Controlled Chaos

He made the Bears rich as well and they will continue to make money off of him when they release...commemorative this and commemorative that. I mean his high offer, the initial offer which everyone knows is just an inflated number to get things started was only 5.5 mil, so I don't think he was trying to take them for ransom. He may have even gone for 2 with incentives to get him to 3, but who knows...because this was never a negotiation.

Nobody said give him whatever he wants. He's not the same player and he wasn't asking to be compensated like the same player. He would've been back here for 3mil. This team is NOT going to find a better player/leader out there for that. He plays hurt and does whatever he can to be on the field and when he is injured and fights through it, he gets beat up for sucking. (All players are treated like this and I think it's ridiculous) I understand all the rage is take everything emotional out of any decision and base it on stats/productivity, but this is an emotional game. IMO you need that emotion to succeed and you need some of that emotion when making your personnel decisions. 54 at 3 million is bargain and deciding not to do it is a mistake. This was handled poorly. Clearly they didn't want him back and wanted to start fresh. If that's the direction then fine...they could have worked that out months ago, but it is insulting to basically offer him the league minimum, 1 mil with a chance to make another mil in incentives with a take it or leave it offer?? It doesn't make sense...especially if they want to run the same style of defense. I would have absolutely no issue if they brought in a new DC with a different philosophy and announced in Jan or Feb that Urlacher wouldn't be coming back. Thanks for your service and good luck, but this?? This was weak sauce.

The experts are right like 50% of the time with shit like this...so consider me an expert. Urlacher had no offseason, no preseason, some reports had him having 3 knee surgeries including 1 just 26 days before the season started. He definitely started off slow, rightfully so, but he was playing at a top level when he went down in week 13 and led the team in tackles. They'll be hard pressed to find someone of his caliber this year let alone missing out on a younger guy learning from him.

Lovie destroyed his knee in a meaningless game so he could say he didn't have a losing season. 54 had a pro bowl year and easily could have had another pro bowl last year if not for the knee rehab. That set him back with no preseason games. He still lead the team in tackles in week 13 when he suffered a hammy. I'm not saying they should have gave him the 5, but 2.75-3 would have been doable and if he's healthy that's a hell of a bargain.

Exactly. How does one determine control when talking about hundredths of a second. Initially, Tate had one hand on the ball when Jennings had 2 and I would argue control cannot be established when there are 3 hands on it. So in reality nobody had sole "control" in the air. What is the outcome of this same exact play on a sideline?? Let's say both players feet come down in bounds before tumbling out of bounds, and the receiver had one hand on the ball the same way Tate did, do you think it would be ruled an IT?? I don't. I think it would be ruled neither player had control or possession before going out of bounds. I just can't see conclusively determining control while another hand is on the ball, which means the A.R. example above...doesn't apply. here's a new look... http://m.nfl.com/news/0ap1000000066164/ Either way....it's not clear cut....

You're delusional. Why because the Bears held them to 14 points in the first half? It was 14-3 at halftime. Maybe it's because the Bears scored on their opening drive of the second half to make it 14-10!! Ooh we were so close for 1 minute and 33 seconds since that's all it took for GB to put up another 7. After another Bears 3 and out...GB marched 75 yds down the field and put up another 7. Now being down 28-10 and forcing the Bears to throw GB gets a pick. Takes them 3 plays to move 33 yards and score another 7. 35-10. Is this where you just got that funny feeling in your belly the Bears we're mounting their great comeback??? In desperation time...down 35-10....in the 4th quarter and with Hester getting them to the 33...it took them 6:59 and 12 plays to score. GB was so concerned that the Bears got within 3 scores that they brought Matt Flynn in the game. They didn't even let him throw the ball or GB probably would have scored again. YAY...we stopped them!!! Lets end this game feeling good and have a 13 play drive that's ends with a meaningless field goal from the 12 yard line because we can't punch it in against one of the leagues worst pass defense in the league!!!

I'm sure I'll be chastised for this, but personally, I can care less what the Packers did. We are not even in their damn class right now!! There needs to be real competition for a rivalry unless there's thuggery. Packers have beat the Bears 7 out of the least 9 times they played. They are probably 3 years ahead of us and a top 5 team that had a bad day. We're paddling through shit with a couple of popsicle sticks!! Screw GB I don't care if they win and I don't care if they lose. I care that the Bears are not even an average let alone elite team in the NFL. As a Sox fan I feel the same way about the Cubs. I care as much about the Cubs losing as I do about the Padres losing. Who gives a crap. You know why fans have to relish in other teams misfortunes...it's cause their own team sucks. Keep your eye on the ball. This franchise is in shambles!!! I know all of you watched the games last week. Those are real fricken teams. I was embarrassed wearing my Bears shirt watching SF, NO, & NE because MY team hasn't been that good since 85. Yeah they went to the Superbowl in 06, but it was a tumultuous year to say the least. The NFC was shit. We had a QB controversy, RB controversy, WR controversy, Coaching blunders. If you read the boards during that year, you would swear we had a losing season. The defense bailed that team out with timely turnovers and Hester bailed the team out with timely touchdowns and starting field position with teams starting to pooch kick. There was rarely an enjoyable win. That dominant defense is gone and teams have been able to limit Hester...so what now? We have a good Defense and maybe another year before our defensive stars are on the decline but guess what...we have no fricken depth behind them. I fear the Bears will be rebuilding from scratch and we will have wasted the only franchise QB we have ever had. I have no confidence in this front office or coaching staff. They haven't given anyone any dam reason to have confidence. Be happy the Packers lost??? Please...I fuckin wish we had a year like them and like they will for the next 5!!!

