balta1701-A

Agreed, but the other side of the token is...he's also been a 4-3 guy for most of his career IIRC. But anywho, the Chargers might not have left themselves much of a choice. There really aren't that many other names on the market right now who have had a lot of attention recently, so it may wind up being a "we both want this, let's see if we can figure out some way to work it out" scenario.

Unfortunately, with the salary cap, there are only so many positions where you can keep around multiple people in case of injury. If the team really was worried about Harris or Johnson, then either you hold onto him or you prioritize DT in the draft. But I would think that filling in a backup/learning role behind Harris and Johnson is something that a 2nd day pick might be useful for. Unless you find a really good, irresistible first day pick, who knows with Angelo's draft record. It's something to put on the list, but there are other slots to fill as well.

No. But then again...how many teams in the NFL can win a super bowl with their backup QB?

Usually it takes most QB's worth their salt somewhere between 16-32 games started for the game around them to really start slowing down, to the point where they're reading and adapting to the defense as well as they need to be. Before that, a lot of QB's will have some good games and some bad games. Rex is a little different, just because he's been on the bench for so many years, but it still seems like there's no substitute for game experience, even for guys like Palmer, Romo, Rivers, etc., who sat on the bench for well over a year. Rex should be expected to show significant improvement this year. There will be no excuses if he does not.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with having the opponent decide that they don't want to kick off to your main return guy...as long as you don't do something stupid and stick him at the 30 yard line hoping the opponent won't notice. If the opponent is too scared to kick to your guy, then that dramatically improves your field position, because either the opponent has to squib kick it to one of the up guys and you start near the 35-40 (although you need to keep hands guys on the field so they don't fumble), or they kick it out of bounds and you start at the 40. You don't have to score a touchdown for a kick returner to make a huge difference in a game.

Not yet, but it's entirely possible he could be available if the Texans are tired of the last 4 years of futility.

The "You can't keep replacing guys" part. If nothing else, that statement makes me think about the New England Patriots.

I think he'll wind up in Minnesota. The Bears just aren't going to spend enough money on the QB position this offseason with what they already have compared to a team that really needs a QB. Oh, and 37 year old QB's are in general a bad idea anyway, who cares what they did the season before.

I think a quite big issue for Mr. Jones may be whether or not he can work his way into a new contract before this year starts. I highly doubt he's going to want to hit the Free Agent market at the end of 07 with another year on his treads and no established contract. If he could find someone willing to do a sign and trade, even if it just added a year or two, I bet he'd push hard for it.

Dallas is considering the same sort of "Horrible choice", as they've spent the last 2 years drafting for the 3-4 and running it, and Rivera (even if he was just brought in to DC) is a 4-3, Cover-2 guy, and has said he'd run the 4-3 if he went to Dallas also.

If Rivera leaves, I don't think it would be a terrible idea for the Bears to at least consider looking outside the organization, if for no other reason than to just shake up the staff and bring in some fresh thinking every now and then. Considering how much input Lovie certainly has on the defense, the occasional different thought might do some good.

Here's an article that ran at UCLA on the subject 2 years ago.

Because Jones only got about 15 carries in the whole game. Not a lot of carries to move around when you're 3 and out.

From TMQ

Given that the Bears to my eyes don't have any huge holes, unless there's someone in the 1st round who they just see as screaming "Take me, i'll be dominant!", I would think very closely about trading downwards in the draft again to try to pick up an extra 2nd or 3rd round pick. Especially with the job Angelo has done finding guys in lower rounds in recent drafts.

Of course, part of the reason why the defense was camped out on the field was that the defense had a ton of difficulty getting off the field. Major struggles on 3rd down.

So, ignoring Willie's suggestion for a moment, a much more practical question is this: what exactly do the Bears do about Grossman's contract? Do the Bears consider letting him become a Free Agent, knowing that they have the Franchise tag in their back pocket next offseason, or do they try to work out a deal with him for a few years now while the memory of this game is still fresh enough to drive his price down?

Thank you. If Rex has a sh*tty offseason, doesn't work, just starts pouting, loses the confidence of his teammates, and generally just comes into next season unprepared, then we can start talking about a replacement. But the Bears didn't lose last night because of 1 guy, they lost because of a bunch of guys. When Peyton Manning embarassed himself in those games against the Patriots in the playoffs, the Colts didn't just discard him. The good news though is that the Bears still have a ton of talent, most of it pretty young, and an awful lot of room for improvement. They also have cap space, and a good recent history of coming up with a lot of quality players in the draft. The only thing that will stop this team from being right there again next year, other than even worse injuries than they suffered this year (which basically means Urlacher) is panic.

Based on that, then the Bears need an entirely new Defensive line also, because they certainly couldn't cut it either.

There's nothing wrong with requiring Rex to earn his job next year as well, but on paper the job should be his to lose.

Unless cap considerations wind up saying that the Bears can't hold onto Briggs at the same time as holding onto both RB's, then absolutely the best option is to stick with both. It's not just good for one of them, it's good for both. Jones gets to earn money and play out another year on his contract, and I think it's doubtful he'd get the same kind of money anywhere else that he's getting now (although I'm not up to date 100% on his contract, someone can tell me if I'm wrong...there is a small risk he could decide to hold out this offseason for a new deal if I am) Benson gets another year where he can grow up a little bit more, learn to be a better blocker/receiver, and hopefully avoid taking as many hits early in his career so he winds up a little more durable.

Man, you guys are going to be excessively harsh on him all offseason aren't you? I guess it's hard to defend him, but I'll sit here all night and say that this game was won and lost in the trenches. The Colts O-Line won this game.

If I could vote for co-MVP's, I take the Indy O-Line. They aren't the sexy guys getting the ball, but they won that game.

I think it would be more ironic for the game to end on a sack of Manning. At least the game wasn't decided by the Refs this year, I'll give it that.

I blame this thread for the performance of the Bears D-Line.