lemonej

Yesterday I spent my annual trip to Bear's TC on my B-day. I have just a few points to make and I'll keep it short. 1. It was hot as Hell yesterday and I was wondering how these guys could practice in this intense heat for 2 hours. 2. The most intense groups working out at camp are the offensive and defensive lines where the only skirmish of the day occurred and the sound of the pads hitting was the loudest from these groups. 3. Julius Peppers is a very huge man and looks bigger in person than he does on TV. 4.Greg Olsen worked out with the WRs when the offense was working on running drills 7 on 7 while Clark, Davis and Angulo worked in the running drll. 5 The running plays all looked to be between the tackles and Kahlil Bell looked the best of thr RBs to me. 6. Jay Cutler was throwing high on most of his short throws but looked good on his deep passes. Caleb Hanie was okay making some perfect throws and then some that were a little off target. La Fevour looked like a rookie with his timing but had much more zip on the ball than Teel who IMO is just a TC arm and not a veteran backup. 7. The Bear's Wildcat formation featured Devin Hester at QB and Cutler at a WR spot. 8. The formation I saw the most from the offense was 3 WRs 1TE and 1 RB. 9. Even though I mentioned earlier that Cutler was throwing high on some of his throws, the only reason I can say that is because of the way that all the WRs jumped up to make catches on his throws. The veterans all looked good to me including Rashied Davis and rookies Robinson and Matthews struggled. 10. Quite a few of us were pulling for the local kid from the south suburbs named Freddie Barnes, who happens to be a former teammate of my son's( Who was with me) at Homewood -Flossmoor HS and set NCAA records for receptions at Bowling Green but, I didn't like his body language yesterday. He seemed like he was not as into the workout as much as the other WRs but he did catch the ball when it came his way. Aside from the intense heat and the couple of thunder showers I drove home through I enjoyed my 51 B-day and I'm looking forward to doing it again.

Nfo Alfalava was demoted from the lineup in the same manner that Harris was when he was in his first year here as was Payne. You have said that this position has been handled the worst and if we add up all the players that have been drafted by JA at this position it all points to Lovie not being satisfied with anyone besides Mike Brown.

LT that is a hilarious story and reminds me of my days in Macomb on Western Ill's campus when one of the European named Flu bugs was running rampant on the campus and I went to the health center and got a prescription for codeine tablets and took those with some hot tea with Jack Daniels in it and slept like a baby and was fully recovered the next day. Unfortunately I didn't have Rocky and Bullwinkle to make me laugh but I was sleeping with a smile on my face.

This can only be Mike Tice's influence. His lines in Minny were always huge and considered one of the league's biggest.

This one is difficult for me because my childhood hero just got "dissed" by a current star of the team.Then to make matters worst my 1a childhood hero defended my childhood hero.So who do I side with? Sayers comments were basically what we have been discussing on this board and seems to be old news. Urlacher though got personal with his comments and had one big flaw when he questioned how many playoff games had Sayers won and how many championships he had won. Problem is that Urlacher only has 2 playoff wins himself and no championships either. While we're at it how many 4-and12 teams has Urlacher played on? Or 5-11?Since Urlacher wasn't born when Sayers played he had to do some sort of research to find out what record the team had when Sayers played but he didn't realize that once you spew out numbers of others your numbers start to come in question ,so in this matter I have to side with Sayers because he was voicing his opinion as a fan and since that is what I have been all my life I clearly understood his point of view. This is not to condemn Urlacher but to put this in the proper perspective and that is: There is a reason why Urlacher shuns the media at times and that is because he is not media savy and doesn't know how to always give the politically correct answer every time. I can't dislike him for that. If someone stuck a mic in my face after work about whatever goes on, I might not be PC either.

Ding! Ding! Ding! Thats what the object of putting him in the slot would be to try and create mismatches and to possibly tip off the coverage. IMO Hester's inside route running was poor due to him trying to avoid contact. I think it started on punt returns and seems to affect that part of his route running. We all remember when Hester was fearless and would do whatever to try and make a big return but, now we don't see that same daredevil on returns or slants. I also think that from the slot that screen play would be more effective.

Congrats! I hope you have his Bear gear ordered already.

