Final Thoughts on Chicago Sports

Bears-Packers: Merry New Year

The Packers come in tonight for a Sunday Night showdown with the Bears on New Year's Eve.  Lots of people are rightfully pissed that NBC and the NFL ruined their New Year's Eve, but personally I'm perfectly fine with it.  Noon or Midnight, I'll be watching.  And did you hear?  This might be Brett Favre's last game!  No, for real!  (As if.) 

As of this moment, the Packers have slim, slim playoff hopes and by gametime we'll know for sure whether those hopes have vanished.  The Bears don't have anything to play for other than wanting to finish the season on a high note by sweeping the NFC and their division.  I expect Lovie to stick with the starters in the same manner he did last week.  They don't want a repeat of last December.

Finally, let's make it perfectly clear that there is no QB controversy in Chicago.  A lot of the national talking heads have mused all week about Griese and Grossman.  It's apparent that none of these buffoons have even watched last Sunday's game.  Everyone in that stadium and watching at home knew that Lovie was going to pull Grossman at some point.  Let the topic go.  Please

Bears 19, Packers 13

Keep the checkbook open, Hendry

Why is this man smiling?  Because Barry Zito signed a seven-year, $126 million dollar contract with the San Francisco Giants today.  Holy mother-of-crap is that a lot of money.  Zito's a solid number 2, if not number 3.  Five years ago, he was awesome.  Since then, not so much.  Don't get me wrong, Zito is certainly better than Ted Lilly, but not that much better.  If Zito is worth $18 million a year for 7 years then Lilly looks like a bargain at 4/$40.  Anyways, this post isn't here to compare Zito to Lilly.  It's to compare Zito to another Z.  Carlos Zambrano.

Zambrano is set to become a free agent after the 2007 season.  At 25, he's three years younger than Zito and has been far more productive over the last four seasons than Zito.  If Zambrano isn't one of the top five pitchers in baseball, he's certainly in the top ten.  Zito might be top thirty.  Granted, Zambrano has never had a season as strong as Zito's 2002, but that was a long time ago and Zito is unlikely to ever approach those numbers again.  Zambrano's slope trends upward, and he hasn't reached his peak.

So what is Zambrano now worth?  In this age of crazy free agency dollars, nothing surprises me anymore.  If someone signed a 15-year, $1-billion-dollar contract, I wouldn't be surprised.  I'd simply say "who's the lucky bastard?" and "who's the sucker?"  But no, I wouldn't be surprised. 

If Hendry was smart, he'd be on the phone with Zambrano's agent yesterday.  Carlos, I want to make YOU the centerpiece of the Cubs franchise for the next eight years.  Here's $160 million dollars.  What, is Carlos going to turn that down?  Too much money, you say?  By next year, that could be a bargain.  He might get $200 million from the Yankees.  Sign him now, while you still can.  After all, it's not your money.  It's the Trib's.  And you probably won't be here in three years anyways if he busts his arm and the deal turns sour. 

Make it happen, Hendry.  Before it's too late.

Bears Have a Merry Christmas after beating Lions

Yesterday's game, a 26-21 victory over the Lions, wasn't exactly pretty but I wouldn't call it boring either.  Surprisingly entertaining in fact.  Here's why:

• Robbie Gould was perfect on four field goal attempts, including the game winner.  Nice to see him rebound after a rough few weeks.
• Rex Grossman played it safe and played fairly well.  The offense was a little stagnant in the 3rd quarter, but overall Rex and Company got the job done.  Of course, Griese came in for most of the fourth quarter and the game-winning FG drive, and some have got their panties in a bunch about it.  I say no big deal.  It's good to get Griese some meaningful work.  Let's say Grossman goes down in the first quarter of the first playoff game, like Jim Miller in 2001.  How good is a rusty Griese going to be?  Who knows?  Give him a quarter this week and maybe a half next week and we know he'll be all right.  It's not like Grossman's confidence is going to be shaken by being pulled.  He's a gunslinger, he could give a f--k.  If his confidence can be shaken from being taken out in the fourth quarter of a meaningless game then he'll never amount to anything in the long run anyways. 
• Since Cedric Benson's breakout game three weeks ago, he has clearly been outperformed by Thomas Jones.  Duly noted.  He's starting to make me nervous about dumping Jones in the offseason. 
• From here on out, we should re-name Mark Anderson "Mr. Highlight Reel."  (Mark Anderson is as boring as it gets, anyways.)  All he does is make plays, including two sacks today and the game-changing forced fumble.  He has 12 sacks on the year, and that's truly amazing because sees at most 20 snaps per game.  In other words, he's been playing like Lawrence Taylor on Tecmo Bowl.  An unbelievable find in the fifth round of this year's draft.
• The line in general played pretty well today, though I must note that it was only the Lions.  So the popsicles are staying in the drawer.
• Yay!  We got Vasher back!  Boo!  Tillman (and Todd Johnson) were out.  We still don't know if the secondary has been giving up these big plays because all the injuries or because they're bad.  I'm still counting on the former.

