Bearstalk

It's time to start some predictions about who steps up this year to contribute more than expected heading into training camp. Last years' defensive surprise had to be McBride who ended up getting a lot of playing time last year and did well in coverage. He was talked about quite a bit in camp. If there was an offensive surprise last year although Olson made a lot of highlight catches in camp. As a first round pick that was kinda expected. This year my picks will be: Defense/special teams - Corey Graham. This kid played well on special teams at the end of the year I think he ends up as our 3rd CB this year ahead of McBride. 3rd CB does not mean he…

Aside from the obvious concern over who will be the number one signal caller,I am a bit concerned about the O-line. With my visit to TC yesterday I couldn't help but feel a little concerned about the fact that our pro bowl center and our number one draft pick OT were not in pads even though its early in TC.This not only hurts the lines cohesiveness but also strains the depth with guys taking additional reps in some extremely humid conditions with last night being an exception as the temp seemed to be pretty comfortable once the sun went down. With that being said there were only 5 OTs on the roster to begin TC and now one is down.2 are 9 and 10 year veterans respectively …

In an Article from the Chicago Sun-Times.com Tillman states that in the NFL offense sells tickets, but not our offense. Think that might tick off the Bears offense?

On the Bears website in the ChalkTalk with Larry Meyer it has this Q&A: I would have never thought that Payton fumbled the Ball 85 times in 13 seasons. In retrospect, that is only 6.5 fumbles a season.

NBC GAMES WILL STREAM LIVE Posted by Mike Florio on July 25, 2008, 11:35 p.m. For the first time ever, NFL games will stream over the Internet. And they’ll be available for viewing at the whopping cost of zero dollars, zero cents. Wow. According to Terry Lefton and John Ourand of SportsBusiness Journal, whose story will be published on July 28, the 17 NBC games will be available for viewing at NFL.com and NBCSports.com. The apparent plan is to use the televised broadcast, with ads sold specifically for the web sites inserted in place of the commercials. Other NFL broadcast partners aren’t happy with the development, according to SBJ. “The NF…

Boston Boxer informed me he will have to withdraw from league 2 of the TalkBears FFL. LEAGUE 2 DRAFTS SUN AUG 24 AT 8:00 AM CDT (LIVE DRAFT) Anyone interest? Let me know ASAP. email me at j.w.sheridan@comcast.net and reply to this post. This is a free league. ConnorBear, Bowlingtwig, DrunkBomber, A Friend of DrunkBomber, Brian Bear, Venom Sox, Alaskan Grizzly, 50England50, & Pixote are the teams you will play against.

Will he finally stay healthy for a change?

Bears | Orton appears to have upper hand Fri, 25 Jul 2008 08:36:59 -0700 John Clayton, of ESPN.com, reports Chicago Bears QB Kyle Orton appears to have the edge over QB Rex Grossman in the team's quarterback competition. At this point, the job appears to be Orton's to lose because he has less of a chance of losing games. Orton simply makes fewer mistakes than Grossman, even though Grossman possesses the stronger arm.

HESTER HAS HURT HAMMY Posted by Michael David Smith on July 25, 2008, 7:23 p.m. Although Bears receiver/return man Devin Hester reported to training camp today, he did not practice, and multiple media outlets in Chicago are reporting that he has an injured hamstring. The Daily Herald reports that when Hester was asked if he would practice without a contract extension, he answered, “I have no comment on that.” But Hester did say he decided to end his brief holdout after Bears General Manager Jerry Angelo and coach Lovie Smith told him they thought they could make progress on a contract extension. “Progress was starting to move, and it was looking good, …

Heard on Score a minute ago.

Think there would be any interest? I am surprised he was released. Other than Chambers who they picked up in a trade last year, their WR corps is kind of thin.

As per the SCORE. I hope like hell this is just a precautionary measure and not something that's going to linger all season long. Remember how Urlacher missed so many practices with "general soreness" last training camp? Tillman is practicing however Hester is not. (They didn't say why Hester's not practicing.)

We had a thread months ago speculating on the value of trading Hester. In light of him threatening to hold out for the season, and knowing we have several other players with excellent return ability, not nearly as much as Hester, but still could be effective return men, would you consider now trading Hester? Is it conceivable that we could get a #1 for him? Would a team give up that much to get the #1 return man in the NFL and the potential to be a top flight WR? If I thought he would be a season long holdout, I would say yes, trade him for a #1 or maybe a #2 & #4. I am just not convinced this holdout will last very long. Although it may hold bac…

This to me is a bigger concern, more important to the Bears success this year, than David Hester trying to strike it rich. I will be looking more at this and the development of the offense as a result than David "I am mad and I want my money now" Hester. Bears' season on the line

http://www.chicagobears.com/news/NewsStory.asp?story_id=4887 nice work JA

I posted this to equate to the Hester situation. It may belong in the Hester thread. Both are 3rd year players that have way outdone their rookie deals. Maybe JA and Parker will look at that as a reference. Hester should make no less than Colston, but not a lot more - IMO.

http://maddenlist.com/2008/07/23/3232-chicago-bears/ Devin Hester is going to dominate and our defense is sick nasty. We are a top 10 team in madden easily.

http://blogs.chicagosports.chicagotribune....-camp-da-1.html Bears camp: Day 2 Bears fans, welcome to our running blog from Bears training camp. The posts are from Tribune reporters Vaughn McClure and David Haugh. Let's go ... 3:45 p.m. Bears general manager Jerry Angelo, sitting at the ESPN 1000 radio both here, said Devin Hester will be rewarded and that the team understands his value. Angelo also said rookie tackle Chris Williams will be "fine" after Williams left practice today with back stiffness. "Nothing to be overly alarmed about," Angelo said of of the team's first-round pick. 1:58 p.m. You can imagine the reaction after Rex Grossman just fumble…

I was just browsing though the colunmists blogs for the papers and caught that Williams hurt his back and walked off under his own power. Not good.

I've made the statement here that we could win or lose 10 games this season and it wouldn't surprise me. So I'm probably being a bit of a negative "chicken little" myself. But really, with QB play that sucked donkey balls last year, we had a season in which... We swept the Packers, a playoff team and almost a Superbowl team. We played the Superbowl winner to a 5 point loss in December. We lost twice to the Vikings by an average of 5 points. We finished the season with 2 wins in our last two games. We also managed to lose to the damn Lions twice which we know isn't likely to happen again any time soon. Since then, we've improved the offensi…