ChicagoSportsBlogs : Non Compete

Warning -- this is not sports related. Subscribe only to the sports feeds if you tire of this rambling.

I have read a ton of things about how iPods are the hot gift this year. I got mine last year actually, so I don't think I will be upgrading. But I do have a suggestion for Apple that can't be unique. In case it is, I am writing it down and subjecting all of you to my lunacy. The iPod needs a radio of some sort. Don't get me wrong, I love my music. I listen to all 6 GB of it all the time, but there are times when I want to hear Howard in the morning, or NPR. Yea, I know about all this PodCasting stuff, but it's not what I had in mind. I think Apple should integrate one of the digital radio receivers into its iPod. XM or Sirius, it doesn't really matter to me. An iPod with XM would be awesome. I could ride the train and listen to NPR in the morning, or one of the many sports based radio shows. I could even listen to music and when the name scrolls across the screen I can hit a “Buy Now” button and watch it show up in my shopping cart in iTunes. Notice, I didn't ask for it to magically download onto my iPod while I sip my coffee. Nor did I ask for a record button so that I could record the current session or news report on NPR. I also didn't ask for Tivo-like ability to “pause” live radio so that I could hear it on the train ride home. All these features would be great, but for now I can accept just getting a digital receiver built into my iPod with the ability to rate songs, or even tag them for later purchase. This can't be that hard. The digital radio dudes need to rack up a ton of new subscribers to pay Howard's salary and the iPod needs a new killer feature. I think this would drive sales on both sides. I know I would buy one.

Thanks to Scoble, I ran into this request for feedback on ESPN.com's Insider pay-to-play section. It turns out that Kareem (the site's author) is one of the dudes working at our favorite sports network. He wants to know why you won't part with your cash to subscribe to the Insider service at ESPN.com. Here is why I don't subscribe to ESPN's service:

1. I was one of the first people to give ESPN money for its online venture. It came in the form of Fantasy Sports subscriptions. I felt that was worth the cash. I give them money, they give me a cool game. It made sense. Back then the site was easy to navigate and anything I wanted was readily available. It's that whole, “I never paid for it before, I ain't paying for it now“ mentality. Sorry!

2. Paying for content online is a weird thing. I won't admit to anything illegal, but “free as in beer” was the only way to go when I started going online (it was just math and physics labs back then) The transition is a tough one to make when you already have to pay for TV, Cell phones, text messaging and DSL access to begin with. Oh, and XBOX Live too. You guys are fighting for an ever decreasing portion of the pie.

3. It's the Internet man! I have like a bazillion sources for GREAT sports content. Seriously, why do you think I write a blog? Obviously, blogs and Yahoo (yes, their sports site is getting better) are good enough, and free. Plus, I read newspapers and still watch SportsCenter. I think I am covered.

What would I do if I was ESPN? Well, I don't need you guys stealing my two readers...just kidding. Splogs exists to supplement your daily sports coverage, and I think we do a good Chi-specific job of it.

• I would redesign the site and make it SUPER simple. Stop it already with the crap adverts and flash fly-over stuff. I know you have to pay the bills, but come on already. I can't find anything on your site. It's too busy. This is most likely keeping people from even finding the pay-to-play content/promotions. If anything the PHB's will like hearing they get to take something away from us freeloaders.
• Tiny widgets next to headlines isn't working. Find another metaphor to show pay content. 2 sentence blurbs isn't good enough to entice either.
• I would figure out a way to clearly offer a 10 day free subscription (you might already have this). I would also give your ESPN magazine subscribers the chance to give not only a gift subscription of the mag to people, but to give online subscriptions too. In fact, give the mag subscribers free Insider access.(do you do this already?)
• RSS is the way man! You have to find a way to meter and offer this to subscribers. Do it now and lead the way, or I will.

