BearFan2000

I actually feel bad for the Denver fans how horrifying would it be to know that your team was an improved defense away from a very dangerous team.... now they are a team who's defense is still poor, and their QB position is on life support. If McDanniels has even half a brain he may have to face the music and start Simms. If he sticks with Orton and there's no improvement those fans will be forming mobs with torches and pitch forks. Denver fans are passionate about their team. We know all to well how frustrated they might feel at this moment. Denver front office has made their bed now they have to lay in it.

in no way am I comparing dog killing to killing another human being while driving drunk. Obviously the latter is the more severe but I think most of us can agree that you can run down a list of offenses by celebrities, athletes, etc. that if any of us had committed those offenses we'd most certainly receive a much harsher penalty in most cases. That's not to say our legal system doesn't let common people off easy at times either but why should someone who can throw the football or shoot the basketball or what not get preferential treatment. It's almost like there's one set of rules for them and another set of rules for the rest of us. 30 days for someone getting drunk, getting in a car and killing an innocent person is insane. At some point someone needs to put their foot down and stop pampering these guys and force them to face the consequences of their choices like any of the rest of us. I realize also that these athletes and celebs can afford the top $ lawyers that we don't have access to. Almost makes me wonder what can't they get away with?

Agree, I don't think he should be back in the NFL. What he did wasn't a momentary lapse of judgment and went beyond premeditated. It was planned out and executed over a period of time. What he did was wrong plain and simple but it was carried out over and over. Which to me is the most sickening thing about it. Were this guy not a star athelete he'd have a hard time getting a job with that on his record. But because he's a high profile athlete he does a little jail time and allowed back into the league like nothing happened. Pete Rose was banned from MLB for life for gambling yet Vick is allowed back in after a slap on the wrist for running dog fighting that killed and mamed a large number of dogs over a period of time which I have little doubt that had he not been caught would still be doing it today. He is a sick bastard and I would never want to root for him and did not want him on the Bears.

Ordered my copy through Amazon preorder and it will be on my porch when I get off work It arrived at the UPS dist center 15 min away from my house. I have to clean house though before I can touch it so I do have incentive to clean house today lol. Cant' wait to play it. I've been playing Mass Effect pretty heavily so this will be a nice change of pace

I'll be freezing my arse off at the Dec 28th Monday Night game. Now that that hoopla about Favre has mostly been laid to rest... for now. Either way it could turn out to be one of the most important games of the season. Given that the three QBs on their roster Rosenfels, Jackson, and Booty. Of which Booty probably has the most upside. Hard to believe that as a Bears fan I can now look down my nose at another teams QB situation. They have a lot of weapons but if you don't have the proper marksmen the weapons are useless. They do have AP but their passing game could be an adventure. Much like ours has been for the better part of two decades. All 5 games will mark key points of the season. The one that will likely draw the most attention early on is the Pittburg game. Week one vs Packers will be key. A win and we start off 1-0 in the division and 1-0 overall we ensure that the packers start out 0-1. A win is a win is a win.... so they say but if we merely get by with a win in week 1 we will have started out on slippery footing and won't get rest the following week. But a good start by a convincing win over GB and we head into our second key game with some momentum. Week two vs Steelers, home opener if we come into this game off a strong showing the previous week we have some momentum built up if not we will have our work cut out for us against the defending champs. Either way it will be a tough game and the onus will be on us to step up our game and take it to them. I hate the word moral victory but should we have a strong showing against the Steelers then it will be a confidence boost. I feel we have a shot at the upset here. Before the season gets too far underway. Week 11 vs the Eagles... every time the Eagles come here they make a story out of Donavan returning home because it's an easy story pull off the shelves and update. The Bigger picture is that the Eagles hope to be in contention in the NFC as do we. At this point in the season we could be in the thick of the NFC race for the top spots. Week 14 vs Packers much like the week 16 Vikings game could important for the division. I'm hoping though at this point that we are fighting to get the 1 or 2 seed between weeks 14-16. Even if that's the case and the Vikings and/or Packers are fighting for their playoff lives may be in a position to kill two birds with one stone help their own playoff chances and hurt our seeding. Or if one or both of those teams is out of it I'm sure they'd love nothing better than to play the spoiler.

