The Chiefs went from 4-12 in 2009 to 10-6 in 2010. There were cries for Matt Cassel to win MVP for Todd Haley to win Coach of the Year. However, this team was exposed as the biggest fraud of the season in their last 2 weeks, losing 31-10 to Oakland week 17 and 30-7 to Baltimore in the first round of the playoffs, even though both games were at home.

Let’s look more into why I call them fraud. They beat one playoff team all year, the Seattle Seahawks, who made the playoffs as a 7-9 team. They beat one +.500 team all year, the San Diego Chargers week one. Considering the Chargers destroyed them 31-0 in a rematch and that Kansas City’s only 3 touchdowns in that win were on a punt return TD, a pick six, and a long run (Matt Cassel only passed for 68 yards), it’s safe to call that win a fluke. They played 12 of the 16 worst teams against the run, which benefits them because they are a run first team.

The only other +.500 team they played other than San Diego was Indianapolis, who beat them 19-9 week 3. They also had some ugly loss to .500 or worse teams, including that 31-10 loss to Oakland and a 49-29 loss to 4-12 Denver. Good teams don’t do that.

They won the division next year which makes they will play all 3 AFC division winners next year (New England, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh). They also won’t have the benefit of playing all 4 NFC West teams next year.

Matt Cassel looked good this year because he had a good running game in front of him playing bad running teams, allowing him just complete short throws on short downs, often times with the lead, and with no blitz in his face. They’d get up early against bad teams with bad run defenses and Cassel would never be challenged. He was challenged against Oakland and Baltimore and went a combined 20 for 51 for 185 yards no touchdowns and 5 picks. Good quarterbacks don’t do that. Cassel will be challenged next year and this team could easily go 5-11 or 6-10.

Todd Haley does not deserve coach of the year for eight reasons. One, this season was a fluke. Two, Bill Belicheck did a much better job turning Tom Brady and a mediocre supporting cast into 14 wins. Three,  Steve Spagnuolo did a better job in St. Louis, improving their pass rush immensely, turning rookie Sam Bradford into a legitimate signal caller and winning 7 games with a team that won 1 the year before.

Four, Raheem Morris did a better job turning the 4 win Buccaneers into a legitimate 10 win team that should have made the playoffs and beat the Saints week 17. Five, Mike Tomlin did a better job winning 12 games despite missing Ben Roethlisberger for 4 of them. Six, Andy Reid did a better job turning around Mike Vick’s career and winning 11 games in a rebuilding year. Seven, Mike Smith did a better job winning 13 games with Atlanta.

Eight, Todd Haley hated his best player. Jamaal Charles was literally one carry away from breaking the all time record for most yards per carry in a season (he held the record before being stopped for a loss on his final carry of the season. Charles averaged 6.4 yards per carry, 230 carries for 1467 yards, along with 45 catches for 486 yards, but Haley kept using Thomas Jones. Jones had MORE carries, 15 more, 245 carries for 896 yards. He had 15 more carries and had 571 fewer yards. He also only caught 14 balls for 122 yards. Thomas Jones being the lead back over Jamaal Charles is one of the stupidest moves I’ve seen in a while.

 

By Mike Toast

For some reason I still care about these games and for the second week in a row I am so pissed at the outcome. How did we lose this football game? The Chefs are horrible. They are a bad football team. Their coach Todd Haley sucks. Their QB Matt Cassel is a complete bum. The only good player on their team is Jamal Charles. The Chefs ran for 274 yards. This should seem like an astronomical amount of yards but we as Bills fans are numb to running backs averaging 8 yards per carry. Seriously, did Haley really punt on 4th and 7 from the 33 and then go for it on 4th and 3 from the 20? Then, was he really going to go for it from his own 30 at the end of regulation? Is this dude on crack? I would never ever ever punt on 4th and 7 from the 33. Kick a field goal or go for it…why would you punt?

The Bills defense is bad. I know I have said this over and over like a broken record but how many bad plays can Chris Kelsay make? What loyalty does this coaching staff have to Kelsay? He got juked by Matt Cassel. That is almost as bad as getting juked by Chad Pennington like another terrible Bills linebacker did in Eddie Robinson. If you are getting compared to Eddie Robinson, that is not a good sign. The Bills defense can’t buy an interception either. I haven’t heard Jairus Byrd’s name said on air all season. George Wilson had a ball right in his hands. Whitner had a chance at an interception…but who is surprised at Whitner making no plays…again. The Bills had 28 interceptions last season…they have one this season. How can you possibly go from 28 interceptions to 2? That is what they are currently on pace for.

