Category: Arizona Cardinals

Quick Game Comments: Bears at Giants 12-2-18

Offense

  1. The Bears obviously came out wanting to run the ball and failed miserably early. They eventually did better but I still don’t think the running game is on point yet.
  2. They evidently liked the match up of Allen Robinson on Janoris Jenkins. Jenkins was playing the short pass all the way and the Bears had little success. You wondered if they were setting Jenkins up for a double move down the line but it never came.
  3. I’m having a hard time understanding what the Bears see in Taquan Mizzell. He seems to be getting a lot of chances to play but I haven’t been impressed, yet.
  4. I was glad to see Tarik Cohen take advantage of a cut back lane in the first quarter on a fourth and short run. Jordan Howard started doing the same thing shortly afterwards. We need to see more of that.
  5. Wonderful 30 yard catch by Allen Robinson early in the second quarter as he went up for another 50-50 ball and took it down off of the defender’s helmet. This seems to be his strength and the Bears need to better take advantage of it.
  6. The Giants did a great job of reading the Bears screen passes and covering them. They seemed to be anticipating them.
  7. Taylor Gabriel totally failed to show up today. He had a bad miscommunication with Chase Daniel in the first quarter and a bad drop in the third that would have been a badly needed first down. I don’t think I even need to mention the horrible fumble in the fourth quarter that essentially allowed the Giants to salt the game away.
  8. The Bears came out in the second half and evidently decided that they needed to go down field more. It resulted in Daniel seeing a lot of pressure from a blitzing defense and, yet, he seemed to have a tough time finding an open man. Something evidently wasn’t operating correctly and the Bears looked out of sync. The Giants had 3 sacks.
  9. The last drive in the fourth quarter with the Bears in general and Tarik Cohen in particular making some huge plays was impressive. The offense came up big when, truthfully, the vaunted Bears defense came up short again late in the game.

Defense

  1. The Giants tried to fed their two stars, Odell Beckham and Saquon Barkley. It’s evident that the Bears were very aware of these two and they were determined not to let them beat them. It seemed that it was up to the rest of the Giants to win this.
  2. That worked until the second half when the Giants apparently adjusted and Barkley all of the sudden came alive with some good runs.
  3. The Bears often decided to drop 8 into coverage and only rush three. It was an interesting decision. Eli Manning had a lot of time to throw despite having a weak offensive line.
  4. The Bears mixed it up but they also played a lot of man-to-man. They evidently liked their defensive backs matched up on the Giants receivers. That included Beckham. No one followed him around and they didn’t change their coverages for him but let him match up on whoever was opposite him.
  5. Interesting gadget play for a touchdown as Odell Beckham threw to a wide open Russel Shepard for 49 yards. The Giants pulled out all of the stops.
  6. The third touchdown pass to Odell Beckham was just inexcusable. I’m guessing that Roquon Smith missed him in coverage and he was wide open. Terrible mistake.
  7. Akeim Hicks had a great game as he schooled Nate Solder with penetration and a number of tackles for loss.
  8. Having said that, kudos to the Giants offensive line for the nice job they did of blocking today, especially in the second half when there were a number of big runs.
  9. Eli Manning has a gift for knowing how to ground a ball by throwing it to a player “in the area”. It shows good awareness on his part.
  10. Many people have noted the Bears inability of stopping teams in the fourth quarter. The problem showed up again today and the Bears had a hard time getting a badly needed stop with 5:00 left in the game. The way the defense was playing, I would absolutely have gone for 2 on the last touchdown of the fourth quarter to go for the win rather than waiting for over time.
  11. The Giants really liked the match up of Sterling Shepard on Bryce Callahan. It looked to me like he was getting open pretty consistently.

