Bill Barnwell Still Hates The Bears

LINK

no comments on that. I think we all know Bill Barnwell is staking his claim that the Bears suck and will keep this up until the point the Bears give him a game to prove him right.

On other news, this was a great read I forgot to post a few weeks ago.

Noffke's NFL Predictions

Following in Ryan's Lead, I will have my NFL predictions.

I personally can't wait for the NFL season to start. I am sick and tired of hearing how bad the Bears are going to be and how lucky they were last year. This reached a peak today with Bill Barnwell said on the BS report he thinks the Bears will be the worst team in the NFL, primarily based on the new kickoff rule (WHAT!?). Anyway, here we go.

z - conference winner; y - bye week; x - division winner w - wildcard team.

AFC East

Z. Patriots
2. J-E-T-S
3. Bills
4. Dolphins

Patriots are as good as advertised. Jets have a good year, but miss the playoffs. Bills and Dolphins are terrible.

AFC South

X. Texans
W. Colts
3. Titans
4. Jags

I know, I know, Texans aren't that good, but who in this division is? Jags are the worst team in the NFL, Titans could be good depending on if CJ doesn't have any problems without a training camp and how well Hasselback plays. Colts make it in, but not the division winner unless Peyton gets healthy quick.

AFC West

X. Chargers
2. Raiders
3. Broncos
4. Chiefs

Chiefs benefited from and easy schedule last year, and will struggle this year. Broncos will be good, but inconsistent again. Raiders will suprise with some stability for Jason Campbell in Offense (first time he's in the same offense 2 years in a row since High School) but the Chargers are the class of the West. It's tough to finish #1 in offense and defense and miss the playoffs, but some how they did it last year.

AFC North

Y. Steelers
W. Browns
3. Ravens
4. Bengals

Steelers will be the Steelers. I believe in Colt McCoy. Ravens will have a good year and the Bengals will struggle with New QB Andy Dalton, but he'll win Rookie of the Year.


NFC East

Y. Eagles
2. Redskins
3. Giants
4. Cowboys

Eagles have a lot of hype, and part of me thinks they could have a terrible year. Saying that, Andy Reid always seems to have his teams making the playoffs. Mike Shanonhan was embarassed last year and will have his team ready to play with Rex Grossman. Giants and Cowboys have solid years.


NFC South

Z. Falcons
W. Bucs
3. Saints
4. Panthers

Falcons get Home field primarily based on them getting to play the Panthers twice. Bucs keep on rising. Saints will be good, but just miss the playoffs.

NFC West

X. Rams
2. Cardinals
3. 49ers
4. Seahawks

Rams schedule is brutal to start, but no one in this division will run away from them. Cardinal's season will depend on Kolb. 49ers will be starting Kapernick by week 8 and the Seahawks are lousy.

NFC North

X. Packers
W. Bears
3. Lions
4. Vikings

Packers only go 9-7 and beat the Bears for the division on a tie breaker. Lions could be good, but everyone will get hurt again. Vikings could be good, but O-Line is a problem.


Playoffs (Home Team in CAPS)

AFC

Wildcard

Browns over CHARGERS
Colts over TEXANS

Semi-finals

STEELERS over Colts
PATRIOTS over Browns

Title Game

STEELERS over PATRIOTS

NFC Playoffs

Wildcard

Bears over PACKERS
Bucs over RAMS

Semi-Finals

Bears over FALCONS
EAGLES over Bucs

Title Game

Bears over EAGLES

Super Bowl

Steelers over Bears

Bears 2011 Schedule

As I am sure some of you are aware, the NFL just announced its 2011 schedule (assuming there is a season). I have pulled up the Bears Schedule and am going to do a quick breakdown Lovie Smith style, breaking the season into quarters

