Pixote

I am like you, been checking websites daily hoping beyond hope that Williams is signed soon. I want it over and done with so I can sit back and enjoy seeing him and the rest of the rookies fight for starting spots on the roster. It is hard to adjust to the NFL. You can not do it by sitting on your ass waiting for your agent to get your deal finalized. Sign the damn deal, work your ass off, play like a Pro and then you will get paid like one!

I think ConnorBear was right, we needed to keep our core intact. I think the Bears have had a great off season. I think you need to reward your own players first and try and keep the core in place. We will be in great shape cap wise in the future with all of these signings. Other teams will be trying to resign their own and be unable to do so. It puts us in a great position. I see nothing wrong with that.

I think you are over reacting. As you said, coach talk is all fluff at this point. I think all he was trying to do is say the right things. Not cause any problems. Unfortunately, that is basically all we are going to hear from this series of articles. I would not take any of them too seriously. What we need is to take a look at what they do on the field once preseason starts. That will begin to answer some questions for us. Talk is cheap, let's see how they perform.

There are currently 5 openings for this league. DrunkBomber and a friend of his will be filling 2 of those 5 spots. Bowlingtwig and a friend of his will be filling 2 more of these slots. That means, unless someone drops out, there is only one slot remaining. See the post that began this thread for details. If anyone is interested, please let me know by responding to this thread, sending me a private message, or emailing me at j.w.sheridan@comcast.net (not all 3, 1 will do, LOL)

Ok, now I will throw in my 2 cents. This projection, in my opinion, has a flaw, one ConnorBear eluded to. It has him with 246 carries. If Forte is "the man" the Bears organization thinks he is, why only 15.37 carries a game? There were 13 RBs that averaged 18+ carries a game last year, 10 of those were 19+, 4 of those 20+. If the Bears are going to go back to pounding the rock like is speculated, why only 15+ carries a game? That would have put him at 24th in the league in ave carries per game. It is not like we have a 2 headed monster at RB. So with that in mind, I see Forte averaging let's say 19 carries a game, kind of in the top ten range of RBs for number of carries. Thomas Jones was 10th in the league last year in this area with 19.4 carries per game. So if Forte carries 19 times per game, we are talking 304 carries for the year, a big difference IMO. Now, let's say he averages 4.2 yds per carry, (4.4 might be a bit high, depending on how quickly our OL can rebound) that would put Forte at 304X4.2=1276 rushing yds. At 4.4 it would be 304X4.4=1337 Now a days 1000 yds is not that big as an accomplishment as it was back in the days when schedules were shorter. I would be "slightly" disappointed with the 1082 yds predicted by Yahoo. I am looking for Forte to hit 1300 yds rushing. I also see no reason he can not cross into the end zone 10+ times. He has power, no reason to take him out in goal line situations. I think he will be around 50 receptions for 400+ yds, giving him a total offense from LOS at 1700 yds. Year 2 is when he starts his string of seasons getting 2000+ yds a yr from the LOS (rushing & receiving yds combined) Forte will be the next best thing to Neal Anderson (or better). There will never be another Payton.

Here is a prediction from Yahoo sports for Forte this year. If he lived up to this projection, would it fall short of you expectations, exceed your expectations, or is this what you were expecting? I am just curious what everyone is thinking Forte will offer the Bears in 2008.

Here is one article I found on the internet. Now tell me, do you think the drafting of Michael Haynes was JA idea (drafted the last year DJ was in control prior to the 2003 season)? Was M Haynes the type of DT that fits the mold of a JA defensive line? Nope. So why was he drafted while Dick Juaron was HC? Why did JA take the job knowing he would be a Lame Duck GM? I have no doubt that he was sure that eventually DJ would fail and that he would gain the powers of a true GM. He was right on.

