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A dislocation involves spraining/tearing of the ligaments between bones. It's a lot less scary to call it a dislocation. Makes it sound like "well why don't you just re-located it , rub some dirt on it and get back out there". But the reality is a bad one can be at least as bad as a bad sprain. That's why dislocated shoulders on QBs sometimes ends their season. Anyway, that's roughly what a medical person told me once when I asked them about it...telling them that a dislocation doesn't sound like a big deal. I suppose if it's a previously injured joint, then possibly the joint is looser and a dislocation can happen easier, which could mean less new damage has occurred to the ligaments...which could mean a quicker timetable on a return, but I have no idea about Gabe's injury history on his knee. And that's just conjecture. When it happened I just rolled my eyes and thought Columbo 2.0. Couldn't even make it two full games into your rookie season could you, Gabe? Anyway, that's me being a cynic, sorry. EDIT: Finally read this article where it says it's only a partial dislocation, which apparently can mean there is no ligament damage. Plus it is indeed a knee that he has injured similarly once before. http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/footb...0,2692513.story

Wow. That's pretty cool.

Anyone who hasn't should really go to the Falcons board. It really puts things in perspective...a real feel-good read. There's even guys on there calling Matt Ryan and average QB game manager. Losses usually hurt, so enjoy the wins. http://boards.atlantafalcons.com/forum/45-...r__all__st__390 Here's one comment I liked even though it's positive... I'm not going to lose faith based on a week 1 loss to the team that won the Packers division last season. I'm not excusing the lack of execution. However, execution can be fixed. We had the talent on the field we need to compete.

Also, he's capable of playing every down, but he's not going to. If the Bears needed him to because Bell and Barber were considered duds, he'd have better bargaining position. He's been the starter every year since he was drafted in the 2nd round and likely will remain so if signs on with the Bears again. There's something valuable about that kind of commitment and trust from your team. Go to some other team and have one off season and you could find yourself with a 1st round rookie being primed to take your job. I also question whether runningbacks who can run and also receive well are actually that uncommon (he's apparently a good blocker, but if he was one of the best, we'd hear it). In my opinion, part of the reason it's so easy to get good RBs (making them less valuable) is because the best athletes are disproportionately filtered into the runningback spot at the lower levels...high school and park ball even. A coach sees a really standout athlete...he's gonna stick him at runningback, not cornerback. That's also part of why cornerbacks are the least talented skill position players and it's hard to get a good one. Forte may be great, but is Faulk right to suggest basically caving in to his agent because he's worth it? Last season was Forte's first season averaging over 4ypc. It makes good business sense to make sure that you're not paying clearly more than he'd get in the open market. That said, I really like what I've been seeing of Forte in his games this year and last. And we've got enough problem positions. Having other positions locked up and taken care of long term is necessary so you can more effectively target the biggest needs.

I agree Noots. My brother broke his. It was months before he was seemingly back to 100%, though the trainers will no doubt have him well-padded. I noticed the line is +3 in favor of the Falcons. When you consider that when two teams are evenly matched the home team gets a plus 3, that's a total of +6 that the oddsmakers like the Falcons since we're at home...and we almost went to the Super Bowl last year. Clearly the O-line has its doubters outside of Bear-nation. Time to put up or shut up.

Yeah, Rex and anyone who holds or blocks in the back away from the play on a return. Or any DB who lets their man catch the ball even when they're draped all over them. Or any d-player who freezes in the open field trying to make a head-on open field tackle (the instant I see them stop I know they won't make the tackle because they're not making the tackle attempt develop on their terms and at the pro level these guys will juke you every time). I guess I'm good about spreading the facepalms around. Basically any situation where I find myself asking "Hey numbnuts, how long have you been playing football?".

Seems tame compared to what I've read on these forums. But I'm a cautious Lovie supporter so I won't defend it other than to point out this is the same comedy site that does the Autistic news reporter bits and another bit lampooning the way we react to children that act gay "I hope you parents sitting at home who have faggy acting little boys have been taking notes".

Couple of interesting reads on NFL.com. http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d821d..._content_stream http://blogs.nfl.com/2011/09/02/ddfp-runni..._content_stream The (oft-maligned) author of the first article lists the NFC North as NFL's best division this season. The author of the second is trying to determine which team has had the best running backs of all time overall. I'd say the Bears have a good chance to come out on top.

