DABEARSDABOMB

I have a question for anyone that may know, how many times this season have the Bears ran the ball under 15 times (I have no idea if they ran it fewer than that tonight but it sure seemed like it and I know I've had that feeling a ton of times all season).

Those are pretty ridiculous comments. I'd like to point out that Lovie apparently told the ESPN reporters at halftime that they were quite pleased with Orton and expected him to do bigger/better things in the 2nd half. That obviously didn't happen but I'd be highly dissapointed if they didn't stick with Orton (the only possible reason I could see for going with Griese is if the Bears feel that playing Griese is more valuable in the sense that it helps them evaluate the young WR's more than having KO out there).

Completely agree. The only way I would even think about taking a DT is if Glenn Dorsey was on the board. I must admit it would be hard to pass up a total stud like him. He has similar attributes that a guy like Harris has and I have to admit it would be ridiculous watching the two of them in the inside (good lord). In all reality though, aside from LB (if Briggs goes), safety is the only spot I'd mess with on the defense (although I have no problem using later picks on the dline). I'd probably think/consider moving Manning to CB full time and release Manning Jr (Manning/McBride would be backup CB's with the 3rd being the other rookie corner, forget his name). Have Mike Brown/FA/Draft pick/McGowan at safety (quality FA) knowing if you must you can go with Manning (but try to just let Manning play one position and I think he has the athletic ability to be a solid CB in this league if you give him time to practice/play there for a camp/preseason and regular season).

Haynes/Columbo are the only two that were Angelo picks. Haynes/Grossman were picked in a trade down where the Bears passed on Dwayne Robertson (and to this day I think it was a good decision to trade down and Haynes development was stunted by the Bears switching coaches a year into his career, IIRC, and his style suited Blache/Jauron's style but not Lovies style (lovie prefers the speed approach).

I got to be honest. This was probably one of his better calls. Remember when Griese hit Clark on the playaction in GB (I think that was 4th down) and the Bears won the game. This was a similar call and Orton made the safe read to McKie (Clark was also open down the seam and probably had a TD) and failed to deliver the pass (McKie was open). Heck, given the Vikings absolute strength in the inside this was a pretty good playcall, imo (and it pains me to say that, LOL).

I want to point out that Urlacher/Mike Brown were drafted by the late Mark Hatley.

I don't know if I could call the Dusty pick bad. If you aren't calling the Colombo pick bad (since his failure was not because he didn't have the talent, rather cause he couldn't stay healthy) there is no way you can't call the Dusty pick bad. In his one game out there Dusty looked like a maniac (awesome push, played run/pass well) and I was super excited (unfortunately he went down in week 1). You also can't call it a major negative that he didn't play his rookie year given the Bears depth at DT at the time (you could say the timing of the pick was bad, in that they could have went for another position given the depth at DT). I also can't really comment on Bazuin till he gets on the field. Plus had the Bears not taken Benson they would have taken Mike Williams and that would have been twice the disaster.

I'm glad to see I wasn't the only one who thought that was a BS penalty. I was livid.

I think he was implying that with your early 2nd round pick there are very good odds that a quality Offensive tackle will still be there (ie, his opinion is that aside from Long the rest of the Tackles all grade out similarly so if you stick around you may be able to grab the same type of guy in rd 2 that you could have taken atop the board). My thought on this is that if this is the case, I can only hope someone some other team is drooling over is there and than the Bears can slide down the first round and pick up an extra 2nd round pick (give them a first where they still grab a tackle, a 2nd for a QB and a safety/RB/WR, than in the 3rd RD you take a guard you like and the other position you didn't take). In FA you sign one of the stud guards and than resign Brown who will groom the 3rd round guard we drafted (along with Beekman). Keep Garza/St.Clair (or Metcalf over Garza depending on cap space) as backups. You should also have money to give Briggs & Berrian money as well and maybe even give some money to a safety.

Someone have some info on Phillips. I haven't looked much into the draft aside from McFadden, the oline guys, Dorsey, and the QB's. I couldn't even tell you who this Phillips guy is (safety??).

Hell, at the end of the first half (after the TD) I was super excited and got these delusions of playoffs in my eyes (I was thinking based on the way the D was playing and the nice Orton pass to Moose to set up the McKie TD that hell, maybe they win out and get a little luck). Than the field goal and those delusions quickly dissapeared.

I agree with you on seeing more of Bradley on the field. He has potential and he has been absolutely terribly used. He gets open when he's out there and immediately comes off. I just don't understand it. I have no problem teaching Hester in game now that the season is done but it shouldn't prevent the Bears from getting a high-upside guy like Bradley a chance (afterall the Bears really need to know what they have in him since they are going to have Berrian out there in FA and Moose as a potential cap casualty). Welcome to the board Jason.

