BearFan2000

To me this one will be the oddest one of them all. For many of us there's a special place in our hearts for Mike Brown and seeing someone else wearing #30 it's going to take some getting used to. Nothing against DJ Moore I like the kid. just going to be strange.

It feels like it was ages ago that game 6 started.... This has been a hell of a series. There has been a total of 35 min of OT played. Four games going to OT. I would totally LMAO of the Bulls were to blow out game 7 lol. Just once can the Bulls win one in some kind of normal conventional fashion... like I don't know... regulation? I'm in my early thirties and not quite the picture of health, my heart can't take much more of this. I do want to survive to see the Bears play this year. Take away the game three Boston blowout win, every game has come down to the last play... often times coming down to the last play several times in the same game... lol. Go Bulls. I sure thought that the Refs were doing all they could to hand this one to Boston and to think the game was in Chicago. Rondo should have been tossed the guy is a punk. I'd have been tempted to send in a scrub to egg him on (the way Rodman would egg on Frank Brichouski in the 96 finals) and force the refs to toss him. Apparently you can hit someone one night resulting in stitches and it's just a foul. The next game you can then trow someone into the scorers table and take a swing at them and not get tossed. I'm glad the Bulls won despite this but they also won despite themselves. Two straight games they had a double digit lead with 7 min left in reg, twice you squander that lead and end up in a multiple OT dogfight. I started to write them off when that 12 point lead turned into an 8 pt deficit with around 3 min remaining. Surrendering a 20 point swing in the closing min of a game that is do or die is inexcusable. The team is young but still when you got them down on the ropes you don't let up. That said what a hell of a job to never quit. There were so many times that this team could have gave up. This young Bulls team is showing a lot of resiliency. Who ever survives this series is going to be exhausted come round two.

Whole heartedly agree. They have not earned their check but they get rewarded on past success in college, hope of future success, in a crap shoot. It's a perpetuation problem, you have guys who get huge contracts for being a top pick then if they do pan out they want an even more insane deals. Being in the top of the first round and getting over paid jacks up the price for existing players who want to be paid usually at or near the top amount for their respective position not that I disapprove of that if they deserve to be paid. I think a cap is necessary for the Rookies. If I"m a GM I'm not entirely sure I want to pick in the top 10 it's easy as a fan to whine about top ten busts and in hindsight who we coulda shoulda woulda taken. You may hit but odds are higher to miss or at least get less than you hoped for. The price to pay for a top 10 pick so easily can blow up in your face by either getting a malcontent, spoiled, unmotivated, or sub-par talent. Unless you hit you look stupid. Jerry's not the only one who has his problems with his 1st rounders, particularly high 1st rounders. When you miss it hurts the team on the field and the cap paying a boatload of cash for dead weight. Reducing the ability to bring in a Vet who's paid his dues and could help your team and deserves to get paid.

Second that, kudos for the creativity. I'd have never thought of using a Butler jersey and replacing the B with a C. Good stuff.

That was great "What the hell is that?" It's a...... it's a..... welll..... it says ...... it's a Quarter...... quarterback..." Can it tackle? It's funny because there's much truth to it. We have not had a real QB here since Jimmy Mac who was good but couldn't stay healthy, Not since Sid have we had a QB of Jay's Caliber. It's a different mindset for us as fans. For too long we've watched our Bears and the QB position was basically a guy who is supposed to not lose games for you nothing more more often much less. Cutler presents and possibly represents a change in mindset about the way we view the QB position on the Bears. I only vaguely remember Jimmy Mac towards the end of his time in Chicago. The 85 team an even more vague memory. I became a Bears fan years after SB 20. First seeing it on a VHS copy my cousins had. So most of my time as a Bears fan has seen mostly scrubs playing that position. A few exceptions Harbaugh was good, Kramer was good but couldn't stay healthy, same for Jim Miller. Case in point we have been so talent starved at the QB position that we see the slightest glimmer of hope and we are amazed. It's like eating a soy burger and acting like you just bit into a premium Angus burger. Our QB has a good game and we are elated. the rest of the league is like "so what?" What we see as impressive looks average to most in the league. Having a good day as a Bears QB is having our QB not crap all over himself on the field. The bar has been so low for so long it's more like a trip wire than a hurdle. Before even playing a down Jay has energized the fan base we're not sure what to expect, it's a brave new world. Here's hoping that Jay helps reform the way the league views us at QB. They can no longer pull out the tired old "your QB sucks" argument. Here's hoping to never see that list again. The list won't go away right away. They will post the list and at the end of it they will highlight, bold, or point out the last name on that list, Jay Cutler. You will then hear something to the effect of "and the Bears are hoping that Cutler puts an end to the futility."

cant wait to see TC footage. It might be fun to make a trip out to TC this year. Living near South Bend it would be decent trip but not unreasonable to see the new look Bears Offense first hand.

