Bearstalk

Several articles out about how the team is not raising ticket prices this year. Frankly, at first I didn't think much of it. Team not raising ticket prices? Big deal. Then I began to read the articles. - The team, as most, have raised prices each year. Standard cost of living raises basically. This year no such thing though. - City of Chicago's amusement tax will increase from 8 percent to 9 percent. The bears plan to simply eat this increase, rather than pass it along to the fans. - Bears will now accept credit cards for the first time in its history. The team will pay a fee of 2 1/2 percent to credit card companies for every ticket purchased with…

I guess he's interviewing today, but odds are extremely unlikely that he'd accept the job. According to his agent, there's no way: http://www.collegefootballtalk.com/2009/02...r-to-pitt-talk/ While it would be utterly awesome if he excepted this job, it seems like the only way is if Wanny offers some sexual favors and he gets a nice big 3-4 year contract, which would make no sense for Pitt. However, it would be awesome if he did get the job, we bring in a new OC from the outside, and bring in a whole new offensive staff.

It's his show now Take it from Madden: Smith calling defensive plays makes a lot of sense February 7, 2009 BY BRAD BIGGS bbiggs@suntimes.com When Bears coach Lovie Smith announced the day after the season ended that everything was going to be reviewed, he left little doubt change was coming. Whether it's change you can believe in is too early to tell, but change has arrived. Smith has moved veteran minicamp up almost three months. The mandatory three-day session begins March 17 and will allow the new assistants to acquaint themselves with the players and enable free-agent pickups to get into the system before the voluntary offseason program begins. Lo…

It seems Carolina's quandry will come to a head on Feb 19th, when they will have to decide what to do about the Gross/Peppers problem if Peppers continues to demand to be traded and Gross does not sign a long term deal. I would love to have Gross added to our roster. Peppers is wanting to go to a 3-4 defense so that would be out of our area. Article about Carolina's FA decisions with Peppers & Gross

Would we have any interest in Holt or Pace? http://www.rotoworld.com/content/HeadLines...L&hl=138939 Holt: Good hands and with his age isn't as much of a deep threat as he once was. For other teams that would be a problem. But with a dink and dunk offense that focuses on accuracy and has limited creativity. Holt would allow Lloyd expendable. Pace Going into his 13th year age is an issue. Injury is another issue. However, two things: A third round pick is cheep for a tackle like Pace. We have shown in the past not to have too many problems bringing aged lineman. Second, imagine being Pace, locked into a long term deal and knowing your team …

We are 10 days until the Combine kicks off. Players will start moving up and down the draft boards shortly, so I'll take another stab at who I think the Bears will take come April. 1-18 Chicago Bears Big names available: Jeremy Maclin WR, Percy Harvin WR, Hakeem Nicks WR, Duke Robinson G, James Laurinitis LB, Michael Johnson DE, Larry English DE. The Bears select Jeremy Maclin WR as they follow the copy cat league in trying to find the next Larry Fitzgerald or Santonio Holmes. 2-49 Chicago Bears Big names available: Phil Loadholdt OT, Fenuki Topou OT, Herman Johnson G, Brian Robiske WR, Patrick Chung SS. The Bears select Phil Loadholdt OT t…

For those potentially interested in him as a FA... Furrey is out there. They released a few other guys, but no other name seemed of interest or was recognizable to me. There was mention of a safety, but I couldn't remember the name.

I knocked on the office door, and the old man answered. He was hunched over, with sunken eyes and brown skin that looked weathered. He wore a blue Members Only jacket, denim jeans and white Reebok sneakers. When he walked, his feet shuffled, reminding me of my 83-year-old grandmother making her way through her Florida assisted living community. The date was Feb. 15, 1999, and I was visiting a suburban Chicago office complex to meet Walter Payton, the Bears' Hall of Fame running back who had recently announced that he was suffering from primary sclerosing chonlangitis, a rare (and deadly) liver disease. I was assigned the piece by Sports Illustrated, whic…

Who would you take if we had the #1 overall pick? I'd take Crabtree. It's just the Fitzgerald factor- after watching him over the playoffs, I think he's the closest thing to Fitz that's come out in a while- good size, good hands, not overwhelming speed, quiet guy, etc.

http://www.footballsfuture.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=296486 Guy i always thought would be great, maybe in a cover2 would resurrect a career...

http://blogs.suntimes.com/bears/2009/02/fo...9_the.html#more Makes sense, if we get a good corner either thru free agency or the draft and move Tillman to FS we take care of 2 needs by only picking up one player and can focus on fixing other needs then.

