It seems like the past few years the Bears have been signing rookies like no other team in the business. Which is probably one of the most important things to do, besides drafting players they need. This came evident when they signed seventh round draft pick, offensive tackle J’Marcus Webb to a four-year deal on Sunday. They were the second team in the NFL to sign their draft pick, the first was the Houston Texans. One day later the Bears signed their fifth round draft pick, cornerback Joshua Moore to a four-year deal. I am expecting the Bears to sign at least two more rookies by the end of the week.

Just thought I’d like to mention this because there is definitely a lot of disgust out there for front office and this would maybe cheer up some folks.

Update: The Bears have signed defensive end Corey Wootton to a four-year deal and waived Brett Basanez.

-GammaBears

“We’re going to run the ball,” Cutler said. “I think I’ve learned the hard way [that] you’ve got to run the ball and you have to stop the run to get anywhere in this league and make the playoffs and make a push for the Super Bowl. That’s not going to change, especially here in December with the wind and the weather. You’re going to have to be able to grind out those four- and five-yard runs.”

It is great that Cutler recognizes the Bears philosophy, and almost equally as important is that the Bears keep that philosophy. Running, and stopping the run is so important not for what it is, but because it will allow Cutler the most opportunities to win games.

With Pace, Williams, Kreutz, and Forte, the Bears should be in good standing to make this philosophy work on the offensive side of the ball. The question marks at defense, and receiver unfortunately still remain.

The Bears already have Clark and Olsen, two very good tight ends, and one incredible athlete to try and develop in Kellen Davis. Davis didn’t perform well as a blocker as the Bears were hoping last year, but it doesn’t seem like signing another player at the position will help Davis’ development because he will see a lot less playing time.

Another problem with bringing a guy like Gaines in is that he is primarily a blocking TE. We know it, and other teams know it. So when Gaines comes in on 3rd and 1, everyone knows whats coming. Ron Turner hasn’t really shown me the kind of creativity I would like to see to trust that he will throw on 3rd and short to catch a team off-guard. That is possibly a result of not having the caliber QB that we now have, but I need to see it first.

The Bears didn’t pay too much for Gaines, but in my estimation, what they did pay for him wasn’t worth it. Let’s hope I’m wrong.

Decatur Nate

Essentially the only chance the Bears have of getting into the playoffs is if they win both remaining games, and the Vikings lose both remaining games.

The wildcard situation is virtually impossible to overcome now. Philly has a a better record by virtue of a tie being better than a loss. So they are in front of us and they still have to play Dallas, who is also in front of us. Here are the schedules of the teams that are in front of us both in schedule AND tiebreaker scenarios.

Atlanta Falcons (9-5) – has left -Minnesota (9-5), vs. St. Louis (2-12)
Tampa Bay (9-5) – has left – San Diego (6-8) vs. Oakland (3-11)
Dallas (9-5) – has left – Baltimore (9-5), at Philadelphia (8-5-1)
Philadelphia (8-5-1) – has left – Washington (7-7), vs. Dallas (9-5)

Basically 3 of those teams HAVE to lose out, and the Bears have to win out for us to get in. Atlanta is NOT going to lose to St. Louis, Tampa Bay is NOT going to lose to Oakland.

Here is what would have to hope for in a miracle situation for us to get a Wildcard:
Tampa Bay or Atlanta loses to one of their opponents this week, we would like for it to be Tampa Bay since Atlanta is playing Minnesota, so lets say TB. Tampa Bay loses to San Diego, and then by a Christmas Miracle they lose to Oakland as well. Then Dallas loses to Baltimore, Tony Romo and Jessica Simpson break up, TO and Jason Witten get into a fight, and they end up losing to Philly. The previous week however Philly lost to Washington for some strange reason, and vuala(spelling ?), we are in. Of course that is because we beat both Green Bay and Houston.

Here is what that looks like record wise:
Atlanta – (11 – 5)
Chicago – (10-6)
Tampa Bay (9-7)
Dallas (9-7)
Philadelpha (9-6-1)

I doubt all that is going to happen, and this scenario is more likely:
Vikings lose to both Atlanta and New York because Pat Williams is out and they have the #1 & #2 rushing offenses in the NFL. Then of course, like the scenario above, we win out.

That puts the division as follows:
Bears (10-6)
Vikings (9-7)
Packers (5-11) HAHA
Lions (0-16) wow

Any way you slice it, the Bears need help.

- Decatur Nate

1. Roddy White has 26 receptions. The Falcon with the next highest receptions is Jarious Norwood with 11 and he is a running back. The next receiver with the most receptions is Michael Jenkins with 9. That means Matt Ryan rarely looks anywhere but to his #1 target. If there was a good game to rest Nate Vasher it would be this game because of Ryan’s inability to look more than 1 place.

2. The Falcon’s have the #2 rushing attack in the NFL. The Bears have the #4 rush defense in the league. This is a good match-up for the Bears D. In the Falcons 2 losses Michael Turner has been held to 56 yards(Carolina) and 42 yards (Tampa Bay). Michael Turner can be stopped and when he is, the Falcon’s struggle.

3. The Bears have a more balanced attack than the Falcons with the emergence of Matt Forte. The Bears have had 1 aspect of their game shut down in games and the other aspect has come through, so it is not like the Falcons where if you shut down Michael Turner they are very limited on offense. The Bears are 12th in the league in passing and 9th in rushing.

