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Dan Patrick hit it on the head on AM 1530 WCKG when he said the next team should make good old #54 a player coach. The Bears should have, COULD have, offer Urlacher a role in the organization beyond being a punching bag on the field. They did not.
Too bad. #54 should be a lifetime Bear. Learn from this…
A holdout no more, Matt Forte and the Bears have finally come to terms on a new contract that will keep him in a Bears uniform through the 2015 season. The four year $32 million dollar deal guarantees $16 million, and also means that Matt Forte will report to training camp next week on time. It was a very suspenseful spring and early summer for both sides. The Bears initially offered Forte the franchise tender which would have paid him $7.7 million for this upcoming season.
Forte had wanted a long-term deal with big money, he mainly wanted the financial guarantee so that he had money for a rainy day just in case God forbid he had a career altering injury. This desire for a guaranteed contract and the money that comes with it was also due to the following reasons… Matt Forte has led the Bears in rushing since he’s been wearing the Burnt Orange and Blue. He has also been one of the best receivers as well.
But he also wanted the security blanket because of injuries that have racked up over his career. On the other hand, the Bears were hesitant to give him such money because of his past injuries. Bears management felt that Forte should have another injury free season before giving him that kind of cash. Forte has been consistent when healthy, like he was during his rookie season in 2008. But in 2009 Forte kinda hit a “sophomore slump” as injuries kept him off the field at times.
In 2010, despite sharing the field with Chester Taylor, Forte managed to rack up another 1,000 yard season. He also had 6 rushing touchdowns and led the team in receiving. But last season was the defining season that fueled these contract negotiations. Forte started off having the season of his career, then in that late season game against Kansas City Forte went down with a sprained MCL. This came exactly a week after Jay Cutler had his season ending hand injury. Forte would not return to the Bears lineup.
Marion Barber would step in and give it his best until he was banged up towards the end of the year. The final three weeks of the 2011 season would see the emergence of new running backs in the forms of special teamer Kahlil Bell and rookie Armando Allen. The spark provided by these young backs would also be a factor in negotiations. Once the season ended, Forte came off the injured list to play in the pro bowl.
This was very much frowned upon by Bears management, but Forte did it at the encouragement of his agent. This was done for two reasons:
1. To show the Bears why they needed to give him a long-term contract.
2. To show other teams he is a solid player when healthy in case he did test the free agent waters.
Initial negotiatons went nowhere, both sides could not agree. But this is usually the case when contract talks begin. Then in March the Bears made huge offseason moves. Aside from the Brandon Marshall trade, and the Jason Campbell acqusition, the Bears signed another running back much to the dismay of both Forte and Marion Barber. The signing of Michael Bush outraged Matt Forte, and at the same time caused Marion Barber announce his retirement.
The Bears insisted that Michael Bush was not a replacement, he was just a piece to the puzzle. Complicating matters was when the Bears officially placed the franchise tag on Matt Forte. This postponed negotiations for several weeks. Forte says the Bears were looking to replace him with these manuvers, the Bears say that was not the case. And while I did support Forte’s desire for a new contract, I also believed the Bears front office.
I think that the Bears placed the franchise label on Forte so no other teams could sign him away. Smart move on the part of Ted Phillips and company, just try to convince Matt Forte of that. When Forte decided to no-show offseason workouts, mini-camps, etc…. The Bears decided to return to the bargaining table with a better offer. And after a few more months, a compromise was finally reached. The Bears paid Forte a very good amount of money without breaking the bank.
And Forte finally got his financial commitment from the Bears. So Forte will be back on the field, Bush will be the #2 and now the battle will be waged between Kahlil Bell and Armando Allen for the third spot. Forte is a very talented player. He’s pretty much an every down back, he grinds out yards, and he’s deadly in the passing game as both a receiver and blocker. But he does struggle in goalline and short yardage situations, this is where the Bears bring in Michael Bush.
And then with Bell and Allen, both guys are speed demons. They can flat out run, but they will most likely be competing for a special teams spot. But at the moment that’s neither here nor there as practice has not yet begun. So Bears fans rejoice that Matt Forte will play another season {or 4) at Soldier Field.