How bad must the Bills defense be for George Edwards to get fired? I understand that it is his first year as Bills defensive coordinator, but thus far I have seen no improvement. The Bills did only allow 13 points but I think that has more to do with the lack of talent on the other side of the ball than actual good play by the Bills defense.

I know on the podcast I said how much I like Fitzpatrick. He made some big plays today, especially that pass to Parrish on 3rd and long in leading the Bills to the game tying touchdown. When it is all said and done however, Fitzpatrick did not make the plays needed to win the game. He made two horrible throws that you can say cost the Bills the game today…the wounded duck interception at the end of regulation and the pass to Spiller that he missed in overtime. If you want to be a starting quarterback in the NFL, those are plays that have to be made. Fitzpatrick is guaranteed to throw a terrible interception in every close road loss we have it seems. As of today, Fitz is nothing but a backup that we will keep around to hopefully mentor Andrew Luck. I will not put 100% of the blame on Fitz though. The play calling when the Bills got close to field goal range was very questionable. The Bills ran 10 plays starting with the drive at the end of regulation in which they had 1st and 10 inside the Chefs 43 yard line. The passed incomplete on 7 of those plays, threw one interception and threw one 3 yard pass to Jackson. The only run was a QB scramble. Why did the Bills become so one dimensional when they got near field goal range? No one knows. On Lindell’s missed field goal, if the Bills were about 4 yards closer, that kick would have been good and not hit the goal post.

Does anyone else absolutely despise listening to Steve Tasker? In the beginning of the game he actually said the Bills defense was improving. Then, in the 2nd quarter when the game was tied at 0, he said this game was playing out exactly how KC wanted to. I am sure Todd Haley drew it up just like that. “Hey guys, we are playing a 0-6 team, hopefully we can keep it tied in the 2nd quarter.” Then, on 3rd and 3 after the Evans fumble, he went to commercial saying the Bills should kick a field goal and take the points because “they need to stop KC anyway.” Then after commercial, he said that the Bills need to try and score a TD on this drive. What is he talking about? Hopefully his producer called him out on how absolutely lost he is during that commercial break. Stick to special teams, Steve, you lifetime mediocrity.

The Bills are now 0-7 and play the Bears in Toronto next week. The Bills have had no business losing their past 2 games. I would say that the chances a team would lose the last 2 games based on how the games transpired would be less than 1% but that’s the Bills for you. This team just cannot win.

http://wnywatercooler.blogspot.com

Go back to Bills Fan Spot 

 

 

 

2010 Record: 10-6

Draft Position: 21

2010 Season Recap: Click Here

Offseason Needs: Click Here

Free Agents/Team Transactions: Click Here

Draft Grades: Click Here

Key Offseason Moves: None

 

 

 

29. OT Gabe Carimi A

Seattle passing on Derek Sherrod, Ben Ijalana and Gabe Carimi for James Carpenter allowed the Bears to get their choice between those 3. Given their struggles upfront, I don’t think they could have gone wrong with this pick so long as they took one of those three. I had Carimi rated highest, but Ijalana and Sherrod have more upside.

53. DT Stephen Paea A

Paea was being mentioned as an option at 29 should all of the first round tackles be off the board, so getting him at 53 is a very smart move for this borderline first round prospect. They moved up for him, but doing so was smart as it was probably necessary to get their guy.

93. S Chris Conte D

I didn’t have safety high on their needs list. I also didn’t have close to a 3^rd round grade on Conte. The only reason this isn’t an F is because they’ll need depth at safety should Danieal Manning leave as a free agent.

160. QB Nathan Enderle B

Quarterback shouldn’t be higher on their needs list than another running back to replace Chester Taylor and his 2.4 YPC average or even another offensive lineman. However, they may look to move Caleb Hanie through a trade, once that’s allowed. Some desperate team might overpay for him based off of his performance in the NFC Championship game. If they did that, they’d have nothing at quarterback should Jay Cutler get “hurt” again. Enderle fits the range.

