This week's "Have at it" question brought out the venom in many readers, and while pretty much every NFC North coordinator was mentioned in one way or the other, a group of four got the most votes, by far.
There was no confusion about the assistant coach who has done the best job so far: Chicago offensive coordinator Ron Turner. Here's how kerryrey_2000 put it:
"Best job has got to be Ron Turner, with a group of cast-off receivers, a super fast punt returner Hester (but never proved he was a receiver), and arena league db/wr, Brandon Lloyd (given up for dead), Marty Booker ... and we can't even get Earl Bennett on the field, because of our Tight Ends.... Craziness ~ Craziness I'm telling you."
JonChristo4 wanted Green Bay defensive coordinator Bob Sanders to be included with Turner. Several readers mentioned the consistent play of the Packers' secondary despite numerous injuries:
"I'm a Packer fan so I'm going to be partially biased, but the best two coordinators this year in the North have been a tie between Ron Turner from Chicago and Bob Sanders from the Packers. Ron Turner has turned the Bears offense into a legit passing threat with Orton and Forte definitely hasn't hurt that team, haha. Sanders has had numerous injuries all year. The secondary has been without Harris and Bigby along with Woodson playing with a broken toe all year. Tramon Williams has been awesome stepping in (3 int's) for Harris and Aaron Rouse has really solidified the safety position along side Nick Collins."
Holtzebd threw Bears special teams coordinator Dave Toub in with Turner:
"There should be tie for best coordinators - Offense - Ron Turner, Chicago Bears and Special Teams - Dave Toub, Chicago Bears. Both are playing with some young fresh players and setting records doing it."
As for the worst, there was more emotion displayed about Bears defensive coordinator Bob Babich than any other.
Josh of Virginia Beach put it this way:
"Babich has to be the worst. Look at the evidence. The Bears had arguably the best defense in the NFL in the 2 and 1/2 seasons (dating back to the second half of 2004) before he took over as defensive coordinator. In the 1 and 1/2 years he has coached the defense, it has been below average at best. He is completely over his head. He doesn't get the best out of his players, and he has done an awful job of developing younger players."
On the other hand, some readers thought that a 4-3 team couldn't possible harbor the worst assistant coach. Justin in Omaha looked at the Detroit Lions and wrote:
"There's no question as to which team has the worst coordinator. The only point of debate is whether that title belongs to Jim Colletto or Joe Barry. Colletto took over a pass-happy offense and promised to improve the running game; right now, they're 31st in the NFL with an average just under 75 ypg. That's five yards less than last year's version of futility. Of course, the reason they have to abandon the run so early is because they've fallen behind big in the first half in five of their seven losses, so some of that blame can be attributed to Barry as well. How bad is their D? Put it this way: I've been watching the NFL for fifteen years, and I have never seen coverage blown this frequently."
My take? It's hard to argue with what Turner has done in Chicago. He has said the Bears' success is a product of having a quarterback familiar with the scheme, but part of it is in on the coordinator to adjust based on the personnel he has. Turner has found a way for plenty of disparate ingredients to contribute.
As for the worst performance, I think it has to be Colletto. It should be noted he was given an assignment that often takes years to accomplish: Transitioning to a completely different scheme. But Colletto hasn't done much to mitigate the problems, and the Lions' miserable attempt to use a no-huddle offense against Chicago earlier this month put it over the top for me.
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