It should be safe I would imagine there would be a lot of people heading for the train station and from the train station to the hotel is just a short Trek. The hotel I booked us at is the closest one to Soldier Field. I hadn't thought about luggage but you're right I may want to contact the hotel ahead of time and see if we can't check in early. We'll be traveling lite as it's just Dad and I and it's just overnight but will still need to account for luggage. I'm sure my camera will be fine then it definitely wouldn't be mistaken for a vid cam. I definitely want to take time to walk around and take in the stadium. I've not been there since the renovation.

Great interview. I like how well Jay is fitting in and building good chemistry with his teammates. You do get the sense that you could just join them for a drink and shoot the breeze. I like Bears All Access as the players on that show always seem to be themselves rather than the short party line nothing cliche answers. I like how the way it sounds like the players and coaches are working with each other to develop how the offense should run. Experimenting and testing ideas, this could be the most creative Bears offense we've seen in a long time. It tells me that they are aware that we have been predictable pass rushing the bears wasn't hard. Our QB was in the same spot 90% of the time. All you had to do was rush to that spot... little to no thought required. We implement a moving pocket due to Cutler's mobility that makes defenses have to think to defend the Bears. In past years it didn't require much effort to figure out the Bears offense. We got pretty good at calling the plays before they happened. If we can figure it out you bet that the DC and his defense who watches film knows it. I'd like to see the offense be more creative.

As much as I like Kruetz we do at some point have to think of life beyond him. When he does hang em up (hopefully on his terms). I think the same thing about guys like Urlacher where there will be a day when they won't be on the team anymore hopefully due to retirement. There are a lot of young or fairly young guys as the core but some of our key guys are getting up there.

certainly no rush but I have little doubt that unless he falls on his face here we will see the Bears extend him. You don't go out and give up what we gave up for the guy to just come here for a short stay. At this point all we have is expectation the rest is up to him and whether or not he performs at or above those expectations. He's yet to throw a pass as a Bear give him a year to a year and a half. I don't see us talking extension till sometime next season. Even if he does well this year. With three years left on the contract let him settle in for a year and then start thinking extension. Conversely if he does prove to be the guy we all think he is and is successful he will own this town. Not extending him at that point would be a death wish for JA and Co. Many of us are excited to the point where we aren't sure what to expect that we have a competent playmaker behind center. I for one am still adjusting to the idea of expecting good things from our QB. I think he's got the correct approach to it. He knows the situation and knows what's expected and wants to prove that he was worth what we gave up. Like I said earlier in the post unless he screws up royally this town will embrace him and he will be the face of the Bears Offense for the foreseeable future. The onus is on him and he knows it and is embracing that challenge.