1. Falcons, @Saints, Packers, Panthers

Wow, talk about getting the NFC south out of the way. Three of the first four games are against the NFC south including both home games. This is a bummer as the Bears can’t take advantage of Warm weather teams come up North in the Winter. I am glad the Falcons are coming to Chicago though, the Georgia dome has become a house of horrors for the Bears. I see the Bears beating the Panthers, and winning at least 1 of the other 3. I could see them winning more, but to be conservative

Bears Record 2-2

2. @Lions (MNF), Vikings (SNF), @Bucs (In London), Bye, @ Eagles (MNF)

Interesting stretch here for the Bears with 4 high profile games. The Bucs make their 2nd trip to London to play while for the second straight year the Bears will play internationally (Maybe next year they can play Arizona in Mexico City and keep it going). Luckily, the Bucs are the team that are losing the home game and not the Bears. After the London trip, the Bears have 15 days off with the bye week and then MNF, so hopefully they will be fully over the jetlag. Also, it’s another year the Bears are playing the Eagles in a primetime game, that seems to happen every year. I see the Bears beating the Lions and Vikings, then splitting the Bucs and Eagles.

Bears Record 3-1

3. Lions, Chargers, @Raiders, Chiefs

The Lions then a run of the 4 AFC west teams seems odd to me. Why would the NFL schedule all the AFC games back to back? Even with all 4 teams improving (maybe not the Chiefs) I still see the Bears sweeping this part of the season, at worst dropping 1.

Bears Record 3-1

4. @Broncos, Seahawks, @ Packers (SNF *subject to change), @Vikings

The end of the season is a little rough with 3 of 4 on the road and playing in 3 of the most difficult stadiums. Luckily the Bears don’t have to make the trip to the great Northwest with the Seahawks coming to town. The Broncos game will get more attention if Captain NeckBeard is playing, but most likely the Bears will have to stop Tebowmainia? I have a feeling the Bears will lose 2 of the road games even though they should probably only lose 1.

Bears Record 2-2

Overall Record: 10-6
NFC Central: 2nd Place
NFC Playoffs: 5th Seed

With the 5th seed the Bears will defeat the NFC West Champion Rams and after that, who knows what happens.


If the season happens, it should be a fun one for the Bears. A trip to London and San Diego, I don’t think you can get any further apart?

New Hunt and Halas Trophies

I am not sure if anyone else has noticed that the NFL has come out with new branding this year.

This includes

New AFC and NFC Logos.

New Preseason Logos.

New Post Season Logos.

And finally new Lamar Hunt and George Halas trophies for the winners of the AFC and NFC Championship games.

So if the Bears win on Sunday, instead of seeing this





you will see this trophy.




I am not a huge fan. I am not going to miss the old trophies too much, but the new ones look kind of incomplete. I also don't think they are as timeless as these trophies should be. It looks like a flavor of the month design. Seem cool now, but we will change this in 5 years cuase then they will be dumb. The old trophies didn't have this problem.

Let me know what you think

How different this year is...

I saw this picture and had to post it as it sums up how odd this year has been in the NFL this year. I think because it has been so I I have enjoyed it so much. The way to read the chart is clockwise the score underneath each team is the score that they beat the team to their right.


So this kills any college like reasoning of why 1 team is better than another.

Looked at the rankings today and the playoff picture would be fun. Jets and Ravens would get the bye in the AFC with Kansas City and Jacksonville winning the other two divisions and Pittsburgh and New England being the Wild card teams. This is especially interesting because I would think that the wild card teams would roll through that first round but who knows (refer to above chart).

On the NFC side of things the Falcons Bears Eagles and Seahawks all win their divisions with Philly ad Atlanta getting the byes. The two wild cards currently are Green Bay and Tampa Bay. If I did my playoff picture correctly this sets up a third Bears Packers match-up with higher stakes than usual. This also illustrates the importance of the game this weekend because its essentially a huge stepping stone for a first round bye.

With that go Bears and whoever is playing green bay, tampa bay, new york and philly.