Miscellaneous

  1. Kevin Burkhardt and Charles Davis were your announcers. I think Burkhardt is a potential star as play-by-play announcers go. He and Davis seem to have chemistry. Davis is fine and I think he hits all of the important points. But it seem that there’s a lot of pointing out the obvious going on with him. There aren’t a lot of, “Wow, I would have never thought of that” moments.
  2. Special Teams
    1. Taquan Mizzell fumbled the opening kickoff.
    2. The Giants were obviously kicking short not believing that the Bears could return the ball to the 25 yard line – correctly.
    3. Neil O’Donnell had a nice 65 yard punt in the first quarter to put the Giants all the way back at the 25 yard line. He was punting form the Bears end zone and kept the Giants from having good field position.
    4. Terrible missed block by Curtis Riley to allow Daniel Brown through the front line to recover the onside kick in the fourth quarter.
  3. Penalties
    1. Mario Edwards had some big penalties as the Giants did their best to shoot themselves in the foot early.
    2. The referees in this game seemed to be throwing flags about every other play. The teams combined for 17 penalties for 147 yards.
  4. Turnovers
    1. Alex Ogletree intercepted the second play of the game. It wasn’t a great start for the Bears.
    2. Kyle Filler jumped an Odell Beckham route as time was running out in the first quarter. Ogletree immediately proceeded to intercept it right back. The Giants went three and out and punted so nothing came of it.
    3. Taylor Gabriel wrapped up a terrible game with a terrible fumble on the Bears 10 yard line with the Bears down a touchdown.
  5. Bears head coach Matt Nagy will get a lot of criticism for calling time out instead of letting the time run out with the ball on the Giants side of the field with 17 seconds left in the half. Saquon Barkley ran the ball for 21 yards and a quick out on the play that followed set up a successful field goal for the Giants. I, also, found the decision to be frustrating. But in fairness to Nagy, the defense has to stop that Barkley run. The Giants were just running out the half and you can’t let that kind of conservative play call go for that many yards.
  6. You frequently got the impression watching this game that the Bears were having trouble with the footing on what looked like a pretty damp day. The field didn’t look like it was in the best of shape. The Bears also evidently had a hard time hanging on to the football.
  7. The Bears inability to convert third downs was a big part of this game. They were only 2 of 13 on third down in regulation.
  8. Terrible loss for the Packers to the Arizona Cardinals. I thought they had a chance to run the table for 9 wins but I don’t think 8 will do it. It going to be really interesting to see what happens to McCarthy after the year.
  9. The Giants definitely deserved to win this game as they played well and with an intensity that the Bears failed to match. The Bears weren’t as flat as they were against the Dolphins earlier in the year coming off of their bye but the long time off between the end of their three game stretch of divisional games on Thanksgiving Day game and the game today obviously had an effect.

    This was a pretty bad loss in terms of the Bears playoff hopes. With games against the Packers, Vikings and Rams left, wins against the Giants and the 49ers were going to be the easiest path to 10 wins and the playoffs. They failed to take care of business here and it may burn them in the end.

Quick Game Comments: Bears at Cardinals 9/23/18

Defense

  1. First play. Cardinals match up Larry Fitzgerald on a linebacker for a complete pass to start their work down the field. The Cardinals were to do it again and again just as the Packers did in the Bears first game. The Bears linebackers consistently did not picked up receivers dragging over the middle late and even when they did, it was a mismatch. Apparently defensive coordinator Vic Fangio has decided that these sorts of passes are the kind he’s willing to give up. It would burn him badly on the Cardinals first touchdown as they started Ricky Seals-Jones on the drag route, only to jerk him out of it the other way. No one picked him up.
  2. Khalil Mack had a huge sack to take Arizona out of field goal range near the end of the first half.

