jason

Agreed. The defense deserves some blame. But I give them a borderline pass because of injuries. Additionally, the Bears' inept offense leads to breakdowns by the defense, IMO. It's both physical exertion and mental exhaustion, knowing that your own team will probably not score over 20. Nonetheless, I'll assign them 25% of the blame. Offense gets a big fat 45%. Bad luck, 10%. Coaching, 20%. Dallas was just a better team. Period. C'mon man. You can't pin as much of it on the D as you try to. First of all, the initial touchdown only happend in the fourth because the Lions were on the doorstep when the 3rd ended (1). Griese gives up 7 (2). Then Devin Hester returns the kick for a touchdown. That gives the D no time to rest. Then Detroit marches for 7 (3). Next, wouldn't you know it, the Bears' O is three and out (no time to rest for the D). Detroit marches again (4). Then, thankfully, the Bears do something on offense and get a touchdown back. Of course, they are too far behind and have to kick the onside kick, which gets returned for a touchdown (5). So, sure, they didn't play well on D, but there were only two TD drives given up in the fourth. Not much to say about this other than the fact that I, and I'm sure many on this board, were screaming at the TV while watching this game. This was a defensive breakdown, but I put more of the blame on the coach than anything. How the hell someone doesn't stack the box against a one-dimensional team is beyond me. The Bears should have been playing with 9 in the box the entire second half. The cover-2 and the coaching got exposed. The Bears D while in the cover 2 has always had problems against the shifty type RBs and WRs. It just so happens that Morris is one of those RBs and Engram is one of those WRs. Furthermore, for some reason the cover-2, or our coaches, don't believe in bump-and-run coverage, even when the WR is slow as hell (i.e. Engram). This was also the game in which Holmgren infamously outcoached the Bears' coaches in every single way, punctuating it with the 4th down play that made the Bears look stupid. They should have done better, but Seattle is a good team and unless the Bears' coaching has an equal game, the injuries on D will be exposed. And they were. I agree that the D has to play better against backups. However, the first Washington TD was a direct result of a gimme INT by Griese. And this is the game in which the Bears' coaches or QB (Griese) simply refused to go down field and exploit any kind of possible explosive offense. It was a dink and dunk game that should have had the Bears with many more points. I think one of the announcers, maybe a commentator afterwards, said something to the effect of, "The Bears played cowardly on offense today. The simply wouldn't take a chance." Agreed.

That really only holds true on a large scale as it applies to the little guy, and when referring to this type of case (i.e. against cops), from the side of those against law enforcement. The cops do not just give out all of their evidence to the public. They wait it out and go to court. This is nearly universally true. It benefits them to have ample time to analyze every little aspect of their possible defense before simply tossing out a piece of evidence that, if in the hands of the plaintiff, could be modified or skewed to represent a different angle. Person against person, I agree with you. But when the cops are involved, I don't think they benefit nearly as much by releasing the video.

Or, it could be easily seen as the cops don't have to divulge information to the public or the news just because people are asking for it. It's not incumbent upon the cops to release the data until the time of the trial, or when otherwise requested by an authority ruling on the case. I don't know if we'll ever hear that tape.

I'm pretty sure that this statement is HIGHLY inaccurate. I could care less about the racing to be quite honest, but there is no way 20 horses had to be put down at one race. There would have been Congressional involvement for a travesty like that.

I love the fact that the original Joniak calls are in there. I swear, with a little offensive help last year, the Bears would have had a winning record. Even with all the injuries, they still would have been in contention. There is only the Dallas game out of all the losses that I felt the Bears were not in it. Every other game could have been the Bears' game with a little luck and a better offense.

Part dumb luck previous years. Last year was just a dirty play by an opponent.

Completely agree. And the owners can point to this as exhibit A when clarifying why they opted out of the extra years of the CBA.

I think the main two points the owners have are... 1) The rookie salaries are ridiculous, and need to be capped. There is no way in hell the Jamarcus Russells of the world should be able to hijack a franchise without ever playing a game, especially when there are solid veterans who get undervalued as a result. 2) There are not many businesses in the world that pay out 60% of their total revenues to employee salaries. Granted, the figures are speculation, and this is a business like no other, but it just seems high. And this doesn't even take into account several other aspects like the recent upswing in the "I need to restructure my contract halfway through the deal"-trend. I think the owners got it right on this one, and the players' salaries have gotten out of control.

The concept of trading Urlacher at this point is insane. While it's possible that the Bears may get a king's ransom for Urlacher, and the trade would pave the way towards fixing multiple problems on the team, it's just not the right thing to do. You don't get rid of the face of your franchise. You just don't do it. Now if this is several years down the line, and Urlacher is clearly holding beyond the point he should, then the idea is possible. But I just don't see that yet.

I've been telling friends this for years.