Monday Night Football: Don’t bet on them next Sunday

Last night, Chicagoans all saw what I have noticed as a trend this season. Teams that play on Monday Night Football do not play well the next week. The Bears showed this as they embarrassed themselves in front of a national audience on the Sunday Night Game of the week. Let’s look at the rest of the MNF teams

Week 1

Baltimore @ New York Jets
&
San Diego @ Kansas City

Week 2 Performances
Baltimore: Lost to Cincinnati in a game they were favored to win.
Kansas City: Beats Cleveland by 2, doesn’t cover the spread.

Chargers and Jets won and covered

Week 2

New Orleans @ San Francisco

Week 3 Performances
New Orleans: New Orleans Loses by 3 in OT in a game they were favored to win.
San Francisco: Loses to Kansas City by 21

Week 3

Green Bay @ Chicago

Week 4 Performances

Green Bay: Beats Detroit by 2 but fail to cover the double digit spread
Chicago: Lost by 14 and allowed 3 times as many sacks as points they scored.

Week 4

New England @ Miami

Lucky For New England and Miami they both have bye weeks coming up after their games.


Why are the teams playing poorly after their Monday Night Football games? I believe a lot of it has to do with screwing up the schedule of practice for the week. NFL teams are so regimented today, that losing one full day of preparation time or even resting time hurts the team. Also, for road teams, jet lag becomes a factor. Games are not ending until Midnight EST. The away team then has to shower, talk to the media, get to the airport, fly back home, then get back to their homes. When New Orleans was flying back from San Francisco, they didn’t get land until around 7 in the morning. Add another hour to get home and they aren’t going to bed until almost 8 AM. Most NFL teams get Tuesdays off, but New Orleans needed that entire day Tuesday just to recover from their flight.

Also, teams don’t physically recover in enough time. Older lineman need every minute of the NFL week to get their body healthy enough to play again on Sunday, Losing 36 hours in that week hurts how much they can recover.

I am sure there are other reasons why teams are not playing well following Monday Night Football. It could just be random luck and not a trend, San Diego and New York Jets played well after their MNF games. Until I see reasons to change my mind, I will not be wagering on any teams that played on MNF the week before.

Bears vs. Cowboys Recap

I hate to say I called it, but I pretty much did. My prediction was a 27-21 Bears victory if the Cowboys were completely healthy. They were. The final score was 27-20 Bears. It's okay to be impressed.

Some things I noticed last week: the Bears offensive line sucked at first, and wasn't even that great at the end. However, some great adjustments by Mike Tice and the line cooling down helped them play well enough against a great pass rushing team. Saying that, I think the o-line could definitely witness some improvements this year, and continue to get better. I don't think they can be dominant, I'd like to draft a lot of young talent there next year, but overall, I think they can be a little above average this year. Which says a lot.

Mike Martz is a genius. The adjustments he made. It was like wow, if this were Ron Turner we'd be running the same damn plays over and over without any adjustments. We would have definitely lost that game.

Jay Cutler is who we thought he was. Over the first two games he has 649 passing yards, 5 tds 1 int, a 68.8 completion percentage, and a rating of 121.2. That doesn't include his gaudy average of 10.1 yards per attempt. That means everytime he gets the ball out he's averaging a first down. While not true, he is putting up massive yards and I honestly wouldn't be shocked if he did get to 5,000 passing yards this year with 35+ tds.

Matt Forte is going to be deadly this year. There is a realistic shot that he could get just over 1,000 yards rushing and 1,000 yards receiving. Granted his rushing will have to improve in order to meet the rushing total, but he is certainly on pace in the receiving department with 188 yards receiving already. His current pace: 632 yards rushing 0 tds, 1,504 yards receiving 24 tds. Of course I could see his rushing yards increase and his receiving yards decrease. Which is why I'm meeting halfway: 1,000 rush yards 1,000 receiving yards. He would be only the third player ever to do that.

Wide Receivers look damn good. The tight ends, mainly Greg Olsen, are playing okay but not great. Yeah he had the long touchdown scamper but overall he isn't really getting that many grabs. His blocking has improved though.

