rawaction

BURN! Not the french fries! Whoa! Keep em comin! You're knockin em dead!

BURN!

Right. They made a fair offer, Matt chose not to take it. So for him to get pissed at every dollar they spend on filling out the roster, well that is a Matt Forte problem not a Chicago Bears problem. What, the Bears are supposed to cower in fear and not carry on the business of filling out the roster out of fear of the wrath of Matt Forte? I read the most the Bears offered was 12Mil guaranteed. Either way, 15Mil guaranteed may be nice but Lynch just got 17Mil guaranteed, Arian Foster got 20Mil guaranteed. Forte is better than Lynch. Can argue that Foster is better than Forte, but Forte has been good for longer and is basically the same age. Sure 15Mil is a "fair" offer, but it's not what the market has dictated for a RB of Forte's caliber. And no, the Bears are not supposed to cower in fear (whatever that means). But it is stupid to spend money on a FA RB regardless of situation, even moreso when you just signed 3 FA RBs and they all have been failures. From Forte's point of view, it's not that the Bears are buying an insurance policy in case they can't work out a long term deal....it's the team signing a potential replacement and gaining leverage and putting their foot down in negotiations. That being said, I'm not saying the Bears should pay him that money. I'm actually pretty much 50/50 on it. If they do pay him 20Mil guaranteed, fine he's earned it. If not, fine because he probably won't be worth it.

Forte has done a ton for this team, yet every single offseason the Bears have brought in a FA RB and paid him more money. Bringing in Kevin Jones when Forte was a rookie was a non-issue. Paying a bunch of money to Chester Taylor was understandable after Forte came off a down year after 2 years of a lot of touches. Bringing in Marion Barber to do short-yardage was a little slap in the face, but something Forte could overlook. Now they brought in a 4th RB in 4 years. Bush is guaranteed 7 Mil. Forte is only guaranteed 7.7Mil. Sure it's a lot of money, but this is the NFL. Forte blows out his knee this year, it's likely he'll never seen 7.7Mil the rest of his career. Disrespectful is too strong of a word that gets thrown out too much by athletes, but it is a slap in the face when your team keeps paying guys off the street more money than you are making at your same position.

Some way. But I wouldn't mind "settling" for Nick Perry or Mercilus.

While I agree with your proposed moves, there's absolutely nothing the Bears could have done this season that would have made them the favorites in the division. I don't know about that. Adding 2 of the top 20 players in the NFL would've helped a lot.

There's plenty of reason to believe otherwise because without elite level defense no subpar passing team is going to sniff the super bowl. The Bears defense is nowhere near elite and a Campbell led Bears offense is going to be subpar. This isn't the 80's where half the SB teams put some schuck out there. If you are using your backup QB you are screwed anyway. The only value a backup is going to have is if you develop him and then trade him for more than you spent on him in the draft. Spending millions on a guy you don't want to play is dumb in a salary cap sport. It doesn't do a damn thing to improve the team and this team needed a hell of a lot to improve on. Exactly. Jason Campbell has experience, but hasn't won jack in the NFL. And contrary to popular belief, QBs DON'T get hurt all the time. Eli Manning has never missed a game in his life. Peyton had never missed a game until he had surgery at 35 years old. Rodgers, Brees, and Brady don't typically miss games (Brees and Brady had 1 major injury each, but missed nothing outside of that; Rodgers has missed 1 start in 4 years). Stafford, Ryan, Smith, and Rivers didn't miss any time. The league is so geared to get the ball out of the QBs hands (unless you're Martz) and protect the QB before and after the ball leaves his hands. RBs, WRs, and OL go down much more often than QBs. The Bears backup QB situation is overblown because of the timing/result of Cutler's injuries. Had to leave a playoff game. Left a 7-3 team that lost 5 straight without him. That doesn't mean you need a better backup. That means you need a better team around your QB so either A) he doesn't get hurt or B) him getting hurt won't kill you. But because there aren't even 32 good QBs to go around to every team, nobody has a situation where they won't get killed if they lose their QB for more than 2-3 games.

