bradjock

My bad. That was obvious and somehow I missed it.

After we signed Marion Barber, the media speculated Taylor would be gone. He wasn't very good last year and the 3rd running back needs to be a core special teams player. Last year that guy was Garrett Wolfe. It's far from a done deal, but if we kept Taylor, he'd likely be inactive most weeks. On Unga, the SCORE was saying yesterday he's been mysteriously absent. First he missed the first few days for the birth of his child. That's admirable and all, but he'll be unemployed if he's not careful. He's been absent the last 3 days for an undisclosed family reason.

What happened to NFO? Since this site originated, he averaged what seemed like 75 messages per day. He hasn't posted since November.

Knox is good, but Hester is the best return man ever. Not having Hester do it full time is foolish.

The players hate the field at Soldier Field. Since Lovie arrived we've had a fast defense on slow turf. I can't help but think that this might be a way to put the situation up front and center. Do something.

Chester Taylor. Also, Brad Maynard, in case you missed it. Todd Collins . . . I think that's it. Seriously, we are 20 million under the cap. At that point, you cut guys because they suck, not because we have to.

Rosenbloom has a nice take http://www.chicagotribune.com/site/newspap...0,5420889.story I've been to Family Night (it sucks, but that's besides the point) I'm pissed. How is this possible? The field hasn't been used since July 22 for the stupid soccer game. But it's not ready . . . The Bears have to be accountable in all this. This didn't get cancelled until 5:30. We had nobody there? What an embarrassment. The only silver lining is that people will be pissed off enough to see a change.

Since the Cowboys are over, who else do you think we'll sign from their team? Damnit, Colombo signed already!

I'll take your word for it. Especially when you consider the obvious: the Bears allowed by far the most sacks in the league. Therefore they are rated as the worst o-line in the league. (you can blame the scheme, Cutler, and everything else, but a big portion of the blame falls on the o-line.) It makes sense that the worst o-line will have the worst o-lineman.

What really made me sick is him reverting that last game against the Packers. He sticks to the post by-week plan, IMO we win that game and the Pack never make the playoffs. I will probably bitch about that every time it comes up so please excuse my redundancy.

As per PFT. I'm still pissed we didn't go after a difference maker. That being said, I know we'll use a chunk on Forte, and I have this dream scenario where we want to put the franchise tag on Roy Williams, Okoye, and Gholston, but we can decide who to choose. Is there anybody else we need to pay anytime soon? That being said, here's what PFT says: "The teams with cap space, a day before all teams must be in compliance, are as follows: Buccaneers ($ 29,560,000); Chiefs ($ 28,431,000); Jaguars ($ 28,000,000); Browns ($ 27,620,000); Bengals ($ 27,164,000); Broncos ($26,542,000); Bills ($ 23,460,000); 49ers ($ 22,570,000); Bears ($ 19,300,000); Seahawks ($ 16,387,000); Cardinals ($ 14,603,000); Redskins ($ 11,450,000); Packers ($ 11,106,000); Jets ($ 8,920,000); Dolphins ($ 8,446,000); Colts ($7,925,000); Titans ($ 7,127,000); Saints ($ 7,027,000); Patriots ($ 5,264,000); Chargers ($ 5,031,000); Eagles ($4,604,000); Ravens ($ 3,558,000); Panthers ($ 1,915,000); Vikings ($ 938,000); Falcons ($811,000); Giants ($623,000); Rams ($621,000). The teams in the red are: Raiders ($15,246,000); Steelers ($8,597,000); Lions ($7,793,000); Cowboys ($6,671,000); and Texans ($3,358,000). By tomorrow at 4:00 p.m., there should be no teams in the red."

Where did you read that strength was lost in his leg? The Trib article says, "Louis started the season at right guard, but a minor knee injury in Week 4 derailed him and he never got back into the mix, largely because he was inconsistent and not ready." To me that indicates he wasn't ready to play and was just bad. The chicagobears.com article only says Louis is working with the starters. Last year in June, Tice said he didn't want to add another offensive lineman because he'd spent so much time working on their technique. Later he bragged up Asiata & Louis, calling them both starters. The season starts, Edwin Williams gets cut by Washington for being bad, and in about 10 minutes he's head of Louis & Asiata. Last year we were told Louis was good. Now we are told he wasn't ready to play. But we should expect him to be good this year??? On a side note, his rookie year, Chris Williams was GIVEN the starting job at RT until he got hurt. He was bad and it was a terrible decision to just give that to him. Now we are doing the same thing for Carimi.

I watched about 2 minutes of it. There was a creepy dude sitting in an unfinished room with Bears stuff on the walls talking about how great training camp was without all the fans. I'm guessing this was filmed in his parents basement and this guy has never maintained a regular job. Did it get better or am I missing something?

The thing is, he's good when he's in shape. He's one of those guys you sign after week #2 when their contracts aren't guaranteed. Get him on the treadmill, and in case Carimi gives up 8 sacks in a game, you've got a replacement who is likely better then Omiyale.

Last year Clark played in onl 5 games. We're convinced that Spaeth is one helluva a blocker. Davis will continue his special teams role. That means Clark will collect close to a cool milliion (whatever the veteran minimum is) to be inactive. Good for him. Yet as cheap as the Bears have been this offseason, spending that money on a #3 TE is not the best idea. On a side note, the SCORE reported that Clark is in the top 10 of all time Bear receivers. How sad is that? How is that even possible?