The defense is playing well, especially the linebackers. I don't know if it was made apparent how well the linebackers are playing but they completely shut down Dallas' run game. The secondary is out there hitting hard, and so far the defense seems to be very opportunistic with 6 turnovers in 2 games. They are looking good again. My only issue so far has been the play of the d-line. I don't think they are getting as much pressure as I'd like to see. Only one player on the D-line has a sack, and that was against Detroit. Yes, Tony Romo is very elusive but I'd like to see the d-line get more pressure.

Next week, if we see the d-line play better, which I think we will b/c I don't see the Packers line being great, than I think we win the game. It doesn't matter if one team sucks and the other team is on the way to the Superbowl, this matchup almost always comes down to the wire. So, no blowouts here. I think you'll see the Bears win one at soldier field for the division lead. Bears 31-20.

Games to watch this sunday

First and foremost I must apologize for my lack of writing.

Noon: Of course I will be watching the Bears in what should be a good game against the Cowboys. I think this game has the potential to be a shootout because I feel that Chicago has more weapons than Washington (Moss, Cooley and McNabb) and I feel we also have a better defense. However, I think that with Jerry Jones owning Dallas there will be an expectation to bounce back in a huge way. I look for the Bears to win this one and not just on a "catch everywhere but in the NFL" play.

3:15 : Although it would be easy to get caught up in the ESPN east coast fetish and watch New York and New England, I will be looking to Denver for the Broncos and Seahwaks to duke it out. Seattle looked flat out dominant in their first game against the 49ers and Denver looked flat out of the gate against Jacksonville. Permitting there are no delays for lightning I think Denver will bounce back big at home.

Sunday Night: I really couldn't care less about the manning bowl story line. Eli wont throw it at will like he did last week, and Peyton will not throw the ball any less than he did against Houston so I see the Colts taking this one in a not so close game.

Monday Night: What can I say? New Orleans came out looking sharp against a tough Minnesota team and San Fransisco looked like it needed 2 more weeks of training camp. I most likely will not watch this game because Drew Brees is going to pick apart San Fran's defense.

Bears vs. Lions Recap

Okay, so, the Bears start out 1-0. Great. They beat the Detroit Lions 19-14. We all have probably heard plenty of times about the controversial call at the end of the game. Megatron made what appeared to be a catch, then as he fell he used his hand to stop his momentum and the ball squirted loose for an incompletion and what ultimately cost the Lions the game. I don't think it should be considered a controversial call, but rather the right call. The rule is just fine the way it is also. If it weren't for that rule there would be many discrepancies as to what was an actual catch. You'd have refs calling some plays right and others getting it wrong b/c there was no clear guideline. Thus, it eliminates far more controversy than it creates. The rule maybe should be improved but watching that catch in full speed shows that he clearly uses the ball to protect himself when he's going down and thus loses control of the ball. It was an incomplete pass.

As far as the rest of the game goes: it was sloppy. The Bears offense showed that it could move the ball whenever it wanted to against the Lions amassing 450+ yards of offense. The defense completely shut down the Lions allowing only 160 yards of offense. This score should have been something like 37-10. However, the defense couldn't stop the Lions once they got into the redzone. And the Bears offense seemed to fumble the ball away every time they drove down for a TD. Issues with the O-line seem to be there. A great example is the Bears starting at the Lions 1 and being unable to score a single point. How does that happen? Why wasn't a QB sneak ever called? Things like that need to be worked out.

But, it doesn't seem like its anything too serious. A lot of it seemed like it had to do with rust, and thank god we got the Lions week one at home to get rid of the rust. Matt Forte looked like he had completely regained his speed and burst again amassing over 200 yards of total offense and 2 tds. Jay Cutler looked elite completing 65% of his passes for 372 yards and 2 scores. Julius Peppers showed why we paid him so much money getting a sack and forcing a fumble. And the Linebackers were just outright dominating. This Bears team looks like they are going to be a force to be reckoned with assuming they can iron out the little miscues they had.