Offense

  1. The Bears initial game plan was apparently to run to keep the Cardinals from blitzing. In a way it worked as they did run for 5 yards per carry in the first half. But it didn’t stop the blitz and on 3rd down and 7 or 8, the Cardinals confused Mitch Trubisky and did serious damage with some big blitzes. They also did a good job of disguising them, lining up at the line of scrimmage, then bailing out.
  2. Cody Parkey missed a field goal that was longer than it should have been after Trubisky took a sack on an all out blitz and lost 15 yards.
  3. On a related note, message to Mitch Trubisky: THROW. THE. BALL. AWAY.
  4. The Bears are rolling Trubisky out more and he’s in the shot gun more as well. Good job by the Bears there. He’s obviously more comfortable on the run and in the shot gun.
  5. The Bears took some shots with Taylor Gabriel, apparently believing that he is going to simply out run the defense. It didn’t work as the Cardinals covered him like a glove. They’d be better off taking their shots with Allen Robinson, a bigger receiver who can bring down a 50-50 ball.
  6. Trubisky was erratic as usual with a lot of throws that were way off target. He missed a touchdown to Robinson as he threw behind him on the play. Later he threw a fade to Robinson in the end zone and the ball was nowhere near him. Trubisky had a tough time hooking up with Robinson and they looked out of sync.

Miscellaneous

  1. Dick Stockton, Mark Schlereth and Jennifer Hale were average at best. For instance, no one could initially say what happened or who blew the coverage on the Cardinals first touchdown. Not only that but I’m not so sure Schlereth was right when he said that Danny Trevathan blew the coverage. I doubt that Trevathan is supposed to pick Ricky Seals-Jones up on that play unless he continues across the field.
  2. Cody Parkey missed a 46 yard field goal. He was kicking the ball off through the end zone.
  3. Drops weren’t a major issue.
  4. Eric Kush had a couple of damaging penalties: a chop block and a false start.The Cardinals did everything they could to hand the Bears a touchdown near the end of the first half with two roughing the passer penalties: one on Marcus Golden and one on Robert Nkemdiche. But the Bears just couldn’t accept the gift as Dion Sims took them out of a set of downs starting with first and four with an illegal shift. The settled for a field goal.Haason Reddick had a bad offside penalty that kept a Bear drive alive. It resulted in a field goal and put the Bears within 1 point of the Cardinals.
  5. Trubisky gave up the ball on a strip sack.I gotta be honest. Tre Boston picks off a deflected pass on the Bears 30 with a minute and a half left and at that point you know its not your day.Eddie Jackson had a nice pick on a less than stellar throw from Sam Bradford. Sherrick McManis had a nice interception in the third quarter that gave the Bears the ball in Arizona territory. Mack caused a huge fumble early in the fourth quarter with the Cardinals looking like they were set up to get a big field goal at that point.  And, of course, the two game sealing interceptions were huge.
  6. I thought the Bears were thoroughly out coached in the first half, just as they were in Green Bay in week 1. The men on the Arizona defense were beating the Bears to their spots. The offense was beating the Bears linebackers in mismatches in coverage like a drum. I also thought calling time out with 4:30 left to line up for the field goal was poor clock management.
  7. Good time to bring Josh Rosen in. With the Bears in a prevent defense, the passese were likely to be reasonably short and open.
  8. Kudos to Bears fans for making a lot of noise in enemy territory.
  9. This was a good win for the Bears. After a miserable start the defense came on and pulled this game out while the offense continued to plug away. At some point, the Bears are going to hae to figure out how to handle teams that know how to blitz. Trubisky seems to be too easily confused and unable to read the defense and this won’t be the last they see of this by far. But for now, I guess they should just enjoy the come from behind victory.

Trubisky’s Play Against the Titans Could Be Disappointing and Other Points of View

“I anticipate the Bears drafting at the top of the draft again next year. If an All-Pro left tackle is available in the draft, do the Bears still take one that high or do they look at other positions now that Leno is signed for the foreseeable future?”

“— Corey S., South Side”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if the Bears were to include offensive tackle among the positions they would consider with a first-round draft pick in 2018 but [Charles] Leno profiles better on the left side than the right side… The Bears have made a solid financial commitment to Leno and I’d be awful surprised if they were to go away from him after one season. They believe he can be entrenched there for several seasons to come. That being said, right tackle Bobby Massie was shaky last year, particularly in the first two months of the season. The Bears made a run at right tackle Ricky Wagner in free agency and that signaled to me they were willing to make a change at that position. Depending on how Massie performs this season, certainly tackle could be a need for the Bears once again.”

