bradjock

The most troubling thing is that our defense seems to get worse as the game progresses. That means we have a good game-plan, but can't make adjustments. Two weeks in a row you can pin the loss on one individual. Last week Olsen, this week Tillman. Another "defining moment." Christ this loss was despressing.

I'm a little late, but I agree. Take Welker and run. With all the teams going with the "running-back by committee" system, I've found it's a lot easier to find a replacement RB then a replacement WR. If Brandon Jacobs gets hurt this week, Derrick Brooks becomes fantasy gold. I hope you've already gotten Welker.

That's what I was wondering. Last season we traded Chris Harris & it bit us in the ass. Now that McGowan's went down, letting RMJ doesn't seem like such a good idea.

What you're forgetting is that we'd already moved McGowan to nickel spot. McGowan's the guy who replaced D Manning at the nickel. Kevin Payne replaced McGowan at the SS spot. In the opener vs. Indy, D Manning replaced McGowan for a series or two at the nickel. Last week when McGowan went down, Manning took his spot. There's no doubt that Manning will fill his spot IMO. I agree I'd like to see Bowman.

I assume you meant Chris Simms? He signed with Tennessee after Vince Young went down. http://search.nfl.com/search/?query=simms&...arch-button.y=9

That's true as hell, but are you pissed at the guy for signing a 40+ million dollar contract? Heck it doesn't matter what Berrian thought of himself, it's the fact that Minnesota thought he was worthy of receiving the richest WR contract ever. For the last two seasons Berrian had some huge catches for this team. Good for him. Let him eat up Minnesota's salary cap. He's their version of Moose, except Muhammed actually had an incredible year before he came here. Berrian can be a good WR, but he'll never be great. Lloyd's not the deep threat, but his hands are definitely better. Most importantly, we're not paying Lloyd squat.

Agreed! We'd be pissed if he was great, so it's nice to see him struggle.

Steltz has been inactive the first two weeks and it was reported that he was borderline to even make the roster. The nice thing about D Manning is that he's always healthy. Maybe the nickel position will be better suited for his skills (somehow how I doubt it, but I'm being optimistic.) It looks like we'll once again be drafting a safety in 2009.

Everyone loved Orton after week one. Everyone loved Orton 3 quarters into week two. How do we know Quinn doesn't suck? Do we know he doesn't? There's been tons of first round busts lately. Would anyone like to wager that Aaron Rogers has a major melt-down by the end of the season? My bet is he does. That being said, lets see what Kyle does vs. Tampa.

Outstanding!!! I've been reading Terra's posts for years now (including the old boards) and this is by far his best. Terra you summed it all up with, "this is so reatarted. what the hell would (we) have traded for hester?" In 2005 & early 2006 there was a push to "trade Urlacher." With the exception of Peyton Manning or Kyle Brady, I'd love to know what we'd have gotten in equal value for him. Hester's a stud and a game-breaker. You ride that as long as you can. You don't give up 2 weeks into his 3rd season. Nice post Terra.

Great stuff Noots! I missed reading Noots' Notes. I do have to disagree when you said that Chris Harris knocked the ball out from Olsen. Heck it just looked like a regular tackle to me. Our punters name should be Brad "Wobbler" Maynard. Wow he sucked.

Zac Zaidman on the SCORE reported that Hester told him he could feel his rib bone pop out when it happened. I hope he didn't mistake his rib-bone for something worse. Shockingly enough Lovie couldn't say anything about Hester or Brandon McGowan. If it is a rib injury, don't those usually take 2 to 4 weeks?

Some seasons you can't point to a defining moment, which shaped the course of the season, for better or for worse. In 2001 I'd say it was the miracle catch by Raymont Harris vs. San Fran, and then the following interception for a return by Mike Brown. In 2002 I'd say it was Leon Johnson trying to catch the punt with his face-mask. In 2007, when the Bears had the lead vs. Dallas and Bernard Berrian let a certain touchdown bounce of his hands. In 2008, the Bears have moment, we have a 17 to 3 lead, and we had a Carolina team that looked frustrated. Greg Olsen hands Carolina the ball in scoring position. Carolina scores, momentum shifts . . . the end. I'm not saying this is the defining moment . . . heck with Detroit & Minnesota both losing today there's a lot to be optimistic about. That being said, if we lose next week . . .

