Some may think we are having a hard time here letting go of skewering Ron Turner. Well, they are right. After all, as Illini and Bear fans, we suffered though 17 years of bad football with him. So it is hard to let go. As usual, I will give mad props to Ron for keeping his nose clean and keeping his connections. He always has a job…
Speaking of, how in the name of all that is right did Ron get a job with the Colts? Was there a resume review? Or did Ron just know someone? I am still bewildered that the AFC Champs would pick him up. I also wonder what went down with Jim Harbaugh at Stanford. I haven’t seen anything on that situation. Harbaugh and Turner are both playing the game correctly by not shelling each other in the press. As we have found out, the NFL and major college football is a small club and you are either in or out. You never know who your next boss might be.
I have been perusing the Colts message boards to get a feel for what the Colts fans think of their new Wide Receiver Coach, Ron Turner. There are some great threads and classic one liners. You can view threads here, here and here.
I think these are some of my favorite comments (comments in [brackets] mine):
well Chicago was known for their great recievers… wait, what?
are you kidding me? this guy has not done squat at any stop on his resume – why do we need this chump?
..but I heard Ron Turner is the best yes man around [haha]
This blows
are you saying Ron Turner is a fluffer? [classic]
As a Cal fan I’m pissed – I was hoping to see worse production out of their [Stanford's] WRs [along these lines, this is why we wanted to see Ron at one of our Big Ten rival schools]
“Ron Turner” sounds like a ’70s porn name, so that’s pretty cool Sucks otherwise, though. [never thought of it that way, but nice comment for creativity]
How does Ron Turner keep landing a job in football [we have wondered that for a long time]…. This guy was a hot mess at Illinois and he was even worse in Chicago. How in the world could he possibly make an improved to the Colts??? Unless our goal is for the offense to get worse.
The only football job Ron Turner is qualified for is tackling dummy….
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOO!
Oh god no. I live in central Illinois and am a big Illini fan and am surrounded by Bears fan an I know Ron Turner is not really good for anything. He drove the Illinois program even deeper into the ground than it usually is and was awful with the Bears, what could the Colts possibly use him for?
Peyton makes all coaches look good so quiet down ppl.
I thought Peyton was the coach?
Back to topic.. I’ve stepped away from the computer for a few hours and I think I’m okay with this decision now as someone pointed out to me he’s not going to be an OC just a positional coach in otherwords he will have no real impact.
I hope Ron Turner is not the Offensive Coordinator in-waiting. He has proven to be a marginal [hahaha] coach in his stints as the Illnois head coach and the Bears Offensive Coordinator. I believe Polian and Caldwell don’t go for the flashy dynamic coach because they don’t want to be upstaged, but I hope they won’t be putting our offense in the hands of Ron Turner.
I don’t think we will even notice he is here. This is such a good offensive team that unless something dramatic happens we may not even notice. [you better hope so]
He’s going to a team with the same OC for like 15 years, and Peyton Manning, who is another OC on the field. He will literally have nothing to do or contribute. LOL It’s perfect for him…
Ron Turdner was so stupid, I nearly pined for the days of Terry Shea or John Shoop. I have no clue how you could not have been physically ill watching that joke of a coach scheme an offense.
2006 was Ron Turner’s offense working at max potential… mostly because the Bears had pretty good personnel across all offensive position groups.
By no means am I endorsing Ron Turner’s system, but you look at every year besides the Super Bowl season and it’s easy to see why that offense was stuck in the bottom third of the league. Yes, the system had its flaws, but there was always one or more position groups that really sucked big time, with ’06 being the exception.
Bears Offensive Rankings Under Turner
2005: 29th
2006: 15th
2007: 27th
2008: 26th
2009: 23rdWhat could Ron Turner and his Tecmo Bowl playbook [classic] possibly bring to that passing game of any real value? [hahaha]
You think Ron “I can’t think of any other plays so I’m going to run bubble screens and fullback dives all game” Turner can add anything to the Mastermind Peyton Manning and the mastermind OC in Indy?? You definetely have some Bailey’s in your coffee this morning then….or maybe peyote. [the correct term for that dive is I formation of death(tm) get it right and get used to it]
this is a great oppurtunity for Ron Turner. Peyton manning should be able to coach him up real nice like and he can finally be decent OC
Most of the comments seem to fall into a couple of camps. The first is one of indifference – Colts fans know that Ron isn’t the OC and that Manning calls all the plays anyways so it is no big deal that Ron is around to act like he is coaching the guy who is probably the best QB ever or his receivers. Another camp takes the tack that it is fucked that a guy like Ron is let anywhere near the potent Colts offense in any way, shape or form. I think that they are probably both right. In the end, it is NOT a positive that the Colts have hired Ron, and I believe that we all know what the results will be if he ends up as their OC.
