 -3 1 0
Francis, Justin 79 RT 20 37 26 38 29 38 36 38 37 38 17 1 1 0
Andrykovitch, Bucky 10 P 42 50 43 47 45 47 44 45 44 45 2 -5 0 0
Porter, Broderick 16 K 17 40 18 38 19 38 19 36 20 36 3 -4 1 0
Hughes, Wendell 76 LDE 24 31 25 32 25 32 28 32 29 32 5 1 1 0
Schwartz, Timothy 99 RDE 24 37 26 38 27 38 28 35 29 35 5 -2 1 0
Westbrook, Travis 98 RDE 15 39 19 40 21 40 24 39 26 39 11 0 2 0
Summers, Doug 77 RDE 19 27 19 27 20 27 19 27 20 27 1 0 1 0
Davidson, Teddy 96 RDT 66 86 72 84 74 84 48 58 50 58 -16 -28 2 0
Spencer, Preston 95 RDT 16 38 17 37 18 37 21 37 22 37 6 -1 1 0
Hawkins, Ellis 58 MLB 35 61 41 61 45 61 46 61 50 61 15 0 4 0
Lucas, Gilbert 91 MLB 21 35 24 34 25 34 27 33 29 33 8 -2 2 0
Rabens, Rob 57 MLB 15 35 14 35 16 35 17 34 19 34 4 -1 2 0
Bensen, Robert 51 SLB 34 55 39 55 42 55 44 55 46 55 12 0 2 0
Montgomery, Joe 93 SLB 14 31 14 31 16 31 17 31 18 31 4 0 1 0
Giles, Tim 92 SLB 13 32 12 30 14 30 14 28 15 28 2 -4 1 0
Cobb, Doug 56 SLB 13 32 12 28 13 28 13 25 14 25 1 -7 1 0
Mott, Conrad 90 WLB 22 40 24 40 26 40 31 40 34 40 12 0 3 0
Scott, Jon 54 WLB 16 33 17 32 19 32 19 32 20 32 4 -1 1 0
Winters, Toby 48 LCB 14 29 18 29 19 29 22 28 23 28 9 -1 1 0
Weliczka, Conrad 43 RCB 14 37 20 36 21 36 25 34 27 34 13 -3 2 0
Butterworth, Jose 47 RCB 15 36 16 37 18 37 20 38 22 38 7 2 2 0
Hampton, Oliver 29 RCB 14 19 15 19 16 19 17 19 17 19 3 0 0 0
Mazza, Ron 45 SS 19 56 25 53 27 53 31 51 35 51 16 -5 4 0
Turnbull, Walter 28 SS 15 25 15 22 15 22 16 22 17 22 2 -3 1 0
Kaplan, Earnest 38 SS 12 31 13 27 13 27 14 26 15 26 3 -5 1 0
Harris, Greg 20 FS 16 40 19 41 22 41 27 41 29 41 13 1 2 0
Gibson, Carlton 35 FS 16 37 17 34 19 34 23 33 25 33 9 -4 2 0


LT Broderick Randle, thus far relegated to backup duty, probably gets a starting job somewhere after a nice training camp lifts his ratings a bit. Regrettably, an injury fallout to my other LT, Grant McDaniel, probably makes him the guy we’ll have to bench. Shame – since McDaniel was a breakout player, and had potential to get a lot better, I think. Injuries are the bugbear to this challenge, no doubt about it.

[QuikSand]

2007 preseason

We prepare for the season, and send out most of the second team into the preseason games. C George Sims gets a tough break, and he gets put onto IR after catching a cold. Yes, that’s a heartless move – but we need to make roster room.

Emerging star WR Larry Thomas is holding out for a fat new contract – we’ll certainly be able to afford it, but I’m tight-fisted, and will probably make him beg. But he’ll get paid, either now or later.

When the preseason wraps up, we send S Carlton Gibson to the IR – he’s a nice special teamer and niche player, but someone has to sit out the year. Sorry, pal.


Gearing up for the season – here are the meaningful roster tweaks:

- At RB, I again am convinced that Bob Lucas has to be our best guy – he’s just got the best ratings. I don’t know why he has never lived up to his decent potential, but I think we have to go with him. Peterson and Sugerman will backup.

- At WR, Kevin Gaylor will miss several games, so other guys will cycle in and get playing time – but Larry Thomas, with his new contract in hand, will still be the go-to guy for us.

- At TE, I am making FB Rick Clements the starter, where he did well for most of last year. Dan Money starts at FB.

- At OL, Broderick Randle takes over as left tackle for the crippled Grant McDaniel

- At DB, Jose Butterworth looks to get his first real playing time as our nickelback, and he might have some potential to actually help us in coverage.


Tough to argue that this team is any better than last year’s offering – but we’ll see what we can do. Our roster rating remains a 2/100 – a distant last in the league. Our power rating is a measly 38, second last.

Cohesion, though, is a mixed bag – we’re rated highly everywhere, though the spread isn’t much in this largely-still-new league.

I’m thinking another campaign with 5-8 wins is reasonable –more than that would be a big shock.

[QuikSand]

2007 season

In our opener, we take division champion Minnesota to overtime – not a bad way to launch the season. We bounce back with 4 TD from Frederick and 86 yards rushing from Lucas to win over Detroit.

It’s not a terribly eventful season, really. We sneak out a handful of wins, but never really pull a lot together. We end with a decent strong of games – but it amounts to nothing more than a 6-win season, again putting us in the low end of mediocrity.


2007 Summary for Chicago Bears

Record: 6-10
Winning Pct.: .375

Chicago Bears Team Rank
Rushes 336 32
Rushing Yards 1436 31
Yards Per Carry 4.27 11
Pass Attempts 635 1
Completions 342 3
Passing Yards 4143 3
Yards Per Attempt 6.52 23
3rd Down Conversions 38.7 26
Points Per Game 18.8 20
Turnovers 24 15 (T)
Turnover Margin -2 18

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 497 26
Rushing Yards 2217 30
Yards Per Carry 4.46 28 (T)
Pass Attempts 571 30
Completions 329 21 (T)
Passing Yards 3835 23
Yards Per Attempt 6.71 13 (T)
3rd Down Conversions 45.6 25
Points Per Game 24.0 28
Turnovers 22 25

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 20 MIN 26
2 31 DEN 28
3 21 at ATL 33
5 24 at WAS 32
6 7 DAL 36
7 30 DET 20
8 24 at NYG 27
9 17 PHI 6
10 7 at MIN 23
11 17 GBY 24
12 10 at SDO 38
13 20 SFO 3
14 10 KCY 38
15 23 at GBY 19
16 27 at OAK 13
17 13 at DET 19

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
8 Frederick QB 628 337 4114 6.55 22 15
**Team --- 635 342 4143 6.52 22 15

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
25 Lucas RB 189 797 4.21 6
8 Frederick QB 71 390 5.49 1
40 Peterson RB 46 135 2.93 2
**Team --- 336 1436 4.27 10

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
25 Lucas RB 86 57 405 7.1 177 3
81 Pearson WR 114 57 683 11.9 55 3
37 Rogers WR 106 56 861 15.3 139 6
80 Thomas WR 114 47 708 15.0 108 3
26 Raiola WR 65 37 531 14.3 66 1
34 Clements FB 50 29 254 8.7 41 1
88 Gaylor WR 33 16 324 20.2 46 2
**Team --- 633 342 4143 12.1 752 22

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
58 Hawkins ILB 133 39 0.5 3 1 8
51 Bensen OLB 109 31 3.0 3 0 8
20 Harris S 72 18 0.0 0 2 12
45 Mazza S 68 34 0.0 0 6 14
91 Lucas ILB 53 18 1.5 2 1 5
47 Butterworth CB 50 11 0.0 0 1 12
98 Westbrook DE 48 33 1.0 8 0 0
48 Winters CB 43 15 0.0 0 1 8
43 Weliczka CB 37 7 1.0 0 1 7
38 Kaplan S 30 10 0.0 1 1 5
99 Schwartz DE 28 11 3.5 10 0 0
96 Davidson DT 28 10 4.0 13 0 0
76 Hughes DE 22 8 1.0 15 0 0
49 Sugarman RB 18 0 0.0 0 0 0
54 Scott OLB 17 8 1.0 2 0 1
29 Hampton CB 17 2 1.0 0 0 0
90 Mott OLB 16 1 1.0 0 1 0
**Team --- 910 282 25.0 73 15 80


In the overall statistics, we’re no longer below average in basically everything. Our running game has become fairly efficient – with Lucas putting together his most respectable season by far. Frederick continues to lead the pass attack – we lost Gaylor for most of the year, but we were still pretty decent with the passing game. WR Larry Thomas had a terrible year, though – I have no explanation for it. He missed a couple games with minor injuries, but he looks to be fine – that’s a disastrously low level of production for a guy who had 114 passes thrown his way. LT Broderick Randle, thankfully, is filling in very well as our left tackle – we really needed this development after the unfortunate disintegration of Grant McDaniel.

On defense, we got back the original Ellis Hawkins, who seems as good as new. That’s a big plus. Bensen posted 140 tackles, which is crazy as he is really not much of a run stopper, on balance (24/28). Conrad Mott got hurt, but Lucas ably stepped in, once again. With those four, I am actually reasonably comfortable with our LB group – and at first I really considered this a team weakness.

We’re seeing some better production from our DBs, S Mazza had his first 20+ season – his 6 picks helped a lot, but he made 14 breakups, to lead the team. S Greg Harris is also proving to be pretty solid for us. At CB, a mixed bag – but Jose Butterworth proved to me that he’s worth being in our 3-man rotation there.

We are just never going to see the 79-tackle Tommy Davidson again. This year, healthy for 13 games, he games us only 4.8 TkPct – he’s basically turning into just a pass rusher. Not the run-stopping mountain in the middle we wanted. Next season, we may line him up outside, and move Preston Spencer in to start inside with Westbrook.


We’re totally shut out of the awards list this season – I don’t see anyone to complain about, really.

Next year – we’ll see if the injuries continue to take their toll. That’s the biggest enemy we are up against.

[QuikSand]

2008 offseason

Well, thus far, the record has been mediocre – and that’s basically on the high end of my reasonable expectations:


GM Performance for QuikSand of the Chicago Bears

Year Team Eval Perf Diff Proft FrVal Record Playoffs
2007 CHI 58 26 71 82 38 6-10-0 None
2006 CHI 53 17 70 78 32 6-10-0 None
2005 CHI 52 2 67 83 36 2-14-0 None


I’m thinking that if we are going to make a winning team out of this, we probably have to see a few things happen:

- avoid any more major injuries
- get a veteran breakout or two (or some continued development)
- maybe do some defensive gameplan tinkering


We keep our staff in place entirely, and whiz through the free agency period and draft. This is our last year of having no worries at all in free agency – all our players will be 5th year guys next season, and then we’ll have to watch more closely.

The re-signings are basically uneventful. WR Bernard Rogers is a holdout, but I think we can resolve that – his demands are not ridiculous.


This is probably the last year I will try to show the “big picture” of training camp and development, so I’ll take some special steps to try to make it easily readable:


05 post 06 pre 06 post 07 pre 07 post 08 pre 08 post dTOTAL dCAMP
Player # Pos CE FE CE FE CE FE CE FE CE FE CE FE CE FE dCE dFE dCE dFE
Frederick, Matt 8 QB 51 90 67 89 72 89 79 89 87 89 93 93 93 93 42 3 0 0
de Loayza, Anthony 5 QB 17 43 17 42 19 42 18 41 21 41 21 41 23 41 6 -2 2 0
Kane, Roosevelt 2 QB 10 33 11 37 14 37 17 39 20 39 21 41 23 41 13 8 2 0
Brady, Martin 17 QB 4 26 5 34 7 34 8 30 9 30 10 36 12 36 8 10 2 0
Lucas, Bob 25 RB 24 34 27 35 27 35 30 36 31 36 35 37 35 37 11 3 0 0
Gustafson, Brian 27 RB 24 37 24 36 25 36 27 35 28 35 28 35 29 35 5 -2 1 0
Peterson, Eric 40 RB 19 27 18 23 19 23 19 20 20 20 20 20 21 21 2 -6 1 1
Sugarman, Terrance 49 RB 14 20 14 20 15 20 16 19 16 19 16 19 17 19 3 -1 1 0
Clinton, Neal 44 RB 12 14 12 15 13 15 13 16 14 16 11 13 12 13 0 -1 1 0
Clements, Rick 34 FB 21 38 23 37 25 37 27 36 29 36 32 36 32 36 11 -2 0 0
Money, Dan 46 FB 24 36 24 35 25 35 26 35 27 35 28 35 30 35 6 -1 2 0
Cardona, Josh 89 TE 19 30 18 27 20 27 21 27 22 27 22 27 24 27 5 -3 2 0
Cobb, Sedrick 86 TE 20 36 23 33 25 33 24 32 25 32 18 24 19 24 -1 -12 1 0
Martin, Andrew 87 TE 17 31 17 30 18 30 15 26 15 26 15 26 15 26 -2 -5 0 0
Thomas, Larry 80 FL 34 55 42 58 45 58 53 60 53 60 58 60 60 60 26 5 2 0
Gaylor, Kevin 88 SE 20 39 26 43 27 43 34 46 36 46 38 47 39 47 19 8 1 0
Pearson, Billy Joe 81 SE 13 28 13 29 15 29 19 28 20 28 25 29 26 29 13 1 1 0
Rogers, Bernard 37 SE 15 37 17 35 18 35 17 34 19 34 22 34 22 34 7 -3 0 0
Raiola, Herb 26 SE 15 42 18 39 20 39 16 29 17 29 20 28 22 28 7 -14 2 0
McNeil, Nicky 50 C 13 34 13 34 14 34 16 34 17 34 20 35 22 35 9 1 2 0
Sanner, Mitchell 53 C 17 34 19 31 19 31 19 28 20 28 20 26 21 26 4 -8 1 0
Sims, George 59 C 13 26 13 26 15 26 18 26 19 26 16 22 17 22 4 -4 1 0
Henson, Harry 62 LG 18 37 22 37 25 37 29 37 31 37 35 37 38 38 20 1 3 1
Lake, Deion 73 LG 15 32 15 32 16 32 16 32 17 32 19 32 20 32 5 0 1 0
Tatum, Hardy 75 RG 12 35 18 35 19 35 21 32 23 32 26 33 29 33 17 -2 3 0
Randle, Broderick 72 LT 11 50 10 49 12 49 18 52 23 52 31 52 35 52 24 2 4 0
McDaniel, Grant 78 LT 20 51 28 51 32 51 21 29 23 29 24 30 27 30 7 -21 3 0
Jefferson, Amos 66 LT 18 32 19 32 20 32 18 29 19 29 13 16 13 16 -5 -16 0 0
Francis, Justin 79 RT 20 37 26 38 29 38 36 38 37 38 37 38 37 38 17 1 0 0
Andrykovitch, Buck 10 P 42 50 43 47 45 47 44 45 44 45 42 44 42 44 0 -6 0 0
Porter, Broderick 16 K 17 40 18 38 19 38 19 36 20 36 22 36 23 36 6 -4 1 0
Hughes, Wendell 76 LDE 24 31 25 32 25 32 28 32 29 32 32 32 33 33 9 2 1 1
Westbrook, Travis 98 RDE 15 39 19 40 21 40 24 39 26 39 34 40 35 40 20 1 1 0
Schwartz, Timothy 99 RDE 24 37 26 38 27 38 28 35 29 35 30 35 31 35 7 -2 1 0
Summers, Doug 77 RDE 19 27 19 27 20 27 19 27 20 27 20 26 20 26 1 -1 0 0
Davidson, Teddy 96 RDT 66 86 72 84 74 84 48 58 50 58 52 57 53 57 -13 -29 1 0
Spencer, Preston 95 RDT 16 38 17 37 18 37 21 37 22 37 24 37 26 37 10 -1 2 0
Hawkins, Ellis 58 MLB 35 61 41 61 45 61 46 61 50 61 55 60 57 60 22 -1 2 0
Lucas, Gilbert 91 MLB 21 35 24 34 25 34 27 33 29 33 30 33 30 33 9 -2 0 0
Rabens, Rob 57 MLB 15 35 14 35 16 35 17 34 19 34 19 34 20 34 5 -1 1 0
Bensen, Robert 51 SLB 34 55 39 55 42 55 44 55 46 55 50 56 52 56 18 1 2 0
Montgomery, Joe 93 SLB 14 31 14 31 16 31 17 31 18 31 20 32 21 32 7 1 1 0
Giles, Tim 92 SLB 13 32 12 30 14 30 14 28 15 28 16 28 18 28 5 -4 2 0
Cobb, Doug 56 SLB 13 32 12 28 13 28 13 25 14 25 14 24 15 24 2 -8 1 0
Mott, Conrad 90 WLB 22 40 24 40 26 40 31 40 34 40 33 40 35 40 13 0 2 0
Scott, Jon 54 WLB 16 33 17 32 19 32 19 32 20 32 20 32 22 32 6 -1 2 0
Winters, Toby 48 LCB 14 29 18 29 19 29 22 28 23 28 23 28 23 28 9 -1 0 0
Butterworth, Jose 47 RCB 15 36 16 37 18 37 20 38 22 38 30 38 31 38 16 2 1 0
Weliczka, Conrad 43 RCB 14 37 20 36 21 36 25 34 27 34 27 34 27 34 13 -3 0 0
Hampton, Oliver 29 RCB 14 19 15 19 16 19 17 19 17 19 18 19 19 19 5 0 1 0
Mazza, Ron 45 SS 19 56 25 53 27 53 31 51 35 51 40 49 43 49 24 -7 3 0
Turnbull, Walter 28 SS 15 25 15 22 15 22 16 22 17 22 17 21 17 21 2 -4 0 0
Kaplan, Earnest 38 SS 12 31 13 27 13 27 14 26 15 26 15 25 16 25 4 -6 1 0
Harris, Greg 20 FS 16 40 19 41 22 41 27 41 29 41 36 41 38 41 22 1 2 0
Gibson, Carlton 35 FS 16 37 17 34 19 34 23 33 25 33 24 32 27 32 11 -5 3 0


No real movement in camp this year – things have certainly settled down. No surprise there.

