Pixote

Agreed, we need Williams signed NOW!

He is the insurance policy we needed in case of injury to Forte.

Now that would be great news if it comes to being. If he visits and we do not sign him I would not be upset because that means they suspect he is not going to be healthy enough to contribute. Why bring him in unless you are interested in signing him "IF" healthy? Then if they do not sign him then does that mean we bring in another option? This also means, as I suspected all along and said in several posts, Angelo isn't finished setting the lineup yet. There will be a few other surprise signings, and I suspect OL & WR may be in that area if a player he feels would be an upgrade becomes available at the right price.

Interesting, are we getting suckered into some "super hype"...LOL First they said B Sanders may start be able to start the seaon opener Then they said that D Freeny may not be able to start the opener Next there was speculation if M Harrison will return healthy from his injury Now P Manning undergoes surgery and will miss at least most of training camp Why is it that I am thinking all 4 will be lined up against us in the opener?

I'd have no objections to Leftwich, if he would accept a #3, which he might since he is out of work.

I think he would be a cheap "safety net" as a number 3 QB. I personally thought he would be an excellent starter in the NFL and was developing fine until the injury. I am at a loss as to why Gruden seems to be so negative toward this guy. Although the two undrafted rookies might be ok future QBs, do we really want one of them to be our "emergency" option in case of injuries or failures of Rex or Kyle? A proven veteran would be reluctant to sign on cheap as a #3. I think Simms would.

How healthy will the Bears be in 2008? Or, Should I ask how will the Bears do in 2008? Are the two in fact the same question, well, maybe.... Here is an article entitled In NFL, the healthy earn respect from DallasNews.com showing the games lost to starters in the 2006 season: In NFL, the healthy earn respect (2006 Season Charts) Here is an article entitled Colts keep winning in a painful season from WFAA.com showing games lost to starters in the 2007 season: Colts keep winning in a painful season (2007 Season Charts) According to these articles, the Bears went from a team with only 25 games lost to starters in 2006 to 60 in 2007. We have a great weapon on our staff, Rusty Jones. He has done a great job in the past in keeping us relatively healthy as a team. I think last year was just one of those snake-bit years that happens. If we stay healthy this year, we will return to a dominate team, IMO.

Bentley is available, but I wonder how healthy he is? Seems to me he would have been signed quickly by someone if he was in playing shape and not an IR project. Also, why trade for him when he is available without the cost of a trade?

I do not know about being the "greatest defense ever" but I am convinced this year the Bears will place in the top 5 for defense, if not number 1. We have too much talent not to. We are not "old in the tooth" and I disagree with another poster who said we are injury prone. Yes, last year we had a tremendous number of injuries which devastated our performance, however, with the exception of M Brown & Dusty, the remainder of the defense has not been known to be "injury prone". It is because of my confidence in our return to dominating defense and our superior special teams play that I have strong hopes for our team. Our offense, well, last year we were at the bottom of the barrel, so I have to believe there is only one way to go, and that is up. LOL

DEF - CLE - Browns GM Savage Laying Groundwork For CB Trade Source: Tony Grossi, Cleveland Plain Dealer Cleveland Browns general manager Phil Savage's search for a veteran cornerback through trade will resume when he returns from vacation next week. There has been some groundwork laid, but the few teams involved want to gauge other positions on their rosters in the first week or two of training camp before trading a cornerback.

Oh I agree, we have to first wait to see if our DB situation is safe before we consider trading him, the article I quoted said this as well. The last thing we want to do is duplicate the same mistake that cost us before when we traded away a safety in preseason thinking we were deep enough to do so, and later regretted having done so.

Because of previous character issues alone I do not think the Bears would pull the trigger on him even if he were available. Also, he has never been accussed, that I know of, of being a "team" player. I do not think I would want to have him in the same locker room as our new rookie Forte.

Story from ESPN on Butkus' Fight against Steroids I love it when Bears Players, current and past, take responsive actions like this! Another story on same topic from ESPN

Want to barf... look at what the "experts" (?) think about our team. Some posters here would probably agree with these guys from the comments I have read in the threads, but quite frankly, I think the Bears should be ranked no lower that 16th at the start of the season due to some question marks and will wind up in the top 10 by mid season, then top 5 by the end of the year. CBS has us at #20 in their Rankings WalterFootball.com has us at 24th in their Rankings USA Today has us at 22nd in their Rankings AOL Sports has us at 26th in their Rankings SI.com has us at 25th in their Rankings ESPN has us at 24th in their Rankings Yahoo Sports has us 23rd in thier Rankings Bankroll Sports has us 26th in their Rankings New Era Scouting has us 29th in their Rankings What If Sports has us 30th in their Rankings Bleacher Report has us 24th in their Rankings

From the Sporting News Web Site:

NFC Offensive Line Rankings I was wondering if you all agreed with this ranking of the NFC Offensive Lines. If their speculation is right and we are 14th out of 16, we are in deep doo doo. I think we will be much better. I have no doubt that if needed Angelo will check out players cut during preseason do to a "youth movement" or "Salary Cap Problems" and beef up the OL with some veterans. However, I am hoping that Williams will be the answer at LT and with Tait moving to RT, we will be no less than #6 or #7 in the ranking by the end of the season.

