The Bears hit the field in 9 days, the White Sox are garbage, the Cubs are a good team, but it's still the Cubs (translation: somehow they will blow this), and everyone is on the A-Rod/Bonds watch to see if/when they hit another home run. I reiterate: THE BEARS PLAY IN 9 DAYS!!!

I would rather watch the Bears play a preseason game on my TV set, two thousand miles from where its being played, then to see the Cubs or Sox at either stadium from field level in person. And that's a fact.

Mark Anderson has a 4.5 40 time and a 44" vertical leap. That's not bad for a 270 lb. man. He has also made those numbers translate on the field by showing that veteran NFL DE's struggle to block him. He deserves the right to play, especially if reports that he's holding up against the run well prove true. Brown will be displeased, but that's tough. Rack up a dozen sacks and you'd still be in there.


This Bazuin cat needs to get on the field. He missed most of mini-camp and now most of training camp with separate injuries. Wolfe needs to stay healthy, as well, but I think he will. He didn't have a ton of injuries in his time at NIU. By the way, don't forget that this kid was 7th on the depth chart at NIU as a Freshman RB.


If Mike Hass lights it up, what chance does he have of making the team as a 6th WR? I've heard the kid's been amazing and exceeded all expectations, even showing up some vets. I'll be watching him in preseason. Probably won't make the team, but he's got an outside chance.

Much too early for any of these observations but one does get easily intoxicated by the sound of helmets slamming together....BEARSSSSS!

I had a scary thought last night. Benson goes down in preseason and is out for year. If he does, do Bears go back to superbowl?

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May 1, 2007 - CSFMB Civil War
“Those who don’t remember history are doomed to repeat it.”

The same can be said for any team that loses what is projected to be a big piece of that team's offensive production.

BD

True. But I think if you had to pick one player on the team that the bears can't afford to lose it would be Benson. I by no means think Benson is half the player Urlacher is and I know they were 0-7 when he was out, but if you take out Urlacher they go from a great defense to a good defense with still a pretty good offense. If you take out Benson, I think they become an average (at best) offense with a great defense. I don't know what is better.

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May 1, 2007 - CSFMB Civil War
“Those who don’t remember history are doomed to repeat it.”

Here's a perplexing excerpt from today's Dan Pompei Trib article on the NFC North. One NFL scout offered the following overview of the division:



While I think the Lions will be improved this year, I don't see them surpassing the Bears. Kitna is a decent QB, but he gets sacked a lot and turns the ball over regularly. While a receiving tandem of Calvin Johnson and Roy Williams is potentially scary, little else about the Lions is.

And anyone who thinks that Thomas Jones was "as responsible as anyone else" for getting the Bears to the Superbowl is just crazy....I do worry about Tommie Harris's health, though. We won't know anything about his hamstring until the season opener.

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There's a lot of IF's in that paragraph. With that many, how can a scout put them on top?

Haha, coming from a huge packers fan, that analysis of the North was pretty generous to the Packers, and pretty unfair to the Bears. I do agree with the scout that Jones was probably at least one of the top 2 or 3 most valuable players last year, and he really stepped it up in the playoffs. To rank the Lions first is just plain stupid, every year they seem to get sleeper status, only to have a dismal season for the 300th consecutive year. I think bears fans underestimate the impact jones had. We'll see, but im pretty skeptical of benson's chances of getting 1400 yds or even anything close. I think their best chance is to have wolfe/peterson combine for 10-15 carries a game, and give the rest to benson, kinda like a mini RBBC

As far as Mark Anderson goes, hes got alot of potential, but like Jurko hasw states a few times now, its much harder to get those same # of sacks when you play 55 plays, including many run plays, vs playing 15-20 plays on 2nd and 3rd and long. We'll see if he is as effective. I think Bears defense carries them most of the year, with potential for Rex/Benson to get the offense going and in sync by January. If they gell by then, they could be a real SB contender, but if the offense is inconsistent and turnover prone like last season, I see them at best repeating last years results

edit: The "average O-Line" quote by the scout is retarded, they are very old, but if healthy, still prolly one of the top 5 lines in the league

NFC North

Bears 11-5
Packers 8-8
Lions 6-10
Vikings 5-11

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul