DABEARSDABOMB

After 3 preseason games I think a position battle I've yet to hear talked about deserves some banter. Desmond Clark entered yet another season as the projected starter of the Bears. I know many Bear fans don't like Clark but his numbers aren't near as bad as fans would think he is. However, there is no doubting that Clark has had trouble catching the ball this preseason and he's also struggled to get open and create some space, especially in the red zone. He is well respected for his blocking and thats one of the big reasons I think Turner likes him. However, Reid has looked very good as our TE. He's found a way to get open and he's shown very good hands. Last night he made a nice catch right as he was getting drilled and it wasn't the first time he's made a nice catch while getting hit (this is what I deem a tough grab). His blocking could obviously improve but he doesn't appear to be anything horrible as a blocker (albeit I need to watch more of yesterday's game and watch that). Plus it is really hard to judge the blocking considering we have yet to open up any sort of running lanes. Still, does anyone else think that Reid could very well be the starter on opening day? Or could the Bears start rotating and giving Reid a lot more playing time with Clark getting a lot less (almost like a platoon type situation; although I must admit, I haven't heard much about a platoon in the NFL).

Dusty came in and played. I haven't watched all the game yet, so I still got some catching up to do to see how he played but I haven't seen anywhere about him standing out. Still its good to just have him back on the field. Especially since Indonejie and Boone and obviously Brown were all banged up.

Thus far this preseason the team has been relatively lucky. While we've had some nagging injuries for the most part the team has been able to stay away from the serious ones. Brown's, while not incredibly serious is the first injury that I know of that will prevent one of our players from playing in the opening day game. Considering the way Brown not only rushes the passer but plays the run he will be sorely missed. Apparently Idonejie will replace Brown as the starter and we obviously have some depth on our line but this will be a big loss, especially since no matter how bad some think the Packers are, with Favre they always have a chance at beating us. Hopefully we can make it through the final game unscaved and than get Mike Brown back. The good news is that if Harris can improve his tackling I won't be as unconfident as I was in our defense last year when Brown was out. Of course there is no guarantee Harris decides to stop tackling the upper body.

Best of all, getting a guy like Branch means we slide everyone down a spot on the depth chart (not named Moose). That means Berrian becomes one of the better 3's in the league and Bradley would obviously be one of the most talented 4's in the league while Davis is the 5 and if we carry a 6th we have Gage who can come in and while he's not explosive he has good hands, good size and is a very good blocking receiver.

The 3rd preseason game convinced me yet again that we could really help out our young QB by surrounding him with a 2nd quality receiver. We really aren't doing Rex a favor by putting him around so many raw receivers. I always think nothing helps a young QB more than some offensive weapons and right now our WR core greatly lacks in that area.

I completely agree with that. But right now its all a moot point. We have no control of the situation considering Benson is hurt and if he's healthy he will be rewarded with playing time. Injuries happen in this league and even though Jones will be the starter (if he's healthy) Benson will get 5-10 carries a game off the bench and if anything happens to Jones he'll step in and do more. I think in the Bears plans they want to get him a lot of reps this year as a backup as they groom him for the full time position starting next year.

Brian seems to be saying similar comments ever week since everyone is really gushing over him. I'll admit I got full confidence in him if Rex doesn't deliver, but I think everyone that sees Griese throw the ball very sucessfully against 2nd string units needs to think back to last preseason where Orton was doing the same thing and than came in and struggled in the pro's (I'm not comparing Griese and Orton just saying that its a different game when you are going up against vanilla defenses that aren't scheming).

I think our WR's look better when Brian is out there because we have some good athletes on our 2nd unit that are going up against far more raw 2nd string defensive players. Right now I know one thing, Rex looked a lot better than some people are crediting them for. I'm really glad I read the posts on this board because I see that while we may still be a young site that isn't as active as other boards (not yet at least, but give it time) but we have posters that aren't super reactionary and I've seen the best discussion on Grossman happen right here. The guy had a very strong game yesterday. He didn't have one of his usual slow starts and he came out of the gate ready to play. Our offensive line once again did a horrible job opening up holes and to magnify things we also had numerous penalties. Despite that Rex was converting first downs, spreading the ball to multiple receivers and if it weren't for a few drops he pretty much had a perfect first half (aside from the TD's, but its hard to recover from that many penalties).

That would be all for not than. I think the point of getting a guy like Branch is to team him with Moose to give us a legit WR core. If we move Moose to get Branch we still are really thin at the WR spot so basically we are just swapping #1's while we run out unproven injury prone guys at the 2 spot (Berrian/Bradley). Albeit I should say I really like Berrian but I have no problem giving him a year as our 3 and than at the end of the season we could move Moose to a 3 spot (if he was willing) or ship him out, move Branch to the #1 and than hopefully Berrian is than ready and proven to take over as our #2, Bradley can than (with another year under his belt) slide up into 3 and we'd be in real good shape. To me its a no brainer, but than again so was the idea of getting Lelie. This team desperately needs a WR.