[QuikSand]

2008 preseason

I decide to make one defensive adjustment – we’re going to use man-to-man coverage as our secondary cover scheme, rather than the 2-deep zone. Especially with Butterworth (a good man-up coverage guy) getting into the mix, I think our skills are a bit better suited there. Bump and run will still be the dominant scheme, but we’re not going to drop into a zone at all any more.

After the preseason, I make my first position group switch – I slide our lousy fourth OT Amos Jefferson to play DT, where I just need a body. He’s nothing but a role filler, but DT Teddy Davidson is hurt, and I want to deactivate him. I probably should have made this move long ago.

We have two LB, Lucas and Giles, on the IR this year – so we will be thinner than usual there. Neither injury looks long term, fortunately. But we definitely need for Hawkins to remain healthy this season.


As far as roster changes – not many:

- At WR, holdout Bernard Rogers will be inactive, and we’ll wait him out with Billy Joe Pearson and RB Eric Peterson filling the 3rd and 4th receiver slots in multi sets

- DT Preston Spencer is moving into a starting DT role, and when DT Davidson returns from his injury, I suspect we’ll give him a shot at DE rather than DT – see how that goes. His run-stopping skills are pretty weak at this point.

- At LB, little-used Rob Rabens will be our backup MLB, and will probably get some spot duty. He’s had fewer than 100 snaps a season up to this point – I expect he’ll get more this year.

- At CB, Jose Butterworth moves into a starting job, and will help us shift to a little man coverage.


I don’t see any reason for this team to be appreciably better than last year’s, really. Our roster rating is inexplicably up to 13 (from 2) without any personnel changes. Cohesion is now very high – that is one area where we will start to really pull away in the coming seasons. I guess we’ll shoot for 7 wins, which would be a new high water mark for us. I have trouble seeing us doing much better than that.

[Barkeep49]

This looks like it'll be a good exploration into how much cohesion really matters in FOF 5 as it seems that your team has a baseline of 6 wins or so and isn't getting a whole lot more talented.

[QuikSand]

2008 season

After a so-so start of 2-2, we win a shootout against Detroit to get to 3-2. For a team of our caliber, the “winning record” is a pretty big milestone, and it’s exciting to get to 3-2. However, we lose two starting OL in the game, both to big, season-ending injuries. That could bode poorly for this year, and perhaps beyond.

We actually win another game before we slide twice, and make it to our halfway point with an even record:


2008 Summary for Chicago Bears

Record: 4-4
Winning Pct.: .500

Chicago Bears Team Rank
Rushes 189 30 (T)
Rushing Yards 823 24
Yards Per Carry 4.35 8
Pass Attempts 287 13
Completions 174 9
Passing Yards 2317 2
Yards Per Attempt 8.07 1
3rd Down Conversions 48.4 2
Points Per Game 26.3 3 (T)
Turnovers 16 24 (T)
Turnover Margin -9 30 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 224 12
Rushing Yards 828 8
Yards Per Carry 3.69 7
Pass Attempts 311 31
Completions 173 25 (T)
Passing Yards 1893 20
Yards Per Attempt 6.08 6
3rd Down Conversions 44.3 24
Points Per Game 23.6 25 (T)
Turnovers 7 28 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 24 GBY 11
2 17 HOU 21
3 28 SFO 17
4 28 at CAR 31
6 42 DET 31
7 31 NOS 14
8 17 at MIN 34
9 24 ATL 30
10 at TBY
11 at GBY
12 TEN
13 at PHI
14 at JAX
15 at DET
16 at IND
17 MIN

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
8 Frederick QB 287 174 2317 8.07 19 9
**Team --- 287 174 2317 8.07 19 9

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
25 Lucas RB 132 530 4.01 7
8 Frederick QB 32 186 5.81 0
40 Peterson RB 21 92 4.38 1
**Team --- 189 823 4.35 8

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
25 Lucas RB 46 38 297 7.8 120 5
80 Thomas WR 65 34 675 19.8 85 4
88 Gaylor WR 53 26 524 20.1 159 2
34 Clements FB 37 23 205 8.9 23 1
81 Pearson WR 34 20 261 13.0 10 5
40 Peterson RB 25 18 180 10.0 43 1
89 Cardona TE 17 11 139 12.6 18 1
**Team --- 287 174 2317 13.3 458 19

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
58 Hawkins ILB 65 18 2.0 2 0 9
51 Bensen OLB 48 8 4.5 3 0 19
20 Harris S 43 8 0.0 0 0 3
45 Mazza S 41 5 0.0 0 1 4
90 Mott OLB 27 14 0.0 0 0 3
98 Westbrook DE 25 16 1.0 4 0 1
43 Weliczka CB 21 3 0.0 0 1 3
47 Butterworth CB 19 10 0.0 0 0 10
76 Hughes DE 18 11 3.0 9 0 0
35 Gibson S 17 7 0.5 0 0 1
29 Hampton CB 15 0 0.0 0 1 1
99 Schwartz DE 13 4 3.5 6 0 0
96 Davidson DT 12 4 2.5 4 0 0
48 Winters CB 12 6 0.0 0 1 0
54 Scott OLB 9 0 0.0 0 0 0
38 Kaplan S 8 3 0.0 0 0 2
**Team --- 436 124 18.0 35 4 56


The bottom line seems to be: we are getting respectable by the numbers. Sure, it’s only a half season – but we are in the top 10 in yards per carry, yards per pass attempt, yards allowed per carry, and yards allowed per pass attempt. Those four rankings are fundamental to how the team is doing – we might struggle in the red zone or not cause enough turnovers, but you move the ball and stop the other team, you’re doing a lot of things right. That is very encouraging, I think.

Matt Frederick is finally rightside-up for his career – more TDs than interceptions. He got there in the first game of his fourth season – I have seen players do so quicker, but not with this weak a supporting cast.

Is this a playoff team? By the numbers, we might actually be closer than I had imagined. I suspect we are still a few key pieces short of being there – but we’re on pace for a pretty big offensive season, and if our defense can stay adequate. . . who knows?

[QuikSand]

2008 season, continued

The playoff field in the NFC is very tough – but we get a road win at 6-2 Tampa Bay, and that helps out chances a good deal. At 5-4, we are still in the picture, though we’d be slotted at #8 right now, on the outside looking in. We have, however, pulled even with Minnesota for the division lead.

We split our next two games, getting to 6-5, and taking a one-game lead in the division – which is wonderfully weak this season, it seems. We have now put our 6-10 seasons behind us (and our incremental aspirations) and we are thinking about the postseason, in this our fourth year together. That’s pretty encouraging.

Regrettably, LB Robert Bensen’s year is over – he had been having his best season to date, and the loss will really hurt us. We will go to fill-in Joe Montgomery to fill in at the strong side.

We lose a tough game in Jacksonville, but then come back with a win over division rival Detroit, pulling a game ahead of both the Lions and Vikes. With two to go, at 8-6 on the season, the division is ours to lose.

We go to 8-6 Indy, and lose a tight game there – that places us into a tough spot. We need to beat Minnesota in ouur final game, and we will win the division (we have a tiebreaker over Detroit on head-to-head now). If we lose to the Vikings, I think we are probably out of the postseason.

Unfortunately, things break badly for us – the Vikings get a kickoff return for a TD, manage to return a fumble for a TD, and we aren’t good enough to overcome those problems. They win 24-10, and our fates lie in the hands of other teams – and of course, we don’t catch the break(s) we needed. We’ll sit out these playoffs, unfortunately.


2008 Regular Season Standings

AC North W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Cleveland 12 4 0 .750 354 272 8-4 4-2
Pittsburgh 11 5 0 .688 371 341 9-3 5-1
Cincinnati 11 5 0 .688 283 250 8-4 3-3
Baltimore 6 10 0 .375 284 321 4-8 0-6

AC South W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Jacksonville 11 5 0 .688 289 213 8-4 5-1
Indianapolis 9 7 0 .563 307 333 7-5 4-2
Houston 8 8 0 .500 312 319 5-7 3-3
Tennessee 4 12 0 .250 262 367 2-10 0-6

AC East W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
New York J 11 5 0 .688 372 244 10-2 4-2
Buffalo 10 6 0 .625 281 290 8-4 4-2
Miami 7 9 0 .438 248 301 4-8 2-4
New England 4 12 0 .250 257 351 3-9 2-4

AC West W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Kansas City 13 3 0 .813 338 247 10-2 6-0
Denver 8 8 0 .500 371 301 5-7 2-4
San Diego 5 11 0 .313 189 318 3-9 2-4
Oakland 4 12 0 .250 283 386 2-10 2-4

NC North W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Detroit 9 7 0 .563 361 372 5-7 4-2
Minnesota 8 8 0 .500 317 262 7-5 4-2
Chicago 8 8 0 .500 353 310 8-4 4-2
Green Bay 2 14 0 .125 222 380 1-11 0-6

NC South W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Carolina 11 5 0 .688 353 219 9-3 4-2
Tampa Bay 9 7 0 .563 402 283 7-5 3-3
New Orleans 8 8 0 .500 295 345 7-5 4-2
Atlanta 7 9 0 .438 339 358 6-6 1-5

NC East W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
New York G 10 6 0 .625 359 284 9-3 4-2
Washington 10 6 0 .625 382 333 7-5 3-3
Dallas 8 8 0 .500 376 328 7-5 2-4
Philadelphia 4 12 0 .250 201 343 4-8 3-3

NC West W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Arizona 12 4 0 .750 438 275 9-3 6-0
Seattle 8 8 0 .500 276 294 6-6 3-3
St. Louis 7 9 0 .438 330 363 4-8 3-3
San Francisco 1 15 0 .063 216 418 0-12 0-6


So, we end up looking very much like a respectable team – but it’s frustrating to know how close we were to our first playoff berth, before a mini-collapse at season’s end. But a +43 in the points department is another good underlying indicator that we did some things right this year.


2008 Summary for Chicago Bears

Record: 8-8
Winning Pct.: .500

Chicago Bears Team Rank
Rushes 379 30
Rushing Yards 1580 27
Yards Per Carry 4.16 17
Pass Attempts 626 1
Completions 362 1 (T)
Passing Yards 4481 1
Yards Per Attempt 7.15 9
3rd Down Conversions 44.7 9 (T)
Points Per Game 22.0 11 (T)
Turnovers 30 28
Turnover Margin -10 28 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 437 13
Rushing Yards 1669 8
Yards Per Carry 3.81 6
Pass Attempts 578 32
Completions 320 24 (T)
Passing Yards 3524 18
Yards Per Attempt 6.09 5
3rd Down Conversions 40.7 13 (T)
Points Per Game 19.3 15
Turnovers 20 25 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 24 GBY 11
2 17 HOU 21
3 28 SFO 17
4 28 at CAR 31
6 42 DET 31
7 31 NOS 14
8 17 at MIN 34
9 24 ATL 30
10 24 at TBY 16
11 16 at GBY 9
12 14 TEN 19
13 16 at PHI 3
14 10 at JAX 16
15 31 at DET 7
16 21 at IND 24
17 10 MIN 27

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
8 Frederick QB 619 359 4436 7.16 31 21
**Team --- 626 362 4481 7.15 31 21

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
25 Lucas RB 264 1053 3.98 10
8 Frederick QB 58 302 5.20 0
40 Peterson RB 50 196 3.92 1
**Team --- 379 1580 4.16 11

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
80 Thomas WR 150 77 1358 17.6 201 8
25 Lucas RB 91 64 482 7.5 172 5
88 Gaylor WR 104 60 976 16.2 203 6
34 Clements FB 76 44 377 8.5 55 2
81 Pearson WR 74 41 527 12.8 33 6
40 Peterson RB 37 23 206 8.9 52 1
37 Rogers WR 33 17 222 13.0 18 1
89 Cardona TE 31 17 196 11.5 33 1
**Team --- 626 362 4481 12.3 791 31

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
58 Hawkins ILB 130 43 4.0 3 0 18
45 Mazza S 77 12 0.0 0 2 8
20 Harris S 70 24 0.0 0 3 6
51 Bensen OLB 68 15 9.0 5 1 25
98 Westbrook DE 62 29 2.5 11 0 1
90 Mott OLB 58 23 0.0 0 2 5
35 Gibson S 44 16 0.5 1 1 1
47 Butterworth CB 42 16 1.0 0 3 19
43 Weliczka CB 37 10 0.0 0 1 6
76 Hughes DE 36 17 8.5 18 0 0
48 Winters CB 31 9 0.0 0 1 2
29 Hampton CB 28 2 0.0 0 1 3
93 Montgomery OLB 23 14 4.5 5 0 1
96 Davidson DT 19 6 4.0 9 0 0
38 Kaplan S 17 4 0.5 0 0 3
95 Spencer DT 16 8 3.0 8 0 1
**Team --- 854 261 42.0 73 15 100


So – we end up with our first 1,000-yard rushing performance, as Lucas adds a quietly effective season to his growing list of accomplishments.

But the real star is the passing game, and Matt Frederick. His QB rating isn’t sky-high (82.7) but he led the league in passing yards and TDs, and will probably get some all-pro consideration for that alone. WR Larry Thomas stayed healthy this season, and is back in all-pro form again. Kevin Gaylor is probably the most prolific #2 receiver in the league, just short of the thousand himself.

LT Broderick Randle is coming together well for us – he had a nice year, but certainly didn’t have the chances for KRBs to get all-pro consideration. But a season with 32.5% KRBs and 0.7% sacks is very solid for our left tackle, especially with a constantly changing parade of line comrades.


Defensively, LB Ellis Hawkins had another all-pro worthy season, and Robert Bensen was on fire until his injury forced him to miss the final four games. DT Teddy Davidson looks like he’s just going to be injured all the time, but some spot duty at DE looked impressive. DE Wendell Hughes gave us probably our best DE season to date – so the line situation isn’t that bleak.

I think Jose Butterworth has vaulted to become our top cover man, with a 21.1 PDPct, a good rating. Our secondary didn’t create turnovers like we would prefer them to, but we got some pretty effective play from them overall. Our defense, on balance, appears to be established – we were top six in yards allowed per run and pass – both strong indicators of a unit working well together.


In the season awards list, WR Larry Thomas is named first team all pro, to nobody’s surprise. LBs Ellis Hawkins and Robert Bensen (shockingly) are both named to the second team. That is nice to see for them.

Is this a team that is, despite static personnel, actually progressing toward something? Are we on a march toward the playoffs? Toward a championship? I have no idea – but we’ll keep with it.