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After today it’s gonna be interesting to see what the Bears do on draft day. Gabe Salgado has the latest:
But don’t get too excited just yet. Matt Forte has not signed a new contract with our beloved Bears just yet. New General Manager Phil Emery has decided to use the 2012 franchise tag on Matt Forte for the upcoming season. Should the Bears and Forte not agree on a new contract for the start of the season, he will make $12.7 million via the franchise label. Now what does franchise mean?
It’s not a contract. But what it does mean is that Forte can only leave the Bears if he is traded. Now there are two ways to look at this transaction: 1. The Bears are not committed to a long-term deal to keep Forte in a Bears uniform {Some Bears fans and maybe even Forte himself feels this way. I’m sure Forte’s agent does for sure}. And 2. The Bears are smart by using the franchise tag so other teams can’t sign him.
And I’d have to agree with option number 2. Remember, the Bears did the same thing with Lance Briggs just a few years ago. At first Briggs wasn’t happy about it. But he accepted it, played his ass off, and was eventually awarded with a new contract. Hopefully the same will happen to Matt Forte, or perhaps Phil Emery and President Ted Phllips are using the franchise tag as a smoke screen.
A smoke screen in which they keep Forte on the roster while still working out a contract. It seems like smart business to me, and I hope that one way or another Matt Forte will get a brand new contract to stay with the Bears. He is a major piece to the offensive puzzle, he can easily gain 1’000 yards both receiving and rushing, he is also a key in pass protection.
The Bears can’t afford to lose him. And knowing that, I trust the judgement of the Bears front office to do the right thing in the long run.
On a personal note… Don’t be surprised if you find me at the Chicago Rush’s home opener VS Tampa Bay at Allstate Arena on Saturday. I hope to see you there as well.
You can follow me on Twitter: @GabeSalgado Hashtag: #Q101Sports
Well at this point I think it’s safe to say that on paper at least that Eli is the better of the two. Super Bowl championships aside {Eli 2, Peyton 1}, here are the other factors that currently have Eli ahead of Peyton:
1. Eli had the season of his life in 2011. He lead the Giants at the end of the season to a division championship just barley making the playoffs to win it all. Peyton on the other hand missed the entire season with that neck injury. Initially it seemed like Peyton would only miss training camp and preseason.
So the Colts offense half-assed the first two exhibition games thinking Peyton would come back good as new. But then Peyton had a setback and needed another surgery, this time he would be kept out until October {Or so we were told}. So the Colts signed the recently retired Kerry Collins so they could have a veteran QB just in case.
Not only did the Kerry Collins experiment fail, It turned out that Peyton’s neck wasn’t healing fast enough so he would now miss the 2011 season. While the Colts waited in joyful hope for Peyton to return, their performance suffered as a result. They finished the 2011 season with a 2-14 record and will now have the #1 overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft.
2. Thanks to the Colts not preparing for the worst {Peyton getting seriously injured} by not having a solid backup in place, the rumor has been buzzing for quite sometime that the Colts will draft Andrew Luck from Stanford. Eli does not have such problems to worry about.
3. All of the Andrew Luck talk has some in the Colts organization thinking that after Peyton’s injury, the Colts just may part ways with Peyton Manning and give Luck the keys to the kingdom. This chatter has come about mainly due to the fact that Peyton is owed a $28 million roster bonus on March 28th.
Some within Colts land feel that money could be better used on Andrew Luck. As for Eli, as long as Tom Coughlin has job security, so will Eli as long as he stays healthy.
4. Next year the Indianapolis Colts will look different. Former Baltimore Colts Defensive Coordinator Chuck Pagano will be the new head coach in 2012. Also, the Colts have numerous free agents and chances are it will be difficult to bring all of them back. Personally, I feel that Colts management was wrong for putting all of the blame for the 2-14 season on Jim Caldwell.
The Colts front office is just as much to blame. With Chuck Pagano calling the shots on the field, the Colts will focus more on defense. The offense will also be more geared towards the run. This could take away the dynamic offensive play calling that is engineered by Peyton himself. This is adding fuel to the fire that Andrew Luck could be the replacement instead of the future.
