I was somewhere around Effingham when the drugs began to take hold.
You know, Claritin, the allergy medicine.
Outside Effingham, Illinois.
That's when I noticed the strong scent of manure coming through the rental car's a/c vents, the plethora of "squashed bug juice" on the windshield, and the 326 billionth cornstalk along Interstate 57 that I was passing.
Anyone who's ever driven through the Midwest on a summer evening knows what I'm talking about.
Now that my head was clear, it suddenly occured to me that "this is it." This scent, this aura, is middle America. Tough and productive.
It also dawned on me that this gritty, smelly, down-in-the-dirt attitude is not only what has made this "America's Heartland" for nearly two centuries, but it's also what the Chicago Bears have represented for more than 80 years. That hard-nosed, grind-it-out, midwest work ethic.
Well, the Midwest isn't about to change anytime soon, but the Bears will be totally different.
Oh, the defense that has always been there will still be there, but get ready to talk about the Chicago Bears offense. Or should I say, get ready to talk about the Chicago Bears offense -- in a good way.
In the minds of many, the Bears made it to the Super Bowl last season in spite of their offense. They have a good chance to get back there this season, in part because of it...or at least what it has the potential to be.
Head coach Lovie Smith, and QB Rex Grossman were barely able to contain their genuine enthusiasm for the weapons the Bears now possess on the "forgotten" side of the ball in Chicago.
Of course, it all starts with Grossman.
There seems to be real reason to be excited about where he is today, compared to the end of last season when he appeared to be a shell-shocked young QB overwhelmed by his severely up and down play and the legtimate questions that brought to a team that had a chance to win it all. Smith likes to remind you that it was Grossman's first full season as a starter. That he had 7 games where his passer rating topped 100. That despite his ups and downs, he still lead the team to the No. 2 scoring offense in the league. Now, he feels with that experience, he will only get better.
My sense in watching Grossman, and talking with him in training camp, is that he is a bit different this time around. He still has the arm that shows you why coaches fall in love with him, and he still has that care-free spirit, which is why teammates love him. But he does seem to be a little more cautious of what he's saying to the media, while at the same time he seems to have found a comfort zone in who he is as a person, and how he needs to run this offense.
"I definitely think that's a good assessment, a good way to put it", Smith said. "He went through all that outside stuff last year and knows that the team was solidly behind him -- and still is. There's NO controversy at quarterback. That's why I think he's just more comfortable. Plus, (from a football standpoint) he knows the system."
"Oh, I'm much more comfortable", Grossman emphasized."Being that way, I see things better (on the field) and I can make quicker decisions."
That quicker decision-making should lead to fewer mistakes. It was the hesitancy and lack of recognition that often got him into trouble last year. Poor mechanics at times didn't help.
New QBs coach Pep Hamilton is set to work on that part. "As soon as he got here, he took Rex and said, 'let's get to work on those mechanics,'" Smith added when talking about Hamilton. "He got it going right away." And you can see the difference.
Now, Grossman has yet to face an opposing pass rush, or a defense designed to exploit his weaknesses. But the new Chicago Hope is that this offense will now be the one doing the exploiting.
Other than the hopefully improved Grossman, Pro Bowl KR Devin Hester has been added to the offense, and looks impressive every time he touches the ball. Following the cue from the Saints' use of Reggie Bush, the idea is to get the ball in Hester's hands and let him go.
Hester will line up at WR, but don't look for him to just take off down the field looking for a deep pass. Whether it's a quick WR screen, a "hot read" quick pass over to his side, a reverse, a quick slant route, whatever it takes to give him a chance to use the speed and moves that allowed him to take back an NFL-record six returns (plus one on the opening kickoff in the Super Bowl) for touchdowns in his rookie season.
And Hester may not be the biggest difference maker on the Bears offense.
Rookie first round pick TE Greg Olson has caught everything thrown his way. He's got the speed of a receiver and the body of a blocking TE. He's Jeremy Shockey without the attitude. Don't forget, they already had a fairly good TE in Desmond Clark.
