Rex Grossman is starting again for the Redskins. His first outing with them didn't go so well.

If you think we have problems in Chicago, try being a Washington Redskins fan.  Your team isn’t winning, you’ve suspended Albert Haynesworth and now you’re bring Sexy Rexy back.  ESPN reports that Donovan McNabb is going to be benched this week and ex-Bear Rex Grossman will be the starting QB for the Redskins against the Dallas Cowboys.  Rex is their quarterback.  But Sexy isn’t going to a Super Bowl this year, as the Redskins are already mathematically eliminated from the playoffs.  This moves seems to be an audition for Rex, who has potential to be the Redskins starter next year (to the amazement of all). 

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DeAngelo Hall tied an NFL record with 4 interceptions. (Photo courtesy of NFL.com)

The Bears are full of surprises this season; some good, some bad.  Lately, they’ve been mostly bad.  The unexpected wins in Dallas and against Green Bay have been negated by miserable back-t0-back home losses to Seattle and Washington.  The Bears head into their BYE week with a 4-3 record and heading the wrong direction.  Check out NFL.com’s breakdown here.  I use the words highlights loosely.

I will preface my instant analysis with the fact that I could only half watch the 2nd half because I was watching my 20-month old while Mrs. Beargoggleson was at a wedding shower.  I think next time I’ll go to the shower.  On with some bullets, Greg Blache style:

• The turnovers by the offense were inexcusable, especially in the Red Zone.  They made 3 trips to the red zone, scoring 1 TD but committed 2 turnovers.  When you lose by 3 points, that’s a tough pill to swallow.
• Lovie Smith’s use of challenges is laughable.  Of course he challenges the Earl Bennett n0n-TD because he knows full well that 1st and goal from the 1-yard line for this offense and they might as well be 100 yards away.  Then he gets gun shy to challenge the Jay Cutler quarterback sneak-turned-fumble.
• Greg Olsen – caught a couple of balls, but overall, still useless.
• Jay Cutler was sacked 4 more times and threw 4 interceptions.  You all wanted balance?  There’s your balance.
• Jerry Angelo needs to go get DeAngelo Hall to play wide receiver.  He was Jay Cutler’s favorite target, tallying an NFL record tying 4 picks, even taking one 92 yards for a pick-6.  Check out all of them here.
• Someone please put out an Amber Alert for Devin Aromashodu.  Haven’t really seen him since Week 1.
• Someone give Chris Williams the license plate of that truck that ran him over.  It was #92, Albert Haynesworth, who last time I checked, was still trying to pass his conditioning test.
• Seeing #30 DJ Moore with a tipped ball, pick-6 sure reminded me of Mike Brown.  I miss Brownie.
• Speaking of that tipped pass, Izzy Idonije is ballin’ right now.  Dude is showing something at the other DE position opposite Peppers.
• Just to let you know how the defense played, Izzy Idonije led the team with 2 passes defensed.
• Speaking of Amber Alerts, could someone please put one out for Julius Peppers?  He has pulled a disappearing act from the stat sheet the last couple of weeks.
• The Bears finally broke their 0-fer streak of 3rd down conversions.  They finished the day 2 out of 10.  Do we call that progress from last week’s 0-13?
• What’s worse – the Bears trying to convert 3rd downs or the Bears trying to score from the 1-yard line?
• That sound you heard at the end of the game was the Bears season getting flushed down the toilet.  After the BYE, there are not many gimmes left on the schedule.  The Bills?  They gave the Ravens everything they could handle at home today.

I’ll go back and watch the film of the second half and post some more thoughts later on.  Also be on the lookout for Bear Dawn and Observations of a Mad Scientist along with Driving Deez Nuts and maybe even a BYE week LOWER THE BOOM.  Plenty more coverage here throughout the week here at Bear Goggles On.

This season marks the 25th anniversary of the 1985 Super Bowl Bears. We’ll look back at all of the games leading up to the last Lombardi Trophy being hoisted at Halas Hall. To take the full trip down memory lane, check out Run The Ball for a complete DVD series of every game of the histiric 1985 Bears season. Tell them Bear Goggles On sent you! You can also get your ticket to join the ’85 Bears in their Glory Days Reunion here.  Special thanks to a couple of YouTube channels for the great ’85 Bears stuff they have as well – here and here.  Check em out!

September 29, 1985

The Washington Redskins headed to town to face off with the 3-0 Bears, who were coming off a thrilling Thursday night comeback against the Vikings.  As an NFC powerhouse, the Redskins would provide a big test for the surging Bears.   The Skins’ Dexter Manley stirred things up leading into game week by declaring that the Redskins “had to knock Walter Payton out of the game.” They achieved that goal, holding Payton to just 6 yards on 7 carries.  But these weren’t the Bears of old, where if you stopped Payton, you stopped the Bears.

It didn’t start out very well for the Bears, as they would trail Washington 10-0 early in the 2nd quarter.  But that’s when things took a turn when Willie Gault returned the ensuing kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown.  The Bears wouldn’t look back after that.  The Bears poured it on, piling up 45 unanswered points to send the Skins home with a 45-10 loss.  Check out some highlights:

Hit the jump for some game notes, courtesy of Chicago Tribune Archives:

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5. Chicago Bears: Don’t underestimate the influence of new coordinator Mike Martz on offense. Jay Cutler’s first year was a disappointment, but Martz has been able to add three to six points to offenses with quarterbacks less talented than Cutler. The Bears averaged 19.4 points a game last year. If Martz can add about four or five points a game through Cutler’s powerful arm, the Bears might be 9-7 or better instead of 7-9.