Eli on the other hand will still have most if not all of the pieces in place from the 2011 season.
And 5. Even if Peyton does go to another team, there’s no guarantee that he will start. He will have to answer a lot of questions about his injured neck before anyone takes a chance on him. As for Eli, barring any unforseen circumstances he has smooth sailing ahead of him. But again I stress, this is only on paper.
You can follow me on Twitter: @GabeSalgado82
Football is my all-time favorite sport. I think that’s obvious considering I write about football more often than any other sport. But as we draw closer to Super Bowl Sunday I got to thinking……. Every year I watch football, I watch the NFL playoffs, and more often than not the Bears never make the Super Bowl. But yet I still watch the big game regardless.
This year I am watching specifically as a journalist and a football fan. I’m just glad that Detroit and Green Bay didn’t make it very far this year. I watched last year’s game because I wanted Pittsburgh to put a hurting on Green Bay because the {Fudge} Packers had to go through our beloved Bears to get there. Sometimes I do want a team to win, but other times I watch just because I love football.
But with the Bears not even making the playoffs this season, I pose this question to the Q101 nation: Why are you watching the game this year? Of course the Super Bowl is the one event that attracts both football fans and non football fans. On Super Sunday, any other sporting event that is scheduled for that day is played between the hours of 11am and 2pm. This is done so that no one tries to take attention {and ratings} away from the Super Bowl.
For this same reason, all the TV networks not covering the game broadcast either re-runs, syndicated programming, or some crappy movie. The sports channels in this country will run either a sports related movie, or some pre-recorded programming or even an infomercial to pass the time away. Not to mention the millions of dollars companies and organizations spend to advertise during the game.
So indeed the world does stop for the Super Bowl. My wife, about half of my in-laws, my brother, and other friends and relatives who don’t care for football watch the game simply for the commercials. Other people I know only watch so they can attend or host a Super Bowl party. But just about everybody else that I know watches because they are football fans like me.
I think my mother and my grandmother are the only people I know who won’t be watching the game……. But the Super Bowl is one of the reasons why America is so great. Super Sunday is also beneficial to the economy as well. Whether it is patronizing your local restaurant, bar, or tavern. Or spending a bundle at the grocery store buying soda, frozen food, snacks etc…..
Or even ordering a pizza or other delivery food, Super Sunday is one day where we can all unite in front of our radios and televisions and just enjoy one of life’s greatest events. I will be watching the game on Sunday, will you?
….but I got a feeling that it will return in 2012. Broncos Hall Of Fame Quarterback and current Broncos Vice President John Elway has already said that Tim Tebow will be the starter for the 2012 season. While that may be wishful thinking, it does tell me that Elway is fully invested in the young quarterback. Ever since his last college game, Tim Tebow has been constantly working on his throwing mechanics.
It may not be perfect but his mechanics in 2011 were quite improved from 2010. I know that Tebow haters continue to hate because he doesn’t have the “perfect” throw just yet. But they seem to forget that when you’ve been used to throwing on a side arm angle your whole life, it’s gonna take some time to get that out of your system. So I commend Tim Tebow for constantly working to get better.
He doesn’t do it to please the haters, he does it for himself. I expect that he will continue to tweak his throwing motion during this upcoming off season, and I can only hope that there is more improvement in 2012. You must also commend Tebow for his ability to shake off the negative comments. When he loses a game, they pick on his throwing motion and mechanics.
When he wins a game, they hate on his religious beliefs and poke fun of his prayer now known as the art of “Tebowing”. But Tebow shrugs it aside and gives it all that he has. One day, Tim Tebow will be a successful quarterback in the NFL. And kudos to John Elway for giving Tebow a shot at the big time. Aside from his tough play, he also has a ton of heart and soul.
Not to mention his rigorous conditioning and training, his love for the game, and his humbleness. There will come a day when Tebow will finally get revenge on his haters by winning a championship of some kind. But right now Tebow continues to work hard and bide his time until that day comes. I’m not the biggest Tim Tebow fan, but I commend him for standing by his beliefs and values while making his money in a superficial and material world.
The world can use a few more people like Tim Tebow, and one day the NFL will finally take notice.
