Thread: Bears waive Bell after reserve RB refuses to take pay cut

Originally Posted by Bear Goggles

I want me some of those "Oh 'Bama Bucks" When does the "trickle down" start?

Meh. He was gone anyway after this year and unless Forte got hurt again he's have seldom seen the field anywhere but STeams. It wasn't an unfair requests. They tendered him last spring while they were still battling with Forte over his deal but once that was done we all knew he could be expendable, including him. It probably didn't come as a complete surprise.

I like Bell and I'm glad he'll get a chance to go somewhere where he can get some carries. He's good enough to be a strong #2 guy for someone. Maybe the Pack will pick him up too. He may actually be a better choice than Benson.

This gives Allen a shot and I like what I saw of him last year. We get a dimension out of his we don't have with another back. Now it's him and Booker competing for that #3 spot and while Booker is a good KOR guy Allen may actually turn out to be the better RB. I guess we'll know soon enough.

I'd like to see them keep Unga around but if they do I'm thinking it's gonna be on the PS to begin with. He can do more as a FB/RB than Clutts but not as a blocker and of course Clutts also has more value on STeams.

I liked Bell, hope he gets a chance playing in the AFC...

hope Unga now get's a roster Spot. would prefer it to have a guy like him on the roster. Could be, as said, our Alstott

Bell wasn't bad but with Forte, Bush, Allen breaking through in camp and Booker returning KOs 105 yards this was inevitable. Besides a third string running back that doesn't see the field should not be making $1.26 million.

Originally Posted by Riczaj01

Soul, Bell isn't in the same catagory of Benson. Before passing out from pain med's I saw a little of the GB/Cinci game, and Benson still looks very strong. I could see him going to Det or another team w/issues at RB, but I cannot see how Bell helps GB. Again the guy has a fumble problem which doesn't make him a strong 2 unless he's able to fix that; until then he'll be a decent 2 or a better 3/ST's guy.

I wouldn't compare anyone to Alsott, that guy was an oddity, rarely do you have someone of that size able to run like that, he was an absolute freak. If Unga had showed that kind of potential he would have been on the roster and playing in games years ago.

Clutts will be lucky to get 4-5 touches per game, what could have been his touches disappeared when we brought in Bush, and that is another strike against Unga. If this guy was showing anything near what the fans see we wouldn't have had to pay Bush to come here.

I disagree with you, Ric. While Clutts or Unga might not constitute being a player exactly like Mike Alstott, they probably are capable of giving you 3.5 yards per carry, which is good to start off a drive and each subsequent 1st and 10 set. You're right, though: Alstott was a beast, but I'm not convinced that Clutts or Unga couldn't do him some justice with regards to running the football. If I was Mike Tice, I'd run the football early and often. We can have an offense akin to the Oakland Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs, where the offense is very balanced between run and pass, and we can lead the league in rushing if we do this right. This league is still won in the trenches - the New York Giants, despite Eli Manning passing for over 4,900 yards last year, still ran the ball a lot - and we have to be able to win those battles against the Packers and Lions in order to win this division. I think it can be done, but I definitely don't think it will be easy. We should finish with no worse than a Wild Card berth, but I suspect that we will be better than the Lions this year and quite possibly give the Packers a run for their money.