Last one I played was 2003. I played last year's NCAA football though. First NCAA football title I'd ever played and loved it. It definitely had flaws but the whole recruting mini-game was something I'd never seen. I'm personally wating on being able to create your own plays, and not just with limited preset choices, I'm talking being able to draw each movement/pattern. I know that sounds unimportant, but think about it...the main reason they don't have that feature is that they know it would break the game when people come up with "money" plays. Well guess what, fix the game's AI and you don't have to worry about money plays. So ultimately my point is, when they finally allow user drawn plays, I'll know they've finally made that huge leap in AI (or at least have reason to hope). So who's our highest rated player? What did they give Forte and Cutler?

What's his deal? He was our best DE for years (more consistent and better at things other than pass rush than Adawale) and he's younger than Urlacher. Unless it's getting beat down health-wise, how do you drop off from our best DE, to cut for money reasons, to cut by another team, to not good enough to warm our bench in one year? It was only April 10th of last year that we let him go according to Wikipedia.

Well, one of the reasons Briggs' contract isn't better is that he overplayed his hand the last time. I'm sure he'd like to just erase all that as if it never happened but it doesn't work that way. At the same time, I remember the year after he finally signed he played really great and I think Url had a down year. People (the impatient types) were talking about trading Urlacher and saying he'd never heal, and I imagine Briggs' play was part of what made them comfortable with an Urlacher-less Bears. I remember thinking maybe Lance was right to demand elite money early. I don't think he's kept that up though since then, but he's at least earned his contract, and it is a big contract, relatively speaking.

As long as Briggs doesn't threaten to sit out or use the media, it's just business. Reworking a contract is like reworking a house loan. They'll let you do it, but you'll have to pay a price. It's possible the Bears would want to trade him after this year. It all depends on what they could get. For Cutler, Broncos essentially got the best trade deal this side of Washington trading Ricky Williams to Ditka. Can we get something a third that good if Lance plays well this year? Probably not, but we know these things do happen when the stars align just right.

It's not like the guy is 5'-7" and runs a 4.65. Most cornerbacks are only a hair faster than him, nor are they much bigger. If he has great hands, routes, toughness, intelligence, and work ethic he'd be the best WR we've got...granted that's a big IF. My point is that'll be what ultimately determines how effective he can be. But I'm not disagreeing by the way. Even if he did have it within him to end up our best WR, he'd still have our coaches to deal with.

I've liked Forte since he got here so I'm glad to see him getting some respect. I remember before last season people commonly talking about him with that sort of "he's ok, mediocre I guess, but not the answer" attitude and I'd think that was being unfair after one less than stellar season. It always amazes me what one season can do in terms of changing people's perceptions. In this case, Forte's perception of himself even if he's trying to ask for elite back bucks after averaging over 4ypc for the first time in his short career.

Reading this reminded me I'm still a little in the dark about the new agreement. I found these summaries online FYI: http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/Detail...-agreement.html http://ht.cdn.turner.com/si/images/2011/07...l_Summary_7.pdf

Sad to hear McMahon is another casualty. It's hard to place a value on your very brain. Though I'm not surprised, it's also unfortuante the NFL is taking their "vigorous" defensive position (lawyers are trained to think they're not doing their job if they don't). Maybe I'm naive but if they just acted in good faith the players might work with them. The idea being that both sides knew there could be risks but didn't know it for a fact and didn't pursue answers conciensciously. Was the NFL negligent moreso than the players? Probably, but maybe not by much. The real deal is that both sides participated and knew the risks, and the players will without quesiion bear consequences, physical, financial, and mental (RIP Dave Deurson), but will the the NFL? Any at all? It's a necessary question that it shouldn't take courts to answer, but such is life.

I'm fairly ignorant about other teams players compared to some of you. So has Roy been an actual discipline problem or just an underachiever vs. expectations thus far. I'm looking at that picture and thinking I'd trust him babysitting my kids, lol (if I had any).

Looks like about 80% are from Illinois or Indiana. I'm in Tulsa, OK now. Born in LA, then MS, then AL, then OH before ending up here. Though I spent the first 20 years of my life in the deep South nowhere near Chicago, I became a Bears fan because the '86 Super Bowl Bears blew up right about the time I was discovering I loved playing football as a kiddo. I jumped on the bandwagon and never jumped off.