Next week will be a great test. The Bears versus the Dallas Cowboys in Dallas' new stadium. The Redskins beat the Cowboys last night on a holding call by Alex Barron. The Cowboys are also missing two of their best offensive lineman and Ware may also be sidelined for the game. If that is the case, I expect the Bears to win by two or more scores. If both teams are at full strength then I see a 27-21 Bears victory. This is going to be a good year for the Bears. I'm really excited for the potential of this offense.

Fodor's NFL Dark Horse

First off, I want to apologize to my mom and the Noffke family and Ryan (and anyone else reading this post. Aw hell, who am I kidding?) for my lack of productivity lately.

I'm sorry.

Secondly, I wanted to get this out there TODAY so that nobody can accuse me of being a bandwagon jumper once their season starts, because what I'm about to say is something I've been thinking about for at least a week.

My sleeper pick to improve hugely this year and go to the playoffs is the Kansas City Chiefs. I'm going to put them at 10-6.

I think they beat San Diego tomorrow at home and win the AFC West outright. Bear in mind, Denver and Oakland are already 0-1, so the winner of tomorrow's Monday Night late game will be all alone atop the division to start the year.

Why pick this team to succeed? Partially, I just love their running backs setup. Jamaal Charles is an incredible talent with fresh legs and speed to burn. He was Top 3 overall in the second half of last season as a fantasy running back.

You all know how I feel about Thomas Jones, AKA the NFL's second best running back over the last four years. Nobody has more yards over that time than TJ, at least nobody not named LaDanian.

But additionally, I think the KC defense could be good, with the number of high draft picks they've invested over the last three years.

I think Dexter McCluster from (from? Hint: SEC)... well, I think he could have a Devin Hester-esque impact on the return game.

Matt Cassel and Charlie Weis are back together. Weis and defensive coordinator Romeo Crennell can destroy an Old Country Buffet like no tandem since the days of Traylor and Washington in Chicago, so you know the two former Belichek assistants are happy to see each other.


Oh, and clubhouse cancer Larry Johnson is gone.

Anyway, call me crazy, but there it is. Kansas City Chiefs to the playoffs. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Want some numerical projections?

Jamaal Charles 1,800 total yards
Thomas Jones 1,100 rush yards
Dexter McCluster 3 or more return TDs.
No other team in the AFC West better than 8-8.

NFL Predictions

Well, today is the first day of the NFL and I'm going to make my predictions for how the year goes. I will start off in the NFC East and work my way down. At the end there will be a Super Bowl winner. We will see if I am right at the end of the year. The abbreviations next to some names mean: w = wildcard spot; x = division winner; y = division winner + bye week; z = division winner + homefield advantage throughout.

NFC East

x - 1. Dallas Cowboys 10-6

2. Philadelphia Eagles 9-7

3. New York Giants 9-7

4. Washington Redskins 7-9

NFC North

z - 1. Chicago Bears 12-4

w - 2. Green Bay Packers 11-5

3. Minnesota Vikings 7-9

4. Detroit Lions 5-11

NFC West

x - 1. San Francisco 49ers 9-7

2. Seattle Seahawks 8-8

3. Arizona Cardinals 6-10

4. St. Louis Rams 3-13

NFC South

y - 1. New Orleans Saints 11-5

w - 2. Atlanta Falcons 9-7

3. Tampa Bay Buccaneers 7-9

4. Carolina Panthers 4-12

AFC

AFC East

z - 1. New England Patriots 12-4

2. Miami Dolphins 10-6

3. New York Jets 7-9

4. Buffalo Bills 3-13

AFC North

x - 1. Baltimore Ravens 11-5

w - 2. Cincinnati Bengals 11-5

3. Pittsburgh Steelers 8-8

4. Cleveland Browns 4-12

AFC West

x - 1. Oakland Raiders 10-6

2. San Diego Chargers 7-9

3. Kansas City Chiefs 6-10

4. Denver Broncos 4-12

AFC South

y - 1. Houston Texans 12-4

w - 2. Indianapolis Colts 11-5

3. Tennessee Titans 7-9

4. Jacksonville Jaguars 6-10

PLAYOFFS:

