AZ54

The player running the reverse needs to be the guy opposite of Hester. Hester attracts a crowd, let him go deep and draw defenders with him, then run the reverse into that hole. But what do I know.

Insane, he's the next Reggie Bush. A nice versatile player to have on your team but based on his stats he would never get the same contract he just got as a rookie.

DManning can't possibly be our SS because that job requires someone who can tackle, he can't at least not very well. He does have the athleticism to play as a nickel DB I'm not sure if he'll fit there or not. Certainly having his size in the nickel slot would be much better than having McBride play there. McGowan deserves to be listed as the starter at SS right now but I'm not ruling out Payne at all. Minicamp is not where this job is won unless a guy is just totally out of alignment on plays. How can you evaluate a SS until they start tackling people? As far as Payne playing special teams vs. being our starting SS refer to Charles Tillman who is a cover guy on special teams. I don't think that's a factor in the starting SS decision at all.

While your forecasted number of catches isn't close to what Berrian had last year the yards are in the ballpark. i think Berrian had 971 yds last year. If Hester can do that he will easily replace the big play threat we had with Berrian, especially since he'd be averaging 17.7 yards per reception. That would draw a lot of attention from defenses. That would allow the other receivers to make up the difference in receptions (Booker, Bradley, Olsen, Clark).

I gotta add that this article is the first time I can recall Lovie being directly critical of his team in a long time. A few quotes: -------------------------------------------------- Smith has given his team a similar message and follow-up relating to its running game -- it will be back full-throttle for the 2008 season. He is selling it. He expects it bought. "We talk around here about getting off the bus running the football, it is our philosophy, but we were not a good running team last year," Smith said of his recent 7-9 Bears. "We need to. We have to. We will. "I am the first to admit it didn't happen. The fault starts with me. So, we admit it. Now we're not going to do a lot of talking about it. We're going back on the football field to work. We're a 7-9 team with some big hills to climb. We've climbed them before." ------------------------------------ The organization knows that Orton or Grossman must produce enough difference-making pass plays for the Bears to be a special team. Smith said both are battling for the starting job and likely will into the preseason. "Right now they look like guys at the free throw line, shooting free throws, throwing the ball around here in shorts with no pressure in their faces, with no hits," Smith said. "I will do my evaluation when they get hit. I have told every one of our players that we are a 7-9 team. This is where you are. This is your role in the turnaround. Quarterbacks included." --------------------------------------- Smith said his team gets it. He is excited about this team. He believes it is preparing for a special season. If it can continue to compete and remain healthy, Smith sees a bigger Bears reunion. An even bigger Family Day. "We're a 7-9 team, one that finished in last place in our division," Smith said. "You're 7-9, it tests your character. You see what you got. I think our best football is ahead of us." ---------------------------------------

You can look at that in two ways. First he's being handed the job but there's also the possibility that we're starting to see the Lovie of old who made guys earn their playing time. Keep the carrot out in front of the younger guys and make them work for the job. I'm ok with it if that's the situation, however, if we just don't have the talent to challenge Metcalf then we're in a really bad spot. I fear the latter which is why putting St. Clair back at LG seems like a good idea to me.

It's way early to make a judgment but just watching the day two highlights from minicamp Ced appears to be quite a bit quicker than he was last year. I can't tell if he's any faster but his lateral cuts seem to be much crisper than what I recall last year. http://www.chicagobears.com/multimedia/mul...amp;PLAY_CLIP=Y Other observations... Olsen continues to be a QBs best friend with outstanding catches. Our QBs throw a lot of picks into coverage but this can just as easily be a blown route by a WR, still some very bad passes. Metcalf may have left a few biscuits on the table this offseason, it seems he can move a bit better than last year. Of course it can be argued he had nowhere to go but up so this isn't saying much. Williams has very good mobility, that's a good thing for a LT to have. Now about those 22 reps at the combine...

We've only had a minicamp but this is a good sign that Hester has learned where to lineup and what route to run on plays. http://www.chicagobears.com/news/ChalkTalkStory.asp?story_id=4768 I totally agree with you that Devin Hester will surprise everyone at wide receiver this year. What’s your guess on how many catches and yards he’ll have? Do you think 70 catches and 850 yards is out of the question? Eric H. Monroe, Michigan I’m going to predict that Devin Hester catches 53 passes for 848 yards. I think 70 is a little high just because the Bears will try to establish a running game and also spread the ball around in the passing game to their wide receivers, tight ends and running backs. From what I’ve seen, however, Hester is certainly talented enough to catch 70 passes in a season.

http://www.chicagobears.com/news/NewsStory.asp?story_id=4766 LAKE FOREST, Ill. – When the Bears resumed OTA workouts Wednesday at Halas Hall, Terrence Metcalf lined up with the No. 1 offense at left guard as he has done throughout the offseason. The seventh-year pro is penciled in as the starter, but he knows that he must perform better than he did last season when he was benched after taking over for the injured Ruben Brown. Terrence Metcalf has played in 78 games with 25 starts in six years with the Bears. “It’s a huge opportunity,” Metcalf said. “I feel like it’s time for me to step out and play, just do what I know I can do, do what I know the coaches believe that I can do. That’s pretty much it. “I feel very prepared for it. All it is is putting in the work, putting in the time in the classroom, doing extra work and doing whatever I need to do to be physically ready to get on the field.” ....skipping ahead in the article.... Asked what Metcalf must do to cement the starting left guard position in training camp, Turner said: “Just being consistent with his techniques and fundamentals, and consistent with the mental aspects of it assignment-wise and adjustment-wise. “The biggest thing that Harry [Hiestand] will be working with him on is just his overall techniques and fundamentals with his hand placement, his feet, his sets and just the attention to detail, and Harry is as good as there is at zeroing in on that.” ==================================== After all these years our coaches still have to teach him his techniques and fundamentals? Realizing that maintaining solid fundamentals is always a good thing but in this case that's a joke. How many years with Turner's offense and (if you read the entire article) this guy still doesn't know his assignments on plays? If somebody doesn't step up and take this job from him we're in trouble. If none of the young guys step up I'm hoping at the very least Chris Williams is doing well enough that we can move St. Clair back to LG. It's too early to cut Metcalf but he seems headed in that direction.