That would be my guess. I honestly don't know since I am not that lucky.

Apparently the Patriots have told him he can seek a trade to another team so he can get the contract extension he wants. I don't know about you, but this guy is 27 years old and is the #1 on a perennial super bowl contender. I'd be all over making a push at Branch because he could come in and be the missing piece to the puzzle on the offense and with Mush here we'd essentially have two #1 WR's. While neither would be the explosive or upper echelon #1 WR, they are both very quality WR's that have good hands, can run good routes, and would make our offense that much better. I would give up a 2nd round pick for him assuming we signed him to an extension.

I kind of think of a dink and dunk QB as the perfect guy for Martz system. Neither Bulger or Warner had strong arms, they had very accurate arms and quick releases and that worked very well. They should be able to throw a deep ball, but it seems as if Martz offense more so utilizes multiple WR's and has guys crossing amongst each other which turns 10 yard passes into 20 or 30 yard passes.

Kitna is what I'd consider to be a quality QB. He doens't have a great arm but he's the best QB the Lions have had in a long long time. Plus Martz, whether you like him or hate him, is a very good offensive mind. He doens't run enough to win a superbowl or two but with him being the OC a head coach can force him to call a few more running plays.

The game will be televised on the NFL Network (for those of us unable to get the Chicago feed) on Friday @ 8:00 pm Pacific , 9 mt , 10 c , 11 e.

I don't think Friedman was going to make the Bears final 53 man roster so for Angelo to be able to move him for what I'd believe would be a late round draft pick, seems to be a very good move. The Browns obviously are lacking at the offensive line, especially after they lost Bentley, and Friedman is the type of guy that can come in and backup at multiple positions.

I know a lot of us doubted the signing or thought he was given too much money, but you can't question the fact that our secondary is far more deep, especially at the CB position with the additions of RMJ, Hester, and Wesley. With Vasher out, RMJ has gotten Vasher's starting job and has looked very good, much like he did when he burst onto the scene with the Panthers a few years ago. Manning has a knack for getting picks and despite his short stature appears to be a pretty decent cover corner, especially when we move him back to the nickel spot. The only thing we can really question with Manning is his attitude stemming from the beating he gave that guy just after getting his big contract with the Bears. In the league he seems to be doing and saying all the right things and he has impressed the coaching staff. In terms of Vasher I really hope his back can get back to 100%. Back injuries are known as the type of injury that can linger and I'd hate to see our top CB be slowed or even lose time/games due to the injury because he's a key member of the secondary. The good news is he's not in the same position he was in last year, where he was new to the starters role, this year he's had a full season under his belt as a starter and should be able to be alright despite missing some preseason action.

I know a lot of people on this board are fans of Dusty. He has a good motor and is apparently a pretty smart player. After playing in the first preseason game he's missed a bit of time with an injury. I've seen some fans have been concerned that it appeared he was going to miss a good deal of time, but Dusty is back practicing and while he isn't 100% yet he has not been ruled out for Friday's preseason game. Dusty will likely factor in as a role player on the line this year and definately has the ability to develop into a starter so I hope he'll be able to suit up and get some experience in because for young players I really do think the preseason can be a very very helpful time. While the results may have no indication of future success, getting to see the speed of the league and go up against some of the very best will help you prepare for the regular season and get better.

This is from PFW: I know I've slammed Rogers more than a lot of people. He got busted for pot and has been very lazy but apparently this training camp he's came in and worked a lot harder. However, it doesn't appear that he's going to be able to climb the depth charts and given his contract it appears it may be wise for the Lions to part ways with him. With the Bears apparently scouring the waiver wire looking for a final WR (who may take Gage's spot, or could be a 6th WR since I don't think Currie makes the roster) Rogers is the type of guy that has all the talent in the world but injuries and than last season some stupid off field stuff got in his way. Its not as if he's had a long history of problems though as most of the reasons he hasn't had success stem from health related issues that I think you could consider freakish injuries as opposed to nagging injuries (Breaking your collar bone a couple times is not what I'd consider nagging).

Nathan Vasher has really stepped out for him as of late and Lovie has consistently talked about how guarded Benson is. It appears that he's really afraid of what others think and in guarding himself he's really hurting himself. I guess its not hard, he's a 23 year old who apparently lacks a bit of confidence and hasn't had things go quite his way at the NFL level. He needs to learn that you got to put that on yourself, learn lessons and get stronger and better and do what you can to make an impact. Rookies are always hazed and being that he held out all of camp last year he should have expected to get things a little "extra" hard. Its just the nature of the biz and I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt one last time. Heck, just think to how many times Dick Vermeil really ripped into Larry Johnson and than all of a sudden Johnson turns into an absolute stud last season. Sometimes it takes guys just a bit longer and of course sometimes those guys just belly up.

