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BearFan2000

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Everything posted by BearFan2000

  1. Is there a reason our third preseason game always seems to be away??? If I were ever to go to one the third would be it but it seems it's never at Chicago. Maybe my memory is foggy past the few recent preseasons.
  2. Not to defend Jerry, because I do think Emery seems thus far to be doing a better job. It's hard to compare Jerry's draft picks to Emery's at this point. Emery is getting set for his 3rd draft as Bears GM. While we have larger sample size for Jerry and we will now be 3 drafts removed from him being our GM. His first Draft as Bears GM was 2002 we are now 12 years removed from that class. The further removed a GM is from his time with a team the higher the percentage of players that he drafted are likely to no longer be in the league still. While Emery's first draft picks are still young players that are are still on their rookie deals. Only time will tell how Emery's drafting will hold up. If I remember right Jerry seemed pretty good early on, it was more the collective failures over his time here that made it necessary to replace him. I like what he's done so far, and we'll see what he does in the draft.
  3. And with the offense likely taking another step forward, shoring up the D this offseason so far has been a success on paper and should be in reality. Even if the D only makes it back to average that will go a long way towards making a serious run for the prize in 2014. Emery is proving to be a very savy GM and I love it.
  4. Having read the article I think he makes good points as to why Urlacher is wrongly wallowing in his sour grapes. Where was his loyalty when he bitched about contracts he signed during the contract, even threatening to hold out if the Bears didn't rework his contract for more money. His words and attitude were often more like high grit sand paper than silk. Seemed like every contract after Brian's rookie deal was war for maximum cash from the Bears. Which to an extent we as fans understand but it seemed he was perpetually whining about money. In Brian's time with the Bears teammates came and went not a word of disloyalty from him about it, till he left by declining a the only contract he was offered, and ended up retiring. Now when the Bears let go of players, especially long term ones and ones he was close with, he throws out the loyalty card. Acting like the Bears should hamstring themselves for the sake of "loyalty." What Brian doesn't take into account is the last few years here were riddled with injuries. In fact that offseason before the contract offer he was posting youtube videos of him working out trying to prove he was back in football shape to play. His play had declined and what he conveniently forgot to realize was that aging vets who's skills have diminished tend to get lower offers commensurate with those declining skills. Brian's view of loyalty seems to be a one way street where he only see's what is done for him (but even then only at the moment forgetting about the millions the Bears overpaid him throughout his career). The thing is this is a business, and loyalty is rare and it's not because a player, team, or organization wouldn't love to show it by players staying with the team that drafted them, or teams/organizations allowing that player to play his whole career there till the player decides it's time to hang em up. Free agency has changed that forever, and with salaries continually rising as agents seek the highest contracts possible for their clients (and thus highest possible percentage cut for themselves). Loyalty has become a rare thing. We as fans have learned not to get too attached to players because quite often they chase the money and if your team can't afford to keep them they are gone. I believe that the onus of loyalty is is more on the players and their agents than the teams by demanding more and more cash. Team owners have to make the tough choices of who to pay to keep and who they have to let go, and their job is to try to field a solid team sometimes that means letting go of long time players. Brian should take a look around the league and realize how many "long time players" end up finishing their careers with other teams because the cost of keeping said player was more that that team could afford or because the team needed that money to improve the product on the field and keeping them would not allow that. One of the points he made that I agreed with was "That darn Emery, Rubik’s cubing the hell out of this team this offseason to shore up a defense the organization was so loyal to for so long that it withered into the worst in the NFL. And bringing back team leader Charles Tillman while he’s at it." Angelo and Lovie were extremely loyal to that defense till players were beyond useable. We stuck with players till it was clear they weren't helping or providing much of anything. Loyalty in this business can be good but it can also hurt your team in the long run. Granted age and attrition aren't' the only reasons the D fell off the map last year, but it was time to retool, and hanging on to aging vets wasn't going to help that effort. I absolutely love the way the leadership on this team has changed. Marshall who was brought in and many cried foul that he would be a cancer, and would destroy this team, has done more to unify, and lift, and inspire greatness out of his teammates, Marshall has by far become one of my absolute favorite Bears. His past issues and immaturity have given way to a troubled player who gets it and has greatly matured, and now want's create a positive, hardworking, unity within the team. The pictures at the end of the article are priceless, and shows a great deal of unity that they would get together and workout together, hang out together, creating a brotherhood atmosphere. It's an atmosphere that will go a long way to selling the Bears to potential free agents who want to be part of something special. The old school tough love of Kruetz/Urlacher is no longer there.
