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Well, it wasn't one & done.

purplejokr — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 06:21:37 GMT

First off, I have to explain my absence so no one thinks that I have been away to hide... like some folks have done around these parts.

My birthday was the 5th of February. For my birthday, I decided that I wanted to go to the Caribbean and visit South America. So, I left on January 25th for Miami. I watched the NFC title game in a hotel room in Miami. After that I boarded Celebrity Cruise Line's brand new ship named the Equinox for an 11 day voyage around the Caribbean that included stops in Panama, Costa Rica, & Colombia. At the end of our cruise, I flew home on my birthday and watched the Super Bowl at a friend's place. I watched the Super Bowl bitterly, I might add.

I spend this week catching up with the things that went undone while I was away from my house as well as preparing for the upcoming semester of school.

So, yeah, had I not been away on vacation I would have checked in much sooner than today. If only to vent about what I felt was the problem with the Vikings and their performance against the Saints.

Vikings lose. :sad44:

It wasn't even that they lost as much as how they lost. Fumbling the damn game away was just terrible. I could handle losing to a better team and even being blown out but to lose that way was just demoralizing.

The defense played its best game of the year against a fantastic opponent. The Vikings dominated the game statistically from beginning to end. It was the offense that committed 5 turnovers that just killed them.

As I am completely aware that this is a Bears' board and there is an unmitigated hatred for Brett Favre, I understand that most of you will blame Favre for throwing the game away. Sidenote: Which is funny to me because to the best my knowledge, Jay Cutler led the league in INTs this year yet Bear fan blames Jay for only a handful of INTs. LOL!

For me, a combination of red zone fumbles killed the Vikings. Turning the ball over and giving the Saints a short field was too much for the Viking defense to handle. Coupled with the Vikings putting the ball on the turf in the Saints' end. It was those fumbles that led to Favre making the throw late in the 4th across his body that was INT'ed. Man, that was a HORRIBLE play!

However, like I have said during discussions about Cutler's proclivity to throw INTs this season... This is what you get with a gunslinger at QB. Like Bear fan like to mention time and again, Favre is the INT King for a reason. I get that and there is no disputing that. With that said, I assume that Favre will throw an INT or two when playing a good team. What I do not assume are red zone fumbles by skill position players.

So, for me, Favre's INTs are a part of the equation. Just like Cutler's INTs are a part of the equation. I assume that Favre/Cutler WILL turn the ball over at any given time. I mean, 26 INTs and Favre's INTs over his career aren't anomalies! If anything, Favre's 7 INTs this season are the anomaly!

What I cannot wrap my head around is Peterson's, Harvin's, and Berrian's putting the ball on the turf. And where they put the ball on the turf! I mean, Berrian fumbled at the Saint 18 or something while Harvin fumbled at the Viking 26 or something. Those two turnovers are just killer. One led to 7 points for the Saints while the other potentially took away 7 points from the Vikings. Adding Favre's INTs puts the Vikings in an absolutely HORRIBLE position.

The amazing thing is that the Vikings were STILL in a position to win at the end of the game. All it was gonna take was a field goal and the Vikings were headed to Miami. The Vikings were STILL in the game even after seemingly EVERYTHING had gone wrong.

Many thanks to the defense for playing the game of their lives. I just wish the offense could have risen to their level. 6 damn fumbles just isn't gonna win a football game. Especially, when you add in two INTs.

Me ----> :rock: <---- Viking offense

One & Done.

purplejokr — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 06:21:28 GMT

As the regular season closed, the Minnesota Vikings looked like a team lost. I was genuinely concerned about their chances in the playoffs against the elite football teams of the NFL. I felt that the Vikings would need solid performances to close the regular season and to open the playoffs before my brain would allow me to believe that this squad had what it takes to win a Super Bowl.

With that said, let's roll it back to Sunday December 6th. The Vikings were 10-1 and in firm control of the NFC North as well as the #2 seed in the playoffs. Headed to a showdown with the division leading and NFC champion Arizona Cardinals. Needless to say, the Cardinals laid a whupping on the Vikings that STILL stings. It was an old fashioned butt kicking that made me think twice about the Super Bowl potential of this squad. I think the thing that bothered me the most was how the front lines were manhandled by the Cardinals. It wasn't just one side of the ball either. The Vikings' defensive line could get NO pressure on Warner. Meanwhile, the Cardinals' defensive line was getting to Favre time and again. It was a real wake up call for me and I hoped the Vikings.

