Interesting stuff from Barry Rozner of the Daily Herald:

"The Bears have made it clear that there is no tomorrow. It's all about life preservers now, and management needs to find a few more victories or go home for good. So what in the world are they waiting for on Brandon Marshall?

[snip]

Yes, the asking price will be high, but who cares? Denver placed only a first-round tender on the restricted free agent, meaning any team signing Marshall to an offer sheet would have to give the Broncos a first-round pick as compensation.

That's assuming, of course, that the Broncos wouldn't match the offer, and if they had any intention of doing that they would have placed a first and a third on Marshall.

Of course, the Broncos already own the Bears' first-round pick this year from the Cutler trade, but there's a way around that.

Denver could sign Marshall to a long-term deal the Bears agree is acceptable, and then trade Marshall to Chicago for whatever Denver wants in next year's draft, say a first and a lower pick, or if the Broncos balk, a first and a defensive player of some value.

Throw in Greg Olsen, too, if it makes them feel better."

What does this group have to lose? As currently constructed they appear to be headed out of town. If Brett Favre returns and has a season even close to 2009, the Vikings are still a better team. The Packers are getting better each year as they young core of players gains more experience, and I believe they are still a better team.

Bears management has said that the wide receiver position is not a priority this off-season, but let's be honest, the group they have out there isn't going to cut it. If the Bears can somehow find a way to get this deal done, which I know is a long shot, it would be the best move they made in 2010, Peppers signing included.

Some good stuff from 670 The Score's Blog. Dan Bernstein outlines some particulars regarding the Julius Peppers deal and the man responsible for constructing it. For those who are worried about Julius taking the money and taking plays off, you might want to read this:

One of the Bears’ savviest-ever moves was the hiring of former agent Cliff Stein in 2002.  Three years ago, he was put in charge of all player-contract negotiations as Senior Director of Football Administration and General Counsel.  Since then, the team has balanced nicely their major expenditures and cap flexibility, maintaining the likelihood that their highest-paid players would be the best performers and allowing for relatively painless departures if the team feels otherwise.

So it shouldn’t be a surprise that the recent deal signed by Julius Peppers allows the Bears to pull the plug, essentially, after only one season of guaranteed money.  Mike Florio of PFT did a nice job of ferreting out the details as he followed up on some work by Peter King, revealing that Peppers gets $20 MM  up front and guaranteed.  The “guaranteed” dollars for the next two years — totalling $22 MM — are guaranteed for injury only up to a certain date each off-season, allowing the Bears to cut Peppers if they feel his skills are not worthy.

The Angelo/Smith management or the new group can decide on Peppers’s future after 2010 and each year thereafter, and Peppers also has reason to bust his butt, rather than rest on a pile of cash.

Peppers has been called out for playing hard in his contract seasons, and this is good news for Bears fans, because essentially Peppers will be in a contract year every year with Chicago.

My brothers scolded me for being late on the free agent frenzy in Chicago. I addressed some of it yesterday, but I know this video is something they will love, and something my Packer fan friends will hate. Enjoy boys.

I feel the comment section getting warmed up.

It was an exciting Friday at Halas Hall, when for a second straight year the Bears landed to top prize of the off-season. Julius Peppers, all 81 sacks and 30 forced fumbles of him, will wear navy and orange in 2010. No longer can Bears fans say the team doesn't spend money as Peppers $42 million guaranteed represents the most guaranteed money in the NFL.

The Bears also solidified themselves at the running back position, signing Chester Taylor and they gave Mike Martz exactly what he wanted with Brandon Manumaleuna, a prototypical pass blocking tight end.

All that being done, there is still more work to do, most notably at the safety position. The only question is how. The free agent market is slim, but it's the direction I would like them to look, at two players in particular.

The first is Oshiomogho (OJ) Atogwe. Atogwe, who spent his last five seasons with the Rams, is exactly the type of player that Lovie Smith dreams about when visions of the Tampa-2 dance in his head. In his five seasons in St. Louis, Atogwe has forced 14 fumbles and picked off 19 passes.

The second is Ryan Clark from Pittsburgh. While Clark isn't as athletic as some of the other safeties available, he might be the smartest football player. At 30 years old, he would also provide some veteran help to the secondary, but he is still young enough to play out a contract.

Darren Sharper is another option, but at 34 he could be a risky sign.

Atogwe isn't a franchise defensive back, but as long as Lovie is in charge of this defense, he is a solid fit, and he might come rather cheap, that is if they can get him. The Rams tendered Atogwe at the RFA lowest level available--the right of first refusal.

The move could potentially save the Rams millions of dollars. If they had chosen to tender Atogwe at the highest level, he would have received around $7 million. Now, they just have to match another team's offer. However, if a different team offers him a deal, the Rams have the option to match but will not receive any compensation if they allow Atogwe to move on.

