AZ54

Didn't we sweep the Packers, a team that was in the NFC Championship game? We lost to NY by 3 pts and we know where they ended up. It was a very up and down year for us but we won 7 games last year. Why should we be worse? We got rid of Ced, who was ID'd by many as the scurge of the offense. Got rid of Moose who couldn't do much except block well. Lost Berrian, that hurts. Lost Fred Miller, that does NOT hurt. Lost one-armed Ruben Brown and so far have replaced him with Metcalf, the same guy who replaced him last year so it's a draw there. True we still have Grossman but we had him last year too. We have Orton and his biggest claim to fame is that all he does is win. Neither is much to write home about but the fact is we've won at lot of games with both of these guys. I see all sorts of doom and gloom because of our offense but I don't see it being worse than last year. It might not be better although I think it will be in one aspect, explosiveness. We will have more long distance threats on the field this year than we had last year. Hester will get more opportunities than last year and he proved the ability to go deep. Bradley will get more time, if not him then Lloyd and both have good speed. Booker is wash vs. Moose as a deep threat but he'll be better at moving the chains. Olsen is going to be improved in his second year in the offense. Our RT will be better than last year. Our LT might not be as good as last year but the combo of LT/RT this year should be better overall than last years combo. That might not show up in the first game but I think over the course of the first few games we will be better. LG sucks but it was that way last year too. On the flip side I see our defense being much better than last year, or at least consistenly good versus last year's ups and downs. Injuries decimated the D last year. This year we'll face some tough injuries again but I think we have better depth across the board than we've ever had under Lovie. Safety depth once again is the biggest concern. Special teams lost Ayanbendejo but I don't think that's going to dramatically change the performance of the units. We still have one of the best kickers in the NFL. We have a lot of unknowns but I just can't see this team as being worse than the one that took the field at the start of last season. Unless injuries hit us as hard as last year I see us as a 9-7 team at the low end to an 11 win team at the high end. I'll say we win 10 games. 11 wins if we split with the Vikings.

What does a broken hand have to do with a guy who is too slow coming up out of his stance? Too slow to move laterally to pick up a blitzer? The problem with Metcalf wasn't that he got beat on one side too often, it's that he got beat every which way possible.

I still don't like bringing in Favre. Aside from the bad taste in my mouth this is a guy who can be an INT machine. Given that he has no clue about our offense and has pretty much always played in the same offense in Green Bay. On top of that we have all sorts of issues at RB, WR, LT I don't see a good fit here. Had he been hanging around all offseason going through the minicamps etc. then perhaps but does anyone really believe Favre wants to learn a new offense? Wasn't he bitching about possibly having to do that years ago when GB fired Sherman? I think his end game is to solely to end up playing for Green Bay but would he take a shot with a team like the Ravens?

I believe you can stay on the PUP list for a maximum of 6 six weeks but can return earlier than that. Given the knee injury I don't see Jones doing much for us until Oct. I think the Bears will let him sit until then and then work him in slowly. In the meantime we'll see AP getting those reps.

I don't see much value in signing Simms unless we cut one of the UDFAs. I'm not saying they're worth keeping around since nobody has seen them do anything but there's not enough reps in practice for 5 QBs. I don't see how can run a QB competition between 3 guys. That would really limit the snaps with the first offense for each QB and really hinder development of whoever ends up starting. Simms or Leftwich would be at a huge disadvantage at this point so I can't see them seriously competing for the #1 job. I can see either being our #3.

Interesting. The Bears sat on the hype for a bit and now that Jones hasn't signed anywhere he's suddenly ready to take a 1yr deal to prove he can play. That means they can likely sign him now to a contract that doesn't have to impact our cap if we cut him. I'm sure Jones would prefer to get signed sooner than later, training camps start next week.

Last year we were probably 16th so I'd say they expect some improvement. With a rookie LT (assuming he's good enough to start) and then our LG situation which was horrible last year and nothing was done to upgrade it I can see where they have legitimate questions, as do I.

Get rid of Ced and pick up Ricky Williams? I don't see the logic in that.

We know what we have with McBride as far as coverage goes but he's not very good in run support. Hopefully with a year of experience that improves. I'd also like to see what Bowman can do or if he is destined for IR.

So far so good, Favre can return to the Packers but only as a backup. Yeah that's going over well in the locker room. Talk about a QB controversy, I really hope this drags out into the start of training camp.

