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The Bears players want Burress? Are they that poorly armed?

That's one reason to not go to Cub games.

I'd take it as a message that you draw the line at a point that involves accountability on the part of both the players and the NFL testing program. The NFL made a mistake here, as did the players, which is why this situation is so unique.

If you consider Tommie Harris to be a young D-Line player, then I agree. I think getting Harris back to something closer to his pre-injury form would be the biggest shift for that Bears D.

This is a team that can win a Super Bowl.

Not when Denver already has the team's 1st round pick next year.

Someone on the defense, because they all looked so bad last year. Perhaps Harris?

I'm still one of the opinion that even the best safeties look mediocre if you can't get pressure on a QB, and mediocre safeties will be all over the field if the opposing QB is scrambling and doesn't have time to look around.

Hanie's going to have 2 great games and the Bears will go in to next season with a QB Controversy.

On the latter part, I vote Hester. He becomes uncoverable if you have a QB who can actually hit him with the ball on the fly. You have to give him a 20 yard cushion at the LOS because otherwise he'll blow past you if you're a CB, and that leaves him wide open on anything underneath.

And...he ought to have a much more reliable running game with Forte...and if he can't get in a good position, he ought to have a defense that can help him out a lot more. And he ought to have a defense and special teams that has the ability to give him really good field position.

In terms of balance...don't set out with that being a goal. If this team works right...Cutler should make this offense absolutely click, and the defense should be able to go back to being opportunistic because it shouldn't have to worry about losing a game because it gives up 1 score. Turn Cutler loose in the first half. Use the run as a backup to keep them Honest, but if Cutler is the guy, then let him be the guy and let him make things happen. In terms of balance...worry about that in the 2nd half. Get your lead in the first half and use the run to wear them down and run out the clock in the 2nd.

If this O-Line can keep the pass rush off of Cutler...between the fact that the Bears have a much better RB than the Broncos and the fact that by every account the Bears should have a vastly better defense than the Broncos...the only thing that should stop the Bears WR corps from putting up better numbers than the Broncos WR corps is that last year the Broncos always had to outscore everyone and couldn't just run out the clock at the end of the game, whereas hopefully the Bears will be doing that a few times this season.

I am totally unconvinced that any team will offer him anything until they know he won't be spending 2 years in jail.

Everyone would be.

Was I wrong with the impression that Dusty seemed to play darn well the first few games last year but then completely fell apart? I do agree, this camp seems like his last shot.

You have to figure that list doesn't bode well for everyone on it.

When is the last opportunity to put a hit on this year's cap? If the Bears are holding that much room, if Cutler wanted to hold out you'd spend it on him now to get him in camp, but it makes sense to keep a little space open early in the year to give you a chance to go after training camp cuts or someone to fill in if you lose a player to injury early in the year. Locking him up as of September/October, while still taking the hit on this year's cap, would be the wisest way to go.

The other thing to keep in mind with Orton was...he's an unrestricted FA at the end of this season. Cutler isn't. So simply making that deal ensures the Bears won't have to overpay for Orton just to have a warm body at the QB slot. The Broncos are risking that.

If you're going to slam Wolfe in to a bigger D-Line, having a bigger guy in front of him to absorb the first blows might actually make it work.

Anyone else think that an improved blocking TE/FB also has the ability to make Wolfe a much more effective runner?

The response to that is pretty simple...do you think the Bears are currently an old team? When I say an Old team, I'm thinking about a team who's window is closing, like the Bucs a year or two after they'd won their super bowl, where that defense was getting old and guys were moving on or wearing down. Or Tennessee in McNair's last year...they went in to major cap saving mode and cut a ton of people, and were pretty bad for a year or two. The Bears have a couple guys on the back side of their careers; Urlacher and Kreutz come to mind, but I think they're probably in better position for the long-term than they were after their super bowl appearance, esp. after this offseason. The Bears have some positions they need to rotate younger people in...O-Line, DE, ILB...but there's also other positions where they have a number of people who can step in, and they may still have a couple years with some of those guys too. They don't strike me as a team that is about to break down due to age or cap constraints.

This guy strikes me as an excellent addition for the Bears. A guy who's underrated because of his size but who will just do nothing but perform. Those are the kind of moves that turn good teams in to title contenders.

Unfortunately this team is actually going to start running in to limits on roster spots pretty soon. They try to keep extra depth in the D-Backfield because they don't have anything firm there, there's extra guys along the D-Line from the drafting, we've added 3 O-linemen this year and had 1 retire and only 1 left via FA, there's a couple new WR out there, etc. A team can only keep extra depth at so many positions. Would be kinda nice if the NFL expanded the rosters a bit one of these years.