Final Thoughts on Chicago Sports

2006 Cubs Season Review: Wait till Next Year

The Cubs completely stunk up the joint this year.  I know it, you know it, the American people know it.  It's not news.  The reasons why they stunk have been well documented on this very web site.  There isn't much to say now that wasn't already said then.  As a result, the axe is going to fall on Manager Dusty Baker this Monday.  I, of course, couldn't be happier.  I'm not going to talk about potential replacements in this post, I'll save that for another day.  But suffice it to say, I'll be happy with ABB (Anyone But Baker).  At least for a while.

Furthermore, a tidal wave of evidence has come in suggesting that Baker might not be the only one to lose his job.  Over the last few days, both Phil Rogers and Rick Morrissey of the Tribune have written scathing articles about Team President Andy MacPhail and GM Jim Hendry.  It's almost like the shackles have come off and the Tribune Company has granted "the paper" permission to hack away at the flagship.  The smear campaign is in full force, and this is usually what happens when a company is ready to clean house.  How shocking would that be?  As much as I've railed on Baker, I've acknowledged since day one that this abortion of a season wasn't entirely his fault.  Hendry and MacPhail deserve equal blame, and it would be poetic justice if they sat right next to Baker on Monday and talked about their dismissal as well.  (See Morrissey's column in particular if you want a smoking gun, my thoughts on the terrible job done by MacPhail and Hendry are summed up there perfectly.) 

The organization is rotten from top to bottom, and it's time to bring in new blood.  One of the most eye-popping stats to emerge this season is the Cubs trouble with Walks.  They are last in the league in drawing walks, and first in the league in issuing walks.  They've been out-walked by nearly 300 free passes.  With more teams seeing the light and focusing on On-Base-Percentage as the stat to look at when sizing up prospective players, the Cubs have seemed to all but ignore it.  Dusty Baker didn't help matters much when stating repeatedly that he wasn't a big fan and "walks clog the bases."  You'd think after watching Cubs pitchers issue all those walks and how they've bitten the team in the ass, he'd realize that his hitters would benefit from the occasional base on balls as well.  Alas, no.  Acquiring patient hitters and pitchers with control should be the primary focus of the next regime (if there is one.) 

Finally, the other day I caught the new documentary on HBO about Cubs fandom called "Wait Till Next Year."  It's a fairly solid representation of what it's been like to be a Cubs fan through the years, and I give it a "thumbs up."  Word of warning, it's not so much a documentary on the history of the Cubs as it's a documentary about the fans reaction and life-long love affair with the team.  There's some history involved, of course, but most of that should be common knowledge among your average Cubs fans.  You see bits on William Wrigley buying the team, Bill Veeck, the moderate success in the 30s and 40s, the dry spell, Ernie Banks, the '69 Bleacher Bums, The Trib and Harry, Ryno and '84, Santo's stumps, and 2003.  You also see a cross-section of Cubs fans and how they reacted to the various events.  I have to admit, the footage of '84 and 2003 was quite emotional.  84 reminded me of being a kid, coming home from school and watching the team melt down in San Diego.  Then 2003 with Bartman, Alou's hissy fit, and the 8-run eighth.  I wish people would stop talking about Bartman, but no footage of that game would be complete without mentioning it.  Seeing the Alex Gonzalez muffed double play again just pissed me off to no avail.  I didn't expect such a visceral reaction to a videotaped replay I've seen a dozen times.  It brought back all the feelings of anger I had during that inning (and September 2004 for that matter) and seeing the 8 on the scoreboard just made me sick to my stomach.  Just brutal. 

If I have any complaints, it was that they skipped over some rather huge events in recent Cubs history.  Dawson's MVP, 1989, Maddux leaving, Sammy and Mac, Kerry's 20 Ks, and the '98 wild card.  But alas, there's only so much time in an hour and like I said, this show was more about the fans than the team's history. 

Review time:  Wait Till Next Year?  B+.  The 2006 Cubs?  F.  Wait till next year, indeed.

UPDATE (10/1/2006):  MacPhail has resigned.  Wow, up until this past week I didn't think that was going to happen.  Then the Trib unleashed the dogs and Andy is out.  No word on Hendry, and Baker is likely out tomorrow.  More then....I've got football to write about!

