Thursday, December 4, 2008

Bears Receivers aren't Good. What's New?

Earlier this season Mushin Muhammad said that Chicago was where receivers went to die. Now I would expect that most actually go to Florida, Southern California, or Arizona like all other people, but no receivers come to the Windy City and find success. That is for sure.


Might as well give him a look.

While Lloyd, Davis, Hester, and Booker seemed like they could get the job done early in the year, things are looking a whole lot different now. Lloyd went down with an injury and the fact that no one has noticed that he is back tells you how effective he has been. Davis might as well be running his routes in the stands, and Booker just isn't that good. Hester has made some big plays recently and is clearly the best of the bunch right now, but there are still moments like Sunday night where the ball hit him in the chest while he wasn't looking. He's still a punt returner that plays wide receiver.

Honestly, the situation with the wide receivers should shock no one. They aren't good players and Orton is not the type of quarterback who can make mediocre players look great. Plus, when have the Bears ever had a great receiver?

Willie Gault was pretty sweet, at least from what I could gather playing Tecmo Bowl. Booker was a good receiver when he was here the first time and Tom Waddle was a fan favorite, but Booker was the only one of those to make the Pro Bowl, and he did it once. There are some older names like Johnny Morris, Harlan Hill, and other guys who played shortly after the forward pass was invented, but what the hell happened?

There were busts, like David Terrell, and guys who seem to have some success elsewhere such as Bernard Berrian, Justin Gage, and Bobby Engram. Plus, some guys like Hester, Earl Bennett, and even Davis still have a chance to raise their game and become viable NFL receivers. Also, to be fair, the Lions have poached just about every wide receiver prospect coming out of college recently.

Even with all of those points though, where are the receivers? Name me one other team that has gone through a drought similar to what the Bears have now at wide receiver. Someone will probably think of something, but I cannot. Oakland has been bad there for a while, but they had Tim Brown, the Bucs had Keyshawn, the Titans used to be the Oilers and they were sweet at wide receiver.

If the defense is not going to be dominant force for the Bears, they will need a passing attack to have a chance. Olsen could be on his way to becoming a good tight end, but either through free agency, or the draft the Bears are going to need to get themselves a good wideout.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

You just called Justin Gage a "successful receiver". Did you credibility expire? What makes that bust "successful". He does still get paid millions to drop easy passes, so at least he's a financial success.

Isn't this a sports blog?

Stormin' Norman Disciple said...

Of all the people to get upset about in that article, Justin Gage? Really? Is he even worth the energy you spent writing that comment? I think there might be one drought that rivals the Chicago Bears WR drought...the Chicago Bears QB drought. Awful, just awful. Though Cade McNown had a lot of promise.

StevieY19 said...

You wouldn't want Gage back if you were the Bears? I'm not saying he's great, but he has more receiving yards than any Bears receivers this season.

And no, I didn't call him a "successful receiver", I said he has had some success. For example, you're not a successful reader, but you had "some success" reading this post, because you handled some of it.

btwitty said...

no mention of brett perriman or renaldo turnbull? is this a sports blog or a trash receptacle blog masquerading as sports blog?

btwitty said...

also, i think one could assume that willie gault's sweetness in tecmo bowl is owed entirely to the fact he was traded to the raiders - away from the bears. he also had a role as willie the cleaner on "the pretender," one of the greatest tv shows of all time.

Matt Clapp said...

Nice blog. My buddy and I were just talking about this yesterday. Marcus Robinson was good for like one year with Cade McNown at QB. But yeah, it's been awful. I was screaming at my tv Sunday night for them to catch the effing ball. It was infuriating. Still, is it our top need? If it's the draft, I'm looking at these positions in no particular order:
WR, Safety(Brown's old, depth blows), OG(Our guards have had a crappy year at least with their run blocking), OT(St Clair's probably gone, Tait's old, need depth and a starting RT for the future), LB(Particularly one to fill in for Roach/Hillenmeyer's spot), CB(Depth, are we going to let Vasher go?), a pass rusher at DE or LB.

Oh, and I linked your guys' bench/start blog on my week 14 fantasy football roundup.

StevieY19 said...

To be fair, my trash receptacle blog never got off the ground. But I will be heard!

Stormin' Norman Disciple said...

We definitely need to draft some people in the secondary and on the O-line. I'm hoping maybe we can pick up a solid WR in free agency, but we'll see.

Gavin said...

I still wish I could be Tom Waddle.

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