How ironic is it that once Farve hangs em up so does Madden. With Farve he's got no motivation go on announcing lol We've all made fun of him in recent years because he's become more and more irrelevant but I do have a lot of respect for him and what he did. For many many years he was very entertaining in the booth and in a way he was the Jerry Sinfeld of Football, he could talk for hours about nothing but entertain you doing it. He was refreshing when he fist started and the last 5-10 years or so he started to become a character of himself. As far as the game you can barely call it Madden now as you have the annoying collinsworthless commentary. It's Madden in name and style only.

I agree, I have a feeling Jerry will do something. As it stands having Acquired Cutler and the much press about our apparent lack of talent at the WR position makes it highly likely we look at WR with our 2nd round pick. Could increase the chance someone tries to jump ahead of us if they are worried we'll take the WR they want. But if we sign or even trade for a solid vet receiver that does give Jerry more leeway and may make us less of a threat to take the guy someone else wants. Looking at some of the drafts it does seem possible that Nicks could possibly fall to us. If he's there when we pick I'm not sure I'd pass that up. I'm sure though that Jerry doesn't want his intentions at our 2nd round pick to be completely transparent.

Maybe Cincy will sign him

Rex's situation is such an interesting one. 6 weeks into 2006 season many of us were thinking pro bowl, or at very least we now have our QB of the future. Then disaster in the desert and his career since has most resembled a roller coaster marked by inconstancy. He has potential physically, but the question remains does he have it mentally? The vibe I got from him in his last season with the Bears and even during the "competition" was that of apathy as if in his mind he was thinking "screw it, I"m done here." I can't say I blame him on some level. He has made his own bed here but I do think some fans have taken it too far by harassing him no matter what he does. If I were him I'd not want to play again for the Bears. I'm sure there's Bears fans who feel the same way. IMO that bridge has been burned to a crisp..... more like napalmed. I don't see him signing with us. Right or wrong he believes he should be a starter and I highly doubt he signs another contract with the Bears to be a backup. So far no takers in FA but there might be after the draft. He does know our system and it is possible that the Bears would consider making an offer. But I would not blame Rex one bit for saying "no way in Hell"

how crazy would it be that we find out this season that all these years we've been changing the tires on a POS car and wondering why we don't get anywhere. We've cycled receiver in and out of this team with almost as much regularity as we have QBs but all the while we haven't really fixed the one position that can make the WR's better or utilize the talent they do have. We complain about drops, and that, but how often have we watched receivers have to break stride, come back, slow down, speed up, or come up with an unbelievable catch because their QB hasn't placed the ball where it should be. I'd venture a guess that that has been the norm as opposed to having our QB hit a receiver in stride where he can actually do something after the catch.

Bingo If you put yourselves in their shoes they were probably shocked and excited like we as fans were at the news. With the exception that they know and worked with kyle so their ties to him are much stronger than ours were. The comments in general have been fairly diplomatic because they don't want to knock a teammate that they had great respect. Some of it is in the way the questions are posed that get those quotes. Your friend and former teammate has been traded and your asked what its like to have a pro bowl QB or How much better does this trade make the team? The more the dust settles the more we'll see players lining up behind him. Quotes can be misleading because we don't always get he question that prompted the quote or the correct context in which it was given. Quotes are included in a story to support the general premise of the story. A player can speak for 15 min and a story may only highlight a sentence or two because it fits the story they are writing. This isn't always bad but can be done to cast a particular opinion on a player. We read the story and can even further misinterpret the quote. Unless of course the statement itself is so blatantly asinine that it in and of itself is difficult to defend.

