2008 NFL Season

[Dan Michler]

Dan,

  Chad Pennington is an average QB at best in the NFL. He has 23 more yards passing than David Garrard and 1 more TD pass than Orton. If the Bears or Jags would have made it to the playoffs people wouldn't have been talking them up like they have Pennington. There is a reason the dolphins are using the Wildcat formation. Don't forget the 500 yds rec combined from Ricky & Ronnie. The difference from the Bears to the Dolphins is that defense that allowed 19.8 pts.

Thats interesting.  Pennington had more passing yards than Brett Favre in far fewer pass attempts.  He had 3 less TD passes and 15 fewer interceptions.  Yet Brett Favre is responsible for the Jets turnaround, but Pennington is just an average QB?  Is this lacking any sort of logic to anybody else?  Favre had Thomas Jones and Leon Washington who combined for 1750 yards, 23 TD, and 550 receiving yards.  Why aren't they the reason the Jets were better this year?  They were clearly better than Ronnie and Ricky in every way you can think of.

[Jon Brakel]

"Jane, you ignorant slut!" 

I'm not going to suggest which one is Jane. 

[Tom McManus]

At least the Bears and Packers seasons were not as devastating to their fans as the Cubs and White Sox seasons.  After those two play-off debacles, no one had anything to say for months.

My picks for this weekends play-offs:
Atlanta over Arizona
Indy over San Diego
Miami over Baltimore
Philadelphia over Minnesota

The road team is favored in every game.The Colts and Chargers should be the game of the week depending on which charger team shows up.

[Dan Michler]

I'm taking Atlanta, San Diego, Baltimore, and Philly.

I'm also picking Philly over San Diego in the Super Bowl.

[Sr.]

ATLANTA, INDY, BALTIMORE, PHILLY

[pearso66]

.

Pearso
Berrian has put up #1 WR #'s 2 years in a row now on 2 bad offensive passing teams. Tied for 10th in TD's and averaged 20.1 yds per catch (2nd of Receievers with 15 or more catches) this year. Just another bad evaluation of talent by the Bears.

I guess we'll just have to disagree. Berrian may have had a bunch of 20 yard + catches, or a high percentage of yards, but he only had 48 receptions. All that tells me is he's fast and can beat a CB. Big deal, Hester can do that, and if he would have had a QB who could have gotten him the ball in stride, he would have been up there with Berrian, and I think so far Hester hasn't proven a thing other than he could be a decent slot guy. How many times in the last couple of seasons with the Bears did Berrian quit on routes? I'd say he averaged at least 2-3 a game. How many drops did he have? If I'm going to pay a guy #1 money, I want at least 80 catches, and a guy who doesn't quit. Maybe he'll improve, but when the Bears let him go, he wasn't a #1, and didn't deserve the money he got. They just need to find that guy, because right now, they don't even have a #2 on the team.

[Dan Michler]

I am in between you guys on Berrian.  I don't think he's put up #1 WR numbers with only 48 catches for 960 yards, but he is a solid #2 and a great deep threat.  I wish the Bears still had him as he would be our #1 WR due to our embarrassing WR corp.  Devery Henderson was #1 in that yards per catch stat that was thrown out, and I don't think we are arguing that he's a #1 WR.

Saying Hester has the same ability as Berrian at WR is ridiculous.  I'll believe that when I see it.  Bottom line, the Bears need wide receivers and I don't care if we have to overpay to get them because we will not be winning without them.

[Sr.]

Berrian is a solid receiver! There's at least 25 teams who would love to have him. I don't care how much money the Bears pay for a good receiver, it's not my money. Big mistake for letting him go. But that's the history of the Bears. Very frustrating 

[pearso66]

Berrian is a solid receiver! There's at least 25 teams who would love to have him. I don't care how much money the Bears pay for a good receiver, it's not my money. Big mistake for letting him go. But that's the history of the Bears. Very frustrating 

If this was baseball, you'd have a point, but in a sport with a salary cap, you have to be careful who you put big money into. They already have a ton of money invested in the D, Vasher got it too quickly, Tillman and Harris are always hurt, same with Brown, Ogunleye has a ton of money, and Urlacher and Briggs. 3-4 of those guys are overpaid, maybe all of them, but since they used it on them, they couldn't afford to give a great 3 WR and an ok 2 top WR money. They did make a mistake by not getting anyone else, but not giving Berrian that money wasn't a mistake.