And that's that.  Merry Christmas, everybody!

Top Ten Reasons to Watch Sunday's Bears-Lions Game

The Bears face the Lions this Sunday at noon.  Let's face it, this game is not only completely meaningless but because the Lions are involved it's a Grade "A" Stinker.  But here are ten reasons to watch. 

10.  With Thomas Jones hurting, Cedric Benson will likely be the featured back for at least the first half.  Let's see what Ced the Head does with "starter carries."

9.  Sexy Rexy or Rex the Hex?  You never know what you're gonna get.  Either way, I bet we get a healthy dose of Griese in the second half. 

8.  It's gotta be better than tonight's brutal Thursday night game between the Packers and Vikings.  I swear to God, this game set the NFL back 60 years.

7.  Two words:  Devin. Hester.

6.  Four more:  On offense?  Hell. Yeah.

5.  This might very well be Matt Millen's final home game.  As a Bears fan, I can sincerely say, "I hope not."  All I want for Xmas is 10 more years of Millen in Detroit.  Ditto Favre in Green Bay.

4.  It'll be interesting to see if Ian Scott can come back from his strong performance last week with another good game this week.  He's not much of a pass rusher, but he sure can stuff the run. 

3.  If you're a fan of bland, generic play-calling, the Bears offense should be right up your alley.  I don't think they're going to show anything that hasn't already been seen in previous weeks.  They'll save the tricks up their sleeve for the playoffs.

2.  To see if my prediction comes true:  Bears 24, Lions 13.

1.  It's the Bears, man!  What else are you going to do, Sunday?  As if you're not going to watch the game.

Bears send Tank to Timeout, Seven others to Pro Bowl

Seven Bears are going to the Pro Bowl:  Urlacher, Briggs, Harris, Kreutz and Special Teamers Hester, Gould and Ayanbedejo.  Nice list.  I can't really say that anybody was snubbed.  Now for the real news.

The Bears suspended Tank Johnson for one game.  That'll learn 'em!  The Bears were loud and clear: you get in trouble with the law four times, and we'll make you sit out one meaningless game.  And to show they were serious, Tank is strictly prohibited from having a cookie before he goes to bed tonight.  So there.

OK, let's take a step back.  The Bears look pretty weak with this decision, but what has Tank done, exactly?

• He verbally threatened an officer last year outside a night club.  He told the cop, "if it wasn't for your gun and badge, I'd kick your ass."  He ended up getting in his limo and going home, but the threat was real (though the charges ended up being dropped.) 
• His neighbors have complained about him firing guns on his property, blaring loud music, and having pit bulls sparring in the back yard. 
• He was the subject of a FBI raid that yielded 6 guns that were purchased legally but missing the required permits in the state of Illinois.  This is a misdemeanor.  Further, some of the guns were in plain sight with children in the house.  He also had a buddy staying with him that had a few ounces of weed.
• After being declared inactive for a game in order to get his affairs in order, and further ordered by the team to avoid drugs and alcohol, he went out to a club where his bodyguard ended up getting shot and killed.

Lovely.  I don't know much, but I do know that Tank is a stupid, stupid man.  Should the Bears cut him for being stupid?  The only laws he broke were misdemeanors.  The rest is just his immaturity.  Do the Bears need him?  If you watched the Tampa Bay game, you know the answer to that one.  I don't want to be glib, but the Bears clearly need him for a Super Bowl run.  Further, it would be a poor business decision to simply release the man.  If they released him, there'd be a half-dozen teams lining up to sign him instantly.  At a minimum, he's worth a 3rd or 4th round pick in trade, even with these issues.  (If he were an alter boy, he'd be worth a late first/early second rounder.)  Simply dumping him would be like pissing millions of dollars down the toilet, not to mention potentially sabotaging this entire season.  I actually think the Bears made the best decision for Tank as well.  Tank needs to grow up and maybe this will be a good wakeup call.  He needs the support the Bears organization can provide.  If they cut him, he might pull a Spellman. 

