Soul

You have to think that Lovie's lame duck status is a factor in all these guys passing on the Bears. I am not disappointed. And quite honestly, this might actually make Lovie consider a gig like UT a little more (although it remains a very unlikely scenario). I never thought for a second that a guy like Fewell would make any difference in 2010. It was easy to see before the Bears even did this that they would have difficulty finding people for a lame duck. This isn't brain surgery. What you are suggesting is that this might allow the Bears to stumble into something better. The real truth is, their incompetence is going to sink the Bears much further than it will raise them overall.

I can argue that his contract isn't good. But I think as piece on the roster -- disregarding the $$$ -- he's alright. I agree he's not a complete defenseman. He's kind of an oddball; pushing the puck, joining the offense, etc. We seem to be able to use that effectively, though. I'd like to get his contract off the books.

I was for getting rid of the GM who we all knew would target pure garbage in order to get rid of a cheap, productive player. But, alas we couldn't do that. "pure garbage" - I agree "cheap, productive player" - If you mean Bradley, he wasn't cheap or very productive. I will agree that he was more productive than Silva will be. He was still fairly productive and on terms of our team he was kinda cheap. I imagine he has a big bouce back year too, very frustrating how that turned out. I wish just once Jim wouldn't run a players value straight into the ground before trying to trade him. We'll see how year 2 of Hendry with a budget works out. Year 1 wasn't so special. I still think the solution has been, and remains -- get rid of him. We can do better than Mr. Hendry.

Oh, also: Fewell is reportedly now at the top of the Giants' list, meaning we might be back to square one for a DC, too.

Clayton was just on ESPN 1000. He wasn't very positive about the Bears' chances for finding a good OC who will work well with Cutler. His strong speculation was that Martz isn't a guy who Jay wants to work with. FWIW

That's right. I'll watch the speed skating too for a bit. All in all, I don't enjoy it as much as the Summer games, but there are still some decent components.

Hockey is good. I've always liked watching skiing, whether it's downhill or jumping. I don't enjoy the ice skating. I'll watch. I was just in Vancouver this Summer so it will be kind of neat. Also, there will be good live coverage because it is near our time zone.

I'm not going to subscribe, but it's kind of silly to throw around notions that the Cubs are in the worst situation "ever" for an organization.

Given the past 2 losses, I'll take the 3 days off. We can use the cool-down period right now.

It seems as if the Bears keep looking to Quarterbacks coaches. Another QB coach who has had success with other NFL QB's. I'm certainly no expert on football, and probably don't know what being a "QB coach" entails. But I sure hope that if they actually bring one of these "QB coaches", he can do more than teach Cutler how to throw a better spiral and have better footwork. I sure hope that he can actually design an offensive play, call it, and coach and offensive line. NFL coaches spend so much time together. A QB coach works very closely with the OC. Just by osmosis a QB coach should be able to design and call plays. Probably. I don't have a problem with looking for a good QB coach to promote. We definitely need, and have needed for a long time, and infusion of QB knowledge on the coaching staff. Focusing on that skill set seems OK to me.

wrong. http://www.windycitygridiron.com/2009/11/25/1173920/rules-on-hiring-nfl-coaches No, you are wrong. Going from a QB Coach to an OC is considered a lateral move in the NFL. NFL coaches have two categories. 1. Head Coach, 2. Assistant coaches. http://www.insidefootball.com/antitamperingpolicy.pdf That just means they aren't obligated to let him talk to them and go for nothing. But if he wants out and wants the job, it can happen, with repercussions. I believe that depends upon the nature of the contract he signed, the statutes of the states involved and the complicating legal status of sports franchises. If it is anything like the high tech industry, the current employer could file an injunction to prevent employment if he has a no-compete clause in his contract. Unless he was interviewing with Dallas or Houston, of course. Texas is pretty notorious for pretty much disregarding non-competes in high tech, at least. My understanding is that it is very difficult to enforce a non-compete, pretty much nation wide. But anyway, this is all very hypothetical. The guy isn't going to come to the Bears. I was just pointing out that a current employer saying "no" intially doesn't need to be the end of the story, more or less. I've known colleagues who got the big "no" from our CEO at first, and so they negotiated, worked on it, and eventually it was OK.

Come on, we're going to give up this easily? Make him come down on his number. He wants to play in Wrigley, I'll bet. Get it the hell done.

I didn't want to play the Canucks, either. That turned out alright. The main point is, this Ducks team doesn't really resemble the Cup team from years ago. Last year's Blackhawk team is largely the same as this year's, with what I would argue is an upgrade of Hossa over Havlat. No, I don't want to play a team that is streaking, but that's not really what I was arguing.

I'm concerned Tyrus is one of those guys who you trade and then he wakes up and becomes a good player. But you have to trade him for him to get the message, so he'll continue to be inconsistent with the Bulls. Argh.

Well darn then. The only ones I can think of outside of Canseco would be WWE guys. Maybe body builders.

Sure, bring Mad Dog on board. Good move.

The 2 years part I like though. Maybe 10-12 million per, if he meets all the incentives (as has been suggested).

Wasn't that basically Canseco?

If we actually landed either Bosh or Wade I'd be pleasantly surprised. That would be a very nice turn of events for this franchise, I think.

They are amazingly bad. Wow. Long, cold winter in Detroit right now.

The other thing is, denying permission to talk can be a dangerous game. It can result in bad feelings, which may come back to bite you once the contract is up. I have no idea if there will be any of that with this situation. But if I had an opportunity to move from QB coach to OC, and my employer wouldn't even let me talk about it, you can bet I'd be pretty upset.

I'm 99% sure there's some kind of no-compete clause in his contract. Is he physically capable of interviewing? Of course. But there's likely significant penalties if he does so. Also, I'm guessing that there would be similar repercussions for the Bears from the NFL if they tried to talk to someone elses coach without permission. So they pay a fine and move on. So he gets fired by the Packers, and earns a new job with the Bears. The point is, it's do-able, and it has happened before. Maybe the Bears give up a lower round pick in compensation. If that's the guy you really think Cutler needs, then you do it. Kind of like the Tuna situation with the Jets/Pats awhile back. It depends on what you are willing to pay, that's all. Nobody's getting thrown in jail over something like this. A grievance is filed, and and agreement is reached. I'm not saying this *should* happen. I'm just saying that just because the Packers don't approve doesn't mean the guy is in some kind of prison.

Oh Big Mac will teach 'em how to hit alright. That stabbing motion to the inside of the elbow will be particularly instructive.

He's an admitted user. That's it. Done. Whatever rationalization he wants to employ to sleep better at night is fine. Nobody's going to actually buy into such nonsense. He can say it -- it just doesn't mean anything.

Correct. But he's also agreeing not to go down that road. People disobey those kinds of "orders" from employers all the time, and show up in another job. It could be done. He's just not going to do it.