AZ54

Okung has fought a lot of injuries in the last few years. Glenn is a no-brainer but he'll never see FA. I think Andre Smith is the more likely FA target among these three.

Cutler is a no-brainer. He's played well enough to earn his keep going forward and the options otherwise are not very good. The Bears will have teams calling them this offseason asking if they'll trade him. Looking at the draft QBs now don't you think Houston wishes they'd have made that deal last year? Saint Louis? Forte... I don't really care if he's back or not. While I still like him, he's replaceable IMO by the talent we have on the field today. I can't see us paying him more than $3mil next season and any contract has to be team friendly so that we can get out it of each season. While Forte displays good vision I just don't see any burst and that won't be better next season. We can grab another 4th Rd pick to put in the mix if he leaves but I feel comfortable with Carey and Langford going forward and if that $3mil is needed to sign a better RG/RT then goodbye Forte. Alshon...he has to be franchised. It makes too much sense for the team. We don't yet know what White can do so at a minimum having Alshon around for one more year gives us time to sort it out. However, I think we'll come to an agreement on a new deal that will work for both sides. Alshon will have to acknowledge his lengthy injury history and accept what that means in his new deal, and I think he'll do that ending up somewhere around $12mil/yr. If it doesn't pan out the next #1 WR is waiting in the wings. Bennett...I want him back. With so many needs on the roster I don't want to add TE to the list. Miller can replace his production as a receiver but not as a blocker. Despite his success this year it's hard to bank on his health for another full year too. There are some caveats here because if we went Jason's route and found a stud RT somewhere then we don't need that blocking TE nearly as much. I don't see that happening and I wouldn't place my bets entirely on a rookie. There aren't a lot of good options in FA either although some of the names might be up and coming players that can contribute. The flip side to the lack of FA talent might also mean a good trade market for Bennett. This one may be a topic of discussion all the way to the draft. Bushrod...I think his back injury isn't going away so that means he is. Montgomery...originally I thought we need him as a backup next year because he played well. Then I remember that Slauson did well enough there to be our backup next year, especially if we upgrade our backup OG as I expect we will. I think Monty is gone as he's not strong enough to be a backup C/OG. Long...already said put him back at RG where he's a Pro Bowl player. We can't ignore what that means for the interior of the line. It can't be too hard to find someone else who will struggle as much as he does from time to time at RT. I figure that's the worst case, and that new RT would have a Pro Bowl RG next to him so it's a better situation than what we have today. Best case is you get someone new who is more comfortable on the edge and that guy is also next to a Pro Bowl RG. Houston...played well enough in the 2nd half of the season to deserve to be brought back. Plus we have few options here. Young...we just might get someone to trade for Willie. Any guy who can get you 10 sacks, roughly the pace Young is on the 2nd half of the season, is worth quite a bit to a lot of teams. But that offer would have to be pretty good, maybe an early 4th Rd pick, or a 3rd Rd, because I just don't see any reason to let him go. He's cheap and he's productive. We're in a 4-3 front half the time so having one guy like him is a good thing, and he should be better next year. SMC...an obvious re-sign. Not because he's played great but because we have no other options. He's been consistent the 2nd half since returning from his injury. He's not irreplaceable but if he were next to a stud he'd be good. Sign him to a new deal, sign another good FA like Trevathan, and use an early pick to draft some competition for both. Rolle...I can't see us spending $3mil again for Rolle. I like him as backup player and think he's good for the locker room. I'd cut him and let him know to call us if/when he gets an offer from another team and we'll see if we can match it. We might save well over $1mil and maybe closer to $2mil and still have him around to lead the young guys. Jenkins... re-sign if we can because we have to get some competition at DT. Sutton...he'll be back but competing for a roster spot again because it makes sense to do so. I hope we do well enough in the offseason to see him move on (and I wanted us to draft him for the old scheme). OTOH I hope he does well enough to stick since that would mean he's playing well. As it is right now, he has competition from Unrein and Gaston and those aren't the names you want to be competing with. Porter... re-sign to a new 1yr deal, even if it has to be Alan Ball type money ($3mil) or if he'll do it a multi-year deal that doesn't have a huge bonus and is easy to cut. I don't see the $5-6mil/yr others have suggested because I'm still not convinced he's a good answer to the CB question. Acho...I think he's gone. Hasn't shown enough to warrant anything long term. Maybe we do another 1yr deal with him and let him compete in camp. Ego...I think he's in the same boat as Sutton, maybe with a little less water on board. I didn't see enough from him before the injury but then again that was so early in the season so he deserves another shot. He's relatively cheap and has upside so why not keep him around? Mundy...he got demoted from starter very quickly in camp. I'm not sure why but then again I'm not sure it matters. Clearly there was something these coaches didn't like about his play. I wouldn't be surprised to see us move on and let him go.

