adam

Yeah, definitely marketing, and CHI and LA are the biggest markets.

I know, the MLB All-Star game is over, now it is getting into the real football season.

Thanks, so I guess it is tied to the idea that those that live in apartments or at other locations where they cannot install a dish. That is stupid. They can either take my $200 or not, it is not like that is going to get me to sign up for their entire service. Bad marketing and business plan.

Just wanted to send out a friendly reminder to all those that participated in last year's TalkBears leagues. A few of the leagues have been renewed, so if you played last year, get back in and activate your team. If not, we will start looking for replacement Gm's.

I even tried my parent's house in 60462 and it was ineligible. What is your zip? If you don't want to post, can you PM me?

Yeah I saw that, but it is sort of BS because it is not available to everyone: I am at Fort Knox, KY and I'm not eligible for NFL Sunday Ticket online?

I think he was retiring. If not, I would be interested.

I had it last year online from the Madden 25th Anniversary Edition, and it was great. They should breakout online access separately, they would make a killing (just like the other major sports).

You would think the premier TV package for the NFL would be up to date with their marketing. Still sucks that DirecTV has a monopoly on it.

If Bears don't make playoffs, I would really consider trading a bunch of players and rebuilding.

http://www.directv.com/sports/nfl They have Jared Allen in a Vikings jersey, wtf?

Are you saying it is confirmed? I will be there for sure.

Now at first most say this is only Fantasy Football, but on the other hand, there is some correlation between stats and points. The Bears offense positions finished no worse than #12 at TE, and Defense comes in at a respectable #14. By position: Cutler - 11th Forte - 5th Marshall - 5th Jeffery - 7th Bennett - 12th Gould - 10th Bears Def - 14th Forte, Marshall, and Jeffery all made the Top 20 overall as well. If Forte, Marshall, and Jeffery finish in the top 10 of their positions, Cutler is easily a top 10 QB. http://sports.yahoo.com/news/2014-fantasy-...-204748821.html

Yeah, I see it flip-flopped with us at 12-4 and them at 11-5 or 10-6.

Last year we were historically bad on defense for numerous reasons. Obviously injuries, scheme, new coaches, loss of Urlacher, all took their toll. However, just looking at a few guys who we let go this off season tells you how bad we actualy were. 1. James Anderson, started 16 games and was our leading tackler? He also had 4 sacks. However, he looked as lost as Bostic and Greene half the time and didn't have their speed to recover. He seemed out of position a lot. He is now a Nickel LB in NE. To me, he was a big reason why we couldn't stop the run. 2. Major Wright, started 15 games. He has been hot and cold his entire career, but last year he was horrible. Replacing him with a tackling dummy would yield better results. So I see this as a huge upgrade, with either Mundy or Vereen. At best he will be TB's 3rd Safety behind Barron and Goldson. 3. Julius Peppers, started 16 games. He only had 7.5 sacks and was only disruptive when he wanted to be. He disappeared more last year than I can ever remember and his reputation for taking plays off really showed up. Replacing him with a younger Jared Allen who is very similar but with a motor that never stops is going to be an upgrade. GB says they will use him as an end, inside, and even at OLB. The OLB part is funny to me if Peppers is expected to drop into coverage regularly. 4. Zack Bowman, another on again off again player for the Bears, started 7 games. He is now in NY for CB depth. Fuller is a huge upgrade here in the Nickel. 5. Corey Wootton, started 15 games. He played half his snaps at DT, which is laughable. No wonder we couldn't plug a gap (270 lbs). The best part is Minny says they will use him both inside and outside. Good luck with that. Now you take those losses, and replace them with Allen, Houston, Young, Ferguson, Sutton, Fuller, Mundy, Senn, and Vereen with a converted SMC, and we are looking really good. If Wilson or Jennings pan out, even better.

