kerouac9 said:I'll believe Wylie's success when I see it. If he had done such a great job in Chicago, why did the Bears feel the need to sign three free agents along the offensive line this offseason? Chicago finished 23rd in the NFL in sacks allowed last season (one less than the Arizona Cardinals), and 18th in rushing YPG, and produced an 4.0 YPC average.
I wish this group the best, and am not certain that it can get much worse, but to say that Wylie can turn this group dramatically around, or that he's the same caliber of coach as, say, Alex Gibbs or the OL coach for the Giants the past couple seasons doesn't seem to carry a lot of evidence.
They had to sign new players on the OL due to decimating injuries. Marc Columbo was drafted a coule years ago to be their T and he may never play again. Villarial left via FA so that position had to be dealt with as well.
For the past two years he took a pathwork OL (massively patch-worked) and made it work...maybe not to your satisfaction but had you seen their games, I believe you would have been impressed. In 2001, when the Bears had their best year recently, the OL gave up 9 sacks out of 17 total (how many of the sacks last year were due to OL errors?) and that was the year the OL was completely healthy. As a unit, I believe the Cards have better talent on the OL than the 2001 Bears did and look at the results.
Never compared the guy to anyone else.
Anyways, you are right. Wylie will get nothing out this group. The improvement will be minor.