Adios, Guillen

The Ozzie Guillen era is over in Chicago.

And not a moment too soon. Maybe a moment too late, if anything.

Former White Sox Manager and self-proclaimed "Face of the Franchise" Ozzie Guillen was granted his request to be released from his contract by Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf. It gets a little complicated as the actual transaction was a trade.

The White Sox received right-handed pitcher Jhan Marinez and infielder Osvaldo Martinez for Ozzie and right-hander Ricardo Andres.

I will miss Ozzie both as a fan and a broadcaster because he has no filter. It was refreshing in a city where other coaches and managers beat around the proverbial bush and answer every question with every sports cliche in the book. Terms like "we'll get it cleaned up" and "we'll continue to battle" are uttered on a regular basis, right Lovie?

Ozzie was always more than willing to tell it like it is during his time with the White Sox.

I will NOT miss Ozzie because he has no filter. (No, that's not a typographical error).

While Ozzie did tell it like it was and named names when things didn't go as he planned, he also often went into inappropriate topics at inappropriate times. Like say, his whining, I mean, pining for a contract extension late in the 2011 season. Especially when he was already under contract for the 2012 season. Even more so, because the White Sox have only made one postseason appearance since their World Series title in 2005. And when they did make it to the postseason, they won the AL Central Title in regular season game 163 and then got bounced out in the Divisional Series (that's the first round of the playoffs for those of you keeping score at home).

Ozzie wasn't particularly successful in the second half of his seasons as the White Sox' skipper. He only had two seasons where his squads were over .500 in the second half. From 2004 to 2011 they went 37-41, 42-34, 33-41, 33-43, 35-33, 34-40, 39-36, 35-35 respectively. That's not exactly a recipe for success when you're trying to win a pennant.

Baseball, like any business, is a bottom-line business. Why would Jerry Reinsdorf give you an undeserving contract extension?

In early September, Ozzie accused his players of quitting.

I wonder if he remembered that as he shut his eyes tight, puffed his chubby cheeks, and stomped his way down to Miami after he quit on his bowl-cloob and organization.


Tune in to the Chicago Sports Fix radio show with Josh Catlow and me, Rob Zielinski this and every Monday from 6 to 8pm only on http://www.chicagolandsportsradio.com/

Share your thoughts with us by calling 312.564.7375 during show hours or email us at chicagosportsfix@gmail.com

Managing Editor for Chicago Bears Huddle on ChicagoNow.com will be joining us in the first hour.

The Daily Herald's Barry Rozner, who also hosts WSCR 670-AM The Score's venerable baseball program Hit & Run, will be joining us any Monday now to TALK MORE HOCKEY! Unfortunately, due to his schedule, we cannot get a definitive date. So you'll have to be listening to catch our interview with him.

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Welcome to DREW Orleans, LouBREESiana

First of all, I know that I was just giving credit where it was due to Mike Martz last week, but that's ALL over with after the Week 2 performance. I'll have more on that below.

Da Bears traveled down to DREW Orleans, LouBREESiana where they literally got stepped on (QB Jay Cutler got stepped on or kicked in the throat) and lost 30-13.

In one of the loudest stadiums on the planet, Cutler, with a hoarse voice, struggled to call the cadence at the line of scrimmage. It was the Saints' home-opener and the venue was a factor. Unfortunately, this was the least of Cutler's problems.

Week 1's play-calling balance, protection, and production was non-existent against the New Orleans Saints. Martz called 52 passing plays to 11 rushes (that's nearly a 5:1 ratio for those of you doing the math at home). And although they only trailed by six to end the first half, Martz called 29 passing-plays to just TWO run-plays in the second half.

That is inexcusable.

I understand that football is a finite game and that if you're trailing, you'll revert to more passing plays to gain more yardage and save some clock. But good God man, run the damn ball. It'll probably make the 3rd downs more managable. It will also give the defense something else to consider. Defenses TRY to make offenses one dimensional and predictable. Martz gets off the bus and voluntarily makes Da Bears one dimensional.

Everybody knows the Saints' Defensive Coordinator Gregg Williams likes to gamble and bring pressure.  Cutler was sacked six times for a loss of 58 yards all in the second half. Although he wasn't sacked in the first half, Cutler was pressured and hit several times (which made him uneasy in the pocket, if one was actually created).

The pressure on Cutler became the turning point of the game. Da Bears were trailing 16-13 when Kellen "Revolving-Door" Davis let Turk McBride destroy Cutler on a sack-and-strip. This gave Breesus Christ and the Saints offense aspicious field-position, which led to a four-yard touchdown pass to Robert Meachum to take a 23-13 lead.

