The 2007 season for the Chicago Bears was a failure. Nobody can really debate that.... but Bear coaches and management sure as hell are trying. The Lovie Smith cliches were in abundance last season, and the offseason has been no different. "We are close," "We finished the season strong," "We are a running football team" and "Rex is our Quarterback."(At least thats what they told Brandon Lloyd, who in just his first day gave a Greise-esque performance.) The sad thing is just how short-sighted and diluted those statements are.

"We are close." To what exactly? The bottom of the North. Oh wait, we are already there. The Bears are close to being a professional football team, which is one thing they were not last year. From the Greise "I called the plays...... oh, and Ront Turner helped a bit too" debacle to the "Mark Bradley is our #1 receiver" claim, the Bears have done and said a lot of dumb and confusing things.

"We finished the season strong." What a consolation prize, winning a game against a bad Saints team and a Packers crew that would have allowed the Bears to score just to get back to the sideline heaters. And Lovie, i though the Bears season was broken up into quarters, not eighths? The Bears finished 2-2 in the final quarter, so they didn't finish all too strong after all.

"We are a running football team." Thats the sad part.not only were the Bears awful running the ball, they bragged about it. In the last few months the running game has taken some huge hits overall. Cedric Benson has had surgery, Adrian Peterson has shown he is nowhere near a #1 back and Garrett Wolfe has shown he is no more then a screen play here or there, an extremely poor man's version of Leon Washington. The Bears haven't brought in a free agent tailback either. The offensive line, which was bad last year, is now bad and incomplete after releasing Fred Miller and not resigning Ruben Brown. Olin Kreutz is still very good and John Tate and Roberto Garza are also decent, but the line needs some real help.

"Rex is our Quarterback." I really am not all that upset with Bears resigning of Grossman, but they still need an upgrade at this position. Still, he was th best guy readily available and the best option for a team that needs a guy to keep the seat warm. What irks me is that Angelo and Lovie keep telling us that there is an open competition and Rex will have to fight off Orton to win the job. The recent communication breakdown with Brandon Lloyd really says it all. The Bears are habitual liars and either they  believe that their fans are idiots or they just don't care about the fans. As far as the open competition goes, anybody that has watched Rex play in training camp knows he will win the job. He is great without a real defense going against him, but is not really good real-game QB. Barring any complications, Rex will win the job.

Now that i have finished venting, what have the bears done in the offseason? Really, not much of anything. On offense, they have let Bernard Berrian and Muhsin Muhammad leave, and if the recent rumors are true, Rashied Davis will them out the door. Rex was resigned and Marty Booker and Brandon Lloyd were brought in. Overall, they lost their #1 and #2 guys, but Berrian is more of a #2 at this point and Moose is a #3. They replaced them with a younger, better player then Moose and a perennial underachiever in Lloyd. If Hester develops a bit more and Mark Bradley takes that ever-elusive next step, the group of receivers will be decent, but the odds of both of those things happening are very remote. Hester is nowhere near the #1 receiver the Bears think he is and Bradley is getting talked up an awful lot after spending most of 2007 in Lovie's doghouse. The Bears haven't added any tailbacks or linemen. On Defense, they haven't done much of anything, which is a bit disappointing. resigning Lance Briggs was a good move, but it doesn't make them better than last year. What will make them better than last is better luck with injuries and the swift cutting of the garbage players that are Ricky Manning Jr. and Adam Archuletta. Archuletta isn't roster material and Trumane McBride is already a better nickleback than Manning.Nathan Vasher, Mike Brown, Dusty Dvoracek, Tommie Harris, Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs all got bit by injuries. Of that group, Harris, Vasher, Urlacher and Briggs should all be expected to play full season next year, albeit with a bit of pain for Brian. Brown is injury prone and Dvoracek is quickly entering injury-prone territory, and while both are good players, they should not be relied on.
On Special teams, the Bears lost ace Brendan Ayanbadejo to the Ravens, but he wont set the Bears back all that much.

So what do the Bears need to do in the offseason? The Bears need to address the DT, S, OL, RB and WR positions in the near future, and they also must draft a QB, maybe on day 1. What i think will happen is that the Bears are pretty much done with free agency outside of maybe a minor acquisition or two. I would like to see them grab Kevin Jones on the cheap, and he would immediately be the most talented back on the roster. Grabbing a lineman like Max Starks shouldn't be out of the question either. The group of FA receivers is pretty thin at this point, and as i write this reports are circulating that Bryant Johnson, the best available WR, is signing with the Niners. The Bears need help at all 6 aforementioned spots, and after their wholly unsatisfying free agency work, they will try to do it all via the draft. Expect the Bears to as usual, hit on defense and mostly miss on offense, although for some reason i have a really good feeling about this years draft class. Considering how poor(and mysterious. Anybody even know what Dan Bazuin or Josh Beekman look like?) last year's class was, the Bears absolutely must hit big come April's draft.

For starters, I couldn't be happier for both the Seahawks and Jaguars. Both teams sweated out pretty tough victories, but in the end it was pretty clear that the better teams won. In both games, the winners dominated throughout the first half and for most of the third quarter, faltered and actually relinquished their leads and then fought back and took back what looked to be theirs from the get-go. The Steelers put up more of a fight than the Skins and Collins(who showed why he has been a carreer backup), but they fell short to the much more physical and multi-dimensional Jags. It just looked like the Jags wanted it more. Regarding Collins, what yesterday's game showed is that while he can make a lot of the throws over the middle of the field, he does not have enough arm strength to get the ball out on sideline routs. On any timing based routes outside the hash-marks, his recievers were well into their breaks when he was just releasing the ball, allowing the Seahawks' DB's to get all over the receivers or pick off the ball. Bad sideline throws often turn into six points the other way, and that game was no exception. If he starts next year for the Skins, or any team for that matter, look for defenses to force him into sideline throws. He just doesn't have enough zip in his arm.