Bears - Seahawks: Game of the Week

The Bears host the Seattle Seahawks this Sunday in a prime time matchup on Sunday Night Football.  It's by far the toughest test of this young season so far and it might very well be the toughest test of the year.  Let's take a closer look:

Bears Defense vs. Seattle Rushing Offense:  With star runningback Shaun Alexander set to miss the contest, the job of running the rock will belong to Maurice Morris.  He's pretty solid, but he's no MVP.  In addition, they seem to miss Steve Hutchinson a lot, as even with Alexander in the lineup they were middle of the pack in rushing.  Advantage?  Bears.

Bears Defense vs. Seattle Passing Offense:  This will be a good test for our new and improved secondary.  Knowing that Morris won't be able to run the ball, the linebackers will probably aid in rushing the passer or stepping back in to coverage.  With Seattle's prevalence for 3-step drops and running four-receiver sets, I don't expect the Bears to sack Hasselbeck much, but I do suspect they'll be in his face all night.  Advantage?  Seahawks.

Bears Rushing Game vs. Seattle Defense:  Sooner or later, the Bears runners are going to get untracked.  It's not likely to happen this week, though, as Seattle has the 2nd best run Defense in the league.  A lot of it is teams abandoning the rush with a large deficit to overcome, but still.  Advantage?  Seahawks. 

Bears Passing Game vs. Seattle Defense:  Seattle's pass defense ranks in the bottom third of the league.  Rex Grossman has a passer rating of 100.9 that ranks 5th in the NFL, and his receivers are catching everything in sight.  Advantage?  Bears

Special Teams:  Robbie Gould has been perfect this year, and Maynard is spotting it like a puppy on white carpeting.  Devin Hester has been both outstanding and awful at times, but he's still a threat to run it back every time he touches it.  Seattle? Decent across the board, but no match for Chicago.  Advantage?  Bears

Bottom Line:  Seattle is going to have to alter their offense significantly with the loss of Alexander, and running new schemes against a defense like the Bears will be an exercise in futility.  Grossman should be able to continue to pass up and down the field, with the only concern being the running game.  Nevertheless, I'll say Bears 24-10. 

Bears Steal one from Vikings

Another week, another great win.  This time it wasn't a blowout, however, as the Bears beat the Vikings in Minnesota today on a last-minute touchdown pass to Rashied Davis.  Rex Grossman, as typical for a Quarterback, had the most impact on today's outcome.  Minnesota blitzed all day, hoping to rattle Rex.  Rex wasn't rattled, but he certainly threw some crappy passes, one of which was picked off and returned for a touchdown.  Not only that, but at least two others were minus-6 near misses as well.  But no matter, Rex seems unflappable.  He recovered nicely and put a TD on the board when the team needed it most.  Us Bears fans better get used to it, as I think this is going to be a recurring situation all year.  Rex makes bad decision, Rex makes good decision.  The good news is I think Rex has got what it takes to take us all the way.  The bad news is he won't ever come close to going undefeated and he could pull a Favre-like 6 INT game out of his ass at the worst possible time.  Should be fun.  Some other notes.

• About the running game:  what I said last week.
• About the defense: Tommie Harris is the man.  Rex wouldn't have had a chance to work his magic without Tommie's brilliant forced fumble.  The reigning defensive player of the week should be in contention for this week's award as well.
• What's Urlacher been up to?  He's made his share of tackles, but he hasn't really been involved on an impact play all year.  Just wondering.  He *did* recover one fumble, I should point out, but he hasn't made the "game-changing" plays like the aforementioned Harris.
• The defense didn't square up on Chester Taylor all day and the secondary allowed a number of big plays. However, I'm not going to complain about either problem as the unit has allowed one touchdown in three games.  That's a passing grade in my book.
• Sloppy, sloppy play from all around today as it seemed the Bears were gunning for the team record for penalties in a season in one afternoon.  Vikes weren't much better, I might add, making the game seem to drag at times.
• Robbie Gould is automatic it seems.  At this point he's probably the best Bears kicker since Butthead. 

The Bears are now 3-0 for the first time since 1991.  Man, did those last 15 years suck.  Happy days are here again, though, and I'm going to enjoying every minute of this season.  Seattle next week, probably the biggest game of the year.  I wish it was tonight.  GO BEARS!!!