just looked it up and found it interesting that it will be in Miami again, and it will also be on my Birthday 2/7/09 in which I will turn 21 for the 12th straight year. All I want for my Birthday is to celebrate by watching my Bears hoist the Lombardi trophy. If I get nothing else for my birthday that would be sufficient. Interesting also that our last trip to the Super Bowl we had a gunslinger type QB in Rex. Jay is similar in style but I'd say more mobile, taller, smarter, and more consistent. That season was Berrian's coming out party. Could this season be Bennets, Hesters, Olsens, etc. I don't think we should think too seriously about Super Bowl when training camp hasn't even started. But we have much to be excited about. I can hardly wait for the first preseason game. If nothing else this has certainly breathed some much needed life into the Bears and us as fans. Up until 4/2/09 this was shaping up to be an extremely boring FA period where I figured the highlight would be the build up to the draft, followed by an assessment of of said draft. If this move pans out and he becomes our stable QB that we have been looking for for decades 4/2 may just become a Chicago holiday known as Jay Cutler day. The excitement everywhere and it's contagious. This pans out and we as Bears fans will need to think differently when it comes to offense. We are not used to our QB leading the team with any consistency or longevity. We all know that list too well and we are used to our QB's letting us down, it hinders our ability to think positively when it comes to that position. We are so accustomed to failure that any success we enjoy is accompanied by the thought in the back of our minds, when does the clock strike midnight and when does our our QB turn back into a pumpkin. This could be the point in time when that mindset is replaced with one of expectation.

I think Olsen made a very valid point when the coin flip question was asked. When your rotating QB's in practice it becomes hard to establish good rhythm with one guy. I think Having Cutler be that guy without question means he will take all the practice reps with the 1's and as a result the backs and receivers who will be at the top of the depth chart will be practicing with Jay exclusively. Stability at that position will be huge. Another good point made by Sean Cassidy on the Bearscast podcast from 4/3. The reason QB is such an important position is "A good QB, he can make your other 10 players, your OK other players better. Just like your talking about. That's what Jay Cutler's gonna do, but, if you only have an OK QB like Kyle Orton, the other 10 guys has to be good to make him better. It's a lot easier to be good at one position than it is at 10 positions. An the Bears finally figured that out today." IMO, Its similar to a point guard in Basketball the offense flows through him so as the QB if you have a guy who's just adequate the other guys have to make up the slack and their margin of error is very if not non-existant. Where as if you have average at best receivers a high quality QB can get more out of those players and make them better. We saw it with the Bulls and Jordan (not comparing Cutler to Jordon). MJ made everyone around him better, now he did have Scottie, Grant, Pax, and Cartwright for the first 3 championships, and Rodman, Kerr, Scottie, Luc Longley. He had a solid starting cast outside of Jordan and Pippin the "supporting cast" wasnt nearly as talented on paper but their play was elevated by Jordan's play. I think that Cutler can have that kind of effect. I think he will make our backs an receivers better. It's better make that change then trying to get big name WR's in there and hope that Kyle can play well enough to utilize them. For the longest time it's been difficult to pointless to evaluate and develop WR when we consistently have had a void of talent at the QB position to get them the ball.

Cassell is a good QB but look at the talent he had to work with in NE. I think there are a lot of QBs that could have thrived in that situation. He did step up and perform so he's not devoid of credit. I do think KC got a great deal the #2 pick they got was the second pick of the second round (#34 overall) which isn't a bad pick and Vrabel is in his 13th season but still an effective LB. Cassell had a good season taking over for Brady, one season coming out of nowhere doesn't make a career. He may turn out to be a stud, but he may be the next Anderson who was a flash in the pan then struggled. Cutler has been solid in his time with Denver over more than just one season. He's been to a Pro Bowl. Time will tell just how good this trade ends up being same with the KC/NE trade. Cutler brought a bigger price because he's a more established player.