All that being said, the reason I wrote this blog is to praise two of my favorite coaches in the league, Mike Holmgren and Jack Del Rio. Del Rio took an enormous risk in the pre-season and instead of just swapping Gerrard and Leftwich on the depth chart, he cut Leftwich and put all of his eggs in the Gerrard basket, which any competitive player would love to have his coach do. Cutting Leftwich was the ultimate vote of confidendce by Del Rio and it has paid off tremendously. The way Del-Rio is able to get as much as he does out of such an underwhelming roster is very admirable and under appreciated. They do have stud RB's, but the coached have done a great job all year long in how they have gotten a decent quarterback to play like a Pro-Bowler, and the same could be said about the receivers. Reggie Williams, Matt Jones, Earnest Wilford, Dennis Northcut and Mercedis Lewis don't exactly scare anybody, but they are big, physical guys that have come up with big plays all year long. The defense, even with the attention it has garnered the last few years, is still underrated. The linebackers are seldom heard of and most fans couldn't name two of them, let alone one. Again, the job Del Rio and his staff has done with their units is exceptional and can not go unnoticed.

The other winning coach, Mike Holmgren,(contrary to public opinion, and the opinion of Jerome Bettis for that matter) told the world that he planned on abandoning the run and would throw all day, and nobody, not even the hottest team in the NFC, has been able to really shut down his offense, evgen on a day where his quarterback played a lot worse than he is capable of. Holmgren is one of the most candid and secure coaches in all of sports, and doesn't bother hiding his emotions or sugarcoating his opinions, among other things. He also does something that I and fellow Chicagoans have come to believe as impossible, hold open practices, as reported by ESPN 1000 Bears' reporter Jeff Dickerson, my favorite Bears' reporter in Chicago. Holmgren actually came on ESPN Radio about two weeks ago and said flat out that his offense is and will continue to be very pass-heavy and made no bones about it. After listening to Lovie Smith pontificate, waffle, flip flop and cliche his way through his weekly press conferences, listening to Holmgren kinda opened my eyes as to what a good, honest guy Mike Holmgren is. I can't help but love the big fella.

This is no way intended to slight the other coaches who have brought their teams to the playoffs. Jeff Fisher, Tony Dungy and obviously Bill Belichik are all tremendous coaches and have done great jobs with their respective teams. From the remaining coaches, I would have to say that I have been least impressed by the jobs done by Mike Tomlin, Tom Coughlin and Joe Gibbs. When you consider all three coaches' personel and what they have had at their disposal, their accomplishments have not been too impressive. The Chargers have regressed a bit, but I think Norv turner has them playing good football and I expect them to at least take at least one playoff game, perhaps even more. Mike McCarthy has also done a good job in Green Bay, but the real praise should be given to the management and scouts who have brought in all of those good, young receivers and linemen who have made what they do on offense possible. Wade Phillips has a tremendously talented roster and I need to see how he does in the playoffs before I really formulate an opinion on him.

The games today were great and hopeful tomorrow's will be even better, although i don't think they will be nearly as good. San Diego will beat up on the Titans and i expect the elder Kiffin to put together a good enough defensive gameplan to shut down Eli and force 2-3 INT's. It will be close until the fourth quarter, in which Eli decides he is too close to playing a decent, complete game and throws a pick six, and the game for that matter, into the waiting hands of Mr. Ronde Barber.

Although Lovie Smith said that this past week marked the beginning of the '08 season, I have a feeling that the roster on this year's version of the "'08" team is drasticaly different than the one of the real '08 season will be. In my opinion, the Bears aren't as far from relevance as many think they are. Here is a unit-by-unit, position-by-position breakdown of the Bears, followed with some suggested additions and subtractions.

Defense

Their defense was plagued by injuries this year and aside from safety and possibly outside linebacker, they don't have any problems.

Linebacker- I was getting increasingly worried about the performance of Brian Urlacher with each passing week, but in the last few weeks he showed he can still be a dominant force in this league. The Lance Briggs era at OLB is coming to an end, and it appears that the Bears have no problem with their replacement, Jamar Williams. Whether or not he is an adequate replacement is debatable, but what is not is that if Lance does leave, the Bears will give Jamar the job. Hunter Hillenmeyer is a smart, steady player that makes the most of what he has.

Defensive End- Mark Anderson, who was handed Alex Brown's job in training camp, showed that he is not ready to step in and be a full time defensive end. In the time Alex has had on the field, he has played very good football and has made it clear that come next year, he, not Anderson, needs to be lining up opposite Adewale Ogunleye. Wale, arguably the Bears' MVP this year, has had an excellent season and will only benefit from the return of Brown. Their second round choice this year, Dan Bazuin, hasn't even been seen and is an unknown at this point. If he becomes the player that most of Angelo's middle round picks become, he will only bolster an already strong unit.

Defensive Tackle- Tommie Harris, who has been playing on one leg this year, has showed enough to warrant unwavering confidence in his inabilities. However, his partners at tackle have been disapointing. Dusty Dvoracek was IR'd after just one game, Darwin Walker has been a bust of epic proportions and the Bears have been reduced to playing practice squad guys, who have surprised me with some solid play, considering their shape and that they have been with the team for about two weeks. Anthony Adams played well this year, but he is undersized and was IR'd a few weeks ago. If Dvoracek, Adams and one of the two newcomers can all stay relatively healthy next year, i see no reason as to why the Bears' tackles can't be a top five group.

Cornerback- Not much to say about here. Both Vasher and Tillman are upper echelon cover guys and have both proved to be durable. Vasher has missed a large chunk of this season, but his groin injury is his first significant injury in the league and is most likely the exception, not the rule. Tillman has had an excellent year and has added the ball punch and punt block to his reportoire. Moreso, the play of Truman McBride will allow the Bears to let go of the useless Ricky Manning Jr. and slide Trumane in at the Nickle slot. He plasyed well for a rookie and is already an above average nickleback.

Safety- The soft spot. Mike Brown is as injury prone as Danieal Manning is bad. Brandon McGowan has played better as of late, but he is not the answer at safety. Sadly, there doesn't appear to be an answer in the draft or free agency. Yeah, Bob Sanders is available, but he is too expensive considering his Mike Brown-like injury problems. The draft doesn't offer all that much in terms of safeties either. The Bears could try and bring back Chris Harris or some other run of the mill backup, but even if they do that, it looks like they have no choice but to rely on the Manning-Brown combo yet again, that is unless Kevin Payne emerges as a legitimate player and wrestles the starting spot away from Danieal, which is a distinct possibility. The good news is that Adam Archuletta and his 5.5 million dollar's will not have to be seen again after this season ends.

