Soul

Really? I thought Marshall might have a chance to be serviceable at some point. Maybe Gooz, but I'm starting to lose a little faith in him.

Maybe that's the case, but if it means overspending to get that innings eater, it may not be worth it. Personally, I'd offer the world for Schmidt and be happy with that. Zambrano, Schmidt, Hill, Prior, Miller, Guzman and one of Mateo, Marmol or Marshall is enough to get started. If Jacque Jones and one of Mateo, Marmol or Marshall isn't enough, I'd be just as happy with keeping Jones. Yeah, I tend to believe "Schmidt and done" is a viable strategy too. The reason I think that, though, is because I really believe Rich Hill is going to break out next year.

When I saw that I thought to myself, "bout damn time."

Bench him in week 14 though? See, this is the problem with the whole bench Grossman scenarios. I don't necessarily disagree, but at this point in the season I don't care if you're Johnny Unitas, you need more than 3 games against tomato cans to get ready for tough playoff games. If Grossmen fails to improve, I would not have a problem giving Griese a 3-game warmup before the playoffs begin. He's not a rookie. He's not in virgin territory. I like that Grossman brings a potential for big plays. And as long as he was bouncing back from bad games, I thought they'd be fine with him as QB. They've already beaten playoff caliber teams, both home and away, with Rex playing less than stellar. But back-to-back disaster games erodes my confidence in his ability to bounce back. 3 in a row would be unacceptable. Rex is no longer a "virtual rookie" with 21 games under his belt (including playoff). I was fine with the occasional setback earlier in the year. I was fine with how he came out of the NY trip. But I am not fine with tolerating prolonged very bad play. He absolutely has to show up Monday night. I'm not fine with it either. I just see Detroit, Tampa, Green Bay on the schedule and think to myself, I wouldn't feel prepared for anything if I played those 3 teams and that's it.

Hahaha. And now we want to throw him to the curb :wink:

http://www.rotoworld.com/content/playerpages/playerbreakingnews.asp?sport=NFL&id=2776&line=83686&spln=1 Here's to rotoworld being right. Edit: the source for that article is the Sun Times: http://www.suntimes.com/sports/football/bears/159069,CST-SPT-bearnt04.article And it has more details that the rotoworld blurb. Vasher's injury is hoped to be minor as well.

The good thing about it is, it's like playing in the National League in baseball. It's never that bad because the rest of the league is so mediocre you can jump back in it with one decent offseason. Not that I want to see competition from the Packers, mind you 8-)

Bench him in week 14 though? See, this is the problem with the whole bench Grossman scenarios. I don't necessarily disagree, but at this point in the season I don't care if you're Johnny Unitas, you need more than 3 games against tomato cans to get ready for tough playoff games.

He did, he said it's impossible for them to determine which one loss team deserves to go over another. He predicts there will be a playoff system. What I really hope happens is Florida wins by 1, and Michigan destroys USC by like 25. Split National Championship. BCS collapso-matic FAILURE. TILT!! TILT!! Florida would have a win over a previously zero loss team. I see no scenario with a split championship. Probably. You just want to pee in my wheaties this morning don't you? 8-)

i'm certainly not willing to trust an interpreter to the extent that his failure would result in my conviction of a serious offense. if you are, well, fair play to you, i guess. No criminal charges pending for Sosa. But I'll bet he & Big Mac will be tied to each other forever. In other words, no Big Mac in the HOF? No Sammy either. Sammy should not return. It would be bad----he knows he can't play any more. He'd be stooping from his current level (which admittedly is pretty low) to that Barry Bonds level where you play well beyond your years just to stick it to the world for a record you don't deserve. Sammy doesn't deserve 600 HRs. He didn't earn them, and his playing usefulness is long gone. If I were a major league baseball player, they'd have to forcibly remove me from the game. If I could get a contract offer, I'd play another year because I love the game so much. I wouldn't care what it did to my stats. If the team offered me a contract and the manager put me in the game knowing the level of performance I could currently offer, that wouldn't really be my fault. I'd go out there, do my best and enjoy, "one more year in the sun." Are you saying that's wrong? No. But I don't think you can say Sammy feels that way about it. He says he's living his dream life right now in DR. BTW, Sammy was already basically forcibly removed from the game. He's gone because nobody wanted him anymore.

