Final Thoughts on Chicago Sports

Let's play Cards!

The Cardinals won the World Series and let me be the first to say, "good for them."  I don't have to like it, though.  This makes four especially agonizing years in a row for Cubs fans.  First the Cubs lose to the Marlins, who end up winning it all.  Then the Red Sox lift their little "curse."   Up next, the White Sox ended their misery with a ticker tape parade down LaSalle Street.  We had front row seats for that one.  Now, the Cardinals win it all.  Who's next?  Why Houston, of course.  Followed by the Padres and Mets.  Then our level of angst will be complete. 

It's kind of funny, this series was kind of like a Bizarro Cubs-Sox series.  Sox fans were rooting for St. Louis and Cubs fans were rooting for Detroit. 

Oh well, congrats to the Cards and all that BS.  Hope you finish in the cellar next year. 

Break out the Orange Jerseys: Bears are playing the Niners again

Just like last year, the Bears are donning the Orange alternate unis as they host the San Francisco 49ers at Solder Field this Sunday.  Hopefully the wind won't be as much of a factor this year (remember Robbie Gould's crazy kick?), as I don't think I can handle Grossman's wildness in such conditions.  Then again, I personally wouldn't mind seeing Grossman have his first test in sub-optimal conditions against a team like San Fran, just so we can get a better idea of what we'll be in for come November and December on the lakefront.  The forecast is 54 and Sunny, though, which isn't bad.

Aside from that, it sounds like Benson's going to be getting the ball a little more these next two weeks.  Good.  Let's see what the kid can do.  I'm fine with Jones, but I don't want to be wasting time with a Camero if I've got a shiny Corvette in the garage with no miles on it.  Let's see if the Corvette is for real or just a Fiero with a spoiler on the back.  To step back from the car analogy for a second, let me just say I'm sick of Jones's tentativeness with the ball.  Just bust through the damn hole.  You're not fooling anybody with your moves.  Benson runs with authorit-ah. 

The Bears are favored by 16.5 points, and that's a whopper of a spread.  Vegas is right, the Niners suck, but 16.5?  That's a freakin lot.  The Niners are heading in the right direction with good coaching (Mike Nolan has done a great job with limited talent) and improving (but yes, limited) talent.  And Alex Smith is good for a garbage TD or two as the Bears will win this one 24-10.  The stupid 49ers will break the Bears streak of giving up less than 10 points per game at home (regular season, of course.)  But the Bears will win, no doubt.  Till next time....

Vote early, vote often. Vote for...Mabry?

Deadspin had a post about MLB's Look Again Player of the Year award.  An award that goes to...

Behind every great team on the diamond, lurking in the shadow of baseball superstars, live the role players who sacrifice for their team in often unrecognized effort. Which of these role players' best deserves recognition for their contributions as the Holiday Inn Look Again Player of the Year?

Yes, it's shamelessly sponsored by Holiday Inn, and Deadspin is "dead on" in noticing that the nominees comprise the whitest ballot since the 1946 all-star game.  It's unbelievable that MLB would be so blatant about rooting for the scrappy white guy.  "Scrappy" being a word, of course, that is never used to describe a minority.

Go look at that ballot.  Most of these players are pretty good, if not too good for this competition.  In what world are Joe Crede and Brian McCann unheralded?  One's a gold glover with 30 HRs and the other is an all-star.

Then check out the Cubs nominee.  John Mabry, are you freaking kidding me?  He was horrible and the only thing he should be nominated for is "worst bench signing of the year." 

If I had to choose a Cub that did his job well with minimal recognition, well, that's actually a hard choice to make.  Nobody was hard-nosed and did the little things well.  But if I had to choose, and I mean had to choose...I'd actually choose another white guy, though his whiteness is purely coincidental. 

Bobby Howry, come on down.  Solid middle reliever, led the team in appearances.  Pitched well.  And unless you're a diehard you probably didn't even know who he was. 