On this side of the ball, their biggest needs are at safety and OLB. The former most likely can't be adressed and the latter, in the eyes of the Bears, already has been. The Bears will go into next year with almost the same exact unit, minus Archuletta, Walker, Ricky Manning Jr. and most likely Briggs. On the other hand, those subtractions will free up quite a bit of cash for the Bears and will allow them to pursue replacements for their offense.

Offense

This is where the fun begins. Angelo will have to have a tremendous offseason to repair this unit. The problems begin with the....  

Offensive Line- While the unit has been really bad this year, there are more good starters in this group than bad ones. Roberto Garza, John Tate and Olin Kreutz all will, and should, be back next year. If the Bears do go ahead and draft a tackle in the first round, which I hope they do, not only will that draftee be an upgrade over Fred Miller/John St. Clair, it will allow Tate to move to right tackle, where he is better suited to play. The other weak spot is at guard. Ruben Brown was IR'd a while back and will probably not be back next year, although he wasn't all that bad considering he might have been playing on a broken arm for a majority of the season. Still, he isn't under contract for next year, and seeing as he probably won't be back, his possible replacements are Terrance Metcalf, Anthony Oakley and Josh Beekman, all of which are unproven/bad, most likely the latter. There seems to be a lot of guards in the draft with decent skills set, and I think that if the Bears can land Radovich out of USC, Kraus out of Michigan or Young out of Tennessee, all of whom are projected to go in the middle rounds, the line would be in pretty good shape.

Quarterback- Not only are the Bears options at QB bad bad, but the options in free agency and the draft are bad as well. If the Bears do chose to go with a QB in the first round, fine, but I would rather take a lineman. However, the Bears could possibly land a second teir QB in the second round or late first round via trade.(Oh, and don't imagine for a second that McNabb will be in Chicago next year, I dont see Andy Reid letting it happen.) Still, drafting a QB wouldn't fix anything in the short term. The Bears would do best to take a lineman and go into training camp with an open competition between Orton, Greise and Grossman.  

Runningback- Here the Bears have problems galore, but thankfully they have options. Michael Turner, Julius Jones, Chris Brown and Jesse Chatman will all be free agents and all of which are equal to or better to who the Bears have now. I would like to see the Bears sign Turner and either Brown or Chatman(Fargas is available, but he probably will demand close to Turner-like money, and the Bears can't affor to sign two top free agent tailbacks.). A stable of backs made up of Turner, Benson, Peterson, (Wolfe) and Chatman/Brown would be a huge upgrade for this team. Benson was a good number two and even if his struggles continue and/or he doesn't get back into shape, Peterson and Brown/Chatman are both excellent #2 backs. Wolfe is in parenthesis because he is not an NFL back, rather just a garbage time player.

Wide Reciever/Tight End- Things get really sketchy here. Bernard Berrian will probably leave and hopefully Muhsin and his juicy contract will get cut out of town. He isn't even a good #2 at this point, but seems to think he is a #1, so good riddance. Personally, i think the Bears have no choice but to resign Bernard, but i have a feeling Angelo  won't see it that way. That leaves Devin Hester, Mark Bradley, Rashied Davis and the glorified Mike Hass, all of which aren't good #2's even on their best day. Free agency doesn't offer much either. The only players that i like from the list of FA's are Oakland's Porter and Jacksonville's Wilford. Neither are very good. If the Bear's don't do much to improve their stable of recievers, the pressure on their tight ends will only increase. Desmond Clark has been steady and Olsen has shown flashes, but neither has stepped up as a go-to guy. Olsen could be that guy, but he hasn't done enough yet. However, if he does step out next year and the Bears make their offense more tight-end oriented, which they should absolutely do, their offense should improve. Still, I am banking on the Bears improving their running game enough to allow a barely decent passing game to "thrive." 200 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT would suffice if the Bears running game and offensive line improves as much as I think it can. 

If I were Angelo, I would, for once, almost exclusively draft offensive players. The Bears, if they lose could end up with a top ten pick, but even if they win, they will probably end up with a top fifteen pick. In the first three rounds, i would take two offensive linemen and possibly a QB, if the right one is still around. I wouldn't mind trying to trade up and getting a second first rounder, but Angelo's history of trading down probably makes that highly improbable.Either way, my draft prioritees would go in the following order: Offensive Line, Quarterback, Wide Receiver, and then go with maybe a linebacker, safety or D-tackle in the last two or three rounds. Obviuosly, that order could change depending on who is available, but the Bears must address their offensive line needs first and foremost.

PS- I have read up on a certain receiver from Duquesne by the name of Bruce Hocker, and he seems to be a very good sleeper candiate in the middle-late rounds. He has a good combo of size andspeed and if anybody knows anything about him or where i can find clips of him, some info. would be highly appreciated.

Let me preface my blog by saying that my opinion on running backs and the perspective i view them through is vastly different than how most others do. While most marvel at the impressive accomplishments of backs like Steven Jackson, Ladanian Tomlinson and Adrian Peterson, and rightfully so, I marvel at the work done in the trenches by those tailback's offensive linemen, who I think decide the outcome o####ame more than any other player beside the one that takes the snaps. While Adrian Peterson is a phenominal player and his backup Chester Taylor is anything but, both run behind a line stacked with five unfathomingly large behemoths. Ladanian Tomlinson is an undisputably great tailback, but his linemen, while not as good as those in Minnesota, are nonetheless excellent. Granted, Steven Jackson has been running wild, when healthy,  behind a makeshift offensive line, he has a passing game that can prevents opponents from stacking the box. It sounds like i am trying my best to take away credit from running backs through any means possible, but i am merely trying to build up the point that rushing the football is, in my opinion, more dependant on other, external variables than any other task in football.

Also,. with all the attention Lewis and the Browns have drawn in recent weeks, the fact that Lewis's season has been very hit or miss(dare I say Grossmanesque), has been overlooked. Through Week 11, Lewis, who missed two games in that span, ran for over 100 yards just once and averaged over 4 YPC just twice. Also, four of his 9 touchdowns came in week 9 against St.Louis, when he ran for 37 yards on twenty carries, hardly a strong performance.  When you include his last four games his performance overall has been solid, but still not as good as one would think judging from the attention Lewis has generated.