  5. I have a couple questions for all the fantasy football experts and commissioners. I and the commish of a 10 team PPR league on NFL.com I have tossed around the idea of allowing the trading of individual draft picks prior to our draft. We redraft every year, it's non-keeper, and I am hesitant to change our league to a keeper league since this is our 4th year and we haven't had the same owners in any two or more consecutive seasons. First season was a 10 team, second season was a 12, last year was back to 10 and this year is so far looking to stay 10 and may be the first season we've had the same owners. I'm thinking that adding the ability to trade individual picks will add an interesting aspect to the draft. Obviously it would have to be balanced trading like 1 pick for 1 pick, or 2 for 2, etc. So everyone ends up with 15 picks. Do you think this is a good idea or am I setting myself up (as the commish) for a headache? How would you go about facilitating the trades (ie process of proposing, accepting, and approal/league vote/veto). The other question I have and I've googled and googled and have come up with little help online as far as setting up a value or point system to ensure draft pick trades are as fair as possible. As in if a team wants to trade up for a first rounder, it may take 2 or 3 good early-to mids for the first and a late pick or two. How do you establish a system to know if a trade is reasonable or not. We'll have a 15 team roster, starting 1 QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 TE, 1 RB/WR/TE flex, 1 Def/st, 1 Kicker. So 9 starters 6 bench making the first 90 picks theoretically the most valuable assuming teams fill their starting spots first and bench last. Perhaps more realistic would be the top 80 are the most valuable since most people draft kicker last or near last. That makes the remaining 70 picks less valuable. How would you set up a value system for each pick? I'm thinking once I have a good point system, then I can set rules like the trade has to to be equal +/- x number of points. if it exceeds that +/- limit it is either void or is up for review.
  6. Like it, but think it could stand to be bigger, looks tiny
  7. Nice, and with a little photoshop magic.
  8. Was not expecting this to happen, I figured we were tapped out in FA and was waiting for the draft. It was a nice thought to read posts on here about the possibility but I didn't think it would come to fruition. Then this morning I saw a notification on my iphone though the Bears app and then the NFL app, I was soo shocked and excited. I hadn't read about the Cutler contract conversion the other day which was a sign something was up. I absolutely love this move. While it will be weird rooting for Allen as I grew to dislike him (mainly cause he's really good and not on our team and he has tormented our offense for the better part of his time in Minny). He is an all go all out type player and he brings a nastiness to the D-Line. He's a high motor guy who is younger and more productive than Peppers at this point. While he's not young, he's still in the prime of his career, and is one of those guys who takes great care of his body. I think he'll provide excellent veteran leadership on and off the field and his tenacity could be very contagious. Piece by piece Emery has been rebuilding out DL. We may have lost melton, wooten, cut peppers. We've added Houston, Young, Allen, resigned Ratliff, brought Izzy back, to add to Collins, Paea. Moved SMC to LB, resigned Anderson, resigned Peanut, resigned Jennings. This has at least on paper been a great offseason for out defense. I like that it it gives us a lot of flexibility in the draft. I'd like to see us look hard at CB, SS, FS early. Let's get some young play makers into our secondary. One other thing I like is we've focused on getting guys who are good against the run as well as pass rush. If we can get the offense and defense humming look out NFL!!!
  9. two words….. butt fumble But seriously I've never been a fan of Sanchez and he has shown a lack of smarts or mental toughness. Could partly be from playing in the NFL's Purgatory that is the NY Jets where he's not exactly surrounded with exhibitions of greatness on a team perpetually mired in mediocrity. But given our loss of McCown to Tampa, and our only backup being Jordan Palmer, for the right price it couldn't hurt to bring him in and see if he can be a capable backup. Perhaps the QB whisperer can help bring out the best in him. He may still be convinced in his mind that he should be a starter.
