I'll admit it. I was a Chris Harris guy. I liked the fire. I liked the explosiveness. I didn't so much care for the complete lack of ability in coverage but I sacrificed that for some terrific hits.
But the writing was on the wall for today's trade to the Carolina Panthers (for a fifth round pick next year). Returning a healthy Mike Brown and adding the run-stuffing Drunk (get it? A.A.) simply left no room for Harris in this secondary. The Panthers are getting a nice player with definite upside but Harris would have been simply taking up roster space for a couple special teams tackles a week.
Also...I recommend everyone check out Peter King's report from Bears camp. He's the first major columnist to spend some time there and it sounds very promising (though too much about Tank Johnson - a player not there - for my taste).
#2 said . . .Glad glad glad that he's gone gone gone. No he didn't suck, he just wasn't the caliber player that is commensurate with the others around him. He is a perfect player for a team that doesn't have aspirations to win a Super Bowl and let's face it, there's many of them. Two years ago he was a weak link in our playoff loss, last year he was better but just not strong enough. I remember praying that Todd Johnson would make it back on the field. I honestly don't think he was a smart enough football player - seemed to have problems understanding the right place to be on the field, and I don't think it was a lack of physicality that hurt him.
This Bears team is so loaded right now, it's sick. Pro Bowlers or soon-to-be Pro Bowlers everywhere you look. Am I dreaming? Is this possible?
One other thought - I'm sure not with those that say preseason sucks. Hey it's no regular season but it's the freaking Bears - every snap counts! I'm frankly a little surprised that the EXTREME fans on this site don't think the preseason beats the hell out of the off-season wasteland we've just crawled out of. Who's with me?
P.S. 5th round pick for Harris? How about another Mark Anderson? Anyone?
August 2, 2007
#3 Pissed off said . . .Phil from STAX - yup, preseason is good for the ole water cooler BS. It'll give us something to talk about besides 'who ever thinks Rex sucks raise your hand... okay, now for the rest of you: whoever thinks Rex sucks raise your hand...okay, now for the rest of you: whoever...'. As far as the actual action, preseason is a snooze but I'm sure well put it under an electron microscope. It'll be fun.
All I hope for is that the D gets its kinks out & #54 gets at least one wicked hit as a warm up for hitting #4 from Green Bay.
5th round pick huh... well okay-maybe there will be a gem in the rough.
--Midway--
August 3, 2007
#4 mikebdot said . . .Wasnt John Clayton there?
Hey mike I did respond to your comment on the last post "kyle orton" if you didnt read it.
I think Carolina is getting a guy who will turn out to be very good. He's still very young and learning and has tremendous upside, I cant believe we got so little for a guy who was good enough to start for the Chicago Bears defense in his rookie year?!? I guess we should give back some DBs to Carolina since we took a couple of theirs a year ago.
August 3, 2007
#5 jdawg said . . .PO'd: Thanks. I did notice though as I'm so bored I remember the comment count on all visible posts on the front page (4 [after this one], 45, 30, 9, 28, 29). How sad is that? I'm gonna double check to see if that is correct...my god. I need more work I guess.
Harris was "good enough to start" because Mike Green was awful if memory serves correctly. We had plenty of rookies get good playing time last year and that was with two draft picks injured the whole year.
Bottom line, I think it's a good trade. He have quality depth there. Hopefully Manning will fix his angle issue in case Brown or AA go down.
Is everyone cool with Brown and AA being the probable starters? (or correct me if I am wrong there, but that's what I thought I read somewhere). It also sounds like everyone still is thinking a Brown injury is inevitable, but I think we still have quality depth even if he did go down. If that happened maybe eventually Payne would get some time in there and there could be a "House of Payne" section. It wouldn't be all that bad...
August 3, 2007
#6 Phil from SATX said . . .Unless I'm mistaken, Harris made the Manning INT in the SB, and D Manning blew the coverage on the first Colts TD.
Harris was tossed from a Bulls game for getting too rowdy behind the opposing team's bench.
I will miss him.
