Jay Cutler said, “I think it’d be good for the city,” said Cutler of Chicago possibly hosting Olympics” and went on to joke “I don’t know if I’ll be here for that. Traffic is bad enough right now.”

According to WGN TV:

Defensive tackle Anthony Adams believes an Olympics in the Second City is a first-rate idea, and he joked he’s “been doing extra tumbles, things on the pommel horse and rings” along with anything else “in my power to get the bid.”

Who needs President Obama to show up for the final push when these guys are throwing their support in for the city? (more…)

The lack of production at defensive tackle may account for part of the sudden calapse of the previously dominant Bears defense.  The giant holes in the safety position have been painful to watch, but they wouldn’t be so exposed if opposing offenses weren’t getting the opportunities to go deep. 

It’s no secret that part of Brian Urlacher’s success is his uncanny speed to move from sideline to sideline and make a great play.  What has also become well known is his inability to shed blockers when a free guard or tackle can come up and disrupt his running lane.  Having big, strong defensive tackles that require double teams are what make fast linebackers look so good.  It’s also the reason why the Bears linebackers have looked so bad this season.

The Bears are sitting on one of the most promising young defensive tackles in the game in Tommie Harris.  He can change the course of a game all by himself.  His injuries didn’t heal quite as promised and he ended up spending the entire season battling knee injuries.  Harris has managed to play in every game this season with a heavily braced knee and almost no practice time.  It has become a regular sight at Halas Hall to see Harris sitting out every practice of every week.  He’s been playing on Sunday and only Sunday and has still managed to produce 29 tackles and 7 sacks on the season.  It’s actually a little bit scary when you think about how much production this young man would have on two good knees.  Going into only his fourth season next year we may witness the development of a truly amazing talent.

The Bears made the off-season move to acquire veteran Darwin Walker from the Philadelphia Eagles, which I thought was genious at the time.  Unfortunately, with 17 tackles and 1 sack on the season he hasn’t quite lived up to expectations.  Seen walking around Halas Hall in a sling, his status for the final three games looks bleak.  His future with the team looks even worse.

I was pretty disappointed when the Bears let go one of my favorite players from last season, Ian Scott, who ironically went to the Eagles but hasn’t played.  We also let Alfonso Boone go to the Kansas City Chiefs and magically became a difference maker, but that isn’t saying much with the Chiefs defense.  The Bears left us to watch Anthony Adams and Antonio Garay, who have been about as productive as the water boy in making a difference in the game.  To make matters worse, both Adams and Garay have placed on the injured reserve and are done for the season. 

So let’s review, the Bears have a great player in Harris who is barely playing on one knee, Walker is walking around with a sling, and their two back-ups are on injured reserve.  Suddenly the Bears troubles on defense are making sense.  The Bears literally have no one left to put at the position.  Last Thursday the Bears were forced to play special teamer and back-up linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo to get players rest.  This is a sad state of affairs.

So who will the Bears lineup at defensive tackle on Sunday?  Today the Bears signed Jimmy Kennedy, who was the 12th overall draft pick by the St. Louis Rams in 2003 and was a bust.  He was released by the Denver Broncos in preseason and now finds himself in a position to get a lot of playing time.  No word if he is in game shape or has done anything with football up until Tuesday. 

On Monday the Bears upgraded Babatunde Oshinowo from the practice squad.  He will likely get the start along side Harris on Sunday since he is familiar with the system.  He only played in one game last year for the Cleveland Browns and recorded two tackles.  Behold your starting defensive tackle Bears fans. 

This is going to be ugly.  We face the greatest rushing duo in the league with absolutely do depth or skill at a position needed to stop the run.  I will be surprised if the Vikings attempt more than 15 passes on Sunday because it won’t be needed. 

Cedric Benson made approximately $620,000 for his base salary with a $4 million signing bonus for this season. He missed out on an additional bonus of $1.7 million by falling 26 yards short of 700 yards rushing. Since when does 700 yards rushing amount to a $1.7 million bonus? Were the Bears expectations for this season really that low?

Better Bet

The more motivated and talented Adrian Peterson that is willing to block and catch passes will make a base salary of $595,000 this year. I guess hard work isn’t as important as draft day hype.

Where’s Waldo?

You’d have to put Nathan Vasher in a striped shirt, glasses, and a cane to find him. I get the feeling the Bears have known for a while the season is done and are not willing to risk putting one of their long term investments at corner on the field and make his injury worse.