AFC Wildcard Round:

Oakland Raiders vs. Indianapolis Colts - Colts 31 - 17

Baltimore Ravens vs. Cincinnati Bengals - Bengals 24-21

NFC Wildcard Round:

Atlanta Falcons vs. Dallas Cowboys - Atlanta Falcons 21-20

Green Bay Packers vs. San Francisco 49ers - Green Bay Packers 34 - 17

AFC Divisional Round:

New England Patriots vs. Indianapolis Colts - Colts 28-27

Cincinnati Bengals vs. Houston Texans - Bengals 27-24

NFC Divisional Round:

Green Bay Packers vs. New Orleans Saints - Packers 27-20

Chicago Bears vs. Atlanta Falcons - Bears 21-17

AFC Conference Championship

Indianapolis Colts vs. Cincinnati Bengals - Bengals 31-27

NFC Conference Championship

Green Bay Packers vs. Chicago Bears - Bears 24-23

Super Bowl Championship

Cincinnati Bengals vs. Chicago Bears - Bears 37-17

There you have it, the Chicago Bears are my Super Bowl pick. As to how confident I am in the Bears, 100%. How confident I am in the Bengals, less than 1%. I had them getting beat in multiple rounds of the playoffs as I did this (at one point they didn't even make the playoffs).

Trvia: SI's Best Players by Number

SI put out a fun article today. It listed off the best player who wore each number. Some had a lot of great options(12, 32) others (97, 98) not so much.

Going into this, I guessed there would be 5 Bears players who would make the cut. I was wrong, there were 8, and I only correctly guess 4 (the 5th was a runner-up). Can you name the 8 Bears players and thier Jersey number who made SI's list?

Also, Bears had three runners up by my count and multiple worthy of consideration. I'll give partial credit if you guess a runner up, but no credit for worthy of consideration.

One other fun fact, 1 player is listed twice. Any Guesses Who?

As always, answers will be in comments later in the week.

Yahoo! Fantasy on the Bears

If you play fantasy football (and hey, who am I kidding, nine out of the ten of us who read this thing do), then you probably are familiar with Yahoo's Juggernaut Index, written by Andy Behrens. If not, you can find all the entries here at Roto Arcade.

Behrens ranks every team in the NFL for the coming season, not by hopes for a good year in the wins column, but by how useful their players will be on your fantasy squad.
The countdown has now reached No. 20, the Chicago Bears. Much of the analysis is based on the new Martz system and how well the Bears' personnel can handle it - one stat I thought was interesting is that in every year with Martz as the OC, his teams have given up a lot of sacks, and thrown a lot of INTs. More details are over at Yahoo.

One Bear who Behrens trashes is Matt Forte:

"Forte was of course a fantasy star in his rookie season, thanks largely to the 379 total touches, but as an actual NFL talent he appears to be just another guy. He still hasn't averaged 4.0 YPC over a full season, and it may not happen this year. He certainly looks like a runner who needs an outstanding O-line and an old school lead-blocking fullback; in Chicago's offense, he'll have neither."

But he does wrap up by noting that, "This was the most difficult JI of all," so maybe there's still hope. Personally I'm looking at drafting at least one of the Bears' WRs, whichever one falls to a convenient position to be my third or fourth option.

Ranking the Bears Roster

I always love when newspapers do the thing before the Super Bowl where they rank each team's players from 1-53. Well, the Bears bloggers just took a stab at it over at espn.com/chicago, and I think they screwed it up pretty badly. Jay Cutler at No. 1? Robbie Gould all the way down in the 30s? Um, sorry guys, but this is insane.

