Chicago Bears 2007 Official Thread

[slothinator]

Sluss,

Good points about the Jones situation. It definitely makes the front office look good for current and future players when they keep up their end of deals. If Benson steps up and becomes the back everyone thinks he is supposed to be, then Jones becomes an afterthought. And like everyone in this thread has said, Peterson is no slouch. This team would still move the ball with him taking the carries.

[Russ M.]

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I think on the outside the Hester experiment will be a failure. He may make a couple of sweet grab and runs but won't make any statistical difference. Although I think with his speed on the field it will change the way other teams defend us. Which will be a huge help that most people won't see.

Olsen, well this guy looks sick as hell. Possible offensive rookie of the year candidate anyone?

As many of you who read last years thread may remember I am a member of the Grossman bandwagon. I hung from that guy's nuts through thick and thin and I really believe this will be a payoff year for him.

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I fully expect the depth of Hester's routes will be "run fast thataway" while Rex chucks it as far as he can, meaning Hester is this year's Berrian while I can only hope Berrian has learned some actual routes.

Thomas Jones pretty much had to be gotten rid of. Wasn't he bitching during TC last year because he was going to split time with Benson? I'm sure management wants Benson on the field as much as possible and Peterson is likely capable of being a solid backup so Jones was expendable.

I really hope Rex can get it together this year. He made some improvements, I guess, last year. We need to find a middle ground with the offense. It was either run-run-run-punt or fling-fling-INT. We don't need to be the Colts but it'd be nice to be able to put together a cohesive drive when we're down in the 4th and not just hope the defense gets a TD.

[TalkingDonkey]

The days of the Bears lacking any home-run guys on offense are over. Olsen is one of the fastest TEs in the league and has great hands, Berrian is on his way to a breakout year (70 catch, 1k+ yds) and Mark Bradley is drawing rave reviews. Hester obv is a weapon, and Garrett Wolfe will be an excellent all-purpose back - yeah he's small, but the guy can get things done on the field; I've had the pleasure of watching him ever since he was tearing it up at Holy Cross. Wolfe+Hester on the field at the same time could be fun.

[EvanJC]

ground floor!

i'm not happy with trading jones, but i guess it had to happen with the money benson is getting. our AP is going to turn a lot (more) heads this year.

call me an optimist, but i think rex will have a really solid year and quiet a lot of the haters. pro bowl, not so much - but we don't need that from him.

really glad briggs finally came to his senses.

olsen is going to be an absolute monster stud. did any of you guys watch any of his combine footage? jeebus hes an athlete.

12-4 regular season record

[duracell]

Wow, and I thought I was a pretty big Eagles homer. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Not trying to bash, it just seems like some of your predictions are lofty. I have little doubt the Bears will finish 11-5 or 12-4 and win the division, but it is a weak division.

I am high on Benson... the running game should barely miss a beat. Their tight end situation should be solid, but I wouldn't expect the world from Olsen in his first year. Berrian is a solid receiver with upside, but I don't see 70 reception/1k yard production out of him next year. I'm not sold on the Hester experiment working, but I would certainly like to watch it if it does. I'm not sure about Grossman. I'm not high on him, but maybe he'll start playing consistently and prove me wrong.

As an Eagles fan, I was glad to get rid of Darwin Walker. He may very well do better against a single-team, but he really disappeared for stretches the last two years and sometimes took plays off.

Again, I'm not trying to bash. I'm just making sure you realize some of your expectations are definitely homerism. (Which is fine, we're all guilty of it. I think Jason Avant is going to become a very good receiver.) The Bears, along with the Eagles and Saints, will be the class of the NFC this year.

[RedBean]

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Football season is coming up and I know the Bears fans on this board are really excited.


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Tell me about it.

And yes, I'm a huge Bears fan.

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Any thoughts on the off season moves, the upcoming dominance.