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Well, we were hoping the unthinkable wouldn’t happen but it did. The Illinois Fighting Illini football program completed one of it’s worst seasons in school history. They started the season 6-0 with high hopes and a lot of promise. But they finished the season 0-6, their worst losing streak since the 2006 season when they lost 7 in a row. After Illinois lost their first 4 games, rumors about Ron Zook’s job security started buzzing.
But the Fighting Illini lost the final 2 games of the season, the last game was on Saturday a 27-7 loss to Minnesota. Minnesota was the 2nd worst team in the Big Ten this year, beating Illinois was only their 3rd victory of the season. And after this disaster of a season, Ron Zook was fired from his head coaching job on Sunday morning. His dismissal ends a 7 year reign in which he compiled 34 wins, 50 losses, no conference championships, finished 5th the Big Ten Leaders division this year, and only 1 bowl victory.
His recruiting ability has been called into question because while he had a winning season every year while coaching at the University Of Florida, he only had 3 winning seasons at Illinois. His success at Florida was mainly because he had some of Steve Spurrier’s leftover recruits. While at Illinois he used mostly his own recruits and was mostly unsuccessful. Ron Zook will eventually land on his feet. I predict that he will either coach a smaller university, or he will be hired as an assistant coach.
But now Illinois Athletic Director Mike Thomas has to find a new coach for the U of I’s football team. Should Illinois get into a bowl game this year, Defensive Coordinator Vic Koenning will be the Interim Head Coach for that game. But eventually a new coach and a new staff will be brought in for the 2012 season. As for candidates to replace Ron Zook are concerned, the coaches on everyone’s Christmas wish list have already been claimed.
Urban Meyer was hired this week by conference rival Ohio State, and former Michigan and West Virginia Head Coach Rich Rodriguez was named the new coach at Arizona. So who’s left? Well the name on the Illini faithful’s wish list is former Texas Tech Head Coach Mike Leach. Leach who was fired after the 2009 season for a controversial run-in with a Texas Tech player has not coached since then. And according to reports Mike Thomas has already received a flood of e-mails and phone calls demanding that Leach be hired as the new coach.
Leach is the man who invented the “Air Raid Offense” which was adapted as a spread offense which is now used by several college and high school teams. Leach who coached Texas Tech from 2000-2009, posted an overall record of 84-43, and posted a bowl game record of 5-4. He never won a Big 12 Conference title, but he did win the Big 12’s South Division in 2008 which was his best season at Texas Tech.
Before coaching the Red Raiders, Leach was the offensive coordinator at Oklahoma during the 1999 season where he worked with eventual Heisman Trophy winner Josh Heupel. Before that he ran the offense at Kentucky for the 1997 and 1998 seasons where we worked with the number one draft pick in the 1999 NFL Draft, Tim Couch. Leach has a reputation of breeding record breaking quarterbacks. Aside from Tim Couch and Josh Heupel, Leach has also made prospects out of Graham Harrell, Kliff Klingsbury, and B.J. Symons. But Thomas has said that he will “take an appropriate course of action in finding a new football coach”. Another possible candidate could be recently fired UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel. Although his overall head coaching record stand at 87 wins and 58 losses, 3 of his 4 seasons at UCLA were losing seasons. This year the Bruins went 6-6 this year, and won the Pac-12 South Division by default because of USC’s football team being on probation. But it wasn’t a pretty season at all.
But Neuheisel is quite the offensive mind himself, he is a big proponet of the West Coast Offense. He is also a man with his own line of quarterbacks such as Kordell Stewart, Koy Detmer, Marques Tuiasosopo, and Cody Pickett. But only time will tell to see who will be Illinois’ next coach. But after the misfortunes with both Ron Zook and Ron Turner, I am sure the University Of Illinois will make the right decision this time around.
NBA Lockout Ends
On a couple of side notes unrelated to this matter, the NBA will open it’s practice facilities to players today. Players can workout, and strength/conditioning coaches along with medical personnel will be allowed to monitor workouts. However coaches and executives will not be allowed to attend workouts. But on the plus side, teams can speak with player agents. But no official deals can be made until the new labor agreement {Which came to light early Saturday morning} is officially ratified by both the players and owners.
