DABEARSDABOMB

Welcome aboard and good post.

Do you mean Peterson and Wolfe?

Pretty sure the Bears will bring in another back to compete with Benson/Peterson. Unless of course the Bears feel that Peterson is starting material and they will go with a competition involving Benson/Peterson (however, given this years season long performance I don't see that happening). The one thing I wonder is when it comes to Wolfe, how are the Bears going to prevent teams from just knowing it will be a passing down with him in (eventually they are going to figure out that for the most part he's been an ineffective rushing the ball, although amazing receiving the ball).

I understand the uses of Gilmore because he is a stud when it comes to blocking as a TE (so in certain situations, especially non pass, going to pound the heck out of it, I don't mind going with Gilmore). However, I also think we need to do a lot more with Olsen lining up as a TE and than splitting him out wide as a wideout (I think if the Bears really move Olsen around, you'll see so many more mismatches out there and when you factor in having Olsen and Hester eventually on the field at the same time defenses could really have some trouble; Especially if the Bears improve the line and have a top 12 rushing unit, which I think they are capable of having next year if they have a good off-season).

Yeah, I wonder if Jones ends up getting less money than someone like Michael Turner because Turner has more "potential", since he hasn't started and some team is thinking they have a serious sleeper who will be a stud (based on the production Turner had backing up Ladanian). Jones on the other hand, eventually got replaced by Marion Barber (whose a darn good back, imo) and maybe some teams will not pay him big money since he isn't a star, yet he is still a very quality back who would give the Bears a boatload of depth and give me tons of confidence (plus it would allow the Bears to completely forget about taking a RB in the draft, since you'd have Peterson/Benson/Jones/Wolfe).

With the 14th pick there should be a good offensive lineman aboard and if the Bears did want to go for a QB one of Woodson/Brohm/Ryan will definitely be around (not that I'm implying they should take one of them). There is also a chance that a team at 18 or 20 may be interested in moving up to get there guy as the Bears probably would be able to get a similar graded tackle at 18 through 24 or so that they could get at 14 while picking up an additional first day pick. I think we'll have a better idea of the Bears plans pretty early because I think they'll be agressive in FA (plus I think BB will either be resigned before FA begins or probably be gone because he'll end up getting a ton of money on the full open market). I feel similarly about Briggs. It will be tough too because the Bears will have two key FA players in house and at the same time likely will be going hard after one of the major free agent olineman (and being able to land that many guys in a close span when the FA market begins March 1st is going to be really difficult).

Weird, I'd have thunk that the Lions two wins over the Bears would have pushed us ahead of them and given us the 14th pick. I hope we win the flip and get the 14th pick.

I would not be opposed to bringing in Julius Jones from Dallas. I think he is starting material and has started in this league in the past and would be able to compete with Benson with Peterson being used a ton in potential split back sets (where you have a major threat in throwing the ball to Peterson).

I'm sure Angelo and Lovie have already talked about this. As soon as the season was over (ie, when the team was eliminated), the front office and coaching staff had to begin planning for next season and my guess is they had an idea a week ago of whether Ron would be gone or not. They've obviously decided to keep him and I'm going to hope that the move pays off. The Bears definitely need to upgrade the line and potentially the skill positions on offense and I'm going to be interested in seeing how they go about that this off-season.

I figured i'd be the only one picking the Jaguars. I honestly think the Pats go to the superbowl but I have the Jaguars as the only team that can beat them. I think the Jags with a physical, run oriented attack, could go into a cold New England and really take it to the Pats. In the NFC I have the Packers finding a way to make it to the superbowl and honestly I have no idea who I would pick in the Pack/Jags game, but I'd be leaning towards the Pack because I'd love to see Favre win one and than go out on top (meaning next year, the Bears can forget about the Pack, LOL).

McGowan is a decent backup and I have no problem with him filling in when a guy is down but I definitely don't want the Bears counting/expecting him to start anywhere on the field next season (except on special teams). I like the way he plays agressive and how hard he hits but I'd like to think there are better options out there (in terms of starters).

The main objectives for Ron Turner this off-season (or the new offensive coordinator) are going to be to devise more ways to get Hester involved on offense (mainly just so he can be out there for a lot more plays and that way teams will have to eventually play off him allowing some of those gimmick reverse type plays to work), an improved rushing attack (and this will start with a new oline) and a way to devise more schemes that utilize the Bears TE's (Olsen/Clark).

I would agree, but he had an amazing season and his team didn't even make the playoffs. Brady has an impact with a ton of touches and really has more of an impact on a game. Same with tons of offensive players including LT, Willie Parker, Brian Westbrook, etc. Player of the year for the Bears...probably, in the league, not by a long shot, imo.

