Bearstalk

OK, this is the official sign up thread for this year's Pick'em Contests. DBDB has said he would give me access to upload the contest to the internet. It will be awhile before the software for 2008 is available for me to purchase and download. So, this is just an early sign-up thread that will continue until approximately a week before the season begins. The cutoff date will be announced later. Those of you from Bearstalk are all aware of the contests that I have been running for many years now. "Pixote's Challenge" is an office pool that is absolutely free to the poster participating. I have not decided if there will be any prizes. Usually, it is just for …

Can't believe there wasn't a thread for this yet. Out 2 weeks, anyway.

Reports out of the Halas are that Brandon Lloyd is by far the best WR in the bunch. Fan Favorite Mike Hass will most likely be packing his bags as he will most likely be a practice player again and the Bears may let him pursue a shot with another team. Riddeau, Bennett, and Monk have all looked better than Hass so they will be competing for roster spots. Right now, the WR spots fill up as: Booker, Lloyd, Davis, Bennett, Bradley, Monk. (Hester also, but more of ST). Bradley is now walking with out his brace. St. Clair is still holding the LT spot, until Williams can "officially" take it from him in competiton. Beekman has been taking snaps at C with the seco…

http://www.profootballtalk.com/category/rumor-mill/ NO TAKERS FOR BENSON Posted by Mike Florio on June 12, 2008, 5:54 p.m. Adam Schefter of NFL Network reports that the running back Cedric Benson was unclaimed via waivers. Every team had a crack at Benson, and could have made a claim for him through waivers. The team that landed him would have picked up the last two years of Benson’s contract, at $820,000 for 2008. As it now stands, Benson is an unrestricted free agent. He might remain on the shelf until pending legal troubles resulting from two arrests in roughly a month are resolved. Or until a team starts losing tailbacks to injury during tra…

I really hope he gets picked up by anyone but Denver. If this kid had a team around him that could block for $H!+ he would be able to put up some really good numbers. I am personally quite upset with the decision to kick him after these questionable run ins with the "law" Nfo made me feel a little better with his post about Ced but unless we get a healthy Kevin Jones (who would need to learn the offense still) I am still very scared about our RB depth. That and the article about Ced never wanting to be here tempers my anger at this (IMO) hurried and shortsighted decision on Angelo's part. I can understand everyone likes to blame the RB for the failur…

I will be running Fantasy Football Leagues for the forum this year. I am not sure if I will go with Yahoo or CBS but I assure you it will be free to the poster entering. Until I decide which site to use, CBS or Yahoo, the only thing I can give you for details for sure is: I like to run 12 team leagues with HIGH SCORING, in other words, points for just about everything, LOL. I usually run it with team defense/st. I usually have multiple flex positions and LARGE rosters. I INSIST ON A LIVE DRAFT!! So if you join, I hope you will be in the draft room on time!! Nothing is worse than having a team auto drafted during a live draft and selecting players …

Where will Benson go, and what will it mean. Houston - No doubt they have a need. Ahman Green is only getting older and slower. They were even desperate enough to bring in Chris Brown. Houston has upgraded their OL over the last two years. They have a pretty good QB, with a pretty good backup. And they have one of the best WRs in the game. In Houston, Benson would have a shot to fight for a starting job, and if won, could actually have a chance to do well. Denver - They have no true franchise back on the roster, and felt RB was a great enough need to add Michael Pittman. This is a team where RBs find it much easier to gain 1,000 yards, and frankly, is a…

NFL | K. Jones hopes to hear from Bears Wed, 11 Jun 2008 09:59:54 -0700 Vaughn McClure, of The Chicago Tribune, reports free-agent RB Kevin Jones (Lions) hopes to hear from the Chicago Bears, according to a source close to Jones. If we signed Jones this would be a good one two punch for the Bears and their running game. Granted Jones is not the fastest back, but he is a hard runner between the tackes and can save on the wear and tear on Forte.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-b...p&type=lgns LeCharles Bentley and his agent asked for a release and they got it. This is because Bentley wants to start somewhere new with the chance of starting and not being a backup plan. If you recall, a couple years ago Bentley was an up-and-comming stud on the O-Line and signed with the Browns to a massive contract. Unfortunatly, he had a career threatening injury and hasn't played for the past 2 years. However, from all reports he is healthy again. Now, I am not one to propose all these goofy ideads, and Bentley is probably not the same player he used to be, but I'd still have more faith in him than Metcalf…

Urlacher is there! According to Zack Zaidman Urlacher is on the field in uniform stretching right now. Nobody expected him to be there especially so soon. Makes you wonder if maybe he and bears management is starting to make progress...