Broken Record

I really can’t express enough how bad that Chris Harris trade looks right now. The Thomas Jones trade couldn’t be avoided, but trading Harris was harsh and didn’t bring much in return. After seeing Trumaine McBride and Brandon McGowan play it really makes you appreciate how special Harris was coming right out of college and contributing on the field. It was too much of a gamble not to keep an insurance policy in case Adam Archuleta didn’t live up to expectations.

Moral Victory?

What’s left to play for? Pride and self-respect and nothing more. It would almost be worse if Kyle Orton came out and played well because it will make an even bigger mess of our quarterback situation.

Beat The Packers!

It’s pathetic but it’s basically all we have left. Beating the Packers and possibly having an effect on their home field advantage would be the only high point to end this season. However, considering that is the second to last game of the season, the seasoning ending game at home against the Saints will be nothing more than an excuse for me to eat buffalo wings and drink beer.

Viking Invasion

The dominance in Minnesota of the Other Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor combination makes me raise a serious question. Will the Bears defense be completely humiliated and just embarrassed? Stop laughing, that’s a real question.

Too Early?

I’m sure I’ll write several articles about this later on, but I just want to air it out now before anybody else. The first round draft pick should always be used for offensive lineman when needed. There are several examples of quality quarterbacks and running backs never being drafted and turning into Pro Bowl players such as Tony Romo, Kurt Warner, and Willie Parker. I’ve yet to see an example of a walk-on offensive lineman. It is a position that requires players of a certain size, skill, and pedigree that is almost never lost on talent scouts. Offensive Tackle should be the primary concern for the Bears come draft time, everything else comes second.

I would write something to review the last game but that would presuppose the Bears actually played a game. The performance on Thursday night was far from a game. It was an embarrasment for a storied franchise that will quickly be forgotten.

So what is left for the Bears in their final 3 games? I’ll come out right now and say if they manage to run the table and win their final 3 games it will be a waste and a shame. So what you will about pride but I saw a team with no self-respect on Thursday night. They had no desire to play or will to win. The last 3 games should be a test of talent and obtaining a good draft pick. Falling behind the pack of NFC contenders will help solidy a higher draft pick for next year. I’ll say more about possible picks another time.

I’ve heard suggestions of starting young talent on the roster to test hopefuls for next year. I laugh at the thought when I consider this team is significantly void of an undiscovered young talent. Anyone not named Kyle Orton has been given an opportunity to contribute on the field. This season was a total breakdown at every position and there will be no moral victories to distribute.

The only high points I have found this season is the consistent play of Adewale Ogunleye and Alex Brown’s commitment to get his starting job back. It took all season but the Bears also seem to finally appreciate the ability of Adrian Peterson to make plays on the field. Garrett Wolfe appears ready to make contributions but will still require a few years of work. Outside of that handful of warriors, this team looked like they were going through the motions.

The biggest decision for the Bears is whether to commit to this team that let us all down and give them another opportunity at a Super Bowl run or if our window really was that short. Does the ailing back of Brian Urlacher signify the end of the Bears after only one year of dominance? I can only hope this team still has the resiliance to pick itself up and return to form next year.

The Bears did everything you could expect to gain the advantage. They created turnovers in the form of interceptions at key situations when the Giants were about to score and generated fumbles. The Bears offense looked like it found it’s identity with Rex reaching a quarterback epiphany and understanding how to cut through a defense and Adrian Peterson becoming an all-purpose back. I told a friend that I predicted Peterson would have 120 all purpose yards and he exceeded even my expectations by producing 149 on 67 yard rushing and 82 yards receiving. Rex couldn’t get Olsen involved as much as I would have liked, but that’s more due to the great performance put in by Desmond Clark who is quietly putting together another good season.

The Giants gave the Bears about a dozen opportunities to win the game. There is far too much blame being put on the drop by Hester, which he doesn’t deserve given the heroics he has supplied for the team in the past. The Hester drop was disappointing but I look more critically towards the play of Berrian who saw several deep throws go his way only to see them sail over his head or through his hands. If a receiver misses a pass you can blame the quarterback, but when a receiver has several opportunities to come up with a big play and just can’t get to the ball, I question the route running and ball handling skills of the receiver. I witnessed a couple passes that had an opportunity to become big plays if a receiver was willing to stretch out and make a diving catch. Apparently the Bears receivers a more worried about keeping their pants clean.

Adrian Peterson had a couple chances to break open some highlight reel plays but there always seemed to be a Giants defender ready to make a shoestring tackle. I’m not going to question the break away ability of Peterson who is as tough of a runner as you will find in the NFL. The Giants came in with a game plan to stop Peterson, who they considered to be the Bears biggest threat in this game. Afterwards, Michael Strahan openly questioned the Bears move not to use Peterson more in the 4th quarter. The Giants spent all week preparing for Peterson of all people, who they deemed to be a quality running back that could give them trouble. Really makes you think about all those weeks of Benson’s running troubles when our real threat was riding the bench.

