Is Blache losing touch with reality?

I just read and interesting article on Blache from 2005. The article questions whether he is a good fit here. His last year as DC with the Bears his defense had a total of 18 sacks for the year. It seems he's always used big DT's to primarily keep blockers off the LB's and had underachieving DE's. He has never put much stock in sacks. I'm starting to wonder if we'll ever see the kind of defense that the FO is seeking as long as he is DC. We acquire pass rushers and that doesn't appear to be what he wants going by his past and present philosophy.

Does the article state what happened to the Bears in 2006?

In the meantime I think you guys have the wrong idea when it comes to Blaches style of defense.

During his tenure, Blache's defenses forced 138 turnovers, including 37 in 2001, the most by a Bears defense since 1990, and accounted for 13 touchdowns (two in 1999, four in 2000, five in 2001, one in 2002, and one in 2003).

In 2002, Blache dealt with numerous injuries, leading to 11 different starting line-ups over the course of 16 games. While juggling personnel, the Bears defense continued with their attacking, aggressive style that set records during the 2001 season.

They forced 64 tackles behind the line of scrimmage and reached a league plateau by forcing at least one turnover in 33 consecutive games, the second longest active streak in the NFL at the time.

In 2001, Blache molded the Bears defense into one of the top units in the league, producing the top-ranked scoring defense by allowing only 203 points in 16 games (12.7 points per game). His run defense finished second in the NFL and first in the NFC, allowing just 82.1 yards per game, while allowing only three rushes of 20 yards or more all seasons and only six rushing touchdowns.

Prior to joining the Bears, Blache served as defensive line coach for the Indianapolis Colts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indianapolis_Colts) for five seasons (1994-98) and held the same position with the Green Bay Packers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Bay_Packers) for six years (1988-93).

Does the article state what happened to the Bears in 2006?

In the meantime I think you guys have the wrong idea when it comes to Blaches style of defense.

The Bears defense had a great year in 2006 but Blache wasn't there. Blache got here in 2004. The 2001 season was a great year for Blache in Chicago, the other 4 years were mediocre at best. The Bears defense got substantially better rankings after Blache left.

I sometimes think fans here are trying too hard to find reasons not to like Blache. He's old-school, he's abrasive, he rubs people the wrong way. But he's a good, well-respected coach and I think we're reading too much into what he's saying here.

I sometimes think fans here are trying too hard to find reasons not to like Blache. He's old-school, he's abrasive, he rubs people the wrong way. But he's a good, well-respected coach and I think we're reading too much into what he's saying here.

It's simple. If the Offense plays better, the Defense will play better:

1) Less time on the field

2) If we can ever get a lead, we can make other teams one-dimensional, which will lead to:

3) More turnovers

Blache ain't the problem. It's our coach/coordinator and QB who haven't scored 30 points in 19 games. Fix that and everything will be fine.

I sometimes think fans here are trying too hard to find reasons not to like Blache. He's old-school, he's abrasive, he rubs people the wrong way. But he's a good, well-respected coach and I think we're reading too much into what he's saying here.

I agree with the bold and it's not that I don't like Blache SS, I think we'll have a good defense this year. I'd just like to see more of an emphasis on getting to the QB and creating a little more confusion with our defensive packages. Blitzes in particular. I'm hoping we'll get more turnovers and more three and outs this year. It's still early, maybe we will. But I have to wonder about things like the DB's giving such a big cushion in the Giants game. I know we're going to adjust that but, you mean we had to play the game before we realized it? I hope Blache's defense kicks ass this year. I would love that.

at this point i do not like greg blache lack of aggression, and the infamous cusions that allows our secondary to give up too many crucial first down plays.

i say he eithers shapes up or ships out, may have been a top 4 defense last year but i put that on the players, i do NOT think he uses Landry correctly.... i still do NOT agree with Orakpo at LB the majority of the time .....

i just ..... really think it's time we look elsewhere if he doesnt correct these subtle, yet big flaws in his defensive philosiphy.... IMO ...

... i just dont like the guy anymore.

HMM, the D was ranked 4th and our O around 28th and its GB that might need to go. Isn't that backwards?

I agree with the bold and it's not that I don't like Blache SS, I think we'll have a good defense this year. I'd just like to see more of an emphasis on getting to the QB and creating a little more confusion with our defensive packages. Blitzes in particular. I'm hoping we'll get more turnovers and more three and outs this year. It's still early, maybe we will. But I have to wonder about things like the DB's giving such a big cushion in the Giants game. I know we're going to adjust that but, you mean we had to play the game before we realized it? I hope Blache's defense kicks ass this year. I would love that.

Well the D had two turnovers and should have had 3 but old butter fingers dropped another ball.

Our offense needs to get on track and start making plays. There is no doubt about that. Pittsburgh won the SB last year with the #1 defense. That didn't stop them from taking a DT, Ziggy Hood, with their first round pick. Whether the offense is good or bad, you still want the other parts of your team to play as well as they can don't you? Or is the defense suppose to just stand pat and say, "We'll get better after the offense gets better?" The fact that we need to get more sacks and turnovers, and get off the field quicker has nothing to do with the offense. That's what good defenses do. Blache can't do anything about the offense but he CAN make the defense better and I'm not satisfied with them being "pretty good" regardless of how the offense is playing. I'm not sure how wanting the defense to play better is taken as an endorsement of the offense. I love defense and would like to see them kick ass. Regardless of how the offense plays, at least I could get some pleasure from that.

Jerry Gray sure as hell would deserve the promotion...however at this point like another poster said it would be very tempting to grab a coach from NY, Philly, Pitt or Baltimore...let's face it all those have far better defenses.

I think that instead of going to other franchises and getting their coaches, that we should go within our own team and find our next Richie Petitbone. I don't know how much longer Blache will coach, but Gray and Olivadotti are young up and coming coaches and should be considered the for the DC position before somebody raids them from us.

Our offense needs to get on track and start making plays. There is no doubt about that. Pittsburgh won the SB last year with the #1 defense. That didn't stop them from taking a DT, Ziggy Hood, with their first round pick. Whether the offense is good or bad, you still want the other parts of your team to play as well as they can don't you? Or is the defense suppose to just stand pat and say, "We'll get better after the offense gets better?" The fact that we need to get more sacks and turnovers, and get off the field quicker has nothing to do with the offense. That's what good defenses do. Blache can't do anything about the offense but he CAN make the defense better and I'm not satisfied with them being "pretty good" regardless of how the offense is playing. I'm not sure how wanting the defense to play better is taken as an endorsement of the offense. I love defense and would like to see them kick ass. Regardless of how the offense plays, at least I could get some pleasure from that.Excellent post.