Here are my corrected rankings of the Bears, top to bottom. Where I disagree with the ESPN guys, I will note their ranking.

1. Lance Briggs (3)
2. Julius Peppers
3. Jay Cutler (1)
4. Brian Urlacher
5. Tommie Harris
6. Charles Tillman (7)
7. Devin Hester (9)
8. Robbie Gould (33)
9. Olin Kreutz (6)
10. Chris Williams

Briggs is the rock of this team and the emerging leader of the defense. Cutler still has a lot to prove. Urlacher and Kreutz are on the decline and may be overrated this high, while rating Robbie "Good As" Gould at 33 was an absolute travesty - he has been easily one of the best Bears over the last several years.

11. Matt Forte
12. Chester Taylor (14)
13. Chris Harris
14. Israel Idonije (29)
15. Greg Olsen
16. Johnny Knox (12)
17. Devin Aromashodu (21)
18. Josh Beekman
19. Nick Roach (19)
20. Anthony Adams (23)

Idonije is a stalwart on this Bears team -- he hasn't been *just* a special teamer for years, and even when he was, he was still crucial. It's great to have Chris Harris back. Adams' play was underrated last year.

21. Earl Bennett (25)
22. Roberto Garza (16)
23. Zach Bowman (8)
24. Desmond Clark (22)
25. Brad Maynard (40)
26. Frank Omiyale (17)
27. Mark Anderson (24)
28. Pisa Tinoisamoa (19)
29. Hunter Hillenmeyer (31)
30. Patrick Mannelly (53)

Again, the ESPN guys undervalue special teams. I had to bump Mannelly and Maynard, they've been great for the Bears for years. I dropped Bowman because although he's talented, he has gotten hurt way too often. The kid's gotta start more than a few games in a row before I'm ready to have much confidence in him.

31. Kevin Shaffer (35)
32. Corey Wootton (42)
33. Danieal Manning (27)
34. Major Wright (26)
35. Corey Graham (39)
36. Rashied Davis (50)
37. Caleb Hanie (30)
38. Marcus Harrison (32)
39. Brandon Manumaleuna (28)
40. Al Afalava (54)

These are a lot of guys who will either end up having to start a game or three at some point, or make a surprise impact, or excel on special teams. As for the rest of the roster, other guys I think can contribute include...

41. Tim Shaw (38)
42. Tim Jennings (41)
43. J'Marcus Webb (57)
44. Jarron Gilbert (36)
45. Kellen Davis (37)

NFL Schedule Released Today

Today the NFL Schedule releases. We already know who the Bears are playing, but now the big questions are dates and times. Below are a list of things I am going to be looking at.

Philadelphia Eagles

Will the NFL make it 5 straight years of the Bears playing McNabb, umm I mean Kolb & the Eagles on Sunday Night on the lake front? I am going to say yes. The Bears had a subpar season, but will still likely land 1 or 2 prime time games because they are still a big ratings draw.

How Many Primetime Games?

Building on what I was just saying, the Bears are a big draw for ratings (especially with people who want to see Jay Cutler fail, btw HAPPY JAY CUTLER DAY!). I expect them to land 2 or 3 prime time dates this season. Yes I know Sunday Night Football has flex scheduling subject to change, but you get my point.

Games I can make

@Cowboys

I am going to try to go to Jerry’s World and see the Bears play the Cowboys in Dallas this season (Maybe Turkey Day!?). I am already lined up to go to 3 Indiana football games this year (@ Ohio State, Iowa and @Purdue) and if any of those games fall on the same weekend as the Bears’ trip to Dallas I will be unable to attend. So I am crossing my fingers.

Patriots




One of Ryan’s favorite past times is giving Patriots fans crap about 46-10. I am trying to get tickets to this game with a Patriots fan so I can do just that. I know they will be hard to get, but hopefully I will find something.