For the same reason we don't keep two punters . . . it's a waste of a roster spot. Right now Fred Miller is apparently an upgrade over Barton. Good move. He's our back-up tackle. He's likely to retire after this year. When & if Williams returns, assuming he doesn't suck, he'll become the back-up. Fred becomes expendable. Like I said, if we plan on moving St. Clair back to guard, I could understand it. Otherwise, it's a waste.

My apologies. I was thinking that in 2002 they won it with Bledsoe. I believe that was the year they started with Bledsoe & finished with Tom Brady winning the big game. My mistake.

Um . . . is that because they should be ranked #1? Because they won the Super Bowl without Tom Brady so it's not that far fetched they'll win it again without him.

Do you feel that way about EVERY ranking or just Dr. Z's? I don't put much stock into this sort of stuff, but at the same time it's nice to see our beloved get a little recognition. After all opions are like assholes . . . Heck, if he had us ranked 29th after beating Indy, I'd just be curious to know why he felt that way. I've never understood fans who get pissed about that kind of stuff. At the end of the season, your record speaks for itself. I suppose you'll be pissed if Z d-bag picks us to win the Super Bowl in 2009?

In response to all of this, as long as I can remember, the Bears carry 3 offensive tackles. No more, no less. If Chris Williams comes back, my guess is that he replaces Fred Miller. It's reported that Miller expects to stay the entire season. But if Tait, St. Clair, & Williams are all healthy, why would we save a roster spot for him? The only exception would be if Beekman fails, Beaumont (poor spelling?) is not good, and St. Clair moves back to LG. (I'm assuming Metcalf is out of the equation reguardless.) Either way, I can't envision a scenerio that involves us either wanting or needing Barton. If Barton is that good and the Bears let him go, we're retarded. Hell, we kept Caleb Hanie thinking another team might snatch him up. Apparently if we believe in a players ability, we'll protect him. This reminds me of a few weeks back when Bear's fans were pissed we cut J.T. O'Sullivan. Last week J.T. went for 150 yards, no touchdwowns and 1 interception. Not exactly "Mike Martz" worthy. Hell, the Bears already have quarterbacks who can put up those kind of numbers.

I love reading Dr. Z's stuff. It's great to hear that he thinks highly of the Bears . . . although if we lose on Sunday, we'll likely drop back down to the late teens fairly quickly.

True, but don't forget that Detroit was bad last year, and they smacked it to us not once but twice.

The strange thing is that going into the 2007 season, Bear's fans would have loved to have had Matt Leinart or Vince Young. Now look where these two have headed. I mainly point this out for next April when there's a push to draft the next Matt Ryan or Joe Flacco. It's a helluva a crap-shoot drafting a QB in the first round.

I don't know, Cedric's Mom being around worked out pretty well for him . . . except everytime she was around he'd get drunk, arrested, and sometimes beaten by the police.

That's awesome! http://www.chicagobears.com/news/NewsStory.asp?story_id=5114

A team would be nuts to give us a 5th rounder for Metcalf. We traded for Dan Buenning. Once he's proven the coaches he can play in our system, I think Metcalf's gone. Right now we're carrying 9 offensive linemen instead of our usual 8. Beekman is currently our starting LG, has looked good, and can play multiple positions. I just don't see how Metcalf fits into the equation. Maybe. But we haven't done that. Which means we still think he'll return. Here's what gets me that NOBODY has mentioned: Doesn't Fred Miller get cut when Williams returns? We sure as hell aren't going to carry 4 offensive tackles.

In 2005 we finished 2nd in the NFC, and won the NFC North. That could have been considered a fluke, but we backed it up by going to the Super Bowl the next year. That's a natural progression. Let me ask you this: Do you believe there's a possibility the Bears could look this good every week for the entire season??? Hell, I do . . . of course I could also see us going back to our old ways fairly quickly. The entire league was shocked at our domination of Indy. So on a Tuesday after the game when the Bear's didn't practice on Monday, what better story is there? Are the Bears for real or was this a fluke? That's the question.