August 3, 2007
#7 mikebdot said . . .Hey, did a little pro bono research for those of you ex-pats who get NFL Network - following Bears preseason games can be seen (more likely Tivo'd) on that network (fondly known as 212 for you DirecTVers)
Week 1 - Chicago at Houston - 11:59 p.m. Saturday August 11
Week 2 - apparently not televised
Week 3 - San Francisco at Chicago - 11 p.m. Sunday August 26
Week 4 - Cleveland at Chicago - 11 p.m. Saturday September 1
Get those DVRs humming! And highlight the 49ers game, because, in the immortal words of one deposed Denny Green:
"We played them in preseason. Who the hell takes a third game in a preseason like a (expletive deleted)? We played them the third game. Everybody played three quarters. The Bears are who we thought they were. That‘s why we took the damn field."
Now I really want to know what the expletive deleted was. Because none of the ones I know really fit there at the end of that sentence. But because of Denny, we know Game 3 is BIG.
August 3, 2007
#8 Pissed off said . . .http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dennis_Green
"...like it's bullshit."
August 3, 2007
#9 Mad Braynard said . . ."like its bullshit, its bullshit!"
I think I would like to crown their asses. In fact I would have liked to crown their assess last year but this year will do.
August 3, 2007
#10 Al in WI said . . .Did anyone else see the Comcast highlight of Lovie informing Harris that he was traded? That was the first time I had ever actually seen a player notified that he was being traded. I found it very interesting.
So, it looks like we traded Chris Harris for Darwin walker in a roundabout sort of way. I think we needed a DT more than a safety. I hope Mike Brown's body holds up more than 5 weeks this season.
I like Chris Harris. He seems like a good guy and he landed some punishing blows on receivers. He will be missed. Just like I miss that one guy. And that other guy, too.
August 3, 2007
#11 Phil from SATX said . . .Phil, Preseason week 2 is a super bowl rematch aired live on ESPN.
I just don't like this move, I know we have some good players at that position but a couple of them have injury questions.(Brown, McGowan) As long we don't have a rash of injuries this won't matter, but if we did get hit, I'd feel much better with a player like Harris comming off the bench than some rookie.
I did find it interesting though that in Haugh's article about t the trade that focused on how much the players hate this move, it was mentioned that JA is looking for a vet running back and may use this draft pick as a bargining chip......August 3, 2007
#12 mikebdot said . . .Mad B, hilarious way to end your post. And a trenchant point besides - as in there's lots of guys who we invest our emotional energy in who leave, and then they're gone. From this year, the only one who's name we won't ultimately forget is TJ - (Thomas not Tank) - but we won't remember Todd Johnson, Justin Gage (or was it Bobby Wade - always get those guys mixed up), Chris Harris and in the end the only reason we'll remember Tank is because of all the controversy, not the player behind it.
Thanks Al for the 2nd game update, that one will be a fun one to watch.
And thanks to MikeD for reminding me that there's no real point in googling, there's really only the www. (World Wide Wikipedia.) I like the fact that Denny used bullshit back to back with different meanings. That there's talented cussology. And aren't we all proud to be inextricably linked to one of the greatest sports rants of all time?
August 3, 2007
#13 Pissed Off said . . .Phil: Technically I did use google to get to wikiquote. "Dennis Green 'Who the hell takes a third game'". Presto chango, wikiquote. Hot damn.
Technology is wonderful, but you have to take it all with a grain of salt. Or perhaps many grains.
August 3, 2007
#14 Midway Monster said . . .I just loved that it was VS. Denny Green, and no matter how bad Rex and the offense was, the lowly pathetic cardinals couldnt come up with a win, just have to have a laugh about it. Its seemed quite fitting that the Bears D won the game for them even during a Matt Leinart coming out party.
And Phil, your probably thinking of Bobby Wade (now with the Vikes previously with the Titans) but your right about both.
August 3, 2007
#15 big rob said . . .A classic:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=m_N1OjGhIFc
--Midway--
August 3, 2007
#16 Midway Monster said . . .what a great night that was when they came back and won that game.... I remeber being at the bar getting ragged on soo bad... I was talking all kinds of shit about how the bears were gonna crush the Cardinals... One of my boys(a gay redskins fan) left at halftime saying the game was over.... boy was that a sweet call to make letting him know the bears pulled off the ridiculous comeback.... and of course he thought I was full of shit when I told hime the bear won... God I love this team.... BRING ON THE EFFING CHARGERS!!!!!
August 4, 2007
Big Rob:
Yeah but did you make your own web site to constantly razz your bud to no end like I did when we beat the Gothams :)
See:
http://web.mac.com/weholdthesetruths/iWeb/MidwayMonster/Home.html
--Midway--
August 4, 2007
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