The college all-star games have come and gone, and NFL prospects and teams are looking toward the upcoming combine. Individual workouts and combine showings certainly will affect the stock of many top prospects over the next few weeks, but enough questions have been answered for Scouts Inc. to present its first two-round mock draft of 2009. Here's how we see things shaking down at this point: Note: * denotes junior; ** denotes draft-eligible third-year sophomore 1. Detroit Lions (Record: 0-16): Matthew Stafford*, QB, Georgia Yes, his inconsistency can be frustrating, his footwork needs polishing and he must learn to take some heat off his fastball whe…

Profootballtalk.com listed what they have projected for team's cap numbers: http://www.profootballtalk.com/2009/02/11/...ers/#more-11223 They have the Bears listed at 104 million, meaning we're 20 million under the 124 million cap. Which sounds great, until you realize that 15 other teams have as much or more money to spend then the Bears. Twenty-five teams have at least 10 million to spend. Our capmeister LT projected we'd have 27 million to spend, and I believe that completely. But I'm guessing that many other teams are like the Bears with more money to spend. I mainly point this out because it appears to be a seller's market. ESPN has a nice list of …

Last year the Bears announced they were cutting ties with Darwin Walker, Fred Miller, and Mushin Muhammed on the same day. I'm pretty sure it was around then they announced they'd extended Alex Brown and were parting with Ruben Brown. I mainly remember this because I was home celebrating Barack Obama day, which allowed me to listen to the SCORE for 12 hours straight. With Barack Obama day coming up this Monday, I was wondering if we'll see a similar "big day" of announcements coming soon, and if so, who's on the chopping block? It seems that Vasher is safe. But what about Tait? Booker? Wale??? Will we officially cut ties with Lloyd, Mike Brown, Rex .…

Bears | Showing interest in Heyward-Bey Wed, 11 Feb 2009 15:18:07 -0800 Brad Biggs, of the Chicago Sun-Times, reports the Chicago Bears are known to be interested in University of Maryland WR Darrius Heyward-Bey.

Rams | Team has little wiggle room under cap Wed, 11 Feb 2009 05:24:57 -0800 Nick Wagoner, of stlouisrams.com, reports the St. Louis Rams have roughly $14 million in cap space. However, the team must budget a little less than half of that open space to the rookie class that must be signed following the NFL Draft, which leaves little wiggle room to re-shape the roster with the cap situation as it stands. Rams | Negotiations with Atogwe expected to intensify soon Wed, 11 Feb 2009 13:11:42 -0800 Nick Wagoner, of StLouisRams.com, reports the St. Louis Rams are believed to begin serious negotiations with impending free-agent FS Oshiomogho Atogwe later thi…

Here are the free agents at the safety position, restricted and unrestricted. RESTRICTED: Jamaal Fudge, Falcons. Dustin Fox, Bills. Dawan Landry, Ravens. John Busing, Bengals. Nate Salley, Panthers. Atari Bigby, Packers. Jarrad Page, Chiefs. Abram Elam, Jets. Anthony Smith, Steelers. Reed Doughty, Redskins. UNRESTRICTED: Lawyer Milloy, Falcons. Jim Leonhard, Ravens. Mike Brown, Bears. Brandon McGowan, Bears. Cameron Worrell, Bears. Mike Adams, Browns. Sean Jones, Browns. Chris Crocker, Bengals. Marlon McCree, Broncos. Keith Davis, Cowboys. Nick Ferguson, Texa…

Hey Gang, With the retirement supposedly of Brett Favre once again from the Jets, speculation is that Mark Sanchez is going to fall all the way down to the 17th pick which the Jets currently own. I know that we need a lot of help on both sides of the ball however, would it be in our best interest if Sanchez is falling that far down that some how Angelo gets his head out of his ass and moves up one or two spots to grab Sanchez. It would be nice to obtain a great receiver however, if we are not able to get the ball to him down field, what the hell good is the receiver to us? It just seems that as the draft goes on and Sanchez has not moved, that the Bears talk with …

Sign Byron Leftwich- 3 years, $13 million. ---Angelo has already been public that he wants a veteran QB in here, Leftwich likes Lovie, and I don't know of another FA QB who could come here. Sign Mike Goff- 3 years, $19 million. ---Angelo goes out and gets the best OG on the market. Sure, he's 33, but he's still good and is from Illinois, which could play into his decision. Buh-bye to: Tait, Hillenmeyer, McKie, Vasher, Garza, and Miller. Re-sign St Clair (1 year, 2 million), Roach (2 years, 1.8 million), and Idonije (3 years, 10 million). 1. Darrius Heyward-Bey, WR, Maryland ---Lovie loves speed and it's been made public the FO likes this guy. 2. Jairus …

At this point, John St. Clair figures he's headed out into the open market. Free agency begins in two weeks, on Feb. 27, and the veteran offensive tackle has yet to hear from the Bears. "I feel I have no choice,'' St. Clair said. "If you haven't heard anything, of course you're going to the market. I haven't heard anything as of yet. I'm just down here [in Florida] enjoying my time off.'' The quiet front doesn't mean the Bears have ruled St. Clair, who started 16 games at left tackle last season, out of their plans. The organization has been going through meetings to plot the offseason plan and teams retain exclusive negotiating rights with their own pl…