Bears - Vikings: The Battle for the NFC Central

Yes, I know it's been the NFC North for four years, but old habits die hard.  The Bears travel to the roller dome this Sunday to face Minnesota in a showdown of two undefeated teams.  Ok, so two 2-0 teams battling doesn't exactly have the mystique of Bears-Dolphins on MNF in 1985 but still, it's a damn good matchup that will tell us a lot about both teams. 

The Bears come in to this game having annihilated their first two opponents by a combined score of 60-7.  That's such a fun thing to say I think I'll say it again, this time in bold and all caps.  THE BEARS COME INTO THIS GAME HAVING ANNIHILATED THEIR FIRST TWO OPPONENTS BY A COMBINED SCORE OF 60-7.  Man, that felt good.  Got a cigarette?  Seriously, though, this team is taking no prisoners at the moment, and any reservations I may have are due to the quality of their first two opponents.  Green Bay and Detroit aren't exactly striking fear in their upcoming foes, and the Vikings will be the first true test of the Bears' mettle.  In particular, I want to see two things this Sunday:

• I want to see the running game get going.  I don't care if it's Jones or Benson, but I want to see at least 4 yards per carry and a rushing touchdown.  The passing has been wonderful, but to win in Chicago in December (and January) you must be able to run the football. 
• I want to see a better performance from Brendon Ayanbedajo.  It looks like Hunter Hillenmeyer might miss his second consecutive game, and it also appears that I perhaps have given Hillenmeyer the short end of the stick.  In last week's massacre of Detroit, what was most often overlooked was the way Detroit ran right over Ayanbedajo for huge gains on the first two series.  It ultimately didn't matter, of course, because the Lions erased most of those plays with penalties and the Bears put a quick 10-spot on the board forcing Mike Martz into playing catchup.  And when Mike Martz plays catchup, he forgets that you can actually hand the ball off to a runningback.  So yeah, I like Ayanbedajo on Special Teams and all, but he looked pretty over-matched on defense.  He needs to improve or Chester Taylor is going to run all over him.

Speaking of the Vikings, they have improved greatly since the last time we faced them.  Last year they were a laughingstock.  Not so much for their skill level, which was mediocre, but for their off-the-field shenanigans.  (The Love Boat, etc.)  New coach Brad Childress is getting raves for how he's immediately turned around this organization.  He traded that bum Culpepper (who single-handedly has ruined my fantasy team this year) and dumped Whizzinator Onterrio Smith and the drunken Koren Robinson.  He let all the malcontents go and replaced them with upstanding citizens that make their mark on the playing field.  Oh, and he's not a babbling doofus with a thick skull like Mike Tice.  (Where'd he end up, anyways?  Back to Bedrock?) 

Prediction time.  I've predicted two close games to start the season and have been pleasantly surprised by two blowouts.  So this time I'll predict a blowout, and watch the Bears squeak out a 9-6.  Nah, the NFL has already met their quota on field-goal-only games this season so I'll say Bears win, 23-7.

Speaking of the NFL, what's up with the lack of upsets in the first two weeks?  Seriously, there's been a handful of surprises but nothing truly shocking.  And by "upsets" I mean 3.5+ point dogs winning the game outright.  It just hasn't happened yet.  I tell you what, they better get going soon or the NFL will change its rules again to help the little guys.  And that wouldn't be good for Chicago, who finally appears to have a decent team for once.

BEAR DOWN!!!!

Cubs Find their Thrill in Rich Hill

Lost among the stories of how pathetic the 2006 Cubs have been is the story of Rich Hill.  Hill, a 26-year-old rookie out of Michigan, entered this season as the biggest enigma in the minor leagues.  He absolutely dominated AA and AAA over the last 2 seasons, as the minor-league-player-of-the-year put up Pedro 1999 numbers.  Well, he wasn't quite that good, but you know what I mean.  Every time he got to the bigs, however, he totally crapped himself on the mound.  Last year in four starts he was 0-2 with a 9.13 ERA and in his first four starts this year he was 0-4 with a 9.31 ERA.  He was also the pitcher on the mound when this happened (and got demoted the next day).  Lots of baseball purists labeled him a 4A pitcher and it was getting awfully hard to disagree with them.  His opportunities were sporadic, however, and the statheads were clinging to "manager misuse" as the primary reason for his failure.  Me?  I straddled the line.  I advocated giving him the job in spring training because he had nothing more to prove at the minor league level.  But Sean Marshall beat him out and I was OK with that.  Then, since the Cubs were out of it by mid-May, I wanted to put him in the rotation for the rest of the season to see once and for all what he could do with an extended opportunity.  He came up but it didn't last.  At this point, I thought he still had a chance for Major League success but that it likely wouldn't come until he left the Cubs and found a coach that could mentor a soft-tossing left-hander, ala Jamie Moyer. 

