Bears Go Camping Tidbits…

Olin Kruetz, who had missed the past 6 days of camp with an achilles injury, passed a physical today and practiced for the first time.

Kevin Jones, still recovering from his knee surgery and on the PUP list, was on the field today.  Helmet but no pads.  Looks like he is on pace to start practicing sometime next week.

Chris Williams, who had slightly strained his back on his first day of workouts, was on the field again, helmet no pads, but this is a good sign he may see action in a day or two. I sure hope he is on the field soon, the offensive line hasn’t looked all that great so far. Plus, I really need to get the vision of Stan Thomas out of my head. It would really depress me if Williams turns into another Thomas.

Bears waived ex-Saluki QB, Nick Hill today, shattering hopes of Southern Illinois alumni, that he may become QB1 for the Bears this season.

It looks like the QB battle is going to be won on the field during the preseason games, which it should be.  Orton and Rexy have both looked good and bad in the tapes I have seen.  Kyle has been throwing up some picks the past few days while Rexy has been having trouble with snaps again here and there.  Now the Kruetz is back, hopefully that problem will be resolved. 

Earl Bennett and Matt Forte continue to impress.  I can’t wait to see Forte in a game.  Bennett looks like he is ready to contribute right out of the box at the wide receiver spot, although he has had some problems fumbling the ball while taking punts. 

I’ve been reading reports that Garrette Wolfe has been looking really good in camp. The Bears may just have to carry 4 RBs this year if that is the case.

Mark Bradley has looked really good at the receiver spot so far.  Hopefully, he can stay away from the injury bug that Dan Bauzin and Dusty Dvoracek have.

That’s about it for today.  I’ll have more in depth information this week.

 

Now we can get things started…

The Bears signed their 1st round draft pick (14th overall), OT Chris Williams to a 5 year deal today just hours before the first training camp practise. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Williams and John St. Clair are in a position battle for the starting left tackle spot.

The left tackle spot isn’t the only position battle that will start 3pm (CST) this afternoon.  The offense will see position battles at QB, RB, all the WR spots, LT, LG and TE. Here is a little preview of what will be going on in camp this summer.

Quarterbacks

Kyle Orton and Rex Grossman are fighting for the QB1 spot.  Both showed flashes of being a legit starter last year along with flashes of being completely awful.  This position battle probably won’t be resolved anytime soon.  Coach Lovie Smith has stated that he doesn’t have a time line to decides who will win the starting job.

Running Back

Rookie Matt Forte looks to be in the lead for the starting running back position, with a stellar showing in the OTA’s.  Forte received praise from a lot of the veterans of the team, especially Tommie Harris and Brian Urlacher.  Newly signed Kevin Jones and veteran Adrian Peterson will challenge Forte for the starting position.  Garrett Wolfe is also in the mix, but will probably see spot duty or come in as a 3rd down specialist if he makes the squad.

Left Tackle

Rookie Chris Williams and veteran John St. Clair will battle it out for the starting job.  Chris Williams gives the Bears their first legit left tackle in a long time.  Aging veteran John Tait moves from left tackle to right tackle, where he had been a solid starter but was always regarded as a better right side starter. 

Left Guard

Terrance Metcalf, Chester Adams and BC Alumni Josh Beekman and Ryan Poles will battle it out for the starting left guard spot. 

Tight End

Both Desmond Clark and Greg Olsen will have significant playing time this year, so this really is a position battles in name only.

Wide Receiver

As camp opens today, Coordinator Ron Turner stated that Brandon Lloyd and Devin Hester will be the starters at wide receiver for the first practise.  Mark Bradley, Marty Booker, Rashied Davis and 3rd round pick Earl Bennett will be vying for a position.  We’ll have to wait and see how the battle for the weakest wide receiver squad in the league pans out.

Defense

There really aren’t any position battles to speak of on defense.  The defense, which was decimated by injuries last year looks to get back to being the dominant squad it was during the ‘05/’06 seasons. 

I’m going to try and give camp updates daily as news and time permits.

Hello Chicago Bears Fans

Welcome to Ditka’s Den.  My name is Ben Antkowiak, a.k.a BigWhiskey, and I will be bringing you everything Chicago Bears.  I will apologize now for some of my future rants depending on how the season goes.  I am member of, and a sanctioned blogger for, the sports blogging network named Diehard101.com. Hopefully, you will like what you see and sign up and talk about your favorite sports teams.  I am also the sanctioned blogger for Boston College football on Diehard101, so check that blog out too.

