Chicago Bears

The big question around Halas Hall, is whether or not, first round draft pick Chris Williams will make his season debut on Sunday. Williams who has yet to take a snap in an NFL contest (due to back surgery), was drafted number 14 overall in this years draft. Williams was expected to be a huge contributor on the this offensive line that struggled mightely a season ago.

Continue reading "Chris Williams Debut"

Thanks for checking in. I could make easily make this weeks "Watchlist" the same as last weeks. That would be lazy however, I'm still watching Vasher, Tillman, & Hester in terms of thier health. This "Watchlist" is going to focus more on performance and less on health. Let's get things started, shall we?

Continue reading "Will's Watchlist Week 9"

I just wanted to give our tight end unit a little love in this blog. When you have Greg Olson and Des Clark both on the field you are going to cause some serious mis-matches. These guys can flat out play. Olson is going to be a star in this league and a large part of that is because he's so versatile. Olson alone is a deep threat with his speed but he can also get the yards after the catch. He isn't perfect however. In his short career he has established himself as a fumbler of the football. With time, Olson will improve on his ball handling and will blossom into a huge part of the offense.

Continue reading "Showin' some tight end love..."

Okay guys, I'm going to try doing something new in order to keep my blogs fresh. I call it Will's Watchlist. Each week, I will give three Bears to keep an eye on for the following week. This week is easy, since the Bears are on their bye week.

Continue reading "The Watchlist : Week 8"

Due to the number of injuries to the secondary, the Bears signed veteran safety Terence Holt to the 53 man roster.

Earlier the Bears placed, Zach Bowman on the injured reserved list. Bowman is out for the season with a bicep injury. It's a shame too, because Bowman was just signed off of the practice squad and had a game to remember. Bowman scored a touchdown on special teams and sealed the victory against the Vikings with a game ending interception. This is even more remarkable due to the fact that Bowman was already injured and reportedly talked himself into the game. That's something that we don't see very often anymore.

Continue reading "Bears sign veteran safety Terrence Holt"

Coming off of a thrilling win over our division foe, the Vikings, the Chicago Bears have a well deserved bye week. The bye couldn't come at a better time. With what seems to be our entire secondary banged up, we need to get healthy but must remain sharp. Just because we play the laughable Lions after the bye, doesn't mean that we can sit back and relax. Who would of thought that the Cowboys would lose to the Rams? It's just another example of how on any given Sunday, any football team can come out and beat a "super bowl" team.

Continue reading "Let's get Healthy"

Lions fans were booing early and often in this game and I don't blame them. They looked completely lost. Miscues and dropped passes killed them against the Bears. I loved it. The Bears needed a game like this to gain confidence in the offense. Orton loves playing against the Lions, with good reason. He was 24-of-34 for 334 yards and had a 121.4 rating, going to 3-0 against Detroit. The Lions stacked the box making Orton beat them and he did exactly that connecting on TD passes of 9 yards to Forte and 12 yards to Hester, who had a nice spin move to get himself in the endzone.

Continue reading "Bears Slash Lions!"

After watching the Cubs implode over the last 2 days I think its time to let go of the hope that they can win. Time to give my undivided attention to the Bears.

Well where do I start? The 2-2 Bears take on the 0'fer Lions. The Bears have been in every game this year and could very well be 4-0 but alas they are not. 2 should have been wins turned into 2 heartbreaking losses. 

Continue reading "Let's go Bears!"

With the MLB playoffs set to begin, there is a subtle difference in the air compared to start of any other postseason. In the NHL, fans can potentially look forward to a great Canadians/Bruins series that is not only exciting, but has a historical kick to it. Likewise basketball fans always have the chance to see if the Suns can finally get past the Spurs and football fans love seeing the rivalry of the Eagles Vs the City of Philadelphia when the Eagles so much as get tackled for a loss.

Continue reading "The Ups and Downs of the MLB Playoffs"

The NFL’s been buzzing with activity the past week. As if mock drafts, roster breakdowns, and morbid obsessions with Mel Kiper’s hair weren’t enough, many high-profile names have been exercising their freedom of speech. Here’s a quick rundown…

Continue reading "A Little from Column A, A Little from Column B..."

