Ricky Manning's Gone (As well as Marriotti)

Its official, the Bears have cut Ricky Manning, Jr. In case you get Ricky and Danieal Manning confused, Ricky Manning is the one that can play nickel corner, and Danieal Manning is the one who can't play corner, nickel or safety.

The Bears cut (not traded like normal people) their best nickel corner and substituted him with one of their worst cover corners. The obsession of Lovie Smith with players like Danieal points to his inability to lead and coach a football team. If you remember, Danieal Manning was the safety that got burned in the Super bowl game by Reggie Wayne leading to an easy long- touchdown pass from Peyton Manning(a lot of Mannings in this post). If Danieal is famous for anything, its his unique ability to get burned.

But the Bears and Mr. Smith somehow believe that the former safety, who couldn't play safety, could somehow turn around and play nickel. Funny I thought it was the other way around, corner-backs who couldn't cover were switched to safety.

To make matters worse, the Bears got zero value out of Ricky. Instead of playing Ricky and hyping him up in the hopes of trading him, the Bears downgraded the veteran, rarely letting him see the field (excluding his play with the 6th stringers), and openly conveyed their dislike of the player. And somehow they're amazed that no other team wanted to trade for him. They could have gotten as high as 5th rounder if they played their cards right. Instead, management made him the perfect addition for another, better managed and coached team.

Oh yeah, and if Danieal doesn't work out, its okay b/c Trumain McBride can step in. Agh. Alright enough of that.

In better news, Jay Marriotti is leaving the Sun-Times. Lets hope he takes his tabloid, US weekly writing with him out of town to somewhere far, far away. Jay "one thought" Marriotti, I think there's an opening at the Onion. Your stories would be a perfect match for their parody sports section.

Chicago Bears: Optimism Edition

Looking at my past posts one could argue that I was a Green Bay Packers fan just hating on the misfortunes of the Chicago Bears. That couldn't be farther from the truth as I am a die hard Bears fan. So to counteract by pessimism, here's another Bears list. But, this time lets call me Mr. Brightside.

Things that make me believe Bears can go to the playoffs this year.

1. Kyle Orton starts taking shots downfield and succeeding. I've ripped Orton before, but during my visit to Bears Camp on Aug. 3rd, I did see an improved Orton throwing the ball. He doesn't have the zip or quick release of Grossman. But, he has a good arm, is tall and can better see the field, and won't drop back 15-20 yards when pressure gets in his face. So here's a little glass half-full; Orton could be a decent option at QB. Again, I just hope he can stretch the field a little.

2. Matt Forte, if given a hole(I know a big if), can get it done in the running game. He's big, quick, shows some elusiveness and could surprise people with his speed. Best of all, he is the anti-Benson. No moping around, no taking 10 seconds to get up after being tackled, and no whining. Even better, he's a great receiver. He's going to be a solid running back. Something the Bears haven't had in a while.

3. Devin Hester is still really freaking good. Maybe he's not a #1 WR. But he's the best KR/PR already to have EVER played the game. More importantly, in his limited time as a WR, he's looked pretty good. Even if he just has the "go-route" as his main offensive weapon, its a pretty good route to have. He's already beaten a few defenses with his blazing speed and I think he'll do it again.

4. Although this likely won't happen, I think Mark Bradley is a good WR. If healthy (again this is optimism time), he's shown that he's a good WR. Even better, Brandon Lloyd seems like a nice and cheap replacement for the overrated and over-paid Bernard Berrian.

5. The Bears have a great front 7. Adewale, Tommie Harris, Dusty, Alex Brown, Mark Anderson, and Izzy to name a few. Plus, the rookie DT, Harrison looks pretty good. Then add Urlacher and Briggs to the mix and you've got one of the best front 7s in football. I'll take that.

6. Mike Brown hasn't gotten hurt yet. Thats optimistic right?

7. Chris Williams will come back eventually. I've never seen him play and have no idea whether he'll ever anchor the line. But, he can't be terrible. See this is me being optimistic.

8. Charles Tillman and Nathan Vasher are good CBs. I also think Graham is a sleeper.

9. Greg Olsen and Kellen Davis have the potential to be the top TE tandem in the league. Even better, Desmond Clark is a dedicated and reliable vet.

10. We've already been to the Super-bowl in 2006. Why can't we do it again in 2008? Before you answer that question remember to stay positive. Go Bears.

Chicago Bears: The implications of Kyle Orton

Wow, that happened about 2 months too early. You see I usually get depressed from the Bears after a month into the season after all the losing, inept coaching and amateur play. Well my depression just kicked in. I heard Kyle Orton was named the starter. As Lovie Smith will likely say several times this year, "Kyle is our Quarterback". A simple sentence, sure. But translated it means, "Kyle is terrible, we are terrible, but we need to stick with our terrible quarterback".

