rawaction

Well, if they do that without signing him to an extension, so be it. Using resources in back to back years on the same position doesn't bother me if it means improving the spot in a cost effective manner. Taylor is an expensive and bad backup running back. Take any street free agent and get the same thing. He's getting every chance to earn his contract this year, but that doesn't tell me they will just bring him back because he's more experienced than Bell. I hope you're right. I'd really like someone new back there, just don't know if the Bears would. And good point about Forte due for an extension. Maybe if he signs a new contract, then the Bears won't want to spend a lot of money on the RB position and send Chester packing. It's not that hard to draft a guy like Deon Lewis, Jacquizz Rodgers or Noel Devine in the 4th round and cut Taylor. As long as they address the OL somewhere in the first 3 rounds, that seems like a good use of the pick and money. A backup RB could be a very valuable additional weapon for Cutler and you need to ensure you have a good one so they're not tempted to overuse Forte (after a while, they'll sour on trying to justify Taylor's contract with PT). I'm not a big Kahlil Bell fan, especially since he's similar to Forte and doesn't provide anything additional. I don't see how you can pick a RB in the 4th with the needs at OL (at least 2 picks needed here), DT, WR, CB and LB depth. I like all of those guys you listed though I don't know if any are good fits, especially with the Bears need to help out the OL by leaving the RB in to block often.

Yeah, I was going to say the same thing. Sucks because WR is a need and if there was a run before the Bears' pick, it would possibly allow an OL to fall. I also like Floyd more than Baldwin around the Bears pick. I hope they don't take Baldwin (I'd prefer Torey Smith to Baldwin). Ditto. I think I'd prefer Leonard Hankerson also.

Kinda getting off topic, but I think Driver comes back for 1 more season. I think Jones is one of those guys you can throw some money to within 5 minutes after free agency starts (whenever that may be), guarantee him a starting spot and he jumps.

Well, if they do that without signing him to an extension, so be it. Using resources in back to back years on the same position doesn't bother me if it means improving the spot in a cost effective manner. Taylor is an expensive and bad backup running back. Take any street free agent and get the same thing. He's getting every chance to earn his contract this year, but that doesn't tell me they will just bring him back because he's more experienced than Bell. I hope you're right. I'd really like someone new back there, just don't know if the Bears would. And good point about Forte due for an extension. Maybe if he signs a new contract, then the Bears won't want to spend a lot of money on the RB position and send Chester packing.

Mankins and Nicks would be big splash moves as they are likely to be the 1 and 2 highest paid Guards in NFL history this offseason. Either would be just as big a splash as Peppers. Matt Light is going to be 33 next season, and as a LT? Stay away! Gaither can't stay healthy (hasn't played this season) and is a huge risk to sign, even though he is young. I would look at free agent C's like Samson Satele, Chris Spencer- SEA, or Chris Chester-BAL (Ryan Kalil probably too expensive). As for WR, I really think James Jones is a low cost, huge upside FA that would be a good fit for the Bears offense. He has issues with drops, but maybe that goes away as a definitive #1 WR.

As bad as Taylor and Manu have been, I still don't see them being cut as the Bears still have some holes to fill. Unless they think two guys who got a combined 0 plays this year, Bell and Unga (respectively) can fill those 2 spots, I think both of those guys are back next year. Anybody can fill backup RB, especially at the success rate of Taylor. Yeah, but do you really want to use resources on a backup RB for the 2nd offseason in a row? Granted, a good backup RB can be found in the 6th round or later. But I think part of Forte's effectiveness this year has been due to him having fresher legs thanks to Taylor getting a 1/3 of his touches. I think Khalil Bell would be fine as the #2 RB (then sign an UFA to be the #3), but the Bears obviously don't and didn't last offseason so they signed Taylor. Khalil Bell hasn't gotten on the field to prove that he has earned their trust enough to be the #2. Maybe he has shown something in practice, but he's rarely been active on gameday. I think without Taylor (or a proven RB), you run the risk of getting Forte back into the 320-370 touch range again.

As bad as Taylor and Manu have been, I still don't see them being cut as the Bears still have some holes to fill. Unless they think two guys who got a combined 0 plays this year, Bell and Unga (respectively) can fill those 2 spots, I think both of those guys are back next year.

You may have a point there. After the 06 season, the "big" moves were bringing in Anthony Adams to replace Tank, getting rid of Thomas Jones, starting Anderson over Alex Brown, and thinking Adam Archuleta could still play. Also, was a terrible draft as they should have been trying to replace Ruben Brown, Fred Miller, and Muhsin Muhammad instead they drafted Bazuin, Wolfe, and Okwo in the top 3 rounds along with Olsen.

And apparently, Michael Floyd is staying in school at Notre Dame.

New England 24 over NY Jets 17 Baltimore 17 over Pittsburgh 13 Green Bay 17 over Atlanta 10 Chicago 31 over Seattle 24

I'm ok with not drafting OL in the first round. Unlike raw, I'd like to go WR in the first round actually. But I think Jerry can address OL in the middle rounds and FA. Depending on the labor situation of course. I wouldn't mind WR. But I'm not a big fan of Michael Floyd or Jonathan Baldwin. If Justin Blackmon comes out and is available when the Bears pick, he's the type of talent that you can't pass up to me. A top CB would be nice too, as the Bears are on borrowed time with Jennings and Tillman being even servicable. The Cowboys can always trade you Roy Williams ;-) Sadly, he might be a viable option as he did have success in Martz's system in the past.