[Crapshoot]

Enjoyable read- I do wonder how long you can keep going though, without retirements/injury nexus.

[QuikSand]

I have some idle time ahead... hoping to get back to this...

[QuikSand]

2009 offseason

Once again, I’m watching for long-term injuries. We had four serious injuries heading into this new season:


Injury Report:
Doug Cobb, SLB - ACL Damage to the Knee, Out, full strength in 2009.
Grant McDaniel, LT - ACL Damage to the Knee, Out, full strength in 2009.
Robert Bensen, SLB - Plantar Fasciitis, Out, full strength in 2009.
Hardy Tatum, RG - Torn Triceps Muscle, Out, full strength in 2009.


And so we’ll watch to see if any of them show signs of permanent impairment.


Player End 2008 Start 2009

LB Cobb 15/24 05/10
LT McDaniel 28/30 28/30
LB Bensen 54/56 54/56
RG Tatum 29/33 29/33


So, it looks like Cobb is basically lost – he’s a worthless shell now. But everyone else is healthy and back where they left off. Good news – we can’t afford multiple losses.

We did, it seems, get a big veteran explosion – C George Sims is suddenly a far better player than before. I don’t know what I’ll do with a monster pass-blocking center – it’s not like I’ll run behind him with his big fat zero in run blocking – but his pass blocking has leapt all the way up to 76/84, he’s a monster now. Great! now maybe someone on defense, please? Anyone?


We bring in a new offensive coordinator – EX with receivers and linemen, VG with QB and RB – a great find.


We use the franchise tag on QB Matt Frederick – with every intention of working out a new longterm deal with him.


In free agency, I don’t think we have anyone who will generate much interest – but everyone must bee re-signed, period. Fortunately, nobody gets a nibble, and we go out in week 18 and make offers to lock up everyone to cheap deals, all at once.


Here is yet another camp summary:


omitted for giant mess

[QuikSand]

2009 season

In the preseason games, RB Clinton and S Kaplan draw the short straws, and get a visit to the IR for the year.


We head into the season with a sense that we might have arrived. We just missed the playoffs last year, but our underlying stats looked pretty encouraging – we might have been better than our final 8-8 record. This year, we will hope to catch some breaks, and perhaps get onto the better side of .500.

Our cohesion is starting to separate – we are tops everywhere, of course, and the next team is around 85-90 in every area. That gap should just continue to grow. Our roster rating is up to 27 – I don’t know why that is getting higher, as most of our players are by now fully developed to their modest potential.


We burst onto the scene with three opening wins, and 30+ points in each of them. Matt Frederick is on fire, and we are really clicking. After four weeks, we lose LB Robert Bensen again – I’m worried about a chronic problem now. Jon Scott steps in at the strong side spot – we’ll see how he can do for us there. Se suffer two straight losses, as our injury toll escalates rapidly. A merciful week off couldn’t have come at a better time – we’re hurting. We rebound with two wins, and make our halfway marker at a lofty 6-2, tied with Green Bay atop the division standings.


2009 Summary for Chicago Bears

Record: 6-2
Winning Pct.: .750

Chicago Bears Team Rank
Rushes 195 28
Rushing Yards 732 29
Yards Per Carry 3.75 27
Pass Attempts 274 13 (T)
Completions 188 3
Passing Yards 2479 1
Yards Per Attempt 9.04 2
3rd Down Conversions 45.0 13 (T)
Points Per Game 29.0 1
Turnovers 11 10 (T)
Turnover Margin +1 12 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 222 11
Rushing Yards 934 16
Yards Per Carry 4.20 18 (T)
Pass Attempts 262 13
Completions 145 5
Passing Yards 1612 5
Yards Per Attempt 6.15 4 (T)
3rd Down Conversions 49.1 28
Points Per Game 21.1 17 (T)
Turnovers 12 15 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 31 at DET 6
2 31 at BAL 17
3 33 at NOS 21
4 23 SFO 20
5 27 ARI 31
6 26 at STL 34
8 30 at MIN 27
9 31 DET 13
10 at SEA
11 GBY
12 CLE
13 DAL
14 at CIN
15 MIN
16 PIT
17 at GBY

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
8 Frederick QB 274 188 2479 9.04 21 5
**Team --- 274 188 2479 9.04 21 5

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
25 Lucas RB 132 485 3.67 3
8 Frederick QB 35 189 5.40 0
40 Peterson RB 24 40 1.66 2
**Team --- 195 732 3.75 5

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
88 Gaylor WR 67 53 877 16.5 184 6
80 Thomas WR 73 43 597 13.8 98 7
25 Lucas RB 30 24 181 7.5 49 4
81 Pearson WR 34 22 308 14.0 29 0
34 Clements FB 29 17 186 10.9 37 1
37 Rogers WR 24 16 216 13.5 50 1
**Team --- 274 188 2479 13.1 468 21

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
58 Hawkins ILB 69 27 2.0 2 0 11
45 Mazza S 40 13 0.0 0 1 10
90 Mott OLB 39 9 2.0 0 1 1
95 Spencer DT 27 8 4.0 7 0 0
20 Harris S 25 6 0.0 0 0 4
35 Gibson S 24 3 0.0 0 0 0
54 Scott OLB 23 10 2.0 0 0 1
43 Weliczka CB 20 6 0.0 0 0 11
48 Winters CB 17 7 0.0 0 0 4
76 Hughes DE 16 10 5.0 6 0 0
96 Davidson DT 16 6 4.0 7 0 0
29 Hampton CB 15 7 0.0 0 2 0
47 Butterworth CB 15 5 0.0 0 1 2
51 Bensen OLB 14 4 2.0 0 1 3
91 Lucas ILB 12 3 1.0 1 1 0
98 Westbrook DE 11 4 2.0 2 0 0
**Team --- 414 135 27.0 28 7 47


Our running game has been a little stodgy, but Frederick has been sizzling, and his 114 rating is sky-high. Kevin Gaylor is off to by far his best season – he rarely eclipses Thomas’s production, but has easily outpaced him this season so far.

DT Spencer has been a pleasant surprise, as Davidson has started at DE thus far, also doing pretty well. We have shuffled around on defense, to cover for injuries – I don’t feel good about it going forward.


In the second half, we lose two in a row, including Green Bay, a bad one to drop at home. S Mazza is now hurt, along with DT Davidson – and our shuffling continues. After one more loss, we get several guys back on defense, including LB Bensen, DT Davidson, and DE Westbrook – and should be ready to regain our footing. It feels like poor Ellis Hawkins has been out there all by himself.

The defense does shape up, but the offense hits the skids, and we lose two of three to slip to 7-7. A win over Pitt gives us hope at 8-7, but we’ll need help to sneak in as a wild card. However, a closing loss at Green Bay seals the deal – we are 8-8 and on the outside looking in, once again.


2009 Summary for Chicago Bears

Record: 8-8
Winning Pct.: .500

Chicago Bears Team Rank
Rushes 376 30
Rushing Yards 1451 29
Yards Per Carry 3.85 28
Pass Attempts 633 1
Completions 392 1
Passing Yards 4936 1
Yards Per Attempt 7.79 6
3rd Down Conversions 42.7 14
Points Per Game 24.3 6
Turnovers 27 24 (T)
Turnover Margin -10 30

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 436 12
Rushing Yards 1838 15
Yards Per Carry 4.21 15
Pass Attempts 516 15
Completions 293 6
Passing Yards 3419 12
Yards Per Attempt 6.62 10 (T)
3rd Down Conversions 43.5 20
Points Per Game 22.0 25 (T)
Turnovers 17 27 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 31 at DET 6
2 31 at BAL 17
3 33 at NOS 21
4 23 SFO 20
5 27 ARI 31
6 26 at STL 34
8 30 at MIN 27
9 31 DET 13
10 19 at SEA 28
11 26 GBY 30
12 17 CLE 27
13 28 DAL 18
14 3 at CIN 7
15 9 MIN 10
16 38 PIT 28
17 17 at GBY 36

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
8 Frederick QB 633 392 4936 7.79 36 15
**Team --- 633 392 4936 7.79 36 15

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
25 Lucas RB 245 894 3.64 4
8 Frederick QB 68 355 5.22 1
40 Peterson RB 49 128 2.61 3
**Team --- 376 1451 3.85 8

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
88 Gaylor WR 143 96 1569 16.3 275 10
80 Thomas WR 170 92 1274 13.8 191 11
25 Lucas RB 78 48 381 7.9 90 6
34 Clements FB 64 47 414 8.8 93 4
81 Pearson WR 68 41 581 14.1 46 0
37 Rogers WR 54 31 438 14.1 78 1
89 Cardona TE 28 18 146 8.1 26 2
**Team --- 633 392 4936 12.5 838 36

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
58 Hawkins ILB 139 46 3.0 2 0 14
90 Mott OLB 72 17 2.0 2 1 4
45 Mazza S 54 18 0.0 1 1 16
20 Harris S 52 22 1.0 0 0 4
35 Gibson S 50 6 0.0 0 0 1
47 Butterworth CB 41 12 0.0 0 2 8
43 Weliczka CB 41 13 0.0 0 0 11
95 Spencer DT 40 19 5.5 12 0 0
48 Winters CB 39 13 1.0 0 0 5
54 Scott OLB 38 14 3.5 2 0 7
51 Bensen OLB 35 17 4.0 1 1 12
98 Westbrook DE 34 12 4.5 5 0 0
29 Hampton CB 28 7 0.0 0 2 1
76 Hughes DE 23 14 5.0 6 0 0
99 Schwartz DE 18 3 3.5 5 0 0
96 Davidson DT 18 6 4.0 9 0 0
91 Lucas ILB 17 5 2.0 1 1 0
**Team --- 814 261 43.0 51 8 84


Well, the one things we can count on is Matt Frederick – he continues to reach new heights. Here, he sets new season records for completions, yards, and TD passes. WR Kevin Gaylor, suddenly our go-to guy, set the league record for receiving yards, also. Weird stuff.

Statistically, we backslid this year – but not as badly, especially on defense, as I had thought. We were still in the third quartile – I thought it might have gotten worse than that. With a –10 on turnovers, we were lucky to stay as competitive in scoring as we did. This could have been a lot worse (much like last season, also 8-8, could have been a lot better).


Tough to read a lot from all this – I don’t think the team got worse, we just got hurt. And didn’t get some breaks. Can we still move forward? Yes. Do I think we’re closer to the ceiling than I had thought at this time last season? Also yes.

[QuikSand]

I'm clueless as to what's going on there...

[MIJB#19]

I'm clueless as to what's going on there...Where? The omitted training camp roster overview mess? Something going wrong with tags?

[QuikSand]

Hmmm.. for me, the coded tables in posts 41 and 42 are both totally screwed up. I dumped the first one, but I still see a huge gray sheet in the middle of #42, which overwrites the text beneath it, and extends about two CPU screens high. I haven't seen anything like it before... I'm stumped.

If you can read it okay, I won't worry that much...

[MIJB#19]

Hmmm.. for me, the coded tables in posts 41 and 42 are both totally screwed up. I dumped the first one, but I still see a huge gray sheet in the middle of #42, which overwrites the text beneath it, and extends about two CPU screens high. I haven't seen anything like it before... I'm stumped.

If you can read it okay, I won't worry that much...It looks pretty normal to me.

[QuikSand]

Really weird... when I responded a moment ago, things still looked all messed up to me. I revisited this thread, and now everything looks okay. I'm baffled. Forum might be acting up again...

[QuikSand]

...and now, after making that response, it looks messed up to me again...

[MIJB#19]

Is that your way to catch the posting machines again? :)

Seriously, I don't see anything wrong. Maybe it's a browser thing? I'm using IE6.0, fwiw.



Edit: the posts out of order issue IS showing up.

[QuikSand]

...and a reloading of the page fixed it.

[QuikSand]

2010 offseason

Incidentally, we are all over the season awards for 2009. QB Matt Frederick predictably gets first team QB and POTY, but not OPOY – which went to Buffalo’s RB. WR Kevin gaylor made the first team, and Larry Thomas the second team. Other first teamers were P Bucky Andrykovitch )who kicked FGs a while) and MLB Ellis Hawkins. Great showing for this team of bums.


We worked out a new deal with QB Frederick – it’s more expensive than tagging him every year, but I don’t want to forget and end up with him departing by accident.

Our injury watch is underway again… but both DE Schwartz and RT Francis come through okay, thankfully.


Overall, I have a sense that we have a remaining “window” of about three or four more years. Once we get to where all our players are in their 8th-10th year, we’re going to start seeing some retirements, plus the continued toll of injuries (and injury-proneness, as we’re seeing already I fear). I will hope for another breakout player or two… but we’re going to have to get by on Matt Frederick and our collective cohesion advantages.


We actually are having some cap troubles – maybe my long term deal with Matt Frederick was ill-advised. I have a lot of players who are getting paid about 2-3X minsal, just because they are getting playing time – this team is getting tough to keep together. Interesting twist, I didn’t really think we’d have this problem, with so far star-caliber players on board.

I do most of my renegotiating at the bottom end – winnowing down $650K contracts to $540K, that sort of thing. It clear up enough space to make decent offer to our free agents, notably LT Broderick Randle, rapidly becoming a staple around here. We get everyone done, though – so we come back with 55 again.


Camp Summary:

-RB Bob Lucas took an inexplicable hit from the start of last season to the start of this season, dropping from 36/37 to 30/31. Tough to lose skill there, where we really don’t have anyone else equipped to be effective.

-WR Kevin Gaylor had another bump-up year, +6/+6 since the start of last season, and +3 in current skill in camp this year. WR Thomas had a modest camp bump also – good news for our passing game.

-LB Rob Rabens made some small steps forward last year and in this year’s camp – and will get some more playing time as a reserve


Here, as an alternative, is the current salary cap summary – just for informational purposes:


Chicago Bears Roster, Contract View

Player # Pos Start OnTm EndCnt Exp Cap Cost Save if Rls
Frederick, Matt 8 QB 2005 2013 6 $16,000,000 $11,460,000
Kane, Roosevelt 2 QB 2005 2011 6 $620,000 $0
de Loayza, Anthony 5 QB 2005 2011 6 $540,000 $0
Brady, Martin 17 QB 2005 2011 6 $540,000 $0
Lucas, Bob 25 RB 2005 2014 6 $630,000 $0
Peterson, Eric 40 RB 2005 2012 6 $560,000 $0
Sugarman, Terrance 49 RB 2005 2011 6 $540,000 $0
Gustafson, Brian 27 RB 2005 2011 6 $540,000 $0
Clinton, Neal 44 RB 2005 2011 6 $540,000 $0
Clements, Rick 34 FB 2005 2014 6 $580,000 $0
Money, Dan 46 FB 2005 2012 6 $540,000 $0
Cardona, Josh 89 TE 2005 2011 6 $540,000 $0
Martin, Andrew 87 TE 2005 2011 6 $540,000 $0
Cobb, Sedrick 86 TE 2005 2011 6 $540,000 $0
Thomas, Larry 80 FL 2005 2011 6 $8,030,000 $3,650,000
Gaylor, Kevin 88 SE 2005 2011 6 $2,010,000 $930,000
Pearson, Billy Joe 81 SE 2005 2012 6 $650,000 $0
Raiola, Herb 26 SE 2005 2012 6 $570,000 $0
Rogers, Bernard 37 SE 2005 2012 6 $570,000 $0
Sims, George 59 C 2005 2011 6 $1,430,000 $610,000
McNeil, Nicky 50 C 2005 2010 6 $1,040,000 $400,000
Sanner, Mitchell 53 C 2005 2010 6 $630,000 $90,000
Henson, Harry 62 LG 2005 2011 6 $1,840,000 $930,000
Lake, Deion 73 LG 2005 2011 6 $860,000 $0
Tatum, Hardy 75 RG 2005 2010 6 $1,510,000 $580,000
McDaniel, Grant 78 LT 2005 2011 6 $1,620,000 $720,000
Randle, Broderick 72 LT 2005 2012 6 $1,060,000 $170,000
Francis, Justin 79 RT 2005 2012 6 $2,180,000 $700,000
Andrykovitch, Bucky 10 P 2005 2012 6 $540,000 $0
Porter, Broderick 16 K 2005 2011 6 $540,000 $0
Hughes, Wendell 76 LDE 2005 2012 6 $2,080,000 $1,200,000
Westbrook, Travis 98 RDE 2005 2012 6 $2,660,000 $1,200,000
Schwartz, Timothy 99 RDE 2005 2012 6 $1,810,000 $930,000
Summers, Doug 77 RDE 2005 2010 6 $560,000 $20,000
Jefferson, Amos 66 LDT 2005 2011 6 $540,000 $0
Davidson, Teddy 96 RDT 2005 2011 6 $1,670,000 $400,000
Spencer, Preston 95 RDT 2005 2011 6 $840,000 $260,000
Hawkins, Ellis 58 MLB 2005 2011 6 $3,580,000 $2,220,000
Lucas, Gilbert 91 MLB 2005 2012 6 $600,000 $0
Rabens, Rob 57 MLB 2005 2011 6 $540,000 $0
Bensen, Robert 51 SLB 2005 2010 6 $2,640,000 $1,440,000
Montgomery, Joe 93 SLB 2005 2012 6 $560,000 $0
Cobb, Doug 56 SLB 2005 2011 6 $540,000 $0
Giles, Tim 92 SLB 2005 2011 6 $540,000 $0
Scott, Jon 54 WLB 2005 2010 6 $650,000 $110,000
Mott, Conrad 90 WLB 2005 2011 6 $640,000 $60,000
Winters, Toby 48 LCB 2005 2012 6 $590,000 $0
Butterworth, Jose 47 RCB 2005 2011 6 $1,600,000 $740,000
Weliczka, Conrad 43 RCB 2005 2014 6 $610,000 $0
Hampton, Oliver 29 RCB 2005 2011 6 $540,000 $0
Mazza, Ron 45 SS 2005 2011 6 $1,870,000 $960,000
Turnbull, Walter 28 SS 2005 2011 6 $540,000 $0
Kaplan, Earnest 38 SS 2005 2011 6 $540,000 $0
Harris, Greg 20 FS 2005 2011 6 $1,730,000 $840,000
Gibson, Carlton 35 FS 2005 2011 6 $540,000 $0

$$ - player is in starting lineup, ## - player is inactive.

