DABEARSDABOMB

I think the Bears deserve to here his side of the story, but its very clear that Angelo and the Bears talked with Benson and told him not to put himself in those situations. If he had a drink or two, given his previous situations, call a cab service/limo service whatever. You are a professional athlete, you have the money to ensure that you do whatever it takes to get home safely (especially when you have a history and you know one more bad move puts you directly in the cross-hairs). I really wish he gets it, because if he did, he'd be good, but I don't endorse the Bears franchise turning themselves into a parole office with Lovie and company having to baby-sit its players hoping one day they'll figure crap out. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.

I don't know what was a dumber comment. Me saying Cade McNown was going to be the best QB in franchise history or me saying that Cedric Benson would go down as the a top 5 RB in Bears franchise history. Good lord, my evaluation abilities are terrible. Thankfully the Bears aren't paying me a dime and instead everyone here gets to read my "expert" analysis, LOL. I'd dump Benson and make a run at Shaun Alexander. Just get a veteran, whose at least a solid guy and motivated (is Rhodes still out there???) and be prepared to get Forte more and more carries throughout the season.

I thought I read where McBride also had an excused absence for at least one of the days? Did I read wrong?

Realistically, I can't complain about the way any of the Bears players currently frustrated with there contract have handled things. Urlacher showed up to mini-camp and I expect the Bears to reach terms with him on a restructured contract. Hester showed up and told the Bears I'm serious about playing by your rules and I think we'll see the Bears get serious about putting together a package that works for both sides. Tommie Harris is the one question-mark, not because he didn't handle his situation fine (he really has) but because he's going to get the fattest defensive contract ever and that has the Bears scared given his knee's.

Nicely done. I'm curious to see when the Bears get serious with Forte/Williams. Both of those guys are being looked upon as key contributors and they won't even have a chance at doing such unless they get signed and are in camp from day 1.

I think now that he's coming back, the Bears should make a statement and reward him. Than maybe Harris/Hester will see that the Bears really will try to reward there players and hopefully in the near future the two sides can agree with deals that are both good for the org as well as the player (ie, Hester/Harris). I know Tommie Harris was supposed to be on ESPN 1st Take this morning, but I had to roll to work before he came on so I wasn't able to see his interview.

I'm very excited to have Forte here. He has the tools to be a very good NFL back and seems like a complete collegiate player and that completeness should help him transition to the NFL game.

This is a much bigger scandal than the Spygate one and the Patriots should be signficantly fine for such actions. I'm talking about a fine as significant as the Spygate one (if not more significant). The Patriots have shown absolutely no willingness to follow the rules and this type of actions can not be tolerated.

I personally have a lot more issues with the Patriots use of the IR than I do with spygate. Personally I believe there are more teams than just the Pats who have partaken in "SpyGate" like incidents, however, I think there are a lot less (in fact, probably none) who blatantly broke the IR rule.

Benson was a stud at Texas, but I do recall some people had concerns about his character coming out of college. Most of those concerns were because he was loosely associated/compared with Ricky Williams (who we all know has had all kind of issues off the field, albeit none of them are what I would consider major issues, they are issues that have significantly impacted his career).

It is going to be very important to get a lot of production out of Clark/Olsen. These guys, along with Booker are the only proven offensive assets on the roster. I still believe that the Bears are being incredibly foolish putting so much hope in the hands of your WR's, especially ones who are completely unproven and aren't high draft picks (Because the reality is, higher picks are safer options for the most part). Plus, WR's tend to not have an immediate impact in the NFL (as there are a lot of subtle nuances to the game).

I don't understand how he had a disappointing rookie season. He had limited action due to the way the Bears utilized him but he made plays throughout the year and flashed all kinds of upside. I was pretty happy with his play and I think he could emerge as a premiere TE in the NFL.

The big question is whether he'll be even close to the player he was pre-injury. Bentley was a probowl caliber player prior to going down and if the Bears believe he would get healthy than I think he would be a tremendous pick-up at the guard spot.

The Bears have made a habit of negotiation extensions mid-season (since they can apply portions of the extension to the current year cap, thus making such move is being financially smart). In fact, almost every year in Angelo's era (with some exceptions, ie, years where the team didn't have much cap room to play with during the season), he has extended at least one player mid-season (in fact there were some years where he worked out extensions with multiple players, IIRC).