In second, I'd choose Henry Blanco, (aka. Hank White.)  Who is, of course, not white, but he fits the description of solid role player that did their job better than could be expected.

In 2005, I'd choose former punching bag Neifi Perez for the award.
2004, resident punching bag Glendon Rusch.
2003, Randall Simon or Mark Grudzielanek

See how easy it is to make choices without thinking of race?  I guess the whole point of this is a) the award is a joke but an interesting topic of conversation, and b) John Mabry sucks.

Bye Week Blues: Checking in with the NFC North

Two straight Sundays with no Bears on, what am I supposed to do?  Spend some time with your family, ya jerk.  Ok, did that, but what am I supposed to write about?  How about the division.  Not a bad idea.  How many questions can I ask myself without sounding like an idiot?  A lot.  Here's what's going on in the division.

At this point it's clear that Minnesota is the second-best team in the North.  They put a hurtin on Seattle today, in Seattle.  (Told ya Seattle sucks.)  Yeah, the Seahawks lost Hasselbeck, but still.  Vikes looked like they were going to beat them regardless.  So are the Vikings any good?  Eh, not really.  (There I go again.)  Any team that loses to Dick Jauron can't legally be declared as "good."  But they aren't bad.  Brad Childress has them playing fundamentally sound football this year.  They aren't beating themselves and they aren't embarrassing themselves.  Brad Johnson is taking a page right out of Trent Dilfer's playbook.  Just enough to win.  He's made a few more plays than Dilfer, but not many.  I think they can hang with the Bears this year and I wouldn't be shocked if they play the Bears tough in their rematch on December 3rd.  Since it's at home, Chicago should be the favorite.  But Minnesota is certainly no pushover.  They've played a tougher schedule than the Bears and they only have three tough games left on the schedule all year, and all three are to be played in Minnesota.  Look for the Vikings to finish 11-5. 

Green Bay still stinks, but they beat Miami today.  Any time the Packers go up against a weak offense, Favre should be able to give them a puncher's chance.  Problem is their defense is horrendous.  And they've played a much tougher schedule than the Bears thus far, making their likely 6-10 team look like a 3-13 team in the early going.  Despite the fact that Favre can still play, I'm curious to see if and when he gets benched in favor of the kid from Cal.  My guess is Favre will have to volunteer to step aside, and that just doesn't look like it will happen.  Way to take one for the team, Brett.  Peg them at 5-11.

Detroit is the worst team in the division and deserve to be ranked among the worst teams in all of football.  They've played pretty hard for their new coach, though, and have been in every game except the blowout at Soldier Field.  Their remaining schedule isn't that tough, but it should be plenty tough for Detroit.  Look for them to finish 4-12. 

Now it's time to take a peek at the Bears remaining schedule.  The toughest games left are clearly New England and St. Louis, both on the road.  The Giants and Jets, also on the road, won't be pushovers either.  Of the remaining home games, I would expect the next two to be sure things (San Fran and Miami).  Minnesota should be tough but I expect a win, and Tampa is starting to turn it on, though they don't stand much chance in the cold.  I'll say Bears finish 14-2, though it wouldn't surprise me to see them lose a garbage game in Detroit in week 16 if home field in the NFC is already wrapped up.  In which case, they finish 13-3. 

Elsewhere on the homefront, the news is not good for Mike Brown.  Out for the year.  It's his third straight season with a season-ending injury and his loss is a big blow for the Bears secondary.  Luckily the Bears have more depth this year, but it won't be the same.  At this point, I'd say it's 50-50 on Brown coming back next year.  The Bears are saying all the right things about how they want him back and all that, but it'd be hard to blame them if they decide to cut their losses and save a few million by cutting him.  If that happens, that'd be a sad ending to a great career with the Bears.  Whether he comes back or not, I'd expect him to be out of football in 2 or 3 years.  He just abused his body for far too long with his reckless style of play, and that just doesn't bode well for a 10+ year career.