195. OLB JT Thomas B

Unfortunately, Lance Briggs and Brian Urlacher won’t be able to play forever. While their linebackers are a strength now, they have a lot of age there. Thomas brings youth, can play special teams, and fits the range. A running back, offensive lineman, and a wide receiver would have been higher on my needs list, however.

Overall:

I really liked what they did with their first two picks. Obviously it would have been tough for them to mess up at 29 given the options available, but I’m still giving credit where credit is due. Moving up for Paea in the 2^nd was smart. The Chris Conte pick didn’t make much sense and that’s the reason this isn’t an A grade, but they did end decently. I would have liked to have seen them take another offensive lineman, a wide receiver, and a running back over a safety, a quarterback, and an outside linebacker, but the last two weren’t terrible ideas.

Grade: B+

 

 

Debate the Chicago Bears’ offseason needs in The Football Fan Spot

2010 Preview:

The Chicago Bears’ offense is going to try a Mike Martz approach this year, after hiring him as their offensive coordinator. Martz has had some success in the past, but with a turnover prone quarterback like Cutler and a weak offensive line, I don’t think it’s the best scheme for them. One of the downfalls of the Martz scheme is that it causes quarterbacks to throw picks. Jay Cutler already does that well enough on his own. It’s also extremely pass heavy so defenses can blitz more often. This offensive line did alright last year, but overall lacks the talent to hold up in a Martz scheme the way you’d like it to.

All that being said, Martz should get the best out of his two pass catching backs, Matt Forte and Chester Taylor. A Martz scheme needs pass catching backs like that and they’ve got them. Martz also has had plenty of success in the past, despite the downfalls of his scheme. He turned Jon Kitna into a 4000 yard quarterback for crying out loud. He’ll help Cutler as much, if not more, than he hurts him.

Defensively, there’s no reason why they shouldn’t be better this year overall. Their secondary still has a few holes, but the addition of Julius Peppers to the defensive line will help take the pressure of off the secondary. Rookie Major Wright also figures to be an upgrade at free safety. A fully healthy Tommie Harris will help both their pass rush and their run defense and Brian Urlacher, who missed most of last year with a wrist injury, is back to solidify their defense. They’ll be better overall, but they’re still going to be looking up at the Packers and the Vikings. Those two teams are too complete right now for Chicago to overtake them.

Projection: 9-7 3rd in NFC North

Power Ranking: 15

Last season: 7-9

Grade:

#75 S Major Wright (Florida)

Wright fills a need and, while there were better safeties, Wright has more upside than any of those safeties. He is a bit of a boom or bust pick, but that’s okay in the 3^rd round. He needs some work, but he could be a solid starter for them, though Wright does not have the positional value of a cornerback, or fill as much of a need as taking an offensive lineman would have.

Grade: B

#109 DE Corey Wootton (Northwestern)

Wootton is a good value in the 4^th, but didn’t the Bears just cut Alex Brown, while he was still a capable player, because they didn’t need an defensive end. Wootton is not a great fit for the defensive scheme either, but he does have positional value and he is a value according to my board. However, with so few picks and so many needs, using one pick on a non-need is not smart.

Grade: B

#141 CB Joshua Moore (Kansas State)

I didn’t have Moore getting draft and I don’t think he was worse a 5^th round pick. I understand they needed cornerbacks, however, they really needed to get an upgrade at the guard position to open up more holes for their running backs and you can still get serviceable guards in the 5^th. I’d rather have a #1 guard than a #3 or #4 cornerback like Moore.

Grade: D

#181 QB Dan LeFevour (Central Michigan)

LeFevour is a fine value, but the Bears already had 5 picks to begin with. Backup quarterback was not as pressing of a need as guard or any of their offensive line.

Grade: C-

#218 OT J’Marcus Webb (West Texas A&M)

While I didn’t have him in my top 300, he was on the borderline and not too much of a reach here. The Bears needed offensive line depth with Orlando Pace leaving.

Grade: B-

Overall:

The Bears only had 5 picks, but I thought they could have done a lot better. There was nothing wrong with taking Major Wright in the 3^rd, but they used two picks on guys who don’t fill needs, a cornerback who I don’t like, and only took one offensive lineman, and he wasn’t even a guard, which they needed badly. They could have gotten a future guard in the 5^th, but they didn’t.