I think it's hard to judge by all the comments. We all know Urlacher's strong suit isn't answering interview questions. Wale's reaction was both diplomatic and accurate I think. I like that being a defensive guy he brought it back to the defense and owned up to the poor play of the defense and that they need to get back to form. Which is true, if you have a good offense you can negate that with bad defensive play just like a good defense can be negated by a poor offense. I usually don't read much into Url's comments they often don't sound like much thought went into them. Another way of looking at this is that there is the shock of it all. April 1st Kyle was our starter, and there was little to no indication of what would happen today. This news caught a LOT of people off guard. Supposedly the deal was going to go down between Denver and Washington and was all but finalized. Then out of the Blue the trade is announced and to the surprise of many it wasn't Wash, it was the Bears. Kyle had earned the respect of his teammates and I'm sure they were still stunned. What you won't hear is "good riddance Kyle" or over the top praise of Cutler. I would imagine what we'll get is mostly diplomatic type answers aside from URL who's answers are like a box of chocolates, you never know what your going to get. They have a great deal of respect for Kyle so I imagine that has something to do with some of the tame responses. I like Kyle and I think he showed guts last year playing through that ankle injury and and dealing with the long wait to finally get the chance to be the man. I know he had hopes of being the long term QB in Chicago. I wish him the best in Denver except when we play them.

And when you check out the Broncos boards it might be a good idea to keep sharp objects away from them and may have to talk them off the ledge lol There are a handful Denver fans that are ok with it but I saw posts like "if this deal includes Orton in any way I will kill myself" Words like Vomit, puke, etc are flowing freely over in Bronco land. Seems we aren't the only ones that get pissed at our GM. They seem ready to lynch McDaniels. In all Honesty I think the trade works for both teams. Kyle will have more weapons over in Denver and with his one year remaining he may be a stop gap in a rebuilding club who desperately needs help on the defensive side of the ball. Between Kyle, Simms, and whoever else they have or will get. The Draft pics if they pick well will help them build up their defense. For the Bears we get a proven QB who has been to a Pro Bowl and can make the talent around him better. If we can pick up one or two legit WR's and our O-Line gels into a solid or better unit and can give Jay time the threat of an actual passing attack will only help our Running game. This move could very well make our offense more balanced. Been watching some of his highlights and one thing that does jump out at me is he has good presence and is able to improvise when things break down. He can make a wide range of throws accurately. Kyle's biggest weakness was the long ball. I always held my breath when he'd heave it down field cause I never knew if it was actually going to come down near the receiver or get picked. Cutler is by no means perfect but I think he's a hell of a QB and...... shoot, I can't believe we pulled the trigger, I'm glad we have him now. Add a good WR or two and draft secondary, WR, O-Line (not necessarily in that order). Head into camp with some fresh excitement, and enthusiasm. These kinds of things can really boost morale. The players seem as jazzed as we are 2009 could indeed be a special year. Could we finally get over that hump and bring the Lombardi back where it belongs? I don't want to get ahead of myself but I have to think we've got a good shot at the NFC North and once your in the playoffs anything can happen. Bear Down!!!

Why not go for Holt and Bolden The night is young lol

I'm soooo looking forward to Game 3 of the preseason. How ironic that we now have Cutler and we play Denver in game three of the preseason, which if I'm not mistaken the game where the starters play into the second half. I bet Jay's got that one circled in fat red sharpe on his callendar.

You had me at "Cutler to the Bears" And I thought this was going to be a boring offseason. Seeing so many big name guys go elsewhere while we swap O-linmen with the Browns, pick up a few scraps here and there then this bomb drops and now we've added Pace, All we need is one or two playmakers at the WR position and Chicago could have it'self an offense that is actually dangerous to other teams rather than to us. We could possibly field and offense that will take pressure off the Defense and give them a chance to rest between possessions. I bet they are getting excited too. It's so much easier to work your arse off to get the ball back for the offense when you have confidence that you won't be back on the field 4 plays later. I have to think that some of our Defensive woes are in part due to frustration and fatigue it's a long season and when you are often the only thing keeping the team in the game hoping and praying that the offense finally steps up and pulls it's weight I can see how it would be tough to maintain your intensity and enthusiasm. I admit I fully expected us to sorta sleep walk through the rest of the offseason, have an ok draft, and enter the season hoping that things would resolve themselves on the field. I did not expect us to enter the season with Kyle Orton not being our starter, let alone not even on our roster. The QB I saw leaving was Rex I didn't think that both would gone. So at this point QB's are Cutler, Hanie, and Basenez WR's are Hester, Bennet, Davis, Rideau, Broussard, Aromashodu TE's are Clark, Davis, Mines, and Olsen. We still need to pick up one or two playmakers at the WR spot. I can't wait till opening day when Da Bears go to GB and cut the cheese.

