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I like what you did here but 2005's offense was abysmal. You would take the 2005 team over the 2001 team?
This thread wasn't about what defense was better, it's about what TEAM you'd take.
I like what you did here but 2005's offense was abysmal. You would take the 2005 team over the 2001 team?
This thread wasn't about what defense was better, it's about what TEAM you'd take.
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IMO the 05 D was better than the 06 D, they didn't have the luxury of a great return game. Or an offense that could put 30+ points a gm.
Hell, that team was basically the defense and Thomas Jones.
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Was it.... what game am I recalling then.... now I have to research
EDIT: The 2006 Jets game is the one with the Mark Bradley TD, no doubt.... I think I was blending it with another game in 2005 where Orton threw the only Bears TD of the day to a FB Edwards, I think?
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The Ravens game?
PAPABEAR77
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whoops, I looked pass that part...saw Urlacher in the title and focused solely on the defense. Yeah the 2005 offense was tough to watch, they only threw for 200+ yards once that season...that team relied solely on the defense and run game. That 2001 offense may not have been lighting the league on fire (although they ranked 11th in scoring) they were much better than that 2005 offense. So my revision would definitely be that the 2001 team was the best non-Super Bowl team Urlacher had.
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Yeah I think that might of been it.... 10-6 win
Bort
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I think the 2005 team was the best by a pretty significant margin. Rex went down in the preseason, and they started out 1-3 starting a rookie 4th round pick quarterback. Then they went 9-2 the rest of the way and really dominated teams defensively more than the 2001 team did.
I really think the 2005 defense was clearly better than the 2001 defense. The 2001 defense allowed a lot of long drives, but was very stingy about giving up touchdowns. The 2005 defense was not only stingy about giving up touchdowns, it was stingy about even allowing a team to pick up a first down and get a drive going. You can see this when you look at the more advanced statistics (the kind I like).
The 2005 defense led the entire NFL in the 2 stats that I think are the best indicators of defensive performance: points allowed per defensive possession and net yards allowed per defensive possession. In contrast, the 2001 defense led the NFL in points allowed per defensive possession, but ranked only 14th in net yards allowed per defensive possession because they allowed a lot of long drives.
Also, the 2005 team also got really, really unlucky in that playoff game against the Panthers. 2 separate times, the Panthers got long touchdown passes to Steve Smith after the corner slipped. You don't often see that happen twice in the same game.
I really think the 2005 defense was clearly better than the 2001 defense. The 2001 defense allowed a lot of long drives, but was very stingy about giving up touchdowns. The 2005 defense was not only stingy about giving up touchdowns, it was stingy about even allowing a team to pick up a first down and get a drive going. You can see this when you look at the more advanced statistics (the kind I like).
The 2005 defense led the entire NFL in the 2 stats that I think are the best indicators of defensive performance: points allowed per defensive possession and net yards allowed per defensive possession. In contrast, the 2001 defense led the NFL in points allowed per defensive possession, but ranked only 14th in net yards allowed per defensive possession because they allowed a lot of long drives.
Also, the 2005 team also got really, really unlucky in that playoff game against the Panthers. 2 separate times, the Panthers got long touchdown passes to Steve Smith after the corner slipped. You don't often see that happen twice in the same game.
Bort
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One of the major reasons the 2005 offense was abysmal (and especially abysmal early in the season) was because they were starting a rookie 4th round pick quarterback for most of the season. Once Rex came back, the offense looked much better. I would take that 2005 team as it existed going into the playoffs over any of the other Urlacher teams mentioned, and I don't think it's even close.
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I don't think FT was using the comparison as a what if scenario. I thought the team looked a lot better at the end of the season when Rex came in. Still comparison across the board I think 2001 or 2010 were the better team.
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Not really, Rex came in during that Atlanta game where the offense had a total yards gained of 226, 98 of them were through the air and Grossman had a passer rating of 47.1. But that game was frigid so we can say the weather effected performance, along with Grossman's first game back. The next game was against GB, the offense had 292 yards with 166 of them from Grossman who finished the game with a passer rating of 68.4. He didn't play in the last game against the Vikes. And against Carolina in the playoffs the offense had 282 yards, 192 of them were from Grossman who finished the game with a 54.1 passer rating. You can argue that the offense was slightly better, but I don't see much difference between the offense led by Orton and the offense led by Grossman. In the end that team was all about the run and defense. The QB was just there to not screw up.
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The offense had more explosive capabilities once Grossman came back. The Bears could hurt you more down the field. The potential for explosive plays was there more with Rex. I see his point somewhat about after Rex came back but since 90% of the 2005 team's season was played with Orton under center....that's the prism I tend to view it through when deciding.
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We definitely saw the potential for explosiveness in the 2006 season, probably the best games to compare the 2 QB's from the 2005 season are the GB games. But overall I think the offense as a whole that season was relatively the same with both QB's. The addition of Hester in 2006 made things much easier for that offense. As the season progressed teams were basically giving that offense a short field. Where Orton didn't have that luxury in 2005.
Bort
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This thread also reminds me of how angry I was at Jerry Angelo for not even making an attempt to re-sign Tony Parrish after the 2001 season, and letting the 49ers scoop him up for barely over $2 million per year.
JP Hochbaum
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Oddly enough one season not mentioned was 2012, Lovies last year. Started off 7-1 with the leagues largest scoring differential.
Then Cutler got hurt in the 9th game and things went from SB hopes to out of the playoffs and a Lovie firing.
That was probably the best team but injuries and a tough second half derailed them.
Then Cutler got hurt in the 9th game and things went from SB hopes to out of the playoffs and a Lovie firing.
That was probably the best team but injuries and a tough second half derailed them.
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Cutler only missed 1 start
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I think he means 2011 and the Bears didn't start 7-1 (Seriously, why does everyone keep saying they did. People have been saying that on this board for YEARS). They started 7-3.
mecha
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I always have to weigh in on the 2012 team. they beat nobody. I don't think they had a single win against a team with a winning record. I don't particularly understand that drop off, considering the defense was still very good. Mike Tice running the offense was a disaster. promoting him to OC pretty much showed the writing on the wall for Lovie Smith; nobody wanted to work for him. I thought the 2011 team was a better barometer for what could have happened with Cutler's head screwed on a little better. unfortunately lack of continuity with the offenses ruined him.
I wasn't into football in 2001, saw a few games in 2005 so I can't vouch for that much either. was at the Panthers playoff game. I had different priorities in life back in those times. :lmao: I wish I could go back and watch all the 2001 games. I had friends in the dorm that drove all the way to Minnesota and back from NIU, pretty dedicated of them.
I did however watch all of the 2010 season. there's a correlation across all 3 of these seasons, none of them saw the Bears with that great of expectations coming off bad years before. (2009 wasn't really that bad by comparison, but there were high expectations with the addition of Cutler).
this is really a great topic though.
Bearshomer
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I don't think an argument could be made that the the 2006 defense was as good as the 05 defense in the regular season. The 2006 Bears were number one in everything before Harris's injury but allowed 35, 27, 21, and 26 points in the last four games without him. The Harris injury (and to a lesser extent Brown) killed them. Had those two been as healthy as the 05 squad they would have been the best defense of the century.
Bearshomer
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In 2012 they beat the 11-5 Colts 45-21 and the 10-6 Vikings 28-10. Still think we were a much better team than the Vikings that year.
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