4 of the 10 teams are already taken. If you wanted to join, be sure to follow the link in the 1st post of the thread and do so before it is too late. It will be the last league I start up this year. I decided to do this one as a warm up to the 3 TalkBears leagues Drafting for the following weekend. I plan on giving you all some lessons in FF this year, LOL - (I know, I am not much of a SMACK talker, but I do try ;-)

I think what Peter King and so many other sports writers who speculate on "IF" Farve would sign with the Bears is that the Bears, VM, TP, JA, LS, RT, all the way down to the waterboy, would not sign him to a deal to start with. They may, and I say MAY, sign a QB cheap as a #3 if they see one they would like to have as an insurance policy if RG & KO go down to injury. That is about as far as the Bears will go at this point. They certainly would not sign Farve to a huge 1 year contract to play for the Bears in 2008.

Personally, I do not see what Brian Urlacher has done to piss so many posters and fans off. Yes, he said a few things in the media, but nothing outrageous. I am sure what he did say has been over blown out of proportion. Remember, Urlacher has never been mistaken for a Public Speaker Extraordinary. He will, when he retires, never land a job with NFL Network, ESPN, be a color commentator, etc... He is awkward in front of the camera and microphone. Yes, he wants to get as much money as he can. Does this make him evil or human? If it were me and I knew my career was coming to an end in 3 to 5 years I would certainly be trying to get a last minute retirement insurance from my team. Has he done anything more or less than dozens and dozens of players around the league? He has shown far more class in his requests than 90% of them. Yes, he skipped some voluntary workouts. Is this really such a big deal? This is done all the time by many players, especially older veterans, if for no other reason than they want to take it easy until the chips are on the table. I personally want to see him 100% healthy, rested, and ready to kick ass when the season starts. I will be willing to bet any of you that he will, with or without a contract restructuring, give all he has for the team this year, just as he has in the past.

Virginia McCaskey was so in "love" with DJ that when she finally said "enough is enough" and took away Mikey's controls to hire a GM she insisted DJ have the final say so over the roster decisions and for the most part, the final say in who we drafted. This can not be debated as it was well documented by the press during the DJ/JA era. Therefore, JA was a lame duck GM during the DJ era. He couldn't even get rid of Shoop-da-Poop OC. DJ's loyalty to his staff was his downfall. He was a good HC who selected a very bad OC and refused to fire him when he did not produce results. Lovie has had no problem with changing coordinators when he felt it was necessary. I am sure if R Turner does not turn things around this year we will see OC #3 under Lovie come in. I remember when we had Patrick Mannley in for a live chat session at BearsTalk (arranged by the Da Webmaster himself, Jeff Timms) and the news of the day was why the Bears had yet signed DJ to an extension after he had been named HC of the year. It was widely speculated at that time that JA wanted to have DJ change OCs. DJ refused to sign an extension unless Shoop was extended first. VM wanted Juaron, her guy, resigned, period. I asked P Mannley directly if the hold up in the signing of DJ was do to the issue of J Shoop as OC. Without going into details and getting himself into trouble with management, he confirmed that JA wanted Shoop out, DJ would not hear of it, and a stalemate had occurred. Obviously, DJ won, again because JA at that time was a lame duck GM being controlled by VM, TP, & DJ. I personally think JA has been an excellent GM. A Jim Finks? No, there will be very few as good as Finks was. How many GM's are in the HOF? However, I think his successes are documented enough to put him in the top 5 GMs in the league today. Yes, he has had some failures in the draft. But tell me what GM, including Finks, who did not screw the pooch on a few of their draft selections? Man, it is not an exact science by any means. It is more of a crap shoot with educated guesses than a Doctorate Degree in Football.

Great and Mike North should never be used in the same sentence! Fans will love the change on the Score!

Good point. Besides, if he comes out of retirement, and I do not believe he will, he certainly would not come to the Bears. He is a very competitive guy and I am sure the rivalry between the Packers and Bears rides deep within his soul.

I did send him an invite also. Thanks for joining!

