BearFan2000

just looked it up and found it interesting that it will be in Miami again, and it will also be on my Birthday 2/7/09 in which I will turn 21 for the 12th straight year. All I want for my Birthday is to celebrate by watching my Bears hoist the Lombardi trophy. If I get nothing else for my birthday that would be sufficient. Interesting also that our last trip to the Super Bowl we had a gunslinger type QB in Rex. Jay is similar in style but I'd say more mobile, taller, smarter, and more consistent. That season was Berrian's coming out party. Could this season be Bennets, Hesters, Olsens, etc. I don't think we should think too seriously about Super Bowl when training camp hasn't even started. But we have much to be excited about. I can hardly wait for the first preseason game. If nothing else this has certainly breathed some much needed life into the Bears and us as fans. Up until 4/2/09 this was shaping up to be an extremely boring FA period where I figured the highlight would be the build up to the draft, followed by an assessment of of said draft. If this move pans out and he becomes our stable QB that we have been looking for for decades 4/2 may just become a Chicago holiday known as Jay Cutler day. The excitement everywhere and it's contagious. This pans out and we as Bears fans will need to think differently when it comes to offense. We are not used to our QB leading the team with any consistency or longevity. We all know that list too well and we are used to our QB's letting us down, it hinders our ability to think positively when it comes to that position. We are so accustomed to failure that any success we enjoy is accompanied by the thought in the back of our minds, when does the clock strike midnight and when does our our QB turn back into a pumpkin. This could be the point in time when that mindset is replaced with one of expectation.

I think Olsen made a very valid point when the coin flip question was asked. When your rotating QB's in practice it becomes hard to establish good rhythm with one guy. I think Having Cutler be that guy without question means he will take all the practice reps with the 1's and as a result the backs and receivers who will be at the top of the depth chart will be practicing with Jay exclusively. Stability at that position will be huge. Another good point made by Sean Cassidy on the Bearscast podcast from 4/3. The reason QB is such an important position is "A good QB, he can make your other 10 players, your OK other players better. Just like your talking about. That's what Jay Cutler's gonna do, but, if you only have an OK QB like Kyle Orton, the other 10 guys has to be good to make him better. It's a lot easier to be good at one position than it is at 10 positions. An the Bears finally figured that out today." IMO, Its similar to a point guard in Basketball the offense flows through him so as the QB if you have a guy who's just adequate the other guys have to make up the slack and their margin of error is very if not non-existant. Where as if you have average at best receivers a high quality QB can get more out of those players and make them better. We saw it with the Bulls and Jordan (not comparing Cutler to Jordon). MJ made everyone around him better, now he did have Scottie, Grant, Pax, and Cartwright for the first 3 championships, and Rodman, Kerr, Scottie, Luc Longley. He had a solid starting cast outside of Jordan and Pippin the "supporting cast" wasnt nearly as talented on paper but their play was elevated by Jordan's play. I think that Cutler can have that kind of effect. I think he will make our backs an receivers better. It's better make that change then trying to get big name WR's in there and hope that Kyle can play well enough to utilize them. For the longest time it's been difficult to pointless to evaluate and develop WR when we consistently have had a void of talent at the QB position to get them the ball.

Cassell is a good QB but look at the talent he had to work with in NE. I think there are a lot of QBs that could have thrived in that situation. He did step up and perform so he's not devoid of credit. I do think KC got a great deal the #2 pick they got was the second pick of the second round (#34 overall) which isn't a bad pick and Vrabel is in his 13th season but still an effective LB. Cassell had a good season taking over for Brady, one season coming out of nowhere doesn't make a career. He may turn out to be a stud, but he may be the next Anderson who was a flash in the pan then struggled. Cutler has been solid in his time with Denver over more than just one season. He's been to a Pro Bowl. Time will tell just how good this trade ends up being same with the KC/NE trade. Cutler brought a bigger price because he's a more established player.