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The Darwin Walker move was big. It made losing Tank, Alfonso, and Ian absolutely irrelevent. All through the offseason I was worried about who was going to fill this spot. Dusty/Isreal are great options as a 3rd tackle in rotation, but this addition of Darwin is going to make offenses make some tough choices on who and how to block Tommie and the two bookends. The front four is going to absolutely filthy and deep.

From the draft, I'm excited about Olsen obviously, his prescence and the effect on opening the running game and putting pressure on opposing safeties that he will create.

I am intrigued by Wolfe, I get a "Robert Green-role" feel about this guy, if you remember him.

Not excited about Bauzin, breaking in at DE for the Bears right now is an uphill battle, and his injury problems so far in camp are already starting a pattern.

The rest of the draft...meh...we'll see.

Mark Bradley...excited about his return. Ditto Mike Brown. If they both stay healthy, they are huge additions. If they play par for the course, however, we'll get about 6 weeks combined out of them.

Lance Briggs....sigh....two words for him "Warrick Holdman". Seriously Lance, it isn't a coincidence that every 3 years the weakside backer thinks he is worth alot more and leaves, only to be replaced by a non-descript 3rd round pick who ends up making pro bowls courtesy the system.

The Will spot in this system is designed to amass tackles, and be around the action unblocked. If you can run and put on a helmet, I think you can make the pro bowl playing the Will in the Bears system. Keep this in mind when Okwo is asking for a monster contract in 4 years.

Archuleta...almost as excited about this move as I am with Walker. Despite the two recent trades out of the secondary, they're still deep here with Brown, Manning, Adam, etc....if everyone stays healthy. Of course, Adam couldn't cover a girl scout running a corner route, but he knows how to play within his responsibilities within this system....and if you remember the Steve Smith game from 2005, and the complete lapse in coverage a few times in last year's playoffs....you won't see that with him here....plus he allows Brown to move back to FS, and he's going to make running on the defense that much tougher.

At corner, Pnut and Nate are locked up for years, which I like a lot. Let's hope they don't turn into Walt Harris after he signed his deal.

And no sense in wasting time talking about Urlacher, Rex, or Ced...obviously the best in the league at their respective positions, so no worries with those spots.

And yes, I'm dead serious.

[zer0]

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I'm really not worried at all about the RB position. If Benson goes down, I'm very confident in Adrian Peterson. I think he is one of the most underrated runners in the NFL. I mean, come on...what 3rd string RB(last year)has their own endorsement deal (Russel Athletic).

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if i was russell athletic i'd sign him as well, trying to trick people into thinking it was the "other" AP, the one they couldnt afford

[RedBean]

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I fully expect the depth of Hester's routes will be "run fast thataway" while Rex chucks it as far as he can, meaning Hester is this year's Berrian while I can only hope Berrian has learned some actual routes.

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I see it totally different. I doubt Hester runs many vertical routes, if at all, and instead a ton of horizontal, crossing stuff from the slot/wing to get seperation and/or force the defense to account for him.

It's gadgety, and like CC said won't make a huge impact overall, but with this kid you never know, and they want to see if they can get the ball in his hands a few times and see how much magic he has in that bottle.

After all he is....

The. Most. Exciting. Man. In. Pro. Football. Period.


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I'm sure management wants Benson on the field as much as possible and Peterson is likely capable of being a solid backup so Jones was expendable.


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Cedric Benson is the second coming of Jesus Christ. Let's not worry about the positions where we have sure fire Hall of Famers.


And I am dead serious.

[Jack Bando]

I see 12+ wins this year; I'm worried about 9/9 (@SD),maybe 9/23 (DAL), 10/21 could become a problem (@ PHI), 11/18-11/25 looks scary (@ SEA and DEN)

[PokerFink]

Ahhhh it's nice talking NFC with ya'll again.

Sluss,

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they are still in the NFC where they are head and shoulders above every other team.

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The Eagles and Saints say hello. The Bears are best, but not head and shoulders above those two.