Players Under Contract: 55
Inactive: 0
On Active Roster: 55

Salary Cap: $80,600,000
Cap Room: $4,340,000
Maximum for New Player: $4,880,000
Cap Room Lost (to old contracts): $0

Cap Room Lost Next Year (to old contracts): $0
Cap Room Required Next Year: $78,820,000


As each and every bum on this roster demands more and more money, things are going to get incrementally tighter. At some point, the total roster is going to shrink, I’m sure of that.

[QuikSand]

2010 season

In preseason, I give a long look at Terence Sugarman as a possible starting RB – I don’t expect to go to him, but we need to have a Plan B if Lucas is going to collapse. Sugarman looks pretty good – he’ll be our #2 this year, and is officially Plan B now.

This year, it’s LT Grant McDaniel and LB Gilbert Lucas (in decline anyway) who must spend the season on IR.

We head into the season with a few extra things to worry about. Namely:


Playing Time Status:

Mitchell Sanner, C - Disgruntled.
Broderick Randle, LT - Disgruntled.
Wendell Hughes, LDE - Disgruntled.
Tim Giles, SLB - Disgruntled.


I cannot afford to let anyone get unhappy enough to refuse to re-sign… so I’ll find ways to work them into the plan a bit. Ugh. (LT Randle is no problem, the others might be)

Second best cohesion stands at: 83-85-84-83 … we continue to pull away there. Our roster rating of 36 is still rising gradually, too.


I think this is probably about an 8-8 team – if things break really well, we could do better, but we could also slide back and go 5-11, it’s certainly possible. A playoff berth would be nice – that’s a fair goal.


We again open like gangbusters, ripping off two impressive wins. We’re mixing up the running load a bit more (getting Sugraman and FB Clements into the mix a bit) but it’s still the air game that is clicking best. But an injury to red-hot WR Gaylor might cool things off. We’ve also lost MLB Hawkins for a few weeks – that’s no good, either.

But we keep on winning. However, our WR situation is critical. After our 4-0 start, we have WRs Thomas, Gaylor and Pearson all out with injuries – it’s ridiculous. I’ve got my #4 and #5 receivers as starters, and running backs behind them in our frequent multi-WR sets. Matt Frederick is going to have to get creative here. He does, throwing for 337 and 2 TDs as we beat Dallas to get to 5-0. Wow.

The next week, Gaylro returns with a splash – 12 catches, 162 yards, 2 TDs and another win. We lose to the Giants, and Gaylor get hurt again – for another four weeks. Ugh. We are back with a win over Philly, and are watching WR Bernard Rogers rapidly becoming our top target, filling the big void pretty well.


2010 Summary for Chicago Bears

Record: 7-1
Winning Pct.: .875

Chicago Bears Team Rank
Rushes 193 31
Rushing Yards 823 28
Yards Per Carry 4.26 15
Pass Attempts 305 4 (T)
Completions 202 1 (T)
Passing Yards 2662 2
Yards Per Attempt 8.72 3
3rd Down Conversions 45.0 11
Points Per Game 28.0 3
Turnovers 11 14 (T)
Turnover Margin -2 18 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 210 6
Rushing Yards 896 7
Yards Per Carry 4.26 16
Pass Attempts 307 30
Completions 172 26 (T)
Passing Yards 1976 25
Yards Per Attempt 6.43 5
3rd Down Conversions 40.5 9
Points Per Game 17.7 9
Turnovers 9 25 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 24 at MIN 17
2 45 MIA 14
3 20 CAR 17
5 35 at WAS 17
6 34 DAL 17
7 24 at DET 13
8 16 at NYG 27
9 26 PHI 20
10 MIN
11 GBY
12 at NYJ
13 at SEA
14 at NED
15 at GBY
16 BUF
17 DET

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
8 Frederick QB 304 201 2657 8.74 19 7
**Team --- 305 202 2662 8.72 19 7

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
25 Lucas RB 111 432 3.89 4
49 Sugarman RB 35 125 3.57 1
8 Frederick QB 32 145 4.53 3
**Team --- 193 823 4.26 8

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
37 Rogers WR 81 51 631 12.3 73 3
88 Gaylor WR 36 29 512 17.6 146 5
80 Thomas WR 37 25 425 17.0 110 6
26 Raiola WR 41 21 262 12.4 33 0
25 Lucas RB 22 17 156 9.1 43 2
89 Cardona TE 25 17 219 12.8 10 0
34 Clements FB 16 12 118 9.8 23 1
40 Peterson RB 11 9 86 9.5 9 1
**Team --- 305 202 2662 13.1 502 19

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
58 Hawkins ILB 46 14 2.0 1 1 2
45 Mazza S 43 10 0.0 0 3 10
51 Bensen OLB 41 8 0.5 4 0 10
35 Gibson S 31 5 0.0 0 0 5
20 Harris S 30 12 0.0 0 1 4
90 Mott OLB 28 9 0.0 0 0 2
47 Butterworth CB 27 4 0.0 0 0 5
43 Weliczka CB 26 10 0.0 0 0 2
98 Westbrook DE 24 10 2.0 4 0 2
95 Spencer DT 21 9 4.5 5 0 0
48 Winters CB 17 9 2.0 0 0 3
96 Davidson DT 16 4 5.0 12 0 0
76 Hughes DE 12 8 4.0 7 0 0
29 Hampton CB 12 1 0.0 0 0 2
57 Rabens ILB 11 2 0.0 1 0 2
54 Scott OLB 10 3 0.0 0 0 1
**Team --- 429 121 22.0 36 5 51



Well, Frederick remains very effective, no matter who is playing at WR, it seems. Our top players have missed games – but still have solid stats. Our defense has been okay – the pass D has been surprisingly good, for some reason. Holding under 6.5 yards per attempt is pretty strong.

So far, so good – now, if we can avoid another massive collapse, we’ll see the playoffs for the first time. However, even at 7-1, we are only tied with the resurgent Green Bay for the division lead.


After a big win to get to 8-1, we showdown with the Packers, at home. We get Gaylor back, and get the big win to take command this time. We roll to 12-1, getting healthy at WR finally, and keeping the offense on track. Green bay gets even with us at their place, but we’re still a game ahead. But a loss the next week ot Buffalo puts this in some doubt – we want the division title, and a week off, for certain.

We’re even with Green Bay, with one game left – but we have a better conference record and better point margin, whichever comes into play. I think we win the division if we win this week against lowly Detroit.

(Oddly enough, the defending champion Raves, who went 13-3 last year and won it all – now stand at 0-15 for the biggest one year collapse in sports history, by my reckoning – I have no idea what happened there)

We eke out a 22-20 win over Detroit (9despite being favored by 11) and end up punching our well-deserved ticket to the playoffs. However, through whatever tiebreaker applies, we end up as the top wild card team behind Green Bay – I can’t explain it, but they got us somehow, I suppose on the “common opponents” test.


2010 Regular Season Standings

AC North W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Cleveland 14 2 0 .875 460 297 10-2 5-1
Pittsburgh 13 3 0 .813 465 313 10-2 5-1
Cincinnati 5 11 0 .313 276 380 3-9 2-4
Baltimore 0 16 0 .000 173 367 0-12 0-6

AC South W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Houston 15 1 0 .938 479 206 12-0 6-0
Indianapolis 9 7 0 .563 303 318 8-4 4-2
Tennessee 6 10 0 .375 352 309 4-8 2-4
Jacksonville 3 13 0 .188 147 338 3-9 0-6

AC East W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Buffalo 11 5 0 .688 347 297 8-4 4-2
Miami 8 8 0 .500 298 338 7-5 3-3
New England 7 9 0 .438 355 366 6-6 3-3
New York J 5 11 0 .313 332 382 4-8 2-4

AC West W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Kansas City 10 6 0 .625 318 281 8-4 5-1
Denver 9 7 0 .563 339 293 9-3 5-1
San Diego 4 12 0 .250 230 358 1-11 1-5
Oakland 3 13 0 .188 256 441 3-9 1-5

NC North W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Green Bay 13 3 0 .813 375 261 9-3 5-1
Chicago 13 3 0 .813 404 273 10-2 5-1
Detroit 4 12 0 .250 325 381 2-10 1-5
Minnesota 2 14 0 .125 242 354 1-11 1-5

NC South W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Carolina 9 7 0 .563 399 382 7-5 4-2
New Orleans 9 7 0 .563 364 316 7-5 2-4
Tampa Bay 8 8 0 .500 329 320 7-5 3-3
Atlanta 7 9 0 .438 318 359 5-7 3-3

NC East W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
New York G 10 6 0 .625 348 333 7-5 4-2
Dallas 10 6 0 .625 309 310 7-5 3-3
Washington 9 7 0 .563 373 342 7-5 4-2
Philadelphia 5 11 0 .313 267 349 3-9 1-5

NC West W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
St. Louis 11 5 0 .688 390 327 7-5 2-4
San Francisco 9 7 0 .563 284 281 7-5 4-2
Arizona 9 7 0 .563 370 335 6-6 3-3
Seattle 6 10 0 .375 255 275 4-8 3-3


And here is the statistical wrap-up:


2010 Summary for Chicago Bears

Record: 13-3
Winning Pct.: .812

Chicago Bears Team Rank
Rushes 390 31
Rushing Yards 1718 27
Yards Per Carry 4.40 12
Pass Attempts 605 1
Completions 385 1
Passing Yards 4813 1
Yards Per Attempt 7.95 5
3rd Down Conversions 42.4 23
Points Per Game 25.2 4
Turnovers 20 11 (T)
Turnover Margin -1 16 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 419 5
Rushing Yards 1663 4
Yards Per Carry 3.96 5 (T)
Pass Attempts 586 32
Completions 337 28
Passing Yards 3933 27
Yards Per Attempt 6.71 8
3rd Down Conversions 38.4 3
Points Per Game 17.0 3
Turnovers 19 27 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 24 at MIN 17
2 45 MIA 14
3 20 CAR 17
5 35 at WAS 17
6 34 DAL 17
7 24 at DET 13
8 16 at NYG 27
9 26 PHI 20
10 30 MIN 13
11 21 GBY 17
12 27 at NYJ 6
13 23 at SEA 16
14 31 at NED 17
15 13 at GBY 23
16 13 BUF 19
17 22 DET 20
$$WC at CAR

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
8 Frederick QB 604 384 4808 7.96 30 15
**Team --- 605 385 4813 7.95 30 15

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
25 Lucas RB 239 1014 4.24 8
49 Sugarman RB 73 294 4.02 3
8 Frederick QB 61 280 4.59 4
**Team --- 390 1718 4.40 15

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
37 Rogers WR 133 77 1076 13.9 149 6
88 Gaylor WR 98 62 953 15.3 284 9
80 Thomas WR 79 51 731 14.3 149 6
25 Lucas RB 48 39 340 8.7 92 3
34 Clements FB 51 35 304 8.6 73 1
81 Pearson WR 58 33 519 15.7 54 3
89 Cardona TE 41 27 294 10.8 31 1
26 Raiola WR 42 22 275 12.5 36 0
40 Peterson RB 18 16 135 8.4 50 1
**Team --- 605 385 4813 12.5 963 30

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
58 Hawkins ILB 100 35 3.0 1 1 9
51 Bensen OLB 81 26 2.5 6 0 19
45 Mazza S 72 28 0.0 0 3 17
90 Mott OLB 70 19 0.0 1 0 2
35 Gibson S 61 13 0.0 1 0 7
20 Harris S 58 24 0.0 0 3 10
98 Westbrook DE 56 22 4.0 6 0 2
95 Spencer DT 52 21 9.0 6 0 1
43 Weliczka CB 48 13 0.0 0 1 7
47 Butterworth CB 45 10 0.0 0 3 10
96 Davidson DT 31 13 8.0 16 0 1
29 Hampton CB 29 4 0.0 0 0 4
54 Scott OLB 28 7 2.5 4 0 3
48 Winters CB 21 9 2.0 0 1 3
76 Hughes DE 19 10 6.5 11 0 0
**Team --- 855 267 41.0 58 12 98



On defense, we got nice production out of our starting DTs, Westbrook and Spencer – totaling 108 tackles by themselves, or over 12% of the total, which is good for a winning team. We got respectable pass pressure – 41 sacks might be a team high – and were solid against the pass. Good season for the defense, all around.

Offensively, Frederick’s season is even more impressive given thee injury-riddled mess at WR. Rogers came through with our only 1,000-yard season, to everyone’s surprise – he earned some stripes with this great effort when we really needed him. RBs Lucas and Sugarman were both pretty effective – that 1-2 punch is working okay, at over 4 yards a clip. LT Broderick Randle is taking leadership of the line, and had a very nice season (32/0.9) as our best performer, along with RT Francis (34/0.6).


2010 postseason

Here’s a first – we’ll detail the postseason in abbreviated fashion.

Wild Card Game: Chicago at Carolina – We are 4-point favorites at the Panthers, and are without re-injured WR Larry Thomas. Matt Frederick, though, is typically unfazed – he finds Gaylor for 3 of his 5 TDs ad we clobber the Panthers, 37-13. Gaylor, superstar, posts 8-208 for 3 TDs.

Extra bad news is: Larry Thomas is listed as “full strength in 2012” – that ACL sounds really bad. Not a guy we want to lose, dammit!

Division Round: Chicago at St. Louis – In the third quarter, Frederick finds Gaylor for a TD to give us a 14-13 lead, and our defense bears down and holds it the rest of the way. Big win, on to fave the Packers in a grudge game.

Extra bad news this week – DT Teddy Davidson, already injury-prone, has blown out his knee and is gone for a long term injury, too. This might have to be our best season, with two serious injuries looming.

NFC Championship: Chicago at Green Bay – Sent on the road, we got here the hard way, and come to Lambeau with a mission. Frederick hits Gaylor twice and Rogers once, and we dominate the game throughout, securing a 31-10 win and a ticket to the big one. Woo hoo!

Bad news – QB Matt Frederick is dinged a bit, but will (obviously) play in the Superbowl. I think I’d start him if he were listed as doubtful.

Superbowl: Chicago at Houston – The Texans were 15-1 this year, and are pretty clearly the best team in the league. It’s a pretty even game, we outgain them by nearly 100 yards, but committed one more turnover. Trailing in the fourth quarter, we score with 20 seconds left, but it only gets things to 28-23, we fail on the onside kick attempt, and it’s a done deal for the Texans, 28-23 final score.