I think it's hard to judge by all the comments. We all know Urlacher's strong suit isn't answering interview questions. Wale's reaction was both diplomatic and accurate I think. I like that being a defensive guy he brought it back to the defense and owned up to the poor play of the defense and that they need to get back to form. Which is true, if you have a good offense you can negate that with bad defensive play just like a good defense can be negated by a poor offense. I usually don't read much into Url's comments they often don't sound like much thought went into them. Another way of looking at this is that there is the shock of it all. April 1st Kyle was our starter, and there was little to no indication of what would happen today. This news caught a LOT of people off guard. Supposedly the deal was going to go down between Denver and Washington and was all but finalized. Then out of the Blue the trade is announced and to the surprise of many it wasn't Wash, it was the Bears. Kyle had earned the respect of his teammates and I'm sure they were still stunned. What you won't hear is "good riddance Kyle" or over the top praise of Cutler. I would imagine what we'll get is mostly diplomatic type answers aside from URL who's answers are like a box of chocolates, you never know what your going to get. They have a great deal of respect for Kyle so I imagine that has something to do with some of the tame responses. I like Kyle and I think he showed guts last year playing through that ankle injury and and dealing with the long wait to finally get the chance to be the man. I know he had hopes of being the long term QB in Chicago. I wish him the best in Denver except when we play them.

And when you check out the Broncos boards it might be a good idea to keep sharp objects away from them and may have to talk them off the ledge lol There are a handful Denver fans that are ok with it but I saw posts like "if this deal includes Orton in any way I will kill myself" Words like Vomit, puke, etc are flowing freely over in Bronco land. Seems we aren't the only ones that get pissed at our GM. They seem ready to lynch McDaniels. In all Honesty I think the trade works for both teams. Kyle will have more weapons over in Denver and with his one year remaining he may be a stop gap in a rebuilding club who desperately needs help on the defensive side of the ball. Between Kyle, Simms, and whoever else they have or will get. The Draft pics if they pick well will help them build up their defense. For the Bears we get a proven QB who has been to a Pro Bowl and can make the talent around him better. If we can pick up one or two legit WR's and our O-Line gels into a solid or better unit and can give Jay time the threat of an actual passing attack will only help our Running game. This move could very well make our offense more balanced. Been watching some of his highlights and one thing that does jump out at me is he has good presence and is able to improvise when things break down. He can make a wide range of throws accurately. Kyle's biggest weakness was the long ball. I always held my breath when he'd heave it down field cause I never knew if it was actually going to come down near the receiver or get picked. Cutler is by no means perfect but I think he's a hell of a QB and...... shoot, I can't believe we pulled the trigger, I'm glad we have him now. Add a good WR or two and draft secondary, WR, O-Line (not necessarily in that order). Head into camp with some fresh excitement, and enthusiasm. These kinds of things can really boost morale. The players seem as jazzed as we are 2009 could indeed be a special year. Could we finally get over that hump and bring the Lombardi back where it belongs? I don't want to get ahead of myself but I have to think we've got a good shot at the NFC North and once your in the playoffs anything can happen. Bear Down!!!

Why not go for Holt and Bolden The night is young lol

I'm soooo looking forward to Game 3 of the preseason. How ironic that we now have Cutler and we play Denver in game three of the preseason, which if I'm not mistaken the game where the starters play into the second half. I bet Jay's got that one circled in fat red sharpe on his callendar.

You had me at "Cutler to the Bears" And I thought this was going to be a boring offseason. Seeing so many big name guys go elsewhere while we swap O-linmen with the Browns, pick up a few scraps here and there then this bomb drops and now we've added Pace, All we need is one or two playmakers at the WR position and Chicago could have it'self an offense that is actually dangerous to other teams rather than to us. We could possibly field and offense that will take pressure off the Defense and give them a chance to rest between possessions. I bet they are getting excited too. It's so much easier to work your arse off to get the ball back for the offense when you have confidence that you won't be back on the field 4 plays later. I have to think that some of our Defensive woes are in part due to frustration and fatigue it's a long season and when you are often the only thing keeping the team in the game hoping and praying that the offense finally steps up and pulls it's weight I can see how it would be tough to maintain your intensity and enthusiasm. I admit I fully expected us to sorta sleep walk through the rest of the offseason, have an ok draft, and enter the season hoping that things would resolve themselves on the field. I did not expect us to enter the season with Kyle Orton not being our starter, let alone not even on our roster. The QB I saw leaving was Rex I didn't think that both would gone. So at this point QB's are Cutler, Hanie, and Basenez WR's are Hester, Bennet, Davis, Rideau, Broussard, Aromashodu TE's are Clark, Davis, Mines, and Olsen. We still need to pick up one or two playmakers at the WR spot. I can't wait till opening day when Da Bears go to GB and cut the cheese.

