Cover Stew: Bears News and Notes
I’m trying out a new segment to help me get caught up on Bears news called Cover Stew. It’s a nod to Lovie’s Cover-2 defense with a little Bears news chopped up into little bits of goodness – just like Mom used to make. Have a taste:
Breakfast with Lovie
Lovie Smith chatted up the media at the NFL Owner’s Meeting and touched on a variety of topics including how he envisions Devin Hester’s role on the offense. There’s only one little problem – it’s Mike Martz’s offense and what Lovie said conflicts directly with what Martz said when he rolled into town. I know, I know – Lovie is still the head coach. Fine. Here’s my suggestion – fix your defense and let Mad Martz do his thing. Keep an eye on this relationship Bears fans. It could be very interesting.
Smith also sees the Bears using four tight end next season. This from Sean Jensen’s piece in the Sun Times:
"He said his top four tight ends — Olsen, Manumaleuna, Kellen Davis and Desmond Clark — will all have roles.”We need ’em all,” he said. ”They all have a strength.”"
What else is he supposed to say? We would really like to trade Greg Olsen for another draft pick? I don’t expect four tight ends make the final 53-man roster.
Lovie Knows a thing or three about Defense Too
Lovie is excited to get Brian Urlacher and Tommie Harris back next season to help bring the defense back and called out #91:
"Smith conceded that “production hasn’t been there as much as we want with Tommie. He has dealt with injuries, and I’m going to say that’s been a big part of it. We still see special plays, but not enough of them.“Part of us getting back as a defense is Tommie getting back. He went into the offseason as healthy as he’s been in a long time. Tommie has been working out almost daily up there since the end of the season. You get in position to have a great year. And we need him to. He’s been disappointed in his play and I think he’s ready to do something about it.”"
Ball is in your court, Tommie.
Schedule Rumors
There’s been a rumor swirling around about the Bears playing the Cowboys on Thanksgiving. Check your turkey jokes at the door. It’s great to be considered for this game, but I really don’t like playing the Thanksgiving games. It throws off the team’s routine and gives an advantage to the home team since they do this every year. Either that or it’s the Bears’ lack of success on Turkey Day in recent years that turns me off. Last time the Bears played the Boys on Thanksgiving was a 21-7 loss.
Another rumor that’s been gaining some steam is that the Bears could be playing in Canada this year. The Bears visit Buffalo this season and the Bills have played one of their home games in Toronto the last couple of seasons. Since the Bills have played two divisional opponents the last two years, it increases the odds to 1-6 that the Bears would head north of the border. Time to dust off your passports, Bears fans.
Last bit that came out about the schedule is that the NFL is trying to set the schedule to have more divisional matchups the last two weeks of the season in an effort to keep things interesting as the regular season winds down.
Danieal Manning not into volunteering
Danieal Manning plans to sit out the voluntary workouts that start on Monday. Um, why? Dude, you need all of the fucking practice you can get as Lovie yo-yo’s you around the defensive secondary.
By some miracle and total ineptitude by the Bears, he’s about to be handed the starting strong safety job. If he wants to sit, he’d better be careful – he might sit his way right back to the bench or out to the street.