Kyle is durable because he'll throw the ball in the dirt before taking a hit. Not that that is always a bad thing but it demonstrates the difference between Rex and Orton's personalities. Rex always wants to make a big play and in the end that leads him to force throws that have bad consequences. Orton plays like he's ok waiting for a big play later. There's a middle ground where you want your QB to reside the question is which of these two will get there first, if ever.

IMO this is the first time I've ever heard Ced admit any culpability for things going wrong. That's a big step, the first step, to understanding how to improve. Yes it's only June and nobody is getting hit yet so this is all we have to go on. On it's own it's a good step forward and I like it. That's about all we ever get in June.

The number one thing I got out of that article is that I like our QBs much better than Baltimore's. Of course they have Flacco who is just oozing the p-word (potential) but has never taken snaps under center.

I hope this is just him blowing smoke and given his $4 million salary he better be able to decipher which guy is the better QB before then. Whoever it is needs the last couple preseason games to work with the first team so we have some chance at scoring points against Indy.

Of course we have more explosion on the field. Aside from Mark Bradley's exploding knees we've got a lot of guys that are faster than Moose. Berrian was fast but Moose was slow enough to fully counter that. I don't think we're going to miss Moose in anyway except for his blocking on running plays...he was very good at that. Yet that's like praising the big man who is only good at taking up space in middle of the lane in a basketball game. In some ways it can help a team but it's not really what playing center is all about.

Never liked Simms in college and haven't seen anything in his career that would tell me otherwise. I really think there's more to his health issues than we know about or TB would have kept him around.

Graham was always touted as a good cover guy coming out of college but he was considered to weak and needed a year to beef up. He ended the season playing well on special teams though and it's good to hear that he earned some time with the first team.

I like Orton's last line about being confident in the offense and being able to take it to the second level when reading a defense. Then he proceeded to throw 3 INTs yesterday. So did his competition.

Besides "I'm here and ready to practice", what is any player going to say in minicamp that will make a difference?

At least Hester understands he needs to learn where to line up as a WR if he wants to get paid the big bucks. As for Calvin Pace upset over the fact the Cardinals needed to feed him and give him yoga classes...that's a joke.

It would be nice if our OGs can occasionally help the center too. Really if the strength of a team is a DT then you have 5 guys and you should be double teaming him. Likewise our coaches should be preparing for this as they game plan and practice during the week. Perhaps Kreutz is not making the right calls but then again when I see Metcalf stumble coming out of his stance while guys blow past him on both sides it's difficult for me to think that was a bad call on Kreutz' part. Or when Miller constantly gets beat on the outside? How do you protect against that? Of course you do it with the RB but then if they blitz up the middle what's the RB assignment? IMO there were just too many holes to plug on our line last year and no matter what call you made one of those holes was getting exposed.

I think Kreutz can still block well enough but he's not good enough to do his job and help others as well as he used to years ago. I'd hate to be in his spot knowing I've got to assist Metcalf and Garza on every play (and Miller is gonna get beat around the outside every pass play as well).

Try being from Arizona and heading to a wedding in Chicago on New Years Eve and then getting pulled over on the way to the hotel at 0200. Do a subjective field test in the cold when it was snowing. Cops asked me "why are you shaking?" Well let's see, could it be that I'm used to weather in the 80's and it's near freezing out here?

I liked Berrian and wouldn't mind at all if he was still on the team, for the right price. He's just not worth anything near what he's getting paid. Of course Booker doesn't replace what Berrian gave us as a deep threat but I don't see why he can't replace 71 receptions. That's a whopping 4.4 catches/game or as the Vikings would say $113,000 per catch. Booker won't have the yards/catch Berrian had but if he averages the same 11.1 as he did last year he'll give us about 800 yards receiving. More importantly by being a consistent short yardage threat that Moose wasn't it will help our other WRs. on intermediate routes. IMO it's the intermediate routes that really make an offense explosive and we can exploit that with our TEs as well as the other WRs. You need something of a deep threat to keep safeties honest but Berrian really didn't demand double coverage. I have no problem letting Devin Hester fill that role and even if he's not the first option he's a much better decoy than Berrian ever was. The only people saying Moose is a savvy WR are the folks in Carolina who just signed him. They're saying the Bears didn't know how to use him. Perhaps that's true but how do you use a guy who is too slow to run by anyone, can't make a cut without taking 3 or 4 steps, and when he does get open drops the ball at a high rate? Oh yeah, you have him run block.

Hey Calvin Johnson and his 42nd ranking 756 yards receiving would beg to disagree with you. That makes Moose's 570 yards look like a steal when you compare contracts. Or look at Berrian's 26th ranked 951 yards both of which were done with a pathetic Oline.

If this progresses to the point there is valid proof the league will have to hand out a harsher punishment than the forfeited 1st Rd pick of 2008. At that point the NFL's most recent dynasty team would have been proven to have cheated in two ways. That of course opens the door to everyone asking what else they did to cheat and that becomes a huge image problem that Goodell will seek to quell as quickly as possible. The fastest way to do that is to hand out an extremely severe punishment that everyone (except Pats' fans) can agree on. Don't do enough and people will keep talking about it.