With just two days to go before the i94 baseball teams take the diamond, my mind is still on football, and with good reason. No its not the combine, where many players who couldn't play on Saturday are rising in the draft because they can jump high and just as many who could play on Saturday are falling because they can't, it's because at midnight on Thursday, the NFL free agency scramble begins.

The Bears have been involved in a lot of the pre-free-agent discussions, and again with good reason. This is a team that has no chance of building through the draft, and with a couple of key players likely waiting for pay days, the Bears will need to get busy fast. With an uncapped year ahead the Bears are in a unique position. Because the Bears were not a top eight team, the are able to spend as much money as they want with no restrictions. It is only a matter of how much payroll ownership wants to take on. (For a good description of the free-agency restricitons click here)

The names have been discussed, and I already gave my thoughts on Julius Peppers and Antrel Rolle, two guys that the Bears will make a priority.

There has also been some discussion on the idea of trading Greg Olsen in order to free up some space for a more physical blocking tight end, someone like Brandon Manumaleuna, who would probably be a better fit in the new Mike Martz offense. In an interview with ChicagoBears.com, GM Jerry Angelo discussed this,

"A name was brought up to me [recently] about a potential player that might not be a real good fit -- his name's been bantered around ... But we're in the business to keep our good players. We're in the business to make sure that our schemes facilitate our better players. That to me is what good coaching is about. So for me to see us trading somebody away at this point, I really don't see that happening."

Is that the smartest thing you've ever heard Angelo say? The answer is yes.

Trading Olsen isn't the worst idea that has ever been proposed to the Bears, but does it make much sense to trade away such a young talented player to fit a scheme that might only be around for one or two seasons? What about the rapport that Olsen has with Jay Cutler? Cutler targeted Olsen 108 times in 2009, 17 more times than Devin Hester who was second on the team.

It's no secret that Olsen isn't the greatest blocking TE in the NFL, and it's also no secret that Martz doesn't exactly utilize the TE in his offense (if I have to see one more graph of TE's performances under Martz...), but it might be time for Mikey to adapt a little. That may be asking for a lot, especially from a hard headed coach like Mike Martz, but the Bears brass should put their foot down on this one and force him to mix Olsen into the offense a tad more than tight ends he has worked with in the past.

If you go to the ESPN NFL Rumors page you'll find something peculiar as a Bears fan. Maybe it shouldn't be all that surprising, given the fact that Chicago made the biggest off-season splash last year when they traded for Jay Cutler, but to see the Bears as rumored suitors for so many players made me scratch my head.

For example, the Bears are listed as the destination, albeit not the only one, for players like: Julius Peppers, Aaron Kampman, LaDainian Tomlinson, Chester Taylor, Antrel Rolle and even Larry Johnson.

Many will argue that the likeyhood of the Bears signing someone like Peppers is slim at best, but again you must turn to the Cutler trade as a sign that maybe things have changed, even if just slightly at Halas Hall. Both Jerry Angelo and Lovie Smith are in do-or-die situations when it comes to the 2010 season. No playoffs will likely mean their dismissals, so bringing in a guy like Peppers would give them what Lovie has always coveted, a pure pass rusher. Peppers has recorded 10 or more sacks in eight of his 10 seasons in the NFL.

In their quest for another running back, LT's name has been dropped as a possible option, though methinks a lot of this is shot in the dark speculation and something to attract more hits to the page. I in no way see how LT is a fit for the Bears. A) He wants to go to a contender, understandably so, and the Bears as they are currently constructed are not contenders. B) In the Mike Martz offense, LT is a fit, if we are talking about the Tomlinson from 2006 or 2007. I don't know where is best suited to go, but I know Chicago is not the place.

That goes for LJ too.

Antrel Rolle would be a great signing in my opinion, but he will be expensive. Rolle can tackle, read a QB, and has a knack for finding the ball and the endzone, making him a perfect fit in Lovie's defense.

The Bears are going to have to build through free-agency, and the men making the decisions are on thin ice. If ever there was a time to spend the money, it is now.

2009 Scouting Report - Scouts Inc.
Comment: Continues to be a consistent performer as both a runner and receiver out of the backfield. Has above-average size with deceptive power and excellent athleticism. He has enough speed and burst to threaten the perimeter, and is effective between the tackles. He has good hands as a receiver and is a tough match-up for opposing linebacker in coverage. He has excellent run-after-catch ability and can make defenders miss in space. He's a decent blocker in pass protections but his lack of height hind

This is the scouting report for unrestricted free-agent Chester Taylor, a player I think would be a good fit in the Mike Martz system in Chicago. Thumbing through my Chicago Tribune this morning I finally found what I was looking for, a decent description of what role the running back plays in Martz's offense. According to Dan Pompei,

"The prototype for Martz is Marshall Faulk-a player who can get yards in chunks and be a dependable receiver.