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=Ak8S...ype=team_report Is this going to be like the Falcons of last year, switching QB's every other week? Or are we going to finally get down to business and designate a final starting QB. I thought signing Grossman in the offseason was a sign of him becoming the starter again this season. I hope that sometime soon we'll find out which one we're going with. (P.S. Grossman #8 --- McNown #8) I hope the number is given away with future QB draft picks.

Per ESPN radio1000. Benson released.

Sorry, been unable to spend time on the keyboard of late (nice timing). I have been among Benson's strongest advocates. While I still question the police tactics on the boat, I think Benson blew it on the recent situation. Whether he was drunk or not, whether he should have blown or not, whatever. To me, that is all beside the point. Last year, I blasted Tank. After getting into so much trouble, Tank getting caught drinking and driving (regardless how much) at the wee hours of the morning to me showed he simply had not learned his lesson. I see little difference here for Benson. I thought Benson learned his lesson. He showed up to camp in shape, a…

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/cs-08...,3247255.column He wasn't crying because he was overcome with joy or pride. He wasn't crying over the honor of running in the city where Walter Payton ran or playing for a proud franchise that reveres its football stars or any other reason he has offered the past three years. No, Cedric Benson cried on the day of the NFL draft in 2005 because he was upset the Bears took him with the fourth overall selection. Benson was bugged that Jerry Angelo decided to draft him despite Benson's representatives making clear in a last-minute phone call that they and the Bears weren't on the same page regarding fundame…

Not saying we do in fact sign a vet but if we did who would you want? I personally want Jones. Sure he's comming off an injury, but with the right structured contract he could be had for a bargain. I like alexander and jordan, but fear that Turner would use them like he used benson. In on mostly running plays and a very minimum passing plays. This is what makes us so darn predictable. K. Jones would keep the opposing defense guessing, cause he's more rounded and accomplished at the passing game than alexander and jordan. If healthy I view a K jones and M Forte 1-2 punch much more powerful than what we had with TJ and Bumsen. Remember: Jones did break our streak of…

Let's put everything together... 1) Reports have come out that he hated being drafted by the Bears, thus the crying 2) Numerous stupid statements in the media - begins to irritate the fan-base 3) Hold out - immediately getting the management and city against him 4) Pouting because he was behind TJ, a superior RB as far as production (and biceps) - irritates all 5) More stupid comments - Irritation level rising 6) Allegations of playing soft, and not playing while hurt (read: hurt is not injured) - irritates teammates 7) Bears cut Tank - precedent set 8) Boat incident Pause. This is where we need to pause and realize that this guy KNEW he was on th…

Sayonara... Report: Cedric Benson arrested on drunken driving charges June 7, 2008 BY SUN-TIMES STAFF The Austin American-Statesman is reporting that Chicago Bears running back Cedric Benson was arrested last night on drunken driving charges in Austin. Benson was arrested last month in Texas for boating while intoxicated. http://www.suntimes.com/sports/football/be...son0608080.stng Chicago Bears running back Cedric Benson arrested on drunken driving charge By Tony Plohetski | Saturday, June 7, 2008, 08:47 AM Chicago Bears and former University of Texas running back Cedric Benson was arrested and charged with drun…

Benson's lawyer, Sam Basset, was just on Chicago Tribune Live and said he has spoken to law enforcement officials and people in the DA's office and all of them say Benson looks fine in the video of the field sobriety test. He also says it is confirmed Benson could be heard on the tape saying he wanted to take a blood test and the officer responding "well I'm offering you a breath test". Mr. Basset said the law in Texas allows the driver to take either the breath or the blood test and that the blood test is considered more accurate. This is a far cry from the officer's affidavit saying that he could not balance himself without swaying and that he was severely slurring his …

MARCUS ROBINSON RETIRES AS A BEAR Posted by Josh Alper on June 9, 2008, 11:16 a.m. In a move greeted with less fanfare than Brett Favre’s, wide receiver Marcus Robinson has announced his intention to retire as a member of the Chicago Bears. Robinson actually had retirement thrust upon him when the Vikings cut him on Christmas Eve 2006 after he criticized Brad Childress and others with the team. He tried to catch on with the Detroit Lions - Matt Millen never met a wide receiver he didn’t like - but they didn’t have a spot for him. Robinson spent three years with the Vikings and was with the Ravens for one season in 2003. Robinson spent five years with Chicag…

Just curious. I feel it nearly serves as evidence in the boating case, proving a pattern of poor judgement, but I'm curious to see what others think. Has it changed your opinion?