  10. Plus nothing like having to explain why that's on my screen to the boss who happens to walk by as I take 5 to check out the site. The avatars already make browsing this site at work a little tricky.
  11. Just read that too, I hope we can bring him back but Seattle has a lot to offer coming off a dominating super bowl win and cap space to overpay. We payed melton a lot of cash to sit on the couch last season. It'd be nice to get some use out of him for a reasonable contract to stay here.
  12. Seems I got here after the title was changed does make me curious what the original one was lol
  13. Great news, he still has plenty left to give on the field and we need his presence. Probably one of my favorite Bears class act on and off the field. No one has a nose fore the ball and strips it like peanut. My only con is that it's not more than a 1 year deal meaning after this season we'll be asking the same question "will they resign Peanut or let him walk?" I'd have liked to better to see a 2-3 year deal to finish his career as a Bear and never put on anyone else's jersey. But that said I was thrilled to read that he re-signed and will be a Bear this year. Bear Down!!!
  14. BearFan2000

    McCown gone

    he'll be playing for Tampon Bay under Lovie Smith. I'm betting the Bucs will be offensively challenged.
  15. Looks like Hester will be gone, just saw this Rapoport article stating that the Bears will not try to re-sign Hester
  16. I'd like it to be either Bostic or Shea. Shea could surprise a lot of people if he's put in a position to succeed. The move to LB could be just the thing to help him realize his potential.
  17. BearFan2000

    Free Agency

    Doesn't stop us from digging and going nuts wondering what they'll do LOL But that's the fun of being a fan. We've been pretty active on our coaching staff changes, but aside from early extensions they've been pretty mum on what they plan to do in free agencey. But I'm sure Emery, George, and Tres are not asleep at the wheel. I bet there is a trick or two up their sleeves before the draft.
  18. I will weigh in and try to keep it brief. I think in this topic as a whole there are some misconceptions. The word homophobic or any variation of it is often thrown out too loosely. What I mean by that is in many areas be it media, public, etc. Anyone who as a part of their religion believes that the gay lifestyle wrong, is automatically labeled a homophobe when the term means fear of homosexuals. Simply disagreeing with a belief on an issue does not necessarily equate to fear, hatred, or bigotry. Christians are one group that are regularly slandered as bigots, haters, and homophobes and often on assumption only. Some who call themselves Christian do in fact earn the labels, and aren't really Christian at all and deserve the slander due to their holier than thou attitude. As Christians we are taught to love the sinner and hate the sin, whatever it be. It's hypocritical and very much like the pharisaical religious leaders of Christ's day to point the finger at every one else's sin while ignoring the self righteous pride in their own hearts. In that light for me while my personal beliefs and views on this topic may conflict with others on here or in society as a whole. I fully respect and will defend the rights of anyone with differing views. To quote a line from the Matrix Reloaded (even though the movie kinda stunk) When Lock says to Morpheus "Not everyone believes as you do" Morpheus simply replies. "My beliefs don't require them to" I feel like we should be respectful of each other's views just as we'd like others to be respectful of ours. Just like our agreements/disagreements when it comes to Bears football, NFL, Sports in general. A little respect goes a long way. I think sometimes it's easy to get entrenched and be more focused on proving the other wrong than actually engaging in intelligent discussion or simply agree to disagree and move on. As for myself I feel if I'm disrespectful of other's views, beliefs, etc. then I shouldn't expect others to be respectful of mine. In Sam's case if the kid can play football and make an impact as a player in this league then he should be drafted. As far as should he have or have not publicly announced his orientation or was it motivated by desire for attention, etc. Who knows the choice was his to make and he made it. None of us can for sure know what his motivation was both in making it public or his timing to do so. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt as his track record leads me to think it wasn't a selfish move. He told his teammates in college and he performed well there without incident, which tells me he's not one to be a distraction or grab attention. The media will do whatever the media does, can't control that either way. What we can debate is will his success at college translate to the NFL, where would he fit as a DE or LB. He's currently graded somewhere in the 3rd round. He may drop, or he may climb a little it comes down to need of the teams drafting and who thinks he'd fit their team. I personally haven't seen him play as I haven't seen much of Missouri play so all I can debate on is stats and his measurable. If he can help the Bears and is on the board at our pick I would have no problem taking him.