HOLY SHNIKIES With all the boring goings on lately then I pop in to see if anything is new and my jaw is still stuck to the floor. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE tell me this isn't some lame delayed April Fools joke Did we actually go after and aquire a pro bowl caliber QB???? This is still Chicago isn't it? holy crap...... I cannot friggin belive this. I wanted this to happen and I cant believe it actually happened. Imagine if you will, Bears opening day, Bears first offensive possession and out on the field walks Jay Cutler, behind him is Matt Forte, in front of him is a solidified O-Line, to his right and left are recievers who actually have a shot of making an impact on the game. If I'm Hester, or Olsen, or Clark, or Davis, or anyone else in the TE WR position I am jumping with joy and chomping at the bit to get the workouts started. Man this is good news. Things are starting to come together. I'm not even going to tarnish this post with any hint of pessimism. Today the Bears did what I would imagine few (ourselves included) thought we'd actually do. Go Bears!!!

I haven't posted on here or been to this forum for quite a while, I try to avoid the offseason anxiety as much as possible at least till we get closer to the draft. Mainly cause it can get me worked up and anxious lol. It's easy to get caught up in why we're not after this guy or that guy or making more of a splash, and I agree with the idea of being more cautious about who we look at and when. At the end of the day what really matters is if you signed and went after the guys who can help your team in FA and the draft. They aren't always the big name free agents or top 10 picks. Sure it does raise the blood pressure a little to see established players get signed elsewhere and thinking why didn't we go after him. Or knowing of someone who may become available and hope that we do and we don't. FA can be as much a crap shoot as the draft, sure the odds are slightly better as you have something to gage from as they have experience in the NFL as opposed to college, but the same issues can rear their heads in the FA market. A successful WR FA could fail at his next stop due to being a product of the system he was successful in, benefitted from talent around him (solid QB, other solid receivers, solid run game, solid line, etc.). Put in the wrong system he fails. At the same time the opposite can hold true a solid wr in a bad situation can flourish in a good situation. We're not the only NFL team to get players who were supposed to be good that failed here. Though it sometimes seems like we have had more than our fair share of flops. We've also had players that flourished here. Thomas Jones revitalized his career here in Chicago, we've also had guys like Moose who were good came here and did nothing. The key of any GM is finding the right mix of talent to make the team successful. As a fan it's not always easy when it may seem like the GM of your fav team is sitting on his hands doing nothing when you know the product on the field the previous season was well below expectations or performed poorly.

Second that. And that is precisely part of the intangibles that makes Mike Brown valuable to the team. He has a great mind for the game and he will speak his mind if he sees the need and you can tell his teammates have a tremendous respect for him. He's not afraid to bluntly say "we sucked" He has a genuine nature that is so lacking on this team. On field leadership is so valuable but easily forgotten. The closest guy I think of on the D after Brown would be Briggs, or someone like Tillman. Tommie could be if he could keep his head in the game. But the Defense and offense needs leadership.

I like Tillman as well and it's not just him anyone we put out there at corner is off the ball about 10 yards every down. Teams with even a middle of the road QB and average receivers eat us alive with the slants. We play our LB's too close to the line and they get swallowed up in traffic and we get beat in the middle of the field. It's frustrating to watch and it's got to be even more frustrating to participate knowing the scheme has you out of position. When you line up 10 yards off the line from the WR and you start bailing all your momentum is going the wrong way. Even if they run a deep route you are that much more susceptible to the double moves and it can easy make you look stupid. Compound that by Safety's not picking up the receiver when the CB passes him off in the cover two you get burned deep. The only teams that can't pass on our defensive scheme are the teams that are as offensively challenged as us.

Haven't been on here in a while. While I know very little about the Xbox 360 having only owned mine a short while. I know that with the old Xbox that the dirty disk error on a new game disk could be a sign that the DVD drive might have lense alignment issues. Seems odd that it would be a hard drive issue. But, as for a way to transfer the information I thought I read something about networking the Xbox 360 to your PC you can access the hard drive. I wouldn't know if it works, I have a Mac and haven't tried mounting the Xbox360 hard drive. But if you can connect to it on the PC there might be a way to grab your info and back it up before sending off the drive.