With that established, the answer is yes and no. I am not surprised at what Lewis has done on his own. (Even back in Baltimore, when Jonathan Ogden was out with injury, Lewis's performance suffered and it was clear that Lewis was largely dependant on the performance of his enormous blocker. The same can be said for Edgerrin james, who suffered a massive letdown when he left Indianapolis and the fantasy that is playing alongside Peyton Manning.) Rather, what does surprise me is how quick the Browns' first draft pick, Joe Thomas, has risen to the upper echelon of offensive linemen, and how the passing game went from non-existent to often unstopable. Braylon Edwards is a top ten reciever, Kellen Winslow a top 5 tight end and Derek Anderson a very competent, if not above average quarterback. What I am trying to say is that while Lewis has put up some nice numbers this year, those numbers have less to do with him and more to do with the offense he plays on and the beasts, particularly Thomas, that he runs behind. Throw in the fact that his four triple digit yardage games came against Cincinatti, Houston, New York(AFC) and Buffalo, and his season is even less impressive.

To sum it up, i would say that I am surprised with how well the Browns have run the ball, not how well Lewis has run the ball. Running the ball is the ultimate team effort, and if one player misses his assignment, the run play can easily get blown up. So when analysts look at the Browns and attribute their success on the ground  to Jamal Lewis, i get upset. It's not Jamal that is getting it done, rather the most unerappreciated unit in the game, the fat, one ton brotherhood that its the Offensive Line.

         While baseball has managed to stay atop American Sports for the better part of one and a half centuries, the fact that baseball has lost some of it's luster to America's other sport, football, is indisputable. When was the last time andybody said anything along the linees of "So and so might have saved football?" Meanwhile, in the late nineties, baseball was in need of saving, and the unprecedented home run battle between Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire arrived just in time. Don't let anybody fool you, while baseball's stadiums were and still are getting filled at a very respectable game, the game is nowhere close to where it should be, or where it, for the most part, has been. TV ratings are way down, and even during October, when the football season is still in it's infancy and baseball is in the thick of the playoffs, TBS and FOX recorded putrid viewing numbers, some of which were all-time lows.

          Now imagine a game where pitching is dominant and 60 home run seasons are as unlikely as undefeated seasons are in football. With today's instant gratification mindset and the way fans crave the long ball, the casual fan would be extinct. Now imagine what Bud Selig and baseball's owners were up against when the allegations and accusations came about in the early part of the twentieth century. They could do like other sports and set up a real steroid policy at risk of losing the casual fan base, which would devastate a game already reeling from it's losses to the NBA and NFL, or they could turn the other cheek and hope steroids went away. In hindsight, the decision looks pretty easy to make, but was it, and is it, really so? Selig, as it is right now, has put himself in a position where he has no choice but to beef up the steroids policy and severely punish violaters. Ten game game suspensions will become 50 game suspensions and two time violaters will get one or two year bans. Selig has no choice anymore. By setting up the Mitchell investigation, which finally gave real, documented evidence pertaining to the undoubtebly enormous influence of steroids on baseball, Selig has cornered himself and is now forced to do what he didn't do a number of years back. The question now isn't whether or not Selig will toughen up the doping policies. Rather the question is, will baseball be better off for it?

Before I come off as overly callous and insensitive to the needs of those that have made the game what it is today, let me say that i think that what Mike Ditka is doing needs to be done. What bothers me is the way he has gone about drawing attention. While I am only twenty and am not overly familiar with Ditka, I have always seen him as a pontificating, over-generalizing blabbermouth with no sense of what to say and what not to say. The saddest part of it all is that since Chicago is chock full of Ditka worshipers that would like nothing more than to buy every one of his ridiculously named products(Kick #### Red Liquor is one of his lead products), Ditka has, for the most part, gotten away with his antics. Because of that, it was even nicer to tune in to the Boers and Bernstein show(with Lawrence Holmes filling in for the former) on 670TheScore and hear Dan Bernstein laying it on Ditka. Bernstein isn't the only to notice that almost nothing Ditka says(not does) holds water. Hunter Hillenmeyer, a Vanderbilt graduate and the Bears' outside linebacker, voiced his displeasure with Ditka's empty claims in an interview almost a month ago. While i don't have access to what exactly he said, it was something along the lines of what I said, that Ditka is more or less just puffing smoke and that his statements are very empty and lack context. His recent episode aside, if you were to listen to Ditka on any of his radio shows in which he is simply talking football, it would be easy to see what i am talking about. When he talks football, which he undoubtably knows lots about, his claims are almost always vague, broad and very generalistic(Is that a word?).

When Ditka went in front of Congress with his complaints regarding Gene Upshaw and the Players' Union lack of funding for the injuries of the retired, in reality, all he did was act like a bully. He went up to the stand red faced with his neck veins bulging and spewed out threatening sounding sentences with very little stress on the facts and very empty claims. I'm not going to put up any quotes on this blog, but if anyone is interested in what he said in congress, or in any of his Gridiron Greats rants, the quotes are plastered all over the web. When all else fails, he usually falls back on his "Da Coach" charm and although thats enough for most fans, its not enough for me.

Now with the recent accusations directed towards Ditka's charity, his filibusters and attacks on Upshaw seem even less impressive, if at all possible. I have always felt that the best type of charity is one that doesn't garner any type of attention. Yeah, those that donate won't get the recognition they want, but really, if you are giving donations for publicity reasons, thats not much of a donation at all. If you use publicity to get donations its one thing, but the opposite really bother me. Ditka really needs to get his stuff together. I am not sure as to what Ditka should do from here on out, but it is pretty clear what he shouldn't be doing.

Some call it parity, i just call it bad. Regardless of where you stand on the NFC and the cluster of mediocrity that is every team outside of Dallas and Green Bay, it is impossible to deny that the Wild Card race is a very tight one. With only one division still up for grabs, that being the South, teams are aware that their only chance is to get the Wild Card, and while the heat is definitely on, there is a startling small number of huge matchups left between the Wild card candidates, which are the following: The New York Giants, Washington Redskins, Minnesota Vikings, Detroit Lions, Arizona Cardinals and the New Orleans Saints. Again, while the top spot in the South is still open for the Saints, the Bucs have games left against the lowly Falcons, Niners and Panthers. As long as they take at least two of those games, which they will, they division will be theirs. So now that I have established the LEGITIMATE wild card possibilities, here is a team by team analysis of their ability and chances of getting a wild card spot.

