UMFan83

He is such an interesting player. Of course he's pretty useless against lefties (.239 average, .770 OPS), and as you'd expect he hits much much better on the road than at home (.845 at home, 1.045 on road). Considering most hitters in non-extreme ballparks tend to hit better at home than on the road, can you imagine his numbers at a halfway decent hitter's park?

Haha, I say all of this, and then I goto RealGM and read about this.... http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/knicks/lebron_will_have_better_options_h6US69ienG0jhqziBG49cJ

BTW, for those of you that just can't let go of playoff hopes...think about this. The Bears are 4-4, in order to get a halfway decent shot at a playoff spot, they'll need to finish 10-6. So they need to go 6-2 the rest of the way. They still have to play the Eagles, the Vikings twice, the Ravens, the Packers, among other teams. Do you see 2 losses or less in those 5 gaves? They would have to go 3-2 against those teams and then win the rest of their games (49ers, Lions, Rams)

Well, I don't think we got better without Gordon, I was more referring to the cost cutting moves at the deadline last year, but I think we are better long term without Gordon. Gordon is a unique talent and a unique scorer, but I don't think it's something that can't be mostly replaced. Maybe you aren't gonna find a player with the shooting ability that Gordon has (the ability to catch and shoot, the ability to get unbelievably on fire, etc), but you might find a player that can create more on offense, one who can slash better, one who can get to the line when his shots not falling. Scorers are a dime a dozen in the NBA, but finding players who can create offense in multiple ways, and play solid defense are much harder to find. That's just my opinion, I don't think the Gordon debate will ever have a clear victor unless we do get a stud FA this offseason. It doesn't help that the offense has come out noticeably weakened this season, but then again the defense looks revitalized so who knows.

Oh, I'll be furious if that's the case. I know it's irrational, but I'll use hindsight to bash Paxson and Foreman for letting go of Gordon for nothing. I was pissed at the time but I understand their line of thinking, as I said. But if we reach the summer and we can't get any of those free agents? That erases that line of thinking and instead of having a guy that can pour in 21 points a game, we're going to be relegated to keeping John Salmons for a long-term deal when BG should be getting that money. I hope it doesn't come to that. I really hope we don't screw this up in the summer. I don't know if its a matter of screwing up. The Bulls saw how many great FAs were out there, positioned themselves to be a player that offseason (and actually got better in the process), and now they just have to hope that they can attract a FA to come there. I see this offseason (for the NBA in general) going one of two ways: 1) Almost all the FAs end up going back to their current teams because they can offer more money and security; this offseason is a huge bust in terms of the hype it's gotten. 2) Due to the economy, many of the smaller market teams with FAs, can't afford to give their players max deals and/or deem it more fiscally responsible to work out sign and trades so they get something back in return. I think 1 is more likely by far. If that's the case, you can rip the Bulls for their plan not working out, but I tend to think the Bulls are in a better position long term now than they were a year ago this time, so all is not lost if we get shut out. Anyways, if FAs are looking elsewhere, there is gonna be a lot of competition and I think there are several more attractive options for most FAs than Chicago. Look how things turned out in 2000 when we went out looking for stud FAs. Chicago wasn't as attractive as Orlando, despite neither team having much in the way of talent. Yes the Bulls have a better team now, but Chicago isn't considered by many players a destination NBA city (IMO). Who wants to go out at night and deal with 15 degree temps in January when they can be living it up on South Beach or something. I could be wrong though. I will anticipate the offseason hoping something happens, but I'm not counting on it.

I'm actually with you about not having Gordon being good for the Bulls long term, but I have to say that in my mind, the scenario where the Bulls strike out in free agency and end up getting a player who is worse than Gordon is more likely than the Bulls actually hitting it big and getting a superstar this summer. Imagine the Bulls striking out in FA and having to settle for Rafer Alston or something like that, and giving him Ben Gordon money.

