Is it Tucker or the players?

[Mr. Jones]

Does it seems strange that Tucker has had defensive units ranked very low or near the bottom, except for maybe 1 squad throughout his coaching career, and then when hired by the Bears, the results were bad?
I don't know if he is a bad teacher or communicator or the players we have all of a sudden became stupid or what the deal is but the fundamentals like gap integrity, and assignment responsibilities were horrible.The Rodgers fumble play is an all time fuck up that coaches will be showing to their players for years to come.
Inexperienced rookies and backups forced to play aside, in many games they performed like they weren't on the same page for the play called.
They forgot how to tackle, constantly lost containment, couldn't shed blocks, or were just blown the hell up. In one season playing the same defense, really?
You'd think it would be a fairly easy transition for the coach and the players using Lovie's system and terminology but they at times played like one might expect from guys learning a NEW system.
Lovie's base cover 2 scheme was not new to ALL of them, and no matter what coverages they were supposed to be in, the basics of gap responsibility and containment shouldn't have seemingly disappeared from people who have been playing the game most of their lives, and playing within the same base system and coverages almost their whole pro career under Lovie.

Sorry but I would not have the confidence in Mel Tucker to teach a new crop of rookies coming in when he had such bad results just keeping the same defense in place with mostly veterans. What would happen if they keep Tucker and switch to a 3-4 or try to implement a hybrid defense like in Seattle?
The 2013 Chicago Bears played like they were learning a new scheme at times, while forgetting how to stop the run under the tutelage of Tucker, and the assistants.
It is shocking to witness such a historic dive to the bottom of a once proud defensive unit, even with the injuries that are being used as an excuse.
Every team has injuries but they don't go on to break franchise records for futility and embarrassment. So who is to blame for this years record breaking shitty defense, Tucker or the players?

 

[Nail Polish]

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/football/bears/24669335-606/10-observations-on-offseason-priorities-for-the-bears.html


(1) Mel Tucker

Unless Emery steps in, it’s unlikely that Marc Trestman will fire Tucker after one season as defensive coordinator, but the notion no longer is off the table after a disastrous finish to a difficult season.

It became more and more clear as the season ensued that this was more than just a case of injuries for Tucker, who lost Henry Melton, Nate Collins, Charles Tillman and Kelvin Hayden to sesaon-ending injuries and Lance Briggs for half the season.

Even relative to the injuries, this was an embarrassing defensive season for the Bears — one that left Briggs, the so-called leader of the team, to exit the locker room without a word and leave his teammates to explain dreadful performances in the final two games.

Tucker was expected to at least stem the tide with teaching and motivation and technique, but failed on every count. Players consistently were in the wrong position. Tackling was worse than it ever was under Lovie Smith. And the failure to pick up a fumble against the Packers — turning a would-be Bears touchdown into a Packers touchdown — was the most damning indictment of all. You didn’t need Melton or Tillman on the field to make that play, just a well-coached defense where even the greenest rookie or any off-the-street player is conditioned to instinctively pick up any loose ball. Nobody did.

It’s unlikely a change will be made. But you could argue that the situation Tucker faced was actually even better than the one that got offensive coordinator Terry Shea fired after his first season in 2004 — when a Rex Grossman injury left Shea with Chad Hutchinson, Craig Krenzel and Jonathan Quinn at quarterback and the Bears finished 32nd and last in points and yards.

 

[BearDownZZ]

I would say both.

Yes, we had some injuries that hurt, but even when we got Briggs back and Ratliff playing... we still stunk it up. It seemed even major changes didn't help. What makes me so suspicious about Mel Tucker is guys like Major Wright, Chris Conte and basically every LB looked like they forgot to tackle. A lot of good players looked bad like Peppers and Briggs.. having their worst season. Players way over running plays and players in bad position. Our best player was Tim Jennings and by the end of the year even he looked mediocre. So it seems they were unsure and lacked confidence. Looks like players that didn't buy into the system, didn't trust the plays, maybe didn't know what to do on some play calls, couldn't get the plays in correctly?

We also have a lot of personnel issues. We have a ton of defensive players moving to free agency so this can be fixed and we have to start moving towards a younger team that can develop.

The biggest fear I have is that Emery pulls the same game as Angelo. Build one good unit then leave the other unit with mediocrity in personnel and coaching. We stuck with Ron Turner for way way too long after terrible offensive seasons. We never went after a brilliant offensive mind and just shuttled through cheap ex-coaches that no one else really wanted. We wouldn't draft offensive linemen. We never spent high picks on offense. We just kept piling up late round defensive backs. And that got us 10 years of bad offense. Let's not make the same mistake. We had a historic bad defense. That means its time to make major changes to coaching and personnel in order to get it fixed NOW. Not take 4-5 years to see if it can get better. Get a brilliant defensive mind in here now. Someone that can turn the unit around.

Steve Spagnuolo has a great track record and New Orleans canned him last year after one of the worst defenses in their history. They even went with Rob Ryan just to get some structure and a guy that had some emotion. They didn't even make many personnel moves and are ranked 4th. 32nd to 4th in one offseason. IT CAN BE DONE!!

 

[Mr. Jones]

I would say both.

Yes, we had some injuries that hurt, but even when we got Briggs back and Ratliff playing... we still stunk it up. It seemed even major changes didn't help. What makes me so suspicious about Mel Tucker is guys like Major Wright, Chris Conte and basically every LB looked like they forgot to tackle. A lot of good players looked bad like Peppers and Briggs.. having their worst season. Players way over running plays and players in bad position. Our best player was Tim Jennings and by the end of the year even he looked mediocre. So it seems they were unsure and lacked confidence. Looks like players that didn't buy into the system, didn't trust the plays, maybe didn't know what to do on some play calls, couldn't get the plays in correctly?

We also have a lot of personnel issues. We have a ton of defensive players moving to free agency so this can be fixed and we have to start moving towards a younger team that can develop.

The biggest fear I have is that Emery pulls the same game as Angelo. Build one good unit then leave the other unit with mediocrity in personnel and coaching. We stuck with Ron Turner for way way too long after terrible offensive seasons. We never went after a brilliant offensive mind and just shuttled through cheap ex-coaches that no one else really wanted. We wouldn't draft offensive linemen. We never spent high picks on offense. We just kept piling up late round defensive backs. And that got us 10 years of bad offense. Let's not make the same mistake. We had a historic bad defense. That means its time to make major changes to coaching and personnel in order to get it fixed NOW. Not take 4-5 years to see if it can get better. Get a brilliant defensive mind in here now. Someone that can turn the unit around.

Steve Spagnuolo has a great track record and New Orleans canned him last year after one of the worst defenses in their history. They even went with Rob Ryan just to get some structure and a guy that had some emotion. They didn't even make many personnel moves and are ranked 4th. 32nd to 4th in one offseason. IT CAN BE DONE!!

If McCaskey and Emery are true to their word and are striving for championship caliber football, then they have to seek out a quality defensive coordinator to help the franchise achieve the goal. Looking at his track record, and the historically bad season the Bears had, Mel Tucker is not that guy. Like I mentioned, I wouldn't trust Tucker with the new kids coming in, if he couldn't maintain what he inherited with the Bears, that included veterans. I hope this is addressed on Thursday.