Throw in deep threat Bernard Berrian having "taken his game to another level," according to Smith, along with the return of WR Mark Bradley to full health for the first time in two years and the always-reliable Muhsin Muhammad, and this passing game is suddenly pretty potent.
As one Bears official put it, "we had the 2nd-ranked (scoring) offense last year, and now we've added a Todd Heap-type at tight end, and a Reggie Bush-type at wideout".
The only question I have about the Bears O will be the play of Cedric Benson now that he will be "the man" with Thomas Jones taking his 1,200 rushing yards to the Jets. I'm not sure that either backup -- Adrian Peterson (the one from Georgia Southern) or 5-foot-7 rookie Garrett Wolfe -- is ready to be the second half of a dynamic duo in the backfield.
But you know what? If the Chicago's other weapons play like they're expected to, opposing defenses will be so spread out trying to cover everybody that Benson and company will easily be able to run at will.
So it's easy to see why the Bears finally feel that their O is now Grade A. It's also easy to see why they are probably still the class of the NFC.
All this and not a word about how that defense may be even better than it was in '06.
Yes, indeed, it looks like a new day is dawning in the heartland. The Chicago Bears could be a frightening team on both sides of the ball.
This is the optimistic view of the Bears season. It is a good time to be a Bears fan. The biggest threat to the season is a key injury to one of four players: LT John Tait, C Olin Kreutz, LB Brian Urlacher, and DT Tommie Harris. Poor play from Grossman will result in a benching and the team can probably survive a disappointing campaign from Benson with healthy contributions from the backup RBs.
Tait and Kreutz have no obvious replacements, and losing either would seriously damage the cohesiveness which has allowed an older O-line to play consistently well.
Urlacher and Harris make the Bears D special. Without Harris last year the Bears D looked decidedly average.
The list of key players doesn't include Mike Brown this year; the Bears acquired Adam Archuleta to play SS, and they have last year's rookie surprise Danieal Manning ready to go if Mike Brown can't stay healthy.
This team is still the class of the NFC until another team proves differently.
DA BEARS Are going to scare the HE** out of alot of people this year. If Rex is just 30% better we will be unbeatable. If he has 2 more games at 100 rating and 2 less under 40 rating , We will be unstopable as a team, and to cdoos I disagree with you, there are more weapons on defense than you give them credit for, remember the defense started having trouble with Brown's injury. How many defenses could loose 2 pro-bowlers and not loose a step.
The Bears are definitely the team to beat in the NFC , and in that division , should be looking at homefield in the playoffs. There are other teams in the NFC that could knock the Bears off come playoff time , but barring injuries , I agree the Bears should coast this year....
dabairz I agree that the team added defensive depth. I just think Tommie Harris is the unreplaceable player in their scheme. Look at the first 5-6 games last year, Tommie Harris made life miserable for just about every team. The Darwin Walker acquisition does make me feel better though, but Dusty Dvoracek needs to come up big.
The Bears look better at safety, adding Archuleta and with D. Manning presumably improved. Enough so that they felt comfortable trading Chris Harris to a conference rival. Mike Brown is one of my favorites and I hope he has a great season and stays healthy, but they can't be counting on that.
But any team's run can be derailed by injuries, and the Bears are no exception. Here's hoping that doesn't happen.
mike brown played 4 straight seasons at FS w/out missing a game. his injuries only came when he moved to SS. i think trading harris wasn't a good move though, i think harris has more of a future at SS than Archuleta who's obviously on the tail end of his career, but, it will allow for mike brown to return to FS where he dominated. the bears have more depth on the defensive side of the ball, than any team in the nfl
I like Chris Harris but don't think he's an elite NFL player. I would have preferred to see him traded to an AFC team, though.
Angelo will probably draft safety in rounds 4-7 in 2008 with the idea of finding a long-term replacement for Archuleta or Brown. He must like McGowan a lot to stick with him after the last two injury-filled years. He might be thinking Manning and McGowan for the future.
I don't remember the specifics on Mike's 2005 injury, but last year's injury came in a pileup on a running play; not sure it would have mattered if he was at FS or SS.