[CEValkyrie]

Dan,

  Chad Pennington is an average QB at best in the NFL. He has 23 more yards passing than David Garrard and 1 more TD pass than Orton. If the Bears or Jags would have made it to the playoffs people wouldn't have been talking them up like they have Pennington. There is a reason the dolphins are using the Wildcat formation. Don't forget the 500 yds rec combined from Ricky & Ronnie. The difference from the Bears to the Dolphins is that defense that allowed 19.8 pts.

Thats interesting.  Pennington had more passing yards than Brett Favre in far fewer pass attempts.  He had 3 less TD passes and 15 fewer interceptions.  Yet Brett Favre is responsible for the Jets turnaround, but Pennington is just an average QB?  Is this lacking any sort of logic to anybody else?  Favre had Thomas Jones and Leon Washington who combined for 1750 yards, 23 TD, and 550 receiving yards.  Why aren't they the reason the Jets were better this year?  They were clearly better than Ronnie and Ricky in every way you can think of.

When Pennington can take the Dolphins to the playoffs year after year and win a Superbowl i'll give him the respect he deserves. I cannot respect a QB that a team runs an offense that places a RB at QB often.

Let's don't forget Thomas Jones had all of 1 TD in 2007. Old/Bad Arm/Whatver, Farve opens the field for RB's to get down the field and get in the endzone.

The Packers were down 208 yds & 2 Tds on the ground from 2007 to 2008. Maybe some respect of the QB to beat them thru the air?

[Dan Michler]

Pennington tied for 2nd place in MVP voting.  Pretty good for an 'average' player.

As far as the Dolphins occasionally using the Wildcat formation, who cares?  Its not like it was every other play.  I don't know how to counter that argument because it doesnt' make any sense.  Pennington still had more yards passing than Favre so I'm not sure if you are trying to make the point that Pennington wasn't used very much or what?  It doesn't make any sense.

I admire your ability to still maintain Brett Favre was The Man this year despite huge mountains of evidence pointing the other way.  If Kyle Orton had played the exact season Favre did (22nd ranked QB in Yards per Attempt and 22 interceptions), you would be blasting him like no other.  You are treating him with kid gloves because of stuff he did 10 years ago.

So far 3 Jets players have come out in the media and given Favre less than full support.  Thomas Jones, voted as Team MVP by his teammates (not Brett Favre!!), said he thought Favre should have been pulled due to his poor performance.  The guy blew it.  He had a fantastic career, but should have stayed retired, and thats the bottom line.  He blew it this year by not making the playoffs after starting 8-3 (his huge number of turnovers was the primary reason for the losses late in the season).  He blew it last year with 2 interceptions against the Giants at home in the playoffs.  And his previous playoff appearance before that was in 2004 when he blew it against the 8-8 Vikings at home again by throwing 4 interceptions.  After the early part of this decade the guy has been nothing but overrated.  All the numbers support it, but there are so many blind fans, such as yourself, who are in love with his media persona, that you refuse to see the truth.  The truth is Brett Favre is an old, broken down, prima donna QB who is an outcast with his new teammates and costs his team games with his exorbitant number of turnovers.

[CEValkyrie]

Dan,

  Go back and listen to what Thomas Jones is saying today. Thru week 12 the Jets were 8-3 and Favre was playing some good ball. Your prima donna statement is absolutely ridiculous. Anyone that can play that long in that many games without going to the bench is unreal.

Anyway, you are a Favre hater. I wish he was a Bear this year. Even as an old broken down old man he's better than any QB we've had in a long time. 11 games into the season he was on pace for a fantastic year. No one will know how badly he was or was not hurt that last stretch of the year. That is why I respect the guy and wish he was on our team. 10 years ago? He lead a team to a play away from the Superbowl last year. 13-3. Look where they are at. He took a team that had no life whatsoever nearly to the playoffs this year. I'm sure you are a Marino lover.

People are followers. There are many players that I would have put in front of Pennington at the QB position. Start throwing in the RB's like Williams & Turner who are more deserving. Drew Brees would be the MVP hands down if he had a defense like MIA.

[CEValkyrie]

Bears
The Bears were brutal to watch all year. I thought they'd have a chance to compete in a bad division and they did. I did not expect them to make the playoffs and it was a bonus to see them compete.

It is so frustrating season after season saying QB and WR is a position that needs to be filled and nothing is done about it. Not only did we not do anything at the WR position we let Berrian go and that is the team that kept  us out of the playofffs. Booker & Hester was the answer! We could have used 1000 Yds & 7 TD's.  Our WR core is one of the worst in the league. RB/FB/TE's had 1551 rec yds and 11 TD's. The WR core had 1685 yds & 9 TD's.  Moss, Boldin, Fitzgerald, TO, Calvin Johnson & Jennings had as many or more TD's. What a joke! At least the RB & TE positions are pretty good.