Tough ending, but a great season. I really didn’t see it coming.

Season awards go to Matt Frederick, first team and MVP again. He’s our only rep this time around – big change from last season, really.

[jbmagic]

wow

you amaze me..

i think your the best FOF player..you can win with any team

[Alf]

Nice story so far QS !

[QuikSand]

I don't know how far it will go, honestly. I'm getting a bit tied up with multiplayer leagues, which are in the very busy season right now.

I want to get to the point where I'm just patching to stay legal with the roster... but am not sure I'll make it that far...

[QuikSand]

2011 offseason

Okay, we have finally gotten into the top levels of the league. Here’s the team route this far:


GM Performance for QuikSand of the Chicago Bears

Year Team Eval Perf Diff Proft FrVal Record Playoffs
2010 CHI 69 66 73 80 39 16-4-0 Conference Champion
2009 CHI 55 57 74 58 34 8-8-0 None
2008 CHI 51 40 72 60 34 8-8-0 None
2007 CHI 58 26 71 82 38 6-10-0 None
2006 CHI 53 17 70 78 32 6-10-0 None
2005 CHI 52 2 67 83 36 2-14-0 None



We again dodge the hand of retirement, fortunately. Eventually, it will come.


We have a few decent players up for new contracts, but get them settled fairly easily, and remain under the cap this year without too much crisis.


Here’s an abbreviated camp picture:


05 post 10 post 11 pre 11 post year tcamp
Player # Pos CE FE CE FE CE FE CE FE dCE dFE dCE dFE
Frederick, Matt 8 QB 51 90 91 91 90 90 90 90 -1 -1 0 0
Kane, Roosevelt 2 QB 10 33 33 44 34 45 37 45 4 1 3 0
de Loayza, Anthony 5 QB 17 43 22 35 22 34 24 34 2 -1 2 0
Brady, Martin 17 QB 4 26 15 30 12 22 13 22 -2 -8 1 0
Lucas, Bob 25 RB 24 34 30 31 31 32 31 32 1 1 0 0
Gustafson, Brian 27 RB 24 37 23 26 20 23 20 23 -3 -3 0 0
Sugarman, Terrance 49 RB 14 20 18 20 18 20 18 20 0 0 0 0
Peterson, Eric 40 RB 19 27 18 18 17 17 17 17 -1 -1 0 0
Clinton, Neal 44 RB 12 14 12 12 8 8 8 8 -4 -4 0 0
Money, Dan 46 FB 24 36 32 35 32 34 32 34 0 -1 0 0
Clements, Rick 34 FB 21 38 31 37 32 37 32 37 1 0 0 0
Cardona, Josh 89 TE 19 30 24 27 24 27 24 27 0 0 0 0
Cobb, Sedrick 86 TE 20 36 22 25 22 26 22 26 0 1 0 0
Martin, Andrew 87 TE 17 31 12 19 8 12 8 12 -4 -7 0 0
Thomas, Larry 80 FL 34 55 62 62 62 62 62 62 0 0 0 0
Gaylor, Kevin 88 SE 20 39 53 53 54 54 54 54 1 1 0 0
Pearson, Billy Joe 81 SE 13 28 28 29 29 29 29 29 1 0 0 0
Rogers, Bernard 37 SE 15 37 28 33 27 33 27 33 -1 0 0 0
Raiola, Herb 26 SE 15 42 25 29 24 29 24 29 -1 0 0 0
Sims, George 59 C 13 26 45 48 45 48 45 48 0 0 0 0
McNeil, Nicky 50 C 13 34 30 36 31 37 33 37 3 1 2 0
Sanner, Mitchell 53 C 17 34 24 26 26 27 26 27 2 1 0 0
Henson, Harry 62 LG 18 37 41 41 41 41 41 41 0 0 0 0
Lake, Deion 73 LG 15 32 27 33 27 33 28 33 1 0 1 0
Tatum, Hardy 75 RG 12 35 29 33 29 33 29 33 0 0 0 0
Randle, Broderick 72 LT 11 50 52 54 55 55 55 55 3 1 0 0
McDaniel, Grant 78 LT 20 51 32 32 28 28 28 28 -4 -4 0 0
Francis, Justin 79 RT 20 37 39 39 39 39 39 39 0 0 0 0
Andrykovitch, Buck 10 P 42 50 42 44 39 43 39 43 -3 -1 0 0
Porter, Broderick 16 K 17 40 24 34 23 33 23 33 -1 -1 0 0
Hughes, Wendell 76 LDE 24 31 36 36 37 37 37 37 1 1 0 0
Westbrook, Travis 98 RDE 15 39 38 39 38 39 38 39 0 0 0 0
Schwartz, Timothy 99 RDE 24 37 33 37 34 38 34 38 1 1 0 0
Summers, Doug 77 RDE 19 27 23 26 23 26 23 26 0 0 0 0
Jefferson, Amos 66 LDT (was LT) 18 32 3 13 3 12 4 12 1 -1 1 0
Davidson, Teddy 96 RDT 66 86 52 56 53 57 53 57 1 1 0 0
Spencer, Preston 95 RDT 16 38 33 38 33 38 33 38 0 0 0 0
Hawkins, Ellis 58 MLB 35 61 60 60 57 59 57 59 -3 -1 0 0
Rabens, Rob 57 MLB 15 35 25 34 26 33 28 33 3 -1 2 0
Lucas, Gilbert 91 MLB 21 35 24 26 17 19 17 19 -7 -7 0 0
Bensen, Robert 51 SLB 34 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 0 0 0 0
Montgomery, Joe 93 SLB 14 31 28 32 28 32 28 32 0 0 0 0
Giles, Tim 92 SLB 13 32 11 17 11 16 12 16 1 -1 1 0
Cobb, Doug 56 SLB 13 32 2 6 2 5 3 5 1 -1 1 0
Mott, Conrad 90 WLB 22 40 40 40 37 39 37 39 -3 -1 0 0
Scott, Jon 54 WLB 16 33 31 33 32 33 32 33 1 0 0 0
Winters, Toby 48 LCB 14 29 23 28 24 29 24 29 1 1 0 0
Butterworth, Jose 47 RCB 15 36 37 39 38 39 38 39 1 0 0 0
Weliczka, Conrad 43 RCB 14 37 28 34 27 34 27 34 -1 0 0 0
Hampton, Oliver 29 RCB 14 19 20 20 20 20 20 20 0 0 0 0
Mazza, Ron 45 SS 19 56 48 48 51 51 51 51 3 3 0 0
Turnbull, Walter 28 SS 15 25 19 21 19 21 19 21 0 0 0 0
Kaplan, Earnest 38 SS 12 31 15 17 15 17 16 17 1 0 1 0
Harris, Greg 20 FS 16 40 44 44 45 45 45 45 1 1 0 0
Gibson, Carlton 35 FS 16 37 29 32 29 32 29 32 0 0 0 0


The team, now full of 7th year players, is much more in decline than development. A few guys are still getting slightly better with playing time, but we’re seeing our reserves wither on the vine – guys like LB Gilbert Lucas (IR last year) and TE Andrew Martin (3rd string, no PT).

No surprises here – we’re ready to gear up again.

[QuikSand]

2011 season

WR Larry Thomas will miss the year, and his future injury status is totally up in the air. Reserve QB Roosevelt Kane, solid but little used, is the other IR victim, with a mild foot injury. I hope this doesn’t anger him too much.


Our roster rating is at 33, about the same as where it has been. Second best cohesion is at 77-84-75-80, so we’re pulling away further there. SO far, so good – we’ll see if we can post another successful season with this middling roster.


We’re upset at home in our opener, by Green Bay. Then we lose in Denver – an 0-2 start isn’t what we had in mind, by any means. But we fortunately get two wins to pull even at 2-2 before our early bye week.

Detroit gets to 4-1 as they beat us, and we are in real trouble in our division, suddenly. But we bounce back, win three in a row, and get to our halfway point with a winning record, after all.


2011 Summary for Chicago Bears

Record: 5-3
Winning Pct.: .625

Chicago Bears Team Rank
Rushes 216 20 (T)
Rushing Yards 845 23
Yards Per Carry 3.91 20
Pass Attempts 303 4
Completions 179 5 (T)
Passing Yards 2285 1
Yards Per Attempt 7.54 6
3rd Down Conversions 37.0 30
Points Per Game 19.5 17
Turnovers 9 6 (T)
Turnover Margin +2 8 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 202 5
Rushing Yards 930 16
Yards Per Carry 4.60 30
Pass Attempts 299 26
Completions 149 5 (T)
Passing Yards 1765 10
Yards Per Attempt 5.90 3
3rd Down Conversions 36.2 4
Points Per Game 17.8 10
Turnovers 11 21 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 13 GBY 27
2 24 at DEN 27
3 14 DAL 9
4 20 at CAR 17
6 21 at DET 33
7 17 NOS 16
8 24 MIN 7
9 23 ATL 7
10 at TBY
11 at GBY
12 SDO
13 at SFO
14 at KCY
15 DET
16 OAK
17 at MIN

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
8 Frederick QB 302 178 2282 7.55 12 9
**Team --- 303 179 2285 7.54 13 9

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
25 Lucas RB 148 562 3.79 3
8 Frederick QB 36 191 5.30 0
49 Sugarman RB 23 69 3.00 0
**Team --- 216 845 3.91 4

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
37 Rogers WR 75 41 565 13.7 91 1
88 Gaylor WR 78 41 604 14.7 138 5
34 Clements FB 41 31 301 9.7 34 3
81 Pearson WR 39 20 237 11.8 28 0
26 Raiola WR 32 19 338 17.7 76 4
25 Lucas RB 22 14 114 8.1 18 0
**Team --- 303 179 2285 12.7 424 13

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
58 Hawkins ILB 61 16 1.0 0 0 9
90 Mott OLB 38 15 2.0 0 0 1
51 Bensen OLB 32 7 0.0 5 1 8
98 Westbrook DE 31 17 1.0 2 0 0
45 Mazza S 30 14 0.0 0 5 15
20 Harris S 26 6 0.0 0 2 12
47 Butterworth CB 22 6 0.0 0 1 1
35 Gibson S 20 4 0.0 0 0 3
43 Weliczka CB 20 6 0.0 0 0 2
95 Spencer DT 13 2 1.0 4 0 0
48 Winters CB 13 4 0.0 0 0 4
29 Hampton CB 12 1 1.0 0 0 0
76 Hughes DE 11 3 1.5 8 0 0
49 Sugarman RB 10 1 0.0 0 0 0
**Team --- 392 116 9.0 40 10 56



I don’t know what happened to our run defense – we’re struggling up front, which is a bit unusual. But I think we have a shot to rebound.

But two straight losses drop us to 5-5, and we are in real trouble. After some back and forth, we get a big win over Detroit to get to 8-6, so we still have a shot. We need to win our last two games, and probably need some help – as the two current wild cards are both ahead of us. And, we need to do it without MLB Ellis Hawkins, who will miss a few weeks. Ouch.

At 9-6, our final game is at Minnesota – who are 2-13 and the dregs of the division. Green Bay and Detroit are both 10-5, so one will lose – and a win this week puts us ahead of Detroit, if they lose, or into a tie with Green Bay, if they lose. We’ll hope for a Green Bay win – giving us a chance to win our way in. We get our wish – so it looks like we get in with a victory over Minnesota. And we come through, with a 31-14 victory – punching our tickets for our second postseason berth, where we travel to face familiar Green Bay in our opener.


2011 Regular Season Standings

AC North W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Cleveland 12 4 0 .750 363 274 10-2 5-1
Baltimore 9 7 0 .563 270 252 6-6 4-2
Pittsburgh 9 7 0 .563 305 281 6-6 3-3
Cincinnati 7 9 0 .438 232 307 3-9 0-6

AC South W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Houston 9 7 0 .563 332 335 9-3 4-2
Indianapolis 8 8 0 .500 312 330 8-4 4-2
Tennessee 8 8 0 .500 411 376 7-5 2-4
Jacksonville 4 12 0 .250 291 322 4-8 2-4

AC East W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
New York J 14 2 0 .875 445 294 11-1 5-1
Miami 8 8 0 .500 297 336 5-7 2-4
New England 7 9 0 .438 299 321 5-7 3-3
Buffalo 7 9 0 .438 337 314 5-7 2-4

AC West W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Denver 8 8 0 .500 332 354 6-6 5-1
San Diego 7 9 0 .438 282 294 6-6 5-1
Kansas City 5 11 0 .313 331 347 3-9 2-4
Oakland 3 13 0 .188 193 329 2-10 0-6

NC North W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Green Bay 11 5 0 .688 358 306 8-4 6-0
Chicago 10 6 0 .625 317 283 7-5 3-3
Detroit 10 6 0 .625 382 356 6-6 3-3
Minnesota 2 14 0 .125 230 389 2-10 0-6

NC South W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Atlanta 12 4 0 .750 417 283 8-4 5-1
Carolina 12 4 0 .750 365 258 8-4 4-2
Tampa Bay 9 7 0 .563 259 316 6-6 2-4
New Orleans 9 7 0 .563 313 293 5-7 1-5

NC East W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Washington 13 3 0 .813 430 238 10-2 4-2
Philadelphia 7 9 0 .438 252 318 6-6 3-3
New York G 6 10 0 .375 294 296 5-7 4-2
Dallas 6 10 0 .375 229 300 5-7 1-5

NC West W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
St. Louis 9 7 0 .563 369 317 8-4 6-0
Seattle 8 8 0 .500 379 388 6-6 4-2
San Francisco 5 11 0 .313 282 345 4-8 1-5
Arizona 2 14 0 .125 226 382 2-10 1-5


The team’s numbers generally improved in the second half… but our run defense remained unusually porous.


2011 Summary for Chicago Bears

Record: 10-6
Winning Pct.: .625

Chicago Bears Team Rank
Rushes 398 29
Rushing Yards 1542 30
Yards Per Carry 3.87 22
Pass Attempts 618 1
Completions 370 1
Passing Yards 4507 1
Yards Per Attempt 7.29 9 (T)
3rd Down Conversions 35.9 31
Points Per Game 19.8 15
Turnovers 24 14 (T)
Turnover Margin -6 24 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 429 10 (T)
Rushing Yards 1825 16
Yards Per Carry 4.25 24
Pass Attempts 575 30
Completions 300 3 (T)
Passing Yards 3401 9
Yards Per Attempt 5.91 1
3rd Down Conversions 35.4 3
Points Per Game 17.6 6 (T)
Turnovers 18 28 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 13 GBY 27
2 24 at DEN 27
3 14 DAL 9
4 20 at CAR 17
6 21 at DET 33
7 17 NOS 16
8 24 MIN 7
9 23 ATL 7
10 10 at TBY 15
11 14 at GBY 16
12 20 SDO 17
13 17 at SFO 24
14 31 at KCY 21
15 21 DET 17
16 17 OAK 16
17 31 at MIN 14
$$WC at GBY

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
8 Frederick QB 617 369 4504 7.29 27 18
**Team --- 618 370 4507 7.29 28 18

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
25 Lucas RB 265 994 3.75 4
8 Frederick QB 71 363 5.11 2
49 Sugarman RB 44 139 3.15 1
**Team --- 398 1542 3.87 8

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
88 Gaylor WR 161 91 1306 14.3 222 8
37 Rogers WR 138 75 1034 13.7 134 4
34 Clements FB 86 60 509 8.4 80 6
26 Raiola WR 71 41 587 14.3 100 6
81 Pearson WR 78 41 542 13.2 46 2
25 Lucas RB 44 31 296 9.5 89 0
46 Money FB 21 17 91 5.3 58 1
**Team --- 618 370 4507 12.1 760 28

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
58 Hawkins ILB 108 33 1.0 0 0 14
90 Mott OLB 77 27 3.0 0 1 3
51 Bensen OLB 72 14 3.0 8 2 17
45 Mazza S 60 22 0.0 0 6 20
20 Harris S 59 19 0.0 1 2 16
98 Westbrook DE 56 30 4.5 5 0 0
47 Butterworth CB 44 9 0.0 0 2 7
35 Gibson S 37 12 0.0 0 0 3
48 Winters CB 33 9 0.0 0 0 6
76 Hughes DE 30 10 5.5 14 0 0
29 Hampton CB 28 2 1.0 0 1 0
96 Davidson DT 26 13 3.0 20 0 0
43 Weliczka CB 23 8 0.0 0 0 2
54 Scott OLB 22 9 1.0 1 0 1
57 Rabens ILB 21 6 0.0 0 1 1
49 Sugarman RB 18 1 0.0 0 0 0
**Team --- 820 242 30.0 74 16 92


Matt Frederick’s 18 interceptions were a disappointment, but he is still the lynchpin for us, of course. Rob Lucas had another passable game leading the ground attack, while WR Gaylor remains our top target, coming back from an injury-riddled season. We had to shuffle the OL around a bit (injuries and unhappy players) but they played okay.