Finally -- is the content good enough? When I was a consultant we actually would argue this subject all the time: “Is there a pure online-play that is making money from subscription-based revenue models? Just content for sale?!” The answer is most likely no. Most of you make money from advertising, or the mother ship covers your expenses to keep you floating as a “Brand Builder”. Content is King, right? Anyway, good luck getting more subscribers. I think your efforts to be more transparent will help, but ultimately the blog-sphere's ability to level the playing field with RSS and Splogs will dilute the “star power” your writers have and ultimately you will have very few people who will have the cash to spend on a few pretty web pages a month.

Good morning Bears fans! I wonder what all of you will be doing today. Will you have to go out into the real world and contribute to the economy by getting all your holiday shopping done? Will you have to sit and have meaningful conversations with your significant other? Or will you be like me, and get the holiday visitors out of your house and on the road before kick off? The joys of the holidays never cease. The Bears understand all this, and to butter us up with only 26 days left to finish their shopping they acquired a backup quarterback. Three guesses who it is. If you said the former University of Illinois standout, Jeff George, you'd be right. (Hey, the Illini stink, so I figured I would give them a plug)

I find it amazing that the Bears have finally admitted their mistakes. I also find it amazing that a middle aged QB like George is going to even see any playing time this season. The Hutch is going to start against Minnesota next week and I can only expect him to be mediocre. The positives that George brings to the table are few. He is most likely a lot slower on his reads, even less able to scramble then when he was in his prime, and his arm could have turned to Jello by now. I would love to be wrong on all this. I would like to believe that George, who hasn't played since 2001 with the Redskins is better than any of the other jokers we have at QB. The Bears defense is getting stronger and stronger with each game. I know many of us in Chicago look East to the Baltimore Ravens team for hope. The Ravens made it to the big game with a weaker offense and QB that wouldn't lose the game. This was Trent Dilfer. I don't dare compare our 3 backup quarterbacks to Dilfer, because while Dilfer “didn't lose the game” for the Ravens, his positive contributions were clearly overlooked. Where am I going with all this? The NFL is a copy cat league. If what one team does gets them to the big game, you can expect the rest of the league to copy this success or system. In the Ravens' example, it is the belief that you can be weaker at the QB position. Big defense, and an invisible quarterback. I shudder to think what the great quarterbacks of this league think about this theory. We all know what Chicago thinks of this system because if you haven't figured it out by now, we're running it.

First off, happy belated Turkey day to all of the splogs readers out there. Secondly, I would like to apologize to the NFL fans around the country. There is no reason we should have invaded your homes yesterday and subject you to the horrible football we play here in the Chi. I imagine that it looked like one huge United Way commercial. I would further like to apologize for not being able to keep you glued to the TV in your family rooms, like past Thanksgiving Day games. Instead, you had to sit around talking to your family about shopping, or your Uncle Bill's hip replacement. Again, for this I am sorry. We here at ChicagoSplogs.com understand the importance of using football during the holidays to keep your sanity in check. For those of you in the Chi, or living abroad in far out places like Peoria, I can only tell you there is no hope for this team, or this season. But you knew that before the turkey was carved, didn't you? It pains me to do this review, so I will be brief and save my real feelings for this team and this game until next week.

Defense -- The strong work award goes to RDub this week. RDub plays like he reads, and actually remembers, the heavy criticisms the press in the Chi write about him. Two picks, one for a TD and one for a fumble(of course). We lost Harris to injury and the wrong Jones brother ran for over 150 yards and 2 TDs. They score the only points for us in the game and wonder why they don't play offense as well as defense on this team. For real.

Offense -- This is too easy. 4 quarterbacks in one season? Hutch will get the start next week, you watch. Angello needs his head examined for listening to Terry Shea. Quinn is horrible. Krenzel is just as bad, and I wonder what happened to Moses Moreno. Why didn't we call Jeff George in? The best quarterback in the stadium was Troy Aikman. Here is a fun fact, I threw as many touchdowns as both our quarterbacks yesterday! None.

Special Teams -- Not so special. Missed field goals and a kick off that went out of bounds? They didn't get a chance all day. We punted like 17 times. The one thing I will say is that the majority of this team is no more than special teams guys who actually start at a position. We need to stop drafting or signing guys who can do no more than cover kicks.

