adam

Absolutely. I am not saying they don't have a hand in the success or failure of the performance of the team, but they seem to get too much of the credit and blame.

Currently in the NFL?

I don't care what you say about coaching, they are not the 11 players between the lines missing tackles and dropping balls. Could they have been better, absolutely, but I would not put the majority of the blame on the coaches. All those positions are over-rated IMO.

Also, I wouldn't evaluate him on just one game.

Benson is a bust? Come on now. This is the NFL. It is a team game. If you don't have 11 guys doing their job on either side of the ball, you will not be as good individually. Look at Randy Moss, he was horrible in Oakland. Once he went to NE, he became the top WR again. Same goes for Welker. He was used sparingly in Miami as a WR, and lead the league in receptions in NE.

If you think about it. If we take the same team, fix the OLine, and bring back all the injured players, we should be a 9-10 win ballclub. That doesn't include adding some quality players in the draft or thru FA. We were 0-4 vs Minnesota and Detroit. If we split with them, we would've been 9-7.

I agree. Benson was just as dominant in college as Mendenhall. If the OL is fixed, Benson would look much better. Also, the Passing game was so bad that they had 8-9 in the box all season. Very few running backs would do anything against those factors.

Futures Game?

Also trying clearing your cookies and history periodically. That has helped me in the past.

- Sign 2 impact Free Agents, preferably at least one OL (Faneca, Gross, Starks). - Bring in new QB and RB for competition (FA, trade, or draft) - Re-sign and restructure deal for Brown (w/ incentives) - Trade for McNabb (give up a couple of picks 2nds and 3rds), then trade down from #14 to acquire extra picks; give PHI a 2nd rounder from trade, and 3rd rounder from SD (sneak Arch into deal) - Re-sign Ayanbedejo - Cut Miller, Walker, and RMJ. Use that $11.5 million to sign Briggs to long term deal, and rest to extend Hester and Harris now. - Tag Berrian with transition or franchise tag. - Make some moves in the draft, either up to get some impact or down to acquire more picks. I hate standing pat. - Draft at least 2 OL, 1 QB, 1 S, 1 RB

I agree that the Bears do not have a superstar at any of the skill positions, but you can at least compare Olsen to Winslow, Berrian to Edwards, and Benson to Lewis. The biggest positional difference is QB. Also, the O-Line helps a lot of those positions look better. Bigger holes for RBs, more time for QB, etc. OL is not a sexy pick, but at this point we just need to get the best available that fills a need.

I would like to see Hass at least get a shot. He catches everything.

Just not with #14. If we can trade down and still pick him up in the 20s, then fine.

Someone will pick him up. He reminds me of mix between Orton and Grossman. He should change his name to Ortman.

You hate to trade away pitching, but they still are prospects. There have been more elite prospects that have never made it compared to ones that did. That is the nature of the game. I would say there is a good chance that one of those 3 will be an elite major league player over their career, one will be a fringe player, and one will turn out to be nothing. That is just how it works. Is there a risk in that deal? A ton. However, if you don't take risks you end up like the Pirates. Remember the Beckett/Lowell deal for the BoSox. That was a huge risk and look how it turned out. If the Sox farm system was rated so low with these guys in the system, how come these guys are so valuable now to other teams? The A's now have 5 of the Sox Top 10 prospects, but I thought the A's were the team that is great at drafting young players?

Someone mentioned Cleveland's resurgence in another thread. For the most part, it was due to their offensive line. They drafted Joe Thomas and resigned Steinbach to anchor their left side. For the Bears, a high quality OL FA and top draft pick will do the same thing for them.

I hope the only way this happens is with an incentive laden contract. Otherwise they need to cut Griese and bring in a rookie to groom.

Another Hester snub: Len Pasquarelli chooses Cribbs over Hester for All-Pro team. http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/stor...&id=3180907 Return specialist Josh Cribbs (Cleveland): It's always hard to choose against Chicago's Devin Hester, who already ranks as one of the great return specialists of all time. But the electrifying Cribbs led the league in kickoff return average and was in the top five in punt return average as well.

1-0 off the bat. Good week to rest starters.

He probably won't spend money there in FA. JA will probably draft a mid round RB.

http://www.chicagobears.com/news/NewsStory.asp?story_id=4249

#14 is too high for Mendenhall, and it wastes a pick on an area that is not the greatest need for the team. I would have to say OL or S with the first pick at #14. If there is no value there, you trade down and add some picks. Now if you can move down into the late 20's and still pick him up, while gaining a 2nd rounder, then that would be a pretty good deal. Mendenhall + a late 2nd round OL pick for #14. I hope we don't take Brennan in the 2nd. There seem to be a lot more QBs out there that are better than him who didn't play in a pass-crazy system. I keep seeing Flacco's name thrown out there. He seems to be better suited for the NFL.

Ah I see. In the standard view, I just follow the replied quoted posts. Since they are in order since I last posted, I can see what others have said. I guess it is just what you are used to. I don't know for sure, but there are normally add-ons/mods for these types of boards that allows the admins to do a lot. There may be something out there that gives you the options you are looking for.

I wouldn't mind seeing him brought in at any position. OC, QB's Coach, Special Assistant.

Thanks for the recaps. Still would've liked to have seen Hass in on a few snaps. Brown should be kept, but really needs to work out a better contract for both sides. Brown also made the run defense look a lot better - somehow. Grossman coming back has to be a longshot. He is probably better off getting a fresh start somewhere else.