The schedule isn’t easy because the NFC North plays the NFC East and AFC East. The Bears play a .504 schedule compared to .496 a year ago. The key is the improvement of the offense. Because expectations are down, the Bears have a chance to sneak up on teams.

The thing that J-Clay doesn’t account for is that for Jay to be effective, he’ll need to stay upright.  Martz’s offense might kill Cutler if the Bears don’t get some protection for him.

In case you’re interested, the other surprise teams are 1. Washington, 2. Carolina, 3. Oakland and 4, Atlanta.  The Bears get to face the top two supposed “surprise teams” this season.

Donovan McNabb is headed to Washington in a surprising intra-divisional trade. (Photo: UPI)

The Washington Redskins have acquired quarterback Donovan McNabb from the Philadelphia Eagles for their 2010 2nd round pick (37th overall) and either a 3rd or 4th rounder in 2011.

When you compare that to what the Bears gave up to get Jay Cutler a year ago – Kyle Orton, their 2009 and 2010 1st round picks and a swap of their 2009 3rd for Denver’s 5th – it seems like the ‘Skins got a bargain deal.  Think the Eagles were desperate to move him?  It’s even more strange that they traded within their own division, so they’ll get to see him twice a year.

McNabb is 33 and his most productive years are likely behind him, but new Washington head coach Mike Shanahan and owner Daniel Snyder must be betting that they can put a Super Bowl run together with an aging backfield.

Why else would they get McNabb and every over-the-hill running back that’s on the open market?  Between Clinton Portis, Larry Johnson and Willie Parker, they’ve got more mileage than Jenna Jameson’s mattress (and with slightly less plastic surgery.  Have you seen her lately?  Even Ben Roethlisberger wouldn’t have anything to do with here.  Yikes!)

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After Zampese interviewed with the Bears for the position Jan 12-13, Lewis gave his coach a week to make a decision.

“For us, that time has come and gone as far as the deadline,” Lewis said Monday. “That’s kind of closed up, and I don’t think Lovie (Smith) has made a decision on what he wants to do yet.”

Hue Jackson is interviewing, not Hugh Jackman.

Now add Ravens quarterbacks coach Hue Jackson to the carousel.  No, not Wolverine.  That would be an improvement to the crap that they’re left to sift through for this job.  Just check out the highlights from Jackson’s resume:

- The Ravens’ 2009 passing game ranked 18th, one spot behind – you guessed it – the Ron Turner led Chicago Bears with Jackson mentoring Joe Flacco as QB’s coach.

- Back in 2003, Jackson was the OC of the Washington Redskins.  You know where that offense ranked?  23rd.

- Better yet, how about the 2007 Atlanta Falcons, where Jackson led the Falcons to a 23rd ranked offense as the OC.

Hey, at least he’s consistent.   My guy Decon is calling this whole coordinator search a joke.  Me, I’m getting pissed about the whole thing.  This is such a goddam disgrace, it makes me sick.  It almost makes me miss Ron Turner’s good old predictable bubble screens.

But don’t worry, Tim Hassellbeck thinks Jackson “has a presense.”  Yeah, so does a bad fart.  And this from the guy whose biggest accomplishment is marrying that chick from Survivor.

Maybe that’s how this whole coordinator search should go.  Turn it into a reality show.

The tribe has spoken.

New Orleans -13.5 at Rams – A Dome is a Dome is a Dome.  The spread is under the dreaded 14 because it is an away game and people got burned by picking New Orleans last week against Carolina (i.e. Me).  Don’t fear the big points this week – keep pounding New Orleans.  It will pan out in the long run.

Broncos -3.5 at Redskins Having a hard time figuring this one out and that usually scares me away from a game.  The Broncos are coming off two losses and it is time to right the ship.  Playing a woefully awful team is the way to do it.  I’m not letting that hook (.5) scare me away on this one.

Ravens -10.5 at Browns Typically would stay away from a “bad blood” rivalry, but this time around, the scales are too heavily tipped Baltimore’s way.  For crying out loud, the Bears beat Cleveland by 24 – you don’t think that Baltimore’s Defense will shut down the Brownies?  Think of it like this: how many points will Cleveland score?  Most – probably 10.  Do you think that Baltimore’s offense can put up 21 or more points?  Well then, load up.

Season Total 19-18

Notice the last paragraph was italicized.  If it seems familiar, it’s because I just left it from last week because the same damn thing happened this week.  The only difference is this – I didn’t realize how bad Seattle has gotten and I never could have imagined that a high school team (Browns) are allowed to play in the NFL (sorry high school football – don’t want to insult you).  Honestly, I’ll still find ways to pick against Dallas throughout the season that will play better.  Time to start loading up against these bad teams – because they are really bad.  Can’t be scared of those big spreads anymore.  Oh well, on to Week 9:

Falcons -10 vs Washington – Washington – Bad!  I know that they are coming off of a bye and they’ve had 2 weeks to prepare.  I know that Atlanta gave everything they had to try to fight the Saints on Monday Night.  The Falcons need this one after a tough loss and have the offensive firepower to open this one up early making Washington one-dimensional.  Once that happens – open the floodgates – 10 pts easy.  (more…)