Coaching -- Horrible coaching. On both sides of the ball. Parcells yanked Henson for Vinnie in the second half because he wanted to win. He would have won with Henson 10-7, so what's the big deal? As for Lovie, he needs to talk to Shea and tell him to scrap the “encyclopedia-like” playbook. No more excuses. The WR can't catch, or run the right routes. They didn't carry a real backup quarterback on the roster, and they didn't adjust anything after the half. Where is the run game? Where is the double back set we were promised? There is no excuse for this. A stubborn group of coaches deserver to get their butts kicked. Do something now Lovie. Earn your paycheck.

I only hope everyone had enough turkey on their plate, because we got enough in the Bears game to last us until next year.

The Bears were trounced 41-10 yesterday afternoon by the Colts. I am not shocked by this. I even predicted the score. (I gotta start writing my predictions out) The only shocking thing about the game was the defensive line thinking that Indy wasn't that good. They said as much in the post game. Tommy Harris and his cohorts on the defensive line were making predictions and running their mouths before the game by using the "G" word to describe victory. The sports radio fanatics in this town believed the Colts used this trash talk to motivate themselves. I highly doubt the Colts needed a lame prediction from a rookie DE to "get up" for this game. They probably looked at us on film and wondered how it was possible our record wasn't as bad as the Dolphins, or the 49ers. The practical Bears fans got their wish yesterday. We can stop talking or insinuating that we are going to the playoffs. It was easy to confuse the "parity" in the NFC with our actual ability on the field. You'll forgive me if I start scouting for the draft next year. Let's get right to it:

Defense -- For the first time in a long time, our bend-but-don't-break defense broke. It was shattered. The horrible TV crew handling the announcing for CBS kept harping on the fact Urlacher was out. I don't buy it. Hillenmeyer got tricked multiple times on some nasty play-action from Manning, but everyone falls for that. The real story here is how we couldn't get to the quarterback, couldn't stop the run, and how we missed tackles all day. We're one of the best defenses in the league? I don't think so. Not yet. We are still young. I hope the D took time to carefully examine this tape. It should give them the one thing to be grateful for this Thanksgiving: That we aren't in the AFC South.

Offense -- Krenzel looks like a rookie the more he plays. And not like Big Ben in Pittsburgh, or David Carr in Houston(yea, I know he isn't a rookie), or even Eli Manning who showed some flashes this weekend. It is getting tiresome to see how inept our offense is. I place the blame in equal shares on the coaching staff (Shea), and on the QB. Krenzel needs to study Manning's release. Three steps back, and BLAMMO! The ball is out of there. We need to teach the kid to get rid of the ball quicker. We also need to teach the offensive coordinator that if the encyclopedia-like playbook is too hard for the Nuclear Biologist to figure out, maybe we should dumb it down. The running game was pathetic. No double HB sets meant no A-Train. Thomas Jones was ineffective. The O-Line couldn't protect Krenzel, and Krenzel made every mistake you expect a rookie to make. Nothing worked. You'd think we would try something different. My patience is wearing thin. Let's start looking at potential WRs to draft or get in free-agency because this crop of WR are not worthy of being 3rd down guys on most teams. Pathetic.

Special Teams -- What can you say about special teams? We punted a lot. We didn't return anything for a score. We saw the return of Berrian on kicks (still wondering why?). It was the only place we didn't give up a Manning touchdown. If there was a way for him to throw a TD from the sidelines after a kick off, I think we would.

Coaching -- Lovie Smith and his coaching staff were out gunned. Our game plan should have been to run the football all day long. This way we keep the ball away from Manning and Company. The Edge ran all over us, and we didn't have an answer. How do you let a running back get over 200 yards in just 3 quarters? The offensive play calling was horrible. That doesn't mean it is all Terry Shea's fault. The execution of those crap plays was just as much a problem as the play calling. Where was the attempt to throw down field? Except for a 45 yard catch Terrell made right before the end of the first half, we never threw down field. I expected our coaching staff
to come out of a horrible first half with something new to shake them up. Just change the pace a little. Alas, the only thing the the coaches got right was not forcing us to see what Hutch or Quinn could do. It would have sent the wrong message to our guys. That's it kids! It was one of the worst ass-kickings I have seen. Total dominance. I expect us to limp along the rest of this season and maybe win a few more games. The problem with this, is that we will ruin any chance we have at drafting someone who will be an impact player, next year. We need to get some help on offense. We should study the other teams out in the league who have young offenses. Emulate them to the best of your ability. The questions are going to start again this month as we keep losing...Should we be looking for
another QB in the draft? I'll be back to analyze this angle later in the week. Happy Monday.