The Bears are doing exactly as they should and are starting to bring up some practice squad players to get a look at them. Timu moves up to the active roster to see if he can redeem himself from earlier mistakes. ILB is a definite need heading into the offseason and I like this move. We might even see Timu on defense sometime in the last couple games. I assume they'd give him at least a full two weeks of practice before putting him in that spotlight. Despite our depleted Dline Hood didn't show enough to justify keeping him around. We have had surprisingly productive play from Unrein and Gaston. They've done enough as part of the rotation that Dline has not been the biggest issue on defense the last few games. I'm not saying they are great players but they are making enough plays to justify keeping them around. These kind of personnel changes often go un-noticed but Pace really did a great job of finding talent that belongs on the field mid-season. That's not easy to do. In years past when we hit the streets looking for Dline players we didn't fare nearly as well. What's next? I think we'll continue to IR players that get injured and will either promote our practice squad players or we'll go after a couple players from other teams' practice squads. http://www.chicagobears.com/news/article-1...00-afc370581a32

Jerry Jones is asking the same thing!

Wilkerson has been at the top of my FA wish list and will remain there unless or until he gets tagged. I'd guess we will also have interest in Malik Jackson (Broncos DE) as a secondary option. Why not Eric Berry? If he's healthy that would be a huge plus for our secondary. Berry paired with Amos would be a pretty good combo. On the flip side I have no interest in the old and slow Eric Weddle. For what he offers I'd stick with Antrel Rolle. I don't like Bruce Irvin...pretty much a one-trick pony and don't think he fits what Fangio wants. I'd kick the tires (spare tire?) on Andre Smith once FA opens and see what kind of shape he's in. That will tell you much of what you need to know before any talk about signing him. If he's serious about staying in shape as he said a year ago then he could fill a definite need for us and maybe at a price that more or less offsets Bushrod's salary. ILB play is killing our defense. Much of the blame in the media falls on SMC but I think he's ok. The other guys Jones and Anderson are mostly lost on the field. We need to bring in a good FA like Trevathan to shore this up and we need a high draft pick in the mix as well. At CB I can see us having interest in Janoris Jenkins. As well as Porter has played at times he's had other moments where he's been easily beaten in coverage. He'll probably be back but look for the team to work to find a longer term solution. Fuller has played well lately and I like Callahan. There aren't many good options at CB in FA which likely means Jenkins will get a huge contract. I expect we'll be drafting one early.

He's done... http://www.chicagobears.com/news/article-1...21-f856469f78a2

Bears are taking their time with this decision, I can't find anything in the media so far.

I agree, park Long next to Grasu and fix the interior of the line. I'm tired of watching Omameh get moved around, and Grasu doesn't have the strength to hold up. An athletic and strong RG like Long can fix a lot of what's wrong inside. What do you think about some of the FA RTs? Andre Smith (Bengals) could be a really good RT. I have no clue how well he's playing this season but he has the physical talent to excel but IIRC he's been a bit of a head case with regards to his conditioning. Mitchell Schwartz? He likely want to get out of the circus that is Cleveland and he won't cost a lot but he's also not a top tier RT.

He won't be available for us as all this means he's destined to be a Cowboy.

The only report I've seen on White being done for the year is from the Tribune and when reporters asked Fox about that (Trib report) he said nobody had made a decision.

http://www.chicagobears.com/news/article-1...69-d272cd976d1d Still nothing clear about White's situation since we know they brought in a few WR for tryouts this past week. Hurst being activated seems more like coverage for Callahan's injury this week.