I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if the Bears tried to replace Massie this year, yet. Pre-season cuts are coming and if the right guy is released for the right reasons, the Bears might well choose to pick up a player in the same way that they signed Josh Sitton right before the season started last year.

Continuity is an issue in those situations but the Bears obviously aren’t afraid of disrupting that. Their actions with Sitton last year and Kyle Long’s switch from right to left guard and the movement around the line we’ve seen in the preseason with players like Cody Whitehair to close the gap pretty much tell us that getting the five best players on the field supersedes everything there.

“The team clearly likes Kendall Wright better as a slot receiver right now. I don’t think Braverman has much of a shot to make the 53-man roster and he might not stick around on the practice squad.”

I blame Jay Cutler.

“Kicker Roberto Aguayo might be running out of time to earn a roster spot.

“Coach John Fox doesn’t often criticize players to the media yet opened Friday’s news conference by highlighting Aguayo’s practice struggles. After the second-year kicker sliced a 49-yard kick wide right against the Cardinals last weekend, he faces an uphill battle to unseat Connor Barth. Fox wasn’t sure how much the Bears could do to help Aguayo get out of his rut.

“‘It’s like working with golfers,’ Fox said. ‘It doesn’t really matter much what they do on the driving range, it matters what’s on the course. … We’re going to mess with him. We don’t have a long look but he’s been very receptive. And that’s an area where we need to improve.’”

Aguayo pretty much blew any chance he had to make the team when he missed the field goal that Wiederer mentions. Which brings us to the real question – why is he still on the roster?

There are two possibilities here.

  1. As valuable as positions on the 53 man roster are, as Fox mentions, a change in needed at kicker because Barth, as accurate as he is at short range, doesn’t have the leg to kick longer field goals or, more to the point, handle kickoffs effectively. It’s entirely possible that they’re going to keep Aguayo just for that.
  2. Aguayo could still be placed on a practice squad.

Both possibilities would allow the Bears to continue to try to correct his mechanics and make him a more accurate field goal kicker.

“This is supposed to be a pivotal season for the dynamic receiver. But through two exhibition outings, White has been invisible. Two catches, 2 yards. The Bears passing game needs a spark in a bad way. And White needs some production to build confidence heading into the regular season. On the whole, the Bears’ top receivers have been disappointing this month. In the nine possessions the first-unit offense has had, their receivers have managed only seven catches for 51 yards.”

Amen.

Mike Glennon is taking some flack for his preseason performances and rightfully so. But when we look as his putrid 4.2 yards per attempt, we have to remember that his receivers are partially responsible. Specifically, that they aren’t getting open deep. that has to change or it isn’t going to matter who is at quarterback.

I agree. To an extent.

I always thought the front seven would be a strength for the Bears if they could keep them all healthy. But I have more doubts than most about the defensive back field.

One thing that absolutely must change is the turnover ratio. The Bears tied an all-time NFL record for fewest takeaways last year with 11 and I’ve seen little evidence during the preseason that this will improve enough to keep the Bears competitive consistently when playing decent teams.

Sunday is probably their last chance to give us some hope in this area. It will be a challenge not just to get the ball away but to continue to show why Bears fans are optimistic about them.

The Titans are an old school smash mouthed run first football team. They added speed to the offense in the offseason in the form of first round wide receiver Corey Davis and they brought in Eric Decker to play the slot. Derrick Henry has also been lining up in the slot in the preseason.

All-in-all there has been a significant effort to diversify the offense and the Bears defense is going to have their toughness and skill tested at every level of the defense.

  • There’s a lot of excitement about Mitch Trubisky starting the second half against the Titans and Fox has said that he hopes the Titans keep their starters in.

I really hope that Bears fans aren’t going to be too disappointed if Trubisky doesn’t play well. Two things define Dick LeBeau’s defense: amoeba fronts and complex five-man blitzes on passing downs.

It could get ugly out there for a rookie quarterback who wasn’t even very experienced by college standards.