It would be irresponsible of me not to take a break from covering Chicago sports to say something about the mêlée that broke out last night in Detroit. It is obvious that I haven't covered the horriBulls this year. It's For good reason too. The NBA has a major problem on its hands. Specifically, it has 2 problems. First, the type of basketball the NBA puts out is horrible. There are very few reasons to watch this product in person, or on TV. I just can't stomach it. To my surprise, problem two stems from the last night's Pistons game. TI hope everyone saw the clips, because this is the closest we are getting to a hockey game. The shots of kids crying in the stands is going to leave a heavy black mark on this group of players. Worse still, the black eye the entire league is going to take from this incident will hurt financially.

Ron Artest is a former Chicago Bull, and a complete jackass. Sorry Ron, but you might have skill and talent but you have proven to America, and the league, that you don't have much brain power. The laughable, and most likely staged comments you gave after a game last week about getting some time off during the season to promote your rap album was fantastic entertainment. Everyone loved taking a turn on that one. Going into the stands wasn't a good way to promote that rap album. Punching what I believe was the wrong guy up in the stands isn't either. The suspensions are coming down tomorrow and we will find out what indefinitely really means. My guess, is that it means at least 20 games if not the rest of the season.

The news of Brian Urlacher's surgery shocked even his teamates yesterday. Some of the guys on the team heard the news from a reporter(instead of the team!). Lovie Smith did his best "We'll be ok" talk for the cameras. I actually believe him. Urlacher is a big loss, not because he sells a lot of Big Macs, but because he was having a great season. A great season while missing a few games with that hamstring injury as well. He was on his way to the Pro Bowl, probably joining our punter, Maynard. So now what? Well, I think the defense is on a huge roll. These guys aren't going to lay down. They could have give up after Mike Brown went down for the season, and they didn't. This just means Jerry Azumah will have to step up and lead this defense. Or perhaps Wally will. We shall soon see. Oh, and don't count on Urlacher coming back before the end of this season. 4-6 weeks is code for "We aren't risking him for this season, but we still want people to care and play hard." Fox has to hate the fact Urlacher is out...No more Urlacher pieces for the Turkey day game against the Cowboys. (How 'bout them cowboys? Do they suck or what?)

Finally, I wanted to give a special shout out to a gang of writers out in BoSox Land.
Notice that I have added their RSS feed to my links. They do a great job covering the Red Sox and I don't mind telling you half of my family lives in Red Sox land, so it might not be a bad idea to pop over and see how the other half lives. Especially when baseball season starts. The fun fact that will no-doubt be brought up during my Turkey day festivities is that my bro moves out to BeanTown and they win 2 Superbowls, and one World Series Championship. What kind of crap luck is that? :)

Let the playoff talk begin! The Bears won another one yesterday afternoon, 19-17 over the Titans. That must shock all 3 of my readers out there. Yes, the offense only scored 3 points. And yes, we had to go to overtime to win. At this point in the season little else matters except the "W". When was the last time the Bears won 3 games in a row? 2 of them on the road? Does anyone remember the famous Jim Mora tantrum when he was coaching the Colts? "Play,Pla-Playoffs?!?!" This is what I kept saying last week to anyone who
brought up the "P" word. How could you take a lackluster win over the Giants and start putting us into the playoff race? Well kids, the Vikings are falling apart, the Packers are surging, and the Lions have stumbled. The Bears have a good chance. Especially if we switch to iron man football and have the guys on defense play offense as well! Winning is great for the soul. Enough of this already. I'll get right to the eval:

