apete6

Not according to the Playoff Machine on ESPN. There are several scenarios where the Lions, Bears, and Falcons are all 10-6 and the Bears are left out due to strength of victory tiebreakers. If it's just us and Atlanta at 10-6 and the Lions even at 11-5, it's better for the Bears. We have the tiebreak on ATL head to head, but when 3 teams are in it, there's some weird scenarios.

Good article. As has been discussed, he is similar to Byrd, but Byrd is RH. Any way they eventually become the platoon? Byrd is a .781 OPS vs. LHP and a .750 OPS vs. RHP.

So add Pujols, Johnson, Headley, Cespedes, Hamels, Darvish and Gio Gonzalez? That's madness. A ton of money and a ton of prospects. Also in that scenario you'd have to at least partially take into account the money the Cubs would be eating on Z and Soriano. I think Theo will try and position the Cubs to compete in 2012, but not go balls-out crazy trying to win the WS next year, especially not a the expense of half of our top 15. I think 2-3 of Pujols/Fielder, Cespedes, Darvish and Stewart/Headley would be the outer limit of what we could reasonably expect for this offseason. I think you're being a bit ambitious there. The package for Headley doesn't seem unreasonable. However, if they want Rhee they can just pluck him in the Rule 5 so we might have to give them something else. As for Gio, it would be a great rotation and all, but assuming we signed Hamels(or Cain) and Darvish and added them to Garza with that lineup we'd be good enough to save the rest of the prospects and the back of the rotation could be between McNutt, Cashner, Wells, Samardzjia, Struck etc.(might need Cashner as the closer if Marmol's traded) Also, I don't know how much we'd need to spend on Kelly Johnson. With what you've proposed a lineup of 1. Jackson CF 2. Castro SS 3. Ethier LF 4. Pujols 1B 5. Cespedes RF 6. Headley 3B 7. Geo C 8. Barney/Baker/LeMahieu/Watkins/cheap gritty white guy 2B would more than suffice. Why, exactly would Andre Ethier be getting more at bats than Albert Pujols?

Yeah, I've heard that. Don't really know what his qualifications are. Does Martz just say, "here's my playbook". Not sure how this would work. He's been a tight ends coach, offensive line coach, tight ends coach, head coach, assistant head coach and now line coach again. I think he's probably qualified in the general sense, but I fear he'd run a dumbed down version of this scheme and isn't very imaginative, or bright for that matter. Actually, he'd probably be more to Lovie's liking consisidering his history. I'd much rather prefer the guy who could be the next head coach (the next Sean Payton as raw said and as we said last time this position was available). Well, that brings up another issue too. Lovie and crew are still 1 bad season away from getting the axe, IMO. Do you risk starting from scratch this year, going 7-9 next year, and then needing an entire new coaching staff the year after? I definitely don't want Tice as OC, unless it's only as a figurehead like Lovie as DC. But I don't really want to start over just yet. Hmm...I disagree about Lovie being anywhere near the hot seat. He's had his ups and downs, but he manages to take teams that experts don't think belong near the top of the league and keeps them playing hard, and really, beyond the level that most think they should be playing. I can see an argument for Angelo being on the hot seat, but I think Lovie's pretty safe, actually. Completely agree. Lovie's only underachieving season based on the talent on the roster was the one after the Super Bowl. Even that year, there was some weirdness, especially with the Rex stuff (he was bad, but benched after 3 or 4 games, really?). Also, that was the year where, outside of Olsen, they got absolutely nothing from the draft (thanks, Jerry) and traded their best offensive player from the season before (Thomas Jones) for no apparent reason outside of trying to justify the overdrafting of Ced Benson, lost Mike Brown in the 1st game of the year, and lost a lot of close games with weird things happening. By and large, Lovie has overachieved as the coach and Jerry has underachieved as the GM. I think Lovie will continue that by making the playoffs without Cutler. The first step in that is beating a terrible Chiefs team at home.

Yes. Seems like a waste of money. We're going to suck this year, just let Colvin flame out once and for all and let Brett Jackson get some playing time.

So now we basically have 2 Marlon Byrds?

Denver @ Minnesota The fighting Tebows have a chance to strike again. This is an epic combination of good defense, luck, not turning the ball over, and playing a terrible schedule.

Forecast for Sunday is rain/snow mix. I honestly don't know who that favors. Probably the Chiefs since they suck anyway and their defense is relatively good. I hope this isn't some sort of terrible 9-6 slopfest that we end up losing on a dumb fumble or something.

If the Bears beat the Chiefs and Seahawks at home and the Vikings on the road, they should make the playoffs. The Denver game is a tossup, but very winnable also. If they can't win those games even without Jay, then they just aren't a good team or coaching staff. No excuses.

No way do the Bears lose this game. Bears 20 Chiefs 13

De Paul beats Texas Tech and Arizona State back to back. They are not good, but they are no longer the worst major conference team. .500 is realistic. Go Demons!

as long as martz isn't tempted to put them on the field ala todd collins, i'm ok with it. my biggest fear is we get another lurchy old guy who can't get rid of the ball and can't move his feet. Let's be honest here, if either one of those guys plays more than garbage time with the Bears, the season is over. 1. They won't be ready until at least 2 weeks from now. 2. If they get in, it probably means we lost to Oakland (Ok) and KC (would be awful and basically season ending). Let's hope Hanie takes every snap until Jay gets back. If Hanie signs a decent contract with another team after the season, it will be a win win for everyone.

I hope all of the people who approved this deal die in a very painful fashion. Why would any team waste money building a facility in a foreign country now?

Well, the first time in my lifetime where the Cubs were legitimately going to have an advantage due to their ownership and their front office and we just got butt fucked by MLB. Thanks a lot, assholes. 103 years might as well be 125. [expletive] this.

Wouldn't go making reservations just yet. This is the type of game many average programs have blown in the past. I, personally, like Northwestern, but they're so damn inconsistent that they could blow it. Let's hope they don't because I doubt they beat MSU the following week.

If Jason Varitek is anywhere near the Cubs this year, I'm punching someone. That guy has suuuuucked the last few years and has 0 business in the Cubs dugout unless he's a base coach.

So, basically, Chris Williams is our best offensive lineman? Or maybe the Louis/Carimi combo. Either way, makes the loss of Williams look even worse.

And probably the last time as well. :D A $100 parlay on the moneyline with all 4 teams would have yielded over $8,000. Don't know if that's a lot, but it probably is considering the Cardinals were 13.5 point dogs.

Take the Chargers and the under. Bears 20 Chargers 17

Since when would Hendry pass up a free meal? Zambrano probably invited him to discuss what exactly they were expecting for a $90 million extension.

See, this is quality stuff, here.

If you look at the Wild Card %s, though, the Bears have the upper hand by a lot. The Falcons and Saints are above them in overall playoff percentage because one of them will win the division, whereas the Bears have basically no chance to win the North. Bears are in a pretty good spot. Win on Sunday and they'll be in a really good spot.

And the fighting Tebows have a better chance at making the playoffs than the Dream Team. Hahahahaha.

Besides Wood and possibly DeRosa, I can't say that any of those deals would make any sense. James Loney sucks, Cespedes is an unknown, and CJ Wilson is not worth 6/$110. Also, Liriano is good, but his career is 1 pitch from being over.

In 4 years, they will be paying a 35 year old Madson and a 36 year old Ryan Howard a combined $36 million. That's worse than anything the Cubs have done besides maybe Milton Bradley. What a [expletive] joke. Hopefully they aren't rewarded with any titles between now and then to "justify" the stupidness.