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I am a multimedia nut, journalism, photography, videography, radio broadcasting and production. I’ve done it all, but I love to write and have a lot to say. I live in the Chicagoland area now and have always had an extreme love and passion for the Chicago Bears
Eliminating Excuses: Comparing the Chicago Bears, and the San Diego Chargers' Stats and Overall Record
Written by Brett Solesky   
Tuesday, 17 November 2009 23:31
Matt ForteSo I was doing some simple scouting of the Bears' next opponent, the Philadelphia Eagles.  I fired up this last week's game the Eagles' game against the San Diego Chargers.  While I was watching the game I heard a commentator make mention of the Chargers' running game being ranked last in the NFL.  Interesting information that got my brain thinking and I decided to research the Chargers further. 

So I figured I'd look into the Chargers as a team even further, to see if I could make a fair comparison against our own Chicago Bears. 

Up first overall record, the Chargers are 6-3 and the Bears are 4-5 a two game difference in the standings with the Chargers tied with the  Broncos for first in the AFC West. 

Then I decided to look further into the Chargers' rushing attack to see just how much worse their rushing attack is compared to Chicago's. 

The Chargers are essentially last in every category you could measure a successful rushing attack by.  They are last in total yards, last in average yards per carry, and last in yards per game.  A sure fire sign that there are offensive line problems in San Diego, I thought. 

So from there I decided why not look up how well the Chargers protect the quarterback if they give up less sacks than the Bears do.  Nope the Chargers have given up more sacks than the Bears this season meaning hot shot QB Phillip Rivers is being pressured and sacked more often than his old rival Jay Cutler. 

Digging further I came to look upon the Chargers defense and analyze where their defense stacks up compared to Chicago's defense. 

The Chargers have given up more total yards and just only one total point more than the Bears.  Meaning their scoring defenses through nine games are essentially even.  Meaning the argument from a statistical stand point on defense is that the Chargers struggle on defense more than the Bears. 

Then you look at defensive schemes, the Chargers run the 3-4 and the Bears the 4-3, meaning the 3-4 can be just as poor as a 4-3 even with arguably better personnel than what the Bears have. 

Chicago Bears offensive lineThen I decided to look at the Chargers' opponents and the win loss record of those opponents to find out who has a tougher schedule.  The Chargers' opponents have won a total of 37 games and 44 losses, the Bears' nine opponents 38 wins and 43 losses.  So the strength of schedule of both teams in essentially a wash. 

Then you dig in further to the Chargers' offensive system led by Norv Turner, uh Ron Turner's brother.  So essentially they come from the same coaching tree and run the same type of offensive systems.  That essentially makes the offensive systems a wash too. 

So what does this statistical analysis mean?  Well it means the next time you find hear a Chicago Bears fan make the following arguments for the Bears' failures this season:

Argument myth number one from Bears fans:  Well if we had a better rushing attack we'd have a better record;  False because the Bears' rushing attack is better than the Chargers' yet they have a 6-3 record. 

Argument myth number two from Bears fans:  Well if we had a better pass blocking offensive line we'd have a better record:  False the Phillip Rivers has been sacked more than Jay Cutler and the Chargers have a 6-3 record.

Argument myth number three from Bears fans:  Well if we had a better defense we'd have a better win loss record; False the Bears have a better overall defense than the San Diego Chargers and yet the Chargers still have a better record. 

Argument myth number four from Bears fans:  Well Ron Turner's offensive system sucks and it limits the success  of Jay Cutler and the rest of the Bears' offense; False Norv Turner and Ron Turner come from the same coaching tree and run very similar style of offenses, yet the Chargers have a better overall record. 

Anyway you get the idea that fans of the Chicago Bears seem to want to blame every aspect of the failure of this season upon the previously aforementioned stats and information that point to the actual reasons why the Bears sit at 4-5.  The reason the Bears are essentially out of the playoff race Bears fans say is the fault of everyone else on the team, but Jay Cutler's fault. 

Chicago Bears DefenseYet when you break down the statistical arguments and offensive personnel and defensive personnel arguments Bears fans bring up with the San Diego Chargers' same problems and their struggles, the only thing left standing is one simple fact, Jay Cutler and his 17 INTs.  Cutler's old nemesis Philip Rivers and his team and the struggles they face his INT total?  Rivers has a total of six INTs on the season. 

So much for that weak argument put forth by Bears fans that it is essentially everyone's fault, but Cutler's the entire basis for their argument was destroyed by doing some simple research and comparisons.