Now, this is obviosly unfair to Kyle. He admittedly looked okay in training camp and during pre-season. He might be a good QB that carries us to some wins. But, by selecting Orton as our QB, the Bears are really telling us, "Get ready for some boring offensive football". Orton as our starter really means the following:

1. We're rarely going to push the ball upfield. The Bears are going to settle for some 4 yard or less passing plays. Unfortunately, this will also yield 3 yard or less running plays.

2. The Bears will take zero risk in the passing game. Which, if you know anything about Finance means that the Bears will be granted zero rewards in the passing game.

3. Now I know why the Bears signed Marty Booker. His max potential right now is to be an okay possession receiver. Watch out for a lot of 4 yard outs and stop routes.

4. This also means saying good by to our play-makers. Bradley is likely gone. The Bears have no use for upside potential right now. We're going with Booker, Rashied Davis (aghhhhhhh) and Brandon Lloyd. Devin Hester may mix things about a bit on a play-action pass. But likely, he'll be used more as a dummy player or running trick plays. I can just see the John Shoop comparisons.

5. Speaking of Shoop. Get ready for some Shane Mathews football. QB 10 for 14, 101 yards, and 1.9 yards per catch stats.

6. The Bears are going to rely solely on their defense and Special Teams. This seems absurd as I am not sure we are a top 5 defensive team even when healthy. But what happens when Mike Brown gets hurt or Tommie Harris gets slowed down due to a nagging injury?

7. In order to win any game the defense must hold teams to 13 points or less. Thats 85 Bears/Baltimore Ravens realm. Do you really think they can do that?

8. This team's ceiling is 9 wins, and maybe 10. Which sounds great, but either way its a plan destined for a 1st round exit in the playoffs. The NFL has changed my friends. If you can't put up points on the board, its over. Do you think the Cowboys, Colts, Pats are going to score less than 13 points? That may happen one game all season for those teams.

9. The elevation of Orton, the "throw Grossman under-the-buss" off-season the Bears instituted, and the inept actions of Jerry Angelo, all lead to one conclusion. The Bears will never, ever, ever win a SuperBowl with Angelo or Lovie at the helm.

10. Lastly, just to pour the salt and alcohol in the wound, its rebuilding time for the Bears. Next year we're looking for a QB in the draft. We need to rebuild the offensive line completely. We need to find a whole new receiving core. Meanwhile, Urlacher and Brown get another year older. Yep, I fear my friends that the Bears little run is over. Its time to start looking towards 2011 when the Bears might be good again.

Finally, I have one last thing to say. The Bears threw Rex Grossman under the bus. I honestly feel sorry for the guy. They never gave him a chance. The put him behind a terrible OL, let Seattle blitz all day without any additional blocking. And then, they put Orton in for two series. The first one he goes 3 and out. The second one he takes advantage of a prevent defense in a 2 minute drill by throwing easy short passes to the flat for 5-6 yards a piece. He makes one nice throw to Lloyd. They then take him out of the game out of fear he'll show his truer colors. And then the idiots blame Grossman for the terrible offense and hang their hats on Orton's great 2 minute drive. Ridiculous.

Here's to 6-10 men. Open those bottles of Prozac.

Ohhr--- Shi$

Orton's our starter according to Sun-Times.

Chicago Bears: Mini-Mouses of the Midway

Last week I wrote about how the Bears were in Barney as in Barney Rubble, Trouble! This week.. well lets just say they're a notch below awful. After saturday's pre-season game, my primary thought is "these guys went to the superbowl?". Here's a collection of my random thoughts following the game:

1. The Bears offensive line played as if it was the first time they had every seen a blitz. It was open-mike night at Zanies, with a bunch of amateur lineman giving their act.

2. While I think Seattle violated some unwritten rule about blitzing in the pre-season, their was no excuse for Ron Turner's play calling during that first quarter. They kept on blitzing and he kept on calling 5-7 step drops or even worse, play action fakes, when we hadn't run the ball once in the first few drives. The line was bad, but Ron Turner made things ugly by not adapting to the constant blitzes.

3. Rex Grossman and Kyle Orton are average NFL QBs. They can play good, and even Great in REx's case if they have time to throw the ball and if they had players other than 1st graders at WR. Its not that hard to figure out that a QB needs time to throw. If you can't provide that protection, not even Brady or Manning are going to have a good day.

4. Marty Booker's career is over. Like New Kids on the Block, Booker is someone I would just rather not see. He made one nice catch when the they called an under throw route where the WR fakes like he's going long, but just stops and catches an under-throw. While Booker is exceptional at this b/c he can't get passed a DB anymore, this is not enough to make it on this team. Bears better not cut a young player with promise (e.g. Bradley, Haas or even Monk) for the one year lack of production of Booker.