Since it was only a single game and the Vikings had another potential playoff team on the schedule, I hoped that a domination of the Cincinnati Bengals would get the Vikings on the right track. Fortunately for me, the Vikings were able to find their groove again and put the hammer down on the Bengals. That win put me back in the frame of mind that this team may be able to make some serious noise come playoff time.

The following week I was more than confident that the Vikings would be able to put away a flailing Carolina team that was stumbling to a terrible season. Add in the fact that Carolina was starting a QB no one had ever heard of, this seemed like an easy win. As Chris Berman is apt to say though, "That's why they play the games." Boy was he right. Again, the Vikings lines were flat out destroyed. This time instead of Bertrand Berry in red it was Julius Peppers in teal. Peppers has pretty much mailed in this season until that game against the Vikings when he decided that it was time to start playing football. He dominated Bryant McKinnie so much that McKinnie was eventually benched. A PRO BOWL lineman. Benched. I was stunned. Even more unbelievable was the fact that at the time the Panthers were 5-8 coming into that game. Again, I was very concerned that now this is a second time that the Vikings had been dominated in the trenches.

If I see something once, I can chalk it up to an anomaly but if I see it twice, I have to ask if this is a trend. And, yeah, I believed it was a trend.

Next up was the 5-9 Chicago Bears. I was fairly certain that this is just what the doctor ordered for this Viking team. They needed to play a team that was weak in the trenches and that is what they got in the Bears. However, the game played out and, again, the Bears were able to pressure Favre time and again with their front four. Something that I had not seen the Bears do all year long sans the Packer games. Now, this was the third time that I was watching the Vikings get manhandled in the trenches and if once is an anomaly, twice is a trend, then, thrice is obviously a pattern. After the Vikings lost to the Bears in Chicago, I was forced to reevaluate this team under the most critical eye to ascertain if what I was seeing was the real team exposed or if something else was going on.

After consideration, I determined that in order for me to believe in this team again it was going to take two consecutive performances that left no doubt as to who the better team on the field was. The fact that the second of those victories was going to be against a playoff team and, possibly, a division winner did not matter. If the Vikings were deserving a Super Bowl consideration this should not be an impossible task.

First up, the New York Giants. Final score: 44-7. This was the complete dominance that I was looking for. Yes, the Giants were circling the drain at this point in the season but good teams are SUPPOSED to pound bad teams. And that is exactly what happened in week 17 for the Vikings. They effectively & methodically obliterated the Giants on both sides of the ball. I was pleased to see this but I wasn't convinced. I wanted to see the Vikings do the same thing to a quality playoff opponent.

Next up: Dallas Cowboys. Probably the hottest team in the NFC. The same Cowboys that went into New Orleans and ended the Saints' bid for perfection. The same Cowboys that lit up the Eagles two consecutive weeks. I believed this would be the test that I was seeking. Even as the game approached, I was unsure if I could watch it because if the Vikings weren't Super Bowl caliber WITH Farve, then, this entire Favre signing would do nothing but be a waste.

Game on and the Cowboys' first series is very successful. They're gashing the Vikings' front with ease and I am beginning to see the dominating victory I was seeking fall to pieces. Then, Edwards forces a Romo fumble at the Viking 38 yard line. Disaster averted only to have the Cowboy defense force a punt after 3 plays. Another solid drive by the Cowboys and they run out of steam at the Viking 30 yard line. Thankfully, Suisham misses a 47 yard FG that would have drawn first blood.

At this point, I am pulling for the Viking offense to wake up and put together a drive that would keep the Cowboy offense off of the field. The Cowboys moved the ball extremely well and at that point I was convinced that the Vikings best opportunity to win was gonna be keeping the ball out of Romo's hands.

4 plays in the next Viking possession, TOUCHDOWN! Right now, I am feeling good about the game. Especially since Sensabaugh never found the ball but this also concerns me because it was obviously a blown coverage that is totally correctable.

Cowboys drive the field again and finally get the 3 points that eluded them earlier when Suisham missed.

Now, this possession is when I begin to feel some confidence. The Vikings drive the field, 80 yards in total, to score their second touchdown of the game to take a 14-3 lead.

The best part about this touchdown is that Rice put DeMarcus Ware on the ground, ad libbed, got open in the seam, Farve found him and Rice walked into the end zone. This was not design. This is heads up play by a young WR.

The Vikings added a field goal before the half was over to extend their lead to 17-3.