Oh, and how about Arizona losing to Oakland today?  I don't know how to react to that one.  Other than Minnesota, have the Bears beaten anybody this year?  It doesn't look like it.  It's almost like they played Northwestern six times.  Of course they should be 6-0.  Here's to winning the games you're supposed to win!  Bear down.

Cubs Hire Lou Piniella: We got a Winner in Town

The Chicago Cubs hired Lou Piniella the other day to become the 52nd manager of the franchise.  He's the 48th manager since they last won a championship, and I certainly hope he has more success than the previous 47. 

As you know, Piniella wasn't my first choice.  I preferred Girardi largely because I wanted new blood in the dugout.  The last few guys were grizzled veterans and left a bad taste in my mouth.  That said, if the Cubs are hellbent on hiring a veteran, Piniella's not a bad choice.  He's a good strategist, his teams are always fundamentally sound, and he won't put up with lazy players or bad calls by the umpire.  The Cubs haven't had a fiery skipper since Don Zimmer, so it'll be a welcome change.  At the very least, he should keep things interesting. 

Piniella, of course, also has some well-documented flaws.  He shares Dusty Baker's habit for playing mediocre veterans over promising rookies, and he doesn't put up with even the tiniest hint of incompetence from rookies.  You make a mistake, you're on the pine.  Even with the most talented of prospects, like when he had Alex Rodiriguez in Seattle, he jerked him in and out of the lineup for a year and a half before he got the full-time gig.  (Same goes for Tampa's young uber-stud B.J. Upton, who is still yet to make his mark at the big-league level.)  He also could care less about pitch counts and tends to overwork young starters to death.  After watching old Sawdust and Mary spend so much time on the DL, I'm not overly excited about the thought of the new manager resurrecting bad organizational habits.  Finally, he can be a bit of a malcontent towards ownership if he doesn't get his way (which actually may be turn out to be a good thing.)  One Tampa fan described him as an "Angry Dusty Baker."  That didn't exactly warm my heart.

So Lou's the man.  Am I happy?  Eh.  It could be a lot worse.  I'm going to watch Sweet Lou on a daily basis for the full 2007 season to see if he consistently puts the team in the best position to win.  If he does, even if the Cubs record is less than stellar, I'll be happy with Lou.  If he routinely makes stupid moves, trashes Zambrano's arm or decides to utilize the Enrique Wilson's of the world over promising youngsters, my support will run out over the 2007 offseason.  That's pretty much it in a nutshell. 

Good luck, Lou.  And go Cubs!!!

PS.  I'm extremely angry at the fact that Larry Rothschild will be returning to pitching coach duties on the North side.  In my book, that's "Strike One" against Lou.  Rothschild was horrible.  Not a single pitcher improved on his watch, except perhaps Zambrano.  And I argue that Zambrano simply matured into an elite pitcher on his own.  Rothschild couldn't correct flaws in Wood and Prior's delivery, despite having four years to do so.  He was part of the problem, not part of the solution. 

Hope you didn't go to bed! Bears shock Arizona

The game's been over for 45 minutes and I'm still in shock.  The Bears came from being down 23-3 to shock the Cardinals by a score of 24-23.  Oh man, I don't know where to begin.  How about in the first half. 

HORRIBLE all around.  The defense couldn't stop Leinart and Boldin, the offensive line couldn't block, and Grossman was just beyond pathetic.  Pick, Pick, Fumble, Fumble.  Exactly one thought was going through my head, "Same Old Bears."  They've ALWAYS crapped themselves on Monday night.  In fact, coming in to tonight the Bears were 6-21 all-time in Monday Night games on the road.  That's quite Cardinal-like, if the Cardinals were invited to play on Monday Night that much.  I was beginning to look like a genius, though I wasn't exactly taking comfort in that.  I was screaming obscenities in every direction, and I even started taking it out on my wife and kids.  Oh yeah, it was ugly.

Second half starts, and the defense has a look of determination.  No, check that, they were f--king pissed.  They had that look that said, I'm not going to give you a single yard.  And for the most part, they didn't.  A few first downs, but little more than that.  Urlacher especially was a pariah.   Problem was Grossman was still terrible.  I knew he was going to have one of these games sooner or later, I just wish it didn't happen on national TV. 

