Thread: No More 54 per ESPN..

of course, but dont foreget, if garza had an expired contract i dont think he would even get an offer today, hester would get a minimum one

I said it last night, and I mentioned it a week or so ago. That they might not want back THE Lovie guy, who is also THE locker room leader. This was a shot accross the bow of any current player that still has ties to Lovie, or that is recieving Trestman Cooly(as reported by the score many D players have).

Of course you're going to see JA/Lovie guys leave. That was the plan...when you move from a D system to an O system you are going to lose a lot of the key guys of the former system b/c you wont be able to afford them regardless. The Bears are going to try and build an elite O, and have an average D, and not Great D and average O. So losing guys like Peppers, Tillman, Briggs(all who are older anyways) is not going to be a suprise and would have happened regardless of BU signing or not.

BU was not a player worth signing for 3-4 mil, it's sad but true and the fact that no team came in to create a market proves that. I wanted Brian back this year, only b/c I wanted the new MLB to get to sit and watch for a year and learn from him...but that didn't happen and that is on BU as much as it is on Emery.

This is a new team who is going to forge a new identity, and that is hard to do when a key figure of the old team is still around.

Originally Posted by soulman

Just more bullshit rationalizations for having made a bad and very unpopular move. Those players who were loyal to Lovie Smith and most verbal about it will all be leaving now one player at a time. Mark this down and remember that I said it. This was a power move and a makeover move to make this team Phil Emery's and no amount of PR camouflage can disguise that.

I'm sorry but if you all can't get your heads out of the sand and see the big picture here instead of what writers are writing who can't possibly understand just how deep this digs then your knowledge or Bears lore and your understanding of Phil Emery and his motives aren't all that good. I can't imagine a worse way for them to have handled this mess.

Call it a makeover, rebuild, whatever, what we are witnessing is a Regime Change. And what comes from regime changes? New leaders, new processes, new philosophies, AND a new power structure. So, Soul, I don't disagree with your premise, but I don't think it's anything to disparage.

It is all on Emery/Trestman. We come out and play well, consistently, the butt-hurtness of this off-season will soon fade. The key is to win, and, at least, play at competitive level.

Because it's obviously all his fault.

I'll say it. IF cutler didn't need a huge new contract next year, we could have given BU 2 years 11.5.

Not to mention Cutlers awful play which forced an already old BU to play more then he should have if they had gotten a better QB who could have kept the O on the field more.

All JC's fault....but as expected Smokin' Jay Cutler is quoted as saying.......

I agree on the decision based on the numbers involved. What I don't agree with was the implementation. I don't feel that an ultimatum was the right way to go. Then I see money being spent on marginal players. The club wanted 2M Url would have done it for 3M. In this case, the team does not seem to have an issue with spending that incremental kind of money on players that might not contibute. Go 2.5M and say the .5 is just in case he can play better.

This should have gotten done and Url is stupid for saying he might play for 2M for another team but not the Bears. He is worth the most to the Bears and the Bears are worth most to him. Other teams did not make him an offer. The Bears did. That should mean something to him. And what he did for the BEars should be worth 500K.

Both need to put egos aside and this should have happened. It simply was not handled right. From both ends. However, I can say that inflexability when you expect a little loyalty does not get the cart moving in the right direction. I fault the Bears more than I do Urlacher.

It's done. Unless they both step away and take a deep breath, it's over. So for 2 or 2.5M can they do better than Url for a year? IMO they bit off their noses to spite their faces. Both need to act like adults.

I blame Jerry