Bottom line. Best case scenario is Jason Campbell never plays a snap for the Chicago Bears. That would mean Cutler is healthy, which is the key. Granted last year was a freak injury, but the year before Cutler got hurt because he took too many hits. They key should be to not get him hit as much, not make sure you have an insurance plan for when he does get hit too much. McCown was fine as the #2.

Yep, if you take out the trade....the Bears have only signed a few of their own players, 2 special teamers, and a backup QB. That's not very inspiring. That being said, I'd prefer this type of approach every year, but the team had money and clearly still have holes that can't all be filled in the draft. At the very least, the Bears still need a starter at LT. Without Okoye (yet?), they only have 3 DTs, only have 3 signed CBs, still need 1 more WR so that neither Bennett nor Hester are starters, still could use a SLB to push the ineffective Nick Roach, still could use another S to push the oft-injured Major Wright and the mostly mediocre Steltz, and also need more edge pass rush help. The only way you improve OT, WR, and DE is to draft them early (1st 2 rounds) because the depth isn't there in this draft at those positions. I'd like to sign Okoye, bring in McNeill and then draft DE and WR with the first 2 picks (likely in that order). After that, go for CB, LB, S and interior OL depth.

Testing out posting from my phone. Last person on earth with a smart phone

LOL. I guess I was right. I kept thinking Bubba Crosby, but couldn't remember if Bubba or Crosby was the right name. I coulda looked it up I guess, but I didn't know what team he played for. I didn't know if there would a guy named Bubba and a guy named Crosby and I wouldn't be able to figure out the right one.

Left my list of prospects at home so I'm just winging this. I want that power hitting OF dude. All I can think of is Bubba Crosby, but I know that's not his name. Bubba Starling maybe? That's who I want...you guys can figure it out and move on or I'll pick this evening.

I'm not sure 2 pre-IR games of Manning are worth too much. Unless you're just a Brady Quinn believer. Brady Quinn's in KC now isn't he?

Man, the Broncos WRs just shot up fantasy football draft boards.

Yeah, that's pretty awesome. Coples is a top 10 talent. Minnifield is a 1st round talent that didn't have as good a year or measure as tall as listed in college. Getting him in the 4th is ridiculous. Green in the 5th is just as ridiculous. To me, those are all top 100 players in this draft (maybe Green in the 110 range). That would be a great draft. It's pretty awesome and pretty nice work of fiction. Coples would have to be caught with a dead hooker in his trunk to fall that far, same for Minnifield. Where do people come up with this stuff? I don't think Coples falling that far is completely out of the question. The first 3 picks are pretty much set in stone. Coples also isn't going 4, 5 or 6. Maybe he goes Jacksonville or Miami, but Miami almost has to take a QB if the Niners come crawling back to Alex Smith. Carolina doesn't need DE help. Buffalo signed Mario Williams, so they probably aren't taking him. KC isn't likely to take him. Dallas, NY Jets, and Chargers are all 3-4 teams that may not see him as a good 3-4 fit and prefer Ingram, Perry, Mercilus, or Upshaw. Seattle is a spot to worry about, but if not Seattle....I can see Coples falling to 19. Still a long shot, but not an impossibility. Can't imagine Minnifield falling to the mid 4th, or Green to mid 5th, but I guess anything is possible.

Yeah, that's pretty awesome. Coples is a top 10 talent. Minnifield is a 1st round talent that didn't have as good a year or measure as tall as listed in college. Getting him in the 4th is ridiculous. Green in the 5th is just as ridiculous. To me, those are all top 100 players in this draft (maybe Green in the 110 range). That would be a great draft.