The Bears Are Gradually Challenging Trubisky to Transition to Pro Style And Other Points of View

“Mitch Trubisky’s second preseason outing was far less attention-grabbing than his first. His final numbers — 6-for-8, 60 yards, a TD pass and a 135.4 rating — were solid. And he once again took care of the ball, now up to 65 preseason plays and eight possessions without a turnover.

“Trubisky got away with a throw to Titus Davis that was nearly intercepted. He was also sacked for a loss of 7 in the fourth quarter when he couldn’t escape a six-man rush and held the ball a beat too long.

“It’s still hard to envision Trubisky making a rapid leap to unseat [Mike] Glennon as the starter by Week 1.”

Agreed.

Trubisky was not as good as last week for 2 reasons:

  1. The Bears asked him to do more. He didn’t roll out, cutting the field and his reads in half, nearly as much. They put him under center more.
  2. The Cardinals showed him and the third team offense more. They got him on a sack that didn’t count on a delayed blitz and on one that did on another blitz that he likely hasn’t seen before. He had one near INT.Trubisky naturally isn’t going to look as good as the Bears challenge him to leave his comfort zone and become the quarterback he needs to be in a pro style offense.  Bears fans are going to have to be patient as that happens.
  • Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune answers your questions. Biggs does a shrewd analysis of the players on the special teams units during the Arizona game to see what can be gleaned in terms of who makes the backend of the roster and who doesn’t:

“The one thing that jumps out a little bit is the absence of Kyle Fuller. If he’s going to stick with the Bears as a reserve cornerback, you’d figure he’s got to have a hand in the action on special teams. That could be coming but we’ll have to wait and see.”

What jumped out at me was the absence of Ka’Deem Carey. Carey is in his annual battle to make this team and with the emergence of Tarik Cohen and the decent possibility that tight end Ben Braunecker becomes a core special teams player, Carey’s roster spot is in serious jeopardy. A lot may come down to what the Bears decide to do with running back Benny Cunningham. Cunningham returns kicks and was getting a look with the punt coverage teams.

I’d say that, along with Jeremy Langford, who also was absent from the list of special teams players, both Carey and Fuller may be in serious trouble.

  • Brian Urlacher was very positive in this interview. I’m much more likely to listen to him when he has negative comments now that I’ve heard some positives.

    Urlacher may not be the grumpy ex-player I thought he was.

Previewing the Jaguars and Other Points of View

• Next up for the Bears is the Jacksonville Jaguars. My first thought is that this is a very mineable game for the Bears. Even though Jacksonville beat the Colts in a sloppy, penalty filled game in London, they don’t appear to me to be any better. Quarterback Blake Bortles is the hope for this franchise and he had a pretty good game against the Colts. One thing to note is that the Colts flat out could not cover 6’0” wide receiver Allen Robinson. Stopping him will be a high priority for the Bears. Their pass protection is an issue and once gain the Bears front seven has an opportunity to make an impact in this game, hopefully in both halves of football this time. Also notable was that the Jaguars had a tough time handling the Colts no huddle offense. Look for that to be a staple for the Beas this game.
• As long time readers of this blog know, I have very little sympathy for players who fail to face adversity in the day-to-day competition of the game. Dolphins defensive end Mario Williams is such a player and I notice that he has a new excuse.

Last year Williams blamed Buffalo head coach Rex Ryan for his poor performance last season, claiming that Ryan played him out of position at outside linebacker.

Well, this year he’s back at defensive end for the Dolphins. How’s that going for you, Mario?

“… If we can get guys to hold the ball a little longer,” William said of the sacks. “The ball’s coming out pretty quick.

Ah. So it’s the defensive back’s fault now. I see.

Through five games, Williams has recorded seven tackles (including just two for loss), three quarterback hits and one little sack. He did not appear on the stat sheet at all on Sunday in a loss to the Titans in which there was virtually no pass rush from the defensive line.

