Soul

Now we're in trouble.

Oh man, that looked like a strike.

Probably the best we were going to get. Need to score more than one run.

Getting more nervous.

I'm getting nervous.

Wandy always punks us, doesn't he.

Runs would be nice.

Not unexpected, but good to see we won't have an unsigned draftee as a distraction this year.

Let's not forget that JA pegged Steltz as being the closest to being able to start among last year's draft picks. Just a little more info on the safety situation. There's some notes on other players in that blog entry, but I didn't want to post the whole thing. I refuse to believe any of that is true. Payne is the only safety on the roster who has ever done anything positive in his career as a safety. Steltz, as it said, doesn't have the footspeed to play deep middle. Unless a lot happened in the offseason, I don't see how Payne could be the 3rd best safety on this team and Steltz the best. I also think the article is jumping to conclusions based on OTAs. We aren't even to training camp yet, to say nothing of preseason games and the regular season. OTAs are great, but TC is more illustrative, and then preseason games more than TC, and then the regular season games even more, and so on. I wouldn't feel comfortable drawing any kind of conclusion about what we will actually see come opening day just based on a few open-session OTAs.

It was before his injury

More blanco hitting, thx

I could see him staying in NY and playing for the Jets. I'm sure the Jets view him as a good safety blanket for Sanchez, kind of like he was with Eli & the Giants. I'm not even sure how hard Angelo would be going after Plax.

All those shows filter callers for maximum effect.

Wow, that's fascinating. Yeah, .87 runs per game is big. We knew that -- but I didn't realize the overall hitting was staying pretty level.

Being smaller definitely hurt Rex but as Jersey said, you can still be successful. My biggest beef with Rex's play was that he turned into a statue after his injuries. Small + Statue + no OLine = bad recipe.

I've seen Soriano pound a decent outside corner pitch out of the ballpark when he's hot, and swing right through much the same pitch when he's cold. Alot of it is just.....Soriano. And there's usually better pitchers overall in the playoffs, too. The teams made it there for a reason.

I think you are overly critical of Bears fans dealing with QBs. They may have given Grossman poor treatment, but he brought all of that upon himself. He was given every chance, and just crapped the heck out of the bed. If anything, they should be credited for pointing out the team was winning without help from the QB. The Bears would be no better off today if fans were just a little nicer to Rex. Other than how rabidly they reacted to Rex's every mistake (which happened far too often), where's the irrational behavior? They hated everybody else because just about everybody else sucked. Harbaugh was decent, but if anything Ditka should be blamed for his career not lasting in Chicago. Any other fan base with QB issues is going to act similarly. You think Green Bay would be thoughtful and analytical about their QB situation if they didn't spend the last 20 years with Favre? You think Giants fans would be hunky dory with Eli's missteps if they didn't have multiple SB titles, including a recent one, to think about? I'm not so sure about that (we'd be in the same position if the fans were nice to Rex). I agree Rex crapped the bed, but his treatment in my view was extraordinarily bad, especially for a team that had just gone to the Super Bowl. You can say "he should be able to take it" but it became unbelievably personal. I still think Rex has talent -- possibly backup QB talent, but at this point there would be no way for him to play in Chicago, even as a backup. Of course he has talent, he just doesn't have the head. I think it's ridiculous to suggest, as you appear to be doing, that he would have been better with the Bears if they treated him better. Rex fall apart all on his own. The Arizona game was on the road. The weak play in the Super Bowl didn't involve Bears fans. Rex couldn't handle the pressure of opposing defenses, the home crowd had nothing to do with it. Maybe they made things a little worse than they would have been in a game or two, but Rex's ultimate failings are the result of Rex, and Ron Turner. It's not the fans' fault. And again, Rex was one of dozens of QBs who failed in Chicago. That's not the fans' fault. The Bears have been poor in identifying, acquiring and developing QBs. It's not like Rex was some can't miss prospect. He was a short Florida guy with a lot of people who expected him to fail, and that was long before Bears fans got on his case. Now they have actually bypassed the identify and develop stage of the game, by simply acquiring an established quality pro. Then go ahead and think it's ridiculous. I'm not saying Rex would have been shooting lightning bolts out of his ass and putting up 120+ QB ratings every week, but I can see how it would be difficult to keep your head under the conditions the man was presented with. Did he fail? Yes. Was it all his fault? No way, sir.

I think you are overly critical of Bears fans dealing with QBs. They may have given Grossman poor treatment, but he brought all of that upon himself. He was given every chance, and just crapped the heck out of the bed. If anything, they should be credited for pointing out the team was winning without help from the QB. The Bears would be no better off today if fans were just a little nicer to Rex. Other than how rabidly they reacted to Rex's every mistake (which happened far too often), where's the irrational behavior? They hated everybody else because just about everybody else sucked. Harbaugh was decent, but if anything Ditka should be blamed for his career not lasting in Chicago. Any other fan base with QB issues is going to act similarly. You think Green Bay would be thoughtful and analytical about their QB situation if they didn't spend the last 20 years with Favre? You think Giants fans would be hunky dory with Eli's missteps if they didn't have multiple SB titles, including a recent one, to think about? I'm not so sure about that (we'd be in the same position if the fans were nice to Rex). I agree Rex crapped the bed, but his treatment in my view was extraordinarily bad, especially for a team that had just gone to the Super Bowl. You can say "he should be able to take it" but it became unbelievably personal. I still think Rex has talent -- possibly backup QB talent, but at this point there would be no way for him to play in Chicago, even as a backup.

Yeah, they're not holding leads, that's true. They did great to keep us tied for several innings yesterday, but I'm really expecting leads to be held, first and foremost.

And 5 of those 7 have been in one game, I think. They were great yesterday. They had to wait around forever for our offense to do something. Even Patton somehow got the job done.

I don't think you're giving the "we got a real QB" factor enough weight. I'm OK with being wrong sometimes. I'm OK with you being wrong sometimes too....hey-o! :) Talk about 80 MPH meatballs right down the middle of the plate 8-)

Trent Dilfer did not get all the credit when things went well in Baltimore, in fact, he barely got any. I think Romo is a good example here, he gets fellated by the media when Dallas wins, and when they lose, he gets criticized up the wazzoo. During the 2000 season Dilfer was getting quite a bit of love, it seemed. Even now, the "game manager" QB type is attributed to him and people talk about it like it's something for a quarterback to strive toward. I agree with Testaverde and Romo, though. Those two are definitely better examples than Dilfer. If Cutler puts up very good numbers in Chicago, I think he'll be judged a bit less harshly by many fans, but the "he can't win" tags and the like will be placed on him, much like they were on Peyton until he finally won a Super Bowl. Dilfer was credited with being a game manager and that is all. He did not receive "all the credit". Nobody gives him "all the credit". He is barely given any credit at all. Everybody gives the credit, rightfully, to the defense. The whole concept of the game manager is that you are taking the power out of the QB to win or lose, and nobody talks about striving toward being Trent Dilfer. People only use him as an example of how it is possible to win with a QB who doesn't do much of anything. That's true. I just think the Bears' fan base is among the more irrational when it comes to QBs. Which makes sense, given the history. None of us have ever seen a top QB in town, up close and following him every week -- to know what that looks & feels like. We've only seen it from afar.

I don't think you're giving the "we got a real QB" factor enough weight. I'm OK with being wrong sometimes.

Maybe the fans will just blame Turner & Lovie. 'Cuz let's face it. The Cutler trade is the equivalent of an 80 MPH meatball right down the middle of the plate. If you can't hit a home run with this laid right in your lap? Time to find a new job.

Maybe he could run for Venezuelan Presidente