I do know this.  If Tommie Harris was fully healthy, Tank might have gotten a little more severe punishment.  And to borrow a line from Bill Simmons, Virginia McCaskey would never have put up with any of this if she were still alive. 

Bear-ly!

Wow, the Bucs made a game of it and shocked the Hell out of me and Vegas.  The Bears were favored by 13.5, yet had to go to overtime to win the game (and home field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs) by a score of 34-31.  Today's near-failure boiled down to one thing, the vaunted Defense.  But first, let's talk about something happy.  The offense.

Grossman was excellent.  He wasn't a QB at the "A Number One" pinnacle of his profession, but he was a solid A for sure.  No turnovers, and I honestly didn't see even one throw where I said, "uh-oh" while it was in the air.  Pretty sweet.  I hope he keeps it up, because we're going to need it.

The running game worked, as Benson and Jones split the load evenly.  Jones was a ghost in the fourth quarter and overtime, and I suspect his injuries flaring up were the reason.  Both Benson and Jones looked solid behind a line missing their Left Tackle, John Tait.

Special Teams played OK, I guess. Maynard was pretty awesome, Gould has proven mortal with yet another short-miss (though he did nail the game-winner) and Hester made the critical fumble.  Somewhere I remember reading that the Bears consider fumbles as detriments that cancel-out touchdowns.  So with Hester's two fumbles to go with his six touchdowns, he's still a +4.  I'm not worried if you're not.

Finally, the defense.  They clearly are not the same unit that lead the NFL in total Defense two weeks ago.  Since the offense held the ball the way they did in the first half, the defense looked as good as ever.  When the offense wasn't quite as proficient in the second half, keeping the D on the field for more snaps, the D wore down.  The lack of depth is clearly the problem.  (The mediocre Tim Rattay replacing the horrible Bruce Gradkowski was no doubt a factor as well.)  Now that Tommie Harris and Terrence "Tank" Johnson are out, their primary backups are starting and their former-practice-squad guys are backing them up.  Big difference.  Scott and Boone are fine, half the teams in the league would be content with them in their starting lineup.  But these guys are a huge dropoff for the Bears.  This is not to mention Mike Brown, Todd Johnson, and Nate Vasher being out as well. Chris Collinsworth summed it up best when he called the new Bears defense "ordinary."  The good news is Vasher and Todd Johnson should be back by the time the Bears play their next meaningful game on January 14th.  (damn, that layoff is long.)  The bad news is Harris and Brown are done and Tank is as good as gone himself.  Hopefully Rex doesn't lose that magic dust, as we're gonna need 20+ to win in the playoffs. 

Bear Down!

Bears Welcome Bucs to Town; Tank in trouble Again, and Again

Ugh, this is such a horrible game I don't even want to talk about it.  So I'll turn it into a math problem:

Bruce Gradkowski + (Soldier Field * Cold Weather) - Grossman Turnovers = Bears 27, Bucs 0
       Tim Rattay

In other news, Tank Johnson got arrested again today.  Turns out Tank has an arsenal of guns in his Gurnee home with nary a permit, and a buddy that smokes weed.  I'm not positive of this, but does that not describe 80% of the players in the NFL?  Look at the Cincinn-Attica Bungles.  They've had eight guys arrested this season, nearly 20% of their roster.  So the Bears and their, um, four defendants don't look so bad right now. 

But anyways, I don't think this will affect the team much.  Lovie seems concerned, but I'm not.  Like I said, they've all got guns, and many of them have a few loser friends.  No big deal.  Not that he should have free reign to start another Waco in his house, but six guns isn't exactly heavy artillery.  By the time this thing goes to trial, it'll be March.  Further, because he's a NFL player, he'll get to serve his jail-time in the offseason at a country club even a Dunder-Mifflin employee could love.  No big deal. 

Bear Down!  (And no, that doesn't mean a player got shot by Tank.) 