Grade: C+

Key undrafted free agents:

S Quentin Scott (Northern Iowa)

RB Brandon Minor (Michigan)

WR Freddie Barnes (Bowling Green)

CB Cornelius Brown (UTEP)

Positions of need:

Wide Receiver:

The Bears have some decent receivers, but overall their receiving corps were very mediocre and lacking a true #1 guy with size. If they don’t sign either Antonio Bryant or Derrick Mason in the offseason, they could look for a receiver with their first pick, which unfortunately happens to be in the middle of the 3rd round. Maybe a guy like Demaryius Thomas or Eric Decker will be available at that point. If not, they have so many other major needs and so few picks that they may just completely ignore their need for a #1 receiver for another year.

Cornerback:

Nathan Vasher is always hurt and neither Charles Tillman nor Zachary Bowman had a particularly impressive year last year. They need some depth at the position and considering how thick this cornerback class is in the 2nd-4th round range, they could get a 2nd round prospect in the 3rd or a 3rd round prospect in the 4th.

Drafted Joshua Moore (#141) 

Defensive End:

The Bears needed defensive end help so they traded their 2nd rounder to Tampa Bay for Gaines Adams. Unfortunately, Gaines Adams passed away this offseason. Sadly, life moves on in football and the Bears still need help at the position. The Bears cannot be a dominant defense again until they have more than 35 sacks as a team.

Signed Julius Peppers, Drafted Corey Wootton (#109) 

Safety:

Danieal Manning is a hell of a kick returner, but not a great free safety. In fact, the only reason they used him last year was because they had no other choice. Luckily, like the cornerback class this year, the safety class is full of depth in the middle rounds so they can snag a good future starter in the 3rd or 4th depending on how quickly safeties are coming off of the board.

Drafted Major Wright (#75), Traded for Chris Harri 

Offensive Guard:

Matt Forte stunk last year, but that wasn’t all his fault. Frank Omiyale was one of the worst guards in the league last year. They need a new left guard fast, otherwise next year will be more of the same. They should target one in the 3rd round range, but unfortunately, they have a ton of other needs they could and should target in that range. I really believe it’ll all be a case of who falls to them.

Offensive Tackle:

I know Chris Williams was a 2008 1st round pick, but neither he nor Kevin Schaffer were particularly impressive last year and after cutting Orlando Pace, they don’t have very much depth at the position either. They will look for a swing tackle with upside in the 5th or 6th round. A guy like Adam Ulatoski would be a good value for them in that range.

Drafted J’Marcus Webb (#218) 

Running Back:

Matt Forte didn’t try too hard last year, especially after the Bears started struggling. Why would he? After all, the Bears had absolutely no one good below him on the depth chart. He could be awful and start get all the touches. The Bears even tried to scare him by giving some carries to Kahlil Bell, but Bell is nowhere near talented enough to put any fear into Matt Forte. Taking a running back early could. Also, running back depth is always very important in this league because of how easily it is for a running back to get hurt. 

Signed Chester Taylor 

 

Free agents:

QB Brett Basanez 

RB Kevin Jones 

RB Adrian Peterson

FB Jason McKie- signed with Saints 1 year

OT Orlando Pace

DE Adewale Ogunleye

DE Mark Anderson (restricted)- resigned 1 year 1.7 million

DE Alex Brown- signed with Saints 2 years 6 million

DT Matt Toeaina (restricted)- resigned

DT Dusty Dvoracek (restricted)

OLB Pisa Tinoisamoa- resigned

OLB Nick Roach (restricted)- resigned 1 year 1.6 million

OLB Jamar Williams (restricted)- traded to Panthers

CB Nathan Vasher signed with Chargers 2 years 4.5 million

S Danieal Manning (restricted)- resigned 1 year 1.1 million

S Josh Bullocks (restricted)- resigned 1 year 1.2 million 

Offseason moves: 