Excellent placement sounds like to me he either kicks it toward the sideline and it goes out of bounds thru the side of the endzone or that he angles it and the ball bounces away from the returner far enough that he has to field it 5 yards deep and can't get momentum to run it out. Frankly, I haven't noticed any of those things and can't believe his touchback numbers are that good.

Little rough on Chris Harris I thought. But accurate description. I wish his instincts would rub off on Manning, who has all the physical ability. I'm interested to see how Major Wright develops. He also looks more like a hitter than a ballhawk, but does have a couple steps on Harris in speed also.

We've basically traded Lee for Pena and Lilly for Garza, and we're somehow going to win 90 games this year? Well, I think they underachieved pretty significantly last year, and 90 would be overachieving pretty significantly this year. Also I think we're going to do better than a combined .750 OPS from 1B and 3B, and our middle relief probably won't be historically bad again either. Yeah, people gotta remember that Derrek Lee was pretty bad last year. Then we he got traded, Nady was even worse. 1B was terrible for the Cubs last year. As bad as Pena was last year, he was still better than the Cubs got from 1B last year. He will be better this year. Ramirez was bad for 1/2 the season at 3B, then he played better and the team scored more. A full season of production from 1B, 3B, C, and not having to deal with 4 months of Theriot in the lineup will make a world of difference in the offense. Will it make enough? Who knows?

I'm ok with not drafting OL in the first round. Unlike raw, I'd like to go WR in the first round actually. But I think Jerry can address OL in the middle rounds and FA. Depending on the labor situation of course. I wouldn't mind WR. But I'm not a big fan of Michael Floyd or Jonathan Baldwin. If Justin Blackmon comes out and is available when the Bears pick, he's the type of talent that you can't pass up to me. A top CB would be nice too, as the Bears are on borrowed time with Jennings and Tillman being even servicable.

The basics are this: home teams have gone 234-110 in the playoffs since the AFL merger. That's a rock-solid .680 winning percentage. Dome teams, meanwhile, are 27-15 (.642), including last week's indoor wins by the Cardinals and Cowboys. But that number is very misleading: the prolific statistical oddity that is Kurt Warner is 7-0 at home in his domes in St. Louis and Arizona. The rest of the indoor quarterbacks and indoor teams of the world have gone just 20-15 (.571) in their very own home arenas. This was written a year ago yesterday. Of course, since then, the Saints went 2-0 at home in a dome, the Vikings went 1-0, the Colts went 2-1 (loss this weekend included), so its 32-16 now (.667 winning percentage). Still, road teams actually fare better in domes.

The Bears are going to go either Liuget or Nevis, assuming one or both is on the board in the 1st round. Indy, NO, and Seattle (if the Bears win Sunday) will be the teams that worry me about picking DT in the 20s, where both should fall.

They have Starks and have no running game. Or are we now counting 1 good game as the gospel? Well he had a good game against the Niners too. Then for whatever reason, he fell out of favor with McCarthy and was on the inactive list for the next couple of weeks before suiting up against the Bears. He's easily the most impressive back that we've seen this season. Of course, that's not really an indicator of how he really measures up in the league but more of an indictment as to how bad our other RB's are. 18 carries for 73 yards. Barely 4 yards per carry. Granted, it's better than their season average, but hardly a monumental game.

They have Starks and have no running game. Or are we now counting 1 good game as the gospel?

http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2011/01/bears-told-packers-rb-starks-they-were-drafting-him.html That's kind of embarrassing. I expect to see Starts have at least 150 yards rushing if the Bears and Packers meet next week. Starks would have never gotten a shot with the Bears. I actually had Starks on my 1st mock before the Bears signed Chester Taylor. At that point, no real reason to draft him with Khalil Bell and Taylor on the roster still. Can draft a Starks in the 6th round every year if you want.

He's basically playing a hybrid version of linebacker and safety as it is right now, anyway. Asomugha and Tramon on the outside, Collins and Woodson as the safeties with Shields as the nickel. What a wet dream that'd be. Yeah, Woodson's been playing ROVER for a couple years now, just hasn't been called that.

I don't see anyway Max Ramirez is ever the #2 C. The Cubs don't like Soto's defensive abilities, and no way they will back him up with a guy that's worse than him. I think Ramirez is a guy that will backup some at 1B and be the offensive catcher if Soto goes down again.

What's all this talk about a Seahawks letdown and Bears sleepwalking? This is the playoffs. Every team gets up for the games the exact same. No matter who wins the game, it won't be because one team was over or under confident. It wasn't the reason the Saints lost on Saturday.

Wow. Shocker from Janoris. He probably passed Brandon Harris as the 3rd CB. And was possibly looking at staying home (for now) to play for the Jaguars.

All rematches from earlier in the season. In the AFC you have dvisional opponents facing off in both games. Saturday should be really good for the 2nd week in a row.