So Grossman continued to struggle, and then a miracle happened.  Yes, a miracle.  Mark Anderson forces a fumble and Mike Brown (where's he been this year?) returned it for a touchdown.  It was like 2001 all over again.  Later, after Grossman stuck a dagger in the Bear's backs, Urlacher forced a fumble and Peanut Tillman takes it back for a touchdown with five minutes left.  Amazing!  Then of course a few plays later, euphoria as Devin Hester returns a punt 82 years for a 24-23 lead.  Un-f--king-believable!!!!!!!!!!!

But it STILL wasn't over.  Leinart calmly led the Cards down the field and put his team in position for a 40-yard field goal.  And last year's team MVP Neil Rackers missed it!!!! I couldn't believe it.  I'm still hoarse from screaming.  Unbelievable.  Wow.

So what does this mean?  Well, the Bears aren't as good as we think they are, but we knew that.  It means we've got to stop talking about 1985 until they actually win a playoff game.  (Can we please cut out the comparisons till then?)  It means we have to stop talking about Miami.  I'm looking at you, Sun-Times.  Despite the close call where they were completely outplayed, this team still kicks ass.  They're still the best team in football until further notice.  But they're not unbeatable.  They're not machines.  They're cut!  The Russian's cut!  Ahhh....

And finally, Grossman's got to pull his head out of his ass.  He was reckless with the ball.  RECKLESS!  Throw it away.  Throw it underneath.  Not every pass has to be a touchdown.  Oh, and to the rest of the media.  Stop the Favre comparisons.  Stop calling him a gunslinger.  Stop calling him a swashbuckler.  He's not a frigging pirate.  He's a damn good QB prone to the occasional brain fart.  Just let him play and be his own man.

And with that, I'm going to go to bed.  Unbelievable victory.  BEAR DOWN!!!!!!

Why the Bears aren't as Good as we Think

OK, let me defend the title of this post.  The way they've dominated over the first five weeks of the season, the Bears simply look unstoppable.  Best offense in the league; best defense in the league.  Four blowouts in five games.  They've outscored their opponents 156-36.  That's domination, any way you slice it.  I just don't think they're that good.  Don't get me wrong, the Bears are awesome.  They're just not 19-0 awesome. 

As the Bears were preparing for a Monday Night battle against the Cardinals at the Pink Taco, I took the opportunity to catch up with the rest of the league.  What I couldn't help but feeling is that the Bears haven't beaten anybody good yet.  They crushed the crappy Packers, crappy Lions, and crappy Bills.  Seriously, those teams suck and anything other than a blowout would be considered a moral defeat.  And they just squeaked by the thoroughly mediocre Minnesota Vikings.  Yes, they also beat the snot out of the defending NFC champion Seahawks, but that victory is looking less impressive by the day.  The Seahawks simply aren't very good.  Yes, they're 4-1, but they've played only two good halves all season.  The first half against the Giants and the second half against the Rams today.  The other halves of those games were pretty atrocious.  The only reason they won the rest of their games is their competition was anything but.  (Lions and Cardinals)  On top of all that, the Seahawks faced the Bears without their MVP runningback, Pro Bowl offensive lineman and star tight end.  Not to mention them trying to work a brand new receiver into their offense.  On the road.  So beating the crap out of the Seabags doesn't impress me. 

What does impress me is the Arizona Cardinals.  Matt Leinart is the second coming of Tom Brady; Edgerrin James and Dennis Green are Hall of Famers; and Anquan Boldin is the man.  Ahh, who am I crappin?  Their defense is awful and their offensive line is even worse.  This team is nothing more than more Bantha Fodder for the Monsters of the Midway.  Expect another victory, though not as impressive as the previous two weeks.  Bears 28, Cardinals 17.

