DABEARSDABOMB

I have zero problem with this. Benson showed up, worked hard and it would be wrong to send an innapropriate message that Jones is the starter despite being a POS and not showing up to off-season workouts. This says that the coaching staff and the org won't tolerate moves like this and its a good thing because you never know when a few more players get the brilliant idea because they see something like this is tolerated. Vasher wised up quickly after being mad for about a day, Briggs seems to be wising up and if Jones doesn't want to show up he can have fun riding the bench and not playing. Without playing we'll see how easy it will be for him to find a starter's job and big money a yaer or two down the road (depending on whether we trade him and he gets an extension somewhere or if he fulfills the deal and than tries to get big bucks). Jones has trade value, but if I don't know if its the 1st or 2nd round pick that JA is reportedly looking for. A team could get deseperate though. He's still relatively young, played very strong in a conservative system and prior to this season was known as having a strong work ethic and attitude. Too bad he got really confident this year and I'm sure some of the stuff with Benson rubbed him the wrong way, but he should remember that he too was handed a starters position by the Cardinals despite a lack of production. The Bears have actually made Benson earn things and Jones is lucky of that otherwise he wouldn't have had that many careers last year. Still, we need him as the starter or a backup because guys get hurt in this league and its key to have depth, especially at critical positions such as RB.

Sweet stuff and welcome aboard. I know I wish I was at training camp watching this or doing something other than studying for my CPA exam. I'm definately pumped up that we are finally getting to the point where the slow long off-season that is the NFL is over and the training camp begins and pretty soon we'll have pre-season games to watch and than hopefully 16 regular season games, plus 3 or 4 playoff games

I know the team had been one of the 6 or 7 teams reportedly interested in him. I guess unlike you guys I would love to have Lelie, especially if it only took a mid round pick to get him (4th round or so). Frankly one of the things that scares me most is our depth at WR, getting Lelie would give us a guy whose been a #2 WR for a pretty good team (not saying he's been oustanding, but he's solid) and that would be a real nice thing to have considering Bradley/Berrian are both still very young and raw, not to mention they are both very injury prone. We could have both of those guys out (and thats not saying much considering there histories) and be totally screwed at WR, with Lelie in place that wouldn't be the case.

The thing that concerns me is his entire career he's been a hard worker, I have to hope that these recent contract bouts didn't get him to be lazy in the off-season. I am gonna put my faith that Jones isn't trumping up an injury but a hammy this early it could just be a precautionary measure to sit him down for an extended period of time, since if you don't let them heal they tend to be something that hampers you an entire season (just ask Urlacher what happened 2 years ago).

I've long thought Clark was as good as most of the TE's that the Bears passed up on. I'm excited to see him work out and put himself in good shape. He does fumble from time to time but he has decent hands for a TE, decent speed and is a good blocker whose capable of having a 400-500 yard receiving season which is pretty darn good for a TE.

I can't see him getting that many more carries, unless Jones or Benson miss an extended period of time. However, I got faith in Peterson as being a capable backup and next year I see him being our #2 guy with Jones being dealt.

I love it, tons of good articles and reads about the Bears. I still say the keys are health, development of our Wr's, and our oline doing its job.

I went to Platteville one year and it was a lot of fun. I was about 12 or 13 and had a blast. You watch them practice and usually a few things are going on so you have a few options and than I was able to get quite a few autographs. It was a real cool experience and well worth the 6 hr drive my dad and I took from my grandparents house in Iowa.

Its the ultimate goal and the team has the talent to get there (if they can stay healthy and have there WR's step up).

Scott has turned into a real nice draft pick. He does a good job getting pass rush, staying in his gaps, and getting up field. With Tank Johnson still recovering its extra important we have a guy like him who can continue to start (even though Johnson will get plenty of snaps as well since the coaching staff tries to kee everyone fresh). I'd also buy that he'd be a much more talked about player if he were on any other team, but on the Bears we have a lot of different guys that rotate in to go with quite a few bigger name defensive guys (or guys that are turning into bigger names).

Ya, if he dumped Rosen I think that would be a serious step in getting this thing done. However, JA has successfully negotiated with Rosenprick in the past and I for one hope he'll be able to eventually get Briggs locked up. I am real happy that Lance has realized that the contract stuff ends now and the business and on the field stuff starts now. Its a major positive and I Think it will show Angelo more about who Lance Briggs is.

Ya, he was signed as an undrafted FA shortly after the draft.