This type of argument that is prevalent among other blogs and message boards as the reason the Bears have a 4-5 record and face near certain elimination from the playoffs this weekend with a loss to the Eagles is the reason I do this blog.  To provide a fair and balanced look at the Chicago Bears and what they do well and what they don't do well and why they struggle.  I want this to be the foremost resource Bears fans go to find out the truth about the team and not just simply hear a myth or a falsehood and then repeat it because they want to agree with it. 

You won't find this type of information on any other website on the internet and therefore you likely won't hear a change in the excuses that the majority of Bears fans spit out in regards to the initial failure to the 2009 NFL season.
Comments (6)Add Comment
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written by G, November 18, 2009
Not a bad article. You forgot to talk about the huge difference between the receivers on both teams. Cutler is a good QB and had success in Denver with Marshall and Eddie Royal. Chicago should have changed their receiver core the instant they got Cutler.
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written by thing2, November 18, 2009
Also, keep in mind Rivers has been in his system (and town) for a few years now. Cutler is in a new city with a new culture under a new system, not to mention all new receivers, and is arguably under much more pressure after being deemed a savior by most Chicago fans and media in the beginning. I'm not saying he's not to blame for some of the failure, but after watching games this year I just get the feeling that Turner doesn't know how to call a game for Cutler's abilities. Let's give all of this some time to develop before we start writing off The Jay Cutler Experience. Rome wasn't built in a day.
I'm not writing off Jay Cutler
written by MonstersoftheMidwayIllust, November 18, 2009
Nor am I advocating the Bears should bench him, or be rid of him or anything similar to it. I'm not going to go all Rex Grossman on him if you will.

The premise of the blog is simple for the most part the thought process goes the Bears were doomed from the start because of the reasons I have put forth.

Because of the four main factors I cover there is no way the Bears had a chance this season, this is sort of the line of thought a lot of Bears fans have taken.

The key point would be that you can still win and be successful even with the shortcomings everyone lays out.

The reason the Bears haven't been successful? Jay Cutler hasn't taken care of the football and has made too many poor decisions with the football.

If Cutler takes better care of the football, then the Bears have a better chance of winning more games even with the shortcomings so many fans are crying about.

Cutler has a big opportunity this Sunday to prove he's learning from his mistakes against the Eagles. I'll likely do the same type of evaluation with Cutler's passes as I did after the 49ers game to see just how much more improved Cutler is with his decision making.

Also thank you both for taking the time to comment on the article, I appreciate all the feed back I get both positive and negative, or in agreement with me or not.

Hope to hear from you guys more on some of my future blogs.

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written by Belwas, November 18, 2009
Valid points!

Just writing to let you know i love the blog. The fact that you go into so much detail in your analysis, and still have the uncommon mix of unbiased subjectivity and ability to call out both players, management and fans, makes this blog unmatched and uncomparable to anything i've found online. Keep up the good work!
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written by adam W, November 18, 2009
as i was reading your article i was wondering if you were goiong to bring up the interception issue and you do at the end by stating it as 'one simple fact'. no, it is not one simple fact it is a HUGE fact the difference of 11 picks is kind of a big deal, pal. especially when you take into consideration how many of those picks came in the red zone. and why are ron and norv a wash? just because they are brothers does not make them equal. there are manning brothers that aren't in the NFL. serena is better then her twin. but what do i know, right?
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written by Ringo, November 18, 2009
I appreciate you taking the time to analyze the situation and look at it subjectively. But I will say that stats do not tell the entire story. I am in an unique situation where I was born in Chicago and then my family moved to San Diego, thus I am a huge fan of both teams and have watched the entire 2009 season of both clubs. With that being said, I have a couple of comments on your analysis. In no way is Ron equal to Norv in playcalling. Norv always keeps defenses guessing (with the exception of the inside handoff to Sproles against the Ravens), and everyone watching the game agaisnt the 49'ers knew that Ron was going to call a simple route to Olsen in the red zone...he has zero creativity in the red zone. During that last drive of the 49'er game Ron used effective slant routes to march down the field. Given the ability of Hester and Knox to gain yards after the catch, why not stick with what was working? His playcalling instantly shifts when we get in the red zone. It becomes incredibly predictable, which is why SF had 3-4 defenders all over Olsen. Now sure, Cutler absolutely shouldn't have tried to squeeze the ball in there, but Turner doesn't do a good job of providing good secondary options on red zone pass plays. I'm sure you have noticed that inside the 5, we run a play action with 2 TEs running to the corner of the end zone; it's no wonder that it stopped working a couple of weeks ago.

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