Bears sign OLB Brian Iwuh 

Bears re-sign S Danieal Manning

Bears waive QB Brett Basanez

Bears re-sign DE Mark Anderson

Bears trade S Kevin Payne to Rams for conditional 7th-round pick

Bears acquire S Chris Harris from Panthers for OLB Jamar Williams

Bears re-sign OLB Jamar Williams

Bears re-sign OLB Nick Roach

Bears re-sign OLB Pisa Tinoisamoa 

Bears cut DE Alex Brown

Bears re-sign DT Matt Toeaina

Bears cut CB Nathan Vasher

Bears sign CB Tim Jennings

Bears cut FB Jason McKie

Bears re-sign S Josh Bullocks

Bears cut RB Kevin Jones

Bears sign DE Julius Peppers

Bears sign RB Chester Taylor

Bears sign TE Brandon Manumaleuna

Bears tender OLB Jamar Williams

Bears tender DE Mark Anderson

Bears tender OLB Nick Roach

Bears cut OT Orlando Pace 

 

 

Taylor is going to be 31 in the middle of next season, but he doesn’t have a lot of wear and tear on his body with only 1028 career carries (the equivalent of roughly 3.5 years). However, Taylor is nothing but an average running back right now. He and Matt Forte will make a good running back combination and Taylor should also give the Forte that he lacked last year, which could lead to a rebound year for Forte (like drafting Donald Brown did for Joseph Addai in Indy this year). That being said, 4 years is still a long time for a back for 30, so I don’t love this move.

Grade: B+

 

 

Trade for Seahawks: I know very little, if anything about Whitehurst. I know he was drafted in the 3^rd by the Chargers in 2006 based on upside and never played a snap. And I know now that Pete Carroll likes him. I’ll trust Carroll’s judgment on this one for now, given his track record with quarterbacks, but if Whitehurst proves to be not much in the future, this is going to be a huge waste of picks.

Trade for Chargers: I love this trade for the Chargers. Even if Whitehurst becomes a future Pro Bowler, doubtful, this deal barely hurts them because they weren’t doing anything with Whitehurst and the Seahawks are in a completely different conference. Its not often you can not use a quarterback for 4 years and then trade him away and not only get a pick from the round you drafted him in, but get a fairly significant swap of 2^nd rounders. The move from 60^th to 40^th has a value of 200 points, roughly the 78^th pick so basically the Chargers got 2 3^rd rounder for an unused former 3^rd rounder. Not bad.

Draft implications: All of this will be shown in my next NFL Mock Draft, but this trade does have draft implications and since I do not update until next week, I’m going to use this opportunity to tell you how it will. That trade where the Bucs trade down to 6 and still get Suh while the Seahawks give up the 40^th pick to move up to 3 to get Clausen won’t be included in my next mock, sadly. It was a very interesting move that stirred up a ton of controversy around Buccaneers’ forums around the internet, but I can’t see it happening for two reasons. One, Carroll already brought in a developmental backup quarterback, Whitehurst. Second, that 40^th pick that was sent to Tampa Bay in the deal is now San Diego’s.

Teams may still try to move up to get Clausen (Cleveland, Buffalo), but they aren’t going to do it with Tampa Bay (assuming either Suh or McCoy falls). Tampa will take the smart move and just go with whichever of the two they feel fits best at 3. Trading down to 9 or even 7 and expecting one of those two to still be there is borderline insane. If one of those teams tries to move up to get Clausen, it will be with Detroit, who has been rumored to be trying to shop the 2^nd pick. However, after Russell Okung’s positive visit with the Lions earlier this week, that is unlikely as well.

Another draft implication makes it very unlikely that the Chargers will take Ryan Matthews at 28. With a pick at 40, it’s likely the Chargers are going to take Terrence Cody at 28, knowing they can get a back like Jahvid Best or Montario Hardesty at 40 and that they can’t get a nose tackle like Cody there. Terrence Cody will be the Chargers’ first rounder in my next mock. 

 

Charles Johnson had 11.5 sacks last year, but only 10 in his first 3 years and yet the Panthers give him Julius Peppers money. Peppers got 6 years 92 million with 42 million guaranteed. Johnson gets 6 years 72 million with 30 million guaranteed. Why didn’t they just resign Peppers (89 sacks in 9 years) last offseason? I guess I shouldn’t expect any better from the same franchise who gave Jake Delhomme 5 years 42.5 million 3 months after he turned the ball over 6 times in a playoff game.

Grade: F