UPDATE (12/16/2006): Tank's buddy/bodyguard, whom was caught with the weed, was shot to death in a nightclub.  Tank was thought to be there, though there's no word on whether he was involved in the shooting.  Eek.  This is pretty horrible and now I feel bad for sugar-coating everything the other day.  Tank's got some issues to deal with, and since this is his "fourth strike," I can't imagine him coming back and playing this season, if ever.    What a shame.  I remember seeing him at training camp and not only was he larger than life, but his personality was just as large.  He kind of reminded me of Chris Farley when he showed up to sign autographs for the kids.  All eyes were on him.  For shame.

Bears Win: Go-Go Hester and Sexy Rexy do the Trick

Now that's more like it.  Rexy wasn't sexy, but he did a good job with no turnovers as the Bears beat the Rams on Monday Night Football.  That's all Grossman needs to do.  Nothing too flashy, just make the first downs when you need them, throw the occasional TD, and don't turn it over.  With a solid effort by the defense, they can beat anybody with that. 

The MVP of the game, however, was Devin Hester.  Two kick returns for touchdowns which gives him six on the season.  Unreal.  He's really in a league of his own.  This guy needs a nickname.  Pretty much every time he touches the ball I scream "GO! GO! GO!", so it might be lame but I'm going to go with "Go-Go" Hester until somebody thinks of something better. 

Now, the defense.  The final numbers didn't look too hot, but they stopped them when it mattered.  Personally, aside from the injuries I think they were simply tired.  They looked good early on, but after a long 99-yard drive Hester returned that kick and they had to go right back out there.  Same thing happened in the 2nd half.  Started tough, gave up a long drive, TD followed by another long drive.  It happens.  Being tired certainly didn't stop them from hitting.  Bulger looked like hamburger meat at the end of tonight's game and Holt was still hearing the footsteps.  So yeah, 27 points and 433 yards is a lot to give up.  But they stopped them when it mattered and didn't give up any long plays.  I'll take it.

BEAR DOWN!

Bears-Rams Preview: Fiddy for Rex

Rex Grossman has exactly two quarters to show the Bears that he's the Quarterback of the Present.  Two turnovers in the first half and it's Griese's turn.  I hope Rex does well.  Though even if he does do well it will hardly mean anything, as St. Louis stinks.  But if Rex stinks it up, we can put him on ice till 2007.  That much I know for sure.

I actually think he WILL do well.  Like I said, the Rams are awful.  The D is a little banged up, and Steven Jackson is one of the best backs in the league.  But Bulger's been shaky lately, and criticizing his linemen to boot.  Something tells me they might miss a block or two and Mr. Ogunleye will introduce Mr. Bulger to Mr. Field Turf.  Look for Benson to have a breakout game as well.  Bears win, 24-10.

Cubs have Money to Burn

"I said I wanted a marquee pitcher, not Jason Marquis," Lou Piniella said.

The Cubs signed St. Louis castoff Jason Marquis to a 3-year, $20-million dollar contract today.  Jason was among the worst starters in the National League last year as he went  14-16 with a 6.02 ERA for the, gulp, World Champion Cardinals.  He was so bad, the Cards left him off their playoff roster.  When I saw the news crawl across the bottom of ESPN's ticker this morning, my jaw just about hit the floor. 

If he rebounds to his 2004-2005 form, where he went a combined 28-21 with a ERA around 4.00, this is a good deal.  But that's a big mother-f--kin IF. 

This offseason is starting to look bad again.  I love the Soriano signing, despite the trillions of dollars they guaranteed him through his age-50 season, but without that shining star the rest of these guys are average at best.  Yes, the Cubs were looking up at "average" last season, so they should be improved.   But I think they're best hope is that the National League remains lousy so they can sneak into the playoffs and shock the world by winning with a mediocre team.  Like the Cardinals did.

I don't know, I guess I'm sick of all the "IFs."  IF Marquis rebounds, IF Prior or Miller is healthy, IF Lilly improves with the league-switch, IF Wood can close....IF, IF, IF.  For once I'd like to go into a season not praying for a miracle.  That only has happened once in my lifetime, in 2004, and we all know how that turned out. 

Latest on the Bears and Assessing the NFC

The latest from Halas Hall is not good.  Tommie Harris is out 2-4 weeks and possibly the rest of the season.  In addition to the strained knee, he also has a hammy.  Harris started the year as a early MVP candidate, though he cooled off somewhat over the last seven games.  (Haven't they all?)  The news on Vasher is more encouraging.  He's questionable this week but I suspect he'll be back to normal before the playoffs start.  Good, our D is beat up enough.  With the loss of Brown, Johnson, and Vasher, the Bears secondary is getting awfully thin.  A potentially interesting move that could have helped the team was picking up Tony Parrish.  He was released by the Niners after being beat out by some dude named Mark Roman.  Why would the Bears want a guy beat out by a no-name?  Simple.  He's got to be better than Cam Worrell or some guy off the practice squad, and those guys are a hammy away from starting.  But alas, it was not meant to be as he was picked up by the Cowboys. 