HOLY SHNIKIES With all the boring goings on lately then I pop in to see if anything is new and my jaw is still stuck to the floor. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE tell me this isn't some lame delayed April Fools joke Did we actually go after and aquire a pro bowl caliber QB???? This is still Chicago isn't it? holy crap...... I cannot friggin belive this. I wanted this to happen and I cant believe it actually happened. Imagine if you will, Bears opening day, Bears first offensive possession and out on the field walks Jay Cutler, behind him is Matt Forte, in front of him is a solidified O-Line, to his right and left are recievers who actually have a shot of making an impact on the game. If I'm Hester, or Olsen, or Clark, or Davis, or anyone else in the TE WR position I am jumping with joy and chomping at the bit to get the workouts started. Man this is good news. Things are starting to come together. I'm not even going to tarnish this post with any hint of pessimism. Today the Bears did what I would imagine few (ourselves included) thought we'd actually do. Go Bears!!!

I haven't posted on here or been to this forum for quite a while, I try to avoid the offseason anxiety as much as possible at least till we get closer to the draft. Mainly cause it can get me worked up and anxious lol. It's easy to get caught up in why we're not after this guy or that guy or making more of a splash, and I agree with the idea of being more cautious about who we look at and when. At the end of the day what really matters is if you signed and went after the guys who can help your team in FA and the draft. They aren't always the big name free agents or top 10 picks. Sure it does raise the blood pressure a little to see established players get signed elsewhere and thinking why didn't we go after him. Or knowing of someone who may become available and hope that we do and we don't. FA can be as much a crap shoot as the draft, sure the odds are slightly better as you have something to gage from as they have experience in the NFL as opposed to college, but the same issues can rear their heads in the FA market. A successful WR FA could fail at his next stop due to being a product of the system he was successful in, benefitted from talent around him (solid QB, other solid receivers, solid run game, solid line, etc.). Put in the wrong system he fails. At the same time the opposite can hold true a solid wr in a bad situation can flourish in a good situation. We're not the only NFL team to get players who were supposed to be good that failed here. Though it sometimes seems like we have had more than our fair share of flops. We've also had players that flourished here. Thomas Jones revitalized his career here in Chicago, we've also had guys like Moose who were good came here and did nothing. The key of any GM is finding the right mix of talent to make the team successful. As a fan it's not always easy when it may seem like the GM of your fav team is sitting on his hands doing nothing when you know the product on the field the previous season was well below expectations or performed poorly.

Second that. And that is precisely part of the intangibles that makes Mike Brown valuable to the team. He has a great mind for the game and he will speak his mind if he sees the need and you can tell his teammates have a tremendous respect for him. He's not afraid to bluntly say "we sucked" He has a genuine nature that is so lacking on this team. On field leadership is so valuable but easily forgotten. The closest guy I think of on the D after Brown would be Briggs, or someone like Tillman. Tommie could be if he could keep his head in the game. But the Defense and offense needs leadership.