When are the Vikings coming to Town

I want to see Old Man Favre and the dome sweet Vikings come to town in late December when it's snowing at about 3 degrees out. Knowing the NFL, the Vikings will get us and the Packers on the road before October.

Those are the things I’m keeping an eye on, what about you?

Pisa Tinoisamoa Resigns with Bears

So, according to ChicagoBears.com the Bears have resigned Pisa to a one year deal. I think this is a good thing seeing as how in the 1 quarter we got to see him, Pisa did look great. Lets just hope the injury bug stays away this year. We certainly have the best LB corp in the league now, at least in my opinion.

Santonio Holmes to the Jets

So, following Santonio Holmes' recent character issues, which have resulted in a 4 game suspension, he was traded to the Jets for a fifth round pick. Apparently, this was NOT some secret meeting between the Jets and Steelers that escalated quickly. According to PFT, every team in the league was contacted and the Steelers were about to cut him. This brings me to my point: Santonio Holmes is coming off of a 79 catch 1,250 yard season, and the Bears receivers were very unimpressive last year. How is it that the Bears did not give up their 5th round pick for Santonio Holmes? The chances of landing that good of a player in the 5th round are slim to none. Not to mention, they'd have to develop. Santonio is young and fully developed. It really doesn't make sense to me.

Sudden Death?

Yesterday the NFL altered their overtime rule slightly. Now instead of a sudden death overtime, the team that loses the toss has a small chance.

If the team who wins the toss scores a field goal on their first possession, then the team that loses the toss gets a chance to win. If the team that wins the toss scores a touchdwon then it's sudden death and they win.

This rule applies only for the playoffs as of now but may be expanded to the regular season at the NFL's next meeting in May.

One interesting point is that one team that voted against the rule was the Minnesota Vikings. After losing to the Saints in OT on a field goal, the Vikings owner voted against the trade saying that there should be consistency between the regular and post season.

Overall, its not a terrible rule change, but I see it as a baby step. I think NFL overtime has needed an overhaul for awhile now and this is a step in the right direction. However, I think the NFL needs to adopt the college overtime policy. I have heard the arguments that the players would get too tired, however I think that if a college student who at most is getting a full ride (Cant be more than 1,000,000 total) can play a few OTs and keep up with academics and practices, then a man who gets paid multimillion dollars with only practice outside of the games should be able to pull it off.

Derek Anderson Keeps it Real

Most of the time, when athletes are angry at their organizations or fans, they keep to the standard PR lines. Well, Derek Anderson let loose on Cleveland today following his release.

Anderson wrote he will never forget that Browns fans cheered when he was injured on the field. He called them "ruthless" and said he hopes when he comes back to Cleveland with another team that "we roll them."

Just for the record, wherever Derek ends up holding a clipboard next year, the odds were already extremely good of "rolling" the Browns. Mangini Year Two: Where magic happens.

Two More Free Agents Needed, Jerry

While it's great that the Bears have gone out and made a splash in free agency so far, there are two more spots where we need starters for next year. One is interior offensive line - Frank Omiyale was a flop, Garza is old, and Kreutz is, well, also old.

To my mind, unrestricted free agent Rex Hadnot (G) is one name to consider. Another is Chester Pitts. Pitts is an unrestricted guard who has been on the Texans.

Free safety is the other spot where the Bears need to improve through free agency. They don't have a single quality FS on the roster right now, and as the Giants' dropping 33 million on Antrel Rolle shows, it's a position of high demand in the NFL.

OJ Atogwe is a restricted free agent, which means the Bears would either have to trade for him (Greg Olsen?) or give up some draft picks. Miami released Gibril Wilson today, but he has been overpaid and underperformed for both Oakland and Miami in the last two years. Maybe a change of scenery would do him good?

In my mind, Pittsburgh's Ryan Clark is maybe the best option. An unrestricted free agent, he can be gotten for a lower price than Rolle, and has been good for the Steelers.

But hey, then again, Mike Brown is out there too! Anybody wanna walk down memory lane?