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Yeah, JA should be all over this. But the one thing that bothers me is that Plax said he wants to play for the Jets so that he can "stick it to the Giants." Hey Plax you know how to stick it to the Giants? Sign with the Bears lead them to playoffs and a possible deep run. Something the Jets are at best 50-50 at doing right now. Better yet the Bears don't have to face a NE Patriots team twice a yr or have to face them until the Super Bowl. I don't think Plax is afraid of the Patriots. His career has been defined by his play vs. the Pats in the Superbowl. I think playing that Pats twice would sway him to the Jets. I also think the Jets would be willing and able to pay him more money. The Bears have shown they are willing to open the purse strings recently, but I think the Jets will still offer more, as I'm sure they think they are just as close as the Bears. It would also give them a great WR to pair w/ their rookie QB. I think the only way Plax comes to the Bears is if he is really motivated by another ring. I don't like saying this, but Plax would make the Bears clear favorites in the NFC, he won't do that for the Jets in the AFC. However, there is a strong chance Plax is motivated by money at this point. He has the ring. He has the legal problems. And if he avoids jail, he's looking at getting the last long-term contract he will ever see in 2010.

Exactly. 3 and outs should be minimized with Cutler. That will help a lot. The Bears were a pretty quick striking team last year, due to a lot of points coming on a short field. I think the stat was 0 TD drives over 65 yards last year. I don't think that will be as big of an issue this year. The Bears were fine with the amount of points they scored last year. But they gave up too many, and part of that was due to the D being on the field too long.

It's not likely that Harden or Zambrano are going to be healthy the rest of the year. It's also not likely that Wells will continue to be as good. If Pedro is still unsigned when one of the above happens, he'd be a decent option. Wells could be a decent arm in the pen. Or you could then perhaps trade Marshall and/or Wells for offense.

Looks like he will compete with Dan Orlovsky for the #2. I'd imagine that competition could go either way. If Grossman is the #2, he should get a few starts. Schaub has missed 5 games each of the last 2 years, including leaving 4 others early in 2007. Rosenfels threw over 400 passes as the backup in the last 2 years. Be interesting to see how Rex does with a stud WR in Andre Johnson.

Move Soriano to 2B. Trade for Matt Holliday. No but seriously, Clint Barmes would be an excellent pickup. I wonder if Cincy could be persuaded to give up Brandon Phillips.

It's weird, because guys force trades and holdout and generally combat with management all the time, and a lot of the time the media, especially former players will defend their right to do that because the guy has to look out for himself and everything. Yet here you have nearly universal hatred for what Cutler did, which was in effect caused by a dumb coaching decision (who tries to replace a stable QB situation?). And many guys are absolutely offended that Cutler didn't follow phone tag protocal with the owner. Exactly, and Brett Favre has basically done it twice in the last 2 years. He quit because he didn't like his GM. He cried because he wanted to pick his team. Then he quit after this past season so he could get out of his contract with the Jets. Yet the only time you hear Brett Favre and crybaby in the same sentence is if you are in the GB city limits, and I think even most of them have gotten over it.

Let's not forget that JA pegged Steltz as being the closest to being able to start among last year's draft picks. Just a little more info on the safety situation. There's some notes on other players in that blog entry, but I didn't want to post the whole thing. I refuse to believe any of that is true. Payne is the only safety on the roster who has ever done anything positive in his career as a safety. Steltz, as it said, doesn't have the footspeed to play deep middle. Unless a lot happened in the offseason, I don't see how Payne could be the 3rd best safety on this team and Steltz the best.

Cubs better not face any LHPs in interleague play on the road. Fox could have at least DH'd. It really makes no sense to have Scales here. Fontenot is going to be in there every day at 3B. After last night's hitting performance and his great defense, Blanco should be at 2B vs. all RHPs. You know Miles will get the RH ABs. Scales has no place on this team right now.

My God people, I forgot Romo. Get over it.

My shitty team is somehow 1 game out of the playoffs. Sucks because I have no chance to win the championship and no worthwhile prospects to trade to give me a chance.

Warren Moon was only 105-108 as a QB. Fouts was 89-89. Sonny Jorgensen was 69-80. And Archie Manning's record is well documented. Drew Brees who is regarded as the 3rd best current QB in the league is 56-53 as a starter. Basically, my point is that it happens. All those teams had/have horrible defenses consistently in their careers. i think those guys are pretty much the exceptions and not the rule. you have to play on some pretty rotten rotten teams from year-to-year to be under .500 and be a hall of famer at qb. and archie manning, to me, was never a great quarterback. anyway, i think we're arguing to different points. I wasn't really arguing a point. Just pointing out that it does happen that a great QB can have a crappy record. Granted if Jay Cutler doesn't finish his career with a winning record, it probably means his time as a Bear was a bust.