DFG Forte averaging 62 and a half yards per game is a very realistic goal and IMO would be a little disappointing. If he stays healthy and does get spelled by Taylor both should stay fresh throughout the season.

Just asking but. have any of you had a friend that went through athletic training in college with the idea of trying to become a profressional trainer? I have and I believe that that this staff may have one head doctor but the rest may be guys who are just glorified trainers who may not be medical doctors. This is just my opinion and I have no facts to back this up.

CB that was outstanding and in the future I would love to supply you with some of the draft info I gather so you can continue to be well informed.Funny thing to me is that you said your buddy was your Bears expert but you carried the conversation and was very prepared yourself. As a former radio student and music DJ I thought you were excellent.

BJ not to dispute you're theory but, I hope this huge man from West Texas A&M is the reason Schafer is being moved to LG.

Pix this is a rarity for me to even slightly disagree with you but, Payton's legendary stiff arm and his blocking were not sweet to opponents.

In no way am I defending the Bears medical staff because as Mad L alluded too there has been a history of bad medical decisions tied to this organization whether it was the poor surgeries performed by Dr. Clarence Fossier and assisted by Ted Fox or the rampant use of pain killing injections before during and after the games which was the "norm" during the 60's and 70's. These two young men both attended very large universities with big athletic budgets and where is their training and medical staffs part in all of this? As for this team's drafting of players with injuries, lets face it thats typical JA. Whether it was Williams, Corey Graham, Zack Bowman, Derek Kinder and now Corey Wooten this is what Angelo does. If I do recall even Bernard Berrian had an injury history at Fresno State. There were some reports that stated that Tommie Harris had the knees of a 35 year old man prior to his being picked by the Bears . For a couple of years that seemed far-fetched but, recently it seems on the money. Time after time it seems the Bears roll the dice on these player during the draft. So nothing they do surprises me. I sometimes wonder why Marc Colombo has been able to stay on the field for the Cowboys but never played a full season here. That is something I put on this organization.

When it comes to bad coaches Jim Dooley who actually coached the Bears to a 1-13 season,Abe Gibron who was a fan favorite but stunk as a coach and Jack Pardee who helped bring the Bears back to the playoffs but, left to go coach the Redskins is my most hated coach.

Most hated is Cade McNown hands down with Curtis Enis a close second and Cedric Benson honorable mention. Most beloved is Butkus with Sayers a close second and Walter honorable mention.

Nfo we're on the same page when it comes to this draft scenario. He also takes a DE very frequently and CBs also.

This is kind of a personal note for me as Freddie played QB at Homewood-Flossmoor High School with my son as his WR. He also played point guard on their basketball team and has some pretty good leaping ability. He hails from the same neighborhood that produced the New Orleans Hornets Julian Wright. I wacthed a few of his games at Bowling Green and he has on occassion been on punt returns which will be a plus if he is to make this roster.

I thought I heard a stat/trend that the Bears have drafted a safety in 6 consecutive drafts and with this being a deep draft for DBs and Safeties I 'm guessing the 3rd rounder may be a safety since Lovie was at the Combine saying he need a safety.

I'm not a Lovie apologist but, the play he called on the plane ride back to Chicago from Carolina to get Peppers signed was a good call.

Agreed and I believe McKie is on notice.

The press conference from Halas Hall is scheduled for 5:00 pm CST

I'm curious as to why there is a need for them to free up cap money in an uncapped year. As long as the contracts are front loaded to give most of the money in the first couple of years I could see this working out without cutting a lot of players.

This is 7 mil guaranteed in an uncapped year and they need a one-two punch at RB like everyone else is using. If you say Taylor and Forte it sounds a lot better than Forte and Bell.

Agreed and this division is turning into the QB and pass rusher division.Farve,Cutler,Rodgers and Stafford plus Allen,Peppers,Vandenbosh and Matthews.

Dez Clark refused to do interviews on the air (AM 1000 ESPN) because he reached out to the Bears and they have not returned his calls after the the signing of the TE today. He said as much in intervieiews after the season that he thought he could be replaced and with him already recieving a 475,000 dollar roster bonus and only due 1.5 mil he shouldn't be a cap casualty this year but it may come down to keeping him or Olsen.