DABEARSDABOMB

I personally have a lot more issues with the Patriots use of the IR than I do with spygate. Personally I believe there are more teams than just the Pats who have partaken in "SpyGate" like incidents, however, I think there are a lot less (in fact, probably none) who blatantly broke the IR rule.

Benson was a stud at Texas, but I do recall some people had concerns about his character coming out of college. Most of those concerns were because he was loosely associated/compared with Ricky Williams (who we all know has had all kind of issues off the field, albeit none of them are what I would consider major issues, they are issues that have significantly impacted his career).

It is going to be very important to get a lot of production out of Clark/Olsen. These guys, along with Booker are the only proven offensive assets on the roster. I still believe that the Bears are being incredibly foolish putting so much hope in the hands of your WR's, especially ones who are completely unproven and aren't high draft picks (Because the reality is, higher picks are safer options for the most part). Plus, WR's tend to not have an immediate impact in the NFL (as there are a lot of subtle nuances to the game).

I don't understand how he had a disappointing rookie season. He had limited action due to the way the Bears utilized him but he made plays throughout the year and flashed all kinds of upside. I was pretty happy with his play and I think he could emerge as a premiere TE in the NFL.

The big question is whether he'll be even close to the player he was pre-injury. Bentley was a probowl caliber player prior to going down and if the Bears believe he would get healthy than I think he would be a tremendous pick-up at the guard spot.

The Bears have made a habit of negotiation extensions mid-season (since they can apply portions of the extension to the current year cap, thus making such move is being financially smart). In fact, almost every year in Angelo's era (with some exceptions, ie, years where the team didn't have much cap room to play with during the season), he has extended at least one player mid-season (in fact there were some years where he worked out extensions with multiple players, IIRC).

He is the highest paid kicker, but really, it isn't that big of a salary, imo. Especially when you factor into the massive effect kickers have on today's game. Gould isn't the best kicker in the NFL, but he ranks in the top 5-7 and because of that I feel he is more than worthy of the salary he got. His only legitimate weakness is the fact that he isn't really capable of going out and hitting 50+ yard field goals. But anything inside of 45 and he's as accurate, if not more accurate, than anyone in the league.

There are filters which we can put in place, which will essentially auto-sensor curse words. Basically something like "flub" would turn into "f*ck" or we could have it set to say "freak". Haven't read through this whole thread to see what the consensus is, but I know personally I have no problem with it. I ocassionally will drop an Fbomb in the post, but its just out of frustration about a subject matter or something and I personally have no problem if it is auto-sensored. Update: Read through the thread and I'm personally a fan of going with a policy of blocking out the F-word but just using this thread as a quick reminder to everyone to treat posters with respect and to try and be careful with the language. Over all the years I've posted within this community (ie Bearstalk), I can only think of a handful of times where there were ever any sort of relatively serious issues and I think that is a tribute to all of the members who have made this place so special. Still, every once in a while, it isn't bad to get a quick reminder out to just remember that we all need to stay civil and try to be mindful of what we type.

Honestly, those pictures aren't bad at all. I don't see Benson pounding booze or really anyone there looking like they are doing stupid shit.

That is just classless. No comment regarding his on the football performance should be related to a guy crying when getting sprayed with pepper spray. Hell, he was clearly in a horrible situation and called out for his mom, just like many people probably would in that sort of situation (he was calling her to so she could witness the assault which was taking place). MSNBC should be embarassed for publishing that.

I know many of us have questioned Benson's heart and his ability to mingle with teammates and say the right things, but never was he ever really associated with being a partier or having any sort of serious off the field issues. At first when I saw this I was ready to just dump Benson, but the more that comes out the more that I really believe the Bears have to sit there and look at Cedric and say hey, we believe you. That said, they should also lay down the law and tell him we drafted a RB. We feel this way about you (hence why we picked you 4th overall) but the reality is you need to make some changes (come to Chicago and train with Jones and bust your royal ass to get healthy and ready to go for training camp). Basically put, I think the franchise should sit him down (just like any boss would do to an employee) and lay out the expectations the Bears have for him and how they expect him to reach those expectations (ie, training with Rusty Jones, working with the therapist on rehabbing the leg, etc). For all I know the Bears have done that, but from what I've learned about professional sports franchises it is usually foolish to assume so much (I've interviewed about a dozen players in professional sports over the past couple years and one thing that has been surprisingly common is the fact that the organizations usually aren't very clear/upfront with a player regarding where they stand, etc).

I think you guys are using a dead image link because the actual coding appears to be appropriate.

Simms is apparently back at 100% but will still likely be released. I think he would make an excellent pickup as that would give the Bears three guys with at least the potential to be NFL starters (hopefully at least one of the guys pans out).