We've leaned on the defense year after year. This year they weren't good enough. We were a squib kick away from being in the playoffs.

Packers
LAF (Life after Favre) I hope this is a trend that continues. A friend of mine was at the game yesterday and the fire McCarthy chants were loud.

Patriots/SD
I can't believe an 8-8 SD team is going to the playoffs and the 11-5 Pats are going to be watching at home.

Detroit
0-16

Dolphins
What a turnaround lead by Ronnie & Ricky. nearly 1500 yds and 14 TD's.

ATL
Another huge turnaround lead by N. Chicago boy Turner. 1491 yds & 16 TD's. Wow!

Miami was 250 to 1 to make the superbowl and Atl was 200 to 1. Both are still alive.

The playoffs should be fun.

Coaches.
Along witht he 3 that got chopped today Marvin Lewis has to go. Wade Phillips is going to get canned and I have a feeling Herm Edwards is gone too.

The Chicago Bears continue to be worthless. Hey Bears, you had the worst WR core in the league last year.!!!

You've passed on a 6.5 million/ 1 year contract with TO. He had more TD's last season than the WR core. That was a down year for him!

How about TJ WhoseyourMomma? Over the past three seasons, his numbers rank among the league's best. He ranks first in receptions (294), 11th in yards (3,128), tied for sixth in touchdowns (25) and fourth in first downs (179) since 2006. five-year contract that will pay Houshmandzadeh at least $15 million and as much as $40 million

Pay the $ you worthless bastards. This division is there for the taking and we do nothing in free agency. Go ahead and draft some unknown WR that will do nothing.

[Mike Clark]

There was no way the Bears were gonna sign TO. They couldn't put up with Tank Johnson and Cedric Benson. There is no way they could deal with TO's antics.

I would have signed him for 6.5mil in a heart beat. The Bears do not even have a starting WR on their roster. What damage could he possibly do to this horrible team? Was he going to ruin team chemistry? Who cares? I believe that team chemistry does matter. But not when you suck. I would rather have a decent team that hated each other then a sucky team that likes each other.

[pdga#7648]

The men in Pittsburgh will be hoisting the franchise's 6th, yes 6th Title come February.

Pitt 35
Cowgirls 31

Maybe they can win #6 fair and square. #5 was a joke. The worst officiating in the history of the NFL. Seattle was robbed of a title.

how was that for fair and square Tom? And did I call it or what?? That post was way before any playoffs started.

[StrikerME02]

There was no way the Bears were gonna sign TO. They couldn't put up with Tank Johnson and Cedric Benson. There is no way they could deal with TO's antics.

I would have signed him for 6.5mil in a heart beat. The Bears do not even have a starting WR on their roster. What damage could he possibly do to this horrible team? Was he going to ruin team chemistry? Who cares? I believe that team chemistry does matter. But not when you suck. I would rather have a decent team that hated each other then a sucky team that likes each other.

Wouldn't it be really funny if the Bears traded for Brandon Marshall. Him and Cutler already have great chemistry and then the bears would have a great #1 reciever. The only problem is is who knows  how much more the Bears have to give up and if it would be worth it with overall player vaule and salary cap and everything. But it would be wild in Chicago if the Bears had Cutler and Marshall. Who knows where Marshall is gonna end up, but he wants out and he has good reason too. He still has more time left in his contract before he can become a free agent and with Kyle Orton at QB all the recievers numbers are going to go on one huge diet. Therefore, by the time Marshall is a free agent teams wont have to deal him the money he's worth.

[pdga#7648]

I will be in Chicago for Week #2, as the BEARS LOSE BAD, to the CHAMPION STEELERS!!!!!!!   

[Tom McManus]

The men in Pittsburgh will be hoisting the franchise's 6th, yes 6th Title come February.

Pitt 35
Cowgirls 31

Maybe they can win #6 fair and square. #5 was a joke. The worst officiating in the history of the NFL. Seattle was robbed of a title.

how was that for fair and square Tom? And did I call it or what?? That post was way before any playoffs started.

The Steelers did win this one fair and square, no doubt about it.

[Bruce Brakel]

I know you can't just buy Bears tickets in Chicago, but you can in Detroit.  The Bears' last regular season game will be indoors at Ford Field, January 3. 

[pdga#7648]

I have a buddy that is a season ticket holder for the Bears. He may be moving to Tennessee, and will not be using all of his tickets. Week #2 already spoken for, but next time I talk to him, I will see if he is willing to sell any.
Tickets are 8 rows up, next to the Bears tunnel, so we can spit on them as they go in, LOL. I will try to talk to him before Sterling, and I can let people know more then hopefully???