New York Giants: The Giants don't scare anybody and odds are they won't do any damage even if they reach the playoffs, but they do find themselves at 9-4, with games left against the Redskins, Bills and Patriots. The Patriots game will be a loss, book it. The Bills game could be tough, but as long the Giants beat the Redskins, who are now without Jason Campbell and Sean Taylor, they will get the top spot. No team outside of Minnesota can get to ten wins, so if they get that W in their upcoming game versus Washington, which will be played at the Meadowlands, they are guaranteed a playoff spot. Take it to the bank, the Giants are a lock. Verdict: IN

Washington Redskins: This Skins are only one game behind the Vikings, but they don't stand a chance. The death of Taylor hurt as much on the field as it does off, and the loss of Campbell sealed their fate. With games against the Giants, Vikings and Cowboys, in that order, the Redskins would be fortunate to finish .500. Just a question, is it possible to remove someone from the hall of fame? If it is, Joe Gibbs has wore out his welcome in Canton. Verdict: OUT

Minnesota Vikings: While this team has only started garnering attention in recent weeks, I have been a believer for quite a while. Personally, I think this team has a legitimate shot against either Green Bay or Dallas, and on a good day, even against some of the better teams in the AFC. Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor make up the best running back tandem, ever. Both would be above average starters, and with the weekly progression of Tarvaris Jackson and his improving receiving core, the holes will only get bigger for the two of them. Looking at their three remaining games, I don't think a valid case could be made as to how they would lose even one of them. They already smoked the Bears back in Soldier Field, and Peterson should once again make fools out of Adam Archuletta and Danieal Manning. The Skins are as full of holes as the Bears are, and Vikings will steamroll them in their second straight home game. Their season finale, against Denver, shouldn't be too tough either, given Denver's horrendous rush defense. This team will be the second Wild Card team. Verdict: IN

Detroit Lions: Jon Kitna's 10 win prediction and Roy Williams's trash talks have once again proved worthless. The Lions are done. They have the Chargers and Packers left on their schedule, and unless the Packers rest their starters, those will amount to two losses. Both games are also on the road, increasing the improbability of Detroit victories. Could they salvage a win against the Chiefs in week 16? Perhaps, but the Lions run of futility is still going strong. Verdict: OUT.

Arizona Cardinals: Given the fact that I have the Vikings winning at least two of their three remaining games, the Cardinals will have to win out to even have a chance. The good news is that with games left against the Falcons, Rams and Saints, their remaining schedule is among the easiest in the league. The bad news is that the Cardinals are simply not that good of a team. Their defense is dinged up and so are their receivers. I don't see them winning out, just because they are the Cardinals and the Cardinals simply don’t win out. That being said, they might end up at .500, not a bad start for Wisenhunt and his young Cardinals. Verdict: OUT

New Orleans Saints: Not to gloat, but I saw this coming before the season even started(same goes for the Niners, this year's version of the '06 Dolphins). As crazy as it sounds, I think that losing Bush for the season is not all that bad. If the Saints let their runners run and let their receivers receive, like they did last night, they have a better chance of winning than when they have Bush doing his hybrid thing. Hopefully Sean Payton will see that and do what I proposed a while ago, convert him into a wide receiver and bring in a real running back to split time with their other legit tailback, “the Deuce(Is there a better name in all of football, of course aside from Craphonso Thorpe).” Anyhow, the Saints are in a similar position as the Cardinals in terms of catching the Vikings. The Saints have three tough games left, a home game against the Cardinals, another home game against the Eagles and then a road date in Chicago, a matchup of the two most disappointing teams in all of football. Can they win out? If everything goes right, but we are talking about the Saints here. The Saints will end up 8-8, a game or two behind the Vikings.
Verdict: OUT

So there you go. The Wild Card teams will be the Giants and the Vikings.

Bonus Picks: The Giants, who will end up with the sixth seed, will get ousted in the first round by the Seahawks. The Vikings will squeak by the Bucs. The Vikings will lose to Dallas, but it will be a helluva game.

Follwing the success the Tampa Bay Buccaneers exhibited in their Super Bowl season, the Cover Two style defense started gaining popularity and spread like wildfire. Whether it was the traditional Cover Two or the Tampa Two or whatever variation of this disgusting defense that was in existence, most teams employed it in one way, shape or form. The idea is to divide the field into portions, with each player aside from the four down linemen assigned one portion. The safeties play a huge part here as they are almost always the only players that end up covering deep routes, and with inadequate safety play, the defense falls apart. While all of the variations center on preventing the big play and forcing turnovers, none have become so dependant on turnovers as the particular style employed by my favorite team, the Chicago Bears. The Bears variation is pretty close to the Tampa Two, and while Lovie Smith has said it is in fact different, i have yet to see why. The Bears spread their safeties a bit wider apart than the traditional Cover Two dictates, but no more than that of the Tampa Two. Anyhow, the idea of relying on the other team to make mistakes really irks me. I am a believer in making things happen and only relying on things that you can make happen.

Last year the Bears were among the league leaders in takeaways. This year, although not nearly as productive in the takeaway deprtment, they still rank a respectabl 12th with 24. So why are the Bears so bad this year? The answer is because even though you can use takeways to limit the opposition's chances at scoring, what counts is a) what you do when you are not getting takeaways and b) when you do get takeaways, can your offense capitalize. Last year, the Bears were a defense that at times did struggle, but for the most part was of the lockdown variety. Also, the Bears were the highest scoring team in the NFC last season, thanks largely in part to the extra 2+ possesions per game the defense gave them. The is year, the Bears not only can stop anybody, but they cant score either. A cover two defense is all fine and dandy when the turnovers amount to something, but the defense is exposed as a fraud when the offense cant score or the defense has no skill other than taking away the ball.

In fairness, the Bears have struggled largely thanks to a number of injuries on defense, but the Bears, if not for Jerry Angelo and Smith's offseason arrogance, could have been in a position to succeed despite those injuries. Lovie allowed Todd Johnson to leave and traded away Chris Harris to make room for his lapdog Adam Archuletta, who should have been out of the league two years ago. He also promoted Daniel Manning, who despite his superb speed has regressed badly this year, probably because of his lack of football IQ. The Bears allowed Ian Scott and Alfonso Boone to leave as well and signed a big time cover two guy, Darwin Walker, to replace them. Smith also shafted Alex Brown by giving his job to Mark Anderson, who desoite his gaudy rookie numbers should have been used as a specialist once again.

