bradjock

I'm too damn lazy & tired to look it up, but I'd be shocked if we were the 2nd highest scoring offense. Maybe the 2nd highest scoring TEAM. That includes our 7 or 8 defense touchdowns, plus #23's 6 run-backs. Which accounts for roughly 100 points. Not to mention all the times we recovered the ball near our own end-zone. That being said, I'm glad your in support of Rex. The guys been benched. We'll probably need him this year. Heck, he's probably better then Aaron Rogers.

How do we plan on using Miller? Are we going to sign him, make him our starting RT, move Tait back to LT, and move St. Clair to LG? Or do we plan on making him a back-up? Would he start in Tampa Bay? IMO if Tampa Bay is offering more money, I think he'll go there. This might be the last NFL contract he ever signs. It's easy for us to say, "It was only $200,000 more . . . " but damn I'd love to see that much right now.

Huh? Why did you say he's gone from the Sun-Times when he's not? He was in there this morning. I'd be happy as hell if he was gone. All his damn articles are the same. There almost like a Mad-Libs: " _________ is a joke. Can you believe that ________ did this? Doesn't Chicago deserve better? How long is _______ going to put up with this??? It's embarrassing. What we need to do is ___________________________" Maybe then ______________ " The end.

Rex was overly hyped and praised and thought of as the Bear's savior. After failing, fans want to murder him for not being their savior. It's a stupid analogy, but in literature terms Rex is well on his way to fitting the archetype of the "christ figure." Now if can rise from the dead . . . What I'm getting at with my idiocy is that it's a long damn season, and somehow I get the feeling Rex will get at least one more shot to lead us to the promised land. As much as Bear fans hate him, if he's good, it won't take much to win them back. Heck, the guys only 28 years old and still has a great arm. We're going to need him at some point. My head hurts now.

He's earned the benefit of the doubt, but we legitimately have to wonder about his speed at this point. He's 30 years old and has injury after injury. With Dallas wanting to get rid of Roy Williams because he's not fast enough, and we've seen what happened with Arch, it is a legitimate concern. Last year at this time I'd have said, "It's pre-season, don't worry about it." But this defense has sucked for two long to keep that attitude.

Why wouldn't we IR Bazuin? He's not fully recovered from his knee injury, and at best, he's the #4 defensive end. Heck, he might be behind Idonije. You'd rather just cut him then keep him on the injury list for another year? He's a 2nd round pick. Why would you do that?

Heck, this works out for the Bears because we would have probably cut him anyway. I got the impression he was behind McClover, Roach, and Okwo (he wasn't really behind Okwo, but Okwo's a 3rd round pick). Look for us to IR Bazuin next.

Good article. I'm sick of the damn excuses. I'm especially sick of hearing the defense struggled because it was tired. Could we get a freaking 3 and out once in a while??? Get off the damn field, and you'll be rested. After week 3, the defense was terrible all last season. The D sucked in the Super Bowl. The D sucked for a while leading up to the Super Bowl. In other words, this defense has been mediocre to bad for a while. When you're 27th in the league, you don't "mail it in" because it's a pre-season game. Does any team commit as much money to it's cap on defense as the Bears?

Agreed on Davis, although he dropped the pass in the end-zone which would have been his 3rd TD of the night. I think you meant Booker fighting Bradley for the 6th spot. (Hester, Davis, Booker, Bradley, Lloyd, Bennett). I'd be shocked as hell if we don't carry all six at this point.

On the TV I only remember seeing Booker for a couple of plays. He didn't look fast, but usually we were running him on slanted routes so it's impossible to tell. Horrendous is a harsh word. He does look faster then Moose. How can you say you can't stand Bradley after he had that huge play tonight? What veteran do you think we could get better then Booker & Bradley??? Wow.

Rex did blow them off. But it was 3rd down, and he had plenty of time and managed to throw it several feet over the head of the 6-4 Brandon Riddeau. That's a case where he's just pissed at himself, not at his teammates. I was in favor of Orton from the start of TC. But Bear-fans booing Rex just for the hell of it is just terrible IMO. You always here about the "4th phase." Chances are we're going to need Rex at some point this year. The booing's just ignorant.

I live outside of Peoria, IL. About 180 miles south of Chicago.

Yes. I read the article and thought they were absolute idiots for suggesting we'd cut him. The article even states that we don't really know what he can do because he's not fully rehabilitated yet. Why the hell would you cut a 2nd round draft pick his 2nd year just because he's hurt??? Stupid.

