Banedon

GREAT coverage Urlacher!

ST needs to have better coverage on these returns...

Grossman has ALWAYS been able to throw the bomb....:D

OMFGOMFGOMFGOMFG!!!!!

Someone was down on that return and didn't get back up to block..

There was a point this season where when a team got in the red zone, I was confident they wouldn't get more than 3. Sadly I'm no longer confident of that.

Why would the Eagles punt? That baffles me.

It's called the Canseco defense.

This is a real defensive struggle.

Boy, if the Saints somehow win this game, I like the Bears chances against this defense. They love to give up the big plays.

If they don't play, that takes away those 4 WR sets...

Can't use firefox at work sadly.

Wow...now the Bears are boring huh? http://community.foxsports.com/blogs/NFL_Czar/2007/01/09/Schottenheimer_on_thin_ice http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/6350916 http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/columnists/cs-070104pierson,1,4396942.column?coll=cs-columnists Looks like this idea was spawned from Pierson's article. I love the new ways that the media finds to insult this team.

Just curious, if you're wanting a QB taken, does that mean you're ready to be done with Orton? I'm just curious because I don't know if we've found out exactly what we have in the guy. His lows were nowhere near the lows that Rex has had this year (although admittedly the highs were nowhere near the highs Rex has had either). I'm just wondering if this year has helped his development at all, and what the coaching staff thinks of him. I won't cry if he's gone though. Maybe he never hit the 0 rating mark, but his 5 interception game against the Bengals was pretty darn bad. It was after that that they really started to handcuff him and played not to lose in the passing game (not that they were airing it out like crazy before). Good point...I had blocked that from my memory.

Just curious, if you're wanting a QB taken, does that mean you're ready to be done with Orton? I'm just curious because I don't know if we've found out exactly what we have in the guy. His lows were nowhere near the lows that Rex has had this year (although admittedly the highs were nowhere near the highs Rex has had either). I'm just wondering if this year has helped his development at all, and what the coaching staff thinks of him. I won't cry if he's gone though. I just think it's a good idea to routinely draft QB's in the middle round. If you end up with a career backup, you've made it more than worth the effort. If you end up with a guy you can trade for a higher pick later (backups QB's are often traded for 2nd round picks) it's huge. And occasionally you'll find a guy who can start for you. I'm not demanding a QB in the middle rounds, I'd just like to see it. I'm fine with Orton 3rd in the depth chart. And depending on how he develops, I might be able to live with him 2nd next year (and the new guy 3rd). If Orton is 2nd and the new guy 3rd, you're looking at trading/cutting Griese then? Or Rex?

Just curious, if you're wanting a QB taken, does that mean you're ready to be done with Orton? I'm just curious because I don't know if we've found out exactly what we have in the guy. His lows were nowhere near the lows that Rex has had this year (although admittedly the highs were nowhere near the highs Rex has had either). I'm just wondering if this year has helped his development at all, and what the coaching staff thinks of him. I won't cry if he's gone though.

I think Rex has more to do with the underestimation of the Bears than anything though.

An ESPN mock draft has the Bears selecting: Insider article

I understand that the Bears have question marks...but the media really doesn't like them, do they? I'm just stunned at how much the media is writing this team off. It's like we're a 8-8 team that got in the last slot of the playoffs or something. I haven't been terribly nervous about this game, but I'm starting to get there just because I've read too much about it.

Hollinger projected a 16.21 PER for Hinrich this season. He's currently at 14.71, down from 15.56 last year and 15.30 the year before. As I said before, I think Kirk will pick it up before the season's over. He's been a more productive player after the All-Star break the past couple of seasons. We'll see if that trend holds true. For the curious, Deron's PER is currently 17.89 and Paul's is 22.61. (Unrelated to this discussion, Gordon's at 19.16. It just makes me happy to type that.) Mike North was asking yesterday morning whether the Bulls should get rid of either Kirk or Gordon, and if so, which one....I don't know why I even flip to the Score in the morning.

I certainly hope you're right. Arizona is the only team that has shown interest in Norm Chow so far (to my knowledge) and I really don't want him leaving Tennessee. I realize that hope is likely fleeting, though, as he's too good not to become a head coach somewhere, sometime. Yeah I think Chow ends up in AZ.

I know this is my 4th post in a row, and I apologize for that...but I needed to put one more thought out here... Part of the criticism here of the small schools is that they don't recruit big enough or talented enough guys to be able to compete. If I'm a top recruit and I want to have a shot at a National Championship, why would I want to go to a team like Boise State, when I know that even if they go undefeated, they won't have a chance? While a tournament won't get them the best in the country, it certainly should improve recruiting capabilities.

This is where I think you and goony and others that are arguing this case are losing your argument. You're dismissing the chances of upsets out of hand. The thing is, the big schools have absolutely nothing to lose here then! If Podunk State can't be Ultra-Mega University, than why not let them play in the first round of a tourney and be done with it? Half the reason for the excitement around March Madness is the opportunity for a George Mason or a Wichita State to upset big teams like UConn. I think it's especially absurd to dismiss the smaller schools when Boise State won the game they did. Do I think they would be Florida at this point. I doubt it. But again, that's not the point. The point is the opportunity. And you can't tell me that Florida-Boise State wouldn't draw an audience.

Because the notion that anybody can win is a myth. It's a nice little storyline to pretend Podunk University has a shot at the title, but they don't. We can pretend anybody has a shot at the NCAA BB title, but they don't. Year in and year out only a handful of teams have a real shot, and the same group of teams win over and over. Football is just the only sport that doesn't pretend otherwise. People play because they like to play the game. Try telling the thousands of players that have no shot at the title that there is no reason to play. If winning a tourny title were all that matters, then everybody would being playing DII and DIII instead. Ivy League teams play every year without any hope of any sort of postseason play. They send guys to the NFL every season as well. I think a big problem here is that so many people think the only thing that matters is the national champ. Rutgers finished their season on the highest note they've ever finished this year, achieving a level of attention and respect that was unprecedented in their football history. I don't see how arguing about whether they deserved a shot for the field of 12 would have been any better. College football is unique in that 32 teams walk off the field feeling like champions at the end of their season. I'd like the national championship cleaned up a bit myself, but the idea that they must create a huge tournament where anybody can win makes no sense to me. College basketball holds the nation's attention for 3 weekends a year. College football has huge games for 4 months. I don't understand how anybody can say the only way to run a sports league is by finishing the season with a big tournament. Because it's the way every other team sport anywhere is played, that's how. All sports have arguments over who should be in the playoffs and who shouldn't. But that doesn't mean that the tournament isn't valid. If Boise State/Rutgers/Louisville felt like champions, we wouldn't be having this discussion. And frankly, when you dismiss the notion that anyone can win, you're missing the point. The point isn't whether they actually win, it's the opportunity. George Mason had the opportunity to go to the final four last year, and though they lost, they were provided the opportunity to challenge the larger schools, and in at least the case of UConn, won! Even the team they lost to was the eventual National Champion! That's far more relevant that winning the MPC Computers Bowl, or the Meineke Car Care Bowl. Sorry, but those teams don't feel like National Champions, they're just trying to enjoy what they're permitted to have as much as they can.

I can. Florida won all the games it had to and absolutely destroyed what was unanimously considered the best team in the land. If you expect every college football champion to beat every other contender for the title, we'll be playing games year-round. That's ridiculous and not what I was implying. A single-elimination tournament would suffice. Florida lost a game. Boise State didn't. Yet Florida is the champ. That's not definitive.