The second half the Cowboys did not score so there is no need to continue a play-by-play but there it was... A second consecutive win in dominating fashion over a division winner.

So, am I confident heading into New Orleans? To a very loud Superdome when the Vikings have played poorly on the road. Yeah, a bit.

What I know is this... If this team shows up in New Orleans like it did today in Minnesota, the Vikings will have done everything in their power to win and that is all I can ask.

The best part is, there were several posters on the board that were spouting off their opinion about the Vikings chances in the playoffs. Now, I get that everyone is entitled to their opinion but I feel that to be a valid opinion that opinion should be accompanied by some facts. Suffice it to say, many posters around here simply said, "One and done."

I am very happy that the Vikings were not "one and done."

:cheers:

Please learn the words to "Bear Down"

MikesNephew — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 19:47:40 GMT

Last week at the bar there was a guy who trie at least 15 times to get people to sing the Bear's fight song The problem was, he didn't know any of the words past the first half of the first line, "Bear down Chicago Bears,da da da da da da da da da da da". It was pitiful. Every time the Bears scored or made a great play he would start up and get only that far. So finally at the end of the game when he started the song again I stod up and sang the entire song. Everybody was amazed that someone actually knew all of the words to the song. It's only 5 lines long! Do every Bears fan a favor and learn the words to this song so you won't be "that guy" who tries to start a song with pride and then looks like a dick because he only knows 4 words of the song.

Bear down, Chicago Bears, make every play clear the way to victory;
Bear down, Chicago Bears, put up a fight with a might so fearlessly.
We'll never forget the way you thrilled the nation, with your T formation.
Bear down, Chicago Bears, and let them know why your wearing the crown.
You're the pride and joy of Illinois, Chicago Bears, Bear down.

Being a Real Fan

MikesNephew — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 00:43:46 GMT

I just read a post from a rival team fan who said he was posting on Da Bears site for a week and was never treated like anything but a fan. When you compare an American Football fan to a soccer hooligan, it makes us seem like wusses. The big difference is that we are fans and not hooligans. Look it up. We don't have to fight and riot to prove our loyalty to our team. We don't end up with possible deaths at our games because someone stepped into the wrong part of the stadium. Sure there are occasional drunks who start a fight with a fan from the other team, but I don't recall in my 48 years as a fan of ever hearing of someone dieing for being in the wrong jersey or for stepping into rival bleachers. If you google that however, you'll see article after article of 2, 3, 4, soccer fans killed at games. I even saw one question that asked if there were any football fans out there, and not the silly American game. I guess other countries see the deaths as just being part of the game. So maybe we look silly to those other people, but I don't think any of them could ever show they were better fans than the average American Joe. I think it is a tribute to American Sportsmanship when a rival fan can feel comfortable whether it's in a website, stadium, or on any city street. Here's to being a "good sport". I always wondered what that meant before now.

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What Makes You A Bears Fan? Pt.2

MikesNephew — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 01:35:19 GMT

Thank goodness for technology. These little satellite dishes today that pick up everything with a change of the channel are great. I got the NFL package for a couple of years so I could watch every Bears game, but I was missing the idea of being with other fans at the same time so when I was jumping up and down like my dad used to do, someone would hear me and would understand it. It's one thing to watch football, but it's another thing altogether to watch a game as a fan and making some noise when your team scores. I needed to find a way to share my fan-ness. The NFL package just wasn't enough.

I started the Colorado Bears Fan Group and the Colorado Springs Bears Fans Group a couple years back on Myspace. I also put it on Craigslist to announce we were starting the group. Now all we needed was a place to get together to watch the games. I asked online if anyone knew of a bar that was a bonified Bears bar. I had people telling me there were 2 places. that I should check out. I walked into the first one and saw Butkus jerseys, Ditka jerseys, Bear heads, Payton jerseys, and all kinds of other Bears paraphernalia all over the place. They had 3 big screen TVs and about 20 other ones. I figured this would be a great place to watch a Bears game and decided I didn't even need to go see the other place. I talked to the owners and found they were from Deerfield. They even sounded like Chicago folks, you know, the accent that nobody around Chicago thinks they have.