I like Tillman as well and it's not just him anyone we put out there at corner is off the ball about 10 yards every down. Teams with even a middle of the road QB and average receivers eat us alive with the slants. We play our LB's too close to the line and they get swallowed up in traffic and we get beat in the middle of the field. It's frustrating to watch and it's got to be even more frustrating to participate knowing the scheme has you out of position. When you line up 10 yards off the line from the WR and you start bailing all your momentum is going the wrong way. Even if they run a deep route you are that much more susceptible to the double moves and it can easy make you look stupid. Compound that by Safety's not picking up the receiver when the CB passes him off in the cover two you get burned deep. The only teams that can't pass on our defensive scheme are the teams that are as offensively challenged as us.

Haven't been on here in a while. While I know very little about the Xbox 360 having only owned mine a short while. I know that with the old Xbox that the dirty disk error on a new game disk could be a sign that the DVD drive might have lense alignment issues. Seems odd that it would be a hard drive issue. But, as for a way to transfer the information I thought I read something about networking the Xbox 360 to your PC you can access the hard drive. I wouldn't know if it works, I have a Mac and haven't tried mounting the Xbox360 hard drive. But if you can connect to it on the PC there might be a way to grab your info and back it up before sending off the drive.

I thought it was strange to see Garza on the cover of the Spanish version. Out of all the lineman in the league they picked him? Figured no one outside of Chicago would have clue who he was. But you're right a lot can be read into the "Madden Curse" People just focus on any negative aspect of the guy's season to say "see, it's the Madden Curse" There are a ton of guys not on that cover who have down years or get injured. Our roster is full of guys like that. I think they were trying to break the pattern by putting Favre on the cover because he retired and we joked about him tripping over something and breaking an arm.

Voted several times clicking the vote again link. Not sure how many times you're allowed to vote. Looking at the Candidates Forte was only picked ahead of one of them, and that's Slaton. My gut tells me that it'll go to Ryan though I think Forte deserves a serious shot concidering what he has meant to the Bears offense. I forget what the exact stat but wasn't he like 36% of the Bears total offense. Take Forte out and the offense would haven't even been good enough to suck. #3 Matt Ryan #18 Joe Flacco #24 Chris Johnson #44 Matt Forte #89 Steve Slaton

for some reason it took me a while to locate the text in the post. Next time I'm online I'll add you to my friends list. Back to work on Monday so won't be on live as much as I'd been over shutdown. But I'll be on from time to time in the evenings.

So what is everyone's Xbox Live Gamertag? Got my wireless connection set up today (no more dragging my modem back and forth) and thought it might be fun to play some people from this board. my gamertag is "BF2K"

Thanks Pix for taking the time to run the contests and this board you do a great job as to all the admins of this site You all are a credit to Bears Nation. Thanks Chile, both the margin and the pickems were competitive. Always entertaining If it wasn't for the hot start on the season in the pick'ems I don't think I'd have finished in the top three. Congrats to both you and Bowlingtwig. Wining the survivor pool with only one loss in 17 weeks is pretty darn good. Looking back I wish I had picked the Lions opponents for all but 3 weeks of the season (since they play Bears, Vikes, and Pack twice). It would have made it easier lol. Oddly it's almost easier to pick against the spread than it was straight up. With the margin and survivor pools I tried to pick the upsets early and save the strongest teams for later but that doesn't always pan out. Looking forward to next years. Hopefully this time next year we are still rooting for our Bears. For now GO EAGLES Bear Down!