This is way people need to stop using the "win/loss" as a stat to evaluate a player's ability. Too many uncontrollable variables happen. The bottom line is that while in Denver when the Broncos' "D" played halfway leage average, Cutler was easily one of the game's best QB's without question. It was those games in which that same D played crappy that Cutler had to go outside of his game to keep his team in the game. If the Bears "D" is even half as good as the D that took the Bears to the Super Bowl a couple of yrs back, and the Bears are battling the Eagles as the best team in the NFC. Exactly. Cutler is better than his record would indicate because he had a horrible defense blowing the leads he would build (or putting the team in a deficit he'd have to fight out of). Collins, for instance, is worse than his record would indicate because the Titans win games because of defense and Chris Johnson. If the point is to evaluate the production level of an individual, you should look at what that individual has some control over. In football no one player can win or lose a game and therefore shouldn't get the credit for winning/losing. Only for how well he does in pursuit of a win. i think if you take each season individually, yes. but the rule obviously fades over time. great quarterbacks don't have career losing records. the quarterback is the most consistent variable from season to season, the other parts are too hard to coordinate, a linebacker may pull a hamstring, a defensive tackle may blow out his knee, a safety may have recurring injuries. a great quarterback takes the bite out of injuries to defensive players, a great quarterback is the ultimate stabilizing force in the football universe. Warren Moon was only 105-108 as a QB. Fouts was 89-89. Sonny Jorgensen was 69-80. And Archie Manning's record is well documented. Drew Brees who is regarded as the 3rd best current QB in the league is 56-53 as a starter. Basically, my point is that it happens. All those teams had/have horrible defenses consistently in their careers.

Agreed. Jalen's a lot better than expected. He may be ESPN's best studio analyst other than Jaws. Their baseball and hockey guys are horrible. Football isn't much better.

I'm no Mort fan, and these early summer practices don't really tell you much, but this is what I'm expecting out of the receivers. I've had my differences with Angelo's decisions, but he's absolutely right when he talks about it starting with the QB. Everybody loves Brandon Marshall, but he was a 4th rounder. You think Brandon Marshall would be Brandon Marshall if he was drafted in the 4th round by the Bears in 2006? I sure don't. Do you think Eddie Royal comes close to the rookie season he had if he's playing for the Bears last year? A QB absolutely can make a WR. I know for a fact Royal wouldn't have had the season he had for any other team in the NFL, especially not the Bears. But Brandon Marshall is one of the top 5 WRs in the league. You can't tell me one of the best WRs in the league is only great because of his QB/system. That's like saying Emmitt wouldn't have been a HOF without the great line. Rice wouldn't have been the best ever w/o Montana, Young, Walsh. Talent is talent. Great players are great at all times in all systems. I'm not saying Brandon Marshall is "great" yet, but with 206 catches and 2600 yards in his only 2 years as a starter (and the first one was Cutler's 1st year as a starter)....I'd say he's on his way. I guarantee you he would not be considered a top 5 WR in the league if he was drafted by the Bears. No way, no how. Receivers depend heavily on the system/qb. They come out of nowhere and have success. I think a RB can do a lot more on his own than a WR, absolutely. But yeah, Emmitt wouldn't have been the same RB with a lesser line. He might be HOF still, but all-time leading rusher? Rice is an all-timer, there are exceptions, like Moss. I'm not saying Marshall would suck elsewhere, but the guy was a 4th rounder who owes a great deal of his success to the system he was in and great QB that threw to him. There's no way he would be considered the same player he is now considered had he been drafted by the Bears and played with Grossman, Griese and Orton. No way. So, you are saying Jay Cutler was a great QB in his 2nd season in the league (1st starting) when Marshall caught 104 for 1300? Marshall may not duplicate the same numbers with Orton as his QB this year, but I would be willing to bet that he will be an 80/1100 WR (provided he's healthy) in 09. I also think that if Marshall had played with Grossman in Chicago, Grossman would have looked a lot better as a QB and may still be the starter for this team. Calvin Johnson just has 1300 yards for an 0-16 team, with no QB and a horrible system. Dwayne Bowe had 86/1000 for a horrible KC team w/ no QB and a horrible system. Roddy White had an 80/1100 season in 07 with no QB and a horrible system. Andre Johnson was an elite WR on a 6-win team with David Carr as his QB. Granted, all those guys were picked in the first 2 rounds, but we all know slot in draft is not a predictor of future stardom. Maybe Marshall wouldn't be a top 5 WR, but he would definitely be among the top 15. Probably easily.