Raisin or gooney usually post these, but their mojo obviously isn't helping the Bears, plus it's a short week so we gotta get this started (do we have to?) I can't remember a time in my Bears fanhood where I've been more down about the team. Sure there have been worse teams, but I've never seen a team that has underperformed so significantly before. Part of it is that they just aren't good enough, but some of it is also something else. How are they good enough to beat the Steelers, but bad enough to get destroyed and humiliated by the Bengals and Cardinals. It's been awhile since I've thought about this, but I think you are seeing the impact that Brian Urlacher has on the Bears defense. Yes there are issues (the biggest by far being the lack of pass rush), but having Urlacher out there shouting out audibles, it was a different more confident defense. Anyways onto the game...I guess the Bears could hypothetically beat the 49ers, but I don't see it. I think this team is demoralized and full of turmoil right now. They are playing on the road, cross country on a short week. Several defensive starters are banged up and questionable at best for the game. There are a lot of negatives going for the Bears right now, and should be underdogs to a team that has looked pretty bad after a 3-1 start, losing 3 straight and 4 of 5 (i believe). Despite all the negatives, I will still be rooting and hoping. Like it or not, the Bears have given me more success in recent years than any other team I root for, so if I was there for the Super Bowl season, I'll be there for them when they suck too. Go Bears!

I can see his press conference after the Bears lose in Week 17 to finish 6-10 "We made some bad mistakes, but we're a better football team than this. We just gotta put this performance behind us and look forward to the next game." Reporter: Umm Lovie there isn't another game the season is over. "Look you gotta look at this season in quarters. We came out strong the first quarter and then struggled our way through the next three quarters. We just gotta play better the next quarter and get better." Reporter: ......?!? (eyes dart around the room in confusion" "Ummm....Rex Grossman is our quarterback?" (looks around for acceptance...quickly walks off the podium)

OK, we won't see 70 degree temps until next May, so I'm gonna go out and enjoy the last 90 minutes of summer like daytime.

challenge from inside the one with 4:30 left down 2 tds with an almost certain td following? why? why not? what if they fumble the snap after its overturned? as carefree as lovie is with his challenges, that seemed like a no-brainer They either run it three times and score a td, running a couple of minutes off the clock or they score more quickly than that. It's a no win It would have been third and goal if that TD call was overturned.

Cutler has been bad at times...and I've been very critical of him at times...not to the point where I don't think he's the answer...I've always believed that, but to the point where I suggest he needs a lot of improvement. But after seeing the way Bennett just had no clue which direction to run and then giving up on a route that gets picked off, and realizing it's happened way too many times this season...I'm starting to believe it's been a herculean effort to get as many points out of this offense as he has this season. He's a $100 quarterback playing with a $.10 offense.

No it's not...he threw it at the feet of a receiver....that's allowed.

This mini comeback was worthless. Now Lovie isn't going to be as pissed as he should be. He's gonna say things like: - "We gotta find a way to play a complete ballgame, instead of only showing up in the 2nd half" - "It was very encouraging to see the defense pick it up in the 2nd half." - "we outscored the Cardinals in the second half" - "The Cardinals had a good gameplan in the first half, but we made some adjustments at halftime and we did better because of them. We just need to limit the mistakes in execution and stop letting things snowball when we get behind early." - "We are only halfway through the season, we've played good at times and poorly at times, and our record reflects that. We know what we need to do to improve, we just need to go out and execute and show it on the field."

You know what the punishment for trying to come back against the Cardinals? A TD and a trip into 40 points allowed

Phew, he almost let his TD passes get too far away from his INTs

And that's that

If it is a 1st, that was awful to give up that 1st down on 3rd and 25, the crowd getting insanely into it, and absolutely no room for error.

Good challenge, but I don't know if there is inconclusive evidence

Will they go for it just to break the Bears backs?

No intentional grounding?

If we could have recovered that inside the 5....haha oh well.

I want to pause my DVR right now because I know the game can't get any better than it is right now.

Warner's coming back in...the Cardinals are playing for reals again.

I'd like to mention that I'm starting both Cutler and Olsen in fantasy today. It's karma because Portis went down in the first quarter with 4 rushing yards.

It's an interesting question. I think they are more or less middle of the road in terms of national exposure, propped up only because of their history (pre-1970) and market (3rd largest in the country) and on a smaller scale, the 85 team (which probably left a longer lasting image than any title team in the SB era). But in terms of day to day exposure, the Bears have been under marketed in their city and nationally for some time (who can remember seeing a Bears commercial on TV before last season?), and have not been able to put together a 3+ year span of competitive teams which has caused them to dip behind teams like Dallas, Philly, Washington, Green Bay, New England, Pittsburgh in terms of franchise prestige. Assuming they don't make the playoffs this year, they will have made the playoffs just 4 times in the last 18 years (94, 01, 05, 06). And in many of the other years they haven't come close to contending (92, 93, 96, 97, 98, 99, 00, 02, 03, 04, 07, likely 09). So it's hard to stay on the first half hour of sportscenter when you are a boring team that loses a lot.