jersey cubs fan

At this point, it seems more like 2001, when we went 12-4 and got demolished by the Eagles in the playoffs. Not to me. That team was fluky. They had one 300 yard passing game all season. They were a bad offense that got lucky with points scored from the defense. This is a better all-around team, even if they aren't the best in the NFC.

Harris has been benched, but it's been suspensions...never just a performance based coaches decision like this. I think he was benched once last year in a non-suspension situation. It was a few weeks before the Arizona game meltdown that got him kicked out.

It's really not that much more playing time. When you eliminate 2 preason games, where plenty of people get injured already it's not as big a deal as people like Peter King like to make it. But Peter King is notorious for bitching about the job being a 10-month one now instead of 5 months, so screw him.

I think he's a little soft for the coach's liking and they didn't like how he kept saying things like "they aren't telling me anything." It's a matter of choosing to do what you're told as a player or only doing what you want to do. If he was a little more established he'd probably have a leg to stand on, but as a journeyman with just a couple games under his belt, he's got to work harder.

Is he the best coach on his own team? Lovie looks a WHOLE lot better when he has other guys that know what they're doing calling plays and able to do their job. Lovie doesn't have to do as much with this team as he has since he forced out Ron Rivera. Marinelli, Tice and Martz are all doing a really great job with this team. It's a team that's developing. Tommie Harris, Zach Bowman...I don't think those guys get pulled last year. I think that's Marinelli doing that. It might also speak volumes as to how bad both McCarthy and Childress are. Ultimately, the head coach is still responsible for who's going into and out of the game. If he doesn't deserve some credit for going 3-0, including beating two teams that are better on paper than his club, then I really don't know what it's going to take for Bears fans to cater to Smith. 29th in penalties in 07 31st in penalties in 08 32nd in penalties in 09 Again, THAT'S a sign of bad coaching. We're well on our way to duplicating that this year. I don't know what catering has to do with it, but the head coach really doesn't have much of anything to say about who goes in and out of games. Position coaches and coordinators determine that. Lovie overplayed his hand after the Super Bowl season and the team paid a price. If him stepping back and letting a real OC and a real DC run their parts of the team leads to success, I'd be fine with keeping him on. But the fall from 2006 to 2007-2009 was as much a Lovie problem as anybody else. 3 wins is great, but it's not a season.

I'm not sure what you mean. First few weeks of the season we beat GB 26-0, DET 34-7, MIN 19-16, defending NFC champ SEA 37-6, BUF 41-7 before the lucky Arizona game. Before that game we were generally regarded as the first or second best team in the league. We were #1 in ESPN power rankings. Yeah, they started off great...you're right. But as the season went on they were winning with ST and Defense. I didn't mean that it was following the pattern game for game. Just that the style of wins has some similar characteristics. Don Banks already pretty much writing the Bears off as "lucky".... http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/don_banks/09/28/packers.bears.5things/index.html Don Banks is one of the idiots who picked the Bears as a bottom 5 team so he has to do that even as he shoots them up his rankings. I think there's a little bit of 2005 going on, but they haven't been that lucky. They should have destroyed the Lions and are only considered lucky to have won that because of one play.

Is he the best coach on his own team? Lovie looks a WHOLE lot better when he has other guys that know what they're doing calling plays and able to do their job. Lovie doesn't have to do as much with this team as he has since he forced out Ron Rivera. Marinelli, Tice and Martz are all doing a really great job with this team. It's a team that's developing. Tommie Harris, Zach Bowman...I don't think those guys get pulled last year. I think that's Marinelli doing that. I think Harris has been benched before. But I do think Martz and Tice have made a big difference on offense and Marinellie helps to keep Lovie away from the defense. I was happy that Rod apparently figured out the blitz was not working and stopped doing it later. If you are going to be a bend but don't break defense that relies on the offense eventually making a mistake, don't freaking blitz, and don't drop your best pass rusher into coverage.

The train kept a rollin' all night long.... 3-0, not much more you can say. I think consensus had them 1-2 by now, optimists hoped for 2-1. It may not look pretty, but they are 3-0 and have obviously clinched a winning record for the first quarter of the season, for whatever that is worth. This week's game was considered by most to be a sure loss, I've thought of it as a very winnable one, since I never got the Giants love. And now that Big Blue looks as sloppy, stupid and dysfunctional as they have, I'd go as far as saying it is a game the Bears absolutely should win. NYG were 3 point favorites before the MNF game, but it's off the board now. The Bears have covered 2 weeks in a row now, and were one Aromashadu 2 point catch away from covering in week 1. I'm guessing Vegas is going to adjust that to account for what may be a flood of Bears hype coming soon. The Bears remain tough against the run but beatable through the air. At least they have done a good job limiting big plays, even if they haven't gotten to the QB enough. Eli is not Aaron Rodgers. He's going to screw up if you give him the chance, and I think the Bears will give him every chance, as long as the banged up Briggs and Peppers are healthy enough to play. Cutler has to have a better game this week. It's tough to judge based on all the horrible and blatant penalties GB took that coincided with would be and could be INTs, but Cutler probably made 4-5 bad decisions out there. Unfortunately he remains a one man offense, as the line was better but still weak, the running game remains non existent and the receivers are a little hit or miss.

It's like there's 2 people living in there.

He was still alive?

Is this a wrestling question?

What's the over/under? 46

Then why didn't he trade Theriot 2 years ago?

You mean 4? no, three, it didn't drop in 2007, it was up.

what?

I think Singletary has been embarrassing himself. That hardass tough guy mentality works great if you're winning, but he just looks like a loon when his team repeatedly gets its butt handed to them.

Are you boycotting it or something? It's not posted yet for some reason...or is my browser just jacked up? I don't like promoting his work, but here it is http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/peter_king/09/26/Week3/index.html?eref=sihp

Are you boycotting it or something?

The Giants suck, and that's fun.

Really? I mean I only know a couple of them, but they were pretty upset. Weren't there a number of people calling for his head after the first season? Or was that after his second? I definitely heard calls for his head after year 1, don't quite recall how loud they were.

Really? I mean I only know a couple of them, but they were pretty upset.

Trades saved the Cubs a few million during this season. It's entirely possible that profits came about from cutting those costs in July. That would leave the break even point at a lower payroll price point. And who knows what those profits are, $100,000, $1,000,000 or $10,000,000. You can also pour that money back into the team in a variety of ways. Improving the stadium, increasing scouting and international free agent signing, the draft, etc. Financially I don't have a problem with where the Cubs are right now. The biggest knock on Ricketts is that he appears to be going forward with proven failure Jim Hendry running the team. He shouldn't need more time than he's had to evaluate Hendry, and if his evaluation is that Hendry has done a good enough job to keep his job, than he's an idiot.

Anything to piss off LaRussa.

I apologize for not understanding your implication.

I never understood where those rumors came from in the first place. Every indication has been that they will hold steady. However, a big part of breaking even this year was probably all the tickets sold in February, when people had hope, and all the money saved in trades later in the season. There had to be a few million dollars taken off the payroll by the end. If they had a payroll of 140m going in and end up spending 137 after all the trades, then that could be where they start next year.