I think the best quote is
NOOOOOOOOOOO
“Tecmo Bowl Playbook” is my favorite, I laughed at that one for a while.
I doubt he is using the Tecmo Bowl playbook.
Those plays actually work. And there weren’t enough players on the field in that game to run the I-Formation of Death (Trademark).
haha I see we have a new category as well…nice.
I LOVE the Tecmo BOwl quote! Tecmo Bowl had like 6 plays though so DumbROn needs to think up 1 more!!!
Hey by the way. Do you think the 4 Headless Horsemen have realized that there are about 80+ offensive linemen available in free agency! And about 50 have 5+ years of experience and are BIGGER and BETTER than what we have! I haven’t heard them mention anything about addressing the O-Line through free agency. Maybe that’s not the norm, but man there are some really good players on the OL Free Agency list. Maybe one of you guys can explain the Bears lack of conversation on this. Better yet Jerry I know you have folks watching the blogs so…..DAMMMIT DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE O-LINE!!!!!!
T06 – yes, we and others have been pounding the table on the O Line. We have, I think, enough talent to be a playoff team if and only if the O Line gets fixed. Who knows what the four hoursemen are thinking at this point.
Random comment of the day: Anybody else find it surprising that Brian Westbrook has only 300 more carries than Chester Taylor? And only about 400 more total touches? How long has Chester Taylor been Injured over his career? And how much has Westy? (I should know this, I’ve had him 4 straight years in fantasy)
So, yeah. Offensive line. Really, only two spots need work. Right tackle and left guard. Left tackle is taken by Williams, who looked pretty good in that particular spot last year. Kreutz will be a center until he dies or retires, whichever comes last ;p. Garza has always been solid (though unspectacular) at guard. IMO, this team should focus on getting specialists at RT and LG, as the other 3 guys we’ve got (Beekman, Omiyale, Schaffer) are versatile enough to take over any spot in a pinch. I’d like to get RT and LG specialists and another two versatile guys for backup, but that’s a pipe dream IMO.
I understand that we need a safety. But, after the insane contract given to the slightly inferior (but younger) Antrel Rolle (5 year, 37 mil, 15 mil guaranteed), I doubt the Bears can afford Sharper. My thought is that he’s in the market for 2-4 years at about 5-7 mil per season. I don’t think the Bears can afford to overpay for this guy, turning 35 and just had knee surgery. It’d be kool to stick the Slack AND the Queen with one of their rejects, but that’s a different story for a different day…
I have been thinking about the Taylor deal. So is Forte still our starter? I sure hope so, that guy is amazing IF he gets blocking and this year we shouldn’t have the I formation of death ™ called at least 20 times a game. Taylor has a LOT more miles on him.
I would like to see Matt in on first and second down then Taylor in on third but we paid the big bucks so maybe they will share the duties. That isn’t the worst thing ever – in the 2006 season the Jones and Benson duo worked well imho.
I’d be fine with a 50/50 split between the two. Taylor does have miles on him, but not that many, and he’s still a talented back. I’d like to get at least 3-4 good years out of Taylor where both backs hit 800+ rush 500+ receiving, and then hand it over to Forte full time or groom a newer, younger back. For all Angelo’s failings, he usually manages to get some decent picks after round 3, and he’s been pretty good about his RBs picked after round 3 (Peterson, Wolfe, Forte: not bad at all). If this little triumvirate of Angelo/Lovie/Martz sticks around for a while, our best bet is to let Taylor groom Forte to groom the next guy to groom the next guy and always have a two-headed beast going forward. Martz does tend to overuse his RBs when he doesn’t feel he has a legitimate receiving threat, so having Forte and Taylor split the carries 50/50 would probably lengthen both careers.
Forte was a 2nd rounder iirc.