I think it is pretty incredibly what he has done in a two year span. I also think it is amazing how good of field position the offense seems to get at all times thanks to Devin. I really am excited to see what he can do when he's on the offensive side more and just how much better our offense should be next season in general (hopefully they can take advantage of that short field position and eventually force opponents to kick to Hester more often). Bottom line is that this was a pick I ripped from the get go, but there is no denying the type of game changer Devin is and I truly hope he can keep it up for an extended period of time. I also want to give a boatload of credit to Dave Toub and the rest of the guys on special teams because the Bears do an incredibly good job of blocking on the returns.

I don't buy into the curse crap, but I doubt Hester would be on it. My guess is you see Romo on the cover.

So are we locked in at the 15th pick?

I expect we will see what happens relatively quickly (by the end of next week) in terms of if Ron will be back or not. I do think we will see the Bears make chances at a couple coaching positions (which has been consistent with what they have done in the past couple seasons) and one of those changes will surely be related to the offensive line coach (and you may see some different assistants at other offensive positions as well). With Kyle/Rex probably sticking around, I'd say it makes it more likely that Ron's system or a similar system will be in place.

I will admit that I fully give Turner an A for the last two games play calling. My question is where was this playcalling the prior 14 games. I also have to say that the oline did a much better job blocking and picking up there assignments which really helped. Going back to what Pix said, I think if the offense line played decent all season we wouldn't even be talking about Ron being fired and this is coming from one of the people that has ripped him more than anyone this year. I like a lot of things Ron does and I think he's a pretty smart offensive guy but the thing that bothered me was this teams inability to make any sort of adjustments (That and I was disgusted at the lack of deep balls called in Rex's first 3 games this season). I must admit though, after these past two weeks, Turner may stick around and it could turn into a blessing in disguise. Also, the more I think about Martz, while I think he's smart, I do agree with LT that come playoff time the team would have a lot of trouble because it wouldn't be set to handle the cold weather conditions to at times make it out of the NFC.

I would absolutely love Martz to come to Chicago. When the Lions were having there resurrection early in the season (6-2 start) I thought for sure Martz was going to be leaving Detroit (but to become a head coach). Now it appears he will be getting an OC job somewhere and I see no reason why Chicago couldn't be the place. Martz is an offensive genius who seems to have learned from his failures late in his tenure in St. Louis (where he went away from the run as people forget he had a balanced offense early in his tenure in St. Louis). He did a nice job sticking with the run as best he could in Detroit but bottom line he didn't have any RB's and had to go away from it. His schemes have proven to be excellent and while I don't know if the Bears have the personell (we certainly do not have the WR's that the Lions had) but I think we have better backs (and no we don't have good backs) and what I think are potentially better QB's (sorry, but I can't stand one Jon Kitna, although I admit he battled his butt off this season). Lovie is also the type of guy that wouldn't have much of a problem handing over the reigns of the offense to another guy and there aren't many other guys I'd rather have the hands of our offense in. Give me Martz, Mularckey, or Sporano.

1st Crayton signs, now Sanders. Thats good money for a safety and quietly this may turn into a blessing for the Bears given Sanders injury history. Still, its no secret the Bears are going to have to sign and probably draft a safety.

I'll be pulling for a win and another great performance out of the defense (I want momentum for next year).

I could see Berrian getting damn near double the money on the open market. Crayton wouldn't get that much but he could have definitely gotten a lot more. Berrian has put up better numbers without having the ability to be more open (due to playing opposite Owens) and not having consistent QB play (Romo has been one of the best this year). Berrian is hands down a better WR than Crayton, although if the Bears lost Berrian I would have wanted the team to go after Crayton.

I think Woodson is a poor man version of Jamarcus Russel. Ie, he is more raw than the typical QB, but he has a lot of good tools and could end turn into one of the best picks in the draft (In Woodson's case he doesn't have quite the ridiculous measurables so he won't go #1 overall, which is good because I would never ever actually use a #1 pick cause it is assinine to tie up that much money to one guy who hasn't proven jack shit). In fact, unless Long is there, if the Bears end up picking top 10 I would trade down for a mid range 1st and a 2nd round pick (financially it is a smart thing to do and could be the difference in being able to resign or sign an extra one of our guys). David Haugh has an article in the Tribune which talks a bit more about all the money that ends up going into top 10 picks. The key is there would have to be a player on the board that other teams would want and be willing to trade up for.

What exactly was the point of signing Riddeau if he wasn't going to play this season (or is there some benefit to having him on your roster for next season?).

That doesn't seem like that bad of a contract. I'd be totally down with giving Berrian similar money. He'd probably ask for a lot more though.