Finally, in August, after trading Greg Maddux and putting Marshall on the DL, the Cubs were scraping the bottom of the barrel for pitchers and decided to give Hill one last shot.  Did he ever take advantage!  Since that time, he's 6-2 with a 2.65 ERA in 10 starts.  He's been especially awesome in his last 5 starts.  3-0, 0.97 ERA, 8.5 K/9, 5.83 SO/BB.  That's Johan Santana, folks.  He's been one of the few bright spots this season, and I think he's one of only two locks for the rotation next season (Zambrano, of course, being the other.) 

So is Dusty Baker to blame for Hill's early demise?  No.  Hill simply didn't pitch well enough to stay in the rotation and there was a pennant to be won, so I can't blame Dusty for the repeated demotions.  Hill himself stated in an online diary that his last trip to Iowa helped him immensely.  To use the overused and blatantly ridiculous phrase for a non-baseball player to make, I think Hill finally "gets it," and that he's primed for success for years to come.  I think he has a decent chance at avoiding the Cub's curse, too, because he's already 26 and past that tender age where overuse blows out young arms. 

So three cheers for Rich Hill, one of the few bright spots in a dismal season.  Hill!  Hill!  Hill!

Bears Dominate Again

I'm not going to beat around the bush; the Bears are kicking ass right now.  They whooped the Lions at home and have now outscored their first two opponents by a score of 60-7.  It doesn't get a whole lot better than that, folks, and we should be savoring these victories.  I guess the fifteen years of misery have beaten me down, because I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop.  The good news is it hasn't yet and it doesn't look like it will any time soon.  So I'm going to get over my fears and concentrate on the good for the time being. 

The Good:
Let's see:  Rex Grossman is slinging it.   Bernard Berrian is catching it.  The Bears have not one but TWO Tight Ends.  (who says they should have drafted one?)  No sacks allowed all day.  Moose is a pro.  They've rediscovered that the fullback can actually touch the ball.  They scored 34 points today without an effective running game.  And that's just on offense. 

On defense, they've got the best defensive line in the league and the best linebackers money can buy.  The secondary is full of hard hitters and they've only allowed 7 points in 8 quarters.  Domination. 

On special teams, they've got a wonderful return man, a very solid punter, and a placekicker whose not only perfect on the year in field goals but he's actually got a few touchbacks as well. 

The Bears look so good, that Chris Collinsworth said they're the favorite to go to the Super Bowl this year and Bob Costas didn't have a sarcastic comment to make.  That's pretty good.

The Bad:
Well, um, there's not much that's bad right now.  I can nitpick and say that the running game still hasn't done much; and that the defense has given up more yards than you'd think considering the amount of points they've allowed.  But man, that's really being picky.  Frankly, the Bears' crap smells like roses right now.

The Lions:
The team from Detroit was especially ugly today.  14 penalties and every one of them was a killer.  And Roy Williams got a heaping helping of shut up.  I mean, it's stupid how close they were to 40 points.  The Bears, that is.  GO BEARS!

Bears - Lions Preview: Should we be worried?

In a word, no.  I don't know about that spread, Bears are presently favored by 8.5, but I'm pretty certain the Bears are going to win this game.  Why?  Because Roy Williams guaranteed a victory.  What a tool.  Roy's a talented player, but pretty much everyone in the press is having fun with this one.  To paraphrase Michael Wilbon from PTI, "Hey Roy, why don't you have a big catch that actually means something in your career before you go and guarantee victories."  Couldn't have said it better myself.

Don't get me wrong, the Bears are certainly beatable.  I think this will be a low-scoring contest, and if Grossman turns the ball over in the red zone the Bears are doomed.  Call me stupid, but I believed his explanation for last week's end zone pick.  He was trying to throw it away to avoid a sack and got caught throwing off his back foot.  Thus, under-thrown and into Nick Barnett's hands.  Ok, Bears won by 26 points.  No biggee.  Do it again, though, and my attitude will change a bit.

