Bears trade Thomas Jones - ChicagoSportsBlogs : Non Compete
Monday, March 05, 2007 8:01 PM Perry

Bears trade Thomas Jones

It is posts like this that I dread. Something big happens, and you are confronted with a choice as a writer. You can either take a stand on your milk carton and shout that the Bears have made a horrible move, or you can find a way to hedge your bet that this is exactly what the team needed.

9 months from now people will look back at this post and either say I was an idiot for agreeing with the trade of Thomas Jones to the Jets, or they will think I was an idiot for crying about it. It all depends on Cedric Benson. There are sports writers across the city having this same debate inside their heads. "Do I want to look like a genious, or do I want to be honest and take my medicine if I am wrong?"

I'm going with the honest approach. If I am wrong I'll deal with it.

This is a bad move. The Bears give up Jones, the heart of our offense, and the second round pick (63rd) for the Jets' 37th pick overall. I used to wonder what we would get for Thomas Jones. I always thought we could get a 3rd rounder for him. It turns out it was a second rounder, plus an extra pick in the second round. I guess Jerry Angelo is "picking a top" as they say in financial trading. A bold move. There has to be something at the top of the second round that Angelo really wants. The question I have is this: is it another running back?

This trade leaves the Bears with Cedric Benson as their starting running back. Benson showed flashes of what we all hoped would be the start of a beautiful relationship this past season. Some people would say it was only flashes because he split carries with Jones. I disagree. I was always a big fan of having both these guys on the team. I liked the change of pace. Jones was a great back that always seemed to be one move away from breaking a monster run. Benson is the opposite; a bruiser that ran right through you. Working Benson into the offense slowly seemed to pay off for the Bears last season. Sure, he didn't do anything but hurt himself on his first play of the Superbowl but he did have a few decent runs in the NFC championship. I can admit that Benson would have earned his ring last season if we would have actually showed up and one the big game.

As for Jones, I can't say enough good things about him. His performance in the Superbowl speaks for itself: 15 carries for 112 yards and 7.2 yards a carry. He will be missed as fans in Chicago start to wonder if Jerry Angelo has been hanging out one too many times with Kenny Williams.

Good luck Thomas. You're going to be missed:

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Comments

# re: Bears trade Thomas Jones

Tuesday, March 06, 2007 6:21 AM by Michael Cotton

I think you have to take a stand and say this is a bad move because it IS a bad move. We all talk alot about how bad our Bears QBs have been, but what about our running backs? The argument could be that without a QB, the running back gets killed because the D can key on him, but Thomas Jones showed that he could do it in 2005 without a good QB. That means we are giving up our best running back since Walter Payton. I don't think Cedric Benson is going to give us the kind of production that Thomas Jones could. At least we can fall back on the steady arm of Grossman to bail us out. Makes it sound that much worse doesn't it. Now, if the Bears do make this work and they are able to be a playoff team without TJ, I will praise Lovie and his staff immensely, but I will not eat my words because it is still a bad move regardless of the outcome. Thomas Jones deserved the opportunity to take us to the promised land. He earned it.
(I know this if more of a rant than anything else, but I don't have time to go into depth on why this is bad, because I am at work and shouldn't be writing this anyway)