When Muhsin Muhammad signed with the Bears, he was brought here to be the difference in a passing game that was one of the worst things in the history of life. He was paid quite nicely to make us forget that David Terrell ever existed and that our brilliant coaching staffs of Christmas past believed players like Curtis Conway and Bobby Engram weren't going to amount to anything.
I don't care how much athletes get paid to play sports so this is not about money. I do care when men are paid to do a job and they're not doing it. Muhsin Muhammad is being paid like a number one receiver and after watching the tape of Sunday's game several times, it is clear that he's playing more like a number three.
He had 3 catches for 38 and two big-time first downs. But his performance was devastatingly marred by letting Grossman's early 4th quarter throw bounce off his back shoulder pad into the arms of Pete Hunter. The Bears were down three and on the Seahawk ten yard line! He catches the ball and at worst the game is tied. Instead he did what he has done far too often this season: he failed to be the big-time player the Bears paid for.
A big game Sunday can change all that. Without one, I may start to wonder if the emergence of Berrian, Bradley and Davis may have made Moose expendable.
#2 jonathan said . . .This has nothing to do with the topic but a friend of mine passed it along. Not sure if you have seen it but we may need to say a few of these....Here is little prayer to pass along to your family and friends:
Our Papa (Halas)
Who art a Bear
Hallowed be the fame
Thy Championship come,
The play be run,
At home as it is away,
Give us this day our Sunday win,
And forgive us our turnovers,
Though we pounce on those who turnover against us,
And lead us not into fourth and long,
But deliver us from every lossIn the name of Da Coach: Ditka,
Butkus,
and the Holy Payton,
as it was in 1985,
So shall it be in 2006, Reign without end!!!Amen!
Bear Down....sorry if you have seen this or heard this already!
January 17, 2007
#3 jeff said . . .I tend to agree. Moose, over the season, has been a solid performer, but not to the tune of his massive salary. Normally I'd have no problem, keep him and avoid taking a risk on another unknown, but we have decent depth with young, up and coming receivers -- Berrian, Bradley, Davis.
And then I think about Lance Briggs. And if it comes down to salary cap space -- and IF it's an option -- it might be time for Moose to move on.
But that's a big "IF" because Moose still has 4 more years on his contract. Depending on how his contract is written, getting rid of him could be complicated or undesirable if it does not actually free up any cap space or would require the Bears to pay off the remaining years.
January 17, 2007
#4 Pissed off said . . .jonathan, lance deserves his own column. they CAN'T let him go.
January 17, 2007
#5 Pissed off said . . .I havent seen that sean, its great.
I tend to agree with Jeff on Moose, last year his numbers were bad but no one can blame him, Orton was throwing him the ball for Fucks sake. When we got this guy he was supposed to be the best in the business, he came off a year where he led the league in TDs and Rec yards (pretty sure on that). Now I dont know if Rex just looks for others guys too often or what but Moose isnt producing. I'm not ready to dump him yet but he is aging.
January 17, 2007
#6 Coxy said . . .I would like to throw in another angle as well.....teams look at Moose as our #1 and therefore is covered by their best CB and sometimes double teamed. This frees up Berrian, Bradley and Davis and allows for those guys to make plays. His salary might be a bit much but he takes heat off of other guys and he's a great community guy too.
January 17, 2007
#7 Jrock said . . .I dont mean to be this guy but I have never been that big a fan of Moose. Last year that guy had KY Jelly on his receiving gloves. This year he has held onto the ball more and made some incredible catches, but in the back of my mind, I expected the big drops. He is a big target, but he's not incredibly fast. Also, did you see how he held the ball like Deion Sanders on a sideline catch the other day as he was being tackled. I nearly had a heart attack.
One thing that I like about him this year, is his staunch support of Rex. I have been Rex's boy this whole year. I never agreed with going to Griese after what I saw Rex was capable of. But a player should not get cut a check to cheer on a qb with fragile psyche.
But I agree, I will gladly eat my words with a big day out of him on Sunday. I may actually say "MOOOOOOOOSE" after some catches as opposed to my boos.
January 17, 2007
#8 Joe said . . .This is really great. Everyone is predicting the saints to win. I like the underdog role. Everyone is so high on the saints but I think the Bears will upset them this week. Remember this is a team that lost at home to Washington...this is a team that has 6 losses on the season..this is a team with a very pedestrian defense and a QB that is quite capable of throwing the game away (he throws picks in Bunches much like Rex)...but go ahead, pick the Saints and overlook the Bears.