We're not even close to thinking about getting rid of Ogun. Last year we benched Brown so Anderson could and we were all excited about it (myself included) and then he shot a blank. Remember that crappy run D we had on the right side of our D? I haven't seen anything at all about Anderson becoming more than a situational pass rusher this year. He might step up but he might be the same guy. Then we have Bazuin who has never taken a snap for us. We have no clue what he can do. In this light I think the extension for Brown was JA's way of hedging his bets. It wasn't so much money that it hurt us capwise yet it made Brown happy enough that if he stays our starter for 2 or 3 more years he's set contractually. If JA waits a year knowing Brown wasn't happy with his contract last year then the demands could go way up. On the other side if Anderson puts up another 10+ sacks this year we'll be talking about his new contract next offseason.

If he gets reinstated, and I think the Packers will force him to do that, then they will hang onto him and try to trade him. If they end up releasing him it won't be right now. If he's going to wind up in Minn or Chicago (I don't want that) I have to think the Packers would try to deny him as much practice with his new team as possible.

Briggs got far less than what he wanted.

Hate to burst your bubble but Garrard isn't going anywhere anytime soon: David Garrard cashed in on his 2007 success with a shiny new contract (6-years, $60 Million) making him the highest paid Jacksonville Jaguar in the team’s history. How do you give these guys whatever they want? Briggs, Harris, Hester, Urlacher, etc. Or is it just Urlacher and Hester than can get whatever they want? At what point does a budget come into play? At what point do you consider the long term implications of giving him whatever he wants? At what point do you consider the quality of players you can surround Urlacher with because less money available means lower quality at other positions.

He is right on this. Get the emotions out of the way and tell me what does Favre know of our playbook? Nada. Has he been working with our receivers during the offseason to build timing? Nope. Now he's just going to walk into Halas hall and totally revise our offense with our young WR corps. I don't see it. All I see is the Favre that threw 6 INTs in a playoff game showing up for us. We've already got a QB that can do that for us and he isn't making $12million. There's a reason Green Bay kept the same offensive playbook for years despite different head coaches. If this were a different type of QB (i.e. cerebral type like Tom Brady) I'd be more inclined to make a decision like this. Adding a veteran QB for depth to the roster is a different story because he can come in and compete. Favre would be handed the keys before he got off the plane and it would be hard to take them away no matter how bad the performance. For all our QB question marks I just don't see this scenario helping us.

Rex doesn't fumble because his hands are small, he fumbles because in traffic he keeps the ball out away from his body. He does this, IMO, because he continues to want to make a positive play even when it isn't possible. He has to learn to just protect the ball when it isn't there. Rex INT to Jason Taylor was not on an out route, it was a lousy attempt at hitting a guy on a check down route. I'm not trying to argue over little details, my point is that he attempted to do the right thing (which he had been criticized for not doing) and still got burned. I compare Rex to a point guard in basketball who has good ball handling skills but just can't make passes in traffic. Some guys have an ability to read where everyone is going and pass the ball to an open guy even while double or triple teamed. Other guards can make nice open passes, hit some jumpers for you, drive the lane occasionally but when double teamed they rush their passes and things don't flow smoothly. Steve Nash is not the best athlete on the floor but when you watch him he makes things seem easy. Same goes for QBs like Brady, often what he's doing just looks easy. I don't see that ability in Rex and I haven't seen it in Orton either. When Rex first played for us I thought he had some of that ability to just feel his way around. After his leg injury I haven't seen it again. I haven't seen it in Orton either. I don't know if this is something you can develop or do you just "have it". Rex can do the footwork practices all he wants but if I were Pep I'd be devising some way to replicate a pocket collapsing around the QB and making these guys throw from a different spot than where they first setup in the pocket. Even then it won't compare to reality because they'd have to make the right read based on the pass coverage.

I'd be very happy if he did that for us. I can say I'm not expecting him to hit 4.4 ypc behind our Oline but if he does that's great news for us. Add in the receptions (which I think is a reasonable expectation for him 2/game) and our offense has a different look than when we had Ced in there. One thing about Forte is that some of his receptions might be downfield versus on a quick swing route out of the backfield, or the usual dump-off underneath route. When your RB can catch well you have a different way to beat a blitz besides keeping him in to block...let him run into the void created by the LB as long as ReOrt (Rex/Orton) can make that read.

Pep has had one year to fix Grossman's struggles which aren't related to throwing mechanics. Give him time and he's fine. His issues are his decision making under pressure. He got 3 games at the start of the year to show improvement and he failed. IMO the coaching on those decisions comes more from Turner than Pep. I certainly questioned a lot of what Turner did last year.