I love the idea, except I was listening to the SCORE and they asked NFL expert Mike Lombardi about it. He said that Uminyiora is basically a 3rd down DE because he is terrible against the run and teams will go right at him. That and he wants a ton of money and will cost a high draft pick. Put it that way, does anybody still want this deal? High draft pick + high salary for a situational pass rusher ='s bad deal.

Nice write up as always, but there is one thing I have to criticize (which IMO is more interesting then commenting on things I agree with ) "Oh, and now Desmond Clark was just brought back. Desmond Clark? The guy who spent much of last year on the inactive list? Yeah, that Desmond Clark. The guy who had 40 or more receptions in 3 of the previous 4 seasons as a Bear. Desmond Clark, who blocks better than Olsen and is a better all-around tight end than Kellen Davis. Comparing Clark to that other tight end, the fat guy who’s initials are appropriately B.M. is a joke. Back to Martz and Angelo. Jerry Angelo told us point blank in his interview this week that Olsen approached him last offseason for a trade, but that it was too late in the preseason to make it happen and get value. He credited Olsen for taking the high road and playing well all season. That’s nice. So, if there were less than 50 receptions to go around to your tight ends, and you knew that you’ve got a player that wants to go…would you want to keep a player that wants to be elsewhere? Faced with all of that, and knowing there was only one legitimate player who could have taken receptions away from Olsen, doesn’t it only make sense to ensure Olsen gets as many of those passes as possible to put up numbers to give him the greatest value?" I'm confused. First off, rumor is we tried to trade Olsen but didn't get a deal we liked, paticularly with New England. Secondly, don't you play the best player? Olsen has some big time catches, and is better then the 34 year old Dez Clark. We got a probable very high 3rd round pick for Olsen, which ain't bad for a TE on the last year of his deal. We essentially replaced him with Roy Williams as our big WR, and added Spaeth, who is a better blocker. Dez Clark will likely be inactive again most of the season. I'm not sure what your complaint is.

Terrible comparison. First because the Sox play second fiddle to the Cubs in Chicago. Meanwhile, the Bears dominate the 3rd largest market in America. The NFL clubs receive billions of dollars each year in TV revenue. That means the crappiest and most worthless NFL franchises still make money. NHL, NBA, and MLB all have money concerns because teams are operating in the red. The NFL only worries about how to best divy up the billions. While teams like Jacksonville have trouble filling up the stands, 3 minutes after Bears tickets went on sale, the only tickets you could find were those stupid club seats, which are in the corner and cost $250.00 each. Despite not owning their own stadium, Forbes lists them as the 9th most valuable NFL franchise: http://www.forbes.com/lists/2010/30/footba...tions_Rank.html Hey, I love the thrift spending. We've picked up lots up mediocre players with tons of potential on the cheap. But we had plenty of dough to get a difference maker.

I'm always on board for bringing in good players, so I like the idea. That being said: 1. Urlacher had a helluva of a season. Tatupu is 29 in Nov. You don't bring in a guy that old to be an "eventual" replacement. Hell, he might retire before Urlacher. 2. Unless he beats out Urlacher or Briggs, Tatupu would be the strong side linebacker. Those duties include engaging blockers to free up blitzers, matching up with the TE one on one, and going off the field in nickel situations. Nick Roach is thinking, "If he wants it, he can have it." 3. Per PFT, we have 20+ million to spend. We desperately need to upgrade the secondary and the o-line. So lets get a MLB . . . WTF?

It seems likely the starting 5 will be LT Webb, LG Garza, C Spencer, RG Williams or Louis, and RT Carimi in that order. We've switched J Webb to LT. IMO that's a bad idea. I was never convinced he should be a starting RT. Garza--solid Spencer--check Williams/Louis--Williams was bad and Louis couldn't earn playing time. But this year will be different??? Carimi--He's a rookie . . . That looks and smells like a really, really, really, bad o-line. Maybe the coaches & JA are right, but god it looks awful on paper.

You're preaching to the choir with me Madlith. What everyone is forgetting is that we were so cheap for so many years, that we always extended everyone well in advance with upfront money. So last year when we were the #1 spenders in free agency, we were something like 15th in overall spending. For a large market team like the Bears, that's unacceptable. We have plenty of money to go after players and take care of Forte. (who is a free agent in next year???)

Nice pics & commentary!

Jason, I have to admit I've mostly disagreed with you on how bad the o-line is. That being said, with one of the worst o-lines in the league we've only added a rookie to compete with Omiyale & replaced Kreutz with Spencer. You'd think we were strapped for cash, but we're 37 million under, and our most significant add had been a punter. Terrible.

That's too bad as I hoped he finish his career as a Bear. That being said, if we really believe Spencer is the answer, why did we only give him a 2 year deal?

To be honest, I think we have to give Williams a full year at one position to see what he can do. Whether that is tackle or guard, I think after investing a first round pick in him, you have to fully see what you have. Williams rookie year he was mostly hurt, then played RT. He was bad. He continued to play RT his 2nd year but was switch to LT after Orlando Pace sucked. He looked mediocre. We started him out at LT again, he got hurt, and we moved him to LG. He's had 3 years and while there's been a bunch of changes, he's never established himself at a position. At what point do you pull the plug? I think our line will be better than a lot of people believe. I don't think it will be elite though, but much much better than the crap we ran out last year. Carimi is an upgrade, Spencer might be an upgrade, and our other young players all have a season under there belts. Carimi ain't ready to be a starting LT. No way, no how.