You Have A Rendevouz With My Vlasic, Mother..., The Bears Are Preparing To Nick Captain Jack

Today we've got musings on Alex Vlasic, the Bears, and whatever else was stuck to the floor mats in the car.

Sector 1901 - You Have A Rendevouz With My Vlasic, Motherfucker

It's probably not much of a shock that the most impressive, and consistent, player so far this season has been Alex Vlasic. He was the revelation in the dark morass that was last season, playing himself onto the top pairing and staying there. He was steady and reliable, mostly backing up Seth Jones. He was an excellent free safety, a very difficult obstacle for opponents to negotiate at his blue line, positionally sound in his own zone, and very good along the wall. Vlasic didn't do anything to a level that would mark him amongst the league's best, but he did everything just about above average and the best among the Hawks (though he trailed Korch in a lot of categories, but I'm too old to carry this fight on for much longer without pulling something).

One thing I've been curious about this year is how much experimenting Luke Richardson does with players who are going to be here when things matter again. It's not really important how Richardson uses, say, Taylor Hall and Alex Martinez, because it has no long-term meaning. But what he does with players like Vlasic does, because it's important to try anything that might have relevance two or three seasons down the line.

It is encouraging that Richardson is definitely trying to find out all the things Vlasic might be able to do, especially the last handful of games. First of all, Vlasic has logged just about equal time with Jones, T.J. Brodie, and Connor Murphy. His usage with Jones is about what it was last year, splitting zone starts evenly between the offensive zone and outside of it.

We don't really need to go into anything that went on with Brodie, and in fact that probably applies to anything Brodie is doing altogether. The world is dark enough. Vlasic's main partner the past three games has been Murphy, and this is where the fun starts.

On the surface, Vlasic's metrics with Murphy don't really look that much different than they do with Jones. The Vlasic-Murphy pairing carries a 49.2 Corsi and a 45.8 xG%, while Vlasic-Jones is at 48.7 and 50.6. The usage is where it gets interesting. Vlasic and Murphy the past three games have been taking the dungeon shifts, starting 20 percent of their shifts in the offensive zone, while Jones gets a bigger helping of ya-ha time. Considering the wild difference in zone starts, the fact that Vlasic and Murphy can put up similar possession and chance numbers is impressive.

Furthermore, when paired with Our Large Irish Son, Vlasic is the one charged with being the cowboy, at least at times. That's why you've seen him far more aggressive in the neutral and offensive zones, and he's the one attempting to break the Hawks up the ice and keep offensive zone time going. The results aren't neon lights exactly, but they are good, and it's worth watching over the next few weeks whether Vlasic and be the engine on a dungeon-shift pairing and keep the Hawks even just at equal footing while doing so. It's a new leaf for him.

If he can, it certainly makes you wonder how the future blue line will shake out. The Hawks are still high on Sam Rinzel, and he and Korchinski are clearly penned in as the future puck movers. Devon Toews and Cale Makar have proven that you can pair two puck-movers together and have success, but that's also Devon Toews and Cale Makar. Still, it is something more teams should try more often, and maybe that's what the Hawks are loading up here. Combined with Levshunov and Vlasic, that's supposed to be the top four going forward if everything shakes out.

But Jones will still be here, likely. There are d-men in Rockford they can't stop talking about. What of Kaiser and Allan? The room is already too crowded, and Vlasic's developing roles and skills are only making it more so. If Vlasic improves as the verve in a pairing, and the Hawks are still thinking about doing this the traditional way, which one of the kids below the surface becomes expendable?

Sons Of Lemuel - Barbosa Calling

The past two days have been filled with a smattering of Bears players having no problem saying publicly that their coaches aren't doing a good enough job. Whether it's in-game or practice, the last count had T.J. Edwards, Jaylon Johnson, Cole Kmet, D.J. Moore, and Kevin Byard all comment on issues they've had with at least a certain aspect of their bosses. And this is after The Mercedes Revolution of Lake Forest a couple weeks ago.

This isn't going to be "the turning point" of the Bears season. They may play better from here on out. They may even win a majority of their games. But this isn't going to be when "everyone came together." This is a cry for help. These guys want to win more than anything, and they've made it clear they don't think those in charge are the ones to get them there.

This can only end one way, and the hope is that it doesn't require the season spiraling out of control for it to be official. I can't say I follow any other team all that closely, but usually when you find multiple players in the press saying that they don't think things are working right, it's almost always followed by a coach out on his ass. Why are these guys going to bust their ass when they think they're being put in bad positions?

These guys might also be tired of watching their coach shirk responsibility and talk about "execution." A coach can point to execution when he's earned the right, when it's part of a whole and means the coach as well. The way Matt Eberflus does it, it's a soft bus-tossing of his players. And Eberflus hasn't earned that right. Keeping the Colts defense around 10th in defense for a couple years doesn't qualify a coach as a football legend. He hasn't won dick. He hasn't shown these players the light. Save Kmet, all the guys mentioned above have played for other coaches and have perspective. And they're telling anyone who'll listen that Eberflus doesn't stack up.

Sadly, football is the only sport where a midseason coaching change can't really involve someone from the outside, unless you're on all the horse tranquilizers and catnip that Jim Irsay carries with him on a daily basis. The Bears would have to cough up a real hairball in Arizona to get Eberflus the ax anytime soon. Though maybe a pantsing from the Packers at home in a few weeks might do it, because that seems to be the only thing the McCaskeys every notice consistently.

But let's be clear, the players have already signed Eberflus's pink slip this week.

We'll end with Romelu Lukaku showing everyone what the soccer version of "son-ing" a defender looks like. Get the fuck outta here, bozo.