  19. Damn I miss Mike Brown and Tony Parish back at Safety.
  20. Would definitely be in favor of this. Especially the age/production combo that Bennet could provide vs an aging Peppers who's clearly lost a step.
  21. Why does it seem like everyone here is convinced we should or will switch to a 3-4? Because guys on our staff have experience with a 3-4? If you have the players to make it work then great, but I don't see a change just to change as a good idea either. I'm all for whatever best suits our players come next regular season. The draft/FA will give us a much better idea of the direction. I guess I just dont' get the love affair with switching to a 3-4. But maybe I"m the only one here. But as I said as long as we put a defense on the field that suits the talent, and gets the job done I don't care what style or format they go with. I just want to see our D improve to at least average or a little better than average. I don't expect it to be dominant, with our offense it doesn't need to be.
  22. My bad, I haven't been on here for a bit, kinda been tuned out to Bears news since there hasn't been much and life's been kinda busy. Hopefully it is the first of many, and that maybe some of his line mates will join him in future years. Kudos to Emery, Trestman, and Kromer for bringing in some fresh blood and vastly improved O-Line play.
  23. Just read on my phone that Kyle Long will be going to the prow bowl. That's quite an honor for a rookie. Last Bears rookie to go to the pro bowl was Johnny Knox back in 2009, and last bears offensive rookie to go to a pro bowl was Gale Sayers many moons ago. Who'da thunk we'd send an offensive lineman to the pro bowl.
  24. I agree, and there is no denying this D went from one of the best to possibly the worst ever in various categories. I think we are all embarrassed as fans and extremely disappointed in how the season shook out defensively. But to have one bad season on D and to say let's can everyone from GM down to water boy, IMHO is too reactionary. Last years focus was fix the offense let the D go as it had been dominant. What made that unit dominant was guys like Melton, Briggs, Urlacher, Tillman, Jennings, Peppers, Wooten, Izzy, etc. The key as scs787 pointed out for this D is the line and getting pressure and containing the run. The front 7 is the key particularly the interior, which is the area most hit. We then lost two vet starters at LB Briggs being out for large chunk of the season. Tillman in and out of the lineup due to injury and finally placed on IR. The lack of depth/talent exposed our weak secondary. QB's had all day to throw against guys who have poor coverage skills. We didn't contain the run, didn't tackle and didn't take good angles. For a long time we got by with our highly talented vets who till this point had stayed relatively healthy, and played at a high level. This season exposed how poor our defensive depth is. Some of that is coaching, some of that is drafting/FA (though we've focused more on offense the previous two off seasons). What this season proves is the Bears must improve both the on field product and starters but also do a better job of bringing in youth and developing them. I don't think the injuries can just be brushed aside as if to say in spite of them we shouldn't skip a beat or at least shouldn't have fallen that far. I don't think it was the only reason but it was a contributing factor. My issues with Tucker is that our defense didn't look prepared, looked to be confused on field. We were missing some on field leadership when we lost Melton, Tillman, Briggs, and the retirement of Urlacher. But IMO even if your team isn't talented enough to compete, doesn't have the skills to match the oppositions offense but plays it's heart out, understands their assignments, and shows sound fundamentals. Then that's all you can ask. But what we saw was poor fundamentals, confusion on the field, blown assignments, poor tackling, etc. That does come down to coaching, your job as a coach is to get the best out of the players you do have, and I didn't see that. So personally I would have liked to see a new DC, but who? I can understand giving him one more chance to redeem himself and if not he's gone. I just don't look at this as it's all coaching, so we must now fire everyone. If we fired everyone every time we had a bad year in one area or another we'd be constantly turning over the staff. The Bears are a proud organization, and have till this year been known for their D. The goal this offseason will be to do everything the feel they can to fix this D. But I think we do need to step back and give Emery/Trestman a chance to correct what went wrong this season.
  25. Not just today but almost every game they get favorable officiating. They're allowed to hold, grab, interfere, and are so used to getting the calls their way when they don't get a call they act like babies out there. So sick of the media slobbering all over them and that smug arrogant Rodgers. He gets that smirk on his face and I just want to go there and smack it off. There are no redeeming qualities to the Packers. Hate the team, it's players, it's coaches and their fans.
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