Defensively – I’m really disappointed with the run stoppers, and I don’t know why things fell off this year. We held teams under 4 yards per carry last season – this year, we were nearly 4.3, that’s way too high. Our corners are not making many plays, but our pass defense remains very effective, somehow. S Ron Mazza probably had his best season to date – but didn’t rack up huge tackle totals necessary to get much recognition, usually.

Incidentally, WR Larry Thomas is almost completely back to health – and he is clearly a withered version of his former self. He will probably have to battle for the starting role next season, after Rogers has given us two very nice seasons.


2011 Postseason

Wild Card: Chicago at Green Bay – The Packers jump out to a strong start, getting three TD passes in the first half, and holding on for a solid 31-21 win, ending our run early this season.


Washington beats Houston in the Superbowl.


In the season awards list, QB Matt Frederick gets a second team award, and WR Kevin Gaylor makes the second team as well.


Not a spectacular season, but given the setup, posting ten wins and making the playoffs has to be considered a victory. We’ll try to keep up the good efforts, as best we can.

[MIJB#19]

QS, what's the biggest point of the success in this dynasty so far?

* Chemistry can (still) be a key element?
* If given the time to develop, young late round picks and free agent rookie can become useful starters?
* If the game plan works, you can win with a "fair" roster?
* With a stud QB any team can win?
* All of the above?

[QuikSand]

QS, what's the biggest point of the success in this dynasty so far?

Well, I guess I'd order them as follows, witha few additional comments and clarifications, and some spacing as a general guide to the relative weightings:


MOST
*
* If given the time to develop [especially playing time], young late round picks and free agent rookie can become useful starters?
*
* With a stud QB any team can win?
* Chemistry [I'll sub in cohesion here] can (still) be a key element?
*
*
* If the game plan works, you can win with a "fair" roster?
*
*
*
*
LEAST

[MIJB#19]

Of course I ment cohesion.
And ment playing time too.
Nice catches, QS.

I hope that cohesion moves up in the next seasons, past the stud QB impression. Providing you keep interest in the challenge of course. ;)


These findings actually are very interesting to take up the challenge and get some more FOF experience in the IHOF winter break.

[QuikSand]

Well, I suppose if the team continued to do better and better, despite the roster not improving one whit, then I might start moving the cohesion factor up the list.

What I expect, though, is that the gradual wearing down of my players from injury and atrophy will more or less offset any gains from aded cohesion.

[QuikSand]

2012 offseason

Still no retirements – good news. I get more pensive every new season.

Staff is intact – we rush right into free agency, where we have a lot at stake. We, of course, have to retain everyone, at basically any price.

We have our first bona fide bidding war, for WR Kevin Gaylor. We have to keep him – it’s just a matter of paying through the nose to outbid Denver. We finally get hi, but it’s at his initial request – a fat $12m+ signing bonus in there. We can’t compete without him, though – so it’s done.

WR Larry Thomas is definitely not as good as he once was – but he’s still a decent-looking player. I suspect he will end up being okay, maybe even good for us again, and we ought to have a pretty solid trio at receiver, with the now-proven Bernard Rogers in the mix as needed.


The training camp summary shows a serious erosion among many of our reserve-caliber players. The guys on the bench are basically withering away to nothing – all 8th year players, they are starting to get past their development years, and now are subject to serious decline. (Except the QBs, who continue to develop, albeit slowly, from the bench) More and more jersey-fillers out there for us.


05 post 11 post 12 pre 12 post year camp
Player # Pos CE FE CE FE CE FE CE FE dCE dFE dCE dFE
Frederick, Matt 8 QB 51 90 90 90 90 90 90 90 0 0 0 0
Kane, Roosevelt 2 QB 10 33 37 45 32 39 35 39 -2 -6 3 0
de Loayza, Anthony 5 QB 17 43 24 34 17 25 18 25 -6 -9 1 0
Brady, Martin 17 QB 4 26 13 22 14 23 15 23 2 1 1 0
Lucas, Bob 25 RB 24 34 31 32 28 29 28 29 -3 -3 0 0
Sugarman, Terrance 49 RB 14 20 18 20 17 20 17 20 -1 0 0 0
Peterson, Eric 40 RB 19 27 17 17 13 13 13 13 -4 -4 0 0
Gustafson, Brian 27 RB 24 37 20 23 12 16 12 16 -8 -7 0 0
Clinton, Neal 44 RB 12 14 8 8 7 7 7 7 -1 -1 0 0
Money, Dan 46 FB 24 36 32 34 29 32 29 32 -3 -2 0 0
Clements, Rick 34 FB 21 38 32 37 26 31 26 31 -6 -6 0 0
Cardona, Josh 89 TE 19 30 24 27 25 28 25 28 1 1 0 0
Cobb, Sedrick 86 TE 20 36 22 26 17 19 17 19 -5 -7 0 0
Martin, Andrew 87 TE 17 31 8 12 8 12 8 12 0 0 0 0
Thomas, Larry 80 FL 34 55 62 62 31 31 31 31 -31 -31 0 0
Gaylor, Kevin 88 SE 20 39 54 54 52 52 52 52 -2 -2 0 0
Pearson, Billy Joe 81 SE 13 28 29 29 29 29 29 29 0 0 0 0
Rogers, Bernard 37 SE 15 37 27 33 27 34 27 34 0 1 0 0
Raiola, Herb 26 SE 15 42 24 29 24 30 24 30 0 1 0 0
Sims, George 59 C 13 26 45 48 46 49 46 49 1 1 0 0
McNeil, Nicky 50 C 13 34 33 37 36 37 38 38 5 1 2 1
Sanner, Mitchell 53 C 17 34 26 27 25 26 25 26 -1 -1 0 0
Henson, Harry 62 LG 18 37 41 41 40 40 40 40 -1 -1 0 0
Lake, Deion 73 LG 15 32 28 33 27 32 27 32 -1 -1 0 0
Tatum, Hardy 75 RG 12 35 29 33 29 34 29 34 0 1 0 0
Randle, Broderick 72 LT 11 50 55 55 51 53 51 53 -4 -2 0 0
McDaniel, Grant 78 LT 20 51 28 28 28 28 28 28 0 0 0 0
Francis, Justin 79 RT 20 37 39 39 41 41 41 41 2 2 0 0
Andrykovitch, Buck 10 P 42 50 39 43 38 43 38 43 -1 0 0 0
Porter, Broderick 16 K 17 40 23 33 23 33 23 33 0 0 0 0
Hughes, Wendell 76 LDE 24 31 37 37 38 38 38 38 1 1 0 0
Westbrook, Travis 98 RDE 15 39 38 39 39 40 39 40 1 1 0 0
Schwartz, Timothy 99 RDE 24 37 34 38 33 37 33 37 -1 -1 0 0
Summers, Doug 77 RDE 19 27 23 26 23 26 23 26 0 0 0 0
Jefferson, Amos 66 LDT (was LT) 18 32 4 12 4 12 4 12 0 0 0 0
Davidson, Teddy 96 RDT 66 86 53 57 51 57 51 57 -2 0 0 0
Spencer, Preston 95 RDT 16 38 33 38 32 37 32 37 -1 -1 0 0
Hawkins, Ellis 58 MLB 35 61 57 59 56 59 56 59 -1 0 0 0
Rabens, Rob 57 MLB 15 35 28 33 28 33 28 33 0 0 0 0
Lucas, Gilbert 91 MLB 21 35 17 19 12 14 12 14 -5 -5 0 0
Bensen, Robert 51 SLB 34 55 55 55 56 56 56 56 1 1 0 0
Montgomery, Joe 93 SLB 14 31 28 32 26 30 26 30 -2 -2 0 0
Giles, Tim 92 SLB 13 32 12 16 11 15 12 15 0 -1 1 0
Cobb, Doug 56 SLB 13 32 3 5 1 2 1 2 -2 -3 0 0
Mott, Conrad 90 WLB 22 40 37 39 37 39 37 39 0 0 0 0
Scott, Jon 54 WLB 16 33 32 33 33 34 33 34 1 1 0 0
Winters, Toby 48 LCB 14 29 24 29 22 29 22 29 -2 0 0 0
Butterworth, Jose 47 RCB 15 36 38 39 38 39 38 39 0 0 0 0
Weliczka, Conrad 43 RCB 14 37 27 34 28 35 28 35 1 1 0 0
Hampton, Oliver 29 RCB 14 19 20 20 20 20 20 20 0 0 0 0
Mazza, Ron 45 SS 19 56 51 51 50 50 50 50 -1 -1 0 0
Turnbull, Walter 28 SS 15 25 19 21 18 20 18 20 -1 -1 0 0
Kaplan, Earnest 38 SS 12 31 16 17 8 8 8 8 -8 -9 0 0
Harris, Greg 20 FS 16 40 45 45 46 46 46 46 1 1 0 0
Gibson, Carlton 35 FS 16 37 29 32 29 32 29 32 0 0 0 0

[QuikSand]

2012 season

The IR tickets get punched for LB Montgomery and LT McDaniel – solid reserves, who we home won’t fall apart from the time off.

We start the season with a roster rating of 41 – bumped up a bit, but I attribute that to noise among the league, rather than a real increase here. Our cohesion continues to dominate the league – second best ratings are down to 76-86-75-82, and in each case there are really only a couple teams near that point.

Our division has been tough to predict – Detroit showed up as a threat last year. Roster ratings suggest Green bay (75, 5th overall) as the real threat again, with Detroit (35) and Minnesota (2) lesser considerations.

I also have to keep in mind a few disgruntled players:


Playing Time Status:

Nicky McNeil, C - Disgruntled.
Mitchell Sanner, C - Disgruntled.
Doug Summers, RDE - Disgruntled.
Tim Giles, SLB - Unhappy.


We’ll find a way to cycle them in for playing time, just to keep them in a re-signing mood. LB Giles is the toughest, as he is a bag of bones at this point, basically.


We open with a good win over Detroit, but drop two in a row, and have cause for concern. But two wins later, we’re at a respectable 3-2, and looking ahead to playing a contending role. Three more wins, and we hit the midway spot at a solid 6-2, on a pretty nice winning streak.


2012 Summary for Chicago Bears

Record: 6-2
Winning Pct.: .750

Chicago Bears Team Rank
Rushes 193 29
Rushing Yards 792 28
Yards Per Carry 4.10 18
Pass Attempts 323 2 (T)
Completions 209 1
Passing Yards 2588 1
Yards Per Attempt 8.01 4
3rd Down Conversions 52.4 1
Points Per Game 24.7 4 (T)
Turnovers 14 18 (T)
Turnover Margin -7 27 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 204 8
Rushing Yards 1010 21
Yards Per Carry 4.95 30
Pass Attempts 271 14
Completions 144 1
Passing Yards 1652 5
Yards Per Attempt 6.09 7
3rd Down Conversions 44.4 22 (T)
Points Per Game 17.5 14
Turnovers 7 31 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 20 DET 9
2 20 at HOU 30
3 25 at PHI 32
4 24 SFO 17
5 38 ARI 10
6 27 at STL 14
8 20 MIN 7
9 24 at DET 21
10 at SEA
11 GBY
12 at TEN
13 CAR
14 JAX
15 at MIN
16 IND
17 at GBY

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
8 Frederick QB 323 209 2588 8.01 15 7
**Team --- 323 209 2588 8.01 15 7

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
25 Lucas RB 125 470 3.76 2
8 Frederick QB 29 199 6.86 0
49 Sugarman RB 29 103 3.55 1
**Team --- 193 792 4.10 7

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
37 Rogers WR 56 40 498 12.4 43 5
81 Pearson WR 61 38 514 13.5 62 4
80 Thomas WR 63 35 511 14.6 80 3
88 Gaylor WR 55 32 485 15.1 68 1
34 Clements FB 29 21 188 8.9 35 0
89 Cardona TE 25 19 192 10.1 50 1
46 Money FB 14 10 75 7.5 28 0
25 Lucas RB 14 9 49 5.4 21 1
**Team --- 323 209 2588 12.3 391 15

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
58 Hawkins ILB 64 22 2.0 0 1 6
51 Bensen OLB 43 12 3.0 5 1 14
90 Mott OLB 29 6 3.0 0 1 0
35 Gibson S 27 2 1.0 1 0 2
45 Mazza S 27 8 0.0 1 2 8
95 Spencer DT 25 8 3.0 4 0 0
43 Weliczka CB 24 8 0.0 0 0 2
20 Harris S 22 9 0.0 0 0 6
54 Scott OLB 19 6 3.5 8 0 0
48 Winters CB 17 4 1.0 0 0 2
47 Butterworth CB 15 7 1.0 0 0 6
76 Hughes DE 13 2 0.0 5 0 0
96 Davidson DT 10 9 4.5 5 0 0
91 Lucas ILB 10 5 0.0 0 0 1
**Team --- 393 110 23.0 33 5 47



Well, at 6-2 there is some good news – Matt Frederick is on pace for 5,000 yards, and it’s at least conceivable that we see four receivers threaten 1,000 yards (that would be a first for me).

A minor aside – my SLB Robert Bensen continually puts up huge numbers of passes defensed, more than I am used to seeing from any linebacker. 14 in the half season is crazy, but he has five years in a row with at least 12 each season, with a high of 25. He’s rated a 96 in bump-and-run defense, which is our specialty on coverage – this is some indirect evidence to me that LBs do, in fact, play the assigned coverage scheme, rather than just playing an underneath zone (as I have seen suggested). His coverage skills are solid everywhere, but the 96 in BNR must be the underlying thing for the suspiciously high passes defensed. An outside linebacker, giving us over 10% TkPct and adding to our pass rush, it’s unreal to see him posting a career PDPct over 20. Just an observation – nice stuff from him.


Green Bay beats us to keep their division hopes alive, but we are still in command. But a loss to Tennessee is cause for concern – at 7-4, we are no longer in true command, only a game up on the Packers. We need overtime to beat Carolina, but it’s a big win to get us back on track. But we hit a stride with three straight wins, and with a week to go – no mystery, we’ll be the division winners, finally. The onoly question is whether we get a week off to rest up – a week secures the #2 seeding. A tie, however, leaves us a half game behind Atlanta – and in the third seed, instead.


