Since arriving in Chicago, Jay Cutler's been fighting the stigma that he's more of a stat-monger than a winner. The only way to change the feelings of the general public is to go out and win tough games. Anyone can look good during a blowout of an inferior opponent.
For the second consecutive week, Cutler has won close games in come-from-behind fashion. Last week, he led the Bears on a 72-yard, game-tying touchdown drive and then a 41-yard game-winning field goal drive against the Steelers. Sunday afternoon, Cutler brought the Bears back from an early 13-0 deficit to lead 17-13. The Bears lost the lead, but that was of no consequence, as Cutler again led them on a game-winning drive.
Training camps have wrapped up, the NFL season is right around the corner, and it's still hot as sin outside. But instead of cooling you off with a warm island song, FanHouse break out ye old heat check for our 2009 NFL Season Previews. " We'll rate each club in 5 categories on a scale of 1 to 10, high score wins.
In 2003, Pisa Tinoisamoa led the 12-4 St. Louis Rams in total tackles as a 22-year-old rookie. His defensive coordinator was Lovie Smith. After five seasons apart, the two will once again be working together in 2009, as the Chicago Bears have agreed to a one-year deal with the linebacker.
At first glance, due to the hulking presence of Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs, you might think there's no way the Bears need a linebacker. Tinoisamoa does, however, represent an upgrade to the serviceable yet unspectacular duo of Hunter Hillenmeyer and Nick Roach at the strong side linebacker position. It will be a two-down job on many possessions, as Urlacher and Briggs never leave the field.
After the Bears made the announcement of their franchise-shattering acquisition of Jay Cutler, they didn't rest. Within a few hours, they announced they had also agreed to terms with venerable left tackle Orlando Pace. I'll admit, I was overly excited about the two new Bears, as were all my Bears fans friends -- which is weird, usually at least one of us disagrees about player movement. Make no mistake about it, though. We aren't delusional. This team is far from complete and the die-hards know it.
With the team still a decent amount below the salary cap and several holes left to fill for 2009, here's what I think the Bears should do.
I've taken time to check out many message boards and comments sections across the internet. What I'm finding, for the most part, is that fans of teams other than the Bears think this is a terrible deal. Their "evidence," though, is usually incredibly flawed. Here are some of the reasons people think the deal is poor for the Bears, followed by my rebuttals.
CHICAGO -- So the Summer Olympics must be coming in 2016. And a minefield of potholes soon will be magically filled. And the Cubs will win a World Series for the first time since, oh, your grandparents' grandparents were double-dating in Henry Ford's Model T. And those wicked, face-eating winters will be replaced by pleasant, sunny, balmy, gorgeous ... all right, I'm obviously overcome by shock.
Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 2009 Offseason Roadmaps for front offices to navigate through the summer.
The Bears surprised everyone by being a respectable football team in 2008. Most expected them to completely unravel, winning maybe three of four games. Instead, they took down the Colts in Indianapolis to kick off a winning season.
Along the way, though, they blew several key games and ended up severely disappointing their own fans by not winning a very winnable division -- not to mention one additional win would have garnered a wild card.
It would be easy for me to sit here and discuss the virtues of playing hard all 16 games and how that overtime win at home last weekend still wasn't enough momentum for the playoffs -- not to mention the fact that the Giants will have a bye next week anyway and that everyone keeps discussing how hard they played in Week 17 last year.
I'm not gonna do that. Instead, I'm going to tell you that the Chicago Bears are not near the playoff team the Minnesota Vikings are at this point. The Giants should be wanting a victory this weekend over the Vikings -- and hoping for a Bears win as well -- because the Vikings could be a scary NFC Championship game foe. That third week in January is one game for the chance to go to the Super Bowl.
The AFC and NFC Pro Bowlers were announced a short while ago, and why make some pointless comment you are sure not to laugh at when we can just give you the rosters instead? Here goes.
I work with a diehard Chicago Bears fan who said what Lance Briggs said -- the day after the Thomas Jones trade went down.
"Why trade away your best offensive player to make room for a guy who took himself out of a Super Bowl??"
The Bears linebacker said pretty much the same thing in a radio interview, in which he blasted Bears management over the deal ... which hurt the team on and off the field:
"[Forte] is an instant upgrade from what we had here last year,"
"Honestly, more than I am frustrated that Cedric Benson didn't pan out here, I am more frustrated that a guy like Thomas Jones, who was our best offensive weapon for the years that he was here, was traded and let go,'' Briggs said. "Because the guy, Thomas Jones, he was a great, great leader for the Bears. He was a fiery leader. He was a guy that when he got out on the field there were no biases to who he went to and told, `Hey, we need to get this done.'
"He went out and he played hard every day and even when we didn't win our league, the guy gave his whole heart and soul. He was our best offensive player every year that he was here. That was more frustrating, that he's not with us today."
A year later, Jones is getting a lot of buzz to have a very good year for the New York Jets ... and Cedric Benson is out of the league.
Since arriving in Chicago, Jay Cutler's been fighting the stigma that he's more of a stat-monger than a winner. The only way to change the feelings of the general public is to go out and win tough games. Anyone can look good during a blowout of an inferior opponent. 
Training camps have wrapped up, the 
In 2003, 
After the Bears made the announcement of their 
CHICAGO -- So the Summer Olympics must be coming in 2016. And a minefield of potholes soon will be magically filled. And the Cubs will win a World Series for the first time since, oh, your grandparents' grandparents were double-dating in Henry Ford's Model T. And those wicked, face-eating winters will be replaced by pleasant, sunny, balmy, gorgeous ... all right, I'm obviously overcome by shock.
Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 
C'mon, 
I work with a diehard Chicago Bears fan who said what 