and that's where I believe a lot of the Bears problems were this year. It's one thing to have tallent, it's another thing to know how to utilize it. We put URL too close to the line and it nullified his greatest asset his speed. Getting him caught up in the traffic kept him from playing his game. We all know he has a weakness when it comes to shedding blocks, so what does Babich do puts him closer too those blocks. The same could be said in other places on the team. For example Booker was used often to run deep routes when he is not that type of receiver at least in this stage of his career. Developing hands of stone doesn't help him either but he wasn't utilized to his strengths. There are others but the point being that I look at this team and I say the blame is 50/50. I still believe this team has talent and are capable of a much higher level of play. But watching players being put in a lose lose situation is frustrating to watch. Seeing URL get swallowed up in the traffic. Watching our DB's play 10 yards off the ball while the opposing offenses simply slanted us to death. IMO you have 5 yards from the line of scrimmage to jam the receiver we say no thanks I'll just sit back in trail technique and hope I can cover him deep. Use the 5 yards rough him up, redirect him. We make it far too easy for opposing QBs. As a QB you know where you're receivers are supposed be and we simply allow them to be where they are supposed to be. We let anyone from pee wee league level QB's all the way through all pros pick us apart blind folded. Our only saving grace is when a receiver slips, there's a bad throw, or we get a pick. I'm tired of watching a wide open receiver running loose in the secondary catch the ball then have 4 guys converge on him but not a single one of those four guys decided to cover him. one of the plays that sticks out in my mind from the Texan game is the deep pass where Tillman is pointing to Manning because manning is out of position. You know what, instead of pointing to a teammate stay with him. I know this leaves your man uncovered on the sidelines but wasn't the ball already in the air when he was pointing. If Peanut stays with him there's a chance that he might break that up. Instead Tillaman holds up and points at Manning and by doing so allows plenty of separation. Then after they contact him the push him into the end zone (not the only time the bears tackled someone and pushed them forward a few yards in the process. IMO Babich must go. Firing the position coaches won't have any effect. The Scheme is set by the DC and HC. The position coaches mainly focus on coaching the responsibilities of their respective positions in that scheme not to define their role in it. However because Lovie has a lot of say in the defensive schemes and is the one pulling the strings on whomever the puppet is that's playing the part of DC means replacing the puppet doesn't guarantee the result will be any better. But I think it does have a lot to do with a coach getting the most out of his players. Rivera rode his players hard and pushed them. Not sure what Babich is doing, any other team and he wouldn't be a DC he was GIVEN the spot because he's a friend of Lovie's. I'd like to see Marinelli take Babiches job. The lions went 0-16 but not all due to him. There is just very little talent on that team and there's also a culture there that accepts losing or is at least so used to it that they don't expect much more. Imagine if Rod had some talent to coach? When a team that has as bad a record as Detroit did played they're hearts out despite it tells me he can motivate but was handicapped by a talentless team. Also the players we have need to step up and play better we let a back gash us and they just say wall I was in the wrong gap. The players themselves keep making the same mistakes over and over. They are played too much money to do that and it tells me they have little to no sense of accountability, whether they just don't respect the authority of their coaches or the coaches don't come down on them for those mistakes.

I'll probably get flamed for this but. I knew the inevitable outcome of this game and yes you'd have to be an idiot not to realize what a huge mismatch this game was. But that being said I for one am a big time USC Hater. I cannot stand that team or it's coach. So I will always root for the team playing them. The guy was going down and in the grasp of the other USC player before Mays left his feet and launched into the player. The reason the flag was throw was the violent way his head snapped to the side. That wasn't the only cheap shot laid but there were others and that is USC's MO they will hit you even if you are down or practically down. That said I do like his intensity but that kind of intensity does us no good if he draws flags like that. That will be called in the NFL 90% of the time. If he can play intense and play smart then I have no problem bringing him here. We could definitely use an intimidating presence in our defense.

I just find it very amusing that he winds up on a team that isn't going to let him bend them over a barrel like Green Bay did now that his true colors are showing. He's pulled this crap for how many years now? Honestly though the Jets should have known they were trading for damaged goods. But chose to take their chances. So it sounds as though the king decided not to mingle with his subjects but rather sit alone in his throne room. Where's your crown king nothing? It's clear why Mangini didn't want him or wasn't too high on bringing him there. Even funnier the guy they rejected became a star in Miami lol. I remember a game a few years back when Pennington went down to injury and the crowd cheered so they could put in the backup. The Jets got punked.

