LT2_3

You can't compare the two teams. No matter what Jax is saying, they are lowering their prices to try and sell more tickets. The Bears don't have that problem so expecting them to behave the same way is misguided at best. The Bears have no problem - and will never have a problem selling out the stadium. Even if they had a 100k stadium, they would STILL sell it out. I haven't been to a game since they refurbed the stadium, but I'm ok with that as I would prefer they take someone elses money and have plenty to pay for whatever they need than make it more affordable for people like me and make financially motivated decisions.

Brown is backing off. I don't think this story has legs cuz we got a Super Bowl coming up too.

I dunno. The AZ fullback says that he met her before Te'o did. It's plausible that this chick exists and lied about her name - and all the rest of this was a hoax over twitter and facebook. http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/...-kekua-is-real/

Sadly, it would probably cost less to drive down there, get a cheap motel, watch the game, and drive back than it would to buy 2 tickets from scalpers for a Chicago game.

You got any links for any of this? I'm primarily looking for a definition of "control". I'm not certain if the defender "controlled" the ball long enough in the split second between when he got his hands on it first and when the offensive player got his mitts on it too. We all know that for something to be a catch, the ball can't be moving around in a guy's grasp before he goes out of bounds. That's the "control" part. Can you show me indisputable visual evidence that the defensive player had full and unequivocal "control" before the offensive player got his mitts in there to gain "control" and "possession" simultaneously? My point is that it happens in a split second and replay probably can't overturn it because of the back and forth nature of the players fighting over it. This would be a controversial call either way even if it was made by regular refs. I applaud your research into it. I'm just not sure that the defensive player gained "control" before the offensive player.

I hope he does it again and again and again. I guess it all depends on how you value a 7th round pick. With a 53 man roster, on a 7th round pick you are merely taking a flyer on a guy with potential that probably won't make the team and can be poached off waivers on the way to the practice squad if he shows any promise. Using a 7th round pick on a guy that was a 2nd round pick, had some injuries and personal issues, and didn't get along with a new regime is a no brainer to me. I'd do that everyday and twice on Sundays! The fact that we ended up with Okoye for less money than if we'd engaged in a bidding war with Tampa is only icing on the cake. I think *some* folks get wrapped up in either having things settled earlier in the season to ease their mind, OR not having as many draft picks the following year for their mock drafts. People can decide if either of those scenarios apply to them.

OK guys. The draft is this Sunday at 12:15 PST (2:15 CST) If anyone has a problem with this, speak now or prepare to be autodrafted. I keep bringing this up because guys that forget and get stuck with a team of players they didn't draft tend to not pay as much attention later in the season and it becomes less competitive. We are currently at 10 teams. That is fine with me. However, we have space for 2 more if anyone is interested and can find a second person to make it 12 teams.

It's a matter of whether you are trying to win the game or not. I can see the value of sitting a vet if you have a bonafide prospect that you want to evaluate, but that wasn't the case here. There was no one behind Urlacher to play that would be acceptable. I would give this kind of criticism more credence if the people leveling the criticism also gave the same criticisms when vets were played in nearly meaningless games but did NOT get injured. I mean, if it's such a no brainer, then they should be saying the same things whether a player gets hurt or not. Right? I have a personal theory that at least SOME of the folks complaining about this wanted us to lose that game in the hopes that a 7-9 season would have gotten Lovie canned. I say that because everyone keeps saying this was a meaningless game. It was not a meaningless game. The difference between 7-9 and 8-8 on a team's psychology going into the offseason means something - hence - it wasn't meaningless. Now people can argue the merits of that sort of thinking, but they can't dismiss it out of hand unless they have another agenda - like wanting the coach fired.

Seriously though guys. When you make time requests, I need to know what time zone you are referring to.

I'm beginning to think this might be contract oriented - at least I'm hoping so. It's like Urlacher's saying "I'm not happy with my contract so I'm gonna take a few days off." And the Bears are saying "Dude - do what you gotta do man. We love you and will be happy to talk contract extension later in the season after we get a better idea what next year's offseason is going to look like. In the mean time, we think you're awesome so do whatever you want man."

