Holes at CB and mainly DT/Rivera

[Lumps]

Just thought I'd share some stuff on Rivera for anyone who cares. These are kind random ideas coming from a very brief Rivera history for anyone bored enough to read it.

He built the Bears into a SB winning defense in 2006. Left the year after because Lovie Smith had loyalties promoting another coach on the team and while getting rid of Rivera is something the owner did NOT want to do, but the owner knew he have to give the HC the pieces he wants to compete. That is the general consensus of the fans and players on forums anyways. The end result? The bears are on their third DC since Rivera left, still looking for successful one. Fans were outraged.

In SD it's the same story, brought a completely pathetic defense into a contending one. In fact according to many fans he was the only competent coach on the team. What is more impressing about SD is he did it with much fewer pieces than Chicago, in fact to be honest he had pretty much nothing to work with at first, bringing them to mediocre status his first year, even that was impressive to the fans.

Here are some cool quotes I found while reading on Rivera for the past few days:

-The fifth player from the 1985 Bears super bowl team to become a head coach.

-The Bears organization is on their third DC after 'opting' out not bringing back Rivera after a 2006 defensive Super Bowl.

-Third Latino coach in the NFL.

-2005: "I thought he was ready last year," Bears All-Pro linebacker Brian Urlacher said. "Look at the way he carries himself at meetings, the way he prepares us for games, the way he speaks to us. I'd hate to lose him, but I think he needs to be a head coach."

-And now linebacker Lance Briggs is saying the Bears miss former defensive coordinator Ron Rivera, whom head coach Lovie Smith fired after the 2006 season.

“You miss some of those guys when you don’t have them, and sometimes you realize what you have when it’s not there anymore, or what you could of had when it’s not there anymore . . . ” Briggs said, per Jeff Dickerson of ESPNChicago.com. “You think about a Ron Rivera, you think about a lot of these guys that were here.”

To me, a CB and DT would have been better than a TE as we could have drafted one and have a nice vet until then. Don't get me wrong I love all the other signings and think they were great. Olson will be great no doubt. I just can't help but want more at CB and dear god especially DT. I am comfortable with Gamble and _____ but at DT it is really a big ????. But it all depends on what Rivera is doing. This is what he wants to do.

On that note you have to look at our coach, Rivera and what he plans to do. Obviously he is very defensive minded and has a great defensive coordinator. Both of them emphasize the blitz packages that may not need as much at CB or DT. Even if they do, you just have to trust Rivera, he has turned crap defenses into gods time and time again throughout his whole career.

In reading a lot of the history on what went down with Rivera in blogs and forums the general consensus is all teams result in a lot worse coaching after he leaves and all of them begin to miss him.

We should trust him fully with the defense and should not worry so much about DT and CB. I think he knows the pieces he wants and he is putting them in place. If he thought his system needed and DT or CB we would have signed one.

[rico6]

Best Rivera article out there. Excellent write-up.

Can't wait for this era.

[Car123]

The future coaching GOAT

[DevilCat]

Good read, thanks for the research!

[Lumps]

Thanks guys, one more thing, more of a personal opinion of mine, that is we hired him after talking with the bears owner who probably stated it was purely due to Lovie. If you remember JR said when looking for a coach the first thing you have to do is call up organizations and ask them why they let them go. Well there it is, we all know how JR is good partners with bears, so it probably had a lot to do with his decision.

Personally I can honestly say, I am more exited for our all new coaching staff than any player. As we all know...Fox was getting old...

[thunderraiden]

I could care less about our DT situation. Let the young guys and our FA vet play, see what we have this year, then put that as #1 priority in next years draft if it doesn't pan out, cause even if we do get an FA to fill both spots, we won't know what we have in our rooks and that position would still be #1 need. Cornerback won't be that hard to fill in, there are a couple of players out there that can fill in for cheaper than Marshall and just as good.

[Montie_0123]

I look at it like this if they don't bring in CB or DT before/after trainning camp and preseason then they feel we have the answer on the team already. Espeically at DT I think the preseason games are going to let us know about that postion if Fua or McClain show any signs of promise then we will not worry about that postion at anymore.

[Cyberjag]

Dom Capers was also an amazing DC who was "ready" too. Not that I don't think Rivera will be good, but I'm going to hold off on the GOAT thoughts for now... :)

[blackcatgrowl]

Just made this for all you huddlers :)

[Delhommey]

Franklin's still out there.

[rico6]

Just made this for all you huddlers :)

I'll wear this for the remainder of TC.

[Bj-Monster23]

I have to agree with all you guys. We do need to put trust in Rivera the guy has built some good defense. Competition is key you have to see what you got at all key positions. Pre season our first game against the Giants trust me it will tell the story and it will let you know who wants to play football or who has some heart. Remember his defense got 4 picks off peyton last year i dont know what he did but he got in Payton Manning head and the good thing about that we face the Colts this year ad we will be ready.

So we just need to relax and let Rivera and hurney put this team together like they want to.If anything we should worry about getting an Vet at QB or an insurance policy at WR just in case. Other then smitty we dont have anybody with more then 2 years of Exp.

[ItsPantone278]

Good stuff, only thing I disagree with is the need for DT and CB over TE. Getting Olsen is IMO, by far Tue best move made this off-season, outside of taking care of our own guys. TE is a big adjustment in the NFL. Unless you are getting THE guy in the draft, and even still you have to wait before they can become the reliable security that a QB needs.

Olsen comes in ready to perform, and could be an NFL best at the position in Chud's offense. He is going to make Cam's life a lot easier and adds that passing catching threat that should please Smitty

[CarolinaPanthers8789]

Don't understand how he feel's comfortable at DE. Charles Johnson and Greg Hardy should be the starters with Everette Brown as the main sub. I guess the staff feels comfortable putting Norwood at DE, cause they no longer have him listed as a hybrid on the panthers website. They must also feel comfortable with one of the three undrafted defensive end's.

If they don't sign another defesive end I expect this to be the depth chart at defensive end.

LDE- Charles Johnson, Eric Norwood, Malcolm Tatum

RDE- Greg Hardy, Everette Brown

I think Tatum is the best out of the three udfa defensive end's that the Panthers signed.

I also think that this is a kind of weak defensive end corp, it wouldn't hurt to have a vet with more starting experience because let's face it; last year was Johnson's first year starting and none of these other defensive end's have ever started consistently or even at all.