Exactly, that was dumb. As dumb as Purdue's final possessions. I can't believe Painter drew up the PG overdribbling for 95% of the shot clock for multiple possessions. I can't believe I actually rooted for Purdue in this one. But what the hell were those play calls? "Jackson, you dribble for 25 seconds, then get into the offense. If nothing develops go for the desperation shot!" It's not like they were up 5....they were up 1. ONE!

Should be good UK. I'm hoping for the same result as last time, but not in Bloomington, Cats will win by at least 3 possessions. IU has a chance if they shoot lights out. Would also help if Zeller gets hometown calls again and Davis is on the bench half the game again. IU won't lack for confidence though. And like I said in the other thread, if we had to play on the same half of the bracket as a #1 seed, this is the one I'd want because of their youth.

Maybe I'm crazy, but I think Barnes has a decent NBA future. I think he's like Carmelo Anthony, but not as good of a scorer. Like Rudy Gay, but not quite as athletic. Like Luol Deng, but not as good on defense. I think he's ultimately a guy that's going to get 15-20 ppg for the most part. He's not a franchise changer like a Durant, but he's a good piece on a team with a really good PG and an inside presence.

That's what Wimbley did.

Obviously, Perea isn't going to be a guy that commands the ball in the post and can get you a score when needed. But I think he can have a huge impact defensively. Zeller's pretty terrible defensively right now. If Perea can take some of the post D duties, that would have a large impact. If not, Perea is still an outstanding leaper and his shotblocking ability would be a welcomed sight for IU fans. If all he does is play D, block shots, rebounds and scores on put backs and finishing on fast breaks, he can still have a Zeller-like impact.

Really? I would love to see that. I guess Hollowell would get his minutes? I hope I'm wrong, obviously. Losing Watford would really hurt; it would severely limit IU's frontcourt/size. Hollowell is going to be a very good player -- and has a higher upside than Watford -- but it would obviously be preferable to have a four-year starter (which Watford would be). Ever since that shot to beat UK, I have thought Watford would be leaving after this season. I don't think it's a terrible decision by CWat. He'll be a mid-2nd rounder at worst. Whether he stays another year or not, he's not going to improve his draft stock unless he magically becomes 2 inches taller to become a legit 4 or he even more magically gets a lot more athletic and becomes a legit NBA 3. Watford is what he's going to be. A guy who can find a role on a team as a shooter out on the wing or can score the basketball when he has either a size or athleticism mismatch against a smaller 3 or a slower 4. It won't kill the Hoosiers if Watford leaves, but it will put a ton of pressure on Yogi and Perea to have Zeller-like impacts as freshmen if the team is going to be better than this year's squad.

YES! Huge win. VCU was the team I didn't want to play. They pressured the hell out of IU and the guards couldn't do anything. But when IU did get into their offense, they were pretty good and efficient. Same thing with defense actually. When IU was able to set up their D, VCU couldn't score. But that was almost too few and far between. Really good game. Oladipo made up for 39 minutes of crap with 2 huge drives in the last minute. Only gets harder from here. Whatever happens, I'm happy with this season. Now with more wins this year that IU had in its previous 3 years.

are you sure about that? He would never eclipse him, but only because he only has a few years to play there maximum. However, I don't know if Peyton cares or if the Bronco fans do for that matter. I think everyone knows the situation. Peyton is always going to be a legend as a Colt. When he retires, everyone will think of him as a Colt. I don't think Bronco fans are going to be thinking about whether he eclipses John Elway, they will just be happy they have a great quarterback for a couple of years. Even if he won 3 rings in Denver, Elway would still be the one responsible for getting him in town. Elway would still be held in higher regard, as he should be.

Figured this was coming, but didn't really want it to. I like what Steltz did at the end of last year, but I think Major Wright needs to be challenged, if not replaced. We know with Wright and Steltz on the roster, Wright will most likely be the one on the field based on his age, draft status, and greater upside in coverage. Even if it was a lateral move, I would have liked fresh blood in here at SS.