Speaking of the Cowboys, they seem to be the Bears toughest competition in the NFC come playoff time.  (aside from Grossman that is.)   Tony Romo's turned that team around, and the Cowboys are really on a roll.  I'm curious to see if Romo can keep it up.  After all, Grossman was player of the month in September and now look at him.  We'll know how good Romo is after these next few games:  NO, @ATL, PHI, DET.  Well, not Detroit, but the rest of those teams should give them something to worry about.  I'll say 'Boys go 3-1 in that stretch to finish 11-5 and finish with the number two seed.  I think Romo's luck would run out in Soldier Field, though, so they don't scare me much in the postseason.

The Saints look like the next best NFC team at this point, but their upcoming schedule is a killer.  @DAL, WAS, @NYG, CAR.  Who'd have thunk the Saints would be any good this year?  Not me.  Not anyone else.  Drew Brees has been dyn-o-mite and they've got some real talent at the skill positions on offense.  Can't say much for their D, though.  Saints finish 2-2 and 10-6 overall.  With the way the Bears run defense has been and with the injuries in the secondary, this team scares me in the playoffs.  They might put up 20-something points on us and can our offense keep up?  I really don't know at this point.

Seattle's up next and they're totally rejuvenated with Hasselbeck and Alexander back, as you would think.  Their upcoming schedule is pretty easy as well.  @ARI, SF, SD, @TB.  Only San Diego is tough in that group, though the Niners might give them fits.  Expect them to take 3 out of 4 to finish 11-5.  The Bears beat the crap out of Seattle at Soldier Field back in October, but that seems like eons ago.  Like with Carolina last year, can the Bears do it again?  That's the million-dollar question.

I've lost faith in the Panthers.  They finish with NYG, PIT, @ATL, @NO, a brutal schedule.  Not only that, Jake Delhomme has torn ligaments in his hand leaving the team in the hands of Chris Weinke.  Fugly.  They finish 1-3 (7-9 overall) and miss the playoffs.  It's a shame, too.  The Bears would have destroyed them.

Philadelphia doesn't look that bad with Jeff Garcia under center, at least they didn't versus Green Bay the other night.  They got a super tough schedule coming up with @WAS, @NYG, @DAL, and ATL.  They'll be lucky to split those, methinks.  8-8 overall.  Playoffs!  Where if they met the Bears, Urlacher would exact revenge for the 2001 playoff loss. 

The Giants are bound to f--k up under Coughlin, so I shouldn't waste my time talking about them.  Nevertheless, they finish with @CAR, PHI, NO, @WAS.  Not easy at all.  They looked better the other day but still lost.  I think they'll lose some more, 1-3 down the stretch to finish 7-9.  Coughlin will then be fired.

Atlanta's got a tough schedule:  @TB, DAL, CAR, @PHI, but I don't think it will matter.  They split, finish 8-8 but lose a playoff tiebreaker to Philly (probably because of another Mora screwup.)  It would have been nice to see a repeat of frozen Vick at Soldier Field this January, but I don't see it happening. 

San Francisco, St. Louis, and Minnesota are all 5-7 and in the hunt for the last playoff spot.  I don't like any of them, but they all have easy schedules (trust me) and it wouldn't surprise me to see one of these teams finish 3-1 if not 4-0.  I'll say San Fran's the one.  They'll then take the last playoff spot but lose in the first round to Seattle or New Orleans.

Finally, the Bears.  @STL, TB, @DET, GB.  They'll finish 3-1, 13-3 overall.  Home field advantage.  Very Nice!

Cubs Offseason: Lilly in the Fold

The Cubs signed pitcher Ted Lilly to a four-year, $40-million-dollar contract today.  Not bad.  I mean, it's a ridiculous amount of money for someone who can best be described as a journeyman, but $10 million isn't horrible compared to some of the other money being thrown around.  Personally, I'd have rather signed Jason Schmidt, who signed with the Dodgers today for 3 years, $47 million.  It's a lot more money, but he's a much better player.  Oh well.  Lilly's a solid #3 or #4 on most teams.  On the Cubs?  He's a #2.  (On the White Sox he'd be a #5).  Think Matt Clement.  Moving on.