Usually if a decision like this (keep White out for the season) is made the Bears website has it posted fairly quickly. They did ask Fox about the Trib statement and he said this: http://www.chicagobears.com/news/article-1...65-4431aa86e3f3 Just the facts: Coach John Fox declined to confirm a Chicago Tribune report that the Bears have decided that rookie receiver Kevin White will not play in a game this season. The seventh overall pick in the 2015 draft completed his second straight week of practice Friday but remains on the physically unable to perform list as he recovers from leg surgery. The Bears have until Tuesday to place White on the 53-man roster or put him on season-ending injured reserve. "I think I have expressed we have until Tuesday," Fox said. "We just take it a day at a time. There's always a lot of reports. Then there are facts."

http://www.chicagobears.com/news/article-1...e9-0aeb3937a916 If Royal has no issues and can practice Friday then we should see him paired with Alshon this weekend. I've seen no reported setbacks on White's practicing so far so he might be on track to play a few snaps against the Vikings. Marquess Wilson appears to definitely be out of this game.

Ravens fans will be in hiding this week.

We have apparently signed Rob Housler. I can't find a link to a story specifically about the signing but he shows up on our roster. From his years in AZ Housler is more blocker than receiver.

2016 Gould base salary $3mil, bonuses $1.1 mil, cap hit $4.1mil, dead money if he's cut prior to June 1st $1.2mil. http://overthecap.com/salary-cap/chicago-bears

Time to get healthy. Might explain why Rob Housler and some other TEs were in for visits lately.

If John Fox, who lists everyone as questionable and day to day with no timeline for recovery, is saying this then he is really close: http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago-bears/post...s-leg-is-healed

I like Conklin a lot. He was a stud in the Big Ten championship game. Here he goes against Deforest Buckner and does well. http://draftbreakdown.com/video/jack-conklin-vs-oregon-2015/ I don't think he's quick enough to play OT, at least not on the left side, possibly he is at RT but if we picked him up I'd park him at RG and keep Long at RT. That would be one very strong right side to run behind. His background playing OT might be enough for him to be our backup there. Langford would be happy to see him added to the front line.

It's not a call they can't miss because at least one official spotted the ball after the play so he had to see the tackle. Plus the head referee is standing back there watching the QB. This has probably been the worst year for officiating in Bears games that I can think of. There's always a few calls that don't go your way during a season but this is every single game. I don't know how other teams' fans feel but seems like things are worse now with Blandino in charge of officiating.

Hadn't seen anyone wanting to cut him right now but I just woke up so maybe I missed the big discussion. I said he had lost it and got smacked backwards. Reality is he missed two relatively easy kicks in the same manner, by pulling through the kick. The first seemed like a bad snap, a little wide of the holder, but it was pulled back in and placed in the what looks like the same spot as the second kick he missed. When I see someone repeat his kicking mistakes like that he's lost something, doesn't matter if it's a free kick in the EPL, La Liga, or NFL. What's wrong with Gould is correctable, why it's wrong is unknown. Timing with the new snapper? Injury we don't know abot? Worst case is something else like a mental block? Next year his cap hit is $4.1million. According to http://overthecap.com/position/kicker/2016/ that makes him the highest paid kicker in the NFL in 2016. I don't care what position you are playing on the field, if you are the highest paid in the NFL you should perform like one of the best. I fail to see how this is any different from how we discuss Jeffrey's future contract since it's fair game to consider his performance and his injuries into the calculation. Do we keep Antrelle Rolle's $3mil cap hit next year based on age and performance? Jerome Bushrod is another aging player who merits the same discussion. If he's doing his job right I fully expect the GM to bring in some serious competition to camp next year. I don't fall into the group that this automatically means we can't find another good kicker. I'm also not in the group that automatically assume's Gould will overcome these issues. He's average in FG made %, and he's near the bottom of the league in TBs despite being 9th in KO attempts. Can't blame the snapper for the lack of TBs and being 34 years old next season it's not like his leg should get stronger. On a side note, kicker salaries are an odd lot. Chance are in 2016 you either make $1mil or less (11 players), or you make over $3mil (10 players). There's only 5 making between $1mil to $3mil in 2016. This adds up to many kickers in that middle bracket being FA next year, including a young kicker named Justin Tucker who has been automatic inside 40yds this season and leads the league in TBs. The only category Gould has him beat is 50+ yards but that is a broad brush because there is a big difference between 50yds and 59yds. (based off this site http://www.footballdb.com/stats/stats.html...&sort=kotb)