That is from CBS Sportsline, but it appears Day and Huston would be the only two surprising cuts. Gould has had a very strong camp and appears to really be getting better from longer range on field goals. Day, who I think many experts were shocked went undrafted, really failed to stand out in training camp and preseason, while our other TE's all appeared to do a relatively decent job out there. I'm sure Day will get a chance somewhere, but I guess some teams knew what they were doing when they kept passing him up in the draft. I still say this years draft class was a bit overrated in the TE department (aside from that freak of nature known as Vernon Davis, but to get him you had to sign him to the highest paid deal in TE history and no way has he proven himself to be better than Gonzalez, Shockey, Heap or GATES).

Here's Mel Kiper's take on the whole controversy or lack there of. I thought it was interesting to see one of the talking heads sounding positive about the whole situation. I've long been one of the people saying a lot of the media and fans are overreacting. Right now Rex is the starter and he's yet to really work with his first team unit. The team considers him a leader and the coaching staff has consistently backed him. He will be our opening day starter, barring injury, and unless he really struggles he will likely remain or QB. However, it sure is sweet to have Griese as a plan B. But that plan will only be explored if Rex is hurt or struggles in the REGULAR season. I am very interested in seeing if Rex continues to make progress though and improves his decision making.

Here's the clip from the Trib: Wow, Tank was originally expected to miss the entire preseason and possibly a regular season game or two. Now the Trib is reporting that he is planning to play in the season finale against the Browns. Benson is also shooting for his return to be that game, but it appears that Johnson playing would be the safer bet of the two. While Tank isn't the starter (Harris and Scott are), Johnson will still get heavy reps throughout the season and he provides a serious pass rush and is quite possibly the long term plan along side Tommie (especially with Scott's contract being up at the end of the season, IIRC). Anyway, it seems like today was a pretty good day in terms of injuries. Jones is back at RB, the WR core will all be in uniform (Mush, Berrian, Bradley feeling good) and Johnson is ahead of schedule on the defensive side of the ball.

Here is the article from ChicagoSports.com First the Bears announce that Jones will start Friday's preseason game and now the Trib is reporting that Mushin and Berrian will be the starting wideouts. Mushin has been banged up most of the preseason with an injury while Berrian and Bradley have both been banged up as well. Bradley also is said to be in better shape after suffering some pain in his surgery repaired knee (my assumption is its the type of stuff that is bound to happen as he gets back to 100%). Even Airese Currie was able to practice (he won't play in the game though) as he is coming back from yet another injury (this time arthoscopic surgery). I'm definately excited to see how our legit first team unit looks out on offense since this will be the first time all preseason we see most of our regulars in there playing together. Obviously the Bears will be careful with these guys and I assume we'll see some of there snaps limited (even if the first team unit plays for most of the first half, if not the entire first half) but its still nice knowing that the unit can maybe begin to finally gel and get ready for the regular season.

ESPN Cold Pizza had Dan Pompei on this moring and he was talking about the Bears QB controversy. From what he is hearing Rex could post zero's the rest of the way and as long as he's healthy he will be the opening day starter. The teammates love him and play hard for him. He's well respected and we've put a lot of time and money into Rex. He's going to get the chance and he's already made a lot of strides between game 1 of the preseason and game 2. Griese has looked very smooth out there and he gives me a lot of faith if Rex gets hurt or struggles, but barring injury Griese will not be playing much this season. However, if Rex is stinking 3 or 4 weeks into the season, at that point I think you'll see Brian get the call and Rex's career go down the drain in Chicago. My take is that it won't happen and that Brian will probably play (injuries are bound to happen) he will not be our starter. But if he was our starter, I'd be 100% confident in him and for the first time in a long time, we really do have a legit backup QB.

In the first two pre-season games, our offense didn't look quite as planned. The QB play has improved in each game but the running game has been less than impressive. Part of the blame may fall on a line that missed Olin Kreutz in week 1, but another part was probably (or hopefully) do to the absence of Thomas Jones and Cedric Benson (our #1 and #2 Rb's). Jones will be back on Friday and will start and while he may not get a ton of carries, having him back should make us a lot better. It means Peterson goes abck to a more reserve role and if we learned anything this preseason it may be that Peterson isn't capable of being an everyday back (its hard to learn things in the preseason but he was far from impressive). Peterson is a very good backup and an oustanding 3rd string RB though. I know I'll be excited to see how TJ does and how our QB's perform in a little more balanced offense (or what I hope will be a more balanced offense).