Khyber53

I'm not sure the coaching is any better. Nothing out there looks any better. And I really hated the Rhule years here. There's a dysfunction in this team and it has existed through three coaching changes, untold QB changes, changes to defensive philosophy (this is our second attempt to move to a 3-4 defense), a change of field surface, and I really think that it all started back with the change in ownership. If you can start missing the days of Rivera, Hurney and Richardson, it really doesn't speak well of the current days.

We're hearing a lot of talk here about the Bryce pick and rightfully so. But I've got to also look at this team and say it's not just one guy who isn't working out out there on the field. This is a lifeless, directionless team that really can't get it together. There's no grit, no endurance. But maybe that's what years of Tepper running the show have done to us. Just ground us down.

Yeah, they sure didn't come in his first five games.

You happen to watch any of Peyton Manning's first season? I was stuck in NW NC and could only get tv broadcast from Bristol, TN. And they made sure to showcase every one of the Tennessee product's games that season. Wow, he stunk. You knew he was going to be just terrible. And while he was bigger than Bryce (by far), he was about as mobile as a '78 GMC pickup truck with three flat tires. Had you been able to bet on it, there's no way anyone would have passed on dropping a few bucks into the "bust" bets column for Peyton. And that's repeated again and again. And sometimes those that come out of the blocks with guns blazing and winning like crazy, well, that second year is it for them... the wad is shot. We just don't know how this is going to go yet. There's really no way to know.

No one here knows whether he'll be great, good, average, meh or bad at this point. Almost every great QB started with a bad first season. There are hall of famers that lost their first 11 games. We suck right now. We were going to suck. Tomorrow we might be better. Tomorrow he might develop into the best of the bunch from this year. Who knows? I don't. You don't.

You're right but no one ever likes hearing that.

Man, I hope things smooth our for yourself and the Lady. Make the most of the time and enjoy it. I'm about the same age and my health isn't anywhere near where it should be, so I understand. And yeah, I'm just hanging on here by my fingernails with coming back to The Huddle. The last few years have changed things a lot for the team and it has caused some souring here. Or maybe it's just me. I don't have the optimism I used to when it comes to the team. It's my team but every week has been like watching someone kick your favorite dog. Then we all come on here and relive it and fight about it. It's not healthy. I'm going to truly miss your posts, man. I've learned a lot about football reading what you've written. You've been the Dr. Z of the Huddle for years. Well done man and well missed you'll be.

We had the answer, in our building, coaching the team. He's now wearing a headset in San Francisco and having a heck of a good time. Just saying.

Never hire a coach right after he's been let go. Let them have a year off to think about what happened and how they can fix it for their next bosses. But, here we are. I hope he can fix this airplane while we're still in the air. If he can't, there's going to be a terrible landing for us all.

There are no teams that haven't got major injuries. And most of them aren't 0-5.

I tried saying it back then. Doesn't matter. That water went under the bridge a long time ago and it isn't coming back. Wilks, CMC and Sam Darnold will all have a Super Bowl ring before we have a playoff berth. Mark my words. Might be this February.

Burns' PR has been better than his performance. Since he got here. For all the money and attention since he got here, you'd think we considered him Julius Pepper's reborn. He's not even close. He has a run around the right tackle move. And he's got... well... ummm... But the Spiderman celebration really does rock. He doesn't have a good bull rush, he can't break double teams, he gets knocked back if the tackle gets the first hit on him squarely, he is a liability in rush defense and only helps if he can pursue a guy from behind and jump on the pile. He'd be the DE/OLB2 on pretty much any other team. Great guy, great personality, great guy for the community. He outshines our other DEs/OLBs. But that's mainly because we field more scrubs than a nursing supply store.

Except that Fitterer has yet to win a single trade. He's the sucker, the mark, the rube at the poker table. We've seen CMC continue being great since he left. We finally got to see DJ Moore take the top off of a game for the Bears. And what did we get for them? Two handfuls of "magic" beans.

This team plays like they were already beat before the opening kick off. I don't know what our game plan is, but I do know that in no way does it contain any content that attempts to dictate the game to the opponent. You can't win at football unless you impose your will on the other team.

Sometimes you have to just take your lumps and ride it out.

Coaching needs to take the training wheels off so that he can learn. With Bryce, the reality is will he learn fast enough to be able to compete while outrunning his injury potential. Can't out run anyone with training wheels on.

Oh hell no!

Frank opens up the playbook completely and we just sit back and go OOOOO and AHHHHH. It could happen, right?

I hate that we've come to this, but I agree with you. I've never seen such uninspired play calling or lack of aggression from one of our teams. And I've watched every season since we started. It's bad enough that I'm beginning to wonder if Ron Rivera will be available at the end of this season.

He gets a lot of credit for guys he may have not had any direct hand in choosing in Seattle. Just saying.

Here's my latest one. Hey, if you're watching this, let me know what you think of the narration speed. Too slow, just right?

You forgot trading away CMC for a handful of magic beans.

Can't argue with the assessment. Most rookie QBs aren't going to perform well right out of the gates and Bryce seems to be one of those. But the real question is where will he be after three years? That's when we have to look at long term contracts and is he a franchise cornerstone. And no one here has the crystal ball that can answer that at this point. Maybe he will reach his potential and develop into a modern Drew Brees. Maybe he will go the Brady Quinn route and never develop. Maybe he lands in Doug Flutie land somewhere between those two. Or maybe he has the fate of RGIII and falls to injury. We don't know and we won't know for a while. And I think that he's suffering the slings and arrows right now because the team is 0-4 and it's not a very well built team and its one that doesn't play with much energy or fire. And personality-wise, Bryce isn't a fire and lightning kind of leader, nor is his coach. It's a complex situation and all we're looking for is a win here and there, some signs of progress. Sure wish we were getting some of that.

It has been solid in comparison to our offense. It holds up well through the first half, but gets completely gassed in the second half.

Just to make conversation, why are you comfortable with him there? Our defense isn't exactly the '85 Bears... Maybe the '85 Lions.