Additional note: the Bears put together 2 wins in a row. They didn’t do that until the final 2 games of the year last year (when Kyle Orton was the quarterback).

I think the Bears come out on top in this one 24 -10.

- Decatur Nate

The Bears do have one major thing working in their favor. They were demoralized last year when they played the Lions, and the Lions somehow managed to score 34 points (an NFL record 34 points) in the 4th quarter. This should stand as motivation for the Bears to not let this one get away from them and do what they have been trying to do (and did against Philly) all season… Finish. Lovie preached this all season in 2006 when the Bears went to the Super bowl, and it is why the Bears didn’t make the playoffs last year. They blew more 4th quarter leads than Patrick Ewing (link not relevant just awesome) missed clutch shots (as fans of all things Chicago we are all grateful for those).

Now if the Bears can limit the amount of times they say they are not taking the Lions for granted (the sure way to take a team for granted) and focus more on the way the Lions abused them in the fourth quarter, they should be ok.

Quick note: The players who led the team in passing, rushing, and receiving (the second game Greg Olson led) for the Bears in both games against the Lions last year are all playing in different cities this year. Brian Griese – Tampa Bay, Cedric Benson – Cincinnati, and Bernard Berrian – Minneapolis.

- Decatur Nate

These were all questions that I have had to ponder over the last day after what could only be described as one of the worst losses I have ever had to endure. Why was this one of the worst you ask? For a couple of reasons. Number one, we are better than the Bucs. No doubt in my mind. Two, it wasn’t as if we were smashed and I could see it coming. This team was beaten by itself, for the second week in a row. Terrible.

I don’t know what was the worst part about this loss? The collapse of the defense, the Rashied Davis drop in OT, one of the most atrocious personal fouls that cost us the game? It was staggering to see how many things had to go right for the Chicago Bears to LOSE this game. I certainly will not go so far as to say this is not a playoff team, but good grief, need they make it that hard on themselves, this early in the season???

- Bears Addict

During Senior Bowl week an article was posted on Scout.com regarding “who’s hot” and “who’s not” among collect football’s top prospects. Chris Williams was listed as a player who was “hot” at the moment, and would be a good draft pick. Rumors later surfaced from other teams regarding William’s back. These rumors, however, according to reliable sources such as Jeff Dickerson, reporter for ESPN 1000 in Chicago, were supposed to cause his draft stock to drop so that teams could possibly pick him up later in the draft, and get a steal.

This along with the fact that in his college career at Vanderbilt University, Williams never missed a game or a practice due to injury. He remained at a high level, and played well in the Senior Bowl, with no noticeable discomfort.

It is a stretch to think or insinuate that the Bears knew that Williams had back problems and drafted him anyway. They take great caution and immense evaluation when drafting a player, and there were other highly touted Offensive linemen they could have drafted at the same place. Consequently a lot of them are injured now as well. Brandon Albert, Jeff Otah to name a couple. Keep in mind that the injuries happen, and it is very common for teams to try to circulate rumors about players before the draft to try get their draft stock to drop to where that team is drafting.

Williams will be ok eventually, and it won’t be the end of the world for the Bears.

A lot of fans in Chicago, and on talk radio in Chicago KILL me with their assumption that question marks mean holes. This is entirely untrue in this great league of parity. Question marks mean just that, question marks. Some guys will step in and surprise us and some will disappoint. I just believe that the guys who might disappoint will not have a big enough impact to cause our team as a whole to fail.

I am not sure how it is fun to be a fan and be so pessimistic. Looking at the bright side (while still being “realistic”) is a lot more fun than thinking that your team is going to suck because there is open competition at some of the positions.

Right now, we have one the most proven solid defenses in the NFL with everyone healthy and ready to go.

We have a reworked offensive line where we have moved guys around to where they are better suited (John Tait). We have a rookie who has been hurt, but when he comes in is going to be an upgrade to some of the guys who left on the O-line.

We have a running back that IS (this is not even debatable in my mind) better than the uncommitted Cedric Benson.

We have 2 QBs that have been in this system for a while now, and are getting more and more comfortable with every snap (I like our chance with either one of them under center).

We have serviceable WRs who will get the job done, and one guy who has potential that is out the roof in Devin Hester. Some say Booker is old, but he just had his 32nd b-day. lets look at who all in the NFL is around the same age or older than he is: Terrell Owens 34, Torry Holt 32, Marvin Harrison 35, Plaxico Burress 31 (in 10 days), Randy Moss 31. Brandon Lloyd had one off year in a place that never really gave him a chance (unfortunately this is similar to Adam Archaletta, but I think he was done long before he got here).

If Devin Hester continues to return punts and kicks, we have AUTOMATIC field position advantage in every game, even if they just kick it out of bounds. Aside from Hester we have one of the best special teams units in the NFL.

We have a very accurate kicker who is working on his distance. Not too hopeful with that, but inside 45-50 yards he is money.

We have a head coach that has turned this into a hard working, team that has been to the playoffs 2 out of the 4 years he has been here, and 1 super bowl. We have guys who are now happy with their contracts and ready to play football. There are some teams (and ours has been one of them in the past at times) that are NOT focused on winning, and neither is their front office. You can’t say that about this team. They are obviously willing to pay to get the best players, and keep the ones they have.

This is a freakin long post so some of you might not ever read it, but some of you will and STILL will not be optimistic about this year, and nothing will change your mind. I don’t understand that, and I don’t see how that is fun. I am looking forward to this year, and have high hopes.

GO BEARS.