I disagree with this twofold. 1) The most obvious error in your statement is the comparison between Rex and Shoop. Whereas Rex has shown glimpses of competence, and possibly even all-pro play, Shoop pretty much sucked every day while he was with the Bears. At least when Rex messes up, it's because he's trying too hard, and attempting to make a play. When Shoop messed up - which was MUCH more often than Rex - it was more of the cower in fear variety. Until the defense starts to openly yell at Rex on the sideline for his errors, then there is no valid comparison. 2) I think the potential Rex has shown, and not the blind loyalty from JA, is what has given him the 1-year deal, and the potential for a long-term deal. When the Bears went to the Superbowl, Rex had several games where he looked like one of the top 5 QBs in the league. It's just that nobody remembers it, because the media would rather focus on the 3 or 4 games in which he looked like one of the worst QBs in the league.

Offense in shambles - true no QB - not true. Both Grossman and Orton have shown talent when given time and the support of a running game relying on a rookie LT - true, hopefully it doesn't kill the Bears relying on a rookie RB - not true, Benson will probably get the majority of the carries weak WR group - maybe. I think they have loads of potential, but... unproven OL - true, I think this is what kills the rest of the offensive production DL questions and injuries - true, unfortunately. Let's hope we have luck this year with the injuries

That's priceless. Also, FYI, I'm from hereforth referring to marijuana as "calming influence".

I'll take a shot... TD Passes - Grossman 22 (Turner has a over-cautious, firm grip on the offense all year) TD Runs - Benson 6 (Forte will be close) TD Receptions - Booker 6 (two or three others with 5 or 4) Rush Yards - Benson 950 (Forte will have 600-700) Rec. Yards - Bradley 750 (Hester, Booker, and Olsen all have 400-500) Pass Yards - Grossman 2500 (Orton only sees one game) Tackles - Briggs 125 (Less tackles because there are more healthy players) Interceptions - Brown 5 (Smack Brown is back!) Forced Fumbles - Urlacher 4 (Good year, stripping returns to Chicago) Sacks - Anderson 10 (Another solid year)

I'd love to see what Olsen could do with nearly all the catches as a primary TE (like all the other guys mentioned). It's not difficult to see a 1000 yard season in there, especially once he develops a better relationship with whoever the QB may be.

Right and wrong. Right I think you're right that we won't see him much this year...or ever. Of course, I think it's stupid. I was on record before the draft that I thought drafting a RB wasn't a priority. I think the dude has tons of potential. Wrong He's better than any RB on the team at making defensive players miss. He's better than any RB on the team in the passing game. He's arguably as good as the others blocking, since we don't really know how he can do blocking. Hell, if he's in the right spot, he's got a leg up on Benson most of the time.

I recently saw this article and became slightly irritated: "Expert" rankings I just don't see it. I think the "experts" forget the following: 1) The Bears were in the Super Bowl year before last with essentially the same team 2) The Bears had a ton of defensive injuries during the year 3) The Bears had a bad offensive line last year 4) The Bears had Pro Bowlers who were injured on each level of defense (Harris, Url, Brown) 5) The Bears lost the heart of the defense, Brown, on a freak accident 6) The Bears can't rely on Rex Grossman every game, but he sure has blown it up in some games...and Orton definitely has skills 7) The Bears had a ton of bad breaks in close games last year 8) The Bears have gotten stronger via the draft in just about every lacking position 9) The Bears have players coming off of the forced "IR"/"Redshirt" program that should contribute (Dusty/Bazuin/Okwo) 10) The Bears have not even touched upon the potential of Hester, Olsen, Wolfe, Benson, Orton, or Bradley yet. I really think the Bears are going to shock people this year. All the supposed experts will look dumb as hell if the Bears don't suffer through an injury-plagued year. I can easily see a 3 or 4 loss year. Call it koolaid if you want, but I really see a stockpile of talent and potential on this team.

Anyone have the content to the ESPN Insider article mentioning Olsen? Olsen Article

Bingo. I don't see why the athletes don't see this. It's not an equal two way street. If it were, not only would the owners be allowed to cut them, but they'd also be allowed to take a hefty portion of the signing bonus back.

C'mon dude! You can't be serious. That's like saying, "You know, I think that TJ Duckett guy sucks because his runs around the edge aren't productive." Wolfe can only do what he is permitted to do, and if the dumbass coaches put him in and call plays into the gut of an already stout run-defense, then there's not a lot he can do. Also, don't forget the fact that even the bigger RBs had trouble running between the tackles for the Bears last year. What I'm trying to say is, the guy did well with what he had to work with. He broke off a handful of decent runs in very limited opportunities, and he looked like he had explosive possibilities in the passing game.

Great wrap-up. I enjoyed it quite a bit. As for the above thoughts, I can only hope you mean that the light needs to come on in the mind of Turner and the rest of the Bears' coaching staff, and not the little guy Wolfe, who did well every time he was put in the game last year.

BWAAAHAHAHAHA.... Water Skiing while intoxicated?!

I've suddenly been distracted by this Benson thing...remind me who he is and what happened?

If that really happened, he must have run into the biggest stiff in the history of the police force. I have several friends who are cops, in small towns as well as in big cities, and you can guaran-damn-tee that if someone starts arguing getting an attitude, they're going to find something with which to charge them. On the other hand, if a friend of mine told me this story, I'd probably call BS. Like you, I'd just take the ticket and be on my way. There are very, very few people who will mouth-off to a cop.

That's a much better comparison, and I've agreed with this idea in the past. The big charges will get dropped, and they'll end up playing in the gray area to get him on some little things.