To be clear, I think the Bears are the best team in the NFC for sure, and probably the best team in the NFL right now.  I just don't think the gap between them and the rest of the league is all that big.  They've beaten the teams they're supposed to beat.  That's all.

In any case, I'm not going to piss on the Bears' Wheaties any more.  I'm going to enjoy every sack, every forced turnover, every touchdown, and every victory.  And I'm going to do it with Navy and Orange from head to toe.  And then I'm going to sing the team fight song.  Again.  And Again.  And again. 

Bear Down.

Bull Rush

The Bulls are back, and honestly it seems like they never left.  Weren't the NBA Finals, like, a month ago?  While my mind has been on other things lately, the Bulls actually played their first preseason game last night, marking the home debut of resident savior Ben Wallace.  He played a pretty solid half as the Bulls beat the Wizards by a point.  P.J. Brown, Tyrus Thomas, Viktor Khryapa, and Thebos Sefolosha made their Bulls debut last night as well.  It sounds like the rookies had some opening night jitters while the vets were less than excited to play a meaningless preseason game.

I'm actually looking forward to the upcoming Bulls season.  The Bulls have some serious talent on the roster, a great coach, and I expect no less than the 3rd seed in the 2007 playoffs.  Having Ben Wallace is like having Tyson Chandler on his best night, but now we're going to get that effort every night.  P.J. Brown should be able to fill the Antonio Davis role that was lacking last season, a veteran presence in the paint.  The rookies got some skills, too, to go along with the established core of Hinrich, Deng, Gordon and Nocioni.  So yeah, 3rd seed or bust this year.  I refuse to accept anything less.  In fact, I think they can win it all this year.  It'll be interesting to see how the youngsters react once they get deep in the playoffs.  Of course, I'm getting WAY ahead of myself.  Remember, one preseason game down, nine months of basketball to go.  A lot can happen.

Till next time...Oh, and Go Bears!!!!

Bears - Bills: The Rout is on. And on. And on.

The Bears crushed the Bills today 40-7 and the game really wasn't as close as the final score would indicate, though for a while it was looking like my prediction would come true.  The Bills were de-pants, that's all there is to it. 

I was at Soldier Field for the game, and there really isn't much more to tell than what you saw.  An ass-whoopin, from start to finish.  Let's hand out some grades:  Offense, Defense, Special-Teams, Coaching.  A, A, A, A.  I think that about covers it.

How does this team continue to dominate week after week?  Other than the Minnesota game, where the Bears were trying hard to beat themselves, every other game has been over at the half.  It's like they've been playing the first few weeks of a Tecmo Bowl season out there, you know where every game is like 40-7?   Unreal... 

At this point, I think it's obvious why the Bears are so much better than last year, and so great in general.  Rex Grossman.  The defense is essentially the same as last year, give or take a nickelback, and the offense is the same.  The only difference is Rex.  He's just been lights out, and I'm still having a hard time getting used to a Bears Quarterback completing 20-yard lasers down the field.  It's just so foreign for this town. 

Finally, I'll leave you with this. 

What do you think he's saying?  I'll tell you what I said today, at least 15 times during the game. 

"Dick Jauron, heh-heh-heh-heh..." 

I love it.  BEAR DOWN!!!!

Bears - Bills: Welcome Back, Dick Jauron

Was it really only four years ago that Dick Jauron was boring us to tears with John Shoop, the dink-and-dunk, and multiple seasons of 10 or more losses?  It seems like longer.  The view from the top sure makes it look like ancient history.  Yep, the Bears are one of three undefeated teams in the league and everyone's jumping on the bandwagon in calling the Bears as the best team in the NFL.  You read that right, not the best in the NFC, but the best in the NFL.  ESPN and Sports Illustrated both have them pegged at number one after four games.  There's a few holdouts, like Ron Jaworski, that still put the Colts first, saying the Bears have to win something first.  I guess I must have missed Peyton Manning's Super Bowl MVP acceptance speech .  Cut that meat!  Cut that meat!