Honorable mentions for blowing the game can be made for the complete breakdown of the Bears defense in the 4th quarter and some down right terrible calls made by the officiating crew. I have had season tickets for the Bears for many years and have watched a variety of quarterbacks come and go. You have to acknowledge when you are going against a clearly superior quarterback like the Seattle game. Matt Hasselbeck cut through the Bears defense with precision passing that I think has left a lasting effect on Rex Grossman. Last week Rex made several attempts to dump the ball down in the flats for small gains that produced big plays for the Seahawks. Yesterday we saw Rex make precision passes with high efficiency in another Hasselbeck-like effort. You wonder if Rex has finally found a mold to follow to develop his quarterback skills. Hasselbeck is a dominant quarterback for his precision pass capability. Eli Manning is none of the above.

After spending an afternoon watching Eli Manning work the Giants offense I can safely say he is an average quarterback at best. The only thing that separates Eli from by being compared and treated more like Josh McCown or Joey Harrington is his last name. You have to wonder how long he can run on his family name before it all comes crashing down. Eli will go down for bringing his team to a 4th quarter comeback and will be heralded in New York, but make no mistake about it, he is not a good quarterback. Rex is an uncontrollable force at quarterback that can light up a scoreboard with scoring, for his team or the other team depending on his play. Eli hasn’t shown that kind of capability and is more of a product for amazing talent at receiver and tight end. Rex may still develop into a great quarterback, but Eli may be hitting the end of his road.

The officiating crew made me want to puke. I’m not going to say much more out of fear for keeping my lunch down, but they should be ashamed of themselves. The NFL should sit all of them down and make them watch Sunday’s game.

Make no mistake, the Bears were the better team on the field on Sunday. Despite being sacked 6 times, Rex kept himself composed in the pocket. Adrian Peterson delivered as promised by producing yards all over the field. The rest of the offense couldn’t step up to the challenge. The defense put in 3 quarters of solid work but let the offense down in the end, something Bears fans are not used to seeing. Lovie Smith’s coaching staff made some questionable decisions down the stretch that gave the Giants opportunities. When the Bears had the ball with about 5 minutes left in the game why didn’t they make more of an effort to run the clock down??

Most of all, please stopping blaming Hester, who is the last person that deserves any blame for a lost season. I put more blame on a coaching staff that can’t seem to get younger defense players prepared to play and can’t execute a simple offensive game plan.

 The Bears offense has it’s hands full going up against the Giants defense, ranked 7th in the league.  Even more troubling is the dominance of Michael Strahan, Justin Tuck, and Osi Umenyiora to get after the quarterback.  If the Bears can keep the ball away from the Giants sack attack they still have a chance in this game.  The Giants rely a lot on their pass rush the way the Bears relied upon turnovers for the defense to excel last season.  If Lovie wants to win this game, this will be a game won by the art of deception and decoys. 

I hope the Bears utilize the hands of Adrian Peterson and keep the action spread out all over the field.  Normally I am a fan of running between the tackles and picking up tough yards.  If the Bears can get a running game going with Adrian Peterson, the Bears will do everything they can to control the tempo of the game.  When the Bears are forced into passing you should get your fill of screen passes, dump offs to the sideline, and maybe a few more appearances of the end around with Hester. 

If you are not in Chicago, let me fill you in.  I just looked out my window and there is a HEAVY snowfall coming down.  Weather reports indicate 3 inches will fall today but the snow isn’t melting.  It’s hitting the ground and accumulating quickly.  Field conditions tomorrow will pretty bad by game time.  The only thing this takes away from the Bears offense is the deep bomb to Berrian. 

Field conditions will be in the Bears favor tomorrow to establish a running game and using short, quick passes to confuse the Giants defense.  The Bears need a good, accurate game from Grossman and another game from Peterson with effort he showed last week.  Look for Bears receivers to be downgraded to blockers on every play.  The x-factor on offense is Greg Olsen and Desmond Clark that may find themselves open for a big play or two.

Giants offense v. Bears Defense

 The Bears are capable of putting up big points with the play makers on the roster, but it won’t matter if the defense keeps giving up 30+ points a game.  Eli Manning put up a terrible performance last week against the Vikings, who are not known for having a great secondary.  The troubling part is Eli has been very relaxed all week in interviews and New York reports are a little frustrated with how much he appears to not care. 

