Wilson A2000

Not totally surprising that Forte was hurt from week 3 considering his performance. He had a a sprained medial collateral ligament.

So the Bears are looking for a defensive coordinator too from outside of the Bears organization. Any candidates you would like?

If those last few games were really so important, why didn't they keep Turner? His body of work. They kept Lovie in spite of his body of work. Yep. But the head coach usually gets more credit for a Super Bowl appearance than an offensive coordinator. I think Lovie's body of work is about as good as Turner's. This year, the defensive was about as good as the offense in term of points scored/allowed (around 20th in the NFL), which means that both coordinators were bad .

If those last few games were really so important, why didn't they keep Turner? His body of work.

WGN radio said Lovie is not defensive coordinator anymore. Is that true?

That must have been hard to say with a straight face.

Deng has like $50 million dollars left on his deal. McGrady is in the last year of his contract. I don't see how Houston would want to take Deng's contract. If they offered and I was Forman, I would trade Deng immediately. I would guess Houston wants to get rid of McGrady because of his attitude and because they might not be interested in offering him a contract after this year because he could not be healthy. Might as well save $12 million because the Rockets aren't going anywhere this year.

You make some decent points, but I am not yet convinced that Chris Williams is a solid LT. I saw some good signs, but even a bad LT or RT has a good game now and again. Maybe Williams is playing better because LT is his natural position. But I can't fault the Bears for playing Pace there. I too thought Pace at LT was better than Williams at the beginning of the season. The defensive line pressured Favre pretty decently Monday. I don't think the coaching was the reason that Tommie Harris has played far below average this year. He was injured and doesn't give all the effort he can from what I have seen. Brown and Walle had average to below average years. I don't think the scheme was at fault - they just have average talent. The Bears are a bad blitzing team. They get plugged at the line. But you still have to blitz. I don't think that is the result of bad coaching, but guys just not being very good at finding holes and pressuring the QB. I knew Cutler had talent, so I agree with you on that one. He just needed time in the pocket. But I will admit that Turner should have called for more plays with Cutler moving around in the pocket or bootlegging to one side, especially because Cutler had been under pressure the entire year. The coaching staff did fail in that regard. But the Bears of Monday night are still not a playoff team. The Vikings and Packers are still better. And the Cowboys, Eagles, Giants, or Falcons are too.

The Tribune is reporting in their Around Town section that Collins could be persuaded to come to Chicago if Reisndorf hands him a big wad of cash. I didn't think the deciding factor in Collins coming to Chicago would be money. He has a great job, does a super job at it, and he has a fairly stress-free life. I would be more persuaded to come to Chicago by the fact that the Bulls have Rose and $15-20 million to spend on free agents next year.

Is McGrady going to be able to return to his pre-injury level? What have doctors said about his recovery? If they are going to sign him to a long-term deal, trade for him, but if they have no intention of doing it I would stay away from McGrady.

I am not yet convinced that the talent the Bears showed Monday night is really there. I think Monday was a step in the right direction, but there have been too many other games this year that have shown otherwise. Was Monday a mirage, or the real thing?

Do they still say "Be a Tiger"?

I don't think the game at Detroit really matters. Stafford is out (right?), and Detroit is just terrible. Tonight's win probably helped Lovie's cause. I think he should be fired, but I don't think he will. But the availability of two very good coaches might tempt the McCaskeys.

Manning had the time between the 4th quarter and overtime to get his legs back. I think he should have been out there, especially considering the night he was having.

Great game. The Bears won and it was exciting to watch. Those two have occurred only once this season as far as I can remember (Pittsburgh). My thoughts: 1. This is what Cutler can do with a decent line. I think Allen's name was only called once. Ron Turner finally opened up the playbook a little, partly due to the great performance of the line. It was about time that the Bears started chipping Allen too. 2. Why the pooch/line drive kick to start the second half? 3. Pretty good pressure from the line all night. 4. Why was Manning not returning the kickoff in the overtime? I don't like the selective use of Manning. Give him every stinking kick off. I remember when another great returner the Bears had whose productivity dropped when he wasn't given opportunities. Hester will never be a great receiver, and now he might not be a great returner again.

Kreutz and Angelo had a meeting. Didn't sound like it went well. http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/chi-27-haugh-dec27,0,1381841.column

I agree with your second paragraph, but if Favre is audibling too often and not giving maybe the best RB in the league a shot to take over the game, Favre is wrong. Favre thinks he knows best, but he tanked late in the season last year, and his audibling in the last game of the year blew the Jets's playoff chance. If I remember correctly, Thomas Jones was running all over the place during that particular drive, but Favre thought he knew better, audibled, and threw a terrible interception that cost them the game. Childress is right here, but he should have known what he was getting into.

It was a decent trade for Atlanta. They had too many starters. The White Sox and Braves were unimpressed with Vazquez down the stretch. The Braves needed a LF too.

Thank god, it was like watching Chuck Knoblauch out there after he got the yips. Isn't Suisham the guy who had the kicking yips and was cut by the Redskins a few weeks back? Concerning Favre and Childress, from the comments I heard both of them make, Childress wanted to bench Favre for good, not just to run the wildcat. Even if it is the wrong decision, Childress has to take control of Favre.

You don't take out someone who is/was in the MVP voting and led the NFL in QB rating for a good portion of the season when you are down one point.

Lovie's press conference an hour and a half late. Could he be getting fired?

Tommie Harris: "We had a rough week. I'm going to use that as an excuse," Harris said. "I think that [changing the time of the game] does have something to do with it. ... Dude, it threw my whole week off, my preparation. I was out of sync. I don't know what happened anymore. At least my rookie year we played good defense." http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/chi-21-bears-bits-chicago-dec21,0,2581471.story What a baby.

He is trying to fire Lovie before he gets fired. But then again, wouldn't he need to get Ted Phillips' approval before doing that? And if the McCaskey's want Angelo out, they will fire him and Lovie before Angelo fires Lovie.

What's his contract, anyway? If they won't fire Lovie because they owe him a lot of money... I feel like that's exactly why they wouldn't fire him. The McCaskey's are cheap asses. No they aren't. Lovie, Urlacher, Briggs, Hester, and Tommie are all highly paid. They don't lose their own stars to other teams. Losing star players outright through free agency in the NFL is pretty rare because of the franchise tag. But that means you are paying through the nose. The Bears picked up players like Tait and Muhammad too. They venture out occasionally.

What's his contract, anyway? If they won't fire Lovie because they owe him a lot of money... I feel like that's exactly why they wouldn't fire him. The McCaskey's are cheap asses. No they aren't. Lovie, Urlacher, Briggs, Hester, and Tommie are all highly paid. They don't lose their own stars to other teams.