Two things. First for Curt, next time you steal a line from Hunter Thompson ("I was somewhere around Effingham when the drugs kicked in" is a direct rip from the first line in Fear and Loathing you hack!) give proper credit since you are not able to come up with lines on your own.
Second, Tommie Harris was replaced by Tank Johnson for most of the season due to injury, so beleive that the Bears defense is versitile enough to cover losses due to injury. I agree that Cedric "may" be a liability, but don't count on it. Lovie is no #### and would not just let Thomas Jones leave if he didn't think that Ced could carry the load. They will also be running some interesting two-TE sets with both Olsen and Clark, so watch for that. Go Bears!!
Ok, now that I have that out of my system; the Bears are the class of the NFC. And I know I shouldn't be rooting for the Bears but, I'd rather root for someone out of my own division than a team I don't pay as much attention to.
As long as Grossman can stay consistent and handle the pressure in the playoffs; I think the Bears have a great shot at the Super Bowl again. Just watch out for the Eagles, Saints and Seahawks. It's going to be an exciting year of football!!!
They must have sold you a shovel to move that manure with! The Bears wont be any better than they were last year because Grossman isnt that good. If you look at the teams he was successful against last year then you would know why he had a good QB rating for those games. Being the Class of the NFC only means your first in line to be the doormat for the AFC. Chicago will be scary on both sides of the ball. Defense will be scary because they are good, and the offense will be scary because they are that bad!
Shadofax29 have the faith man. Rexxy was basically a rookie last year in experience and went to the SuperBowl. He has the luxury of being able to be mediocre and win. He will be fine I tell you. Have faith.. Bears win!
The defending NFC champ(LAST year) Bears don't scare anyone, are not unstoppable, are not unbeatable, will not coast to anything,(maybe a division title), and will not get homefield. The team records are 0 and 0 and no team is the class of the NFC THIS year. Wait for the wins and losses to begin before starting any talk of being the class of anything, this applies to the AFC also.
Shadowfax do you really believe that or do you feel that you have to jump on the I hate Rex bandwagon. Have you read nothing about how many weapons we have on offense, I'll say it one more time Rex doesn't have to be great just better, And I promise you better he will be. And I think MIKE'S injuries are more due to him being at the end of his career, than position change.
oh god not you Q cisco, Noboby is unstoppable or unbeatable. And I promise you there are many out there that are worried when the BEARS offense starts firing on all cylinders. It's not like we were playing to our potential last year. Everyone expects this offense to really put up points next year, and if I remember right, we were #2 in the leauge in scoring offense, So SHUD UP!!! YOUS
Bear down Chicago Bears
Make every play clear the way to victory
Bear down Chicago Bears
Put up a fight with a might so fearlessly
Will never forget the way you shocked the nation
With your T formation
Bear down Chicago Bears
And let them know why youre wearing the crown
Youre the pride and joy of Illinois
Chicago Bears Bear down
We WILL be singing that after 4 quarters in Arizona this year.
I think this team could be scary good, I'm talking more talent than even the Patriots or Chargers but it will still come down to the progress of Rex Grossman if they want to win the Super Bowl. They can get there with an inconsistent Rex but will need a good Rex to win it.
The Bears were the most dominant team in either conference last year at the beginning of the season when healthy and now with these added weapons and some experience for Grossman, injuries or complacency could be the only things stopping them from winning it all.
I'm a Cheifs fan ma' self but I have respect for the Bears....it will be interesting to see Grossman however to see if he really is the quarterback Bears fans are hoping...I'm not sure on him yet, but am giving him this year to prove he can handle it week in and week out
Archuleta on the downside of his career? He's going into his 7th year! He was drafted in 2001... how is that the "downside" of his career? Urlacher was drafted in 2001! Arch will be around for a good three or four more seasons at least before he really gets to that downside. Hell, Brown is a year older than Arch!