5. Daniel Manning is terrible. I harp on this too much, but he's just awful. How he plays over Ricky Manning as a slot corner, I don't know.

6. Kellen Davis's catch was brilliant. Maybe its okay if D. Clark is hurt.

7. But on that note, where is Greg Olsen? Why aren't we getting him the ball.

8. So we can't pass. I get that. But, we can't run either? I'm beginning to think that we should just punt on 1st down.

9. I've always been a fan of Grossman. I believe if he was on a professionally managed football team he would be a pro-bowler for 1 or 2 years. But, he has to stop dropping back 10 -15 yards. Just step up and take a sack and minimize the loss.

10. Reports are that Mark Bradley, Garret Wolfe, Dan Bazuin and Michael Okwo are on the border of making the team. They were all early round draft picks in the last couple of years. Either a) Angelo sucks or b) our coaching staff can't grow our players. Which leads to one conclusion, fire everyone (except scouting department) if Bears fall on face. Its my true feeling that Lovie Smith isn't equipped to win a Super Bowl.

Again, sorry for the pessimism. But, Bears look a lot like a 5-11 team. Lets hope something good happens Thursday night.

Okay, that Phelps guy is pretty good.

Backtrack to July 12, 2008. I'm racing my wife at the local pool. Let it be known that I'm a terrible swimmer (although I hold the world record for longest underwater swim with one breath in the CLR aka Chicago Loop Region). And after four laps, I repeat 4 laps across the pool I was done. Exhausted, finished, want to go home lay on the coach done.

Fast forward to August 12, 2008 and I'm talking to my Dad on the phone as the US swim team led by Michael Phelps, starts the 4 by 200 meter freestyle relay race. As Phelps gets to the end of his swim my Dad says, "This is too much. Ridiculous (first time I ever heard my Dad say that word), its not fair. Phelbes (he also cannot pronounce his name) is unbelievable. As the other swimmers dive into the pool and we near the end of the race, Dad yells "Ohh no. I can't even see the 2nd place guy. Where is he? Phelbes is too good. This is unfair".

Darn right. I don't really care or follow swimming. I don't have a Michael Phelps t-shirt in my closet. But I have to admit, Phelps is amazing. So while I'm no Spitz, I do appreciate greatness. And Michael Phelps is great. Its not too often you get to see dominance in sports, so I for one, I'm going to sit back and enjoy this guy. 10 Golds, the most ever by an Olympian! Two more Golds to get the record for most in a single Olympic Games. Tiger take a seat (seriously take a seat b/c Golf is f'in boring). USA basketball sit down (oh now you guys try. Thanks but its a little to late for me). Now, its Michael Phelps' time. To him I say, Bravo. And, as Dad says, "Phelbes is too good".

The Bears are in Barney

The 2008 Chicago Bears are in Barney. You know from that line by Don Cheadle in Ocean's Eleven. Come on. They're in Barney. Barny Rubble... TROUBLE!!!!!!!

About 3 weeks from the start of the regular season and the Bears haven't figured out the following:
1. Who the starting QB is.
2. Who the starting WRs are.
3. Who the starting LT will be (and possibly RT if John Tait is moved back to LT).
4. Who the starting LG is.
5. Who the starting RB is (Forte is likely however).
6. Who is going to line up next to Tommie Harris at DT.

Even worse, the most inept organization in football not named the Cardinals or Raiders has the following concerns.
1. Is the guy we just paid #1 WR money a #1 WR.
2. WHat happens when both Mike Brown and Brandon McGowan get hurt (note, this is not an if, empirically this is a fact).
3. Our supposedly great defense gets shredded in the ground game (ala KC in the first preseason game).
4. That our coaching staff believes Trumaine McBride is a good corner and better than Ricky Manning.
5. THat our moron coaching staff believes Daniel Manning has any value (In my opinion he should go back to the Div. 3 school he came from).
6. That Kyle Orton is the next Trent Dilfer, except that he is much worse.
7. That our OL, even with a healthy Chris Williams is below average.
8. That Marty Booker sucks and shouldn't be playing with the 1st team offense. (I know Mark Bradley has been disappointing due to injury, but if they cut him for Booker I am going to freak out. Booker is done. BRadley at least shows great talent when healthy and he is young).
9. That the Fake Adrien Peterson should never, ever, be allowed to carry the rock (unless Forte, Jones, Pope or Wolfe are injured).
10. That Lovie Smith is a below average coach that seems to let his bias (players from the south, heart, or faith) get in the way of rational thought.

Ahhhhh. I can't stand this team as it is now. We are such an amateur organization. Its like we're the Washington Generals and everyone else is the Harlem Globetrotters. And don't even get me started on how the Bears couldn't foresee that Williams Injury or I-Truth's research on the Anghelo drafting since 2002. Aghhhhhhhhhhhhh!