I'll jump in at least for the first few rounds: 1st: I don't see Nkemdiche lasting until we pick because I think we pick 13-16. Myles Jack falls to us and fills the ILB need. http://draftbreakdown.com/video/myles-jack-vs-virginia-2015/ 2nd: Jonathan Bullard. He's a bigger 4-3 DE who doesn't really have the edge burst a 4-3 team wants but he can anchor against the run and can slot inside to play DE in our 3-4 alignment. http://draftbreakdown.com/video/jonathan-b...-ole-miss-2015/ 3rd: I looked at some of Kearse video and don't like how he plays the game. He's not physical and he's late to the play. Regardless I think we go CB here and grab an improving prospect in Cordrea Tankersley. I can't find any video highlights of him yet but it'll show up. He fits the mold of what Fangio wants in his outside CBs as evidenced by the $3mil we gave to Alan Ball. http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/players...drea-tankersley I like your 4th and 5th Rd picks. The WR Switzer reminds me a lot of Tayvon Austin in how he runs and that's a good thing. I wasn't able to research the later picks.

8th game this season that has gone down to the last minute. QB: Off day for Cutler. I'm not one to blame him for the INT as those are not even "read" plays you just have to trust the WRs execute correctly. I don't think we called that play again the rest of the game. Beyond that he was inaccurate on deep throws and generally didn't seem comfortable reading the defense. Maybe that's because nobody could get open. Regardless not his best week. RBs: I like Forte but I will take the extra $$$ and keep Carey and Langford as our 1/2 next season and bring in some more competition for the 3rd spot. Forte runs with good vision he just doesn't have the quickness and burst anymore and there is no reason to think that will get better next season. There were plays where you know Langford would make it to the outside and upfield for a big gain that Forte has to cut back behind the defender. Loved seeing the coaches put Carey back out there after the bad holding penalty, and he responded well. Carey also had one of the block that allowed the big KR at the end of the game. TEs: Another non-descript game for Bennett. He'll be around next year but if he holds out thinking he'll get some big money deal it won't happen. WRs: Jeffrey looked very plodding out there. Maybe he's taking it easy after the groin injury but his cuts and acceleration were mostly pedestrian. Even on the deep ball Cutler over-threw Jeffrey didn't hit top speed until he saw the ball was thrown. Mariani kicked in his 2 or 3 receptions (2 this time) for 33 yards. Nobody else showed up although there were a few opportunities missed due to bad throws. Oline: They struggled with SF's interior defenders on run blocking all game but did enough to have an effective running game. Pass protection was good although helped by Cutler's mobility in the pocket. Dline: Goldman is becoming a beast. It's easy to forget how young he is since he came out early but there are signs he could develop into a Pro Bowl player. Now if we could just get another playmaker next to him we'd be alright. Jenkins and the rest of the DTs have done alright for us but I think this is their "plateau". ILB: SMC is all over the field and making a lot of tackles, 9. He's still not recognizing plays fast enough to make the splash plays for a loss. I think his pass coverage was good although he got caught on one play looking back at the QB while the TE cut back inside for a big gain. I hardly noticed the LB next him this game and Jones and Anderson each had just one tackle. OLB: Willie Young is back to his old self and is giving us some solid but not flashy play off the edge. McPhee looked like a guy who hasn't practiced much in the last month because of a knee injury and is not playing with the quickness he displayed earlier in the season. DBs: Callahan continues to shine with passes defended each game. Porter looked disinterested this game and often played too soft. I didn't really notice Kyle Fuller but he did finish with 4 tackles, as did Callahan. They were not handed a tough task as the best WR for the 49ers was Boldin. Safeties played well until the last play. Special teams: Some good play here throughout the game with punts downed inside the 20, a huge booming punt late the game to flip the field with good coverage. Outstanding KR at the end of regulation to give us a shot at a game winning FG. And now our biggest special teams problem is a FG kicker who has "lost it". Coaching: Good coaching is only going to take you so far. We need more talent on the field at WR but we have those answers on the roster. Other positions like Dline, OLB speed rusher, ILB, interior Oline, need upgrades.

GB has been reduced to needing a Hail Mary TD to beat the Lions. Officials helping them or not, I see the writing on the wall with that team. I'll say what nobody in the media will: They haven't drafted well in recent years. Actually that was obvious the moment they gave Peppers $10mil/yr which is totally outside their MO.

Because of you there is a bottle of Lagavulin sitting on the counter waiting for the right moment. When I bought it the salesman asked me why I was interested in Lagavulin because he had other scotches that were his favorites. I told him a bunch of Bears fans recommended it and that was good enough for me. He didn't understand. Now I know that right moment will be with some good steaks grilled over Mesquite charcoal.