*Editor's Note: This piece was written Tuesday night but, due to Internet problems, is being posted just now.

Only the NFL can make headlines with the release of its regular season schedule. Granted, there are only a handful of games for fans to absorb, so the attention given to each week is natural. However, this speaks increasingly to the booming popularity of the league.

Continue reading "Bears Schedule Analysis"

The Bears emerged victorious from the courtroom earlier this week with a decisive off-the-field victory over the embittered 49ers. According to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, San Francisco illegally contacted Chicago linebacker Lance Briggs’ uber-agent, Drew Rosenhaus, during the 2007 season – a “blatant, outright, stupid, stupid, stupid violation of NFL anti-tampering policy,” he remarked. “We basically caught [San Francisco GM] Scot McCloughan with his hands in the proverbial cookie jar. If you know what I mean.” This attempt at humor left many witnesses baffled and appalled, especially when the commissioner followed it up with a series of erratic winks.

Continue reading ""Get Your Hands Off My Linebacker!""

ESPN columnist KC Joyner took a statistical look at the route-running efficiency of Hester a few days ago, compiling a table that breaks down his experience as a receiver and basically reinforcing how I feel about Chicago’s new #23. Unfortunately, in order to view said table, one must be privy to the world of the ESPN Insider ( http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/insider/columns/story?columnist=joy). If you aren’t, it highlights three things: (a) Hester is at his best running on the go and double-move go routes, catching Griese’s 81-yard bomb at the end of the Minnesota game and Orton’s 55-yarder in the final game. Obviously, this is where he’s his most explosive -- burning defensive backs and hauling in the long ball. He is the heir apparent to Berrian in this capacity and the Bears seem confident enough in this ability to pencil him at #2 on the depth chart for now. However, as Joyner also points out, (b) Hester is suffering from a low YPC on quick hitches and screens. He’s caught eight balls using these two routes but managed a paltry 27 yards total -- only 3.4 yards per catch. Hester needs to learn how to create some space between him and defenders, like Steve Smith (or perhaps Steve Smith of 2005). Working on separation tactics will boost his potential for short yardage situations. And obviously, (c) the kid just lacks overall experience. It should be interesting to see how he adjusts to his new role come September. I still think it’s too early to put him at #2, but it seems the Bears (for better or worse) have their minds set on this.

Continue reading "The Devin Hester Experience"

The ceremonial fireworks of the opening weeks of free agency have finally started dying down and there’s a lot of dust to clear through. A few teams have made some big strides, immediately raising their hopes for 2008 with key acquisitions and retainers. I’m pretty sure we can all agree that the Browns are probably the poster child for this offseason. On the heels of a ten-win season in which they were unfortunately robbed of a playoff spot, the team too good for a logo had much to look forward to – rising young talent in Edwards (who finally learned how to catch short passes over the middle) and Winslow (who finally realized it wasn’t a good idea to pop wheelies on your bike in May), a terrific offensive line with a young left tackle quickly making a name for himself, a defense that could only really improve. Now, they’ve set themselves up for great success by bringing in talent on both sides of the ball. Re-signing Anderson was a must in my opinion, and the Browns will be all the happier seeing him rather than future franchise QB Quinn trying to direct the offense. Giving Quinn more time as a spectator will aid the transition from college and help him adjust for when he eventually makes his debut. Sure, some would argue that Quinn deserves his shot now, but no one can say that the extra time won’t hurt – two years on the bench is the most valued experience for a fresh QB. With Anderson, even if he does prove to be nothing more than a flash in the pan (as we might suspect from the closing weeks of last season), Quinn is waiting in the ranks. The Browns’ offense also became much more explosive with the addition of Stallworth, a legit speedster who seems to be on a new team each season. The Saints, Eagles, Pats -- can’t we get some consistency? Millions of fantasy owners don’t want to gamble on you each year! We like sure things! (Ironic side note: There are no sure things in fantasy football.)

Continue reading "Browns No Longer Committed to Sucking; ..."