Trailing by 10 points down in DREW Orleans LousBREESiana means GAME OVER in Cajun.

Da Bears ran 35 plays in the second half (including punts). 21 of those plays resulted in either a turnover, negative yardage, no gain, or an incomplete pass. EMBARRASSING.

All of the blame doesn't fall on Mad-Martz and his offense though. The defense didn't play paricularly well on Sunday either.

Da Bears have five safties that seemingly don't understand the Cover 2 defense. They were in the perfect defense to avert the 79 yard touchdown pass from Breesus Christ to Devery Henderson, but Major Wright was late getting off of his landmark and allowed Henderson to get behind him. YOU CANNOT GET BEAT DEEP! You have a 20-yard cushion, so you can't let anybody get behind you. It's that simple.

Julius Peppers.

I think that was the first time his name has been said or written since Week 1 because he sure wasn't mentioned in Week 2. He was consistently getting dominated, IN ONE-ON-ONE SITUATIONS!

Everybody thought Brian Urlacher was going to have the game of his life after his 51 year-old mother passed away suddenly last Monday. It was tragic. So were his three tackles.

Hank Melton recorded seven hits on Matt Ryan in Week 1. He's not even listed in the defensive boxscore on chicagobears.com.

It was a bad day for General Manager Jerry Angelo. The team's weaknesses were glaring on Sunday, especially on the offensive side of the ball. Da Bears have a terribly low talent-level with the exception of a handful of players.

The front office has put Da Bears in this position. This is why I've been pining for losing seasons, so that the McCaskey Crew has no choice but to wipe the slate clean, starting from the top on down. (See previous posts for a reference). I'm pining for the day that a news release states that Ted Phillips and Jerry Angelo are no longer a part of the Chicago Bears' organization.

Earlier this week, Jerry Angelo said in reference to the offensive line being a top-priority in the offseason “We did everything you could possibly do to that position. Nobody did more than the Chicago Bears."

WHAT?! Okay, you drafted Gabe Carimi in the first round, but then you traded up in the draft to get Stephen Paea (he was healthy and not even on the active roster on Sunday). You signed a rather inexperienced Center who is now playing Guard because the Director of Player Personnel Tim Ruskell told you to do so. You didn't sign a journeyman offensive lineman to fill in as your rookie and sophomore book-ends develop. And you can't even use the salary-cap as an excuse since you're millions below the cap limit.

For Jerry Angelo to say that and insult the fans' intelligence is indefensible and pathetic.

Kind of like the team's performance in Week 2. You know, the one in which he has assembled.


Tune in to the Chicago Sports Fix radio show with Josh Catlow and me, Rob Zielinski this and every Monday evening from 6 to 8pm only on http://www.chicagolandsportsradio.com/

Chicagonow.com Bears blogger Adam Oestmann will be joining us in the first hour, you don't want to miss this man's insight! Share your thoughts with us by calling 312-564-7375 during show hours or email chicagosportsfix@gmail.com

 

PREACH

X Martz the Spot

I've been very critical of Da Bears' Offensive Coordinator Mike Martz. And rightfully so. But this past Sunday, Martz called a game like his job is on the line at the end of the season. (That's because it is).

I know that he had almost eight months to game plan for the Falcons, but I'm giving him credit because he seemed to have used that time wisely. Atlanta uses a lot of Cover 3 on defense along with some Cover 1, as opposed to Da Bears who use Cover 2 as a base defense. In a Cover 3, the defense deploys THREE defensive backs to COVER a deep third of the field; ergo, Cover 3. Martz attacked Atlanta's Cover 3 defense with an OVS (outside vertical stretch). The OVS is a three-level route concept with a fade (9), corner (7), and a man in the flat. The fade is a deep route, the flat is a short route no deeper than 15 yards, and the corner is in between as far as route-depth goes, which runs outside of the numbers. This forces the deep backs, usually a safety, to make a choice on which route to jump. But here's the kicker, no matter which of the deeper routes they choose to defend, the other will be open. It's a pick your poison situation.

That's why we saw Roy Williams and Johnny Knox make wide-open receptions during Sunday's contest. It was nice play-calling on Martz' part, along with the proper route-depth and execution by the receivers. Of course, a lot had to do with QB Jay Cutler who was able to spread the ball around and complete passes to eight different receivers. Cutler completed 22 passes on 32 attempts for 312 passing yards and 2 touchdowns. Cutler's offseason work to improve his footwork and throwing mechanics made a difference. He can be better though, in hitting his receivers in stride to extend the play with more YAC (yards after the catch).