Matt Forte will thrive as a receiver in this offense, but a more dynamic runner or a more physical runner would be a better fit. Forte's carries will go down, and if he continues to average 3.6 yards per carry, they'll go down some more.

Martz likes a north-south runner who can pound defenses. Forte should be able to contribute by closing out games in the second half, assuming things are working in the first half."

Let's face it, even though Forte was hurt most, if not all, of last season, he is no Marshall Faulk. And though he has proven to be a dependable receiver and has improved in his pass blocking, averaging 3.6 yards per carry won't get the job done. Beyond that, it seemed Forte was too often going down on first contact.

Chester Taylor is no Marshall Faulk either, but he has proven the ability to catch the ball out of the backfield, he is excellent in pass protection (which might be something the Bears will need with Cutler taking numerous seven step drops), and he has shown that he can produce in the running game when given the opportunity. In his only season with over 300 carries (2006), his first in Minnesota, Taylor ran for over 1,200 yards and averaged four yards per carry. And though he he is entering his ninth year in the league, only in that 2006 season was he used as the primary back, leaving him very fresh at the even at the age of 30.

Taylor received his fewest amount of carries in six seasons in 2009 with only 94, and would like to become the feature back somewhere, but at 31, it's not likely. He was a do-it-all

And be honest, haven't you ever caught yourself watching a Viking game and confusing Taylor with Adrian Peterson?

Look, anyone who is a Bears fan has an affinity for the 1985 Chicago team. Sure it was 25 seasons ago that they shuffled their way to a near perfect season and handed out of the league's worst Super Bowl beat downs, but many hang on to it like grim death. So many lovable characters on that team have grown to be part of Bears lore, and are integral part of the city of Chicago today.

Personally, though, I think I could do without hearing the "Punky QB", Jim McMahon, give his opinion of quarterbacking like he was some expert at the craft.

I have to be careful here. Not only am I treading on sacred ground, but I also understand what Jim meant to those teams in the mid 80's. It's easy to forget that the 1986 version of the Bears was likely an even better team than the 1985 vintage, and had McMahon not been body-slammed by Green Bay's Charles Martin, in a clear cheap shot, one that knocked McMahon out for the season, the Bears could have made a run at their second consecutive championship.

During a recent Pro Bowl event McMahon told the Denver Post, figures huh, that,

"You don't have to throw it through the wall to be a good quarterback in this league," McMahon said. "You need timing and instincts. You can't teach instincts. You either got 'em or you don't."

For the record, McMahon played 15 years in the NFL and amassed 100 touchdowns and 90 INTs. Only five times did he throw for more than 10 touchdowns in a season, and only five times was he able to play 10 or more games in a season. Six times he himself threw more INTs than TDs.

With all due repect to McMahon's leadership skills on the field, I think if he were forced to play behind the line Jay Cutler had to play for in 2009, he might have lasted about one half of one game. I may have been too young to appreciate fully all that he could do on the field, but I know I don't want to hear his two cents some 25 years later, especially from a guy who admits to watching only the highlights.

The Chicago Bears search for an offensive coordinator is becoming the talk of the NFL, or at the very least it's giving those who are paying attention a chuckle. The latest is that the Bears have been granted permission to talk to Vikings quarterbacks coach Kevin Rogers. Rogers of course is known for his development of Tavaris Jackson, Sage Rosenfels and turning Brett Favre into a Hall of Famer. Wait...what?

Anywho, when the news broke that another candidate, Hue Jackson (best known for his work as Wolverine...wait...), had decided to take the job of OC in Oakland, I could hear the collective sighs of Bears fans and the collective laughter of Packer fans. Is it so bad in Chicago that people would rather work with Al Davis and Bubb Rubb in Oakland?

Chicago 46, New England 10

Attendance: 73,818
MVP: Richard Dent, DE, Chicago

SCORING
	1	2	3	4	OT	T
Chicago	13	10	21	2		46
New England	3	0	0	7		10

1st Quarter
	NE	FG Franklin 36, 1:19
	CHI	FG Butler 28, 5:40
	CHI	FG Butler 24, 13:34
	CHI	Suhey 11 run (Butler kick), 14:37
2nd Quarter
	CHI	McMahon 2 run (Butler kick), 7:36
	CHI	FG Butler 24, 15:00
3rd Quarter
	CHI	McMahon 1 run (Butler kick), 7:38
	CHI	Phillips 28 interception return (Butler kick), 8:44
	CHI	Perry 1 run (Butler kick), 11:38
4th Quarter
	NE	Fryar 8 pass from Grogan (Franklin kick),1:46
	CHI	safety Waechter 0, 9:24

Now let the sweet voice of Alec Baldwin take you down memory lane: