Thread: Chicago bears polar bear offensive line

So despite having $30 million in salary-cap space, the Bears weren’t among the more active and aggressive teams at the start of free agency last month. They didn’t want to overspend in a buyer’s market.

‘‘Whatever we do, we want to do it with a plan,’’ Angelo told the Sun-Times recently. ‘‘It’s not that we just frivolously go out and collect talent. Everyone we brought in here, we have a plan for. .  .  . And it’s not like we have a $20 bill burning a hole in our pocket to spend.’’

Angelo still has about $19 million in cap space, although the Bears aren’t obligated to spend all of that to bump up against the 2011 salary cap of $120 million. The Bears intended to have less money left. They came up short in their pursuit of offensive tackle Willie Colon from the Pittsburgh Steelers, but Angelo insisted the Bears are pleased with the offensive linemen they have on their roster. He did hedge just a bit, though.

Asked whether the Bears are done addressing that unit, Angelo said, ‘‘We would revisit it if we don’t like what we see.’’

While he didn’t deny being interested in Colon, Angelo also made it clear the Bears weren’t desperate to land him. The only player in recent memory the Bears locked in on was defensive end Julius Peppers, whom they made the highest-paid defensive end in the league last year.

‘‘What you want to do is create options,’’ Angelo said. ‘‘You don’t want to get yourself pigeonholed and, if it doesn’t work, the bottom falls out. If you don’t get Package A, it doesn’t mean Package B won’t be a good package.’’

So other than signing Chris Spencer to a two-year, $6 million contact, the Bears haven’t pursued any offensive linemen, even though a number of credible ones are still available. Bryant McKinnie, Nick Kaczur, Mario Henderson, Max Starks, Flozell Adams, Mark Tauscher and Langston Walker are among the tackles available, and free-agent guards Leonard Davis, Brian Waters, Vince Manuwai, Shawn Andrews and Reggie Wells are still out there. Angelo said the Bears wouldn’t close the door on signing another veteran on the offensive line, but he indicated they want to give some of their younger players a chance.

‘‘At some point, you have to let these young guys develop,’’ Angelo said. ‘‘You bring in [a veteran], and he takes reps away from Lance Louis. So you know what? This young guy is on the shelf again. At some point, you have to believe in his traits, and then you have to let it play itself out. You can’t just continue to grab Band-Aids because the guys you have are unknown.’’

Bears’ Mike Tice expects offensive line to see ‘big jump’ vs. Giants

‘‘We had a handful of guys that played good, and I think those guys are evident,’’ Tice said. ‘‘We had a couple of guys that were on the cusp of playing winning football but didn’t.

Then we had some guys that didn’t play well. Not to call anyone out, [but] I think everybody knows who those guys are. It was pretty evident. They’re young. They need to improve this week.

Normally from the first preseason game to the second, guys make a big jump. We’re looking for that big jump. I thought they bounced back today at practice and practiced well.

We don’t want to play musical lines, and we don’t want to hit a panic button because the [sack] numbers are what they are.

We can make [up] a lot of numbers. We can say that we gave up nine sacks.

We could look at the ones that the line is accountable for and see if it’s possible to correct those things, and I really believe that we can. So we’re going to work diligently on correcting those things this week and hopefully bounce back and have a great week of practice and carry more of those good practices over into the game [Monday against the New York Giants].’’

Louis at right guard didn’t play well after excelling in practice, but he doesn’t deserve to be flogged for his performance just yet, Tice said.

Carimi was inconsistent and made rookie mistakes in his first NFL game, but he played better in the game than he had been playing in practice and will stay at right tackle.

''I think it's important to stay the course right now,'' Tice said, ''and stay positive, continue to teach and continue to have them accept teaching and hard coaching, and push themselves farther than they think they can go, and see if we can improve in a big jump this week, and see if we carry it over to Monday night.

I'm more encouraged than I was at this point last year, when we were playing musical lines.

I felt we ran the ball pretty good, which we didn't do [well] at any point last preseason.

So at least we can come out of it with that positive spin on it. You don't like the [sack] numbers.

The numbers are there. But when you look at the tape and say, 'How many [sacks] did we account for?' We can clean up the ones that we're accountable for. I really believe that.''

Tice acknowledged that right guard Lance Louis was guilty of struggling after having played well in practice, but with an explanation.