So now I spend some time each day on DaBears.com talking to other Bears fans about Bears stuff. I go to that bar every week there is a game and watch the game with 50 other Bears fans, including my son 34 and my daughter 32, and sometimes their kids. My 12 year old grandson is a big time Bears fan. He had an Urlacher jersey that he wore so often that the numbers and the name were peeling off to the point that you could hardly tell it was a Bears jersey any more. I got him a couple more for Christmas so he wouldn't wear his "lucky" jersey 2 days a week to school. And now when I jump up and yell at the TV when the ref makes a crappy call there are 50 other people around me that understand exactly what I am doing. I'm not the only one jumping up and yelling either. Along with everybody else, my grandson and my son are yelling with me. It's fun to watch a Bears game again.

What Makes You A Bears Fan? Pt.1

MikesNephew — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 01:33:37 GMT

Many years ago (about 48 actually) I began to take notice of football. I was already into hockey as was every other kid my age. We all got hockey skates for Christmas and spent every day freezing our butts off at the school ice rink. Of course we never realized we were freezing because we were having too much fun. We were all sports nuts back then, mainly because there were a lot of empty lots in our relatively new neighborhood. Empty lots were perfect for sports. That year, when I was 8, I saw some bigger kids playing football in the neighborhood and I wanted to play.

I was a small kid. While most of the other boys were all at least 5 feet tall I was about 4' 6". Every time I would ask to play they would say I was too little. That really pisses a kid off to hear that kind of thing over and over. So finally one day there weren't enough "big" kids to make up 2 equal teams and one of them asked me if I still wanted to play. So I grabbed my helmet and shoulder pads and ran over to join my first game. As it turned out, because I was so much smaller than all of them I had a lot of speed and could outrun almost all of them, especially the fat kids that thought they were the best because they were the biggest. All it took was for me to score a couple times and I was invited into every game from then on. That was my entrance into the world of football.

My dad is a Bears fan that has stood by the Bears every year for at least 60 years. He would go to almost every home game at Wrigley Field and then Soldier Field regardless of the weather. On the days that the Bears were away, he would watch the games on our old black and white TV. We didn't have a color TV until I was about 15. When my dad watched football he was a maniac. He was up and down from his chair throughout the game. He would yell at the players, the refs, and the coaches, and we would hear some pretty nasty cusswords whenever there was a bad call or play. That year I turned 8 I started to watch games on TV, and I copied everything my dad did - except for the swearing of course.

As I grew older I became a much more intense Bears fan. I watched every game with all of the intensity of my dad. My brother was about 2 years older than me and he would watch the games with us too. We were without a doubt a Bears fan family. One of the best things about the games was the inevitable phone call that would happen at the end of nearly every game. Everybody on my mom's side of the family lived up around Green Bay and of course they were Packer Backers. Since we were from Chicagoland, every game would tie into the Bear Packer dynamic. The division revolved around one of these teams or the other winning and losing, and the phone calls at the end of the games depended upon which team won and if the other one lost. If the Bears won and the Packers lost, my dad would make the call to my Packer Fan uncle. "Ha ha you son of a bitch. How do you like that?!?", was pretty much how every one of my dad's calls started. When the Packers won and the Bears lost, the phone would ring immediately after the 2 games and it would be my uncle with his call, only he was a super Catholic and probably used son of a gun instead.

As I grew up watching games with my dad and hearing those phone calls every week I would wish that when I was older and married I would have a relative who was a Packer Fan just so I could be the one make the SOB phone call. Of curse I had a couple of cousins that would grow up in a Packer home, so I knew I would at least have them to call. I was always going to be too small to play football all the way through school, so I had to be the best fan I cold possibly be. Then my dad came up with the way to make us better fans.

My dad sold mens' clothes for a living. He sold suits to all of the cities bigshots and rich guys. Fortnately for my brother and I, every guy that bought a suit and some shirts, and a couple ties, also needed one other item. One of the items dad sold was Esquire Socks, and that was the secret weapon. Every winter Esquire Socks held their father and son dinner in Chicago. It was always at one of the finest hotels downtown, and every year they had at least 2 Chicago Bears stars as their guests of honor. Lucky for us, my brother and me got to go with our dad every year for about 6 years.

We got to meet who ever was the rising star on the Bears football team, and one year we got to meet a star from another team. I had my picture taken with Mike Ditka 3 years in a row! I met Ed Obradovich, Dick Butkus, Johnny Morris, Gale Sayers, and Ted Karas. I got to stand in next to Gary Ballman from the Steelers one year because we share the same first name. I really wanted to stand next to Ditka, but the name thing you know. On top of meeting these guys at the sock thing my dad took us one year to meet Johnny Unitas and he gave me and my brother autographed footballs. You talk about star struck, to a kid that's between 9 and 14, meeting guys like this was huge. My user name of MikesNephew came about because when I was younger and my friends would ask why I was i so many pictures with Mike Ditka, we'd lie and say he was our uncle. Hence, MikesNephew. By the way, the last year we went to the sock convention they changed it to Father, Son, & Daughter Night. It kind of ruined it for us boys because the girls didn't give a squirt about football.