Also another stupid headline by ESPN: Did anyone notice that ESPN wrote "Chicago Bear-ly gets by Seattle" BUT they wrote for the Saints "New Orleans cruises to NFC Championship" BOTH TEAM WON BY THREE FUCKING POINTS AT HOME...but that's espn for ya, always biased to the flavor of the week. It seems like their "experts" change opinions weekly, if not daily...Mark Schlereth is the worst, what a pansy..did that guy even play football?
January 17, 2007
#9 Candy said . . .Watch out New Orleans- You think katrina kicked your ass, wait for Da Bears...
Bears 72
Saints 0January 17, 2007
#10 Mikey said . . .I just have to let everyone know I I have faith in my Bears! I have put up with so much s--- from everyone not a fan. But I'm standing tall! I have been a Bear fan for 40 yrs. Yes they have pissed me off, but I'm still right there with them 100% GO BEARS!!!
January 17, 2007
#11 Pissed off said . . .It was just revealed that Matt played that game with two broken fingers and a shoulder tear that will most likely require surgery. He may even miss most of training camp.
What's my point? I think you dodged a bullet. More like a mortar round.
January 17, 2007
#12 Pissed off said . . .Moose has been Rex's boy all year, hell I've been a huge Rex guy all year. As I've said before I will give Moose a pass on last year becuase of the Orton factor, even if he had butterfingers.
I think the reason for Moose holding the ball like Deion on that one play last game is that the DB was in great position to strip the ball. After watching the replay it looked like Moose didnt have a good handle on the ball and just took it away from his body to avoid being stripped.
I dont think EVERYONE is picking the Saints this week, maybe some ESPN rubes but there are plenty of people out there who like the Bears
January 17, 2007
#13 Dikka...saasage said . . .Boo Hoo mikey
January 17, 2007
#14 jeff said . . .a few points:
1. go easy a bit on moose, that ball was thrown behind him, it was actually one of the few passes that grossman threw poorly. it would have been a very difficult catch. he's made some huge catches this year, and i know he'll be motivated this week--the bears WRs can beat any of the saints DBs.
2. why not get on berrian? he dropped a SURE td pass later on, wide open over the middle.
3. i know somebody posted earlier about briggs vs. the other potential FAs...there is NOBODY who would trump signing briggs. it is absolutely essential that the bears pay him. get him signed, whatever it takes.January 17, 2007
#15 mikebdot said . . .berrian's drop was huge but its the difference between a guy in the league a couple years in the biggest spot of his career and a highly paid veteran. as for briggs, there's going to be a lot of money out there for him but if they cheap out and let him go, they deserve what they get - which will be run over all next season.
January 17, 2007
#16 jdawg said . . .Re #13:
As I've said previously, that pass HAD to be thrown where it was thrown to miss the defender's outstretched arm on the line. I'm not sure if you can see it when the interception was thrown, but when they showed a replay later on it went just to the right of a defender's arm, which means if it was put on the other shoulder it would have been tipped at the line, and probably intercepted there too...the only other alternative would have been to throw the ball somewhere else or throw it earlier/later...for that instant, it was the perfect spot to throw the ball and regardless, Moose needs to make the play.
I agree we can't let Lance go...like we did with Colvin...he'll end up somewhere that might make a difference against us!
The problem is, we have so much talent on this team it's going to be difficult to keep them together. Regardless, that's all post season talk huh? :) Much like the inevitable "we need to draft some young O-Linemen" which we'll be discussion in a few weeks I assume, or does this blog go idle in the offseason?
By the way, Jeff, as if it weren't apparent, I dig the blog. Glad I found it...
January 17, 2007
#17 Starbuck said . . .Moose was signed to catch the ball AND:
be an on-field coach for the receivers
run block
take up two defenders
lead by exampleHe's done all of the above except catch the ball on a consistent basis. There were some Panther fans on another board last year that said the same thing: Moose will make the fantastic catch and drop the ordinary one; but he's a professional and had a lot to do with the maturing of S Smith. Berrian has emerged this year and Bradley has been playing hurt so its hard to judge what Moose's impact has been, but the Bears new they needed a mature veteran out there with the young guys.
Was his contract front-loaded? If it wasn't this was a mistake on the Bears part.