Part of why I don't mind keeping Orton is because of that neckbeard. It makes it look like we got a lumberjack at QB and to me that just promotes toughness

As Rex's biggest fan on this board, if bringing him back means Turner comes back than I'd rather have Griese start (and I think everyone here knows of my distaste of one Brian Griese). If his job wasn't sealed already, the atrocious play calling tonight had to seal Turner's career in Chicago.

That sounds like me and Griese. I also feel very similar to Orton as I do Griese, but I also admit Orton is young so he has a chance to prove me wrong. Griese on the other is older and past his prime (there was a span where he was an effective QB). I still think if Griese is behind an above average oline and has an above average running game that he can be productive (given that situation I think Rex could be great..key word being "could").

Don't forget the ridiculous holding on Clark early in the game (where his jersey was ripped completely off his shoulder thanks to a brilliant hold by the Vikes).

I think a lot of QB's in the NFL would make it an average offense, I said Rex would make it an above average offense. That was the difference, but in theory, I completely agree with you, which is why I think it is stupid (given the Bears holes on the oline) to spend any money or a high draft pick on a QB (2nd rounder I can live with, especially if the Bears had a trade down or something where they picked up extra first day picks and using one of there 3rd rounders on a guy like Ainge/Brennan (if he falls)/Falco.

I completely agree with you, but I still am all for giving Orton the rest of the season. He hasn't seen an NFL defense in well over a year and deserves that. I hope to hell he proves us both wrong too.

I am going with Rex Grossman, Kyle Orton (unless he stinks these last few games, in which case I'd think about keeping Brian, or would just sign another veteran backup) plus a draft pick (I would have no problem with a 3rd round pick or a 2nd round pick if the Bears filled a lot of there skilled position needs via FA as well as signed/drafted oline).

I think that is probably his biggest negative. Surprisingly I'm not very concerned with his ability to read defenses. I think he understands defenses pretty well (and it was made evident with how smoothly he ran the no-huddle). The key to me is him getting better when he's under pressure. Following the disastrious stretch of games he lost confidence and ended up thinking intstead of playing and it resulted in numerous bad decisions (he'd wait too long and a guy would jump the route or he'd overthink and make the wrong read instead of relying on instincts that got him where he was). When he re-entered the game he seemed to be more mobile and actually turned some busted plays into plays. I know when you give Rex time he can pick a defense apart, especially because he throws such a good ball (he has such a quick release, strong arm, and that arm is incredibly accurate). You watch some of the throws he makes and I'm just left in awe (I'm a massive huge fan of QB's and he'll make some throws that has me speachless). He still needs to improve his footwork when it comes to pressure and no one knows if he will, but in the greater scheme of things I think if you give him a good oline, and a solid RB, he will lead an above average offense. I don't know if the Bears still buy into that or not, but I've seen enough from Rex to think it is worth giving him another shot (and I have no problem using a first day pick on a QB...note I say 1st round cause in general I'm not a fan of taking a QB in the 1st round unless it is late in the 1st round because of all the guaranteed money given to them).

He definitely needs to work on the shotgun snap in the off-season (it is realistic to expect him to struggle considering prior to this year it had been years since he has had to do it). Blocking wise Kreutz was an animal tonight. He was the one guy I consistently noticed getting blocks and just going crazy out there. Garza was absolutely horrendous and I mean Horrendous. Miller had bad penalties and was his usual terrible self and St. Clair was meh, but my god I saw Garza wiff or take the wrong guy (or what I deemed to be the wrong guy, but I'm not aware of who the blocking assignments were for specific plays) and it was just awful.

Oh, I want to give Bob Babich some credit from making some decent adjustments and bringing up the extra man on the box and continuing to make plays. Oh and I can't say again how awesome it was to just see Vasher back out there.

If it ain't an offensive tackle, I'll throw up.

You said you can't make an evaluation. Why not stick with that assessment. Basically put this year was a wasted year for the Bears because no one had a freaking chance at the QB position. I just know one thing, if you got to the experts they will all tell you Rex can make the throws and judging by his past few weeks he also made good decisions (he's always been pretty good at making reads, it was just a problem with him getting greedy at times and obviously he got burned numbers times). Rex has had more success in a short span than any Bears QB since McMahon. I realize it doesn't say much but I think people forget that an awful lot and continue to completely expect him to be a hall of famer.

He leads a defensive line that has popped off way too much. They get great jumps but it bites them in the butt as well. As far as the offensive line, I can't even think how many times the oline has completely killed the momentum of a drive. They are absolutely the worse offensive line I have ever seen as a Bears fan.