2012 Regular Season Standings

AC North W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Baltimore 10 6 0 .625 299 280 8-4 4-2
Pittsburgh 9 7 0 .563 345 293 6-6 3-3
Cincinnati 7 9 0 .438 263 300 5-7 4-2
Cleveland 3 13 0 .188 255 332 1-11 1-5

AC South W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Houston 10 6 0 .625 374 299 6-6 2-4
Jacksonville 9 7 0 .563 319 295 8-4 4-2
Indianapolis 7 9 0 .438 304 289 5-7 3-3
Tennessee 6 10 0 .375 266 367 5-7 3-3

AC East W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Buffalo 13 3 0 .813 369 263 11-1 6-0
New York J 13 3 0 .813 413 302 9-3 4-2
Miami 5 11 0 .313 265 335 2-10 0-6
New England 4 12 0 .250 241 369 3-9 2-4

AC West W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Denver 12 4 0 .750 330 216 10-2 5-1
San Diego 10 6 0 .625 321 245 8-4 3-3
Kansas City 7 8 1 .469 258 306 6-6 3-3
Oakland 4 12 0 .250 225 348 3-9 1-5

NC North W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Chicago 11 4 1 .719 407 312 9-2-1 4-1-1
Detroit 8 8 0 .500 392 340 6-6 3-3
Minnesota 7 9 0 .438 297 376 5-7 2-4
Green Bay 6 9 1 .406 364 396 4-7-1 2-3-1

NC South W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Atlanta 12 4 0 .750 368 231 9-3 5-1
Carolina 9 7 0 .563 311 317 7-5 4-2
New Orleans 8 8 0 .500 259 288 6-6 3-3
Tampa Bay 3 11 2 .250 168 312 1-10-1 0-6

NC East W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Philadelphia 13 3 0 .813 337 238 12-0 6-0
New York G 10 6 0 .625 356 268 8-4 3-3
Washington 6 9 1 .406 254 286 3-8-1 2-4
Dallas 2 14 0 .125 174 271 1-11 1-5

NC West W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
San Francisco 9 7 0 .563 316 294 7-5 3-3
Seattle 8 8 0 .500 338 325 6-6 3-3
Arizona 8 8 0 .500 370 362 6-6 3-3
St. Louis 4 12 0 .250 274 377 4-8 3-3


In our season summary, we see that we fell a bit short of some of the lofty projections, but had a pretty good offensive season nonetheless:


2012 Summary for Chicago Bears

Record: 11-4-1
Winning Pct.: .718

Chicago Bears Team Rank
Rushes 386 30 (T)
Rushing Yards 1608 27
Yards Per Carry 4.16 13 (T)
Pass Attempts 658 1
Completions 413 1
Passing Yards 4914 1
Yards Per Attempt 7.46 8
3rd Down Conversions 50.6 2
Points Per Game 25.4 2
Turnovers 24 14 (T)
Turnover Margin -8 26 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 415 10
Rushing Yards 1779 12
Yards Per Carry 4.28 20
Pass Attempts 561 25 (T)
Completions 314 14 (T)
Passing Yards 3752 26
Yards Per Attempt 6.68 16 (T)
3rd Down Conversions 43.1 22
Points Per Game 19.5 19 (T)
Turnovers 16 31 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 20 DET 9
2 20 at HOU 30
3 25 at PHI 32
4 24 SFO 17
5 38 ARI 10
6 27 at STL 14
8 20 MIN 7
9 24 at DET 21
10 34 at SEA 16
11 30 GBY 31
12 13 at TEN 30
13 26 CAR 20
14 20 JAX 16
15 42 at MIN 21
16 23 IND 17
17 21 at GBY 21
$$WC CAR

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
8 Frederick QB 657 412 4912 7.47 26 16
**Team --- 658 413 4914 7.46 27 16

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
25 Lucas RB 245 962 3.92 5
49 Sugarman RB 70 192 2.74 2
8 Frederick QB 50 298 5.96 3
**Team --- 386 1608 4.16 17

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
88 Gaylor WR 155 83 1197 14.4 207 2
37 Rogers WR 113 73 981 13.4 90 8
80 Thomas WR 111 65 892 13.7 122 4
81 Pearson WR 100 58 738 12.7 82 5
34 Clements FB 66 48 430 8.9 83 6
89 Cardona TE 40 30 280 9.3 61 1
25 Lucas RB 36 27 158 5.8 65 1
46 Money FB 27 21 139 6.6 59 0
**Team --- 658 413 4914 11.8 778 27

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
58 Hawkins ILB 118 40 4.0 0 1 13
51 Bensen OLB 92 37 10.0 8 1 25
90 Mott OLB 62 17 6.0 1 1 2
45 Mazza S 58 22 0.0 1 4 18
20 Harris S 57 22 0.0 0 0 11
35 Gibson S 51 6 2.0 1 1 3
43 Weliczka CB 45 13 0.0 0 0 7
95 Spencer DT 44 14 7.0 8 0 0
47 Butterworth CB 43 15 1.0 0 0 8
98 Westbrook DE 29 11 0.0 1 0 0
91 Lucas ILB 28 7 2.0 0 0 4
48 Winters CB 27 10 1.0 0 1 4
76 Hughes DE 25 13 2.0 13 0 0
54 Scott OLB 22 8 4.5 16 0 1
96 Davidson DT 18 11 4.5 9 0 0
49 Sugarman RB 17 0 1.0 0 0 0
**Team --- 825 248 46.0 64 9 97



QB Matt Frederick’s TDs is a season record for this league. He has the top three seasons in yardage, this one came just behind his first place mark of 4,936. Probably makes him a cinch for league MVP, I’d think, but the 16 picks might hold him back.

LB Robert Bensen had a whale of a year. I know it’s tackles that the game values, but look at his complete stats – 92+37 tackles from the strong side isn’t half bad, especially for a good team – that’s a 13.8& clip, pretty high for the SLB position. 10 sacks leads the team, and his 25 passes defensed is the sixth-highest in league history – at any position (needless to say, everyone around him is a DB). That’s an awfully impressive set of stats for a season – nice.

Overall, the defense wasn’t as strong as we have gotten used to – statistically, not so strong. We did get more pressure on the QB, but we just don’t make the big play – we remain near the bottom of the league in causing turnovers, year after year.


Postseason Summary

Wild Card: Carolina at Chicago – We are mild favorites, but we thrash the Panthers defense as Matt Frederick opens up for 4 TDs and adds 69 yards and a TD on the ground. Great effort, as we win 38-14.

Divisional Playoff: Chicago at Atlanta – Our own fault we’re on the road here, but it’s a very even game – the Falcons score 10 points in the fourth quarter to force overtime. We both seek to avoid mistakes, but when we get an interception from S Gibson, that sets up the game-winning FG.

NFC Championship: Chicago at Philadelphia – The road to the Superbowl goes through Philly, of course. The Eagles are merciless, just pounding the ball right at us, and grinding out yardage all day. They get good field position, control the clock, and keep control the whole way. It’s a 23-6 Eagles rout, as they hold the ball for a remarkable 41 minutes.

The Eagles pound out another one over Buffalo to take the championship.


Matt Frederick garners another first-team QBQ award, but no MVP – that goes to the Jets RB who posted about 1,800 yards on the ground. LB Robert Bensen gets a first team honor as well – I’m thrilled to see that.


Great season for us – out first division title, and a good playoff run. This team is solid, a contender, and playing about as well as we could have hoped.

[QuikSand]

2013 offseason

No retirements, whew. Staff stays intact – also simple.

Now, we have problems. We come into this season $9m over the salary cap. We have work to do.

I go through routine renegotiations, and have my first player who won’t re-sign – LB Doug Cobb. He’s awful, so the only loss is one able body. He’s signed this year, but I suspect he’s a lost cause, no matter what happens this season.

Anyway, we get things worked out, though it takes a re-working of Matt Frederick’s contract – which I did not want to do. Regardless, we have all 55 heading into next season.


05 post 12 post 13 pre 13 post year camp
Player # Pos CE FE CE FE CE FE CE FE dCE dFE dCE dFE
Frederick, Matt 8 QB 51 90 90 90 89 90 89 90 -1 0 0 0
Kane, Roosevelt 2 QB 10 33 35 39 36 40 39 40 4 1 3 0
de Loayza, Anthony 5 QB 17 43 18 25 12 16 14 16 -4 -9 2 0
Brady, Martin 17 QB 4 26 15 23 13 20 14 20 -1 -3 1 0
Lucas, Bob 25 RB 24 34 28 29 28 29 28 29 0 0 0 0
Sugarman, Terrance 49 RB 14 20 17 20 18 20 18 20 1 0 0 0
Peterson, Eric 40 RB 19 27 13 13 11 11 11 11 -2 -2 0 0
Gustafson, Brian 27 RB 24 37 12 16 9 11 9 11 -3 -5 0 0
Clinton, Neal 44 RB 12 14 7 7 6 6 6 6 -1 -1 0 0
Money, Dan 46 FB 24 36 29 32 30 32 30 32 1 0 0 0
Clements, Rick 34 FB 21 38 26 31 27 32 27 32 1 1 0 0
Cardona, Josh 89 TE 19 30 25 28 23 26 23 26 -2 -2 0 0
Cobb, Sedrick 86 TE 20 36 17 19 17 20 17 20 0 1 0 0
Martin, Andrew 87 TE 17 31 8 12 5 7 5 7 -3 -5 0 0
Thomas, Larry 80 FL 34 55 31 31 32 32 32 32 1 1 0 0
Gaylor, Kevin 88 SE 20 39 52 52 53 53 53 53 1 1 0 0
Pearson, Billy Joe 81 SE 13 28 29 29 28 28 28 28 -1 -1 0 0
Raiola, Herb 26 SE 15 42 24 30 23 29 23 29 -1 -1 0 0
Rogers, Bernard 37 SE 15 37 27 34 22 28 22 28 -5 -6 0 0
Sims, George 59 C 13 26 46 49 45 49 45 49 -1 0 0 0
McNeil, Nicky 50 C 13 34 38 38 39 39 39 39 1 1 0 0
Sanner, Mitchell 53 C 17 34 25 26 25 26 25 26 0 0 0 0
Lake, Deion 73 LG 15 32 27 32 27 32 27 32 0 0 0 0
Henson, Harry 62 LG 18 37 40 40 23 27 23 27 -17 -13 0 0
Tatum, Hardy 75 RG 12 35 29 34 30 34 30 34 1 0 0 0
Randle, Broderick 72 LT 11 50 51 53 50 53 50 53 -1 0 0 0
McDaniel, Grant 78 LT 20 51 28 28 18 18 18 18 -10 -10 0 0
Francis, Justin 79 RT 20 37 41 41 42 42 42 42 1 1 0 0
Andrykovitch, Buck 10 P 42 50 38 43 38 44 38 44 0 1 0 0
Porter, Broderick 16 K 17 40 23 33 23 32 23 32 0 -1 0 0
Hughes, Wendell 76 LDE 24 31 38 38 38 38 38 38 0 0 0 0
Westbrook, Travis 98 RDE 15 39 39 40 39 41 39 41 0 1 0 0
Schwartz, Timothy 99 RDE 24 37 33 37 29 33 29 33 -4 -4 0 0
Summers, Doug 77 RDE 19 27 23 26 19 22 19 22 -4 -4 0 0
Jefferson, Amos 66 LDT (was LT) 18 32 4 12 4 11 4 11 0 -1 0 0
Davidson, Teddy 96 RDT 66 86 51 57 51 56 51 56 0 -1 0 0
Spencer, Preston 95 RDT 16 38 32 37 33 37 33 37 1 0 0 0
Hawkins, Ellis 58 MLB 35 61 56 59 56 60 56 60 0 1 0 0
Rabens, Rob 57 MLB 15 35 28 33 28 34 28 34 0 1 0 0
Lucas, Gilbert 91 MLB 21 35 12 14 12 14 12 14 0 0 0 0
Bensen, Robert 51 SLB 34 55 56 56 54 59 54 59 -2 3 0 0
Montgomery, Joe 93 SLB 14 31 26 30 16 21 16 21 -10 -9 0 0
Giles, Tim 92 SLB 13 32 12 15 12 15 12 15 0 0 0 0
Cobb, Doug 56 SLB 13 32 1 2 1 2 1 2 0 0 0 0
Mott, Conrad 90 WLB 22 40 37 39 37 39 37 39 0 0 0 0
Scott, Jon 54 WLB 16 33 33 34 32 33 32 33 -1 -1 0 0
Winters, Toby 48 LCB 14 29 22 29 22 28 22 28 0 -1 0 0
Butterworth, Jose 47 RCB 15 36 38 39 34 35 34 35 -4 -4 0 0
Weliczka, Conrad 43 RCB 14 37 28 35 27 34 27 34 -1 -1 0 0
Hampton, Oliver 29 RCB 14 19 20 20 20 24 20 24 0 4 0 0
Mazza, Ron 45 SS 19 56 50 50 49 50 49 50 -1 0 0 0
Turnbull, Walter 28 SS 15 25 18 20 17 20 17 20 -1 0 0 0
Kaplan, Earnest 38 SS 12 31 8 8 6 7 6 7 -2 -1 0 0
Harris, Greg 20 FS 16 40 46 46 47 47 47 47 1 1 0 0
Gibson, Carlton 35 FS 16 37 29 32 28 32 28 32 -1 0 0 0


Nothing really new to see here – the team is just rusting away. We are all 9th year players now, and everyone who is not getting regular playing time is dissolving rapidly. The two IR listers from last year are all but gone now – we’ve got real problems. But our starters are generally holding on – so it’s depth we’re losing, mostly.

[QuikSand]

2013 season

As we wrap up the preseason, I have a quandary for the injured list. Ideally, we can just stow a couple of bums there for the year – no harm done. This year, I don’t have any injured bums – not so easy. I leave my second stringers in for the last preseason game, and get a serious injury to S Greg Harris. I don’t like that, it might be a career-ender, but it makes things easier – he is joined by G Deion Lake on the injured list.

We head into the season with an overall roster rating of 35, and with a cohesion edge that leaves second-bests at 72-70-68-69, which continues to be an impressive gap on the rest of the league. We’ll see if that camaraderie can get us over the top before the team totally collapses.


We start out with three narrow wins, but it’s 3-0 however you get them. Our run ends in week 5, as Washington picks off Frederick six times and crushes us badly. We get to the halfway point at 6-2, again in pretty strong position for a postseason berth.


2013 Summary for Chicago Bears

Record: 6-2
Winning Pct.: .750

Chicago Bears Team Rank
Rushes 169 32
Rushing Yards 632 32
Yards Per Carry 3.73 29
Pass Attempts 321 3
Completions 181 6
Passing Yards 2340 2
Yards Per Attempt 7.28 14
3rd Down Conversions 38.1 27
Points Per Game 22.7 10
Turnovers 16 29
Turnover Margin -7 27 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 244 21
Rushing Yards 903 9
Yards Per Carry 3.70 1
Pass Attempts 283 24
Completions 143 2
Passing Yards 1579 1
Yards Per Attempt 5.57 1
3rd Down Conversions 42.6 15
Points Per Game 18.2 7 (T)
Turnovers 9 20 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 21 MIN 20
2 20 BAL 13
3 22 SFO 16
5 17 at WAS 35
6 21 DAL 10
7 28 DET 23
8 17 at NYG 19
9 36 PHI 10
10 at MIN
11 GBY
12 at CLE
13 at ATL
14 CIN
15 at GBY
16 at PIT
17 at DET

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
8 Frederick QB 321 181 2340 7.28 18 13
**Team --- 321 181 2340 7.28 18 13

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
25 Lucas RB 108 428 3.96 3
49 Sugarman RB 27 66 2.44 0
8 Frederick QB 24 122 5.08 0
**Team --- 169 632 3.73 3

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
88 Gaylor WR 77 40 630 15.7 106 2
81 Pearson WR 55 30 409 13.6 50 4
37 Rogers WR 45 27 329 12.1 28 2
34 Clements FB 42 27 260 9.6 24 3
80 Thomas WR 48 24 388 16.1 53 4
89 Cardona TE 16 12 171 14.2 20 3
25 Lucas RB 18 8 67 8.3 39 0
**Team --- 321 181 2340 12.9 342 18

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
58 Hawkins ILB 90 25 0.5 1 1 11
51 Bensen OLB 43 15 0.5 5 0 10
35 Gibson S 41 16 1.0 1 0 1
45 Mazza S 31 11 0.0 0 3 4
90 Mott OLB 29 12 0.0 0 1 0
43 Weliczka CB 20 7 0.0 1 0 7
98 Westbrook DE 19 7 0.0 2 0 0
95 Spencer DT 19 7 4.0 8 0 0
96 Davidson DT 15 7 6.0 12 0 0
54 Scott OLB 14 7 3.0 10 0 0
29 Hampton CB 14 6 0.0 0 2 6
28 Turnbull S 13 0 0.0 0 0 2
93 Montgomery OLB 10 3 0.0 0 0 0
47 Butterworth CB 10 4 0.0 0 0 2
48 Winters CB 9 5 0.0 1 0 1
49 Sugarman RB 8 0 0.0 0 0 0
**Team --- 439 140 18.0 46 7 45



Can this team keep it together, despite a battered secondary and offensive line? Somehow, our defense is playing like a collection of titans, and we have become difficult to run on – even without DE Westbrook in there for half the games. Ellis Hawkins – 90 tackles in 8 games? Good lord, son! Go figure – keep it up!

We split our next four games, with WR Larry Thomas returning fourth quarter kickoffs for TDs twice to be the margin of victory. We have lost, however, our two starting DTs – Westbrook and Spencer – and that’s trouble. Spencer’s injury might be career-threatening.

