So last year, the Bears didn't suck. It was INSANE. The defense was crazy, and the offense had wide receivers and quarterbacks and stuff, and it was great. Well, then Mike Brown and Tommie Harris got hurt, Rex Grossman remembered that he's retarded, and stuff kind of fell apart. But the Bears were in the NFC, so they still finished 13-3 and lost what was possibly the most maddeningly boring Super Bowl of all time, which mainly consisted of Peyton Manning throwing an endless stream of four-yard passes that no one ever thought maybe to cover, interspersed briefly with Rex Grossman's ability as a football player having a public meltdown that ranked up there with the scene in Swingers where Jon Favreau leaves that one chick like a hundred answering machine messages and Henry Burris's NFL playing career. And then, in the offseason, things fell apart further. The McCaskey family's policy of pinching pennies until Abe Lincoln screamed ended up costing them a few major members of the coaching staff, mainly defensive coordinator Ron Rivera, and threatened to make Lovie Smith (then the NFL's lowest-paid head coach) just throw out one of those "eh, screw you guys, 16 more games and I'm gone" years like Bill Cowher had in Pittsburgh last year. Then, they traded offensive MVP Thomas Jones to the Jets along with their second round draft pick, just to move up a few spots in the second round. Then, the Tank Johnson situation blew up and he got suspended for 6-8 games, followed by thinking "zero-tolerance policy" meant, "listen, brother, it's cool, just so long as you stay under the legal limit when you drink and drive at three in the morning," and getting released. Then, Pro Bowl linebacker Lance Briggs got so pissed at the suggestion that he'd get stuck with a Franchise Player designation instead of a long-term contract that he actually publicly stated that he would never play another game in Chicago, and that he'd hold out all year if he had to. Then, defensive end Alex Brown demanded to be traded. But eventually, everything worked out. Lovie Smith got a new contract worth a ton of money. The second round pick they got for Thomas Jones eventually turned into second and third round picks in 2007 and third and fifth round picks in 2008, thanks to the Chargers reeeeally wanting Eric Weddle. Tank Johnson ended up getting replaced by Darwin Walker, a better player who doesn't miss games to do time. Lance Briggs decided to settle for a measly guaranteed seven million for one season and signed his Franchise contract. And Alex Brown... Well, he still wants to be traded, but at least he's being cool about it. Add in the way the Bears were the first team to sign all their draft picks, and things are definitely looking up in 2007. Well, there is one thing that could screw it all up...
Next: QUARTERBACKS
No comments:
Post a Comment