My dad would take my brother and I to Bears games whenever someone he knew was giving up their tickets, and we had a blast seeing a game in person. My dad was part of a group that got their tickets, a bus ride, and beer and snacks on the bus as part of a package deal. A ticket broker would sell them as many seats as they wanted, needed , or could afford, but the broker "owned" the seats. It worked out pretty good because nobody had to drive home from Chicago after a game and a bunch of beer. It was about 32 miles, and it was always better to let the bus driver worry about traffic and parking anyway.

When I was 19 I got an invitation from the US Government to join them in their effort to keep America free, and I entered the US Army. When I was away from home I really missed watching the games with my family. I met other Bears fans along the way, but it just wasn't the same. When I was stationed overseas it was even worse. I was in Italy for over 3 years, and we had no TV over there. Italian TV only showed Soccer and Bicycling meets on Sundays. I was really missing football. I would have to stay up until 2 or 4 Am to listen to a game on the short wave radio, and that would make being in the Army the next morning a real drag. When I was going to get to come back to the states for a visit, I asked my dad and brother to get tickets to a Bears game so we could all go together.

It was 1974 and my dad, my brother, and I went on the bus to a Bears game. I can't remember a whole lot about it because we all 3 drank a lot more beer tham we should have. One of the cigarette companies was handing out those little sample packs with 4 or 5 cigarettes in each one, and when the girl gave my dad one he said to her, "Come on. Give me a pocket full. All your boss cares about is that you gave them away.' She gave us each about 15 packs. We laughed so hard because my dad said he wasn't going to smoke the horseshit things anyway. It was raining and drizzling and everybody was covering up with plastic sheets. My dad took out one of the free cigarettes and lit it, tossing it immediately and joking about how it tasted like horse crap. So he lit a couple more and did the same thing. When he flicked the last one in the little pack it landed on the plastic sheet of a lady about 6 rows down. It burned through the plastic, then through her scarf, and down onto her head. She jumped up screaming and thrashing at her head to put the cigarette out. She turned around looking for the person who tossed it, but we sat there stonefaced. When she turned back around we all laughed so hard I thought I would wet my pants.

It was a miserable day weatherwise, so that little cigarette distraction made the game for us. As it turned out, it got so foggy that we couldn't even see the field. It was worse than the "Fog Bowl" of 1988, which we were all at too. The fog poured into the stadium from the northeast corner and flowed down the seats like a stream. It filled the field from one end to the other and then it was impossible to see any of the game. We sat through the whole thing anyway since we couldn't leave until the bus did. As we got on the bus after the game though, we found out that everyone else had gone to the bus as soon as the field fogged up, and they were all sitting there waiting for us. We had another good laugh, and what should have been a lousy stinking day turned out to be one big laugh.

I got back to the states from Italy in August of 1976 and was once again able to watch football. My next duty station was Fort Carson, Colorado. I don't know why, but everyone expected I would turn into a Bronco fan. There is no logic in that. I don't know too many people who have moved and then gave up on their old team just because they lived near a new one. Not me anyway. I had a hell of a time watching any games though. I couldn't find a bar anywhere in town that showed the Chicago games except for Old Chicago, and it was in no way a sports bar or a Bears bar. I found a Vikings bar that tolerated me as a customer and they would turn on the Bears games whenever they didn't coincide with the Vikings games. This was in the day of the first satellite dishes that were like 8 feet around. They had to go outside to turn the thing to aim it where it would pick up the signal. At least I got to see the Bears games.

Thank you Bye-Week

gammabears — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:23:09 GMT

Thank goodness for the bye week. I for one didn't like it was an early one when I first glanced at the schedule. I think the Bears are blessed with the early bye week. It's a time to heal up, a lot of banged up players including the starting strong linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa. He went down in game one, I really hope he doesn't get too shy when it comes to contact after that injury. Bears need all the ferocity on defense they can get. Ever since Mike Brown left, it just doesn't seem the same anymore. Probably didn't help that Urlacher is done for the season. But so far the Bears have been undefeated since he was put on the IR. Nick Roach has been doing an excellent job filling in those big shoes. It's tough to replace a legend like Urlacher... That's right. I said LEGEND. What does that make Butkus and Singletary? UBER LEGENDS, lol. Anyways, back to the topic at hand. The depth at the LB position has shocked me to be honest. I thought the Bears were done for when Urlacher and Pisa went out in the first game. I really hope the LB Corps continue to produce and really put a hurting on the Packers, Vikings and the Lions.