The reality is being the best team after four weeks doesn't mean squat at the end of the year.  The 1989 Bears started out 4-0 before finishing 6-10.  Man, that season sucked.  Little did I know that after two decent seasons in '90 and '91 that I would be looking at records like that for the majority of the next 15 years.  I'm not worried about an '89-level collapse happening this year, however.  Lovie Smith is focused and has been saying all the right things in that fantastic, slow Texas drawl of his.  "We like where we are at but the reality is we haven't won anything yet."  Preach on, brother Lovie. 

As for this Sunday's opponent, the Buffalo Bills, they've got a new sheriff in town.  The one and only, Dick Jauron.  Dick was a nice guy, a true boy scout, and it's a proven scientific fact that he never uttered a single interesting sentence in his entire life.  Go ahead, look it up.  As a coach, he was mediocre at best.  I appreciated the effort in 2001 with the division championship and all, but after the 2002 and 2003 disasters it was apparent that 2001 was an aberration.  He wasn't Art Shell or anything, he just had an amazing talent to lose close games.  That's how I know the Bears will win this one, 34-0.  J.P. Losman against Tommie Harris and the Bears defense at Soldier Field?  Pshaw! 

I'm actually going to be attending this game live and in the flesh, so I'll be back Sunday night with a full report.  Till then... BEAR DOWN!!!!!

MLB Playoffs/Cubs Manager: Who to Root For

Well, Girardi got canned today and the Marlins immediately, and I mean immediately, hired Fredi Gonzalez to be his replacement.  So that knocks off one of the leading candidates for the job.  As I mentioned a few weeks ago, Girardi's an excellent candidate for the job and he brings with him the added bonus of being tremendously popular with the fans.  I like Girardi.  I'm not convinced he's the best candidate out there but I would definitely say he's the best candidate of the names that have been floated about.  I'd be happy with Joe. 

Supposedly, sources at Trib Tower say the job is Sweet Lou Piniella's to lose.  I'm not sure about Lou.  Five years ago, he would have been a great choice.  He won the World Series with the Reds and led Seattle to the best record in the majors and multiple playoff appearances.  Then he went to Tampa Bay and seemed to lose focus.  Sure, he had lousy talent available to him but they didn't improve one iota under Lou.  So if given a choice I'd say no to Lou. 

Right now I'd say the odds are 40% Piniella, 35% Girardi, and 25% the Field, which represents the other nameless candidates that Hendry will likely interview over the next week.  I'll give more thoughts when we hear more news.

As for the playoffs, they started today with a full slate of games.  Given how the Cubs ended up and how the Bears are doing, I'm not really in the mood for baseball.  Nevertheless, here's who Cubs fans should be rooting for:

1.  Oakland - Cubs ain't got no beef with Oakland, and I'd really like to see the "Moneyball" team take home a title.
2.  Minnesota - The Twinkies are fun, and Johan is the man.
3.  Detroit Rock City - It'd be a tremendous story.
4.  Los Angeles Dodgers - Maddux and Nomar. 

I'm going to draw a line here.  With every other team, I can't actually root for them to win it all.  I can rank them in the order of which I hate them least.
----------------------------
5.  San Diego - 1984 NLCS.
6.  Mets - 1969, a little before my time but I still hate them since Doc Gooden and the 80s.
---------------------------- (another line to distinguish the teams I actively root against.)
7.  Yankees -  self
8.  St. Louis - explanatory

I'll predict Dodgers over Yankees in the Series.  Maddux gets another ring.  See ya!

Ch-Ch-Changes: Dusty is Toasty

The Cubs finally and officially decided to not renew Dusty Baker's contract today, and his four-year tenure is over.  I think this move was a foregone conclusion at the All-Star break, though I would have preferred the move to be made back then.  Dusty seemed like a nice guy that always did what he felt was best for team, so I'll be nice in this post.  Fare well, dude.  I wish you, your wristbands, and your toothpicks luck, wherever you may end up.