Thanks for the tips the more I read and hear about what to do in Chicago the more excited I get. Are Monday Night Games any different than regular games as far as being there. Other than the obvious prime time kickoff at 7:30pm Are there any special cool things going on for MNF? Some of the sites I had in mind were the Sears (always will be the Sears Tower), Field Museum, Shed Aquarium, but nearly forgot about Ditka's that would be awesome to hit that either Monday or Tues. I figure we'll have about 3 hours or so to wonder around Chicago maybe more if we get there earlier. I booked a room at the Best Western Grant Park and check in is at 3pm but that doesn't mean we can't arrive on the train earlier. Maybe get there around noon or a little after grab a bite for lunch do some sight seeing and check in, grab dinner then head to the game. Go back to the hotel and not sleep a wink after watching the bears spank the vikes on prime time. Get up get some breakfast do a little more sight seeing and maybe grab lunch and head back home. sack out the ensuing Wed and recover from all the fun of the previous two days lol. Some things I do want to do is have a real Chicago Deep Dish pizza. I've heard of Uno and Jenos, hadn't heard of Lou Manalti's. Spend some time at soldier field checking out the museum part of it. I was reading about permited and non permitted items. Binoculars/Cameras/Video Equipment Hand-held binoculars and small still-photo cameras are permitted in Soldier Field. Video and movie cameras are NOT permitted in the stadium without the user holding proper media credentials. Photos cannot be used for any commercial purpose without the express written consent of SMG or the Chicago Park District. What about my nice Nice Digital Camera.... technically it can record video though being a camera video quality kind sucks so I'd only be taking still pics anyway. Should this be an issue or should I be safe and leave it at home and instead bring my less than stellar 35 mm camera. Or is the jist of this that they don't want people bringing camcorders, dv cameras etc. And I'll be ok bringing my digi. It's a 7.2 MP with a 12x zoom. Which I took to a cubs game and could see the rivits on the score board from across the stadium lol. The zoom doesn't go out very far but is pretty powerfull. Sitting up in the upper level I figure the zoom would be quite handy to get some good action shots Another question for those who know the area. The hotel is essentially at the corner of E 11th St and South Michigan Ave. 1. What is the best walking route to Soldier field it's hard to tell from the maps though every listing of this hotel states Soldier Field is within walking distance which I take to mean it can be reached on foot. Back in 2001 when we took the train to the Roosevelt Rd station it seems like we walked down lake shore and onto E McFetrige Drive and wiend down a ramp that went below ground towards the north end of the stadium. 2. May be a silly question but is it safe to travel there by foot though logic would tell me that if we are headed that way to the game we'll likely hook up with the mob of fans at the Roosevelt Road metra station. My biggest concern is after the game walking back to the hotel around 11/12 at night I don't want to get mugged lol. Would it be easier and safer to simply take a bus or Taxi?

Especially given Orton's weakness in throwing the long ball. Despite what homer comments the Denver coaching staff and management say. These two guys have speed to be deep threats but if your QB can't get the ball there what good is that speed. Denver's going to regret that trade. Now on the flip side Orton wasn't allowed many opportunities to go long because of issues with his long ball so we stuck with the shorter stuff. I'd be willing to bet that very little time in practice was devoted to improving his long ball. I do think that if Orton were to develop decent accuracy on the long ball he'd be a pretty decent QB. Perhaps now that he's not in a system where he's encouraged to play with shackles it may serve him well and he may yet flourish. I was passing the ball quite a bit early in his rookie year till the dreaded 5 INT game against the Bungles. Since that game he had shackles on and I don't think the staff ever truly removed them. But that won't happen over night. I can see a guy like Marshall being more and more of an chemistry issue the kid needs to grow up as it is. Then you take away the guy who is partly responsible for his success. The future there could be ugly. I don't know enough about Royal to guess his state of mind but I can't imagine he's totally thrilled either.

not opposed to doing a bit of walking. I figure we have some time in Chicago we might as well explore a little.

Bringing in a guy like Merinelli will prove to be one of the best offseason moves we've made. If to this point our D hasn't even been coached to use these things then that just proves how inadequate our defensive line coaching has been. Counter moves are one of the basic tools of a D-Linemen. If your pass rush is predictable it requires little effort to stop it. Mixing it up is what puts the advantage back on you by having your opponent think and react rather than expect and protect. Rod seems like just the guy to introduce some creativity into our D-Line. It would be nice to see our line getting effective penetration and being a disruption in the backfield throughout the game. I'm sure our DBs would be eternally grateful and it would help their game.

Dammit Rex....

He certainly has been worth the money and probably one the the more forgotten guys on team. I can't recall a single bad snap on a punt (though in the past we have practiced that a lot in game situations), FG or extra point. He's one of if not the best long snapper in the league. I'm glad we have him here.