1. Pretty hard to hit the hot read with the TE and RB are blocking because you don't have time to squat, let alone complete a pass. Rex said he knew the safeties were coming, he had a hot read, and he missed it. I agree everyone was blocking, but shouldn't we designate someone to get open ASAP when you know that's coming? 2. My mention to starting over was in regards to camp, as the team looked bad the first game. So you want to start over in August? Who do you want us to bring in? Hutchinson or Jeff George. 3. The D does step up, if it wasn't for the field position they give the offense we wouldn't get any. Agreed. 4. I happy the competition is over. (assuming that's what you called it) I sure it was hard for Lovie to choose between the two paper bags. I honestly believe that if Rex had won the job, he'd be our man. I think Orton just had to stay fairly equal. 5. I would be absolutely amazed with Kyle played the entire year. I would be absolutely amazed if Rex had played the entire year also. Seriously the only difference between the two is that Rex has a bette ability to hit the deep man. And if we can routinely hit the deep man to keep the defense back we are in trouble again. It's just another year with different players, but the same scenerio. Our defensive tackles are better and deeper then ever. Our secondary should be tough to beat. Hester's unbelievable. If we could just get our offense to be average . . .

Disagree. IMO, Orton won the QB competition because of his ability to hit the "hot read," and when 8 guys are coming at you, he'll be able to dump it off to the TE, Forte, or whoever. With his height, he should be much better at this then Rex. You mentioned that we should have started over, but who did you want that could make this team better this year? The weird thing about Orton is that the defense tends to step it up a notch when he's in. I'm just happy the competition is over. Hopefully we can start working towards getting consistency with our offense.

Rex had good yards versus the Giants & Seahawks because we were playing from behind. A ton of his yards came in the 4th quarter. The thing is, those were both two big games against top NFC teams, and he gets sacked 11 times? Even so, if you take those games out, Rex was sacked 14 times in 6 games. Sheesh. That still doesn't give me confidence. In 2006 he was sacked 21 times. That's still high compared to Orton. Rex just doesn't have the sight now the mobility to avoid getting sacked. Which brings me back to my original point: All things being equal, Kyle is not worse then Rex. Therefore he gets the job.

I know we've been through this, so correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe if another team tries to snatch Hanie off our practice squad, we have the option of adding him to our 53 man roster. If that happens, we dump Mark Bradley or whoever, and add him. Realistically, with almost half the teams just keeping two QB's active, I'd be shocked as hell if someone is dying for Hanie. Basically, we'd be keeping all 3.

Checked the stats at ESPN.com. In 2007: Kyle Orton: 3 starts, was sacked twice Rex Grossman: 8 starts, was sacked 25 times. That's TWENTY-FIVE FREAKING TIMES!!! That means Rex gets sacked more then 3 times a game. Orton didn't get sacked 3 times in 3 games. I never acted like Orton was god. I only implied that he wasn't as bad as Rex. Orton does get sacked . . . just not multiple times every game. So "You get real man."

After watching the game via DVR the left side of our Oline was far BETTER than the right side. St Clair and Beekman both held up well on their individual blocks, as did Kreutz. The right side, in particular Tait early in the game, was poor. Garza didn't look good either. Seattle often brought extra guys and did a great job mixing up where they were coming from. Our line didn't handle the stunts well and when they did the RB (Forte) failed to make the block needed to give the QB time to get rid of the ball. I'm in the process of rewatching the game, and the one thing I noticed is the first time Rex is sacked, that appeared to be Beekman's fault. He went to his right to help Kreutz, and the guy blew right past him on his left side. That was the first penetration. Tait really struggled against the speed guys. I thought St. Clair looked pretty damn good. As bad as it looked during the game (I was pretty upset myself) after rewatching it I don't think it's a total disaster and many things can be corrected. In fact, if Forte picks up a couple of blocks in the middle as is his responsibility Grossman would have the time needed to complete a pass. It was often that pressure up the middle that forced Grossman to stay deep in the pocket as pressure came around from the outside. Forte did look better as the game went along and I hope as he gets experience he'll get better. I wonder at what point guys like Forte are supposed to get loose and look for the pass? Forte & the TE's keep trying to block, Rex keeps looking down-field, and then it's over. If the blitz is on, why not dump it to one of those guys immediately? Favre has made a career out of doing that. Here's my biggest gripe. When do our WRs break off their route when a blitz is on? On several of these plays Grossman had to wait for WR to run routes as deep as 15 yards. Remember the one where he lofted the ball for Davis way down field? I didn't see anyone run a short route on that play. When there's a blitz, especially 6 guys rushing the passer, the entire offense should adjust not just the Oline. Agreed. I've often wondered if this is Rex's fault, Turners, or the WR's. Hell, if it's 3rd & 10 you know they're bringing the house. Why can't we counter that? Now on to Rex, on a couple of these plays he had guys underneath and didn't make the quick throw. On another play or two he didn't step into the throw even though pressure was coming up the middle the guy was blocked and he room to step into the throw. Same old Rex. I'll agree that Rex had to win the starting job and he didn't IMO. He wasn't as bad as he's been in the past but he didn't stand head and shoulders above Orton. Orton didn't stand out either but the tie goes to the QB with less experience and the arrow pointing up (I hope). All things being equal, the job goes to the guy who's less likely to get sacked. That's Kyle. Competition over.