Speaking of red zone offense, in an attempt to looking for something negative to write about, a lot of the local publications/bloggers have harped on the fact that the Bears stalled four times in the red zone.  I, for one, am not too worried about it.  I'd be far more worried if they never made it to the red zone.  For whatever reason, the running game just hasn't gotten going yet.  The running backs and line are too good to be held back for long.  In the meantime, Grossman is going to have to find his big targets and put sixes on the board. 

So what's up with the Lions?  A lot.  New coach.  New coordinators.  New quarterbacks.  They looked much improved over last year's Joey Harrington disaster in their week one loss to the Seahawks.  The defense looked especially strong in shutting down the Shaun Alexander and the Seabags.  The offense struggled some, but still seemed more efficient with John Kitna under center.  I think they're fully capable of winning 8 or 9 games this season, though I wouldn't exactly put money on a playoff appearance at this point. 

Prediction time.  Bears 13, Lions 10.  They won't cover the spread, but they'll squeak out a W in the home opener.

Cubs Hometown Bums

ESPN had a great feature today that's sort of the antithesis to MLB's Hometown Heros promotion: the Hometown Bums.  Since it's been that type of season for the Northsiders, I looked at the ballot and was wondering if they picked the five biggest bums this year or all time.  Turns out it's all-time.  I really don't agree with some of their choices. 

Ernie Broglio?  Yeah, he was traded for Lou Brock but did he personally deserve scorn?  It wasn't his fault his arm broke down and Brock went to the Hall of Fame.  Did fans hate Broglio or the guy that traded Brock?

Steve Bartman?  No way.  A spectator's poor split-second decision shouldn't be within a thousand miles of this list.  I really wish people would stop talking about him.  Paging Alex Gonzalez.....

Leon Durham?  Eh.  Yeah, a ground ball went through his legs and all, but Sutcliffe is the one who should really be blamed for blowing that lead.  Durham was a solid player for a long time and I don't recall him ever getting booed for his gaffe.

The rest of the decisions I agree 100% with:

Corey Patterson:  Former top prospect that didn't live up to potential and he struck out to pitches over his head.  Yes, that description probably applies to Shawon Dunston as well, but what earns Patterson a place on this list is his unwillingness to put forth the effort to improve his game.  He ignored coaching and rejected the opportunity for winter ball.  Very lackadaisical.

Todd Hundley: A bum through and through.  Big contract, zero production, flipped off fans.  It just didn't work out for Todd.  Pretty surprising, considering how beloved his old man was.

******

Now it's time to fill out the list.  So many choices, so few spots.  To make this easier on myself, I'm going to limit my three choices to players since 1984.  I'm not going to start digging through almanacs or look at stats; I'm purely going to go on memory.  Which guys deserved the most boos.

Latroy Hawkins:  This guy was a lights out setup man in Minnesota.  Came here and stunk up the joint.  Repeatedly blew save after save (though I must admit Dusty misused him -- he was NOT a closer).  No contrition at all as he belittled the press.  A bum.

Kyle Farnsworth:  A no brainer.  Literally.  Meet the real-life Nuke Laloosh.  Million dollar arm, ten-cent head.  Slept in the trainers room.  Kicked an electric fan and went on the DL.  Oh yeah, and just to tease us he alternated horrific years with outstanding ones.  A bum.

Wow.  I only have one slot left.  Mel Rojas?  Wendell Kim?  Neifi Perez?  Don Baylor? Antonio Alfonseca?  Larry Himes?  After much consideration, I'm going to go with...drumroll...

Dusty Baker:  Dusty's a jovial sort, and he really did his best to build a winner in this town.  So he really doesn't belong on a list with a bunch of assholes.  However, this is the man that repeatedly misused Latroy Hawkins.  He repeatedly hit Corey Patterson leadoff.  He continued to use Glendon Rusch, Lenny F. Harris, Shawn Estes, Jose Macias, Freddie Bynum, etc, even though their lack of talent suggested they should be released.  He has his worthless fishing-buddy cronies as his coaching staff, despite their lack of actually accomplishing anything with the players.  He let comments by Steve Stone disrupt the clubhouse.  He lets potentially talented rookies sit behind no-hit career scrubs.  He goes even further in throwing said rookies under the bus every chance he gets.  He doesn't feel he needs to teach fundamentals, and he's allergic to base-clogging walks.  He got completely outmanaged in the 2003 playoffs, what now appears to be the closest the Cubs will ever get to a World Series in my lifetime.  For all that, I salute you, Mr. Overrated Manager.  King of the Bums.

