What if the Bears strike out in FA?

Then we hope and pray for the Cubs to still be playing in October, because 7-9 is the best the Bear will do without any additions that can come in and start.

Need a DE bad....

Didn't they see when they gave away all those picks for Cutler that they would be in this situation? Or did they imagine he would be the piece that made them better than the Vikes and Pack? If the latter, someone should get fired.

Now you have a team that doesn't like shelling out money but without draft picks or the talent to compete within their own division. I couldn't blame them for not wanting to pay big money to DEs on the downside of their careers, but their fans might feel differently.

The Bears really need this offseason to be successful but I for one do not think they will succeed. Why you might ask? Well, first they need this offseason to be the best in Bears history so they can keep up with the Vikings and Packers because they need to give Cutler some weapons because last season the league realized Cutler is not Tom Brady or McNabb because Cutler is not a good decision maker in the pocket and he needs talent around him unlike McNabb or Brady (look at the receiving corps those two qb's had to work with for a while). I am not a Bears fan but I could see the Bears falling to a place their not familiar with and that is at the bottom of the division because their defense is old and beaten up, the offensive line is four cardboard boxes with one stalwart who is aging in Kreutz but also the obvious weakness is receivers. The NFL is a passing league now and they need two to three established receivers as well as offensive ilnemen who can keep Cutler upright. Forget about the defense for a second and the offense is a real weakness and honestly I don't see the Bears being able to improve the offensive line and without an o-line to protect Cutler he won't be able to have success even if they bring in a good receiver or two so the Bears need to realize while they can spend money on Antrell Rolle or Peppers it doesn't matter how good your defense is because unless you can throw the ball you can't win in the NFL. The Saints and Colts proved that, the defenses can be good (not great) as long as you have an unstoppable offense your set, look at the final four teams and tell me that I'm wrong, 3/4 teams in that group were explosive offenses with good not great defenses that made stops when needed. The Jets were the exception to the rule and even their offense is good because they have an o-line, good receivers and a great run game but the NFL is geared towards the offenses with recent rule changes that benefit the offense and put defenses at disadvantages in regards to how aggressive they can play (The Tom Brady Rule and the always controversial Illegal Contact, thanks Polian, that gives an automatic first down, really NFL?). So hopefully I've made my case for why the Bears need an offense and unfortunately there really are not any high quality offensive players on the unrestricted free agency list and so the Bears will not have a successful offseason because they will not be able to make significant improvement to their offense and at the end of the day that is the teams biggest weakness.

if they don't get 2/3 of the positions of need: WR, FS(or maybe CB) and DE, lovie smith and angelo should die in a house fire

Matt,

I stopped reading after line one, as I didn't come to the Matthew Waybright website, I came to the nationalfootballpost.com

that's true bob, but that was an irrelevant post to this board on your part, and this isn't to be taken as being rude but what is your opinion on the bears? I do want to know, sorry I had a lot to write about the Bears.

I say go after Peppers, Kampman, Rolle and Taylor all of those players would be great to have. I also feel it would be in the Bears best interest to trade Harris, Hester and Olsen. Sure why not, Lovie and Jerry need to to something really drastic to save their jobs. You could probably score some good Draft Picks for those three guys. Olsen to Miami for their second and fourth, Hester to a team who needs to jump start their special teams, Giants maybe? and Tomme Harris to any team that is willing to give up something good for that useless money pit. What ever they do I hope they just don't give up any of next years draft picks and let the new guys start off from scratch.

Why would they come up empty? They have the money,the motivation & the Bears are a premier football market. Probably the number 1 football market in the NFL as the east coast love their pucks & hoops. LA doesn't even have a team. So for them to come up empty I think is an unrealistic proposition. Especially w/jobs on the line. So Matt wrote a pretty useless article here.

As far as how they should go my opinion is you get THE premier guy here. That starts w/Peppers who also fills the biggest need on this team. If he's all you get so be it. I like that better then paying a lot of money to slightly above average talent in quantity. So Rolle,Dansby & Kampman would be less impactful then Peppers. I think they can get better 75th overall in the draft or even get similar production in house from a Steltz,(especially w/Peppers rushing the passer),as they would get from Rolle. I also think They can get results at the SAM from Williams similar to Dansby who is better probably but not that much better. At DE there is no scenario where you get even close to the impact Peppers gives just as a presence forget production. Not on your current roster,not in FA,& certainly not 75th overall in the draft. To me its a no brainer.

I think Bears can outbid Snyder. Is he going to spend all the money on D w/Shanny an offensive coach on board? Not to mention he's going to have quite a dilemma when the cap is finally instituted. Whos he gong to cut? I mean half the Cap hit will be on the D-line! Is he going to pay 3times the luxury tax? I don't think so. Snyder like everyone is in the money making business not the money losing business. He's already not getting his return on a stud D-lineman in big Al.

I like your argument but the Redskins ultimately win in free agency when it comes to overspending for players, recent history shows us that Synder will get what he wants with Haynesworth (you can make the argument that Haynesworth didn't want to go to the Buc's because of a rebuilding year but the Skin's didn't look all that good either and they paid more) as well as guys like Randel El so the Redskins will offer more for Peppers than Chicago but is peppers going to a team that doesn't have a legit shot at a super bowl? I can't answer that but I can say that if he wants to take less but have a shot at a championship he should go to Philly or New England but money talks.