Defense -- Good Morning Coach Rivera! Has your agent called you yet with the great news? You mean people haven't started talking about how great you are? Shocking. A head coaching job is in your future Chico. The defense was stronger than ever against the Titan's Billy Volek and local kid Chris Brown. Brown was a tad banged up, and as a result he coughed up the ball twice. Everyone had to have seen the 45 yard interception return by big man Michael Haynes. Azumah, Briggs, Urlacher, Alex Brown, Hillenmeyer all had great games. Oh, and did I mention the fact that Mark Colombo returned after 2 years of rehabbing a knee to block a critical field goal attempt that kept the Titans from taking the lead and eventually winning this game? The entire D-Line has finally hit their mark. The final two plays of the overtime period found the defense blitzing and eventually sacking Volek in th end zone
for a safety. That was the game. Strong work to Wally for the sack to finish the game. Clearly, the defense is the reason why this team isn't 0-9.

Offense -- "He's no Dan Marino". That's what I have to put up with every time Krenzel drops back. My old man seems to think that the Bears are someday going to get it right and draft the next Dan Marino. You know, a guy with a quick release who can get the ball to anyone on the field at any moment. Krenzel is not this guy. He performed so poorly that I can't honestly pick him apart. It would take all day. The Titans had a great game plan for us: Put 8 in the box and force us to throw the ball. It worked for the most part since the offense only scored 3 points on an Edinger field goal late in the 4th quarter. Quarterback isn't our only problem position.
The wide receivers stink. David Terrell has finally caused me to give up on him. 3 horrible and critical drops were enough to have me swear the Michigan grad off. This guy just doesn't concentrate enough. I know he made that one catch for 11 yards on Th down, and kept the drive alive long enough for that FG...but come on! Is Coach Shea crazy? Calling DT's number on Th down? He was probably just hoping this kid would drop the ball so we could cut him. This confirms my gut feeling that we will be drafting a WR in the first round this year.
No recap is complete without mentioning the A-Train who started once again, and unlike last week was rendered useless. I've noticed they just don't call the same plays for A-Train that they did for Thomas Jones. How many times did they have A-Train go out for a quick screen pass or dump off? None, by my count. The Titan's didn't respect the pass, so they sat 8 men in the box all night. Say goodnight to the A-Train in this scenario. Futile!

Special Teams -- I think this year's Bears team puts the "special" in Special Teams. RDub returns not one, but two kicks for touchdowns. Oh, wait -- they called the second one back because of a clip. Yea, right. Regardless, RDub is earning his paycheck this year and even if he gets beat on a few routes while covering the opposing wide-outs, he is turning the corner on his best year yet. I wonder if those young-gun rookies had anything to do with that? Oh, final kudos to the MVP so far this season, Brad Maynard. Way to kick that pigskin! I credit
his kick in overtime for the horrible field position the Titans start off with. Ball State would be proud!

Coaches -- Lovie Smith has these guys playing “Lovie football“. This is the message you see presented to us via the major media outlets. Howie Long and Coach Jimmie Johnson said it first, and the newspapers this morning have the same coverage. Take-aways are the key to this defense. It turns out they are the key to our offense as well. Our special teams and defensive schemes are fantastic, and our offense play calling is decent. I won't pin it on Shea that we scored only 3 points this week. At least not yet. Players have to execute on
the offensive side of the ball.  We just aren't there yet. If the coaching staff can focus a little more on getting the offensive unit to watch the penalties, catch the damn ball, and to call plays that make sense in 3RD down situations -- we might just sneak past everyone into the playoffs.

If anything, you can kiss that top 5 draft pick goodbye!

I'm working on the game recap as we speak, but I wanted to at least get some quick comments in while you wait. The Bears team of '04 might go down as a bunch of hard working guys that just barely eek by victories, but it has been a very long time since I have had this much fun watching a Bears game. And yes, I mean mostly when the defense is on the field. More to come....

Warning -- I am taking a break in this post. This is NOT sports related.

There is a good chance half of  your office has called in sick today. They all have Halo2 on the brain. I got my copy by simply walking into my local GameStop and asking for one. Membership has its privelages?!