Cromartie, the Chargers selection (2 years ago) was incredibly raw as well but his athletism was off the charts. I'm not saying Bowman is quite as off the charts but he has a similar checkered past health wise and a relatively similar skill set (size/speed combo) and with proper coaching and time could turn into a tremendous pick. However, given McBride/Manning/Graham (plus Tillman/Vasher) I have my doubts as to how much Bowman will play this year (I think the Bears will work him a lot in training camp and just have a longer term plan with him). The exception to that rule is if the Bears are comfortable enough in Graham/McBride to release Manning (but given last years injury problems with Vasher/Tillman that would be a mistake, imo).

That is a hell of a comparison. We can only hope that he becomes half of the player that Allen was.

The rumors of Williams having any serious injury are just that, rumors. The Bears have denied him and there has been nothing even relatively close to credible with information which substantiates such rumors. Bottom line, some team tried to leak false information to get him to slide and it didn't work.

I agree, but in general, its pretty much unless the guy is a 1st round pick it is pretty rare for the QB to end up being the starter of a super bowl champ anyway. The only exceptions to that rule tend to be late round picks who people completely missed the boat on (ie Brady/Warner (who was Undrafted). So really, considering what a total crapshoot QB's are, I have no problem going this route as both guys the Bears got have the physical tools to be a quality QB.

First off, want to say welcome aboard. Next, while I think the Bears have considered moving Urlacher, the time to move him would have likely been the week before the draft because it makes more sense to trade a disgruntled player and get picks that you can use during the current year. I personally am a proponent of moving Urlacher, however, at this point, unless you were going to make a trade for another probowl player (which is very rare in the NFL, due to the way the cap works with trdaes), it is not beneficial to move him until next off-season. The bottom line is both sides are negotiating and pulling out little ploys to try to get additional leverage but at the end of the day the Bears & Urlacher will make up.

This years class was considered a very weak one and next year's class is again considered to be relatively weak (however, there are two guys who Kiper believes could end up turning into top 15 picks). Louisville's QB and Purdue's QB.

You probably won and you definitely kicked my ass.

I still think the Bears got two undrafted free agents who have similar odds as any of the guys that we could have drafted in the 5th to 7th round (maybe not Henne/Brohm as those guys clearly have better odds of success). Now neither of them may even make the roster but Hill has a big arm and the Colorado State kid is someone Mel Kiper was continually talking highly about during the 2nd day of the draft. The Bears other two QB's, Rex & Kyle, are both what I'd consider fairly young (Rex a bit older obviously, but still, both are not even close to being on the downside of there careers). I also believe it was fairly obvious that neither QB got any help from the play-calling, offensive line, running game last season. I think Angelo believes one of these two guys may have what it takes to be the starter and he was more concerned with surrounding each QB with enough weapons to where you can truly evaluate them (because whether it was Rex or Kyle or Henne/Brohm, without making some early round offensive selections, pretty much anyone was destined to have trouble running this offense). Obviously the Bears will still need some pretty quick impacts out of there early offensive draft picks to be super successful next year (and that may be unrealistic), but if Kyle/Rex don't show anything, Angelo can address the position next year (knowing he hopefully has found a QB an improved receiving threat...Hester develops, Bradley, Bennet, Olsen, Clark and an improved rushing game (Forte/Benson/PetersoN) and a better line.

Awesome. It is a relatively easy process, write up a piece and email it over to me (Bullsback@gmail.com) or PM the piece. We are looking for creative pieces that can go from being relatively short (since it is a blog, it could be a short take on a bad move by Lou Pinella or something the Bears did). Basically just looking to have a lot of various opinions that allows people who read the site to get a fans perspective (as opposed to the recycled stuff you often get from the larger media, such as the ESPN's/SI's of the world where even there in depth pieces really aren't news to the more die-hard fans).

Forte looks real good. The only legitimate knock you could say is that he tends to run a little more upright than you would like, but he did a lot of his running in between the tackles and that is a big plus (because that happens more in the NFL). He also looked to have good speed and vision (he really found the cut back lines a lot). I like the pick, I like it a lot. I could have went with Mendy, but let me ask people this. Would you rather have Mendy and the best tackle available with the 2nd round pick (and remember, the run of tackles pretty much had all the top tier of tackles gone when pick #44 came around) or Chris Williams & Forte.

Hill is a good fit. He will come in with little pressure and compete and be given ample time to sit on the bench. He isn't as experienced as some or as polished as some but he has all the physical tools necessary to be a successful NFL QB. Given a lot of the guys out there, I like Hill more than a decent chunk of QB's who got drafted. That said there is no guarantee Hill makes the roster, but I believe they will keep him.

I wish I was in the chatroom more for the 2nd day (too busy being royally hungover) but it was a lot of fun being in there when I was discussing Bears football with everyone. Better yet the Bears look to have done a real nice job bringing in some good football players that can stablize the franchise and turn last year into a minor bump in the road to numerous superbowl championships during the Lovie/JA era.