Bears - Packers: Shutout!

The Bears shut out the Packers today by a score of 26-zip.  What a great win!  Other than one single play, this was domination from start to finish.  Let's look a little closer.

The offense was about as fine as Ron Turner and the Bears could have hoped for.  Grossman was All-Pro today.  Other than the interception in the end zone, which had me hurling obscenities that would make a sailor blush, he was awesome.  He hit Moose and Desmond Clark for several big catches each, and of course the beautiful bomb to Berrian.  He looked like a real Quarterback today, and he lived up to the hype.  This buys him at least three more games. 

As for the running game, overall it was rather suspect.  Neither guy did all that much, and Benson didn't touch the ball till mid-way through the 3rd quarter.  Did you notice, though, that Benson had ALL the carries at the end of the game?  Curious.  Maybe they weren't impressed with Jones 3 yards per carry average today.  (Benson didn't exactly run away with his 3 YPC either).  I'm sure Jones will start again next week, but I bet we see Benson in the second quarter.

The defense was pretty great.  Yeah, they gave up a hundred yards to ancient Ahman Green, but it's hard to complain when they put a goose egg on the board.  In fact, Green Bay only made it into Chicago territory about three times all day.  Lance Briggs was all over the place, and the line was on Favre like white on rice.  Rookie Mark Anderson made his presence felt on a few plays, a real enforcer.  He looks "special."   Late in the game, Favre threw a few of his patented picks to rookie Danieal Manning and Peanut Tillman.  Just a wonderful effort all-around.

Special Teams was outstanding.  Devin Hester had an 84-yard punt return for a touchdown, and Robbie Gould connected on all of his attempts.  Brad Maynard aced the few punts he had. 

I can't really think of anything negative to say about this effort at all.  The team was awesome.  It's only the Packers, to be sure, but still.  It's an NFL team they shut out today.  That doesn't happen too often.  Let's keep it up next week for the home opener versus Detroit.  Bear Down!!!!

Bears vs. Packers - Opening Day

Football is back and we're just four short hours from kickoff, so it's time to look at today's game.  Green Bay is in sorry shape.  Bret Favre made headlines earlier this spring announcing that this team is the most talented of his tenure with the Pack.  Yeah, right.  He gets paid to say that.  The reality is this team is awful.  They've got crap receivers, a young line, and a decrepit runningback on offense.  They've got a mix overrated and mediocre players on defense.  They've also got a rookie head coach that might have the jitters for his first game.  Notice, I didn't say anything about Favre.  I've been trained through the years to not hate on the man.  A 21-7 lifetime record against the Bears will make a Bear fan shut up real quick.   I'll just say he's not what he was and leave it at that.

As for the Bears, I've said all I can say in the season preview the other day.  Prediction?  Pain.  The Bears will win a low-scoring contest, but the game won't be as close as the final score will indicate.  I'll say Bears 17, Packers 10.  Jones will run for two touchdowns and the Bears defense will set up the third score.  Grossman will throw for 165 yards with no TDs and 2 INTs. 

Now THAT'S a detailed prediction.

2006 Bears Preview

A famous man once said, "All the pieces are in place."  If you ask Jerry Angelo, he damn well better be saying the same thing.  This past offseason, he elected to pass on signing marquee free agents or drafting offensive playmakers.  When the Bears boast of returning all 22 starters from a year ago, it isn't BS.  The team playing Sunday in Green Bay is the same team that started the playoff loss to the Panthers in January.  The Bears did make some moves around the edges of course, and added some much needed depth.  There are no saviors, though.  What you saw is what you're getting. 

The Bears are hoping the existing talent will take a step forward.  Specifically, Rex Grossman needs to play like an All-Pro Quarterback.  You heard me right, he needs to play like one of the top five Quarterbacks in the conference or the Rex Grossman experience shall be over.  Mediocre or worse?  Waiver wire fodder.  I'm not messing around.  This team DOES have enough talent to contend this year, specifically at the backup QB position, and anything less than a Pro Bowl performance shall result in Grossman's ass being glued to the bench.  Surprisingly, I'm confident that Lovie Smith agrees with me.  He'll give Rex a few games, but the Bears have more dollars and years invested in Griese at this point, so if Griese's the savior, time's a wasting.