Guess I'll get down to breaking down the offense, defense and special teams.

Offense - Despite Jay Cutler having a horrid outing against the Packers in his first regular season games as a Chicago Bear, he has put up some great numbers since. After throwing 1 TD and 4 interceptions, he threw 7 TDs and 1 interception. I'd like to call that a great improvement. I am very impressed with his ability to throw on the run and throw the long ball. After doing some research, the longest he's thrown as a Bear was 68 yards. Not bad eh? I would have to say he's better on the run than he is in the pocket sometimes. Which is something he has to do a lot because the line doesn't usually hold up a lot. I'm not knocking the o-line guys, they've done their job. I would prefer that Jay would have a little more in the pocket before scrambling. Another thing I'm really impressed about is Jay's ability is producing game winning drives. The Pittsburgh and Seattle games were nail biters to the end. I have this new feeling whenever the Bears are down in the 4th quarter. It's hope for Jay to produce a drive to win the game. I don't think I've ever had it before. I do wish he is able to score right off the bat on the Bears opening drives. I really hope the offense gets the ball rolling quickly because the Bears just can't live on 4th quarter comebacks. The stress alone for Bear fans would make doctors cringe! Lol. I have a feeling they will start to dominate on the offense very very soon after the bye week. Anyways, here's Jay Cutlers stats.

First game
GB - 17/36 for 277 yards, 1 TD, 4 INT, 43.2 QB Rating

Last three games
PIT - 27/38 for 236 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INT 104.7 QB Rating
SEA - 21/27 for 247 yards, 3 TDS, 1 INT 126.4 QB Rating
DET - 18/28 for 141 yards, 2 TDS, 0 INT 100.4 QB Rating (Also had a rushing TD)

So after 4 games 8 TDS, 5 INT, 901 Yards and a rating of 89.3 . I have a feeling Jay will continue to improve overall.

Alright down to the WR and RB's. Coming into the season, about damn near every "sports analyst" said the Bears have one of the worst WR cores in the NFL. Well look at the Bears now! at least 5 WRs have 10 catches or more. Devin Hester is becoming a good WR, making some clutch catches. The rookies certainly have stepped up haven't they. The emergence of Johnny Knox has surprised about dang near everybody. From his touchdown catch in the Steelers game to the 102 yard KO Return for a TD against the Lions. The dude is fast and has some great hands, can't wait to see him later in the season making more great plays. Speaking of making great plays, Kellen Davis, the emerging TE. So far he has caught two touchdowns and I expect a lot more out of him down the road. I just wish Greg Olsen would have bigger numbers right now. I hope he will improve his game after the bye week. Really need it badly.

Now to the RB Core.... Matt Forte sure has been struggling this season. I think it's partly to due to an injury and the o-line not creating enough holes for him to break a big one like he did against the lions. Plus he's not getting the ball as often like he did last year. He was grinding the defense into the ground last year because of all his carries throughout the game. It's going to be really tough for him this year. I think he'll pull through and improve his game. So far he has 71 carries for 271 yards and 1 TD for a 3.8 average. I think without the Lions game his average and yards would be a lot lower. The bye week will be good to him, lots of rest and the o-line to practice creating holes for a truck to run through. Since AP is expected to miss a few weeks and Kevin Jones done for the season, the just leaves Garrett Wolfe as the 2nd string running back. I think the area he needs to work on is pass blocking. Really hard for a 5ft 7 running back to block 6ft+ defensive tackles, linebackers and db's. Especially the one that literally hurdled over Wolfe. Just can't happen. Other than that, he's done his job. I am very very happy he finally got a touchdown. It was the first one of his career and it was a beauty. His stats for 09 currently is 11 carries for 45 yards, 1 TD with a 4.1 average. Keep it up man, keep it up. Bears need your help. I would like for the Bears search for a 3rd string running back this season. I just don't know if that's going to happen though. Well.. for the first four games of the season. I give the Bears Offense a B+. It's not an A because of the lack of scoring in the first quarter and opening drives and because of the slow start to the running game.

