Bears, Favre, And A Prediction

“Play the game;
Play the game
Everybody, play the game…”
--Freddy Mercury of Queen.





I am sitting here with Chumley the thirty-pound cat sitting at my feet, Guinness the Bold Maine Coon wandering about somewhere, and Foggy hiding from Guinness, and thinking about football.

The Bears have made some interesting moves this week.

First they let Bernard Berrian go to the Vikings for what I consider way too much money. I love Berrian, make no mistake, but $47 Million or whatever nutty fee, is much too much.

So what do the Bears do? Hours after Bernard signs with their division rivals, the Bears up the ante on Lance Briggs (a more proven player) and lock him in for the next six years.

Personally, I retract my statement from last summer and reiterate my statement from the Fall/Winter and praise the Bears for resigning him. Great move, as Briggs will shore up the defense for many more years.

With losing the best and starting receiving corps in Muhammad and Berrian, the Bears go out and snag a very cheap Marty Booker. In fairness to the Bears, they end up grabbing Adewale Ogunleye in a trade for Marty Booker and then retain Marty Booker four years later (still the most productive receiver for the Dolphins) and lose Mushin Muhammad who sucked eggs last year. It is more than clear that the Bears need a wide-out, but this could be so much worse.

Add to the mix, Brett Favre has retired, saving the Bears from a drubbing each season (although the last few he has looked weaker) and the Bears seem like a team that will be in the hunt in a year or so.

I predict that the Monsters of the Midway will be a defensive juggernaut this season, acquire a few offensive lineman which will make Benson better, develop some talent at the skill positions of wide receiver and quarterback (and even though I like Grossman, I assume Orton will start by midseason), and be a factor in the division. Then the year after, look out, as the Bears go to the Super Bowl and win it all.

Even though the experts at Yahoo disagree, I think the Bears have made some moves for the future and will be competitive in the here and now.