While the Offensive-line wasn't particularly impressive from an individual standpoint, they were decent as a unit. They were able to allow Cutler the time to make his seven-step drops and for the receivers the get their proper route-depth to get their timing down respectively and execute the plays called. The offense was effective, but giving up five sacks is still unacceptable. They need to work on that as an entire unit as two of the five sacks were Cutler's fault for holding on to the ball too long.

The play-calling was nearly impeccable. Martz also did a nice job calling run plays and screens early at Atlanta's defensive-ends to try to neutralize them as they were aggressively trying to get up-field and reach the QB. Matt Forte has amazing vision. With a few blocks and a Weatherspoon mistackle, Forte sprung for a for a 56 yard touchdown on a screen-pass.

In early 3rd down situations against the Cover 1, Martz used motion to create a bunch formation, which will allow at least one of the receivers to get a free-release off of the line of scrimmage. He often uses a lot of pre-snap motion to create a lot of moving parts or "window-dressing" to confuse the defense, create a mismatch, and make it tough for the secondary to get a good read. All this, in turn, will help beat most defenses, particularly the Cover 1.

Martz also kept it simple in knowing that you if just get the ball to your play-maker in space, good things can happen. This is what occurred when he called a missile screen, or bubble screen for Devin Hester. Hester is crazy-good in the open-field, especially when he gets blocks down-field like he did when he brought the ball down to the 1 yard-line. My only gripe is that has to FINISH the play. Even though they didn't have a camera angle with indisputable evidence, I'm sure he did, in fact, cross the goal-line with the ball. But make it a no-brainer, jump, dive, do something! I bet if he was still receiving bounties from the University of Miami he would've made sure the ball was clearly across the goal-line.

And finally, the play-designs on a few that Martz called, were simply brilliant. It turned out to be just an incompletion, but the play where Cutler rolled right and sold the play to the defense perfectly and over-threw a WIDE WIDE WIDE-OPEN Kellen Davis, was just masterful. I'm anxious to see what else he has in that voluminous playbook.

The offense made three red-zone appearances in the first half and only accumulated nine points. The incompletion was one result of that, but that's WAY too many points being left on the field.

That can't happen, especially on the road in New Orleans.

Tune in to the Chicago Sports Fix radio show with Josh Catlow and me, Rob Zielinski this and every Monday evening from 6 to 8pm only on http://www.chicagolandsportsradio.com/

Chicagonow.com Bears blogger Adam Oestmann will be joining us in the first hour, you don't want to miss this man's insight! Share your thoughts with us by calling 312-564-7375 during show hours or email chicagosportsfix@gmail.com

PREACH

Playing Catch Up

It's more of a theme than a title.

I went to Las Vegas. My bank account is trying to catch up.

I got married. My brain is trying to catch up.

The White Sox are nine frickin' games back. They'll never catch up.

The Tigers made a statement against the White Sox last weekend and it went "This is our damn division, now get out of Comerica and don't make up pimp-crack you again". The Sox needed to take 2 of 3 at the very least and they got swept. It's September 8th and the magic number is 13. This season is OVA! O, wait, I wrote that blog FIVE WEEKS AGO! Bold, I know.

Fanboy Cubs owner Tom Rickett's signed VP of Player Personnel Oneri Fleita to a four year extension weeks after he said the future General Manager will be able to choose his own guy for that position. The truth is trying to catch up with the Fanboy's lies and supreme foolishness.

And when did Mike Quade turn into what you get when Yoda fornicates with his sister and you scrap the bottom of the genetics barrel looking to throw some chromosomes together to make a deformed and asinine human? But I digress.

Since Lovie Smith took over as the Bears head coach, they're 13-36 when they trail a the half. The Falcons are 26-6 when they lead at the half under head coach Mike Smith. I hope Da Bears aren't trying to play catch up in the second half.

Next week's post will be much more intense and filled with X's and O's from Da Bears game, I swear.

I'm proud to announce that this very blog is a finalist in the Chicago's Most Valuable Blog Contest. Thanks for all of your support and I should have the contest results by next week. Friday is the last day to vote. http://chicago.blogger.cbslocal.com/most-valuable-blogger/blog/938-chicago-sports-fix/

My ego's trying to catch up.

The Chicago Sports Fix radio show is moving to MONDAYS. Same time from 6 to 8pm on the same station at http://www.chicagolandsportsradio.com/ with the same damn hosts Josh Catlow and me, Rob Zielinski.

Share your thoughts with us by calling 312-564-7375 during show hours or email chicagosportsfix@gmail.com

If you miss hearing my voice, you can listen to me do color commentary for the Brother Rice High School game on highschoolcube.com Friday evening at 7:30.

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