I understand that aspect but the point of this thread is who is the "key" to the defense that we can't afford to lose. We've gone so long without Mike Brown and at times have still been outstanding on D so while I want him out there I just don't think if he goes down again it's all going to fall apart. I think Harris is the key to making Dline play well and without him the rest of the line becomes very average. When we don't get pressure up the middle all the other groups (LB, DB) struggle as well. I'm hopeful too that we finally have some more depth at the DT position with Harrison, Dusty, Adams etc. but much like safety we haven't really seen that. Harris played hurt most of last year and rarely practiced. As far as lining guys up I think Urlacher does a pretty good job of it but if he puts the safety in the right gap and he whiffs on the tackle it didn't make matter. That's why I included the points about the quality of the players we put on the field year after year when Brown went down. It wasn't just his leadership lining up guys that we missed, it was his tackling ability. I think we finally will have some better tacklers at S this year among McGowan, Payne, Steltz. We all know DManning can't tackle well, Chris Harris used to dive in and either got a big hit or caught nothing but air. I always like McGowan in the box but he wasn't very effective once he got hurt last year. By the way, he's now listed at 207lbs, didn't he used to be below 190lb? I'm not saying there won't be a dropoff if Brown goes down, I just don't think we're going to fall apart. Overall I think we might finally have solid depth all the way around the defensive roster. Much depends on the rookies but we've picked a lot of good talent over the last couple years Safety is still the weakest overall but if the other units are as good as I think they can be that will reduce the reliance on them.

Harris and I think Urlachers contract demands aren't indicative of a team first attitude. Nor do I like the way he's gone public with his request. Urlacher is without a doubt one of the leaders of the team but I think the torch is passing to Harris, rather I think Harris is going to take the torch.

Didn't we read the same story last year? This is good to hear but I agree with the author in that none of it will matter until there's a blitz on. Then can he make the right read?

I think the torch has been passed to Harris. Sorry to say but at some point a guy has to be on the field to be considered key and Mike just hasn't been there enough the last few years. The players have all learned to get along without him. It's not that he's not valuable, a big contributor, and one of the leaders but if he goes down again this year nobody is going to be surprised by it. We have other guys in our defensive backfield who provide leadership now in Tillman and Vasher. Not in the same league as what Brown contributes but it's not the huge dropoff we had years ago when those guys were in their first and second years. I also want to add that part of the reason we have this same discussion every offseason is that the players who replace Brown are below average. DManning, Arch, McGowan, Chris Harris. I'd say three of those guys have all improve over the years but when they first hit the field it wasn't pretty. If that dropoff hadn't been so big I don't think so many would rate Brown as the key to our D this year. Pixote said he felt we had poor depth again this year but I don't think it's as bad as other years. Last year wouldn't have been as bad if we didn't trade Chris Harris (I agreed with that deal). I'm mixing SS and FS in this discussion because I think it's been weakness at both positions that's made Mike Brown's loss even more painful. I think McGowan will be improved this year at SS. I think Steltz has the instincts and attitude needed for the position; not the athleticism but Mike Brown isn't that athletic either. I still like Payne and felt he'd be a contributor last year (special teams and possibly 3rd safety in that one scheme) but got hurt early. I don't know what to think of DManning; I love his athleticism but he's just lost out there and sometimes tackles like a girl. Oddly he is the only player on our roster listed as FS, everyone else is listed as S. It seems we've just drafted around him and will try to find a spot for him in the nickel of dime package. So for the combo of the two factors 1) nobody will be counting on Brown this year and 2) better depth than what we had on the field last year (how bad was Arch?) that won't make his loss as big a factor if it happens. Then the third factor in that Harris is going to be the locker room leader and the leader on the field. Brown may well lead the Safeties but the entire D is no longer looking toward him IMO.

Yes, except Favre himself knew the offense. Let me add that I was only speaking from a logical standpoint. Emotionally I couldn't stand seeing him wearing a Bears uniform. Even if the Bears won the Superbowl all I'd ever hear from Packers fans would be "yes you won but you needed our Hall of Fame QB to do it". I don't want that at any cost.

I totally agree.

As much as I like Urlacher he had his big payday with an early extension years ago and it's still a relevant contract. His bitching and moaning bothers me when we have other key players that deserve their early payday (i.e. Hester). Anything the Bears offer is just courtesy but they in no way should feel obligated to pay him all this money again just a few years after the last deal. Isn't this the same guy who said he'd take a pay cut to help sign Briggs?