The cover two defense and the Lovie Smith's inability to adapt, whether it be in-season or in-game, have brought upon the downfall of the Bears. The latter probably is the bigger culprit, but i just cant help but look at the Cover Two as a problem. One of the biggest Cover Two guys in existence, Monte Kiffin, has already come to grips with the problems of the Cover Two and from what i heard has said that it needs to be readily evolved and mixed in with less reguarity thanks to the extensive knowledge coaches have about it and the holes within it.

While this blog isn't as descriptive and thorough as i would like it to be, i have run out of time. please leave comments regarding your comments on the cover two and whether you look at it the same way i do.

When Jason Campbell left the game, the Bears chances at leaving the capitol with a W skyrocketed, or so i thought. Tod Collins, without the aid of a running game, put on his Tom Brady mask and had what was said to be his his best game of the century. Has it gotten to this point for the Bears? The list of the players that have taken the Bear defense out to the woodshed is chuck full of no names, has-beens and never will-be's. Andre Hall, Derrick Ward, Eli Manning, Justin Fargas, Maurice Morris, the list goes on... and on... and on. There are so many holes on this team and i have no faith in Lovie Smith and Jerry Angelo and their talent evaluation methods. This past offseason, Lovie was given a type of freedom that no Bears coach in recent memory has ever had. Angelo brought in Adam Archuletta based solely on Lovie's word, disregarding the fact that the same Redskins that whooped the Bears tonight benched him despite his fat contract. Lovie is a good coach as far as gameplanning goes, but his talent evaluation and in-game coaching is just horrendous. Some may blame him for the offensive line's discipline issues and all the false starts, but i think that notion is downright laughable. The entire offensive line has extensive experience in the league and should never string together six penalties in one drive. Griese was also guilty for a delay of game or two. On the other side of the ball there are also a number of issues that must be addressed in the offseason. They have a solid defensive line, but if Tommie Harris isn't resigned, the Bears would be down their best defensive player. Brian Urlacher is hurt and getting old and Hunter Hillenmeyer is simply decent. I would suggest moving Lance Briggs to the middle, but odds are Lovie doesn't have the stones to do it. The Bears are strong at the CB position, but i would suggest cutting Ricky Manning lose and moving Trumane McBride into the nickle package. Manning was solid D-back in Carolina but at this point is mediocre at best. The real problem is the safeties. Archuletta wont be back next year, so there reallly is no reason to talk about him. Mike Brown will probably be back, but hopefully the Bears keep him on as a back up. He can't be trusted to stay healthy, and hopefully Angelo will go out and get somebody. Danieal Manning improved throughout last season, but he has regressed quite a bit this year. I cant remember the last time he has made a play and he takes way to many bad angles to ballcarriers. One player that wont be catching flack is Robbie Gould, but i say good riddance. The guy is accurate from 49 yards in, but he has no power and Lovie is adamnant about not using him past 50 yards. But his field goals are not the problem, rather the problem is his kickoffs. He has had a number of kickoffs go out of bounds this year and may not have had a kickoff go for a touchback all season long.

While i have no faith in the management to put together a strong draft class, i hope they address their offensive line woes in the first round. There are a number of really good lineman coming out next year and i would love to see the Bears cash in. I have my fingers crossed, but hopefully Angelo trades up for Jake Long, who is said to be just as good or better than Joe Thomas. If the Bears pick up two O-lineman, a safety and a decent QB, they should be fine, but I, and most Bears fans for that matter, know that that is wishful thinking.

PS: TD's scored aginst the Bears were by Todd Collins, Mike Sellers, Ladell Betts and ___ Yodler????

With Rex Grossman getting the starting nod this week against the Seahawks, talk has resurfaced about Good Rex/Bad Rex. I dont mean to be rude to those guys that have spent hours upon hours debating that ridiculous topic, but there is no such thing as Good/Bad Rex. Rex Grossman, when allowed to play his game, is both good and bad. He will tantalize and dissapoint. He will dazzle and fizzle out. That is so because the thing(s) that Rex does well come as a result of what makes him incompetent and will render him a solid backup for the remainder of his career.

Perhaps the most underrated component of successful quarterbacks is size. A quarterback with size has an enormous advantage over one lacking size, especially when both make their hay in the pocket, which is exactly what Rex does. Rex Grossman, who is no doubt shorter than the 6"1 listed in his player profile, will never be a (good) starting quarterback because of his lack of size and inability to escape the pocket, not so much to escape pressure, but to open passing lanes in which he wont have to throw his passes over the outstretched arms of oncoming defensive linemen. These drawbacks however, do not limit his deep passing ability, which is why it is so easy to become infatuated with Grossman if you only watch him in small doses. His aforementioned lack of height and mobility are such great deterrents to his success that they limit his game to two things: checkdowns and deep balls to Bernard Berrian. He does not have the ability to pass the ball horizontally, just vertically, because a thrown deep ball will always sail above linemen's arms and not be affected by a quarterback's size, but balls thrown to the across the field between 10-30 yards are greatly affected by a QB's size. Any time Rex needs to complete say, a crossing route 20 yards down the field, his thrown will need more arch on it than say, a pass thrown by Philip Rivers or Ben Roethlesberger, two quarterbacks with good height. The problems associated with small quarterbacks can be avoided by running numerous plays that allow the quarterback to escape the pocket and eliminate the problem of throwing over linemen, but to do that a quarterback needs to be quick, fast and aware of where blitzers are coming from, all of which Rex is not. Maybe if he had not blown his knee out in the Metrodome a few years ago he might be a pro bowler, but since he did he never will be. A perfect example of a smaller quarterback that creates new throwing lanes is Jeff Garcia. He isnt as tiny as Rex is, but the comparison is sufficient.