Maybe. But we kept 6 WR's all last season. While we're likely to keep 4 running-backs, the word is that we'll only be keeping one full-back (McKie) and that Lousaka Polite may be the odd man out. Not to mention that either Mike Mulligan or Brad Biggs said today we'll probably only keep 2 active QB's. In other words, I'd be shocked as hell if we didn't keep 6 WR's. IMO it all comes down to Bradley vs. Hass, and after last night, with his special teams play, Bradley has the edge.

Agreed on that 100%. I've said all along, as great as Devin Hester is, he benefits one helluva a lot from our special teams play. That fact that you see Bennett, and 3 years ago when Vasher ran the missed field goal back, tells me that Hester would simply be good/great on most teams, as opposed to "best ever," the way he is with the Bears.

I couldn't disagree with you more Bradjock? Olsen has phenomenal hands for a TE. Huh? When has he EVER made what we would describe as "One helluva a catch." I can think of zero. At the same time I can think of a ton of drops he's had. Sure, most of those were in heavy traffic, but that's my point. I've never seen him do anything that made me say "wow." I'm not saying he sucks, and like I mentioned, I think he can be a good starting TE, but until he makes some outstanding plays, he's never going to be a top tier TE. In fact I still don't understand why the Bears don't do a lot of 2 TE sets where the ultimately split Olsen out wide (essentially lining up as a wide-out) because its a total mismatch. We did that a lot in the first pre-season game, especially lining him up as the slot receiver. I think his role probably changed last night after Des Clark went down with the injury. Also, Davis projects to be a very good blocking TE so he could very well turn into our best all around TE in the future (Des is that right now though). I don't get why Olsen has so much trouble blocking. Everytime he's interviewed he says, "I really need to improve on my blocking." Yet there were times last night he was absolutely torched. I don't get it.

Agreed!!! Big time. I saw the tackle Forte made and wondered why we don't move him to strong safety. Damn he's big and fast. Idonije looked great also.

Davis is a freak. He has all the tools and could end up being our best TE in the future. Um . . . I hate to jinx things, but so far in training camp, he's been our best TE. Period. Davis vs. Des Clark: I'd much rather have Desmond's blocking, but Davis is bigger, faster, stronger, and a better receiver then Desmond Clark. Davis vs. Olsen: I'm guessing his 40 time isn't as good as Olsen's, but watching them on the football field, Davis appears to be every bit as fast. Both get knocked for their blocking. The kicker here is that Olsen's hands are not good. After watching him now for over a year, I don't think he has the "glue hand" ability to make the spectacular catches that would make him an elite TE. IMO, if that ball had went to Olsen in the end zone, he drops it. I watch Olsen and I think he has the ability to be a very solid TE in this league. I see Davis and I'm thinking "Pro-bowler."

I think the decision has been made. IMHO, if they were still unsure, we would have seen more of Orton in the game. Now w/ that said, it could still go either way. They could feel they saw enough good from Rex, and thus there was no need to keep Orton in there longer. Or, more likely IMHO, they could have felt Orton had the edge leading into the game, Rex needed to do something w/ his playing time, and if they didn't feel he did, Rex may have made their decision (in favor of Orton) for them. Agreed. Although I wouldn't put it past us to wait until Thursday afternoon to make the announcement. I always thought going into this training camp that Orton didn't have to win the job, he just had to prove that he's not worse then Rex. In other words, if everything is equal, Kyle is our starter. With Rex getting his ass kicked last night, it makes it much easier to make that decision. That being said, I'd love to see some continuity with our WR's. It seemed like we were constantly shuffling in Booker/Lloyd/Bradley/Hester and "Stone Hands" Bennett. With the exception of Lloy & Orton on the two minute drive, I didn't feel like any of these guys were in long enough to really show what they can do.