Bears Future: Mediocre in the Midway?

As if yesterday's horrible loss to the lowly Liedowns isn't bad enough, lost in the Urlacher nonsense and Griese's 4 INTs is that this team's future is starting to look very grim for the Mediocres of the Midway. The Bears have dominated the bumbling NFC North for several years. That reign does not look like it is going to continue.

The rest of the division had no choice but to get better. While Detroit has no defense, they have some really talented skill players. Same with the Vikings. Adrian Peterson is going to be a force in the NFC North for a decade if he stays healthy. Green Bay has a solid, very young defense. Now let's look at the beloved in several key areas.

Quarterback: What can you say. Watching the Patriots last night I fantasized about what it must be like to have a legit pro quarterback. The Bears quarterback woes are legendary. Rex is, well Rex. He won't be here next year. Griese is clearly not the answer. If he is the starting quarterback at the beginning of camp next year expect no better than 8-8. Angelo needs to take the heat for Rex, he is definitely a 1st round bust. Speaking of busts, let's move on the running back position.

Running Back: Lovie Gump almost incoherently repeats that the Bears get off the bus as a running team. Forget that they just don't give Benson enough carries or that they bench him in the fourth quarter. This guy does nothing well. He can't pass block, he can't catch the ball, he has no burst, he can't hold onto the ball. Can someone please tell me what Benson can do? He is another 1st round bust.

Receiver: What can you say about this group? Dropped passes, bad routes, not one receiver that would be starting on a contending team. Another place where Angelo must be faulted. It's hard to pin all the offensive woes on the quarterback when the skills position players are so woeful.

Offensive Line: Old, creaky and no young players in the pipeline. The entire offensive basically needs a total reboot. You just can't do that in a year or two. This could be a 4 or 5 year rebuilding effort. And that assumes Angelo can hit on some offensive players. A skill he hasn't shown he possesses.

Defense: Let' start with Urlacher. Is his time as a dominant player coming to an end? Whatever this back injury is, he does not look like the same player. Brian has been the glue in the this defense, with him at less than full strength, this punctures the core of the defense. Even the national media can tell that this is not same defense that helped Kyle Orton win 10 games. They just aren't getting the takeaways anymore. They aren't dominating teams like they have in the past 3 years. The window is closing on the defense.

There you go. Last year might just have been the beginning of the end. The Bears had a dominating defense for several years and an anemic offensive. Amazingly, Angelo has made the offense even worse while the defense is inevitably starting to decline.

Where is the ray of light for this team? Where are tomorrow's stars waiting in the wings? Simply put, they don't exist. The pantry is bare. It might be for a very long time indeed.

Buster Benson!

Does Halas Hall have to admit another complete failure as a number 1 draft choice. First there was the inevitable discarding of Rex and now they must finally pull the plug on Benson. Another poor performance 13 carries for 50 yards and the usual 4th quarter benching.

Lovie preaches in his stubborn way that its the run, run, run that sets up everything, but this hasn't materialized since Jones went to N.Y. Who out there except for the Lovie Regime couldn't see that it was Jones that got them to the Super Bowl last year. Jones had the run in the NFC championship game and Benson simply tried not to fumble as he filled in.

Their QB situation is what it always has been, but Benson was yet another mistake at #1 and he ensures that the Bears will not make the playoffs. Niether he or Peterson can catch and continue to fumble at opportune times. When will Lovie admit another failure?

Lovie Gets Paid

Looks like things are working a little differently up in Halas Hall. The Bears have just agreed to pay Lovie Smith $22 Million for four years. That's $5.5 Million a year! They also signed Angelo through 2013. That is a seven year extension!

I guess all the pundits were wrong after all. Lovie can finally afford a house up in Lake Forest.

Bears Failing to Get Lovie on the Cheap

ESPN is reporting that the contract talks with Lovie and the Bears have broken down. Billick, the Ravens coach just got a five year $29 million deal. John Fox, of the Panthers is making $5 million. There is no way the Bears are going to come up to these type of numbers. Maybe Lovie will be gone next year...

Read the whole article here.

Jonesing for a SuperBowl

I believe! Yes, I believe in this Chicago Bears team. They dismantled the Saints yesterday looking hungrier than ever as breakfast ball stated. I'll admit that I am a late convert. I never would have guessed that Rex Grossman would be a SuperBowl quarterback.

I believe in Lovie Smith. In his third year this boring as vanilla coach had a plan after all. His uninspiring comments during his press conferences were right after all.

"We are a running football team," Lovie would say as dispassionately as a paint salesman. This point was emphatically proved with Thomas Jones, and to a much, much lesser degree Boo Hoo Benson rambling for 196 yards. Jones ran for 123 of those yards for an astounding 6.5 yards per carry. Benson was mostly ineffective and I still think he is a cancer that should be cut. But that can wait till next year.

I believe in this Bears team. During the game, which I watched with some other DCS staffers, I found myself uncontrollably singing the Bear Down Chicago Bears song. No one at DCS has been more critical of this team than me, but I was dead wrong. I now realize that Lovie is not boring, but confident in his team and decisions. Rivera is a great defensive coach and Turner has figured out how to minimize Grossman's mistakes and make the two-back system work.

As I have stated earlier, nothing would make me happier than for the Bears to prove me, and their many other critics wrong. They have. And if on cue, the nationally media has again fallen in love with the story of Peyton Manning get the monkey off his back. The current line in Vegas is the Colts are a 7 point favourite. Tony Kornheiser said they should be a 10 point favourite. This is just the kind of talk that will inspire Urlacher and his teammates. Lovie does have a plan, and he is going to deliver in two weeks.

Bear Down Chicago! The Bears are going to be Super Bowl Champs!