We beat Green Bay in overtime, and stay two ahead of Minnesota, who have rebounded to being a contender again. We split the next two, and look at an 11-5 record as it wraps up, which is good enough for another division title, and fortunately for us, a week off as the #2 seed.


2013 Regular Season Standings

AC North W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Pittsburgh 13 3 0 .813 392 284 9-3 5-1
Baltimore 10 6 0 .625 333 268 8-4 3-3
Cincinnati 7 9 0 .438 267 289 6-6 2-4
Cleveland 6 10 0 .375 296 286 5-7 2-4

AC South W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Indianapolis 9 7 0 .563 320 348 7-5 4-2
Jacksonville 9 7 0 .563 377 293 7-5 4-2
Tennessee 7 9 0 .438 328 340 6-6 3-3
Houston 6 10 0 .375 276 394 5-7 1-5

AC East W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
New England 13 3 0 .813 468 311 11-1 5-1
Miami 8 8 0 .500 307 331 6-6 3-3
Buffalo 5 11 0 .313 327 397 4-8 3-3
New York J 2 14 0 .125 257 409 1-11 1-5

AC West W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
San Diego 13 3 0 .813 330 253 10-2 5-1
Kansas City 7 9 0 .438 331 302 6-6 4-2
Denver 5 11 0 .313 283 326 3-9 2-4
Oakland 3 13 0 .188 248 387 2-10 1-5

NC North W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Chicago 11 5 0 .688 380 317 9-3 5-1
Detroit 9 7 0 .563 383 375 7-5 2-4
Minnesota 8 8 0 .500 284 295 6-6 3-3
Green Bay 7 9 0 .438 365 385 5-7 2-4

NC South W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Atlanta 9 7 0 .563 367 350 7-5 4-2
New Orleans 9 7 0 .563 362 344 7-5 4-2
Tampa Bay 8 8 0 .500 269 283 4-8 2-4
Carolina 6 10 0 .375 321 419 4-8 2-4

NC East W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Philadelphia 10 6 0 .625 314 301 7-5 5-1
New York G 9 7 0 .563 375 306 6-6 4-2
Washington 8 8 0 .500 277 284 5-7 2-4
Dallas 2 14 0 .125 201 341 2-10 1-5

NC West W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Arizona 14 2 0 .875 440 255 10-2 5-1
St. Louis 10 6 0 .625 392 317 7-5 4-2
Seattle 9 7 0 .563 401 364 6-6 2-4
San Francisco 4 12 0 .250 249 366 4-8 1-5


In the stat column, we have a few good numbers, but none as good as “bye week,” really.


2013 Summary for Chicago Bears

Record: 11-5
Winning Pct.: .687

Chicago Bears Team Rank
Rushes 379 31
Rushing Yards 1374 31
Yards Per Carry 3.62 30
Pass Attempts 639 1
Completions 372 1
Passing Yards 4784 1
Yards Per Attempt 7.48 9
3rd Down Conversions 38.9 27
Points Per Game 23.7 7
Turnovers 28 29
Turnover Margin -5 24 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 439 10 (T)
Rushing Yards 1626 5
Yards Per Carry 3.70 2
Pass Attempts 587 30
Completions 317 17 (T)
Passing Yards 3663 17
Yards Per Attempt 6.24 3
3rd Down Conversions 39.3 2
Points Per Game 19.8 15 (T)
Turnovers 23 10 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 21 MIN 20
2 20 BAL 13
3 22 SFO 16
5 17 at WAS 35
6 21 DAL 10
7 28 DET 23
8 17 at NYG 19
9 36 PHI 10
10 20 at MIN 21
11 24 GBY 13
12 10 at CLE 29
13 31 at ATL 24
14 30 CIN 14
15 36 at GBY 30
16 17 at PIT 24
17 30 at DET 16

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
8 Frederick QB 639 372 4784 7.48 31 19
**Team --- 639 372 4784 7.48 31 19

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
25 Lucas RB 236 878 3.72 5
49 Sugarman RB 66 166 2.51 2
8 Frederick QB 54 286 5.29 0
**Team --- 379 1374 3.62 11

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
88 Gaylor WR 139 82 1306 15.9 257 4
81 Pearson WR 123 68 934 13.7 95 6
37 Rogers WR 100 55 776 14.1 60 3
80 Thomas WR 97 52 795 15.2 84 8
34 Clements FB 80 50 435 8.7 93 3
25 Lucas RB 38 23 142 6.1 62 0
89 Cardona TE 26 17 211 12.4 22 4
**Team --- 639 372 4784 12.8 713 31

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
58 Hawkins ILB 162 52 1.5 3 2 21
35 Gibson S 92 31 2.0 1 1 6
51 Bensen OLB 83 37 2.0 5 2 22
45 Mazza S 69 22 0.0 0 4 14
90 Mott OLB 58 25 0.0 2 1 0
43 Weliczka CB 38 12 0.0 1 1 11
95 Spencer DT 34 13 5.5 13 0 0
96 Davidson DT 29 14 9.5 20 0 0
29 Hampton CB 29 10 2.0 1 3 11
54 Scott OLB 27 14 6.5 14 0 0
48 Winters CB 27 11 0.0 1 1 5
98 Westbrook DE 24 9 0.0 3 0 1
76 Hughes DE 24 9 5.0 9 0 0
28 Turnbull S 24 3 0.0 0 0 2
93 Montgomery OLB 17 9 0.5 2 0 0
**Team --- 851 294 39.0 85 15 97



LB Ellis Hawkins has always been our main run stopping force, but this was crazy – 214 total tackles is a ridiculous number, especially on a pretty good team. 21 passes defensed and even some pass pressure – this ought to be a DPOOY candidate, I think.

QB Matt Frederick – well, another year of mostly the same. He again comes up just shy of 5,000 yards, but had a pretty good season (especially with 6 picks in one game). WR Kevin Gaylor remains target #1, and the role players all look fine.


2013 Postseason Summary

Divisional Playoff: Atlanta at Chicago – We’re still not very healthy, but Matt Frederick makes things look pretty good, as we put together a few drives and come up with a 27-17 win over the visiting Falcons. SO, on we go to the Conference Championship, where we face this year’s juggernaut in the making…

NFC Championship: Chicago at Atlanta – The Falcons are 6 point favorites, and have the “edge” in every category except QB. Arizona learned from last year’s Eagles blueprint – they run it 41 times against us, despite our solid stats against the run, and they pound out a good win, 30-17, with 38 minutes of clock on their side – unreal. Not much we can do, but we fall short here once again.

Arizona falls to Baltimore in the Superbowl.


LB Ellis Hawkins is indeed the defensive player of the year, and he is alone on the awards list from our squad.


Another very good season – touogh to ask for more, but getting so close certainly makes it bittersweet. Still no ring.

[QuikSand]

I might have finally run out of gas on this... I have some time today, but don't feel too motivated to re-open it and keep playing.

I have an oddfascination with going through the motions of shifting players around just to keep the roster technically legal -- and I suspect in the next 2-3 years I'd have to start doing so. But at the moment, the tedium of each season is a hurdle, rather than a pleasure.

Uncertainty...

[QuikSand]

Well, forum necromancy seems to be in vogue right now... and I have had a little time on my hands. I am hoping to "wrap up" this particular challenge with a few more seasons.

[QuikSand]

2014 offseason

We have two injured players who might be done – we’ll follow their ratings:


Player End 2013 Start 2014
DT Spencer 33/37 23/27
FS Harris 46/46 46/46*


Harris will be out for the whole year still ahead, so any long-term problem has not yet been resolved. But Spencer now looks like a backup, rather than a starter. Tough break. I expect Harris will suffer the same fate.

We re-hire our offensive coordinator, and are ready to move on.


We get everyone signed before training camp, with one exception. LB Doug Cobb, a complete zero on the talent scale but an affinity guy, is so unhappy about playing time that he refuses to sign. That’s my fault – poor playing time management – and we will drop to only 54 players. In everyone’s tenth season, this is probably the beginning of the end in these parts.

So, we head into the season with 54 strong, including the still-hobbled S Harris, who will sit the season on IR.


Through 4 games, we are unbeaten and Matt Frederick has a QB rating of 105. Strong start. However, we lose S Ron Mazza to a season-ender, and that’s not good, as he’s among our most reliable defenders, and we’re left perilously thin there now.

We lose our next game to Detroit, and suffer more injuries – our DL is falling apart. But we rebound for two more wins, and seem to be playing well, despite the banged up lineup. However, after getting to 8-1, we suffer the one injury that we really have no answer for – QB Matt Frederick goes down. Now, I like Roosevelt Kane just fine, and he has actually grown a bit over the years, but this team is clearly built around Matt Frederick. We promptly drop three games in a row, as Kane throws eight picks in three games. This drops us out of the division lead, and into a tie with Detroit at 8-4.

We are now, incidentally, drawing ticket stubs and random and having fans start along the defensive line. Right now, we have only three healthy D-linemen, meaning that guys like Amos Jefferson and Tim Giles (scout ratings of 5/11 and 5/7, respectively) are starting for us. Heh, great.

Despite that, Matt Frederick gets back into the lineup, and we punish the Patriots to get back on the right side. We then pound Detroit, and take the division lead back. Arrows pointing up again. We manage to wrap up the season at 12-4… and since we lost all three games when Frederick was out, that has to make us pretty confident about our chances as long as he can stay healthy in the playoffs. Our 9-3 conference record gives us the #1 seed in the conference, out of a 3-way tie with New Orleans and Philadelphia. Home field advantage is what it’s all about, here.


2014 Regular Season Standings

AC North W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Cleveland 10 6 0 .625 337 288 7-5 3-3
Baltimore 9 7 0 .563 289 309 7-5 4-2
Cincinnati 6 10 0 .375 198 258 5-7 3-3
Pittsburgh 3 13 0 .188 299 364 2-10 2-4

AC South W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Indianapolis 12 4 0 .750 427 295 9-3 6-0
Houston 9 7 0 .563 339 339 7-5 2-4
Jacksonville 7 9 0 .438 320 308 6-6 4-2
Tennessee 1 15 0 .063 175 370 1-11 0-6

AC East W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Buffalo 10 6 0 .625 280 267 9-3 4-2
New York J 8 8 0 .500 265 290 5-7 3-3
New England 8 8 0 .500 321 340 6-6 2-4
Miami 6 10 0 .375 280 349 5-7 3-3

AC West W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
San Diego 14 2 0 .875 417 287 10-2 5-1
Denver 9 7 0 .563 337 314 7-5 4-2
Oakland 8 8 0 .500 334 326 6-6 3-3
Kansas City 8 8 0 .500 278 306 4-8 0-6

NC North W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Chicago 12 4 0 .750 441 279 9-3 4-2
Detroit 9 7 0 .563 401 404 7-5 3-3
Green Bay 8 8 0 .500 313 334 6-6 3-3
Minnesota 7 9 0 .438 325 334 5-7 2-4

NC South W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
New Orleans 12 4 0 .750 396 317 8-4 3-3
Carolina 9 7 0 .563 313 325 6-6 2-4
Tampa Bay 7 9 0 .438 280 342 6-6 3-3
Atlanta 6 10 0 .375 360 344 5-7 4-2

NC East W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Washington 12 4 0 .750 444 374 8-4 5-1
Philadelphia 11 5 0 .688 397 315 8-4 3-3
New York G 7 9 0 .438 353 363 6-6 3-3
Dallas 5 11 0 .313 346 386 3-9 1-5

NC West W L T Pct PF PA Conf Div
Arizona 9 7 0 .563 356 341 8-4 3-3
St. Louis 6 10 0 .375 311 327 5-7 4-2
Seattle 4 12 0 .250 286 369 3-9 3-3
San Francisco 4 12 0 .250 295 349 3-9 2-4


2014 Summary for Chicago Bears

Record: 12-4
Winning Pct.: .750

Chicago Bears Team Rank
Rushes 413 29
Rushing Yards 1878 19
Yards Per Carry 4.54 5
Pass Attempts 635 1
Completions 399 1
Passing Yards 4900 1
Yards Per Attempt 7.71 5
3rd Down Conversions 44.8 16
Points Per Game 27.5 2
Turnovers 21 14 (T)
Turnover Margin +12 4

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 416 5
Rushing Yards 1957 19
Yards Per Carry 4.70 32
Pass Attempts 540 21 (T)
Completions 300 5
Passing Yards 3657 13
Yards Per Attempt 6.77 10
3rd Down Conversions 37.1 3
Points Per Game 17.4 3
Turnovers 33 2 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 27 GBY 10
2 51 at MIA 23
3 25 ARI 7
4 35 at CAR 17
6 24 DET 34
7 34 NOS 13
8 23 at MIN 20
9 28 ATL 19
10 31 at TBY 10
11 17 at GBY 27
12 14 NYJ 19
13 10 at PHI 28
14 30 NED 7
15 24 at DET 6
16 31 at BUF 17
17 37 MIN 22

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
8 Frederick QB 496 319 3899 7.86 33 10
2 Kane QB 139 80 1001 7.20 6 10
**Team --- 635 399 4900 7.71 39 20

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
25 Lucas RB 214 987 4.61 11
8 Frederick QB 46 260 5.65 0
49 Sugarman RB 44 173 3.93 1
40 Peterson RB 44 183 4.15 1
46 Money FB 42 212 5.04 0
**Team --- 413 1878 4.54 13

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
88 Gaylor WR 168 96 1400 14.5 218 11
81 Pearson WR 115 69 1020 14.7 65 9
80 Thomas WR 111 65 872 13.4 144 6
37 Rogers WR 85 54 673 12.4 79 5
89 Cardona TE 39 30 329 10.9 35 4
25 Lucas RB 36 26 163 6.2 46 2
46 Money FB 23 17 118 6.9 57 0
34 Clements FB 20 16 89 5.5 39 0
**Team --- 635 399 4900 12.2 709 39

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
58 Hawkins ILB 134 40 1.5 4 0 12
51 Bensen OLB 80 26 6.5 4 1 15
90 Mott OLB 60 34 0.5 1 1 3
47 Butterworth CB 55 14 0.0 0 1 6
35 Gibson S 48 12 1.0 0 1 10
48 Winters CB 44 18 1.0 0 0 4
29 Hampton CB 44 16 0.0 0 4 6
54 Scott OLB 42 3 5.5 10 0 1
95 Spencer DT 39 15 2.5 9 0 1
43 Weliczka CB 39 11 0.0 0 5 9
96 Davidson DT 32 15 8.0 8 0 0
28 Turnbull S 30 9 0.0 0 3 3
76 Hughes DE 21 6 3.0 2 0 0
93 Montgomery OLB 18 5 2.0 0 0 1
**Team --- 805 261 38.0 53 17 75


Unlike past years, when we were somehow able to actually stop the run, we are now essentially fronting the matador defense. Ole! This way to your endzone, señor! We will get at least one healthy guy back for the postseason in Wendell Hughes, but he’s not exactly Charles Atlas out there. This is a precarious spot, and has been our undoing in previous playoff runs.

But as usual, our passing game is prolific, and we are an offensive force – when Frederick is on target, we are tough to stop. We may just have to win these games pinball style.


2014 Postseason Summary

Divisional Playoff – Arizona (10-7) at Chicago (12-4) – Actually, this was a very even game, but we come out on the bottom end, 26-17. We didn’t get pounded to death, holding them to a reasonable 121 yards rushing, but they just took better advantage of their chances, and got one special teams TD to get the edge. Tough one-and-out for us after a promising season.


Arizona makes it to the Superbowl, but loses 14-11 to Cleveland there. I’ll take the over for how many years it takes until we see a Superbowl team finish with 11 points, for what that’s worth.


In the season awards sheet, WR Kevin Gaylor makes first team again, with one of his best years. QB Matt Frederick is second team QB, despite missing three games – that’s impressive. And as usual, the rest of our group toils in obscurity.


We’ll see if the gradual decline and dropoff of the roster continues – it may not be long before we are unable to field a team.

[QuikSand]

I'm trying to think of a way to come up with a "scoring system" for this sort of career. Some way to measure your total success with the team.

So far, I'm thinking something like this:

Sum of:
Total Wins
2 x Playoff Wins
5 x Championships

I have mixed feeling sabout additional points for things like individual achievements -- especially on the dfeensive side, this seems to be kind of skewed, and lpsided gamaplanning can certainly affect those things. Not sure whether anything along those lines makes any sense.