Terry Johnson can have everyone else's headlines. I'm done with him. Today the Bears inked Nathan Vasher to a five-year extension through 2012. In the midst of what's been happening with this organization the last twenty-four hours, this move shows a diligence by Jerry Angelo to maintain the core of this unit that has been seriously lacking in recent months.
Vasher is a star (if not shutdown) corner with incredible ball-hawking skills and the ability to make a difference should he be needed in the return game. The way things are going over at Halas Hall these days, it's just nice to know someone on the field will be happy to be there come opening day in San Diego.
#2 Max said . . .HA THE FIRST!
So happy. But what does this mean for Tillman???
Ballhawk till '12
June 25, 2007
#3 Bearfan34 said . . .Oh, and regardless. . . i am going to miss Tank. (and i will always call him Tank)
June 25, 2007
#4 JB said . . .We went to negative news to positive today with the Bears!
5 more years of Vash, I'm counting the days till training camp, I'm taking a mini vacation from work to head out there!
Is anybody else going?
As always,
Bear Down!
June 25, 2007
#5 Coxy said . . .Good to see the interceptor in the fold for at least another 5. I don't necessarily think this has anything to do with peanut, but it makes it easier to let him go and let daniel manning move in if it comes to it. But, let's worry about that later...very pleased to see Vash extended.
June 25, 2007
#6 Scott said . . .Yea good riddens about Tank. I did not want him on the team ever since the Sun Times wrote that watershed article about the twinkies he ate in jail.
June 25, 2007
#7 reverenddave said . . .Good to get some good news. We're due. Let's keep it coming. May it last until the final gun of SB XLII.
June 25, 2007
#8 reverenddave said . . .He just has more ballhawk, ensuring i can wear the jersey with pride for another 5 years.
And to echo Max, I too will miss Tank. More importantly I will worry my ass off about our D-line now. We never should have let Scott go
June 26, 2007
#9 Midway Monster said . . .He just has more ballhawk, ensuring i can wear the jersey with pride for another 5 years.
And to echo Max, I too will miss Tank. More importantly I will worry my ass off about our D-line now. We never should have let Scott go
June 26, 2007
#10 mikebdot said . . .As you all know I feel the #1 thing that lets you win in football is defense. Today, Tank is no more. Why? because he drove tipsy late at night doing 20 over the speed limit. F. So what, we only want Boy Scouts for our defense?
--Midway--
June 26, 2007
#11 Pissed off said . . .Ian Scott sucks ass. I don't know why everyone is worried about this. Tommie is coming back, Anderson is solid, Brown is solid, Dusty and Bazuin have potential, and we signed Adams. Plus we still have Wale, Idonije, and Garay who filled in on our path to the Super Bowl. If we stay healthy I don't see how our line doesn't have the potential to be just as good as the line with Tank in there. All I need at this point is potential and I get excited. No point in worrying.
Don't you remember the days when Bears sucked so bad you still had HOPE until they were mathematically eliminated from the playoffs? Let's have some perspective here. We still have a shot to win the big game this year. And I would argue that it's a much better shot than last year with a second year starting QB with fixed fundamentals issues (yes, I've chosen to stop worrying about this, it's that easy).
Go Bears!
June 26, 2007
#12 Pissed off said . . .Glad the Bears waived Johnson, he was having issues and he knew he had no margin for error and he fucked up anyway. Idiot. This should send a message.
Regarding Vash, I'm luke warm on this. It has always been said that we will only keep one or the other, Peanut or Vash, and I without question like Peanut better than Vash and think he is a far better CB. I like Vash I just hope we can still sign Peanut and if it truly meant one or the other then I hate this signing. We shall see. Not to throw Vash under the Rex bandwagon that me and JB are driving but Peanut always guards the #1 receiver of the opposing team, always. Vash looks good a lot becuase he is a good CB but he's always on the #2 WR. And now that we have Hester we dont need Vash for returns. Bottom line, I think Peanut is the better cover guy and if this deal means he's out, I dont like it.
June 26, 2007
#13 JB said . . .Peanut memory #1: Do you guys remember when Peanut ripped and out muscled the ball away from Randy Moss in the end zone for an interception a few years ago to seal a Bears victory against the hated Vikes.
June 26, 2007
#14 Al in WI said . . .I agree, if it came down to choosing one or the other, I'd probably take Peanut. However, I'm confident we'll keep both. The BT seems to have everything figured out...extending Vash before training camp even starts is a good sign. I wouldn't be surprised if Peanut gets resigned before the season as well. We still have to worry about B-Twice and Rex after the season, plus I think Tommie has 2 years left so he'll be up on the extention block next offseason. I'm pleased. Let's just sign Olsen and get him into camp on time.
June 26, 2007
#15 Midway Monster said . . .Yes I do, especially as it was Rex's first start!! What a ray of hope that game was after a season of Kordell Stewart!
