Alex Brown Is Not a Chicago Kind of Guy and Other Points of View

Bears

• Though its been mentioned, I don’t think enough has been said about just how well the offensive line did on Saturday night.  John Mullin at CSNChicago.com puts some perspective on it:

“The grading out was perhaps even higher considering that film revealed that the Titans brought extra pressure on 48 percent of the snaps. The conclusion: The offensive line not only played better and longer than at any time this preseason, but also did it under pressure.

“‘That [blitz percentage] is almost every other play,’ [offensive line coach Mike] Tice said. ‘So that’s good for us because our identification was very clean throughout the game.’”

The line did a superb job of adjusting to the blitz.  The Titans aren’t the Packers but it appears that the line is gelling.

• ESPN NFC North blogger Kevin Seifert on the Bears front office:

“The Chicago Bears’ front office makes it too easy for those who like to clown on its misadventures. In the past few months alone, we’ve seen a botched draft-day trade, a practice canceled because no one knew about the poor conditions at Soldier Field and a veteran running back bolt the practice facility after (mistakenly) believing he had been released.”

“You can go all the way back to 2002, when a paperwork error left the Bears unable to collect compensation for the potential loss of two restricted free agents, receiver D’Wayne Bates and linebacker Warrick Holdman.”

Seifert also gave GM Jerry Angelo some credit for building a Super Bowl team.  But even given that the continuous blundering is hard to overlook.

• Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune knows a bad omen when he sees one:

“One sign Harvey Unga will not be returning to #Bears: He doesn’t have a locker in the locker room. Remains excused for personal reasons.”

• The Falcons will be without their starting center for the Bears opener.  The Bears will need all the help they can get.

Elsewhere

• Former Bears head of college scouting Greg Gabriel, now with The National Football Post, writes a very nice article on what it means when a player is a “bust”:

“What is the primary reason a player busts? I’m going to say in most instances, he lacks football character. He lacks a passion for the game and the willingness to do all it takes to be great. If a player is playing for the money and not the love of the game he won’t succeed. The game is far too tough to be playing at a high level without passion.”

The entire article is recommended reading.

• Michael Vick’s new deal continues to drive sports talk radio around the nation.  The Eagles aren’t known for making a lot of personnel mistakes but I’ll go on record and say this was a big one.  I don’t care if Vick is black.  I don’t care if he went to jail for dog fighting.  I don’t care if he makes exciting plays with his feet.  If you can’t accurately pass the ball consistently, I don’t even want you to be on my team, let alone to pay you $100 million for it.
• The Sports Pickle assesses the impact that the loss of Peyton Manning would have on the Colts:

“[W]ithout him under center, the Colts have almost no chance of getting drubbed out of the playoffs”

• John Taylor at collegefootballtalk.com reports the injury to South Carolina No. 3 quarterback Andrew Clifford:

“Helmet-less, pizza-carrying ‘Cocks QB knocked unconscious in moped wreck”

“To be honest, I never thought I’d ever have to string together those particular words in a headline, at least one that didn’t also involve the words ‘Stephen Garcia’, ‘nude’ and ‘half-finished six-pack of PBR’.”

One Final Thought

Mark Potash at the Chicago Sun-Times thinks former Bear Alex Brown would be a good fit for a return:

“Considering his familiarity with the Bears’ defense and the team’s need for depth at defensive end with Corey Wootton injured, Brown would seem to be a good fit. Nick Reed and rookies Mario Addison and Jake Laptad are behind Julius Peppers and Israel Idonije on the depth chart.”

I heard an Brown conversation about a month ago with WSCR’s Zack Zaidman where he finished the interview up by trashing Bear fans.  He talked about the lack of fan support in Chicago and about how much happier he was in New Orleans where fans would cheer for players regardless of performance.

The Bears are a tough team in a tough town.  If Brown doesn’t want to be in that environment then he’s better off not coming back.  I’m sure he can stay in New Orleans where the fans will cheer him for bringing water out to the players between quarters.