Maybe so, I don't have a comment in general other than I love this quote: "You are not talking about a UFA (unrestricted free agent)," Angelo said. "There's an open market there, you bid. ... These extensions are much tougher because agents usually look at the UFA market to set their comps. But he's not a UFA, so that's the challenge." I get annoyed at players not living in reality who seem to think if they pretend hard enough that renegotiating a contract early for them won't come at a price, then it won't. Angelo's not taking that BS. Does Jamarcus Russell have to give back the prorated money he wasted of the Raiders in those 3 years? Nope. It may not be fair, Forte, but your union is complicit in making things this way (that is, that rookies get peanuts if they aren't drafted in the 1st round and Top 10ers get stupid amounts of cash). Maybe things will be different after this new CBA, but for now, Forte, your old contract must play by the same rules as everyone else's. It's alright to treat it like a business (it is) and play hardball, just don't get your feelings hurt over it and talk about being disrespected.

Sometimes I forget about those years with the Giants. He had a long career. Anyone recall how his season went not last year, but the year before that?

I agree at being surprised at Danielle being high on the good list. Peanut doesn't surprise me. He's never been extremely speedy but he's a smart, complete football player and when I see a WR or RB catch a ball wide open in the flat and Tillman is first on the scene, he's not one of the guys I nervously hold my breath for. You know, you can defend a pass, stuff a guy for a loss, and then one missed tackle later the other team just got a 1st down on you. Some games when I watch the Bears I think it's silly how much effort we put into all the little things and effort to make athletic plays only to throw it away by consistently missing tackles...of course I find myself thinking that about penalties even more. While I absolutley take stats only "for what it's worth", I also feel like the negative impact of missed tackles is not given enough attention, which is hardly to say that it goes under the radar but it really is so important. The thing about Briggs is he has a nose for the ball. He's in on a lot of plays which means he may be barely getting there on some plays other LBs wouldn't get there at all on, which can translate into more missed tackles stats. But you can only take the stats can be misleading argument so far. No way around it, Takeo Spikes is far better tackler and Briggs could improve by cleaning up that part of his game.

Yeah, wow, Briggs has 48 misses in about 300 tackles while Takeo has 4 misses in about 250 tackles. Even taking into account the 50 extra attemtps by Briggs, Takeo misses about ten times less tackles than Briggs..that's embarrassing, but mostly because Takeo's stat is so gaudy. Furthermore, their definition of a miss seems to be fairly forgiving. Even the worst offenders only miss a tackle about once every 10 successful tackles? I'd be thrilled if that were really true on the Bears. The games I watch it seems there's at least one missed tackled every 3 or 4 plays, meaning the average ratio should be about 5:1, and the poorest tacklers should be even lower than that.

From what I know about Lovie, I would honestly be very surprised if he was still going on about it months later. Nothing stopped the Ravens from selecting their man with 5 seconds left when they realized the trade wasn't going through in time. That's common sense. That they didn't created this situation from what should have been a fairly cut and dry "tried to do the deal but it didn't happen in time" scenario. To keep going on about it when they got their man a pick later anyway (likely at a reduced priced due to slotting)...if I was a Ravens fan, I would be embarassed by all this after-the-fact drama more than their draft day blunder. But since I'm not, I'll continue to shug it off and they can whine to their hearts content. I'm more concerned about our organization and our fans.

When has Cutler ever not done what he's supposed to? It seems the most consistent critics are always complaining just because he doesn't do things the way they want. In all honesty, I'm pleasantly surprised to read such a description of voluntary practices, but certainly not shocked they're getting together. I don't even think an offense could get away with (because of intra-team and public opinion/pressure) just goofing off all lockout while other teams commit themselves. I worry that because we're fairly healthy that other teams are benefitting more from this extended offseason than we will, but whatever...there is the issue of only being in the 2nd year of Marz's offense which maybe compensates.

His crime was accidentally shooting himself in the leg...with a gun he had no permit for. We've now seen Vick come back from a far more distrubing crime and play better than before. Possibly the experience can make a player hungry to prove themselves. The age thing is a red herring. What he's had is 3 years of recooperation. He should be in better shape to play for future seasons than Urlacher, who's a year younger. But that's a bit of devil's advocate. I don't actually know enough about him as a player to know if we should want him or not. Also, I prefer having character guys even at the expense of some talent. I'm just saying the crime, the age and the years ago injuries don't scare me as much as what I don't know about his character.