Alright, down to defense. There have been many injuries to the defense. Urlacher done for the season, Pisa played once and hasn't played since, Hunter Hillenmeyer has injured ribs and didn't play against Detroit. Israel Idonije had arthroscopic knee surgery on Monday. Pisa and Idonije should be ready to play against Atlanta after the bye week. Bears D really needed this break to heal and work on their game. I for one wish they would just start to dominate in the first quarter. After seeing them give up all those points to the Lions was a little depressing. Lovie and the D always seem to make halftime adjustments though. Which was something they didn't do last year. Another thing they didn't do last year was sack the QB often. Which is what they are doing this year with the help of Hot Rod (Rod Marinelli)! I for one was giddy with excitement when they demoted Babich and hired Rod. After reading up on what Rod did in Tampa , I wished the season would start so I can finally see some dominance on the d-line. Here are the sack numbers for the d-line for last year.

Ranked 22 - 28 sacks for the year. I think that's really bad with all that talent on the line. Right now the Bears are Ranked 3! I didn't make an error.. I said 3! With 14 sacks going into the bye week. I would have to say that's a major improvement! Really hope they keep it up. Need to pressure that QB to force plays and make mistakes. I will give Babich and the D credit last year for being great in the run defense. They were ranked 5 in the league. Pretty darn good when you can't even get to the QB. I don't even want to talk about the secondary play from last year... it was horrid to be honest. Watching QB's throw the ball that much with so much ease made me sick to my stomach every game. They need to step it up this year. I think the addition of rookie Al Afalava starting on defense helped out. He's a fierce player, I can't wait till he get's a pick 6. So just to sum up what I think about this years defense. They deserve a B+. I think they have improved greatly on the d-line, improved a bit in the secondary, but there's room for improvement. I would like to see some hard hitting out there that will make receivers, running backs, and QB's crap their pants.

To the special teams now. Four weeks into the season, I will give them an A. Special teams play is key to winning games. As we have seen in the past with Devin Hester, Daniel Manning and now Johnny Knox. It was a beautiful KO return by Knox, he was untouched all the way. Probably helps when he's fast as Manning and Hester... could be faster imo. Also helps when everyone is blocking their guy and creating a nice gap for Knox to run through. I could go on all day about Knox, but I think a lot of credit is also due to Robbie Gould and Brad Maynard. Robbie Gould has been excellent so far this year, except that stupid choice made by the Coaching staff to make him kick 50+ yards out in Seattle. Brad Maynard has also been excellent this season. 18 punts with an average of 43.9 yards, including a long boom of a kick for 66 yards. He also has 9 punts that have landed inside the 20 yard line. That was key in that Lions game. Pinning an opponent back to the wall is key to winning the game.

So overall I will give the Bears as a team a B+. There's a lot to improve on, which they will. I expect the Bears to go big this season. So till next time, :18_1_205::18_1_205:

Talkin' College Football: It's time for the Illini to let Zook go

azuquita8 — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 12:47:05 GMT

I know what some of you are already thinking: "Jesus, there she goes again".

After this past weekend, I felt compelled to expound on the reasons why I feel that the Illini need to seriously consider replacing Ron Zook, if they're intent on building their football program up to be a contender in the Big Ten.

Trust me, I know what I'm talking about when I say the things I do about the Zooker - I'm not talking trash, only the facts. As a Florida fan, we put up with three mediocre seasons under a coach who was a poor fit for the Gator football program to begin with. As things turned out, those who had bad premonitions right off the bat were right all along - even though Zook's recruiting skills were vaunted by many, he was unable to develop that talent to its fullest potential. Throw in a lack of emphasis on off-season conditioning, lack of effective leadership from the coaching staff, poor direction, poor gameday strategy and making effective use of alloted time, micromanagement of his assistants and poor problem-solving, refusal to take accountability for what went wrong, and it was a blueprint for failure. What Steve Spurrier built from 1990-2001 was beginning to disintegrate, and on 10/25/04 something was finally done about it - luckily for us one of the best decisions our AD could make in hiring Urban Meyer as a replacement was sweet redemption as well as a wise choice and the right fit for our program.

Some Zook-apologist Florida fans and many rivals feel that the notorious website FireRonZook.com was responsible for the demise of the Zooker - that was far from the truth; Zook brought things all on himself. You know what? I LOVED that site; it was by no means just a glorified rant. Mr. Walsh told it like it was, gave an objective analysis of every game, and actually gave some credence to what he wrote every week. Walsh actually gave Zook the benefit of a doubt in the beginning, but like many of us he saw the bad moon slowly rising as the months went on.