Seems that all you can find online is a list of the transactions, and player rating changes, etc. Not an actual file to download and apply to the the Xbox 360. Not a problem though as I have Xbox live now and have ordered a 12 month + 1 card along with the wireless network adapter. I didn't like the idea of running network wiring under my crawl space. I will say this though playing online against real people is kind of addicting. Only cons are you run into guys who don't finish, or lately I've seen guys who on offense just drop way back and run around then lob the ball downfield. Usually I either knock it down, get the sack or pick it off. They also never punt or kick the field goal they go for it on 4th down always even if it's like 4th and 30/40. They also rarely kick off normally but instead onsides kick. I'd much rather play people who take it seriously and actually play the game like you would an actual game. I always look for a realistic experience there are guys out there who play that way just sucks when you get into a game and some idiot plays the way I mentioned above. I've only been online twice as it's a bit of a hassle to move the modem to the other room and hook it up just to play live. I'd like to build a friends list of people from this board my gamertag is BF2K

nm Double post

Sadly I agree, would be surprised if anyone of the three get fired. I see assistants getting fired. There will be scapegoats but we'll be stuck with the the same three guys we had this year. And here I thought we got rid of the three stooges..... looks like all we did is hire their backups. I would like to see at the very least Babich gone yesterday. Turner has gotten something out of nothing, he does have his pet plays that he thinks are clever and have yet to work. But he hasn't had much to work with. With Lovie it seems that our defensive schemes will never stray too far away from the cover 2. However, the right guy in there can make a difference. The situation was the same with Chico and he got that D to play at a high level. I'm convinced that Babich was actually some janitor they found and promoted to DC and has no clue how to run a defense. I'm positive we're stuck with Lovie but with the right coordinator combination and a good offseason in the draft and free agency I think we could see improvement in the overall product on the field.

If you look at record only you could say 9-6 and barely missing the playoffs is respectable but it doesn't tell the true tale of how this team played. Early on my prediction was a sub 500 finish I predicted 6-10 and their record was better than that. We beat Indy soundly in their house and I though hey this team might actually be good. What followed was a mixture of decent games, games that we had won but snatched a loss out of the jaws of victory. The erratic play continued we lost games we should have won, won games we should have lost, and played that way till the end of the season. There were only a handful of convincing wins. But the majority of our games were either blown or somehow won at the last min. I understand that good teams pull wins out of their arses on occasion like we did in AZ in 2006. But for good teams that only on occasion not their MO. Good teams are consistent, and play with intensity. The only thing consistent about the 2008 Bears has been their inconsistency. When you ask yourself before game time, which team shows up today the one that beat indy, the one that blew it against tampa and carolina, or the one that shouldn't win but somehow pulls it out. For me it's the manner in which the team has played this season that I find more embarrassing than the results in the standings Overall Kyle has been one of the bright spots for this team Forte, what a find I liked this kid from day one and was thrilled that we dumped Seabass because I knew it would mean he'd be the starter. He hasn't disappointed me one bit. He's a tough kid with enough make you miss and speed to be dangerous and he's 10 times the blocking back that Ced was. It's nice ot have a back that can be in on all downs rather than only on running downs. Briggs, for once we give a guy a pay day and he completely earns it. I doubted last offseason that he'd still be here and he's not only still here but he is one of our best defensive players. Alex Brown, has stepped up his game and has really made his presence felt. Izzy has also made his presence felt and has stepped up. Hester, has done better at WR than I thought he would, but needs to either be a WR or a Return man he obviously can't do both. Olsen has been everything I had hoped he'd be this year I was beginning to worry but he's really stepped up and become a consistent target. Gould has been solid and another guy who didn't get lazy after his payday. If we didn't have a kicker like him I doubt we'd even have won half the games we did. Maynard has had a decent year and has been an asset in the field position battle. Manning has played well late in the season he had a rough game yesterday but he wasn't alone. Though his fumble on the return was costly in the end he has provided a solid return threat on kickoffs and has done well in the nickle. Lloyd probably had one of his better days as a WR yesterday than he's had in a while. Overall I have to think that the schemes we run on defense have more to do with the poor play than the individual players. I still think the talent is there but that talent is wasted on a flawed scheme. To an extent I say that's a positive that we have the talent but we need a DC who can get the most out of it and light a fire under these guys they have grown soft and need someone who will get on them. I'm sure there are more positives than this.