''Maybe part of his weakness [that was exposed against the Bills] is he went against a guy who was drafted [No. 3] in the draft,'' Tice said, referring to Bills rookie defensive end Marcel Dareus. ''I mean the guy was drafted there for a reason.

So anytime that you try to be overly aggressive with a guy and try to head-butt him and kill him, knock him off his feet and get yourself spread out, you're going to get beat. That's what happened to Lance on the two occasions. He got himself overextended. He's the guy that's been practicing extremely well.

He was the guy I was a little bit surprised at. As well as he's been practicing, he gave up a couple of big plays, bad plays. I think he'll have a great week of practice and bounce back and play better this week.''

Carimi, the rookie from Wisconsin who started at right tackle after having played left tackle in college, was inconsistent, but better in the game than he had been in practice. He's staying at right tackle, Tice said.

''If he's going to be the player that he can ultimately be, I think he can be a great right tackle,'' Tice said. ''Gabe was just the opposite [of Louis and Webb].

Gabe has had some bad sets in [practice]. Gabe went out and his best sets of camp were in the game.

He's a warrior and he's a player. The lights came on and he stepped up to the occasion. Yeah, he had a couple of dumb mental errors, but he's a rookie. Plays sound the same sometimes in the heat of the battle. But I thought he played well for his first time out of there. If he can continue to improve, we're really going to have a good one there."

Tice didn't profess to have any magic solution, but he was open to suggestions.

''I think everyone can sit here, all of us, and 100 percent identify what the problems are right now,'' Tice said.

''I'm acceptable to emails and suggestions if anybody has any other than, 'Work hard and get better.'

Fortunately the guys that didn't play up to par or how they've been practicing are young guys.

Young guys can get better in leaps and bounds where as veteran guys tend to - at this stage of their career - make the same mistakes,

and it's hard to fix those mistakes because they're entrenched in their ways.

What a great challenge, and what a great team to play against this week; a team that totally embarrassed us last year.

So we should have a chip on our shoulder going into that game.''

Originally Posted by jackiejokeman

The polar bear is the largest terrestrial carnivore, being more than twice as big as the Siberian tiger.

Adult males weigh 350–680 kg (770–1500 lbs) and measure 2.4–3 m (7.9–9.8 ft) in length.

Adult females are roughly half the size of males and normally weigh 150–249 kg (330–550 lb),

measuring 1.8–2.4 metres (5.9–7.9 ft) in length.

When pregnant, however, they can weigh as much as 499 kg (1,100 lb). Sign em!

The largest polar bear on record, reportedly weighing 1,002 kg (2,210 lb), was a male shot at

Kotzebue Sound in northwestern Alaska in 1960.

The shoulder height of the polar bear is 130–160 cm (51–63 in).

Originally Posted by Henry Burris

" The usual, they don't call me Angetard for no reason".

I don't know about the nickname jackie. Polar Bears have an extremely nasty disposition and our Polar LT says he has "intensity issues" which has never been a problem for a Polar Bear I'm certain. Polar Bears are generally better canidates for "sensitivity training" than they are for "intensity training". I would not want to meet up with one on a dark arctic night, LOL.

Originally Posted by soulman

I don't know about the nickname jackie. Polar Bears have an extremely nasty disposition and our Polar LT says he has "intensity issues" which has never been a problem for a Polar Bear I'm certain. Polar Bears are generally better canidates for "sensitivity training" than they are for "intensity training". I would not want to meet up with one on a dark arctic night, LOL.

I don't know man.... anything THAT close to canada can't be too scary.... shit look at wisconsin. Anyone EVER been intimidated by ANYTHING in wisconsin?... to barrow a line from a movie.... even their piss hitting the urinal sounds feminine....LOL.

[QUOTE=GrizzlyBear91;834520]I don't know man.... anything THAT close to canada can't be too scary.... shit look at wisconsin. Anyone EVER been intimidated by ANYTHING in wisconsin?... to barrow a line from a movie.... even their piss hitting the urinal sounds feminine....LOL.[/QUOTE]

LMAO!!!! Well there was this 200lb woman who used to have a crush on me when I lived there years ago. Now that was intimidating!

Polar bears have claws like butcher knives. I'm glad the o line is bigger,younger, and we can RUN. Now on to pass blocking.

well if we start tearing it up in the Run game, I do have a good nicname, but it's more applicable (sp?) for a single player than say a group....

I would like to throw out Sri Lankan Sloth Bear for consideration...