Elsewhere on offense, the most intriguing battle of training camp has yet to be fully resolved.  Yes, Thomas Jones is starting Sunday, but there's still no word on the status of Cedric Benson or how he'll be eased into the lineup.  For now, I'm assuming Jones will keep the job until Benson clearly starts outperforming him.  You never know, though, how bad Angelo wants to see what the Bears $17 million bought and when he'll force the issue.

Let's talk about the receiving corps, shall we?  Perry is insisting that the Bears have the worst set of receivers in the NFL.  Not so, I say.  I can name several teams that are worse off.  (Off the top of my head -- Minnesota, Kansas City, Green Bay, San Francisco)  But yes, the situation is far from great to be sure.  Moose is a solid veteran, but he really has to cut down on those drops before I get too excited about him.  The rest of the guys are young and unproven.  Each has shown flashes of brilliance at times, and I'm simply hoping one of them steps up and performs at Dez White levels, at the minimum.  (Don't laugh, he actually had over 50 catches one year -- just hide your eyes for the drops.) 

The Bears O-line is very solid and should be even better this year thanks to the continuity.  Don't ask about the Tight Ends.

On Defense, there's surprisingly little to talk about.  The line is a little banged up, but I suspect they'll be at full strength by week 2 or 3.  I'm confident the linebackers will continue to produce at a stellar level, though I'm still curious to see how Angelo handles Briggs contract situation. My guess is nothing will happen till the offseason so there's no sense worrying about it now.  There's some new blood in the secondary.  Free Agents Ricky Manning, Jr and Dante Wesley fill out the nickel package; top pick Danieal Manning is set to spell Harris and Brown, and thus far looks like a keeper.  Frankly, anything less than a top three defense from this unit will disappoint me. 

Probably the biggest upgrade over last season is in the return game.  Instead of Bobby Wade and Bernard Berrian, the Bears are going with Devin Hester and Rashied Davis.  I'm not sure how much preseason is worth, but Hester looked like a star in the making.  He may challenge Glyn Milburn for title of "best Bears return man since Dennis Gentry" status.  Lord knows with all the Leon Johnson experiments we've been through, even the next Bobby Engram would be a welcome sight. 

Finally, a prediction.  Last year they surpassed my wildest expectations and finished 11-5.  Thanks to the simple fact that they now have three adequate Quarterbacks on the roster, unless they lose four or more starters on defense or the offensive line I don't see how there's any way this team can finish worse than 8-8.  In fact, I think 14-2 is in reach.  Not likely, but it's in reach. (Sports Illustrated even agreed that 14-2 was in reach for the Bears in their "best possible scenario" article, a far different story than the #32 ranking they were giving the Bears last year.)  I'll play it safe and say 11-5 again.  With their easy schedule and newfound depth, anything less is unacceptable. 

Labor Day Potpourri

Today was Labor Day and I just got back from a nice weekend with the family, which of course means it's time to catch up on weekend sports.

• The Bears made final cuts.  Nothing surprising and the most notable name cut was former first rounder Michael Haynes.  He just couldn't crack the rotation on the line and was stuck behind superior talent at the ends.  The second top draft pick of Jerry Angelo to flame out (after Marc Columbo), is Grossman the third?  We'll see.
• The Cubs continue to flounder.  They've only won two games in their last thirteen tries.  At this rate, they'll be extremely lucky to win 65 games this year, and their in contention for the top draft pick.  Disgusting.
• The White Sox have had a bit of a tumble lately.  They simply do not look like a championship team this year, and I think Minnesota is going to take them.
• Nothing's going on with the Bulls, but Kirk Hinrich played in World Basketball Championships for team USA.  Shockingly, USA lost to Greece early Friday morning to get eliminated from the tournament.  Even though USA had entered on a losing streak, they had beefed up the roster, got a new coach, and I thought they were unbeatable.  Oops.
• Northern Illinois University opened their season at The Ohio State University in Columbus.  The results were predictable.  I had no visions of victory for the best team in the MAC against the best team in the country, but I thought they would put on a better showing.  They simply got wiped out in the first quarter and that was that.  They looked a little better after that, especially Garett Wolfe, but it was too late.

And that's that.  The NFL Season opens Thursday, the Bears on Sunday at Green Bay.  Back before then with a preview.