The Cubs also traded "Boom Boom" Freddie Bynum today to the Orioles for a PTBNL.  I don't care who we get in return, it's a great deal.  Enough said.

I'm curious as to see what else the Cubs will do this offseason.  There's rumors they're going to attempt to trade for Jason Jennings or Jake Westbrook.  Bring 'em on, I say!  Both are pretty solid pitchers and probably even better than Lilly at half the cost.  Rumors say Jacque Jones might be the bait in both trades, and I can't applaud enough if Jones hits the road.  Jones seemed like a nice guy that tried hard, and his bat against Righties wasn't bad at all.  It's simply his throwing arm makes me puke, and I don't like puking.

One thing I like so far about the Lou Piniella era is that his presence has Jim Hendry making a run for it in 2007.  Money seems to be no object and to that I say "it's about time!"  Even if they crap out and finish fourth this year, at least they're putting all their chips on the table. 

Speaking of money being no object, it's interesting comparing the national viewpoints of the Soriano signing to the local ones.  Pretty much every national critic and blogger think it's a horrible deal.  Conversely, every Cubs fan and local columnist think it's an outstanding move.  I, of course, fit in the latter category.  Yes, it's a ridiculous amount of money and a ridiculous number of years for a flawed player coming off a career year, but we won, man!  We actually won a bidding war for the best player on the market.  When I found out we got him, it was like Christmas in November.  No joke.  Will we regret the deal in five years?  Perhaps.  But watching Soriano the next few years is going to be fun.

Bears Win, Grossman Reeks

The Bears beat the Vikings today at frigid Soldier Field to clinch the NFC North and improve their record to 10-2.  As with the Arizona game, the offense was truly offensive.  Rex Grossman had the worst performance of his career, and that's really saying something.  I've just about had enough of him. 

I'm really of two mindsets here.  Part of me wants the Bears to let him play through his troubles, as I still believe the Bears may have finally found the long-term answer at Quarterback.  The other part of me wants to use a giant vaudevillian hook to yank his ass off the field.  The path is wide open for the Bears to go to the Super Bowl, and Rex can ruin it all with one crap game come January.  It's interesting, Jimmy Johnson and all the FOX studio guys defended Lovie's choice to stick with Grossman, even after today's game.  Jimmy even went so far to say that Griese's on his fourth team in five years, and there's a reason for that.  His chief complaint was with the playcalling.  I can't say that I disagree.  What the Hell were they doing throwing downfield so much in today's conditions?  It was ridiculous, especially because the ground game was working.  At the very end, when they threw a bomb down field with 2:40 left I just about threw something at the TV.  You want to talk about a galactically stupid play....

Smith and Turner need to go back to the Kyle Orton playbook for Grossman.  I know, the Orton playbook isn't playoff-friendly, but neither are QB ratings of 2.3.  Yes, 2.3.  Grossman has got exactly two more quarters left before my support runs out.  Two or more picks in the first half next Monday against St. Louis, and I will officially start calling for Griese.  As I mentioned the other day, Griese's no savior.  But we've got to see if he can get the job done without 3+ turnovers per game.  Besides, I don't think switching to Griese will have any long-term effects on Grossman.  He seems to be brimming with confidence, and I suspect he'd simply use it as motivation to get better next year.  This story isn't finished. 

Let's talk about something more positive.  The defense.

The defense, despite the shocking number of yards given up on the ground, was outstanding today.  They tore through three Quarterbacks and forced five turnovers.  They practically sent Brad Johnson to the glue factory.  Briggs and Urlacher were awesome, and I thought Ogunleye in particular lived up to his paycheck.  He was a menace. 

It's not all roses on defense, though.  On top of the shocking number of rushing yards, and I can't stress the word "shocking" enough, the Bears have a few new injuries to deal with.  Tommie Harris and Nate Vasher.  Hopefully they won't be out long, but this team is starting to drop like flies.  They miss Mike Brown a lot, but I think they'd miss these two guys even more. 

Finally, a little love for Devin Hester.  He's simply amazing, and I think the team has to figure out a way to get this special talent into the offense.  Just give him the ball, and tell him which way to run.  He sure runs fast!