His attitude was a breath of fresh air for two years. We give the guy an opportunity and get him in an offense where he really fits well. He goes out and does good for one season (has some injury problems) and a bit better in season two and after being such a mature player he pretty much spits on the Bears. I think a lot of it has to do with Rosenhaus infiltrating his mind, but still you got to go out and be strong enough to make the right decision and remember who gave you a chance and that you still have 2 years remaining on a contract that YOU agreed to.

That type of behavior is becoming more and more common with Bears players (or so it seems we've had more guys involved in criminal activity) and I don't think it should be tolerated. I'd release him

Plus I can't get past the fact that when Brown is hurt (and he gets hurt every year now) the secondary isn't near as good. Brown really covers for Harris and other guys that are out there and when instead of Brown we have two weaker links out there than we are in trouble. I'm hoping in time Manning's speed and ability will mend that and give us tremendous depth but as of now Manning won't be capable of coming in and doing that.

The contract situations and WR are by far the two biggest concerns i have. This team is not as good with Briggs out and it will be important to reach a pact with him. The WR core is very thin, especially if Berrian and Bradley prove there injury riddled past weren't flukes, but instead trends. Along with that injuries can always really hurt a team, whether its losing major contributors to our line, Urlacher, or anyone else thats very valuable.

Great article. Last year the thing that frustrated me the most is they let the success get to them and they got "overly" cocky. Because of that they thought they were better than they are and since they whooped the Panthers once they made the assumption that it would be easy to do it again. I hope the players and coaching staff learned a major lesson from that game. They should have learned that you better be able to adjust your game plan on the fly and that you also need to realize that you can throw out prior games when you play again in the playoffs because anything can happen the next time you meet.

I realize we added a ton of members to the secondary but I wouldn't be against a guy like Smith who could be a backup for a year to a guy like Mike Brown. We know Brown is injury prone and while I like Chris Harris and I think Manning has potential, I'm not exactly thrilled at the notion of Harris and Manning in the same secondary while Mike Brown is down for an extended period of time. I'm not sure what happened with Smith in New Orleans, but he was pretty solid for the Bucs where he thrived in the cover 2 system.

Ya, we have some of the best special team players in the league. Now its a matter of Hester and Davies and whoever else making a major impact in the return area. We no longer have Zoom returning kicks (not that he was really anything like his old self the few times we had him doing it) and Fumble Wade is gone. If the return game can improve it could really help the field position battle and get the offense in range to score more. In terms of kicking I liked Gould as a rookie but he seems to lack leg strength as any long kicks were iffy but he was as good as gold on shorter kicks. Huston has a rocket leg but really struggled with accuracy on deep kicks. I hope Maynard can come back and I'm not convinced on Stelly but the kid does have a booming leg.

When I think of him I think of all the false starts this team collected a couple seasons ago. Oh and did I mention holding penalties. I hope our line holds up though because the lines are what seperates good teams from bad teams in the NFL and even more so in the college game.

I thought it was a pretty damn good preview. The little section on Benson/Jones was very interesting and I wouldn't be shocked if the Bears got some pretty good offers for Jones, especially if another team lost one of its top backs in the pre-season. It was also interesting to hear about Rex and Brian. The author seems to think Brian is going to put a lot of pressure on Rex and he isn't the first writer/analyst that I've heard say that Griese could very well turn into the starter. Personally I think Rex is the guy. He has the tools and the attitude and its just a matter of him getting more experience and staying healthy. I really do see Rex becoming the face of this franchise as long as he can stay on the field.

He was a pretty solid depth guy but we have picked up quite a few guys that can play multiple positions over the years and it seems like Q fell out of love. He'll catch on somewhere relatively quickly though. He's started games and is capable of playing multiple positions.

I hope he has an apple laptop...those are tasty

I'm not a huge fan of Hester as a CB right away but I think he's going to make an immediate impact on special teams (especially Punt Returns) and that alone should have a major impact on our offense. Heck, if he can catch the ball and hold onto it he's already light-years better than what we had to offer last season.

http://www.chicagobears.com/news/newsDetail.jsp?id=16162 I was really glad to see the comments about Briggs. The coach said some nice things and said that Briggs did have a very good minicamp (whichever one he showed up to). Said that he's a team player and understands the game is a business (But he's getting paid to do his job) and he'll be here ready to play. In regards to Hunter, he says that he's gotten a little faster and stronger over the off-season and they once again refer to him being able to play any of the LB positions. I think the long term plan is to use him as a super sub/depth guy, especially if Williams can produce in time. In terms of Williams, not much was said about him but it appears the team has moved from Wil to SAM and he's picked up both pretty well.