Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Shit.

Okay, I know that Bears fans everywhere (along with Vikes & Lions fans, I suppose) are supposed to be thrilled that Favre's retiring, and the consensus is that this suddenly makes the team far worse than they were. I honestly don't feel that way. Don't get me wrong: emotionally, I'm thrilled to think that the amount of Favre love/talk that goes on during the football season will necessarily have to go down. I frankly would be happy to never hear his name spoken or see it in print ever gain (ha!), but I don't actually believe that his departure spells doom for the Packers, and actually I'm pretty sure (I admit I have no proof for this) that it makes their offense better. I've seen Rodgers play a few times, and he's looked really good to me. I could be wrong, and I hope I am. But I'm sure number 4 didn't have any more years in him like the fluke he put together last season, and even still he was the reason they lost their playoff game. Even when he was playing his best, lately, he was still also kind of the team's biggest liability. I fully expect Rodgers to blow everyone away this year. I hope I'm crazy.

Monday, March 03, 2008

This Crazy Mixed Up World

Um, so... wtf? Since when do we have to turn to the Sun-Times for a reasonable defense of the Bears' free agency so far? I pretty much agree with everything Mulligan says in this article, which is weird.

The only thing I'm really upset about how Angelo's handled free agency so far is that he wasn't aggressive enough in pursuing Michael Turner. Who knows why. But losing Berrian's not a bad thing, and it'll be kinda funny watching him become the most hated player on the Vikings over the next few years. Finally, Vikings fans will have a receiver worthy of their constant complaining!

I really do wonder, though, if the Bears are actually as committed as they seem to be trying to indicate to the idea of Hester becoming a number 1 receiver. Although he was totally underutilized last year, I didn't really see anything about his receiver play that made me think he was on the verge of becoming a legit number 1. I'm sure the Bears'll end up signing a few more receivers before its time for camp, but none of them will be in a better situation to become the top receiver on the team than Hester and Bradly will be. Actually, that should be wide receiver, since the top receiver will most likely be Greg Olsen, I bet. And I'm fine with that.

Now when are we gonna get an offensive line?!

Sunday, March 02, 2008

no rings

Now that the big names are all off the board, save Randy Moss, the marketplace should be 'sobering-up' a bit and the Bears will begin to be more active. I just noticed that the Bears organization doesn't have a single person whose won a Super Bowl. It seems like it wouldn't be the worst idea to target a few players who have that experience. Eugene Wilson (S) and Jake Scott (G) would be excellent options and I would consider Booger McFarland (DT) and Rosevelt Colvin for cheap veteran depth if they were interested.

Moss and Culpepper together?

John Clayton writes a very interesting piece today. Though it's never going to happen it's fun to imagine that Angelo read it and was also interested by it. Clayton says that Moss and Culpepper would like to get together again so a team looking for a WR and a QB could be in an advantageous position. Kinda sounds like Chicago doesn't it?
The day after Chicago's 'best' receiver left for Minnesota the Bears could get Minnesota's most successful QB-WR combo ever. That'd be a true coup.

BB recap

The big news of the day is that Lance Briggs will be a Chicago Bear for the rest of his prime. The Monsters of the Midway will have the two best linebackers in football for at least four more seasons. When you throw in Tommie Harris, Peanut and Vash, Alex Brown and possibly Mike Brown it's a pretty fierce core. I'll go out on a limb and guess that if two or less of this core are injured each game the Bears will be the best defense in football, so good in fact that they could carry a mediocre offense to the Super Bowl.
The Bears still have some work to do to become a mediocre offense but starting with Devin Hester can't hurt. Even if he doesn't touch the ball the Bears are likely to start on at least the 40 most of the time. Again call me crazy but I believe that between Orton and Grossman someone in Chicago will figure out how to move the ball 30 yards enough times for Bears to win a lot of games.
It's true that this task became more difficult when Berrian signed with Minnesota, but Berrian leaving is a truly minor issue. He caught the most passes last season but he still didn't have one thousand yards, nor did he score the most TD's or have anything like a good attitude. For once I think Jay Mariotti made some very good points today, and I'm inclined to believe that some of what he says about Angelo is true, though pessimism seems to be a job requirement in the Chicago media. But the inaccuracy of this argument cannot be understated, "[The Bears] lost the one proven speed threat who stretches a defense, and the fact Berrian was allowed to sign with a superior divisional rival is all you need to know about the conservative rockheads in Lake Forest."
Devin Hester is if nothing else a proven speed threat. He is not a 'proven' wide receiver but it's a stretch to call Berrian that so I assume he's just referring to defense-stretching ability. Hester doesn't need to catch a lot of balls to stretch a defense, he probably doesn't need to catch any. The Bears do need to sign a proven wide receiver to put opposite Hester but 23 is stretching defenses as I write this. Plus Greg Olsen was clearly the Bears #1 receiver last year and he's still on the team and still nothing but upside.
The other overlooked aspect of the Berrian deal is that Minnesota totally overpaid and Chicago simply couldn't afford to match. Briggs is the more important player but Angelo had to hedge knowing that one would go and it wasn't until Berrian signed that they could sufficiently up their offer. Tommie Harris and Devin Hester are going to get big contracts, Urlacher will probably get more money, and hopefully one QB will next year as well. They need to sign a Guard and a Safety and it'd be nice to see a RB brought in instead of another draft gamble. With 24m left and the best defense in the league they look like they're in descent shape.
David Haugh doesn't agree but his argument ignores the fact that Chicago was never going to keep both and figures that a disgruntled Berrian is a good option. Berrian isn't going to do better than he did this year, a lot of receivers can help this team for less than 8m a year. Also, what's with Haugh's weird need to make Briggs out as a jerk and an idiot. Contrary to Haugh's math a 7 year deal for 43m looks a lot different than one for 33m. I feel like Brigg's quote is a much more accurate assessment of the situation than Haugh's, "I'm not greedy. I'm not trying to knock something out of the park. All I wanted was what's fair. If it's fair, I'm happy."

fire the media!

I can't really go on saying this anymore without being overly redundant can I? David Haugh, the whole fucking Chicago media are such douche bags.
Without getting more into this than I mean to right now the Bears have signed two major free-agents this year. They were both listed as the top available at their position and they were both previously Bears. This should be celebrated as nothing short of excellent. Instead Haugh thinks the Bears should have paid Berrian too much money which definitely would have meant that Briggs wouldn't have signed. Losing Berrian is not a big deal, keeping Briggs is. Sure the contract stuff could have been neater, but the business worked out this way and I'm fine with it. The defense is intact and the offense is without over-hyped egos. The Bears will be better next year and that at least is very comforting.

Saturday, March 01, 2008

Act now or you will forever be held responsible

I know this is too many posts for one day or one section of unimportant season, but the Bears off-season needs are so apparent and their supposed addressing of them is so incompetent that I cannot keep quiet. Michael Turner is the best available and easily signable for the Bears. It may be a deep draft class, but Benson was the best in his and he is an absolute bust. Turner is simply the best option hands down! Moss is beyond that. In simple terms he would make every team better. There is absolutely no excuse beyond stubborn laziness and stupidity for the 30 million the Bears have not to quickly turn into 10 million and Moss and Turner on the roster. Angelo has outlasted my patience.