Good Lord, that sounds like no limit poker to me. This is reaching epic insanity proportions. I've got to think most other teams are pretty shocked at the Cubs' suddenly changed behavior this offseason. I know it's shocking the heck out of me. Again, I think this is further proof that the change at the "top" was more significant than initially thought. Not necessarily. Most insiders over the years have said it was the Tribune's board, not MacPhail, that instituted a strict salary limit. Hendry's spending, in my mind, is a sign that the Cubs will be sold in the near future. So they are spending tons more with the hope of attracting investors? I am not an economist, but that makes little sense. Maybe the pool of potential buyers is such that a winning club more attractive even if the payroll is super-high. That's blind speculation. It's so difficult to say.

Every mock draft I've seen have the Cardinals taking him with a top 5 pick. Then I think the goal is to be worse than the Cardinals. ;) Given the Packers recent performance, futility is on their side... Don't forget the Texans could use OL help. I think the Texans have two more wins in them. I think the Pack will be lucky to win one. We will beat the Lions and 'Queens. I only wish we already played them. I don't think we will draft an OL in the 1st round. Tackles usually go in the first round and we already have a couple of good tackles in Clifton and Tauscher. Guards go in the later rounds. Our line needs 2 good guards and I think we will then have a decnt O-line. And yeah Raisin, I was talking about Steve Smith. For some reason I also forgot about Ginn. This year's WR class is a pretty good one, at least at the top. Clifton won't last much longer. He's been losing steam this year too. I'd grab a WR somehow because as much as I do like Driver, he should be the 2nd. Every time I watch the Pack it seems they have trouble in the secondary. The whole Ahmad Carroll thing really hurt----I think you need to find another CB, maybe a safety. A big beefer DT wouldn't hurt either.

Good Lord, that sounds like no limit poker to me. This is reaching epic insanity proportions. I've got to think most other teams are pretty shocked at the Cubs' suddenly changed behavior this offseason. I know it's shocking the heck out of me.

Maybe the Rockies get more desperate to trade Jennings during the season, too. I does almost sound like the Rockies pulled out the "Rich Hill card" as a way of saying they don't think Hendry's offers are close. But the Rockies don't have the luxury of too much time since Jennings' contract is coming due. So it's hard to say. Certainly nobody can blame them for trying to get the best package for a decent SP.

He did, he said it's impossible for them to determine which one loss team deserves to go over another. He predicts there will be a playoff system. What I really hope happens is Florida wins by 1, and Michigan destroys USC by like 25. Split National Championship. BCS collapso-matic FAILURE. TILT!! TILT!!

Yeah, I think all Bear fans are pretty much bracing themselves for the Tommie Harris news. It's likely going to be a bad day :(

I wish I could be encouraged by that, but unfortunately with those knee injuries, sometimes there isn't a whole lot of pain even though the damage is significant. We'll just have to see on Monday. I've got that sinking feeling though :cry: Hey, cheer up: my predictions have been pretty bad lately 8-)

....and since then, Denver has collapsed.

thats what I fear. I dont know what the problem is. Turner? Grossman's brashness? I dont get it. He was phenomenal early in the season, now just junk. I think he needs a mental break. He's still in his first full year starting so he's young. He's played more games this year than in the previous three combined. He's going to have good games and he's going to have bad games. This is why, at the beginning of the year, I didn't like when the media was going nuts after Grossman's first few games and were annointing him the next great QB in the league. It wasn't going to last. Now, the media has pulled a 180 and is ripping Grossman after a few bad games. He's not as good as he played those first few games and he's not as bad as he's played the last few games. Which leads me to Tony Romo. He's the media golden boy right now but you know that won't last. I doubt it gets as bad for Romo as it has for Grossman but as Romo proved today, he's going to have off games. He won't finish the year with a 110 rating. As for benching Grossman, I think it will happen but I'm not sure if it's the best idea or not. Didn't Rex play better than Romo @ NY though? Hmmmm...... In worse weather. Yeah, some of the facts just aren't fitting this convenient hypothesis that Rex just "sucks." It's all mental. Kid's got the skills, just needs to get his head right. Trouble is, with all the screaming I question whether it's even possible to focus and get back to where he needs to be. I really, really feel all this negative media is having an effect. I understand you've got to be able to deal with it, but still. Would be nice to see some more focus on the fact that the Bears are the first to clinch, and have the best record in the NFL. How often has this happened? You missed the point of my post. I wasn't comparing the play of the two QB's and I wasn't ripping Grossman. I was comparing the media's reaction to each of the QBs' play. If Grossman comes out the next four weeks (assuming he's still starting) and turns out four solid games, the media will love him again. On the year, Grossman has been an average QB. He's had good games and he's had bad games. He's a young QB and those types of things happen. Nah, I'm not really responding to just you. It's the whole general thing. Everyone seems to be saying that Rex just doesn't have it and never did---that he's just a terrible QB who couldn't ever get it done, yada yada. Certainly lately he's stunk, but I saw the kid play really good too----and I don't think those teams were just letting him beat them for the fun of it.

