Bills = Bears

[RedEyE]

I find it very interesting how similar both the Bears And the Bills are, yet one team has found success this season while the other ....well, I leave that opinion to you.

The Bears are doing exactly what the Bills were expecting to do this season. That is, win games relying on defense and special teams play. While the Bills special teams play has been the one bright spot this season, the defense has been nothing short of a disappointment. Still, if we analyze both of these teams, players, statisticaly and physically, the resemblance is uncanny.

Let's start with defense.

MLB: Who doesn't know Brian Urlacher and London Fletcher? Both make their presence known when on the field and while Urlacher is a more popular choice for most, statisticly both linebackers are more similar then one might think.

Fletcher:
London has been in the league for 8 years and played a significant role with the Super Bowl Rams (on more than one occassion). As a Bill, London Fletcher has quietly and quickly become the team's lead tackler and heart of the defense. In 124 games Fletcher has mounted 645 tackles, 262 assts, 25.5 sacks, and 6 int.

Urlacher:
Brian has been in the league for just 6 years and has become the heart of the Bears defense. Leading the team in tackles since coming to Chicago in 2000. In just 85 games, Brian has recorded 514 tackles, 155 assts, 32.5 sacks, and 7 ints.

A healthy Takeo should actually tilt the scales when weighing linebacker talent between these two teams, and yet Crowell has done extremely well in his absence. Still the Bears OLBs have done comparable to the Bills OLBs this season.

Up front the Bills usually have veteran Sam Adams, but since last season there has been more rotation with the 3 younger DT's. Oddly enough the Bears also have young DT's extending a pass rush and also balance using a veteran. They rotate Tank Johnson, Tommie Harris, Ian Scott and vet Alfonso Boone.

On the outside the Bears have a monster 5 year veteran in Ogunleye. Ogunleye plays the left side, mostly. The Bills; Schobel on the right end is also a 5 year vet and equally as productive.

In 63 games Ogunleye has recorded 184 tackles, 39 sacks, 0 ints, and 15 pass def. In 76 games, Schobel has mounted 277 tackles, 43.5 sacks, 2 ints and 12 pass def.

On paper the Bills should have the better secondary, but the bears corners have been outstanding this season. Vasser and Tillman have already snaged 11 ints combined. The Bills secondary was a bright spot in the begining of the season but since then the it's become equally as tender as the running D. Yet physically and statistcly the Bills match the Bears D position to position.

Same for the offensive side of the ball. Let's start with the obvious. The QBs and RBs.

Losman and Orton are two peas in a pod. Orton a rookie and Losman just in his first unscathed season, the stats are resoundingly similar.

Losman has thrown for nearly 1200 yards, 7 TDs and 5 ints in 8 games. Orton has played in 12 games this season with nearly 1600 yards, 9 TDs and 13 ints. Both are backed by season veterans. Holcomb in Buffalo and Blake in Chi-town. Losman is obviously more elusive, but both have been sacked 23 times.

The OL for each team is skeptical (under statement of the year).

And the running game for each team is also ironically similar.

Willis has marched for 1030 yards and 4 TDs avg 3.9 ypc. Thomas Jones has run for 6TDs, 1005 yards at 4.3 ypc.

The Bills have Moulds. The Bears have Muhammed, although Evans' style of play is more similar.

TE's are below average for both teams.

Both the Bills and the Bears play in the weakest division in each conference. Outside of their division rivals, the Bears play Cincy, Atlanta, New Orleans, Tampa, Carolina, Pittsburgh, San Fran, Baltimore, Cleveland and Washington.

Outside of their division foes, the Bills play Cincy, Atlanta, New Orleans, Tampa, Carolina, Houston, San Diego, Oakland, Denver and Kansas City.

The Bears have beaten Tampa, Carolina, and New Orleans.

The Bills have lost to Tampa, Carolina, and New Orleans.

The Bears are averaging 16.75 pts a game.

The Bills? 15.3

The Bears are 9-3

The Bills are 4-8






Cohesion? Heart? Coaching? Circumstance?

[OpIv37]

good analysis but it's time we faced the facts.

Bills=Cardinals.

TD must go.

[Devin]

Brilliant post, nail on the head.

That really puts things in perspective.

Fantastic read Red.

[RedEyE]

good analysis but it's time we faced the facts.

Bills=Cardinals.

TD must go.

It seems that way...and I have faced the facts. I expect he will be gone before next year.

[BillsOwnAll]

Your are in denial right now.....we have to realize the bills suck this year.....even if they do as good as the bears.

[RedEyE]

Your are in denial right now.....we have to realize the bills suck this year.....even if they do as good as the bears.

Oh lord. If it was anybody but you, I might decide to defend myself here. Considering the source, I don't think I need to do that.

[RedEyE]

good analysis but it's time we faced the facts.

Bills=Cardinals.

TD must go.

I think that TD's downfall was hiring Williams and Mularkey. Had he gotten a Lovie Smith like coach in here, things might have been different.