Why the $#%*^ would any of these guys come here and have to live with Lovie's philosophy and not their own. I don't get why Lovie has all this confidence from the top. How this teams failures over the past 8 years is not an indictment on him is beyond me. We're not talking about Walsh, Parcells, Belichick, Schottenheimer. Those are successful coaches. Those are coaches who have had assistants become successful coaches. That's a winning philosophy to stand behind. If you had one of those guys as your coach, I can understand standing pat behind their philosophy and asking the GM coming in to stand behind it as well, but we're not talking about that. We're talking about Lovie Smith. He's only hit double digit victories in 3 of his 8 years. He's a piss poor game manager. Piss poor talent evaluator. Piss poor player developer. Slow to recognize the obvious. Horrendous with the challenge flag. Terrible at clock management. The only thing that can be said for Lovie is he has the respect of his players, but he's a pretty easy coach to play for. His camps have been of the country club variety. No player is ever reprimanded, no matter how obvious or insanely idiotic the incident perpetrated happens to be. He just pretends the entire NFL viewing world is ignorant. He treats everyone the same, which is not how you rule 53 personalities. Some players motivate themselves because they are their worst critics, but others...like young, cocky, rich kids, who have been praised and treated like royalty up until now, need a little talking to...need a little discipline. You can't continue to watch them make mistake after mistake hoping they "get it" Please tell me what makes him a good coach. Give me a player he has “coached” up? Tell me what he has done to earn such power as to help choose his own boss? Angelo was clearly a terrible talent evaluator that struck gold a couple times. But what happens to these players after Jerry drafts them?? They go to Lovie. Lovie then has the responsibility to evaluate & remove how he sees fit. But talentless players stick around here a long time. Lazy, undisciplined players stick around here a long time. Who they hell trusts Lovie as a talent evaluator and why?? Accountability has been a bad word around Halas Hall forever. Why would any GM want to come here and be hamstrung by this?? A GM needs to look to the future. Lovie needs to look out for himself NOW. Whose philosophy are you drafting for? Lovie’s or the GM’s? What a mess. One of the most storied and respected franchises of the NFL is a 3 ring circus!!!!!!!

Citing philosophical differences.

I saw the debbie downer title and was like this dude needs to get a clue...but ya know what...you're saying a lot of the same stuff I've been saying....minus the debbie downer part. We all have a right to be pissed at not beating that team. The Hanie stuff though...I agree with. The Knox INT shouldn't have been. Knox just flat out sucks at going and getting a ball or preventing the defender from catching it. Yes it was an under thrown ball, but QB's under throw WR's all the time. Even an avg WR prevents that pick. The Williams INT...no explanation needed. Not Hanie's fault and a TD taken from him. The Barber penalty...no explanation needed. Not Hanie's fault and a TD taken from him. The hail mary INT...shouldn't ever fricken count against a QB....he's just throwing it up for grabs and saying a prayer. So yeah Hanie needs to improve his accuracy and pocket presence. A couple of those sacks were on him...but most were on the O Line, who reverted back to fricken week 3. They were horrible...pass blocking as well as run blocking. Barber had 14 attempts and 2 were no gain, 4 were for negative yardage and 5 were for 4 yds or less. 11 fricken plays go for less than 4 yds??? I'm not saying Hanie is the QB of the future, but he didn't play that bad considering how everyone else did. He should have had 17 points and 0 INT. They, also, had another FG attempt nullified with a delay of game that took us out of range. He's a rookie and needs a little help from the Vets, but I can't think of one that didn't let him down. This game was sloppy as all hell.

The bigger question should be why was Sanzenbacher targeted so much as to even have 6 drops, when Roy is on this team? Williams is hot garbage and should have been cut long ago. I would take any young WR busting his ass to make an impression over this lazy POS. I would much rather the drops from Sanzenbacher than Williams..at least Sanz can improve...Williams just is old and doesn't give a shit. What fricken player with his last shot, last shot to play in the NFL, comes to camp out of shape. Dude should have been dropped right there!

Here's a new link http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/footb...0,4417004.story

Screw him. "Enigmatic" is not the adjective anyone cares to use when describing what many feel is the best RB to ever play the game. He can save his BS. This was a money grab, plain and simple. If he pisses on someone's grave to get there, so be it. I hope to God nobody buys this book. Enjoyed Kass and Haugh this morning. Give them a read. Also, here is the authors contribution to the trib, trying to pedal backwards and get some sales.

Funny I just heard Michael Wright on ESPN discussing how Knox's problems are more mental. Check out the 2:25 mark He needs to get in the classroom..etc... Haven't we been here before... Now I'm not overwhelmed by Roy Williams either, but until I see him run behind the defender on a slant route, I'll give him the upper hand on Knox.

Per Zach Zeidman - Bears agreed to terms