What makes matters worse for the Bears is that as long as Rex is in the game, going across the middle, which is the strength of Muhsin Muhammad, Greg Olsen, and Desmond Clark, a very difficult and dangerous task. If you watched all of the Bears game last year, you would have seen that contrary to what i said above, Rex did complete passes in the middle of the field. True, but those passes which were complete almost always required an extraordinary effort by his recievers and also subjected them to some enormous bone crunching hits. For the most part, as long as Rex is in the game, the only way for Ron Turner to utilize those three playmakers is to send them deep or keep a number of extra blockers in the poket, giving Rex enough space and time to complete a pass that he would not be able to complete in regular circumstances. That type of gameplan and scheme will only work, if at all, against the lesser teams in the league, but will never be able beat teams with good players and defensive strategies.
I came to terms with it a hile ago, and its about time Lovie Smith and Jerry Angelo come to terms with it as well. Rex Grossman is not, and will never be, a quarterback good enough to be a competent starter. With time, the rest of the league will come to see this.

Coming into the season, anybody who is anybody would have told you that the NFC North is the worst division in football, with one semi-legit team followed by a number of wannabes. The Bears went into the season banking on Rex Grossman, Jon Kitna predicted ten wins, Brett Favre put off retirement yet again and the Vikings looked just as bad as Tarvaris Jackson's front teeth. In the other conference, the AFC West looked to be not just the best in their conference, but perhaps the best in all of football. San Diego and Denver were supposed to win at least 12-13 wins, Kansas City still had LJ and Oakland was supposed to be on the way up.

Come Week nine, the North has the Packers sitting pretty at 7-1, the Lions at 6-2 and both the Bears and Vikings at 3-5. Menwhile, the Chargers have already lost more games than all of last season, the Broncos are down to Patrick Ramsey and the Raiders are a little better than last year, but still the Raiders. Only he Chiefs seem to be living up to their hype, but thats not saying much. Then the biggest surprise of all hit. The Adrian Petersons ran all over the Chargers, Favre stole back a win from the Chiefs after basically giving it away and the Lions embarassed the Broncos. LT, who came into the season as the best back in football, may have lost that title to a rookie. Cutler, who has drawn endless comparisons to Brett Favre, was outplayed by the latter. Aside from the Patriots and Colts, maybe the conferences arent that far apart anymore.

On a different note, the NFC West, which was supposed to emerge as the clas of the NFC, now is a bunch of garbage. The Rams are winless, the Niners have regressed severely, the Cardinals are who they always have been and Mike Holmgren has done his best to hold the Seahawks back. But as bad as the West has been, the South has been ten times worse. Is there a worse team in the league than Atlanta? Is there a worse quarterback in the league than David Carr? Who is Earnest Graham and how did he become the starter in Tampa? The Saints, declared dead just a month or so ago, are now the favorites in this division. What about the East? Everybody knows about the Cowboys and Giants, but are the Redskins or Eagles any good? The answer is most likely no. 

That leaves the North. Has the North, so ridiculed in the preseason by experts and analysts, possibly tops in the NFC? Not only are the Lions and Packers a combined 13-3, but the Bears and Vikings cant be called bad teams, not yet. Despite their 3-5 record, the Vikings may be the scariest team in the division. If Peterson is on his game, and all signs point to him improving by the week, they can beat anybody. If he didnt fumble against the Cowboys, they could have won that game. The Vikings can beat any team in the league, but they can just as easily lose to those same teams. The Bears, easily the most dissapointing team in the NFC, still can play some football. Their offense blows, but the defense is now healthy coming off the bye. Their offense is punchless and predictable, but they can beat any team in the NFC outside of Dallas.

So you tell me, do you buy into the North? I do.

In a season where the Lions are 5-2, the Titans have won despite throwing for under thirty yards and a regular season game was played in London, the wackiest thing that has taken place so far is the ####ing and crying of the numerous opponents the New England Patriots have run up the score against. That term in and of itself bothers me. At any given time ni a football game, their will be two teams on the field with two seperate agendas. One team wants to score, the other wants to prevent them from scoring. Obvious, right. Apparently not. Certain guys have voiced their distaste for Bill Belichik and his alleged disrespect for the game. Quit crying and suck it up. If you cant stop them, thats your problem. Why should the Patriots go easy on anybody? As i see it, when a team is up and brings in their replacement players, there is no reason not to allow those guys to run an offense as if the game were on the line. The Patriots backup, Matt Cassell, gets no in ga,e experience ever, and rightfylly so. But when that rare oppurtunity arises, why shouldn't A) Matt Cassell get to play real minutes in the game he loves and B) Coach Belichik get to evaluate his backups and decide whether or not they are to his liking? In my opinion, no reasons should be needed to go out and put up points. That is the purpse of an offense, at any time, whether up or down. Bellichik said that in the game of football you never know, but i doubt even he believes that stuff. He has his offense out there when the game is over because he can. In a game where players take pride in who can harm an opponent most, big, beastlike defenders turn into little girls because Tom Brady and Bill Belichik are bullies and are running up the score. With that attitude, you deserve it.

Is there anything worse than the hit and run blogger? I have seen numerous blogs on this site where someone posts something absolutely controversial and just when i get worked up enough to drop a comment, i see the writer has disabled the comment option. If you are gonna take time to write an article and post in an online forum like FoxSports, odds are you wanna get some feedback. If not, why post at all. Just had to voice my opinion, because these hit and runs just get under my skin.

I as a twenty year old, have never really had the oppurtunity to watch many of the NFL's historical figures, such as Johnny Unitas, OJ Simpson, Jim Brown, etc., and therefore am asking the follwing question. At teh current moment, is this the best time ever to be a fan of professional football? Correct me if i am wrong, but it seems to me that at the present time, we have the great fortune to watch many of the greatest players in the history of the game at their respective positions playing at the same time, some even on the same team. For instance, will the Brady-Moss connection, still in it's infancy, go down as the greatest ever, or will Manning-Harrison go down as the greatest ever, both maybe even greater than the Young-Rice combo? Are Manning and Brady the two greatest quarterbacks in history? Is Ladanian Tomlinson the greatest ever, his numbers definitely speak volumes? Young Adrian Peterson, in only his first season, has looked like he has the tools to be one of the all time greats. Have so many superhuman offensive studs ever co-existed in the same era in the history of not just football, but sports as a whole? We have been blessed to watch Manning, Brady, Favre, Moss, Owens, Smith(Steve) Tomlinson, Holt, Harrison, Johnson(Chad), Gates, Vinateri and even the greatest return man in the history of the game, Devin Hester, just to name a few. And thats just on offense. On the other side of the ball, guys like Urlacher, Lewis, Bailey, Strahan, Taylor, Reed, Samuel, Peppers and Merriman, have either been dominating opponents for years or are on their way to doing so.