Yes, the ball is coming out fast. But Williams knows as well as anyone that’s true around the NFL nowadays. Defensive linemen still manage to perform despite that, through talent and determination. There is an old saying that has been passed around the NFL for decades: “There are a thousand reasons for failure, but not a single excuse.” It’s getting late for Mario Williams to learn that lesson but he needs to do so.
• Some mild uproar was raised in Chicago last week as a fan who ran out on the field during a Bears game wearing a gorilla suit and a t-shirt with a protest logo on it was arrested. The bail of $250,000 was considered by some to be excessive. I’m all for the right to free speech and protest. But you have to be smart about your method for doing so. Running out on the field is not only can result in a dangerous situation for both participants and fans and as an interested viewer I definitely don’t want to see protesters trying it every game. As far as I’m concerned, the more strongly such behavior is discouraged, the better.
• Jeff Fisher is 3-2 this season as head coach of the LA Rams and after a reasonable start it appears that his team is on the way back to the 0.500 mark.

Fisher’s MO is that he gets the team very high for divisional games. The problem is that getting the players too high for those games leads them to let down against teams outside the division. Fisher’s record against divisional opponents since 2012 is almost 0.500 but against non-divisional foes it drops to 15-24 with one tie. Hence big wins early in the season against the Seattle Seahawks and the Arizona Cardinals. But we’ve yet to see them try to sustain it against teams that they should be able to beat outside the division. Whether his team rises or falls this year will depend upon how Fisher and his players handle those games, something they’ve done a poor job of in the past.
• The Arizona Cardinals are 2-3 and after a poorly played win on Thursday night against the hapless 49ers they appear to be rapidly regressing after an excellent year last season.

The Cardinals were the toast of the NFL after going deep into the playoffs last year under head coach Bruce Arians. Arians’ bravado and forthrightness makes him well respected by members of the media and the team even had a special series produced by Amazon.com about them in the offseason.

Now it looks like the team is falling back down to earth a bit. The now injured Carson Palmer hasn’ t looked like the same quarterback he was last year and he seems to be continuing this year the way he left off in the playoffs last year, a 49-15 loss to the Panthers in which he looked like he allowed the pressure of the game to get to him.

Fans around the league love Arians and he’s ridden a wave of kudos. But now is when he and his staff really have the opportunity to show who they really are. Facing adversity, the question is whether they are good enough to pull the Cardinals out of their funk to finish a season well in which they started so poorly. The bet here is that they do it. But the proof will be in the pudding.

Don Coryell Misses Hall of Fame Once Again

Don_CoryellI’m disappointed that, once again, Don Coryell didn’t get voted into the Hall of Fame. Coryell changed the game with his down field passing offense as he coached the St. Louis Cardinals and the San Diego Chargers. Frankly, his impact was considerably higher than Tony Dunge‘s and he deserved the honor more. Hopefully its just a matter of time.

Bears Will Face Stiff Competition for a Guard in Free Agency

Dave Birkett at the Detroit Free Press thinks the Lions could be big spenders in free agency:

“With a projected cap north of $150 million, and the likelihood they free up more room with cuts or retirements, the Lions have the potential to be significant players in free agency if new general manager Bob Quinn chooses.”

“The Lions have holes on both lines, at linebacker and at receiver this off-season, and their need for a pass catcher could amplify if Calvin Johnson retires, as he’s hinted he might do.

“If Johnson retires, the Lions, who currently have more available cap space than 11 other teams, will gain an additional $11 million in spending room.”

The Lions, like the Bears, might have plenty of cap space but they are one of many, many teams that have needs on the offensive line including playoff teams Minnesota, Seattle and Arizona to name a few. All of these teams will face stiff competition for any offensive lineman who is worth his salt and who hits free agency. That’s going to drive the price up into the stratosphere.

The Bears, at least, are going to have to look for their right guard in the draft. Any team hoping to fill their holes in that area through free agency and is willing to put out the money needed to do it is likely building the foundation of their offense on sand.

Vic Fangio and The “Head Coach Type”

Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune answers your questions. this one was about why Bears defensive coordinator Vic Fangio didn’t get an interview for a head coaching position:

“Fangio is 57 but we have seen older coaches get their first crack at a head job recently with Bruce Arians enjoying tremendous success in Arizona. Fangio isn’t a very political guy and I say that not as a positive or a negative but simply as an observation that you get. Every head coach that was hired this offseason was from an offensive background.”