Now that is awesome, good find!

Hey, if this guy kicks butt for the next two years, proves to be the back we have needed, shows he is durable, and helps us regain our dominant running game, he would deserve a restructuring and I am sure the Bears will give it to him.

I am like you, been checking websites daily hoping beyond hope that Williams is signed soon. I want it over and done with so I can sit back and enjoy seeing him and the rest of the rookies fight for starting spots on the roster. It is hard to adjust to the NFL. You can not do it by sitting on your ass waiting for your agent to get your deal finalized. Sign the damn deal, work your ass off, play like a Pro and then you will get paid like one!

I think ConnorBear was right, we needed to keep our core intact. I think the Bears have had a great off season. I think you need to reward your own players first and try and keep the core in place. We will be in great shape cap wise in the future with all of these signings. Other teams will be trying to resign their own and be unable to do so. It puts us in a great position. I see nothing wrong with that.

I think you are over reacting. As you said, coach talk is all fluff at this point. I think all he was trying to do is say the right things. Not cause any problems. Unfortunately, that is basically all we are going to hear from this series of articles. I would not take any of them too seriously. What we need is to take a look at what they do on the field once preseason starts. That will begin to answer some questions for us. Talk is cheap, let's see how they perform.

There are currently 5 openings for this league. DrunkBomber and a friend of his will be filling 2 of those 5 spots. Bowlingtwig and a friend of his will be filling 2 more of these slots. That means, unless someone drops out, there is only one slot remaining. See the post that began this thread for details. If anyone is interested, please let me know by responding to this thread, sending me a private message, or emailing me at j.w.sheridan@comcast.net (not all 3, 1 will do, LOL)

Ok, now I will throw in my 2 cents. This projection, in my opinion, has a flaw, one ConnorBear eluded to. It has him with 246 carries. If Forte is "the man" the Bears organization thinks he is, why only 15.37 carries a game? There were 13 RBs that averaged 18+ carries a game last year, 10 of those were 19+, 4 of those 20+. If the Bears are going to go back to pounding the rock like is speculated, why only 15+ carries a game? That would have put him at 24th in the league in ave carries per game. It is not like we have a 2 headed monster at RB. So with that in mind, I see Forte averaging let's say 19 carries a game, kind of in the top ten range of RBs for number of carries. Thomas Jones was 10th in the league last year in this area with 19.4 carries per game. So if Forte carries 19 times per game, we are talking 304 carries for the year, a big difference IMO. Now, let's say he averages 4.2 yds per carry, (4.4 might be a bit high, depending on how quickly our OL can rebound) that would put Forte at 304X4.2=1276 rushing yds. At 4.4 it would be 304X4.4=1337 Now a days 1000 yds is not that big as an accomplishment as it was back in the days when schedules were shorter. I would be "slightly" disappointed with the 1082 yds predicted by Yahoo. I am looking for Forte to hit 1300 yds rushing. I also see no reason he can not cross into the end zone 10+ times. He has power, no reason to take him out in goal line situations. I think he will be around 50 receptions for 400+ yds, giving him a total offense from LOS at 1700 yds. Year 2 is when he starts his string of seasons getting 2000+ yds a yr from the LOS (rushing & receiving yds combined) Forte will be the next best thing to Neal Anderson (or better). There will never be another Payton.

Here is a prediction from Yahoo sports for Forte this year. If he lived up to this projection, would it fall short of you expectations, exceed your expectations, or is this what you were expecting? I am just curious what everyone is thinking Forte will offer the Bears in 2008.

Here is one article I found on the internet. Now tell me, do you think the drafting of Michael Haynes was JA idea (drafted the last year DJ was in control prior to the 2003 season)? Was M Haynes the type of DT that fits the mold of a JA defensive line? Nope. So why was he drafted while Dick Juaron was HC? Why did JA take the job knowing he would be a Lame Duck GM? I have no doubt that he was sure that eventually DJ would fail and that he would gain the powers of a true GM. He was right on.