Jalen was bigger and probably quicker. But it's a decent comparison.

I'm no Mort fan, and these early summer practices don't really tell you much, but this is what I'm expecting out of the receivers. I've had my differences with Angelo's decisions, but he's absolutely right when he talks about it starting with the QB. Everybody loves Brandon Marshall, but he was a 4th rounder. You think Brandon Marshall would be Brandon Marshall if he was drafted in the 4th round by the Bears in 2006? I sure don't. Do you think Eddie Royal comes close to the rookie season he had if he's playing for the Bears last year? A QB absolutely can make a WR. I know for a fact Royal wouldn't have had the season he had for any other team in the NFL, especially not the Bears. But Brandon Marshall is one of the top 5 WRs in the league. You can't tell me one of the best WRs in the league is only great because of his QB/system. That's like saying Emmitt wouldn't have been a HOF without the great line. Rice wouldn't have been the best ever w/o Montana, Young, Walsh. Talent is talent. Great players are great at all times in all systems. I'm not saying Brandon Marshall is "great" yet, but with 206 catches and 2600 yards in his only 2 years as a starter (and the first one was Cutler's 1st year as a starter)....I'd say he's on his way.

It is if you have 2 who are best suited for the same position in a normal defense.

He's not. He's starting WITH him right now. Payne at strong, Steltz at free. That won't last though. Steltz doesn't have nearly enough speed and coverage skills for FS. I actually think Steltz is the worst option for FS of the current DB group, save for Vasher who can't tackle anymore.

i havent been following the Bears hardcore but I'm startled and horrified to see that Craig Steltz could be a starter for this team Yeah, that's just not a good situation. Especially at free safety. He is 100% a strong safety and 100% a backup at this point. Our safety play is going to kill the team this year. I'm actually surprised we didn't make a move to improve the safety position during the offseason when help was available. Instead, we are taking huge risks implementing bottom of the barrel players or guys who haven't done it before at the position. We're screwed. Eh, it's only 1 safety position. Payne is a solid young SS. All the FS options are actually pretty young too, but either not experienced or not that good. FS will likely be the worst position on the defense. But if Vasher and the pass rush comes back to a respectable level, it won't matter much. The Bears went to the Superbowl with a similar safety situation a few years ago. McGowan and DManning were not good players then.

There's a pretty big difference between the 2. My only complaint with the baseball situation is how people continue to phrase it as "not enough blacks in the game" while only counting US born of African heritage. It's not a racism thing, it's a money thing. Nobody has the interest in reaching out to poor Americans, building them up in the game, and then having to pay them big money. There's no need to when you go to Latin America and pay them nothing. Nobody reaches out to white kids to try to get them to play baseball either. Also, if I'm not mistaken, isn't there more African Americans now than there was a few years ago.

Bullocks has been working out as 2nd team SS. I still think he's a better FS than Steltz, and could be ok in the cover 2 system. Glenn Earl is also a SS, he was a pretty decent looking safety. He's easily the most experienced safety on the roster, but I don't know if the Bears keep 5 safeties, not including Manning. That would likely mean 4 CBs or leaving another position short a man.

Carpenter and Hamels' both with CGs!

Why not play the 15th? Both teams are off the 15th and 22nd. So, play the 15th and both teams are off the following Monday. Cubs would play 13 in a row between now and the 22nd, Braves 17. But, I guess ATL is already home on the 22nd, but they are also off the 29th with the Cubs now having to play 23 days in a row from 6/16 to 7/9.

I think very highly of Evans. Much higher than most, it seems (though obviously some of that is relative to this subpar draft class). he reminds me of jerry stackhouse without the ability to shoot. i guess that's not necessarily a good thing. I like Evans too. I think he could be an NBA point guard. He not lightning quick like a lot of PGs, but at 6'5"- 6'6" I think he can be a guy that can run the halfcourt and do a lot of things for his team. He can see and shoot or pass over smaller PGs. He can create his own shot and/or get to the line and should be tough to guard on the pick and roll. I think putting the ball in his hands also takes the emphasis off of him being able to make a jumpshot. I keep seeing the Larry Hughes comparison and their college games were a lot alike, but Evans has much better handles and is more of a willing passer than Hughes ever was.

i havent been following the Bears hardcore but I'm startled and horrified to see that Craig Steltz could be a starter for this team Yeah, that's just not a good situation. Especially at free safety. He is 100% a strong safety and 100% a backup at this point.