Hopefully we can get Penut back as well, I think we'll have a chance because what I've seen so far the Vasher deal isn't huge.
As for Tank, he got what he deserved. He had three or four second chances, was warned that he was under a zero tollerance policy and choose to put himself in yet another bad situation. The Bears were extremely fair to him, and in return he screwed them over.June 26, 2007
#16 big rob said . . .Tank was a Chicago Bear,
But now he is no more.
For what he thought was a few beers,
Turned out to be three of four.--Midway--
June 26, 2007
#17 Megan said . . .I do not agree with the releasing of Tank....
When did all this stop being about football and start being about the boy scouts....
I know he's had chances but this just seems trivial to me...
Everyone talks about lifestyle change and this and that, but no matter how much trouble any of us have ever gotten into, I think we would all still have occasions where we would hang out late with our friends for one thing or another.
I think it is a horrible decision to get rid of a proven D-Lineman just because he was speeding....
if he was really that hammered he would have been in the clink with a DUI and then I say eff him....I understand it is an honor to be a Bear, but I gaurentee he wasnt the only Bear that was out that night late and some of them may have been worse off then him....
I believe in this team and I believe in putting this team in a position to win the championship, I just hope this doesnt hurt us down the road, you can never have too much depth down there in the trenches...
br
June 26, 2007
#18 big rob said . . .BR, It wasn't just speeding. If he had been released for just speeding, then we should be complaining about trying to recruit boy scouts only. It's much more then that.
Character is the big, attractive/P.C. trait. I'm going to stop there because if I don't, I will end up going on some tyrade about Bush, organized religion and fur, do you honestly want to see that on this blog site? I didn't think so.XXOO
MeganJune 26, 2007
#19 Scott said . . .your right but the guy didnt even get a ticket.... PC is a bunch of shit and people buy into it too much... these are football players... men who go to war for our entertainment every sunday... I understand about the image and all that I just believe with todays media this got hyped up way too much.. he was just a man trying to unwind after a few weeks of hard honest work.. I cant blame him for that...
br
June 26, 2007
#20 Pissed off said . . .BR, I'm right there with you in principal. He's innocent until proven guilty. But if the BAC test comes back over the legal limit then this is an open and shut case. Even without the results, he displayed extremely poor judgement and the team doesn't want distractions.
I think his release was premature but I do understand it.
June 26, 2007
#21 mikebdot said . . .Agree with Megan. What dont you guys and Tank understand about zero tolerance. Read the words, z-e-r-o t-o-l-e-r-a-n-c-e. Its not hard to understand, everyone else can keep their nose clean and he cant. I know why they released him and I agree with it. If this incident would have happened at the end of this season, fine, he had built up some cred by then and he probably wouldnt have been cut cuz he had been good for a year. But this is too fast after his release from jail. He needs to be sitting at home when he's not at Halas Hall and he didnt comprehend that so good riddance.
June 26, 2007
#22 Scott said . . .Scott, I agree 100%. If the results come back negative, they (the BT) get some egg on their face. I'm still not sure what behind the scenes discussion went on, but if he was released for solely not taking the breathalyzer test, I'm not sure I understand the harm in waiting until the blood test came back. If he had a few drinks earlier in the night and stayed out later to get the alcohol out of this system, that is showing at least some responsibility. Getting pulled over for going 43 in a 25 (or was it faster?) is marginal. If he was swerving a lot, then, perhaps that explains it. It's just a good thing he wasn't hitting the pipe in the car too...
If you want to argue he shouldn't have been out drinking, you're probably right. The least the man could do would be to have people over to drink and hire strippers to come to his crib (if that's what he was out doing). It's not like he had no money, judging by the bling around his neck (#99). Shit, he could probably get a whole house and staff it with a full time bartender just so he didn't have to go out. I would have been down to quit my engineering gig for that...
I'll tell you one thing, this man didn't deserve to wear Dan Hampton's number, regardless of whether or not he was innocent in this case.
June 26, 2007
#23 Megan said . . .PO'd, I completely understand zero tolerance. But if the results are negative then exactly what are the Bears not tolerating? Driving at 3:30 AM? I will say again that it showed poor judgement but in all honesty he's a young guy and young guys keep strange hours. He doesn't have to be at work in the morning so he's up late and then driving home. Now, my guess is he was up late having a few and therein lies the mistake and a big one. But I maintain that the club pulled the trigger too quickly and convicted the man before the evidence was returned.