The comparison to Arians might be a good one here in more ways than age. Arians, like Fangio, “isn’t a very political guy”. From the quotes that I have read, he’s a straight shooting guy who will walk in to a room and firmly tell you what he thinks.

That sounds like a good thing in theory and that’s what everyone says that they want to hear. But the reality is something different. Some of the smartest people I know are like this and I’ve found over time that it’s a mistake not to listen to them. But I’ve also noticed that they rarely get asked to work with people in teams on administrative tasks. The truth is that straight shooters often tell it like it is with little tact and sometimes they are so firm that it comes across as an attack. That’s not good and they often impress as uncompromising to administrative types in any business, not just football. You need a guy who can get his point across while still leaving the people around the table certain that he’ll play nicely if things don’t go his way.

If I were to guess as to why Arians didn’t get the job in Chicago when he interviewed in 2013, I’d say that he scared some people off with his forthright attitude, particularly then general manager Phil Emery, who had been dealing with a very stubborn and opinionated Lovie Smith. That was the Bears loss. But it is also understandable.

I’m making some assumptions here but if Fangio is to get his chance at a head coaching job, he’s probably going to have to make sure that everyone he meets knows that he’s a team player no matter what the circumstances. Expressing an opinion is a tone that is calm and reasoned with less emotional baggage usually helps. In fact, it’s usually essential. Otherwise, Bears fans will be happy to have him in Chicago for as long as he wants to be here.

It’s Viking Week and You Know What That Means…

It was in 2001 after a particularly tough loss to the Bears when I found this cry from a Viking fan on the Internet.  Long time readers of my blog posts at various sites over the years know that it has been reposted every season since during Viking week.

My admiration for this anonymous fan is almost as strong as my sympathy for anyone who is stuck rooting for what is traditionally one the most gutless teams in the NFL.  I think that, more than any other organization, the Vikings have probably made the least out of the most talent over the last twenty years.  But I will never be able to express that sentiment with the eloquence of this poet.  Enjoy.

I’ve had it! I can’t take this shit no more! I’m done! THIS TEAM IS A  GODDAMN EMBARASSMENT AND I HAVE HAD IT! I BURNED MY VIKINGS FLAG YESTERDAY, CHUCK FOREMAN GAVE IT TO ME WHEN I WAS A KID! I BURNED THE FUCKING THING AND MY WIFE FREAKED OUT SO I ENDED UP FORKING THE FIERY RAG AND THROWING’ER IN THE WEBER GRILL. GODDAMN RACCOONS! AND GODDAMN THE HEARTLESS VIKINGS AND ALL THEIR GODDAMN EXCUSES! I WANT MY DEVOTION BACK! AND ALL THOSE GODDAMN GAMES, AND ALL THOSE GODDAMN HEARTBREAKS!.

I QUIT. I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE!.

ARE WE CURSED? ARE WE CURSED?!!

As a bonus addition, I’ve added the radio call of the last Hail Mary pass in the Vikings’ (gutless and predictable) loss to the 3-12 Arizona Cardinals in the final game of 2003.  The loss (and the play) knocked the Vikings out of the playoffs.  Just listening will immediately warm any Bear fan’s heart.

Game Winning TD, Vikings-Cardinals, 2003

For Heaven’s Sake, Jalen Saunders

Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune relays that Bears practice squad wide receiver Jalen Saunders has been suspended for 10 games violating the league’s substance abuse policy:

“Ten-game suspensions come when a player has violated the policy for a fourth time.

“The Bears signed Saunders to the practice squad on Sept. 7 and transferred him to the practice squad/injured list on Oct. 6. The New York Jets drafted him in the fourth round out of Oklahoma last year and he was released just one month into the season. He then spent time with the Arizona Cardinals, Seattle Seahawks and New Orleans Saints before the season ended. “

He’s violated the policy four times in just two years? He’s either got a huge drug problem or he’s extremely stupid.  I can’t imagine the Bears keep this guy around.