January 17, 2007
#18 jeff said . . .As to the comments on Moose, he is probably expendable - especially since the Bears very well may take a couple of receivers in the draft.
As for Briggs, although he is a great player, there are numerous big time unrestricted free agent linebackers coming on the market this year, e.g. Diggs - Carolina, June - Colts, Thomas - Ravens, Fletcher - Bills. So, not getting Briggs is not the end of the world - believe it or not. Briggs will be the most sought after OLB in the league. It may be difficult to keep him because the Bears need to lock up at least on corner, as well as look into a safety. In the end, the Bears are gonna pay through the nose no matter who they sign for the weak side linebacker.
January 17, 2007
#19 jdawg said . . .franchise tag? they've hinted at it but have never used it before.
January 17, 2007
#20 BRIANsong said . . .they will not franchise Briggs. They will spend that money on bionic legs for Mike Brown. That way the networks won't have to replay those monster hits in slo-mo.
January 17, 2007
#21 jeff said . . .I'm also a little over the idea of Moose not catching the pass because it was behind him. Every other game I see, the #1 on that side makes catches of much greater difficulty than that would have been.
January 17, 2007
#22 Pissed off said . . .this jazzed me up. http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs06/columns/story?columnist=clayton_john&id=2733790
January 17, 2007
#23 Pissed off said . . .Good point on Berrian, Jeff, a young guy in this league makes some mistakes, a vet like Moose should be catching everthing.
I am not interested in paying Briggs if it takes Brian Urlacher money, he will always be in the shadow of #54 no matter how much we pay him.
Though its possible Mike Brown will never play 16 games in a season the Bears have done a good job drafting/signing defense. Remember last year when C.Harris was a rookie and he took Mike Greens starting spot and this year D. Manning has been starting. I just love this organization!
January 17, 2007
#24 Max said . . .Great article by john clayton, gotta love that guy. Doesnt Sean Salisbury make him look like an absolute genius though when they debate? Salisbury is an idiot.
January 17, 2007
#25 mikebdot said . . .I'm a Moose backer. He should have caught that pass. And we certainly pay him enough that we should expect him to catch that pass. But he has still been big for us this year.
I also believe you are right jonathan. I think his contract will not allow us to just outright cut him without suffering a loss. I see no reason why he shouldn't remain a Bear, just perhaps change his role on the team a little bit.
Awesome prayer by the way
January 17, 2007
#26 Phil from SATX said . . .Sean Salisbury...I wonder if his wife calls him "disgusting" like Kruk's...
I'm just glad someone finally said what ought to be said on espn.com...
10-6 vs. 13-3...shoot, last week they were picking 14-2 vs. 12-4 and 13-3 vs. 12-4...WTF?? The story is just too hard for them to resist (Katrina).
Oh, Rush Limbaugh is a douche...in case anyone doubted it:
http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2007/01/why-rush-limbaugh-ought-to-be-force.html
January 17, 2007
#27 District Selectman said . . .My 2 cents on Moose - I agree with both sides - the guy makes many more tough catches, usually in the middle, many times bracketed by guys, than he drops passes, but he does drop the occasional pass - and that CATCHABLE ball was a huge swing in the game. My biggest knock on Moose is that he HASN'T been that much of a team guy - don't you remember last year when he was constantly throwing Orton under the bus and complaining? This year he's liked Grossman, but he's still prone to the end zone tantrum when they miss him and he never seems to take responsibility for his drops to the media, always qualifies things with "the passes could have been better..." Moose loves you when you're throwing him the ball and he's catching it - if you're not, or he isn't, watch your back. And I agree that as that kind of franchise receiver, he should be making pretty much all the makable catches. That said, he's too good to let go, and we can probably go ahead and count out Bradley for the future - he can't stay on the field. I think what this year has told me is it's not that hard to find good receivers (see Colston, all the Patriots no-names, etc.) if you have someone to throw them the ball. AND WE FINALLY DO.
January 17, 2007
mikebdot -- that Rush thing is incredible. It's understandable that his three wives were all disgusted with him (although that obviously didn't spur him on to weight loss).
January 17, 2007
Here at DaBearsBlog, you are free to kill us or the Bears as you so wish. You are not free, however, to be an asshole. So if you spew racism or ill-meaning foul language (cursing about football is just fine) or anything of that ilk, your comments ain't gonna last long, jerk.