Very impressive presentation. My boss has told me that he expects me to break down the key things he needs to know about the Bears so he can have some talking points if the subject comes up in conversation with other people. I told him that these are the 3 most important points to take from last night's game: 1. Our defense without Peppers or Urlacher kept Peyton Manning from scoring with an impressive play by generally role players DJ Moore and Major Wright. 2. Our much maligned 1st round pick DE Shea McClellin showed incredible speed to get a sack as well as numerous pressures. He looks like a playmaker in the making. 3. Our 2nd round pick WR Alshon Jeffrey led the team with 4 catches and most of them were contested and not exactly easy. He's a natural pass catcher that uses his body to shield for position and his hands to catch the ball. Another playmaker in the making.

Is that 2 CST?

Yes we're still looking for one more. Does anyone else have any draft time requests?

Invite sent! ONE SPOT LEFT!!!!!

Bump!

No prob. email sent. Still room for 3 more!

We need either 3 or 5. Anyone wanting to join, let me know your email address and I'll send you an invite.

Maybe if we get everyone insterested, we can start after this year. It changes drafting strategy a little. AND ANYONE INTERESTED IN JOINING, LET ME KNOW YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS AND i WILL SEND YOU AN INVITE.

I'm coming close to offering spots to the members here seeing as how we only have 5 so far. Maybe another week for people to see this thread that might be checking in for training camp news, but I would prefer to have it filled before the last minute. Any other thoughts anyone?

Sounds alright to me .....

I see that some have signed up. Should we make it a keeper league? Should we open it to the public soon?

I've restarted the FFL2 from last year. If you were in the league last year, please register. That way we will know how many slots we have to fill for the season. Also, we can change it to a keeper league if people are interested, and the draft time can be changed if the date selected doesn't work for a bunch of people.

Let's not automatically assume all cops are paragons of virtue. From what I read, the two cops he was dealing with were off-duty. That makes them regular civilians in my book. He ought to sue them for being douchey.

Almost?

Agreed that Forte has been a bright spot recently, but in a salary cap system, you can't pay players for past performance. If you do, then you can't stay competitive as a team. I don't see how this seems so unfair. It's how the system works: Players play for cheap on their rookie contracts, and then they make more once they hit free agency. Chester Taylor and Micheal Bush both had to play for cheap on their rookie deals, and then they made more on their first free agent contracts. Try comparing just Bush and Forte. Forte made more than Bush the past 4 years because he was drafted higher. If Forte had signed the deal offered last year, he would have at least double the guaranteed money as Bush and his salaries would be about double as well. It would be fair then - but Forte is simply misreading what he's worth and being stubborn about it. I think that is absolutely ridiculous. Players look at situations that resemble their own. Players on their rookie contract don't make much and that is league wide no matter what. Once they hit free agency, they can pick where they want to play and negotiate a contract that they like. If they think they are going to improve their value in short order, then they can sign a shorter term contract. Either that, or they can take the security of a longer term contract and deal with the fact that they may not get a new deal until that one ends. See, the RB position is very different than any other because RBs start to decline at about age 28 whereas other positiions don't start to decline until their 30s. The RB position is unique in that they have fewer years to play the game and earn money. Just ask 32 year old LaDanian Tomlinson who has been pretty much forced into retirement. (By the way, a 5 year contract for Forte would take him to age 32 as well.) That's an issue to take up with the NFLPA because they agreed to it. Again, this is made worse because Forte is a RB and RBs have short careers. In hindsight, Forte should have come out after his sophomore year of school. If he had, he would have been a free agent the first time 2 years ago when a long term deal wouldn't have taken him to the end of his career. 2 other players to look at: LeSean McCoy who got his big contract because he's 3 years younger, and Ray Rice who is the same age as Forte and will probably end up playing on the Franchise tag this year too. Well thank God your not the GM of the Bears. They would suck forever. BTW, how long do you propose paying players after they start sucking? Should we still be paying Tommie Harris $8 million per year? How about Ogunleye or Vasher? They all were good 5 years ago. Should we still be paying those guys their big contracts too? Then we wouldn't have cap space for Marshall, Campbell, or Bush - who if we had last year, we would have been in the playoffs. All the best teams don't pay guys contracts with guaranteed money in years likely to be past their prime and they release them BEFORE they start to decline - or shortly thereafter. You appear to justify this sentimentality because you somehow think the Bears don't belong in a group with the best teams in the league. Let me tell you something, those teams are the best in the league BECAUSE they aren't sentimental and don't hand out stupid contracts based on past performance.