The Bears gave Brandon Lloyd a one-year contract last week, reeling in a cast-off from the Redskins who’s been plagued by injuries and questionable locker room chemistry the past two seasons. Lloyd’s production will be a complete gamble, but there are some good reasons to like this deal. First off, he’s coming incredibly cheap, dime-store, like we just snatched him up off the shelf at that seedy bodega down the street. There’s basically nothing to lose, am I wrong? Anybody is an upgrade at this point. I remember a time when Lloyd impressed me mildly – two 40+ catch seasons in San Fran, great hands, good burst off the line, strong vertical leap, mediocre blocking, a propensity for SportsCenter Top-10 one-handed catches. When I read about him being traded to Washington, I pictured him working the middle of the field, Santana Moss putting some double-moves on the outside and burning the safety with an inside post pattern, Antwaan Randle El drawing up in a hitch – the near-mechanized cogs of Al Saunders’ vaunted offense in perfect syncronization. Well, we all know how that turned out (Did he really think every one of those players could digest a 700-page playbook? Didn’t he check their Wonderlic scores?).

Continue reading "Lloyd Reunited with Turner, Hugs and Tears Abound"

At last! I’ve come across some breaking news to legitimate this website’s reputation as the forefront for all news regarding our beloved Bears (save for ChicagoBears.com, from which this information has been culled) – Angelo has attempted to inject some life into the offense by bring back the club’s last 1,000 yard receiver, the wily veteran Marty Booker. Booker has been a virtual non-factor the last few years in the league, stuck catching balls thrown from the latest projects to emerge from the Miami Dolphins’ QB University (an institute of uninspired complacency with lots of bright graduates – Cleo Lemon, John Beck, what was left of Daunte Culpepper and Trent Green, and the older, more brusque McCown brother). I’m sure the main reason Angelo brought Booker back was because, naturally, he let perhaps the last intriguing free agent WR walk off to another team earlier today. With Javon Walker off the market, our trusty GM dusted off the old depth charts to see exactly who could be brought in to salvage the O.

Continue reading "The Triumphant Return of Marty Booker"

Brian Griese was traded back to his old team today for an undisclosed 2009 draft pick. We all knew this was coming, especially since he was due a $300,000 roster bonus tomorrow and wouldn’t have stayed on the roster even if he hadn’t been traded. This is comforting news for Angelo, who got something, anything, for Greesee rather than just giving him the ol’ das boot. I don’t really understand what the Bucs were thinking. Take a gander at their current QB roster for ‘08:

Continue reading "Griese traded to Bucs for '09 draft ..."

So the prodigal son has returned without ever having left. Lance Briggs agreed to a six-year contract with the Bears today worth about $36 million with $13 million in guaranteed bonuses. After all the fuss and drama of last season, it’s good to see Briggs finally get the huge contract he deserves. Briggs played like a possessed man in ’07, ranking second on the team in tackles with 140, including ten tackles-for-loss. He also added two sacks, two forced fumbles, and a fumble recovery. If you watched any game last year, you know this guy was always leaving it all on the field every game, holding down the weak side position and providing a great complement to Urlacher. And now that he’s coming back, we can be certain Lovie will keep Urlacher in the middle instead of experimenting with him on the weak side (He’s also incredibly smart. Remember when he crashed his Lamborghini on the Edens at 4 AM the night before practice and inexplicably left the scene? I mean, come oooonnnnn, talk about intangibles). More importantly, with a healthy Harris and Dvoracek holding down the interior of the D-Line, Urlacher and Briggs will be able to move more effectively throughout the second level instead of constantly having to inch up and provide run support. Come to think of it, this should come as no surprise. Briggs had stated a desire to remain in Chicago towards the end of the season, and the front office is famous for its loyalty and inclination to re-sign players rather than explore options through free agency. You had Tillman and Vasher re-signed during the regular season and now Briggs, in addition to Grossman, Orton, Clark, and Brown over the past few weeks. Clearly, they’re viewing consistency as the best course of direction for the immediate future and I think it will serve us well (That is, except with Benson, who as one enlightened colleague notes should just be flat-out dropped, like a bad habit).

Continue reading "Briggs decides to stay in Chitown, ..."