NBA Commissioner David Stern has said that he hopes that teams can start making transactions on December 9th.
T.O. Touchdown?
As for the latest on free agent wide receiver Terrell Owens, there are rumors buzzing about that Owens could end up with the New England Patriots before the season is out. Owens’ agent Drew Rosenhaus has been spotted on the sidelines at Patriots games and has been seen visiting Patriots practices.
Even though Patriots Receiver Chad Johnson (No, “Ochocinco”) is also client of Rosenhaus, he normally doesn’t frequent teams sidelines as often as he has been with New England as of late. Could the addition of Owens push Johnson to become more effective on offense? Or would such an addition crash and burn like it did in Cincinnati? I guess we have to wait and see….
By Q101.com Blogga Gabe “The Animal” Salgado
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CHICAGO — No matter how high the risk, Devin Hester still expects opponents to kick to him. The Chicago Bears sure don’t mind if they do.
“This is the reason guys are playing in the NFL — they’re the best players in the world and teams are not going to just shy away from one player on a team,” Hester said.
Some do.
The Panthers didn’t, and Hester made them pay.
He had earlier set up a touchdown run by Forte with a 73-yard kickoff return before he ran back a line-drive punt 69 yards in the second quarter to move ahead of Eric Metcalf on the all-time list. His three somersaults in the end zone after the touchdown that made it 24-10 got him flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct, but more important was he once again made a team pay for kicking to him.
“He is a weapon. You have to play eventually; you can’t just continue to kick the ball away,” coach Lovie Smith said. “Devin hadn’t really been that involved, hadn’t really had a lot of big returns so far, so of course I can see why teams have chose to kick the ball to him. They may think twice now.”
The Panthers (1-3) cut the lead to four points at halftime and had their chances to go ahead in the second half but came up short, spoiling coach Ron Rivera’s return to Soldier Field while wasting another big performance by Newton.
The NFL’s third-leading passer coming in, he threw for 374 yards and a touchdown and ran for two more. Carolina wound up with 543 total yards, but the rookie was clearly frustrated afterward.
“I play the game and I want to win every single game I play,” said Newton, who sat by his locker for an extended period with a towel on his head. “Obviously, it hurts when I lose, but it’s not just me. We have guys on our team that you know they have given it all they got. For me, to some degree, I felt like I let some teammates down. But just to look into those guys’ eyes each and every play and to know those guys are battling, it just works wonders for our whole team and its chemistry.”
Steve Smith passed Muhsin Muhammad as Carolina’s all-time leading receiver, finishing with 181 yards on eight catches. He needed 23 to set the record and now has 9,414 in his career, but a few key plays helped preserve a wild win for the Bears.
Tight end Jeremy Shockey was called for offensive pass interference in the third quarter — one of eight penalties against Carolina. It wiped out his 22-yard TD catch from Newton that would have given the Panthers the lead and the momentum.
“I’d like to get an explanation from the league and understand why they would call something like that,” said Shockey, who said the official making the call didn’t give him one.
“We pay their salary and I can’t even get an explanation,” he added. “They should be accountable, as well. They get paid a lot of money.”
Former Panther Julius Peppers then blocked a 34-yard field-goal attempt by Olindo Mare.
He also missed a 52-yard try after Charles Godfrey intercepted Jay Cutler at the Chicago 38. Robbie Gould made it 27-23 when he nailed a 24-yarder with 6:41 remaining.
The Bears (2-2) added to their lead in the closing minutes, when Forte broke off a 40-yard run and Marion Barber took it in from the 3, sealing the win after back-to-back losses to New Orleans and Green Bay.
Forte broke his previous career high of 166 yards last year against Carolina and shook off a brutal performance last week, when he managed 2 yards on nine attempts. He joined Walter Payton (275 and 205) and Gale Sayers (205) as the only Bears to run for 200 in a game, and Chicago wound up with 224 yards on 31 attempts.
“The holes were huge out there even toward the end of the game,” Forte said. “We just kept on pounding and pounding them. The offensive line wore the defense out.”
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Source: http://www.ajc.com/sports/hester-forte-carry-bears-1193064.html
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