Bearstalk

Got some tid bits from ESPN Chicago Blog - Due to some injuries, Bullocks started at FS and Afalava at SS. Per the reports, both played well, which may not mean a lot in terms of starting, but is a nice sign regardless. Also reading a lot of good about Afalava, who missed OTAs due to school, but is quickly learning and making an impression. - Jamar Williams got snaps at SLB, and may factor in the competition, which I don't think many expected. I have read Roach and Pisa have done well, but it could be that much more interesting if Williams is getting a legit look there. - Read this little tid bit about Beekman, which I have to say, is a surprise, Th…

http://blogs.suntimes.com/bears/2009/08/so...ign_center.html

espn.com

Found this at the end of an article on Rideau and thought I'd post it to give some props to Kreutz. Aside from his play this is why he's one of the team leaders: Center Olin Kreutz, a six-time Pro Bowler, remained on the field after practice to work one-on-one with guard Johan Asiata, an undrafted rookie free agent from UNLV. I've never heard of Asiata and yet here's our Pro Bowl center out there after practice helping him out.

I'm rooting for Orton to do great, but I laughed my ass off at this. From PFT: Orton hears a boo Posted by Mike Florio on August 6, 2009 10:57 PM ET Broncos quarterback Kyle Orton received a warm welcome from Denver fans during a Thursday night practice at Invesco Field. The crowd of 13,000-plus loudly booed the former Bear when he threw two interceptions and badly misfired on a pass to receiver Chad Jackson. Orton has been installed as the starter, for now, following an offseason trade that sent quarterback Jay Cutler to Chicago.

http://www.chicitysports.com/2009/08/07/he...centrate-on-wr/ Devin Hester isn't going to be returning kicks any longer (kicks) so he can concentrate on WR. How do you think that's going to turn out? He had 51 catches, 650 yards+, 3 TD's in his first season at WR with Orton. I expect him to do better with Cutler.

http://nfpost.com/Biggs-Will-Bears-extend-Cutler.html Its amazing what all you can find on Twitter. lol Thanks to Brad Biggs.

Camp starts at 3P tomorrow. How ealry should I arrive to get a good seat and my son not miss autographs?

With an estimated 20 mil of cap space and no-one to sign. What should JA do? (hindsight welcome)

The Packers are switching over to the 3-4 defense and after watching ESPNs update on Packer's camp and listening to their chat about how the DEs and LBs have to change roles somewhat I got to thinking how our offense will fare against them. I view the 3-4 as more of a stout run defense that gets it's pass rush in part because of the opportunities to bring a 4th or 5th pass rusher from multiple locations. Pass coverage with 4 LB has some limitations so the pass rush is key. They've got personnel issues with guys like Kampman, the Packer's best pass rusher, who now lines up as a LB. Which means he'll have to cover someone from time to time. On our side we're …

http://blogs.chicagosports.chicagotribune....y-practice.html Zack Bowman, hopefully hes fine for preseason. This is what happens when you consistently draft injury-prone college players

ESPN Chicago's twitter. I don't have it set up or anything, but here it is w/ all "tweets" listed. Keep clicking on more when you get to the bottom of the page. Plenty of fluff and worthless tweets, but also a crap load of little gems, IMHO. For example, I have never seen d linemen pushed this hard in practice in my six years covering the team. 1:35 PM Aug 2nd from txt Physical afternoon. Chris williams flattens adams. Walle taken down on run play to his side. 2:45 PM Aug 2nd from txt Kevin Jones attacking defenders like they owe him money. KJ one of the top standouts so far in camp. 7:42 PM Aug 2nd from txt Full pads again today. I'm surp…

Could disappoint in '09 Chicago Bears Why the pessimism? Believe it or not, the Bears had the third-worst pass defense in the league last year ... at least yardagewise (241.2 yards per game). They were fifth overall in stopping the run, which is a pretty wide gulf. Even with the arrival of Jay Cutler, I'm just not sure if the Bears offense is going to be significantly better this season since he doesn't have any reliable receivers to throw to. In other words, we could be in for more of the same. And oh, by the way ... Chicago only registered one special teams touchdown last season, which is certainly far less than we're accustomed to seeing from them. Worst-ca…

Jeff Dickerson, ESPN, tweeted that Marcus Harrison was taken off NFLI, and will practice today. As quick as that went, it seems to me the staff was making a statement to the kid.

http://www.chicitysports.com/2009/08/04/cu...rings-optimism/ Article on how Cutler has impacted the Bears so far. Looks at John Clayton's article where he gives the Bears a bunch of love. What do you think about think? Also talks about training camp and how Zachary Bowman is going to be a beast!

Comcast Sports Net reports that the Bears have named Greg Olsen the starter at TE. From what I saw at TC this is not surprising and its nothing against Des Clark(67 starts in a row) its just that Olsen has improved more each year and looks ready to blossom.

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/football/be...nson-04.article Some of the highlights from the article of the ass-turd's idiocy: "I'm sure they know they made a mistake [releasing me]," Benson said, "after the way I finished last season. But I'm not worried about them. It's in the past and I've moved on. I had a career-high in touches and yards in a little more than half a season, more than I ever had in Chicago. That tells you the story right there." There remains no love lost between Benson and ex-Bear Thomas Jones. The pair combined for 1,857 rushing yards during 2006 en route to the Super Bowl, the same season that Jones once slugged Benson in practice. …

http://www.chicitysports.com/2009/08/04/we...aption-that-85/ caption contest...do one haha....hopefully somebody can bring the lulz. We can get some good responses, it's of Plaxico Burress

At the bottom of an article about Zach Bowman was this little tidbit about how Jon Hoke has changed our CBs coverage technique: ******************************************************************************** ******************** http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/footb...0,2983877.story Then came organized team activities, and the new emphasis on coverage technique that played into Bowman's skills beautifully. "We've done more backpedaling this year than I ever have in my life and that has helped me a lot," Bowman said. "They are teaching us to stay square for a longer period of time. Last year they were telling us to open up any time we felt threate…

I thought I'd start a new thread for this, since it's not clear how much of it is related to Tillman's injury and how much is not. Here are the changes in the secondary so far: - Danieal Manning is back at FS... - ...but Craig Steltz will replace him in the nickel package. On obvious passing downs, Manning will move to nickel back (although Jeff Dickerson suggests that Corey Graham might get some snaps there as well.) - In the base package, Steltz is the backup SS behind Kevin Payne. - Corey Graham is back at corner... - ...but Zack Bowman is the starter at left corner in Tillman's absence. So, unless I'm wrong, our secondary depth c…