Good article and I do agree the passing game requires both the QB and WR to do their part. If our WR can't get open or can't catch consistently having a QB who can get the ball there won't matter. Just as having the receivers get open but not having the QB who can read the defense and get the ball there. Both QB and WR have to do their parts correctly for it to work. Jay is a the QB who can make all the throws and will be able to get the ball there on time. The question mark is will our receivers consistently be where they should be and catch the ball. One thing that is different this year than last year is that we do have the QB who can get the job done and make all the throws. I think that will make our WR's more motivated to do their part. If I run my routes nearly flawless all game long but either never get thrown to or when I am the ball is either uncatchable or requires drastic adjustment to make the catch. I would quickly start to loose motivation. That may be on the extreme but if you don't have confidence in your QB to get the ball to you on time then you'll be less likely give it your all. With Cutler at QB he can throw it to anyone at any time so you better be ready. Imagine if we still had Berrian and he hadn't gotten greedy. You'd have Berrien, Hester, Bennet, Davis, Iglacious, Knox, and not to forget our TEs Olsen and Clarke. But that's not the case we don't have him we have what we have. Berrian was basically our speed guy that role is now Hester's. So I don't really see that as a talent void not having him here. I think that there's enough talent at the WR position that they will be effective enough for us to have a good season. I do see this unit improving over time with Cutler. I don't expect it to jump out of the gate on all four cylinders but I do expect there to be steady improvement. The OTAs, various mini camps, and this training camp will be critical for establishing that repartee between Jay and his Receivers.

LOL he does look like a homeless guy

I'll be in Chicago December 28th/29th in the Grant Park Area what are some fun things to do and see. How close would we be to the Hard Rock Cafe (gotta buy a shirt). Dad and I will be checking in early on Monday then going to the game. Tuesday we'll be checking out and at some point taking the train back to South Bend. We'll have some time to kill before the game and the next morning.

What section are you in, I assume you'll be there for the Monday Night game.

Section 432 Row 33 Monday, December 28th 7:30 PM MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL Dad and I will be chiillin and cheerin on Da Bearssss. Dome team in late December

And here I was hoping that I'd get to watch Favre throw picks in the Monday night game since I'll be there.

Congrats on turning the big 50 Happy Birthday!! What a way to celebrate it. Look forward to hearing about TC. Wish I was going sounds like it's a blast.

If I sell them to someone on this board I'd sell them at face value plus the shipping which would be around $140 or so for the pair. Even if I eat the extra markup and service fees, lesson learned. If I put them on eBay i'll let them go to the highest bidder with a likely reserve price of $136. I've never sold anything on eBay so that makes me a little nervous. Either way I'll have the tickets in hand by 7/31. Which is 21 days before the game should be enough time to sell and ship the tickets.

With TC coming up soon we will finally have some new Bears news and footage to dissect, and analyze and after that analysis has been and analysised we'll have preseason and the then the roster cut downs before we know it we'll be glued to our sets or our seats if we're at the game to watch the Bears open on prime time at GB. I know that I will be there cheering my Bears on in the final stretch of the season for the December 28th Monday Night game against the queens. Vinkings may have Favre but at that point in the season he'll be in the I'm going to retire since my seasons gone to crap mode. I may even see if I might be able to work it out to go to the 8/22 preseason game against the Giants and not sell those tickets. How cool would it be to see Cutler's first action as a Bears QB and his first completion as a Bear hopefully his first TD pass as a Bear.

Hard to believe just how frequently he was scoring on returns.. Matched Sayers return TDs in 22 games and under 100 return opportunities. Him not having any TD returns last season made me forget just how unreal that stretch of time was. Prior to Hester we had may a few TD returns in the previous decade or so and in 2 years he sets records. Special teams was no longer a formality it became part of the main event. Last year I think Deven tried to make every one a home run and over thought it a lot. What made him successful at returns was speed and instinct and a well schemed and coached special teams unit. But with his transition to WR his return duties diminishing. With Cutler at QB here's to him once again thrilling us in Bear country. Go long Deven we now have a guy who can get you the ball. I wander how much of Orton's inability to throw long accurately caused Turner to not send Hester long as much but rather trying to get him open in a range that Kyle was more accurate at. In contrast Jay can make all the throws short to long. Let's get it on!!! I want me some Bears Football!!!