The following are some of my previous blogs that you may have missed.

State of the Chicago Bears Address

Please Jerry Just Say No

I hope everyone enjoys what I write.  Let me know what you think good or bad.

Bears and Urlacher agree to new contract deal

The Chicago Bears and middle linebacker Brian Urlacher came to an agreement for a restructured contract just before the start of training camp.  The new deal gives Urlacher an $18 million bump in pay.  He had 4 years and approximately $25 million left on his previous contract.  The new contract gives him a $6 million signing bonus and a total value of about $43.5 million, while adding a 5th year. 

The Bears went against the grain with the contract renegotiation, in actually renegotiating a contract.  I think management realized that it is important to keep the face of the franchise happy for both the fans and team morale and unity.  The Bears had to deal with Lance Briggs’ contract fiasco last season that seamed to divide management and team personnel.  It was a story many teams have dealt within the past, said player believes he is paid too little, team doesn’t think so, said player threatens to holdout of training camp, team threatens fines and franchises player, said player unhappy with the franchise tag, threatens to hold out until traded, team goes through the motion of trading player, nothing happens, other players support said player in the contract squabble, said player eventually plays and resigns with the team in the off-season for a deal very close to the one the team offered in the first place, said player drives his Lamborghini into a light pole….OK, OK, I’m sorry, I’ll stop.  Thankfully, we won’t have to go through this drama again with Brian Urlacher, he has been paid and is happy, that is until the salary cap goes up again and he thinks he is underpaid once again.  Whoops, sorry again, I’ll put away my crystal ball.

The situation is pretty easy, Urlacher felt he needed more money, the Bears definitely needed their star player, the contract is done, so the Bears can go into training camp as a solid, cohesive unit because everyone is “paid”.  Well, except for their #1 draft pick Chris Williams, who is pegged to start at left tackle and said the holding out was not in his vocabulary. Although, there is a good 18 or so hours to get that one done before camp starts. Oh and Devin Hester wants more money too.  From what I have heard, he and the Bears are negotiating…

Brett Favre and the Chicago Bears

 

With all of the Brett Favre talk this past week about his “impending” return, I’ve been asked at least a dozen times if I would want Favre on the Bears this year.  My answer to that question is an absolute YES!  This is one of those questions where I didn’t even need time to think about it.  It would be easy for me to say that the two biggest reasons for me wanting Favre as QB1 this year are Rex Grossman and Kyle Orton.  The fact of the matter is though, that I’m actually ok with either of them as the starter.  Rexy signed a 1 year deal in the off-season, and needs to show he is a legit QB if he ever wants another chance to be a starter in the NFL.  I think his benching last year helped his head out a lot.  He looked like a completely different player when he came in at the end of the year before his injury against the Redskins.  Kyle Orton is kind of in the same situation, its time for him to show he can be a legit starter also.  As a rookie, he won 9 games.  Maybe the defense won the nine games, but he didn’t do anything to lose games during that time just like a Trent Dilfer.

The main reason my answer is yes to the Favre question is because of the 16 years of torture I had to endure watching him light up the Bears twice a year.  There a four teams I hate the most on this earth. All equally but for different reasons.  I hate the Yankees, the St. Louis Cardinals, Duke and the Packers.  I hate the Packers because I am a Bears fan. Plain and simple.  Favre made it even easier for me to hate the Packers because he was so good there for so long.  I must say that I never hated Favre, just hated the Packers worse for having a player like that.  I even have an autographed Favre helmet sighting next to my Devin Hester helmet (don’t worry Bears fans, it’s a Southern Miss helmet, I wouldn’t bring the awful green and yellow into my house). It was sort of like, when Wade Boggs ended up with the Yankees.  It pained me that he was there, but I hated the Yankees worse because he was there.  It wasn’t until Boggs embraced being a Yankee after retiring, when my hatred for that traitor grew. But that is another story. 

Can Brett still play?  I think he answered that question last year.  Is he a better option at QB than Grossman or Orton at this point? Yes he is.  Could he bring the Bears closer to a Super Bowl than those two?  Yes he can. The Bears are wasting a great defense with an awful offense.  Its happened more times than not in my life as a Bears fan.  Its about time the Bears have a real QB for once.  Can Rexy or Kyle be the one? Maybe, maybe not, but if he is available, I don’t think Brad Maynard would have a problem giving up his number for a Super Bowl ring. 

The best reason to bring in Brett Favre.  It would be the biggest Stone Cold Salute to the Packers that could ever occur.