Many say that the NFL rule changes have as much to do with the aforementioned players' success as their skill level, but i disagree. The NFL has transformed in such a big way that, even the biggest players in the league twenty or so years ago would be average or slighly above average in todays version of football. Players have gotten faster, stronger and more importantly better, thanks in large part to the growth in technology and information. Some older fans, like my father, refuse to even consider the notion that players today are superior to the players of the past, but from just looking at tames from both all different eras, it seems like today's game is being played at a speed exponentially greater than at which it was lpayed just twenty or thirty years ago. So to you fans that have had the luxury which i have not been afforded, that being that you have seen both today's and yesterday's NFL, is this the best time ever to be a fan of the National Football League?

There were so many things done wrong by the Bears that i dont know where to start? The offense, despite posting thirty-one points against a pretty good defense, only got things together late in the game and actually was booed a number of times. The defensive players, as Mr. Jurkovic so astutely stated on Fox's the Final Word(local tv), shouldn't pick up their week six paychecks. The tackling was dreadful and there wan minimal QB pressure all game long. Adrian Peterson made the Bears look like children among men. The special teams, Devin Hester excluded, didnt play a good game either. They gave up big kick off returns and really cost the Bears the game after allowing a near touchdown to Peterson on that last kickoff. Here goes an attempt to try and explain why the Bears played so terribly.

 The Offense

Like i said above, their scoring output doesnt accurately represent how the they performed on offense. They didnt have many three and outs, but couldnt really string together any long drives. Cedric Benson, the goat of the offense so far, did not play that badly. When he wasnt getting hit in the backfield, he was ripping off solid chunks of yardage against the league's premier run defense. Although he had a decent game on the ground, he dropped a number of passes.  Even if those passes were caught he would have been dropped immediately, but the fact that he dropped them worries me. The difference between Benson and Peterson was clear from the get-go. Peterson runs hard and angry and doesnt get taken down with weak arm tackles. Benson, not as strong or as fast of a runner as AP, hits the deck after the slightest touch. If Peterson isnt locked up completely, he will break away for huge runs. If Benson is merely touched, his #### is dropped. The difference is night and day. The other Adrian Peterson played a decent game and made some pretty big plays, but Garrett Wolfe, on his one rushing down, made me wonder if he will still be in the league by next season. He is simply too small to really do anything on the ground.

Brian Greise made a number of mistakes and his second interception really made me scratch my head, but he did lead a unit that put up 24 points and that, along with Devin Hester's special teams touchdown , should have been enough to beat one of the most punchless offenses in football. The positive thing that i took away from this game is that Greise, contrary to popular belief, can still throw a solid deep ball. He hasnt really been given the oppurtunity to throw the deep ball but after his performance yesterday, he may be let loose a bit more in the near future. The Bears have a number of deep threats and hopefully Greise will be given the chance to take advantage of the weapons at his disposal.

Another bright spot for the offense was the play of the lineman. The return of John Tate obviously made a huge difference and the play of the line yesterday really shows how much better they are when St. Clair is not starting. They allowed only one sack and gave Benson some nice running lines on the outside. Still, the Bears dont have much depth ot this position and i believe it is time to incorporate Josh Beekman into the rotation a little bit. Chicago Bears insiders really like his mean streak and say he has a nastiness to him that is necessary for good line play.

The recievers, despite putting up respectable numbers, had some dropped passes and didnt create consistent seperation for three quarters of the game. Greise, after being forced top throw, found his recievrs often wide open, presumably a result of the Vikings trying to prevent the big play, which they didnt end up doing anyway. Bernard Berrian schooled one of their CB's and left him in the dust. Moose showed some signs of life and grabbed a perfectly thrown pass from Greise and found his way into the endzone. Devin Hester, after his highly touted offseason transition to offense, finally got into the mix, grabbing a mammoth eighty-one yard touchdown pass. Once again, the tight ends played very well. Both Olsen and Clark had some long receptions, but Olsen dropped one pass that could have easily gone for forty+ yards. 

Overall, the offense didnt play well throughout the game, but enough points were put up collectively by this unit to get a victory. For once, the blame can not be placed on the offense.

Defense

Usually i look at the defense position by position, but this week i will glob all the players together. Aside from Lance Briggs, who absolutely needs to be signed long term ASAP, and perhaps Charles Tillman, nobody on that unit did their job. Not Urlacher, Harris, Anderson or Hillenmeyer. To be fair to the lineman, the Vikings were max-protecting all game long and put the onus on the linebackers and secondary to make the plays, and quite frankly, they sucked. Adam Archuletta, who was sold to the fan base as a bad fit back in Washington, has shown that he would be a bad fit anywhere. The defense as a whole didnt tackle well, took horrible angles to the ballcarrier and didnt stick to their gaps. They overpursued the ball carrier and gave Peterson huge cutback lines. In other words, the defense, although heavily laden with good veteran players, looked like it was compriosed of a bunch of overanxious rookies. The Bears safeties are too young and raw to be relied upon to make plays, and as long as they continue to play those guys out there, the Bears will get run and passed on all game long. The Bears let some safeties go in the offseason, thinking that Archuletta would be good, Brown would be healthy and Manning Jr. would continue playing well. They would be lying if they said they wouldnt like to have Chris Harris back. 

Until Darwin Walker and Nathan Vasher return from injuries, the Bears defense will be feasted on by even the most mediocre passing teams in the league.

I said in the introductory patagraph all that needs to be said about the special teams. Hester had yet another monster game, but the coverage unit was bad. Coach Taub is really gonna work his unit hard this week.

The Bears are in bad shape. The defense is struggling, and from the looks of things the offense may now have to bail out the defense. And with games against Philly and Detroit, two teams that are extremely capable in the passing department, the offense will really have to step things up. They have the toughest schedule in the NFC North and therefore have to ouplay Detroit, Green Bay and Minnesota, all teams with less overall talent, in order to make the playoffs. Until the Bears start doing things differently, there wont be any reason to write up any more Bear reports, so until then, im out.