Random Thoughts/Quick Hits

I've been away for a bit, so I thought I'd post some random thoughts before tonight's game at New York.  First, let me copy and paste some notes I had taken while watching the last preseason game against the Redskins:

This Cutler to Marshall could be a serious hook-up for us for 10 years.
WOW Jay has a cannon.
That first drive was unlike any I can recall from recent memory.
I have NOT been impressed with Gabe Carimi.
Henry Melton could soon be thought of as one of Chicago's great defensive players.
Chris Spencer sucks.
I still sometimes root for the Bears to give Forte chances near the goal line.  Michael Bush might be changing that.
I'm not happy with our special teams coverage units.
I love McClellin's motor, but he REALLY needs to get stronger.
This looks like a top 5 offense in the NFL.
Alshon Jeffery looks better and better and better.  REALLY impressed.
Did I just see Lovie Smith smiling?
I repeat, I'm not happy with our special teams coverage units.
I hope Podlesh is ok.  I like him.
Scary injury to Brandon Hardin.  Thank God he's ok.
I wish we'd see more of Evan Rodriguez with the 1's, but he just showed why we don't.
Good job by our LT's today.
Most years we'd be SCREAMING to make Chris Summers our starting split end.  Now he's a practice squad guy.  What a difference a year makes.
As I typed that, Summers dropped what should've been a TD.
Jay Cutler was just asked who called the pass to Marshall on the first play, him or Tice.  Jay smiled and said "well, Mike (Tice) gives us some flexibility.  When we get single coverage out there, we're going to attack it."  LOVE that!!
Evan Rodriguez again flashing his potential.  I hope we see continued development from him.
Robbie Gould is great.

Some of this is what I'll be looking for tonight.  I'll be looking for more good play from our LT's (isn't that the first thing we all think of before each preseason game?).  I'm also hoping to see better play from our special teams.  We can't be giving up that kind of field position constantly (while I'm sure that Robbie has intentionally not kicked some balls through the end zone during the preseason, that's not the point).  I continue to enjoy watching the rookies McClellin, Jeffery and Rodriguez and hope to continue to see development from them.

Being the third preseason game, I will also be tracking our personnel groupings and what plays we run out of each one.  I'll be doing that all year and reporting on it right here every week, but I'll do that tonight also since the Bears will have gameplanned (to some extent) for this game.  I'm very interested to see how well Tice can maintain a healthy run/pass split out of each personnel grouping.  Ironically, our O-line issues might help in that regard.  Because of the need to help our line protect, we'll often have two tight-ends in the game (12 and 22 personnel).  That type of personnel on the field would usually key the defense to a running play, but we will be passing out of that grouping almost more out of necessity than design.  This will help keep a defense guessing and should help Tice as he gets accustomed to his new role of offensive playcaller.

Bears Release DT Adams

According to sources, the Bears have released defensive tackle Anthony Adams.  Signed as a free agent in 2007, Adams has been an excellent run defender with the Bears and has been perhaps an even bigger influence in the locker room.  Many fans are familiar with Adams’ light-hearted nature and his “Fat Man Dance”.  The first two words of that title, sadly, helped lead to his release.

Coming out of the lockout last year, Adams was out of shape.  He was too much fat man, not enough dance.  A couple weeks into camp, he suffered a calf injury that held him out for about a month.  While we can’t tell whether his extra weight or lack of conditioning contributed to the injury, it certainly couldn’t have helped.  After his returned he played sparingly, appearing in 11 games and making only 16 tackles.

Now the good news.  While Adams was struggling, the Bears got excellent production from both Henry Melton and Amobi Okoye.  Even though these two players play the three-technique, a position different than the nose tackle position that Adams played, their success is relevant because it will allow the Bears to play Stephen Paea (who can play the three-technique or the nose) in the rotation at nose tackle with Matt Toeaina.  While Paea struggled to get on the field early in his rookie year, he did show promise down the stretch.  If this is in fact the case, Adams’ release leads us to believe that the Bears are confident they’ll be able to retain Okoye (who was playing on a one year deal) before he gets to free agency.  This would be a good thing for the Bears’ D-Line.

In other news, reports are that the Bears are close to resigning CB Tim Jennings.  He was said to be looking for a significant raise over his $1.9 Million salary from 2011.  As an undersized zone corner, he wouldn’t be in high demand on the free market and likely wouldn’t earn much more than that.  If he does get a raise, however, he might have teammate Zackary Bowman to thank.  Remember, Jennings was benched in week 16 vs the Packers last year and Bowman, his replacement, was beaten badly for three touchdowns.  So while they’d be wise to not overpay, the Bears would be smart to get a deal with Jennings done, especially considering his predominantly solid play over the past couple years and their lack of depth at the position.