I really think that he stilll hangs on to what went down in Pittsburgh and that he want's a puppet coaching this team instead of a coach that thinks for himself.

[SeatownBillsFan21]

Bills = The Fish we suck

[LifetimeBillsFan]

Excellent post!!! I've just written an article that should be posted on the front page soon that makes a similar comparison.

In my view the difference between the Bills and Bears lies in two areas: one is coaching, but the other is in the character of the veterans on the two clubs and their reaction to the plan for the season that the coaching staff asked them to implement.

When Lovie Smith decided to go with K.Orton at QB, the Bears veterans bought into Smith's program for the season, which was "we're going to run the ball from the time we get off the bus before the game until the final whistle" (Smith actually said this!), try to limit Orton's mistakes, play good defense and special teams and hope to win some close games--the very same program that the Bills' management and coaches said that they wanted to implement at the start of this season. When K.Orton struggled--even last week and the week before--you did not hear a word of complaint out of the other Bears players. When L.Smith insisted on keeping Orton as the starting QB, despite his struggles, after Grossman was healthy enough to be the back-up QB, the Bears' veterans didn't say a word. Muhsin Muhammad was the leading receiver in the NFL last season and had developed a terrific rapport with R.Grossman in preseason before Grossman got hurt: do you think he signed on to have some untried rookie QB throwing the ball to him in a "run first, run second" offense? I don't think so. But, what did Muhammad say after getting shut out in a game when Orton went 8-17 for 68 yards (makes some of JP Losman's efforts look good, doesn't it!)? He said that Orton should stay as the starting QB and that it was the responsibility of the older players like himself to help the kid.

Contrast that with what you have seen with the Buffalo Bills:
Every player on the Bills roster this season knew in January, when the Bills let D.Bledsoe go, what the plan for this season was. Nobody asked out. JP struggled in preseason, but actually played pretty well in the first game of the season against Houston--a game in which the defense played like the Bears D this year. But, even before the Houston game, an article appeared in which E.Moulds complained about how many starting QBs he's had in Buffalo and how he was having to start over again with JP this year. JP struggled in his first road game in the NFL at Tampa Bay--not something that would be entirely unexpected, mind you--and, almost as soon as the game was over, articles began to appear saying that Moulds "and other veterans in the Bills locker-room" wanted Kelly Holcomb to be the starting QB because they want to "win now".

What does that tell you? It tells me that a portion of the Bills players never bought into the plan for the season from the start! And, it wasn't just E.Moulds. Unlike the Bears, who have stuck by Orton, they began undercutting JP Losman before he even had a chance to show what he could do. Now, how do you think that effected JP? He wasn't under enough pressure taking over as the starting QB of a team with playoff aspirations, now he has to go into his first starts in the NFL knowing that some of his own teammates don't think he can succeed and don't want him playing. Can anyone tell me that that didn't add to the pressure that he was feeling--especially not knowing which of his teammates were with him and which ones weren't? No wonder he played as badly as he did! Under the circumstances, he played better than Orton by far!!!

Unlike the Bears, who bought into the program and have stuck with it, the Bills vets represented by Moulds didn't have the confidence in themselves or their teammates and coaches to make something good out of this season in spite of having an inexperienced QB or injuries. You didn't hear the Bears players clamoring for the team to sign an experienced back-up QB like K.Stewart, etc. to take over as the starter for Orton. You haven't heard them complain about injuries. Or, about the game-plans: for the first 8 games of the season, B.Urlacher was on a pace to be the NFL's Defensive MVP, then the coaches decided to change their scheme and his stats have dropped off dramatically, but you haven't heard him complain, have you? Or, about injuries. The Bills have done the exact opposite, with predictably opposite results. And, to me, that shows that the Bills players lack the character that the Bears players have. And, that lack of character has shown itself more and more as the season has progressed.

In my view, the coaching staff lost the team the minute they knuckled under to the pressure that the Moulds-led faction put on them to replace JP Losman and abandon the plan that they had for the season. Their credibility with the players was gone: those in the Moulds camp felt that they could now force the coaches to do whatever they wanted and get away with complaining about things they didn't; others who were prepared to support the plan had to feel that they could no longer trust the coaches to stick by their plan or to stand by them in bad times; JP had to feel abandoned, betrayed and angry. No team can win under those circumstances. And, no coaching staff can coach under those circumstances because there is no way to get players to learn how to do things the right way and correct their mistakes when the players don't trust or respect their coaches.

We can talk about bad play calls by the coaching staff until we are blue in the face because there surely have been enough of them, but bad play calls, bad plays and mistakes can be overcome by teams that have character and have the trust and respect for their coaches that it takes for teams and players to correct their mistakes and get better over the course of the season. Mike Mularkey lost his players when he gave in to the Moulds-led faction that didn't buy into his plan for the season.