So, you want an additional challenge? I have started an additional league as a Pay League, costing 29.99 to join. You will receive a free Draft Kit and live scoring (Stattracker) which normally costs 14.99 for players in free leagues and you will also receive those benefits in the free TalkBears League, if you are playing in them, by signing up for the Pay League. This will off-set the cost of the 29.99 if you had planned on purchasing them for the free league as you would then get them for all Yahoo leagues you are signed up for. If you did not sign up for the free TalkBear Leagues, you are still welcome to sign up for this one! The live draft will be a week before the free leagues, Sunday August 17th at 3 PM CDT. The rules will be the same as the free leagues I set up for TalkBears. To view the league to see if you would be interested use this link: join pixote98's Custom League Or if you have questions, email me at j.w.sheridan@comcast.net For those having no interest in Fantasy Football, I apologize if this post is of any inconvenience to you.

Brian Urlacher? Tommie Harris? Tillman, Vasher, Briggs???? Nope, I think the critical link to the Bears defense in 2008 is Mike Brown. I am not saying we could not be successful with him on the IR. But I think his absence on the field takes more away from this defense than the absence of any other one player. We have good options at the other positions. Briggs could easily play MLB. We have players ready to replace Briggs. We have some nice looking DBs behind Vasher & Tillman. But we are not only weak in proven depth at Safety, but Brown brings far more to the defense than his playing skills at the position, he brings LEADERSHIP. Chicago Bears Strategy and Personnel

Yes, we have a lot to be thankful for and without the sacrifices of our men & women in the armed forces the liberties we enjoy would not be preserved. My thoughts are with them all. With that said I also wish everyone of you guys and gals on the forum a great 4th of July. I have to go to work around noon for 4 hours but will certainly enjoy the rest of the day.

Bears DT Harris' stature continues to grow So let's say Urlacher and Harris BOTH have outstanding years, BOTH voted to the Pro Bowl, BOTH considered the best at their respective positions by the end of the year, do you think Urlacher remains the main "figure head" of the Chicago Bears or does Tommie Harris' surge in popularity and his more comfortable style with the media make him the new "poster child" of the Bears?

Bears, Forte agree on $3.7M, 4 years Not a bad deal for either side.

Gotta agree, when you are at the bottom of the league in offense how can losing those responsible be considered a major concern. It is obvious to all of us who suffered through this that changes needed to be made.

I am beginning to think there is a definite relationship to the Bears' policy of rewarding their own when they excel and the way we seem to always be ahead of the other teams in signing our rookie classes. People like to say we (the Bears) are cheap. Tell me of any other team who works as hard as the Bears to reward their own. I can not think of one that comes close. Then you look at how far ahead we are of other teams in signing our rookie classes, this year and the past few. I am beginning to think it is because the rookies know that if they sign with us, get in camp on time, and perform (excel) they will also be rewarded. JA has established a great reputation for the Bears management and how we handle our players. IMO it is paying off big time!!

It would be fantastic if we could sign Williams by the end of the week! Like I said in the other post on Forte, I do not want last minute negotiations to get Williams in camp. Sign him NOW and get our rookie class locked up!

My wish granted! I said this morning when it was leaked that Forte would sign within 24 hrs that I hoped when I got home it would be posted he signed. Sure enough, I log on to my PC, my home page comes up (chicagobears.com) and there it is, Forte signs. Fantastic!! Now let's get Williams signed by the end of the week. No last minute negotiations!

Outstanding! The last time the Tribune said within 24 hrs for a pick to be signed, it came true. Let's hope by the time I get home tonight Forte is signed. Then tomorrow morning I want to wake up to see a post on the foum saying the Tribune reports Williams is within 24 hrs of signing,

I hope you are right. We have a good record of getting all rookies into camp on time. The last few years we have had all our rookies signed before any other team came close. If we get them all signed and then sign Urlacher & Hester to deals that will make both of them happy going into the season, wow, we will be in great shape. With those 2 signed, we will be in one of the best contractual situations of the league, with every established player of value recently signed to new contracts or extensions. This will be huge in the near futre when others are struggling to sign and keep their key players.