:)

So drop your gamer tag in the comments section and I'll add you to my friends list.

That is all! Back to work!! Mach Schnel!

Two in a row. When was the last time we Bears fans could say that? Actually,  it was last year. It was when Grossman won two in a row,one of those games against the Vikings. You get the gist. It has been a long while. My prediction for this game was off. I am a big enough man to admit it. I didn't think our defense would show up like it did. In fact, the first quarter of this game was about what I had expected out of us, and of the Giants. Thankfully a holding penalty on the Giants kept Tiki Barber from scoring again and putting Kurt Warner and his merry men up 21-0. That would have been the end for us. No doubt about it, right?
Let's stop playing around and get to the breakdown. And this week, work or no work, I'm getting this one done.

Offense -- Good Morning Bears Offense, you guys have some talent and you found it yesterday. David Terrell's pleas to the media earlier this week (yes, it's called whining) worked. They got the ball to DT 4 whole times -- but for 70 yards. Bernie Berrian caught a touchdown pass, his only pass in fact, after the O-line jumped offsides 2 times in that series. Krenzel calls a timeout, and comes out with a dart to Terrell for 30 yards and this 35 yard beauty for our first TD of the day. Krenzel's numbers were not fantastic and he did get banged up to the point where we needed to X-Ray his ribs, but he didn't make many mistakes at all. A big round of kudos goes to the A-Train who is clearly playing for a contract (Contractitis-A). He ran for over 110 yards and scored twice. That last touchdown was epic. He made a great cut to to his left and followed his block all the way into he end zone. Too easy. Good luck to the A-Train next year, we will miss him when he is gone.

Defense -- Is there any point in talking about how great the defense was last night? Seriously. It brought back flashbacks of the past. We blitzed often. We caused turnovers. We hit people hard. Really hard. Alex Brown is on a mission. The final destination of this mission is Hawaii and the Pro-Bowl. He had 4 of our 6 total sacks. 6 sacks kids. That wasn't a typo. Nathan Vasher got another pick and Jerry Azumah is clearly better than any steroid this defense might have, could have, and never did take. He should break his neck every year.
(just kidding Jer -- keep on trucking). Wally was back and he played ok, not great, and finished the game with a sack and three tackles. Urlacher is still a monster, and has stepped it up. The defense in total is clearly responsible for waking up the offense. We've seen this happen before on other teams. Stand back and enjoy.

Special Teams -- Edinger went 2 for 2 on his field goal attempts. Between you and me, he should have never been out there for that kick in the red zone after that Giants turnover in the second quarter. We should have scored a touchdown and really put them away, but it was good to see Edinger come in and do his job. Maynard had a crap couple of kicks early on but eventually settled down and helped the team by pinning the Giants back on the one yard line on one attempt. We did do a crap job of recovering the onside kick late in the fourth quarter, and frankly, it didn't matter. The defense stuffed Warner back to St. Louis on that last series. So all is forgiven "Special" teams.

Coaching -- I was going to rip them a new one today but then they came out of a timeout with a serious plan after those two penalties and scored to shock the Giants. The papers say that Krenzel actually is the one who changed the play to that 30-yard pass Terrell caught before the Berrian TD. Either way the game ball goes to Chico Rivera for his amazing defensive calls. They won this came for us. It was awesome watching Coughlin have a heart attack on the sidelines as the Bears kept getting turnover after turnover...it was brilliant!

That is all for today. There is a ton more to cover this week as the city's press and some of our football players start mentioning the "P" word in news conferences...Happy Monday to all!

Everyone in the Chi is flipping out this week. No, it's not because hockey is never coming back. It's also not because Kenny Williams thinks he can sign Mr. Beltran. It isn't even because the Cubs are going to get rid of Slammin Sammy. It's because the Bears didn't sign Kurt Warner. This story has been non stop this week. It is the story that sells the sportscast on TV, and the newspaper in the stands.