Of course, the real shocker was Andy MacPhail stepping down.  I briefly touched on the news yesterday, but I didn't give my thoughts on his successor.  John McDonough is an interesting choice, but I fully believe the position is interim.  An optimist would say that McDonough is perfect for the job because of his massive success in his former position (Chief of Marketing and Broadcasting).  If he can routinely fill the park despite a product like the Cubs, the man's a wizard.  A pessimist would point out he has no real experience with the product on the field.  In his interview, he sounded really convincing in his desire to build a winner in this town, starting in 2007.  When pressed for details on how he might accomplish this, however, he didn't have an answer.  Like a true salesman, he can sell ice water to an eskimo.  Don't ask him where to get the cup, though.

At this point, it's my obligation to bring up the ugly red-headed stepchild. The elephant in the room that avoided the axe. Yes, Jim Hendry.  How did he survive the cut?  There's some speculation that perhaps Handy Andy had gotten in the way of some of Trader Jim's potential moves, and Tribune Execs want to give him one last chance to turn this ship around.  I'm giving him one last offseason.  He made some pretty good moves back in 2003 and 2004, and while his 05/06 was horrendous, I guess I can give him a few more months to show his worth. (I guess I'm giving him the time because I have no other choice.  What am I going to do, start a picket line?) 

Finally, there's rumors that certain members of the coaching staff will be retained.  That better not happen.  Rothschild, Clines, Matthews, Pole...all these guys need to go.  As far as I can tell, they bring absolutely nothing to the table.  No player ever got better on any of those guys watch. 

I'll be back soon to talk about Dusty's potential successors.  Till then, all I'll say is..."Andy, Dusty...the tribe has spoken.  Trader Jim?  Grab your torch, head back to camp."  Till next time.

Bears Rout Seahawks: All we need to know now is, can Grossman Rap?

It's time to start thinking Super Bowl, my friends.  After routing Seattle by a score of 37-6 on Sunday Night Football, it's clear that this team is Legit with a capital L.  They dominated in every phase of the game, and they did it from start to finish.  Just unbelievable, is all that I can say.  Grades?  Everyone gets an A, how about that?  Well, except maybe Devin Hester, but everyone else.  Damn, that game was fun to watch.  Some highlights:

• Tommie Harris is the MVP of this team.  Two weeks ago he had 3 sacks and earned Defensive Player of the Week.  Last week he had a sack and forced the key turnover in the victory, and tonight he had another couple of sacks and was in Hasselbeck's face all night.  He just seems to have put up a permanent residence in the opponent's backfield, and he's decided to use this location to practice his Chicken Dance, ala Merton Hanks. 
• The whole defense was great, actually.  The line, the linebackers, the secondary.  No weaknesses.
• Some new guys made some big plays.  Ricky Manning Jr had two key picks, and rookie Mark Anderson had a pair of sacks.
• Grossman was damn near perfect.  I loved the sign that said, "Dear Rex, we're sorry for all the bad things we said about you."
• The running game showed up.  Jones put up 2005 numbers and Benson even had a nice run.  I personally think they have misused Benson, but I really don't think it matters.  (Just so you know, my beef is that every time Benson's in the game, it seems they call "Benson up the middle."  The defense knows its a run and they stack the line.  I'd like to see what he could do on every down for several drives in a row.  Oh well, complaining about this is like complaining about Cindy Crawford's mole.)
• Moose and Berrian have proven to be a lethal combo.  They look like Moss and Carter from the old Vikings days.

There's just so much good to write about.  I don't want to sound like a homer, but I can't really think of anything right now other than WOO-HOO!!!!  I'm smiling like Chad Hutchinson right now when he stole 10 million dollars from the Cowboys. 

Bears play Buffalo next week and I'll be in the house to witness Dick Jauron's homecoming.  On paper, it should be a blowout.  But Buffalo's defense is pretty tough and they beat Minnesota today, and Jauron always has his teams well-prepared and AH-WHA-WHA-HA-HA!!!  As if. 

BEAR DOWN!