Contrast that to the NY Giants last season:
The Giants had a WINNING record and a legit shot at the playoffs when Coach T.Coughlin decided to bench K.Warner, a former league MVP, in favor of prima donna rookie Eli Manning in mid-season. Veterans led by M.Strahan and J.Shockey immediately began to protest in the media. Coughlin's response was to tell the team and the media that they were not good enough to be a serious playoff contender and that the move that he was making was for the long-term good of the team. In response to Strahan's comments about not having much time left in his career, etc. (where have you heard that before!), Coughlin announced that if there was anyone who felt that he could not support the coach's decision and did not want to stay with the team, he could take a seat on the bench and the team would do it's best to accomodate that player's desire to go elsewhere if it possibly could. Otherwise, Coughlin told his team that they could shut up and get with the program. The grumbling continued, but not the criticism stopped and surprisingly few players were benched or asked out of NY after the season. Indeed, Strahan, Shockey and others came back this season in better shape than ever before and now, with E.Manning at the helm, the Giants are in first place in the NFC East at 8-4. Oh, by the way, do you know that JP Losman has a better completion percentage since he returned from his benching than Eli Manning has for the season? 54%-52.8% And Losman doesn't have a 6-5 WR with long arms like P.Burress to catch his overthrown passes like Manning does (Burress has made more than a half dozen grabs on overthrown balls by Manning that no other receiver could have caught this season).

Obviously Mike Mularkey is no T.Coughlin. And, the Bills coaches deserve a lot of the criticism that they have gotten this season. But, they are not the sole cause of this disaster. A lot of the players--led by E.Moulds--bear responsibility, too. The Bills could be in the position that the Bears are in or be in the position that the NY Giants were in last season, but they are not because the players and coaches didn't have the character to make it happen. But, a comparison to those two teams is certainly more than fair and appropriate at this stage.

[Devin]

Another brilliant read. Absolutley the difference between them and us.

Not talent, not skill. Carachter. Leadership.

We have neither.

Great thread guys.

[MarvLevy]

will Ralph pull the trigger though?

[RedEyE]

Good read LifetimeBillsfan.

Something to note, however. Shannon Sharpe reported earlier this week that Moulds had been staying after with Losman all season to review tape. They've also been seen training together.

What he hadn't mentioned was when those specifics had occurred. Pre-season? Last week? My suspicion is that Moulds tried to be the veteran guide before the season began but gave up when Losman faltered early in the season. Moulds most likely feels age creeping up on him as the light at the end of his career tunnel draws near. He probably also figured that by demanding Holcomb, Kelly would then looks his way more often (see last offensive play against NE). The results were pitiful.

In retrospective, Mularkey pulling Losman early in the year sent a message to the team that he lacked confidence in the young QB's abilities. Rather than nurture him and allow the season to be text book, MM instead sent Losman to the sideline. I viewed this as punishment. I could only imagine what the team thought. Especially after some members of the team argued for Holcomb to take the helm.

Bottom line is, and your point was made in the section about the Giants, that weak coaching is to blame for the current state of affairs with this team. Players will have egos that need be controlled, and young players need guidance to excel and prosper. None of that was provided properly at One Bills Drive.

Ultimately that all falls on TD's head. All the good thing that he has done for this team goes right out the door when the win/loss column is what it is today. He brought these coaches here and he should take direct responsibitly for their actions, and the actions of the outspoken players.

[dannyek71]

Dont the bears have a pretty good OL?

[RedEyE]

Dont the bears have a pretty good OL?

Better than ours? Yes. Still, they've given up the same amount of sacks that the Bills OL have given up this season. Their passing game and running game is nearly identical to ours.

Oh, they do have Rueben Brown. :snicker:

[RedEyE]

will Ralph pull the trigger though?

I think so. There have been too many rumors fluctuating through the media to ignore. And really it's so obvious. If it weren't for the mess in Detroit, I expect that even more attention would be focused on the Bills.

Donahoe will go, and I expect the next GM through the door will want to hire his own HC. If Donahoe does get the axe, I expect that Mualrkey will too. Mularkey might find a one year exemption due to tenure, but it's highly unlikley that any GM would embrace the previous GM's philosophy.

[Ickybaluky]

I think there is a major difference how much the teams have invested in both lines.

The Bears have one of the best DL in the football, with Tommie Harris and Ian Scott inside while Alex Brown and Adelwale Ogunleye are outside. They have strong backups in Alphonso Boone, Tank Johnson and Michael Haynes. That is 5 guys they got through the draft (2 firsts, a second and 2 fourths) along with a guy they paid big money for after trading to get him. That is a sizeable investment.

On the OL the Bears have locked up Olin Kreutz, John Tait and Fred Miller to sizeable contracts. They brought in Reuben Brown and drafted Terrence Metcalf with a 3rd round pick. That is a pretty big investment, and it has paid dividends this year because their running game has allowed them to control games and protect their young QB (who sucks this year, and probably projects as a backup for his career).

The Bears philosophy has been to build up front on both sides of the ball. The Bills have not had that philosophy.

[The last buffalo fan]

This gentlemen, is the kind of thread, that was missing the last couple months in the zone. La pasion esta de regreso and thank you for that big fellows!!!

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