And for anybody who doesn't believe in Harris as an elite DT in this league... when he went down in week 13, the Bears run defense dropped from number 1 to number 5 in three games. THAT says a lot.
everyones excited about the bears offense cause hester made the move to WR. Just because you have tremendous speed and were the best returner in possibly league history isnt going to make you a stand out WR. And I destincly remember DA BEARS not walking all over the vikings last season. If tarvaris steps up its good by to the bears hopeful superbowl appearance, viking might make it to the playoffs if Offense gets rollin. If the vikings had a descent pass d we would be in the Superbowl.
finally someone with a brain writes about the Bears. Anyone can see he is simply stating facts and the facts are they are a better team this year then last year. And last years team was in the SUPERBOWL
little dawg, that's why we have this thing called the offseason. Teams use it to get better. The bears went out and dropped that bum Tank and picked up Darwin Walker. They picked up Archuleta, who will be more like the one Lovie coached in St. Louis, rather than the one Gibbs benched in Washington. And I'm not even gonna mentioned the offense cause if you haven't figured it out yet after reading the article, or everyones statements, than you never will. By the way, show your colors, who's your team.
Last edited by GRRRlacher72 on August 9th at 1:31 PM.
DAAAAAA BEARS DA BEARS DA BEARS DA BEARS DA BEARS DA BEARS DA BEARS DA BEARS (Would be a great season for the Farleymeister to be doin' his houla dance for all you Bears fans)
bearsfan4life heres another fact 4 ya, Grossman's still ur QB. its gettin pretty bad in Chi-town when fans are getting excited about a QB who was to preoccupied with new years to focus on a game!
Like this guy said, the bears are going to be frightening on both sides of the ball. Benson will be better than Jones. Grossman will show improvement from last year. All I've seen is more and more upside to this team.
Mike Brown gets hurt because he goes all out on every play which we love but that's what gets him injured. Not a position move or that he's at the end of his career. When Mike is in the game, the bears shut down the opponent.
Letting Chris Harris go was a smart move. The guy always tried to go for the bit hit instead of an easy pick and over persued on to many plays. I liked what I saw from McGowan when he played and the Bears have depth. This should be another fun year for us Bear fans.
as an avid eagles fan, I'm just going to say that Darwin walker has looked like absolute #### for the past couple seasons. That doesn't mean he can't do better in chicago, because he was excited to go there, but I think Chicago got jipped. Especially with the deal they gave him. He would have gone right back to the eagles and we would have cut him. You guys coulda picked him up for a lot less.
Darwin Walker's contract sounds good but very little of it is guaranteed. He will really have to impress to be around more than a year or two. The Bears had the cap space to give him a good payday this year, no long-term harm.
Barring injury, Tommie Harris is going to get huge money next year and the team is constantly looking for young players on the D-line. Like I said, probably 2 years max in Chi-town for Walker.
I'm sorry, but I just can't understand all the Rex bashing. Savage and Dawg, you guys talk like Rex has been "PLAYING" in this league for years. Besides the fact this was his first full year, he has also had to put up with 3 different offensive coordinators. Give the guy a little slack. I mean it's not like he is as bad as that other Manning in New York.
Tony Romo had the same slump that Rex had after a few good games. difference is Tony didnt play the whole season and the Cowboys were not really Super Bowl contenders. Rex is still better than about half the starting QB's out there. And he will be better this year.
Your right Bears need to prove they are the class of the NFC but I believe they have the pieces in place to do that. On paper they are a better team than last year. On Sept 9th we will see if its true. I believe they are.
This is obviously a make-or-break year for Grossman. His fundamentals broke down late last year, but he still made enough plays to get the team to the Super Bowl. The defense was not dominant in the playoffs, and the offense had to step up in the second half of each game. They did.
Grossman had a bad game in the Super Bowl, mainly because he didn't handle the weather well. But he stood up like a man after the game, answered every question, and is back and better this year. He's highly motivated in a contract year, and his teammates are behind him.
It's not like QBs who have played badly in Super Bowls haven't come back and been effective. John Elway looked awful in his first three Super Bowls but consistently led winners and was later rewarded.
Grossman will never be Elway, but he appears to be just as resilient.