Also, just my personal take is I read that if he wasn't motivated on a one year deal what makes you think a contract that will guarentee him 40+mil will motivate when he knows he can do nothing and still get paid. Peppers just is odd, he doesn't seem to try every down and I know it's hard to go 100% every play but when you do it consistently that is a question mark. So Bear fans be happy if you land him but you could save that money and fill other needs and let Synder overpay again!

I love Kampman -- but with his knee injury he is a big unknown. Any team (the Bears??!) who pay him big money are gamblers.

Hey "Da Coach," No worries on sports excitement in Chicago this October . . . the Sox will have you covered during their trip to winning the World Series.

Picking up Kampman and Chester Taylor would be a good move by the Bears. They would get two good, dependable players while taking those players away from NFC Central opponents who want to hold on to them.

If they did the above, and I was GM, I would attempt to trade Cutler to San Francisco for their two first round draft picks along with Alex Smith. I would use one pick on a offensive tacke and trade the other pick for two seconds and a third. With those I would pick up another lineman, perhaps a top rated center, a good running back, and a front seven defensive player.

So the end result would be adding Kampman, Taylor, a OT, a center who would play guard for a year, an explosive running back, and a defensive front seven starter, along with a new quarterback - all for quarterback Jeff George, I mean Cutler, and some cash. Add in the Bear's own draft picks, and hope returns to the Windy CIty.

Packers aren't giving up Kampman

ArtGJ,

That's actually not a bad idea trading Cutler, since the cap hit wouldn't matter this year now that it's uncapped. But no one is giving two number ones for him. In fact, a second round pick is about the most you could hope for. Still, it's something and you wouldn't have to pay his enormous salaray.

Matt

Snyder won't outspend on this one because of the reasons I mentioned. I won't go over them again just re-read what I wrote. I wouldn't go too crazy though so if Snyder wants him for 18 mil plus a year thats fine. Take him. Redskins are only linked here because he played under some coach or the GM or something. Its all about negotiating. Come this time tomorrow we'll be commenting on the Bears signing J.P. IMO. As far as Peppers motivation goes all I know is he's a factor in nearly every game. He did have a bad 07' but struggled w/a shoulder injury that year. Otherwise he was well worth his money the rest of the time.

As far as your views on the Bears offense I have to disagree with you. Despite what the great Ron Jaworski said the reason Cutler had lots of picks were because DB's were jumping routes all year long. If you look at his picks most were because of DB's being in better position then our WR's because our offense was the same in 09' as it was in 08'. The only play out of the same formation I didn't see was the McKie 1 yard plunge that failed all 5 times they used it in 08'. Even then it took them a whole year to figure out it was a bad play.

Matt

Snyder won't outspend on this one because of the reasons I mentioned. I won't go over them again just re-read what I wrote. I wouldn't go too crazy though so if Snyder wants him for 18 mil plus a year thats fine. Take him. Redskins are only linked here because he played under some coach or the GM or something. Its all about negotiating. Come this time tomorrow we'll be commenting on the Bears signing J.P. IMO. As far as Peppers motivation goes all I know is he's a factor in nearly every game. He did have a bad 07' but struggled w/a shoulder injury that year. Otherwise he was well worth his money the rest of the time.

As far as your views on the Bears offense I have to disagree with you. Despite what the great Ron Jaworski said the reason Cutler had lots of picks were because DB's were jumping routes all year long. If you look at his picks most were because of DB's being in better position then our WR's because our offense was the same in 09' as it was in 08'. The only play out of the same formation I didn't see was the McKie 1 yard plunge that failed all 5 times they used it in 08'. Even then it took them a whole year to figure out it was a bad play.

Johnny

I can agree with you that it would be foolish for the Skins to invest a majority of their money in two d-line players but my only thing for the bears is your right, DB's jumped routes because the bears don't have the receives that can "fool" db's but Cutler has to get better and the only way you do that is by fixing the o-line and improving the receiving corp's because if the Bears want to put all that money into one player that will hurt their chances to add some quality offenses players. Then again, i guess if there really are no stand out offensive players in free agency the Bears might as well put all their money on the defense.

I want to say first off, forget the Cubs, they stop playing in August every year. GO SOX

If the Bears do not fill the DE or FS spots in F/A then they almost have to trade Olsen for a couple of picks. They have to many holes and this draft is to deep for them not to make sone kind of move

I want to say first off, forget the Cubs, they stop playing in August every year. GO SOX

If the Bears do not fill the DE or FS spots in F/A then they almost have to trade Olsen for a couple of picks. They have to many holes and this draft is to deep for them not to make some kind of move

Kampman, I enjoyed following him these years but his lack of versatility bothered me. He is a good but not great pass rusher who will be slower this year because it takes a year to get over his injury type. He is a hard worker and would probably offer great value to the Bears if they take him. Aaron also has difficulty shedding blockers at times.

The most pressing needs are DE and FS. RB would be nice. BTW, they need a legit backup QB - it's amazing they got away with it last year.

They can into the draft very pleased with themselves if they get any combo of Peppers, Kampan, Rolle or the FS from the Steelers. By combo i mean one FS, one DE.

It's not impossible. Did anyone seriously think Chicago would get Cutler last year?

If it takes money, we've got it. If it takes tradition and vast marketing possibilities for outside revenue, we've got it. If it takes believing the Bears can make a playoff run, that's where the sell has to be hard and to the point - yes, we have problems, but you can be part of the answer. And you will be paid handsomely and be held in great appreciation by devoted fans if you hold up your end of the bargain.

Then it's on the draft for that OL and a bunch of DBs with the hopes of finding a gem.

As Walter Payton said, tomorrow is guaranteed to no one, but a plan can take you a long way.