He is the highest paid kicker, but really, it isn't that big of a salary, imo. Especially when you factor into the massive effect kickers have on today's game. Gould isn't the best kicker in the NFL, but he ranks in the top 5-7 and because of that I feel he is more than worthy of the salary he got. His only legitimate weakness is the fact that he isn't really capable of going out and hitting 50+ yard field goals. But anything inside of 45 and he's as accurate, if not more accurate, than anyone in the league.

There are filters which we can put in place, which will essentially auto-sensor curse words. Basically something like "flub" would turn into "f*ck" or we could have it set to say "freak". Haven't read through this whole thread to see what the consensus is, but I know personally I have no problem with it. I ocassionally will drop an Fbomb in the post, but its just out of frustration about a subject matter or something and I personally have no problem if it is auto-sensored. Update: Read through the thread and I'm personally a fan of going with a policy of blocking out the F-word but just using this thread as a quick reminder to everyone to treat posters with respect and to try and be careful with the language. Over all the years I've posted within this community (ie Bearstalk), I can only think of a handful of times where there were ever any sort of relatively serious issues and I think that is a tribute to all of the members who have made this place so special. Still, every once in a while, it isn't bad to get a quick reminder out to just remember that we all need to stay civil and try to be mindful of what we type.

Honestly, those pictures aren't bad at all. I don't see Benson pounding booze or really anyone there looking like they are doing stupid shit.

That is just classless. No comment regarding his on the football performance should be related to a guy crying when getting sprayed with pepper spray. Hell, he was clearly in a horrible situation and called out for his mom, just like many people probably would in that sort of situation (he was calling her to so she could witness the assault which was taking place). MSNBC should be embarassed for publishing that.

I know many of us have questioned Benson's heart and his ability to mingle with teammates and say the right things, but never was he ever really associated with being a partier or having any sort of serious off the field issues. At first when I saw this I was ready to just dump Benson, but the more that comes out the more that I really believe the Bears have to sit there and look at Cedric and say hey, we believe you. That said, they should also lay down the law and tell him we drafted a RB. We feel this way about you (hence why we picked you 4th overall) but the reality is you need to make some changes (come to Chicago and train with Jones and bust your royal ass to get healthy and ready to go for training camp). Basically put, I think the franchise should sit him down (just like any boss would do to an employee) and lay out the expectations the Bears have for him and how they expect him to reach those expectations (ie, training with Rusty Jones, working with the therapist on rehabbing the leg, etc). For all I know the Bears have done that, but from what I've learned about professional sports franchises it is usually foolish to assume so much (I've interviewed about a dozen players in professional sports over the past couple years and one thing that has been surprisingly common is the fact that the organizations usually aren't very clear/upfront with a player regarding where they stand, etc).

I think you guys are using a dead image link because the actual coding appears to be appropriate.

Simms is apparently back at 100% but will still likely be released. I think he would make an excellent pickup as that would give the Bears three guys with at least the potential to be NFL starters (hopefully at least one of the guys pans out).

Cromartie, the Chargers selection (2 years ago) was incredibly raw as well but his athletism was off the charts. I'm not saying Bowman is quite as off the charts but he has a similar checkered past health wise and a relatively similar skill set (size/speed combo) and with proper coaching and time could turn into a tremendous pick. However, given McBride/Manning/Graham (plus Tillman/Vasher) I have my doubts as to how much Bowman will play this year (I think the Bears will work him a lot in training camp and just have a longer term plan with him). The exception to that rule is if the Bears are comfortable enough in Graham/McBride to release Manning (but given last years injury problems with Vasher/Tillman that would be a mistake, imo).

That is a hell of a comparison. We can only hope that he becomes half of the player that Allen was.

The rumors of Williams having any serious injury are just that, rumors. The Bears have denied him and there has been nothing even relatively close to credible with information which substantiates such rumors. Bottom line, some team tried to leak false information to get him to slide and it didn't work.

I agree, but in general, its pretty much unless the guy is a 1st round pick it is pretty rare for the QB to end up being the starter of a super bowl champ anyway. The only exceptions to that rule tend to be late round picks who people completely missed the boat on (ie Brady/Warner (who was Undrafted). So really, considering what a total crapshoot QB's are, I have no problem going this route as both guys the Bears got have the physical tools to be a quality QB.