Good post cdoosc, and lets not forget, Peyton Mannig didn't exactly wow anybody in a lot of his playoff games. Not knocking the guy at all, he is the greatest, but the fact is experience means a lot.
I had to laugh, a Vikings fan commenting about our QB and WR play... good luck with that Tavarus Jackson to Bobby Wade duo!! hahahaha.... we cut his #### and you throw big money at him... hahaha
To little dawg, We didn't get exposed in the superbowl, We played badly, The defense played badly because they were on the field to long. And I think the Offense played badly because they went away from thier game plan that they had against N.O. If anyone got exposed it was INDY because They had to got to the middle of the 4th quarter to beat a team that played as badly as we did, I would be afraid if I were indy fans, If it wasn't for N.E. sel####estructing in the A.F.C championship game INDY wouldn't even be in the superbowl.
Bears Shmears - your team ain't nothin'. We'll see this year that you did indeed lose a step with all the players who left. The SB loser's curse is headed your way. And you got beat by the Colts, plain and simple. Coulda, shouda, woulda is for losers, which you morons are. The midwest is the breeding ground of toothless, inbred hillbillies who don't know no better.
dabairz, i think mike's injuries do have to do with him playing SS. he's undersized for the position, yet he plays it with reckless abandon. SS safety requires you to play up in the box more, like a LB. his injury last season was in a pile up...at the line of scrimmage. I see Mike playing in all games this season, and back to his underrated, yet dominant self.
DIE HARD NINERS FAN-GO NINERS!
Wow, that sounds cool. Anyway, The Bears are going to be tough. Anytime you have the top 1-2 Defense, you have a great shot. The Ravens won that way, and the Bears did last year as well. They should still be that good this year. On offense, they were better than most think. If their O is improved, even by 25%, look out BOTH NFC and AFC!
sad but true, mike's a special player, and one of my all-time favs. he's not only a great player, but i also believe he is the spiritual and emotional leader of that defense. they are a different team with him on the field. the 2001 season alone puts him in a class above his peers. back to back OT pick-six's against the browns and niners. talk about the biggest pro-bowl snub ever, those two plays alone should've gotten him in.
BEAR DOWN CHICAGO BEARS!!!!
HESTER IS A GOD. THEY ARE SAYING THAT HE HAS TALENT ON OFFENSE SIMILAR TO REGGIE BUSH. REX WILL BE JUST FINE AND BETTER THAN LAST YEAR. WHICH SHOULD BE HARD TO DO EVEN THOUGH PEOPLE ACT LIKE HE DIDNT HELP US GET TO THE SUPERBOWL. CED IS GONNA BE AMAZING AND IN A 2 TIGHTEND SET. WOW, I HAVENT FELT THIS CONFIDENT THAT WE ARE GOING TO THE SUPERBOWL IN YEARS.
OH YEAH, I FORGOT OUR DEFENSE IS SO AMAZING WE ARE GIVING AWAY PLAYERS FOR DRAFT PICKS.
Li'l Dawg, Where was "Fetus Head" Manning his first year as a starter? I'd say Grossman's first year as a starter was much more productive than Manning's since he did manage to get his team to the Super Bowl. I'm not completely sold on Grossman, but he's definitely earned the benefit of the doubt. As dabairz posted earlier all he needs to do is play 30% better than he did last year and that's not an unrealistic expectation.
I truely can't wait for the season. I truely feel blessed to be a bears fan. We are truely a special breed. I love how loyal we all are. I was born and raised in chi-town, I live in nor-cal but I will always call chicago my home. We need to stick together and fight all the hating against us, people hate us because of how passionate we are. They percieve it as arrogance, buts it's just passion for the greatest team ever. DA BEARS.
I'm proud to call myself a bears fan, I think I feel a tear coming on , Quick lets all go watch BRIAN's SONG!! Were all brother's BEAR DOWN CHICAGO BEARS
Curt Menefee is the host of FOX NFL Sunday. He is a veteran play-by-play man, who has also worked as a reporter for the MSG Network and an anchor for FOX's New York affiliate.