I disagree. Look at what happened since Mike Brown went down. Teams were suddenly able to run on the Bears. Now it gets even worse with Harris gone. Did you see the way Minnesota was able to run the ball after he left the game? It's frightening to think about. Really? Weren't they basically gashing us all game, even with Tommie in there? It was just bad all game long from what I saw.

thats what I fear. I dont know what the problem is. Turner? Grossman's brashness? I dont get it. He was phenomenal early in the season, now just junk. I think he needs a mental break. He's still in his first full year starting so he's young. He's played more games this year than in the previous three combined. He's going to have good games and he's going to have bad games. This is why, at the beginning of the year, I didn't like when the media was going nuts after Grossman's first few games and were annointing him the next great QB in the league. It wasn't going to last. Now, the media has pulled a 180 and is ripping Grossman after a few bad games. He's not as good as he played those first few games and he's not as bad as he's played the last few games. Which leads me to Tony Romo. He's the media golden boy right now but you know that won't last. I doubt it gets as bad for Romo as it has for Grossman but as Romo proved today, he's going to have off games. He won't finish the year with a 110 rating. As for benching Grossman, I think it will happen but I'm not sure if it's the best idea or not. Didn't Rex play better than Romo @ NY though? Hmmmm...... In worse weather. Yeah, some of the facts just aren't fitting this convenient hypothesis that Rex just "sucks." It's all mental. Kid's got the skills, just needs to get his head right. Trouble is, with all the screaming I question whether it's even possible to focus and get back to where he needs to be. I really, really feel all this negative media is having an effect. I understand you've got to be able to deal with it, but still. Would be nice to see some more focus on the fact that the Bears are the first to clinch, and have the best record in the NFL. How often has this happened?

thats what I fear. I dont know what the problem is. Turner? Grossman's brashness? I dont get it. He was phenomenal early in the season, now just junk. I think he needs a mental break. He's still in his first full year starting so he's young. He's played more games this year than in the previous three combined. He's going to have good games and he's going to have bad games. This is why, at the beginning of the year, I didn't like when the media was going nuts after Grossman's first few games and were annointing him the next great QB in the league. It wasn't going to last. Now, the media has pulled a 180 and is ripping Grossman after a few bad games. He's not as good as he played those first few games and he's not as bad as he's played the last few games. Which leads me to Tony Romo. He's the media golden boy right now but you know that won't last. I doubt it gets as bad for Romo as it has for Grossman but as Romo proved today, he's going to have off games. He won't finish the year with a 110 rating. As for benching Grossman, I think it will happen but I'm not sure if it's the best idea or not. Didn't Rex play better than Romo @ NY though? Hmmmm......

It doesn't help that the play-calling is so aggressive, but I agree wholeheartedly. It's really the tale of decline, and it's not because it's against good teams. However, I STILL don't see the point of starting Griese. Change the game plan, keep Rex on a leash, whatever, but Griese still shouldn't start. But the QB situation combined with the Harris injury has me very, very close to the panic button. That Harris thing is scary. If he's out for the season this defense will suffer. We're already struggling mightily up the middle.

Given the conference record of the Saints, however, I think it's more in the Bears interest if Dallas wins that game.

Mark it down, because I think for once most of us agree with Jimbo.