The Bears visit the Giants this weekend and will be forced to look into the eyes of Kurt Warner. The man who went from bagging groceries to winning a Superbowl. Never mind that he most likely cut a deal with the dark lords to do it -- he still put up numbers that were astounding. So when Coach Martz ran him out of St. Louis,
the talk in Chicago was to sign him. The problem was we weren't looking to sign him as a starter -- we were going to have him sit on the bench and watch Grossman. Fast forward to last week's game where our most beloved position, the third string quarterback
is in the game and we're sitting with only one win. We got the win, but it's not good enough.

The fact is we all wonder what would have happened to our season if we had a real second string QB like Warner. Hell, I wonder what would have happened if we took the time to let Warner fight Grossman for the starting job. Would it have been so bad to have Grossman sitting one more year? Would it have been soooo terrible to actually be 4-2 instead of 1-5? The fact everyone points out on this topic is that Warner would have NEVER taken a backseat. He wanted to start somewhere. He deserved one more chance to start somewhere. Hell, he deserved a chance to compete for the starting job. The Giants gave him that chance, and so far it has proven to be a wise decision. So kudos to the Giants for actually taking the time to evaluate talent. Don't get me wrong, I dig Grossman. I think he has skills that will carry us someday. But if he goes down with an injury, who can cover for him? Umm...wait...this actually happened! Shocking! Good thing we have evaluated all our options.

What does Terry Shea and Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman think of that, I wonder?

My old man stopped over on Sunday night so that we could watch the Bears game together. No sooner than I got him his beer, did Krenzel throw that 50 yard pass to Bernard Berrian for a touchdown. We were in shock. It was pure disbelief. Was this the beginning of the next great quarterback controversy in the Chi? Could the kid from THE hated Ohio State be this good? I'd say slow down there partner! He looked 100% better than Quinn, but I think the jury is still out on if he can compete with Grossman. Krenzel didn't look rattled at all out there. He made the typical rookie mistakes in the game. After scoring that great touchdown pass, on the next series he fumbled the ball twice as he was being rushed only to see the 49ers return it 70 yards for their only touchdown of the night. A more seasoned QB would have realized he was in the red zone and fallen on the ball. The bottom line this week is that we got a win. So let's continue on with our breakdown of Sunday night's game:

Offense -- In Chicago, third string quarterbacks are always a fan favorite. Krenzel is no exception. His numbers were not staggering, and neither was his accuracy. Credit him with finding an open receiver for our first touchdown to a wideout this season. The offensive line did not protect the kid well enough in my opinion, but did a good enough job to see A-Train return the lineup and contribute 98 yards rushing. Thomas Jones hurt his ankle on the first series and didn't return. This gave us our first clear look at the A-Train. I'm happy to report he had fresh legs and carried the load just fine. The WR position in Chicago has deteriorated since we traded Booker to the Miami Dolphins. I have no idea what is going on in practice, but David Terrell is not getting enough balls thrown to him. The few that are thrown to him must be a surprise because he keeps dropping them. Gage and Wade can't seem to produce more than 2 yards per catch. I'm hoping we draft a stud at WR in the draft this year because these guys are not doing the job.

Defense -- I don't want to praise the Defense too much, because they did face a pathetic offense in the 49ers. Ken Dorsey is horrible and unfortunately for him won't be in the league for much longer. The Niners couldn't rush the ball on us, nor could they pass it. The rookies on defense showed up big in this game. Nathan Vasher got his first pick of the season and returned it 71 yards for a touchdown. Israel Idonije got his first sack and we saw a total of 3 sacks for the game out of the defense. Urlacher continues to have a great season leading the team with 2 sacks in the game. The defense did what it had to do against an inferior offense.

Special Teams -- They don't call them special for nothing. A great job by the special teamers this week. Jerry Azumah is a spark plug on kick off returns, almost breaking a few of them. I can also heap some kudos on to R-dub for not fumbling any punt returns and actually grabbing some yards on his returns. Edinger got lucky on a really long field goal attempt that the ESPN announcers loved, because it hit the crossbar and fell past the posts for our first field goal of the night. (and only I believe)

I'll be back for coverage of the coaching staff --