Some other numbers that make you want to vomit: - The Bears allowed 20+ pts in every game, with 7 games over 30 pts, 4 over 40, and 1 over 50. It is actually amazing we ended up at 8-8 and had a realistic shot at 11-5 (MIN, DET, and GB games). What is crazy in all of that is we only lost by more than 10 pts twice. #offensivejuggernaut - The passing defense was decent, as we only allowed 2x 300 yard passers all year (Big Ben and Rodgers). That pass to Cobb put him over 300, ouch. #blowncoverage - We only had 4 games where we allowed less than 100 yards on the ground (3-1 in those games) #smcisnotade So we really have a lot of room to improve. If we can go from 30's to 15th in defense (seems like a lot, but I think we can even be better ~ 12th), we would shave 50 yards off a game against, and 6 pts per game. That is 4 wins (4 games that we lost by 5 or less).

That is a tough one, played before the internet and was not a star, I believe he is in this clip: https://archive.org/details/SuperBowlShuffle

Having us win a playoff game and losing to the eventual Super Bowl champs is not bad. I would rather have home field advantage and make SEA, SF, or NO come through Chicago. I am hoping for 12-4 or 13-3 with the defense exceeding expectations.

This is probably the best way to "predict" the records (by picking every game for every team) vs throwing up an arbitrary win number. To me the Cowboys, Lions, Bucs, and Chiefs seem a little low, and the Packers and Colts seem a little high. I see the Bears as a pretty accurate prediction, but I think we have a shot at the Division. NFC East Eagles 11-5 (4) Redskins 7-9 Giants 6-10 Cowboys 3-13 NFC North Packers 12-4 (2) *Bears 11-5 (5) Lions 4-12 Vikings 3-13 NFC South Saints 11-5 (3): Falcons 10-6 Panthers 7-9 Buccaneers 3-13 NFC West Seahawks 12-4 (1) *49ers 11-5 (6) Cardinals 10-6 Rams 10-6 AFC East Patriots 11-5 (3) *Jets 10-6 (5) Dolphins 8-8 Bills 3-13 AFC North Ravens 10-6 (4) Bengals 9-7 Steelers 9-7 Browns 6-10 AFC South Colts 13-3 (1) *Texans 9-7 (6) Titans 6-10 Jaguars 4-12 AFC West Broncos 12-4 (2) Chargers 8-8 Chiefs 4-12 Raiders 3-13 Wild-card round Patriots (3) defeat Texans (6) Ravens (4) defeat Jets (5) Saints (3) defeat 49ers (6) Bears (5) defeat Eagles (4) Divisional round Colts (1) defeat Ravens (4) Broncos (2) defeat Patriots (3) Seahawks (1) def. Bears (5) Packers (2) def. Saints (3) Championship round Colts (1) defeat Broncos (2) Seahawks (1) defeat Packers (2) Super Bowl XLIX Seahawks defeat Colts http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2...-colts/9767615/

You really think TB is going to do something in that division with ATL, NO, and CAR? Even if CAR is worse this year, they will still be a tough team to beat. TB also has a tough non-division schedule: BAL, CIN, PIT, CLE, GB, CHI, DET, MIN, WAS, and STL. They were 4-12 last year; at best, they make it back to 8-8, which still would be a huge success. The 2 WC teams last year had 12 and 11 wins, and the 5th best team by record was 10-6. So you are saying they are going at least 10-6, possibly 11-5? If they split their Division, they would have to win 7-8 games against those non-divisional opponents. That is pretty unrealistic. The problem with TB was their anemic offense, and they are counting on McCown, a rookie WR and TE to magically turn the team around. Who knows what McCown will look like in a new system not under Trestman. To me TB seems to be more in the 6-10 area than the 10-6 area.

Wilson has gained something like 23 lbs, mostly muscle I assume, which is crazy (184 to 207).

He needs to update his website: http://www.adrianwilson24.com/

To me it is Safety. Even if Briggs struggles or is out, we have Williams, Bostic, Greene, and SMC. Though not world beaters, they will be much better behind a strong DLine. My concern is still Safety because Conte, Mundy, Vereen don't invoke much confidence when Vereen, a rookie probably has the biggest upside and potential. The DLine is going to be a strength, and the game is won in the trenches; looking around the league, you can put up our OLine and DLine combined and we are comparable with some of the best teams in the league.

That is how you took that comment? To me he was saying the time to take vacation is when the season is over and not during OTA's or minicamps.

I would say the Izzy release is promising. That means we have a very solid and deep group.