Two things could happen here.  Eli could be going down the road of Bad Rex by ignoring his critics and try to win the game on Sunday with a great play.  This would play to the Bears advantage unless he throws a pass towards the portion of the field where Adam Archuleta is too busy chasing butterflies.  Charles “peanut” Tillman will have to shadow Plaxico Burress the entire game and give him no room to come up with a big play. 

Brandon Jacobs is out but Derrick Ward is in, so the Giants running game will be ready.  The best the Bears defense can hope for is a little rust on Ward.  With the field conditions messy, the Giants will give Ward every opportunity and then some so shake it off.

The x-factor for the Giants will be Jeremy Shockey and if the Bears can contain him.

Special Teams

If the Giants want to win they will kick away from Hester.  Look for some creative package by the Bears to try to make something happen.  If the Giants kick short I wouldn’t be suprised if the Bears try a lateral to get Hester involved.  Anything can happen with Bears special teams on the field.

This could be a game with a lot of field goals, be prepared to see a lot of Gould.

You never like to see another man get injured, especially when it could ruin his career.  But when I hear Favre went down with an arm injury I crack a little smile.

 Hide and Go Vasher

Remember Nathan Vasher, aka The Interceptor?  We’ve been hearing for almost a month about his eminant return from injury, yet remain disappointed every week.  Short a miracle healing of Mike Brown, I can’t imagine a bigger impact for the Bears defense then to get Vasher back.  I’m sure seeing Vasher starting would start Eli off to a rough Sunday.

Say What??

The Bears go against the best pass rushing defense in football.  So how do the Bears pass rushers answer?  By having Alex Brown tell reports the Bears pass rush is better.  I’ve heard of players giving other teams motivation by supplying quotes for their locker room, but they rarely come framed.

Anderson Who?

Speaking of pass rush, has anyone seen Mark Anderson?  Me either.

Helping Retirees

Kyle Turley of the Kansas City Chiefs has announced he will donate his pay check for his December 23rd game to the Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund for NFL retirees.  Fred Miller is trying to figure out if he counts towards a retiree or if you have to actually announce that you’ve stopped playing.

Speed Racer

I’m a Rex Grossman fan, but this weekend could be ugly.  You would think for being a young guy he would move well in the pocket.  He runs out of the pocket like a lost kid.  HOLD THE BALL!!

A Moment of Silence

The events in Sean Taylor’s home this week were tragic and horrific.  I feel terrible for his baby that will never have a father.  This should never happen.  He had true talent and will be remembered.

Extra Motivation?

Keep an eye on Devin Hester and Greg Olsen, teammates of Taylor’s at Miami.  Hester asked reporters to respect his privacy at this time as he mourns the loss of a friend.  If the Giants kick towards Hester on Sunday it will be the NFL version of a forfeit. 

Loyal to the Bears for his entire career despite almost no opportunities in the backfield, he has made a place in the hearts of fans. It took four years of riding the bench until injuries forced him into the backfield for his first career start. He returned the favor by running over the 49′ers for 120 yards on 24 carries and a touchdown. If that’s any indication of his potential, his 5 yards a carry will be a welcome change to Belly Flop Benson.

You won’t see his name on many statistics from last year’s Super Bowl run. Peterson became that player that put his heart and soul on the field without much reward. There wasn’t a kickoff last season where you wouldn’t find Peterson flying downfield ready to throw his body into the scrum.

Scrum is a fitting word if you watched the performance this past weekend at Soldier Field. When the Bears badly needed a touchdown, Peterson took the ball at the 4 yard line and was quickly met at the 3 yard line. A normal running back would go down and shield himself from injury. Peterson is not a normal running back. He’s a utility man, he’s a team player, he’s a special teams animal, he plays with heart.

The thing about heart is it can be contagious. Olin Kruetz was the first to join in the effort and soon the entire offensive line was involved in an all out scrum, pushing and shoving their way into the end zone. Peterson didn’t score because he made a great cut or juke, he scored because he motivated his teammates to have heart. You can’t help but love a player like Peterson.

Facing a tough Giants defense on Sunday that likes to get after the quarterback, the running game is going to be key. The Bears may be in better shape with Peterson in the backfield the entire game with his far superior hands. The opportunities Peterson has had this year is on third downs when he makes a tough block or goes in the flat to make a tough catch and take a big hit. Having a player like that on the field the entire game could be a difference maker.

Look for the Bears to utilize Peterson as a weapon and try to neutralize the Giants pass rush with lots of screen plays and quick dump passes to the sidelines. Both plays work towards Peterson’s abilities and give the Bears a good chance for their first back-to-back wins of the season. I’m a bit relieved to have Peterson in the backfield and think his talent and heart have long been overlooked. He has earned his time to be called a veteran in the league and deserves more than to be called the Other Adrian Peterson.