Zook was given a second chance to prove the pundits wrong at Illinois; with the exception of the 2007 season which now appears to be more-or-less a fluke he only showed a repeat of the same mistakes he made at Florida. Add to that one of his longtime former assistants (Mike Locksley) burning his bridges in his first head-coaching job out at New Mexico, and it further accentuates the negative where Zook is concerned.

I happened to watch the Illinois-Ohio State which was scheduled prior to Florida-Kentucky, and what I saw reminded me of the UF-Mississippi State game back in October 2004 which turned out to be the final nail in the coffin for Zook with the Gators. Lack of initiative, numerous errors, poor clock management, ineffective adjustments made (if any) - I saw a loss coming early on in that one.

Many Illini fans were so quick on the trigger to speak ill of Gator Nation for having repudiated Zook, but as things have turned out, it seems that we weren't just talking a lot of smack when we attempted to tell them about his experience with Florida football.

If Illinois AD Ron Guenther wants a chance to redeem himself, he ought to give considerable thought to what his Florida counterpart Jeremy Foley decided was necessary to be done back in October of 2004 - that is, if Guenther seriously cares about the success of Illini football.

Balance

BearStuff — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 12:59:36 GMT

After Chicago lost in Green Bay, spirits were low for many Bears fans. Now that the Bears defeated the Steelers, spirits are high. The proper emotion is probably somewhere in between.

Always necessary in life, balance is essential in football too. Balance of emotions on the field and off, and balance in the offensive gameplan. The Bears have the emotions in check, at least seemingly. The gameplan, however, is definitely off center.

Ron Turner needs to work on his scripted plays. In years past, his scripted plays seemed like the only ones that worked effectively. After those 15 plays, the calls became decidedly more conservative and far too reactive. His play calling is still reactive after the first 15 "scripted" plays, however, those first plays seem to be all pass plays now. That sets the tone for the rest of the game, and it seems that we have forgotten that we have a top 5 running back.

Run the ball! Run it more than you pass it. Run it so that play action passes are successful. Run it so that you eat time off the clock. Run it so that the offensive line gets to be the aggressor. Just run it.

:18_1_205:

Patience

BearStuff — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 13:37:56 GMT

As disappointing as it was to see history seem to repeat itself last night, I saw a lot of reasons to be hopeful.

The defensive line seems to be completely rejuvenated under Marinelli. While Ogunleye got the rewards, I noticed very good push from everyone, making a double team (or even chip blocks) an impossible situation.

Al Afalava played well, and Payne did too (with the exception of one tackle). Vasher, save for one very costly slip, didn't play bad. Daniel Manning has a new lease on life, and seems to be enjoying it.

The receivers and Cutler do have communication/read problems. I don't think it will last forever, but Knox had a big hand in 2 of those interceptions. I thought we would see more of Olsen, but the Packers got that memo and covered him well.

Forte seemed barely utilized. He ran well when used, but wasn't used enough. Not one catch out of the backfield though.

Patrick Mannelly will never make that mistake again.

The good news is that we have depth at all of the positions of injury, including LB.

I knew this would be a tough game, I just thought it would play out as a shootout. I'm kind of happy that it was a defensive struggle. I'm familiar with that game.

Summer Vacation

matsellah — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 04:53:06 GMT

Don't you love summer?

Happens every year. You can still bank on it.

Kids finish off the school year, the herd at work starts to thin. Yep, it's time for the annual ritual known as Summer Vacation.

Mine starts in a week. Then, it's (nearly) 3 weeks of sun, surf, sand and ice-cold Singha Beer.

Actually, it's Tiger Beer. I prefer Tiger (a Singaporean brew) over Singha (a Thai pale ale) , but I'm only going to be in Singapore long enough to catch my connecting flight to Bangkok.

Tiger is available in Thailand and it's just a better tasting beverage. I intend to hoist probably more than my fair share, as it's been awhile since I've had the opportunity to lounge beside a glimmering pool at a tropical resort facility, and be waited on, hand-and-foot, by impeccably-dressed local maidens bearing trays of cold, thirst-quenching substance.

I'm looking forward to it, so very much.

But... got to get busy. I've got about 3 months of filing to hide... I mean, file.

Have a great summer, everyone.