Pixote

Colts (because of their offense), Jaguars (because of their defense), Philly (because of their defense), and Vikings (not sure why, but they are certainly getting enough press). You identified those four as the tough ones for us and I agree. While certainly any of the remaining teams could beat us "On Any Given Sunday" I firmly believe the Bears are capable of winning against any of them. So let's say we win 1 of the 4 tough ones, and then out of the remaining 12 games we should win if we play the way I expect us to, we win 10 out of the 12, blow 2 that we should have won. We would still wind up with 11 wins. I agree with you, a 10-11 win season is not out of the question, IF OUR DEFENSE STAYS HEALTHY.

Yes, and we have other 1st round picks that swore the exact same thing but came in late do to a hold out. Let's hope that is not the case here. The Bears wore out the signing dest this year with 11 drafted rookies, a slew of undrafted rookies, and a whole bunch of veteran player extensions. Now you know they did not do all of this and not work equally as hard to get the number one signed.

Shows just how great a job the Bears have done so far. Now they need to finish up with signing Williams and make the rest of the GMs in the league look like fools......

2008 Draft Class 1st Round Signings Here you go, only 4 signed so far.

I am convinced that Angelo will at least improve the depth of the OL by bringing in an OLman who is released during the preseason do to salary cap or youth movement, a veteran who can spot start if necessary. Hopefully, he can stumble across another R Brown who can start and contribute at Guard. I thought St Clair looked excellent at OG last year, whereas he struggled at OT. I know they need him as an OT now because of question marks around Chris Williams (sign the damn contract Chris!) but ideally, if we can have him next to Williams as the LOG I think our OL would be kick butt (assuming Williams plays well) with Williams - LOT St Clair - LOG Kruenz - OC Garza - ROG Tait - ROT Yes, I know,I probably misspelled a few names, LOL

Agreed, I have been saying all along we needed some kind of insurance in case Forte goes down, this gives us exactly that. Great job by Angelo to get us a good upgrade at #2 RB on the budget plan!

I do not think he would be a guaranteed improvement over Rex or Kyle, time would tell as he is very raw himself, but I do believe he would be a HUGE upgrade as our #3. I like the looks of the 2 undrafted QBs but do we want one of them starting if Rex and Kyle both go down? It can happen. It has before.

Agreed, we need Williams signed NOW!

He is the insurance policy we needed in case of injury to Forte.

Now that would be great news if it comes to being. If he visits and we do not sign him I would not be upset because that means they suspect he is not going to be healthy enough to contribute. Why bring him in unless you are interested in signing him "IF" healthy? Then if they do not sign him then does that mean we bring in another option? This also means, as I suspected all along and said in several posts, Angelo isn't finished setting the lineup yet. There will be a few other surprise signings, and I suspect OL & WR may be in that area if a player he feels would be an upgrade becomes available at the right price.

Interesting, are we getting suckered into some "super hype"...LOL First they said B Sanders may start be able to start the seaon opener Then they said that D Freeny may not be able to start the opener Next there was speculation if M Harrison will return healthy from his injury Now P Manning undergoes surgery and will miss at least most of training camp Why is it that I am thinking all 4 will be lined up against us in the opener?

I'd have no objections to Leftwich, if he would accept a #3, which he might since he is out of work.

I think he would be a cheap "safety net" as a number 3 QB. I personally thought he would be an excellent starter in the NFL and was developing fine until the injury. I am at a loss as to why Gruden seems to be so negative toward this guy. Although the two undrafted rookies might be ok future QBs, do we really want one of them to be our "emergency" option in case of injuries or failures of Rex or Kyle? A proven veteran would be reluctant to sign on cheap as a #3. I think Simms would.

How healthy will the Bears be in 2008? Or, Should I ask how will the Bears do in 2008? Are the two in fact the same question, well, maybe.... Here is an article entitled In NFL, the healthy earn respect from DallasNews.com showing the games lost to starters in the 2006 season: In NFL, the healthy earn respect (2006 Season Charts) Here is an article entitled Colts keep winning in a painful season from WFAA.com showing games lost to starters in the 2007 season: Colts keep winning in a painful season (2007 Season Charts) According to these articles, the Bears went from a team with only 25 games lost to starters in 2006 to 60 in 2007. We have a great weapon on our staff, Rusty Jones. He has done a great job in the past in keeping us relatively healthy as a team. I think last year was just one of those snake-bit years that happens. If we stay healthy this year, we will return to a dominate team, IMO.

Bentley is available, but I wonder how healthy he is? Seems to me he would have been signed quickly by someone if he was in playing shape and not an IR project. Also, why trade for him when he is available without the cost of a trade?

I do not know about being the "greatest defense ever" but I am convinced this year the Bears will place in the top 5 for defense, if not number 1. We have too much talent not to. We are not "old in the tooth" and I disagree with another poster who said we are injury prone. Yes, last year we had a tremendous number of injuries which devastated our performance, however, with the exception of M Brown & Dusty, the remainder of the defense has not been known to be "injury prone". It is because of my confidence in our return to dominating defense and our superior special teams play that I have strong hopes for our team. Our offense, well, last year we were at the bottom of the barrel, so I have to believe there is only one way to go, and that is up. LOL

DEF - CLE - Browns GM Savage Laying Groundwork For CB Trade Source: Tony Grossi, Cleveland Plain Dealer Cleveland Browns general manager Phil Savage's search for a veteran cornerback through trade will resume when he returns from vacation next week. There has been some groundwork laid, but the few teams involved want to gauge other positions on their rosters in the first week or two of training camp before trading a cornerback.

Oh I agree, we have to first wait to see if our DB situation is safe before we consider trading him, the article I quoted said this as well. The last thing we want to do is duplicate the same mistake that cost us before when we traded away a safety in preseason thinking we were deep enough to do so, and later regretted having done so.

Because of previous character issues alone I do not think the Bears would pull the trigger on him even if he were available. Also, he has never been accussed, that I know of, of being a "team" player. I do not think I would want to have him in the same locker room as our new rookie Forte.

Story from ESPN on Butkus' Fight against Steroids I love it when Bears Players, current and past, take responsive actions like this! Another story on same topic from ESPN

Want to barf... look at what the "experts" (?) think about our team. Some posters here would probably agree with these guys from the comments I have read in the threads, but quite frankly, I think the Bears should be ranked no lower that 16th at the start of the season due to some question marks and will wind up in the top 10 by mid season, then top 5 by the end of the year. CBS has us at #20 in their Rankings WalterFootball.com has us at 24th in their Rankings USA Today has us at 22nd in their Rankings AOL Sports has us at 26th in their Rankings SI.com has us at 25th in their Rankings ESPN has us at 24th in their Rankings Yahoo Sports has us 23rd in thier Rankings Bankroll Sports has us 26th in their Rankings New Era Scouting has us 29th in their Rankings What If Sports has us 30th in their Rankings Bleacher Report has us 24th in their Rankings

From the Sporting News Web Site:

NFC Offensive Line Rankings I was wondering if you all agreed with this ranking of the NFC Offensive Lines. If their speculation is right and we are 14th out of 16, we are in deep doo doo. I think we will be much better. I have no doubt that if needed Angelo will check out players cut during preseason do to a "youth movement" or "Salary Cap Problems" and beef up the OL with some veterans. However, I am hoping that Williams will be the answer at LT and with Tait moving to RT, we will be no less than #6 or #7 in the ranking by the end of the season.

Now that is awesome, good find!

Hey, if this guy kicks butt for the next two years, proves to be the back we have needed, shows he is durable, and helps us regain our dominant running game, he would deserve a restructuring and I am sure the Bears will give it to him.