It helps explain why the experience of the average

This next roundtable discussion topic was an easy one for us to answer Eric Kush Jersey , but what about you guys. With more bad than good the last three decades, have you ever come close to quitting the Chicago Bears?" />Skip to main contentclockmenumore-arrownoyesHorizontal - WhiteWindy City GridironWindy City Gridiron - Being who you thought we were since 2005!Log In or Sign UpLog InSign UpFanpostsFanshotsSectionsBearsOddsAboutMastheadCommunity GuidelinesStubHubMoreAll 322 blogs on Horizontal - WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections Latest NewsThe Bears DenNotesXs and OsSuperfansFiled under:NewsNotesFrom The Desk Of...Have you ever come close to quitting the Chicago Bears?New,122commentsThis next roundtable discussion topic was an easy one for us to answer, but what about you guys. With more bad than good the last three decades, have you ever come close to quitting the Chicago Bears?CDTSam Householder, Erik Christopher Duerrwaechter, Ken Mitchell. Jeff Berckes ShareTweetShareShareHave you ever come close to quitting the Chicago Bears?Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty ImagesThe Chicago Bears have the second most NFL Championships in the history of the league...But none since 1985.In the Super Bowl era, which is all that many fans care about, the Bears are 1-1 in their two appearances. Even though the Chicago Bears are one of the most storied franchises in all of sports, recent history hasn’t been very kind to them.With only six division championships since 1989, us Bears’ fans have had much more heartache than good times when cheering for the beloved. We’ve seen some locker room dysfunction, coaches announced as hired before it was official, mock news conference requests, there has been sniping done through the media https://www.thebearsfanshop.com/Roquan-Smith-Jersey , boxes not checked, and allowing over 50 points a game in consecutive weeks, just to name some of the things that we’ve had to deal with. But through it all, I maintained my fandom.I never wavered, and Bears games have remained appointment television for me since the 1980s. When this latest roundtable topic was sent to us, I know that the WCG stafffers would all be in unison. Have you ever come close to quitting the Chicago Bears?My answer, Hell no. But let’s check in on what a few of our guys had to say.Sam Householder - I have never been foolish enough to think I could actually follow through on it if I said it, so I don’t think I’ve ever said it aloud or written it. The very closest I’ve ever come though was the 2014 Marc Trestman season, followed closely by January of 2017 when they brought John Fox back after 3-13. I really didn’t think they’d ever get out of the mire at that point.Erik Christopher Duerrwaechter - Nope. I’m mother Martz’ing Optimist Prime. Ken Mitchell - Quitting? The Bears? No. Never. It would be like considering quitting breathing. Sorry for the short answer, but it’s an unmodified, unqualified no from me.Jeff Berckes - I don’t know about quitting, but I’ve never been more upset with the Chicago Bears fan base than I was when Cubs fans booed Mike Glennon and Bulls fans booed Mitchell Trubisky after they were acquired in the same off-season. Neither had ever thrown a pass for the team at that point and you’re booing them? I truly did not identify with that mentality and I honestly questioned if I fit in as a Bears fan.Jeff, we know all about that kind of fan. Photo by Jacob Andrzejczak/Getty Images for RioAnd you my friend, are not that kind of fan. Have any of you guys ever come close to quitting the Bears?Get ready for the 2019 Bears season by taking advantage of the Breaking T Memorial Day Sale! Click right here and you can get a Club Dub hoodie for only $16.00!There are literally hundreds of different designs for every sports fan you know Eddie Goldman Color Rush Jersey , so get ready for the season at Breaking T, and don’t forget, Father’s Day is right around the corner too. ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Pro Bowl center Alex Mack rattled off all he does before the snap: Checks for blitzes, keeps an eye on the play clock, makes blocking adjustments and communicates all the changes to everyone else.All that happens in seconds — with 300-pound defenders a few inches away and ready to pounce."It's unlike anything else in football," the Atlanta Falcons standout said. Some might argue the center is the most indispensable player on the roster — the player who mans the only position guaranteed to touch the ball on every play. He calls the shots for the offensive line and begins each play.But an Associated Press analysis revealed that despite their unique skill set, it was centers — not running backs, linebackers or defensive backs — who were becoming more endangered more quickly than players at any other position . In 2009, the average center had six years in the league. This season, the average center had four years of experience."Really? That's shocking," Mack said. "I guess, technically, it's the last spot for the O-line. If you're a tackle who can't play in space Marcus Cooper Jersey , they move you to guard. If you're a guard that's having trouble, they move you to center. Oftentimes center is the position that can get the most help. A lot of the blocks are double-teams, so you're not put on an island nearly as much, so it's always a position that you can try to improve."Most teams have in recent years, too.Thirty-eight centers have been drafted over the last five years, and none of them has made a Pro Bowl. Sixteen of those have been taken in the first three rounds of the NFL draft.It helps explain why the experience of the average center has fallen. While every position outside of quarterback, kicker and punter has seen a decline, no position sees this sharp a drop-off in the AP survey."It's one of those tough, nasty, gritty positions that you have to just keep fighting at, and kids nowadays just aren't quite the same," said retired NFL center Brad Meester, a 14-year starter for the Jacksonville Jaguars. "Even at the high school level, those kids are getting harder and harder to find anymore."They're just not the same as they were years ago. I don't know if that's been part of the reason play has gone down and we're seeing this dip in longevity https://www.thebearsfanshop.com/Kyle-Fuller-Jersey , but it could be."Since centers are typically the smallest offensive linemen in college, Mack and Meester believe some undersized guys have trouble making the NFL jump — especially with defensive linemen getting bigger, faster and stronger each year."In college, if you have a guy who's big enough to play in the NFL, he's probably playing tackle or guard," Meester said. "He might get moved to center at the next level, and then you end up with centers that are a little raw going into the NFL."That's exactly what happened to Chicago Bears Pro Bowl center Cody Whitehair, who started his college career as a guard and moved to left tackle as a senior at Kansas State. The Bears drafted him in the second round in 2016 and then moved him to center a week before his rookie year."It's hard to transition into the NFL," Whitehair said. "It definitely takes a special breed to come in out of college and be ready to start on the offensive line, especially at center."Still, Whitehair was surprised to learn that the longevity of centers isn't what is used to be. He said it could be that centers are asked to do so much more in the NFL than in college, where more prevalent spread systems often take their cues from the sideline inside of adjusting on the fly.But Whitehair pointed to Mack (10th season), New Orleans' Max Unger (10th), Philadelphia's Jason Kelce (8th) and the Pouncey twins (8th and 7th Bryce Callahan Color Rush Jersey , respectively) as long-term starters he thought would be enough to make a difference in the changing landscape."We just got to get the younger generation to follow in those footsteps," Whitehair said.For every success story such as Whitehair, it seems there's a recently drafted center who's already out of the league — guys like David Molk, Philip Blake, Peter Konz, Khaled Holmes, Bryan Stork and Hroniss Grasu to name a few."A center really is your quarterback of the offensive line, the guy who right along with the quarterback is reading defenses, reading stunts, blitzes, secondaries," Meester said. "If you get a guy in there that can do that, you keep him."