June 26, 2007
#24 Al in WI said . . .Can we move on? Seriously, this sucks we are pissed off at Tank and there's nothing we can do about his reckless, immature and idiotic behavior in a culture of you'd better dot your T's and cross your I's. We don't have a choice. The decision was made. There might be more to it then we know. Tank's attitude about the incident, the fact that he refused a breathelizer (sp?)... We don't know everything. We like to sit and judge what should and shouldn't happen on or off the field. And because we are fans, we have the right to question plays, performance and lack-there-of but... he was on double-secret keep your ass-tight and your nose clean probation. He was out, at 3:30 am, driving irratically and speeding. He should have called a cab. He should have slept on his Grandma's couch, he should have been more responsible. DONE
June 26, 2007
#25 JB said . . .You people who are trying to defend the idea that he wasn't drinking must not have heard that he refused a breath test. Why would he do that if he wasn't drinking?
June 26, 2007
#26 Al in WI said . . .Well, Megan pretty much said all there is to say. I have a random thought. Would anyone be interested in a DaBearsBlog fantasy football league...run it through yahoo or something? I don't how many of you are into it, but it may be fun...but I'm only interested if we do a live draft. Jeff, let me know if you're in to this. I have a feeling PO'd would be up for it. It'd be interested to see just how high Bears D would go in the draft.
June 26, 2007
#27 Midway Monster said . . .Getting back to the Vasher signing and what it means to Tilman. David Haugh has a story saying that league sources have confirmed that the Bears are working on a deal with Tilman and hope to have it done by camp. Great news!!
http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/cs-070625vasher,1,2257240.story?coll=cs-home-headlinesJune 26, 2007
#28 Midway Monster said . . .PO post #20: humm so what is zero tolerance anyway? Oh yeah- that's the thing Mcmahon used to adhere to. I remember now...
--Midway--
PS - time for me to grab a few beers and drive around the block.
June 26, 2007
#29 Jack Mack ate some smack said . . .Okay - I'll adhere to Megan and drop the Tank Talk (I'll do it only because she was the only one of you guys who broke her leg fightin' a Green Bay fan).
--Midway--
June 27, 2007
#30 Midway Monster said . . .As it is, we should all be thankful for the current state of it all. Otherwise, things could get pretty messy. You don't want that and I don't want that. That's just how it is.
Of course, when the momentum swings and the jig is up - fuck us all.
Time keeps clicking forward just like it has since the beginning. Isn't that annoying?
There's a lizard named Joe who just licked his eye. The eye turned yellow and smiled at me. Lots of yellow eyeballs have smiled at me in the past, but this yellow eyeball... this yellow eyeball was of particular significance.
June 27, 2007
#31 Pissed off said . . .Jack Mack ate some smack: Dude, dial 1-800-Get-Help asap. Either that or you now qualift to play on the defensive line.
--Midway--
June 27, 2007
#32 Pissed off said . . .Great point Megan #23, that sums it up, he should have taken a cab. DONE.
JB, I would love to do a DBB fantasy league but I could all but guarantee that not many would show up for the online, live draft. We might only get 5 people and that just wouldnt work, but yes if you can get commitment from other to make it at least an 8 person league I can probably make it work. It would just give us all more shit to trash talk each other with throughout the week....as if we dont have enough ammo between Sundays the way it is.
WTF Jack Mack? Your make about as much sense as Bonjo Garcia or HewDown. Please dont ever blog again.
June 27, 2007
#33 jeff said . . .Is it just me or has this site gotten super slow when you post. After I hit "preview it" on this page it takes me to a page where I preview my comment, then I click "post" and it just seems to take longer and longer. Could it be a memory issue, has the site gotten too big with too much archived stuff that it is slowing down? Yeah I'm not a computer guy.
June 27, 2007
#34 big rob said . . .PO'd. I agree. I'm going to check it out with Noah.
June 27, 2007
#35 Shamen said . . .I would love to play in the DBB fantasy league should it ever be formed.....
br
June 27, 2007
#36 Rancid said . . .I would be willing to join a DBB fantasy league if one were to form with a live draft and enough people. I was in a league run on NFL.com last year and it was very well done. I wouldn't be able to steal the Bears D with a late pick like I can in my league here in Cheesehead country, but oh well.
June 27, 2007
#37 BearDown31 said . . .I'm a little late posting on this one. I am ok with the Tank thing. I actually like the guy and am a bit annoyed at some of my Bear's friends who only a few days ago were defending him and now he's the scum of the earth to them. I hope he gets on somewhere else and does well. But the bottom line is he showed me that Chicago Bears football isn't important enough to change his life over. If he loved the Bears as much as I do, he'd still be one. So have a good life and a good career. When someone picks him up I'll wish him the best unless it's the Packers, or he's playing aginst us. As far as Vasher goes . . . THANK GOD! I actually like him a little better than Peanut but just a little, so I want them both. BT, give Peanut his money!
June 27, 2007
Vasher!
Man, I'm expecting him to be back this year
and I agree, its great to finally have a player not named Urlacher who wants to play bears football and will sign for 5 years
July 5, 2007
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