JAY CUTLER SAYS IT TAKES THREE YEARS…

…to develop a new offensive system. And he’s right. An offensive system, especially one as complicated as the one run by Marc Trestman, will take several years to reach its peak in the NFL. But this should not be perceived as excuse making from the franchise quarterback and fans should not allow the Bears a mulligan year due to the arrival of a new head coach and offense.

The Bears won ten games last year. They won ten games and promptly fired their head coach. They won ten game and excused the face of the franchise. They won ten games handed over the reins to a man whose spent the last period of his footballing life above the border. The Bears can show growing pains over the course of the sixteen-game 2013 campaign but if this group regresses significantly the organization must hold someone accountable.

Many have opined this is a make-or-break year for Cutler as he enters the final year of his deal. I understand the sentiment but disagree. I think Cutler is coming back in 2014 and beyond barring a colossal implosion this fall. I think the three-year comment was made by a man confident he’ll be seeing that term out (and beyond).

AROMASHODU!
I Tweeted this recently and I believe it: Devin Aromashodu will make the 2013 roster and make an impact. Why do I believe that? Because I was AT this game. (See the 3:55 mark)

SEDRICK ELLIS LIKES AUTOMOBILES

Gabe Carimi is no longer a member of the Chicago Bears. Last night GM Phil Emery dealt him to the Tampa Bay Bucs for a box of potato blintzes and a measly sixth-round draft pick. I will spare readers of this column the Jerry Angelo bashing you’re going to find around the Bears-based internet today. We all know Angelo struggled in the early rounds of the NFL draft. I won’t be writing about Angelo because I don’t think this move should be viewed through the lens of negativity that skews his tenure. This move isn’t about him. It’s about Emery. It’s about the continually arriving landscape change on the Lakefront.

The Bears will no longer be a franchise content with insufficient talent on one side of the ball. No longer will Devin Hester be uncomfortably forced into the wide receiver position. No longer will J’Marcus Webb be allowed to haphazardly protect the blindside of the franchise quarterback. No longer will a player like Carimi be kept on the active roster strictly because he was selected among the first thirty-two individuals in the draft.

Offense is no longer an afterthought. ‘Tis a priority. Yes the Bears will still play defense. They always play defense. But that group will no longer be the first unit out of the tunnel. Linebackers have been the face of this organization for many-a-generation but unfortunately linebackers don’t score too many touchdowns. Touchdowns win football games.

This should not have taken so long. The Bears have approached offensive football in much the same manner the newspaper industry approached the internet. They ignored it and ignore it and ignored it, even as it usurped all other media forms.  That ignorance led to a general irrelevance and the firing of a bunch of folks who probably should not have lost their jobs.

Now the Bears are playing catch-up. In year one of his tenure Phil Emery acquired two significant pass-catching weapons for his franchise quarterback. In year two he has added an offensive-minded head coach and several talented front line blockers. Emery’s approach to the organization can be summarized simply: he understands the objective of football is to score more points than the other guys and he’s adding human beings capable of achieving that goal.

The approach is to be celebrated. Professional. Tough. Clear. Phil Emery knows what he wants on the offensive side of the ball and the Bears have not been able to say that since number thirty-four was in the backfield. But results are, of course, are a must. The Bears can’t drop to a seven or eight-win team in 2013 and write it off to a new coaching staff. The Bears won ten games in 2012 and, at least on paper, are a far more talented team this coming season.

Yesterday I played 18 of the most difficult holes in golf: Bethpage Black, host of the 2002 and 2009 US Opens. No carts allowed. More than 7,000 yards of hill after hill after hill after hill. Here’s what the course looks like and it should explain the brevity of my JeMarcus Russell post coming.

Ask yourself this question.

Would the Bears announcing publicly they are giving maligned quarterback and hot dog enthusiast JeMarcus Russell be met with anything other than derision and scorn from the Chicago media or Bears fans?

The answer is no. And the move shows once again the current Bears leadership, Phil Emery, is not concerned with the outside perception of the organization. You don’t cast aside Brian Urlacher and hire the head coach of the Montreal Alouettes if David Haugh’s column is something keeping you up at night. (If Haugh’s column is of any concern to you, you have no business running a hot dog cart in Lincoln Park.) This move shows the concerns of the current GM of the Bears are dramatically one-sided: he wants to make the club better and he doesn’t care how.

Will Russell end up on the Bears roster? Most likely not. But if he impresses in their private workout the Bears would be insane to not invite him to Bourbonnais and give him some reps in the preseason. Behind Jay Cutler the Bears don’t currently have a quarterback capable of winning NFL games and Russell has the type of big, strong arm Emery covets to battle through the winter winds of Soldier Field.

The risk is zero. The reward could be substantial. So…why not?

Whenever a professional athlete is arrested for a DUI, I have two distinct questions. (1) Why in the hell would a millionaire athlete not be using a taxi when every drunk I know in Woodside, Queens has a car service number handy the moment the third or fourth vodka hits his lips? (2) When are the sports leagues going to say enough is enough?

First, a note. I don’t believe the Bears should cut Evan Rodriguez. Rodriguez is a kid and he made another awful mistake but if the Bears were to cut him another team would snatch him up in a few minutes and start spouting that “second chance” bullshit that permeates press conference rooms. “Yes we know Evan has had a troubled past but we believe everyone is entitled to a second chance and we believe the structure is in place here for him to succeed.”

The Bears should be the demanding father figure. They should teach Rodriguez a lesson. Here’s how:

1. Formally announce that the organization is suspending Rodriguez for the first four games of the 2013 season without pay. Then donate that pay to MADD or another worthy organization.
2. If the NFLPA won’t allow for the suspension, take the financial hit and stick him in the inactive jump suit and let him spend those magical Sunday afternoons chatting with Matt Blanchard.
3. Organize a face-to-face meeting between Evan and the family of Robert Cann, a 26 year-old cyclist who was killed by a drunk driver in Old Town a few days ago. (To read the details of that story, simply CLICK HERE.) Psychologically, athletes drive drunk because they believe they’re both above the law and immortal. This conversation might be the first truly grounding moment of Rodriguez’ adult life.

So that takes care of Evan Rodriguez. (No, I’m not foolish enough to believe this statement to be true.)

Drunk driving is not a sports problem. But the sports world has a remarkable opportunity to be leaders in finding a solution. The NBA fines players for wearing sweat pants to press conferences. The NFL apparently has the world’s greatest test for Adderall. Golf Channel spent two days – two! – debating how far back from an original divot the world’s greatest golfer is allowed to drop the ball. When any athlete in any professional sports say the word “faggot” under his breath and is caught by cameras, the ESPN newsroom erupts and interns are sent to wake up Bob Ley.

(Side note on that joke: I really love Bob Ley. ESPN is a dreadful network but  when they know can’t screw around two faces inevitably appear on their screens: Ley and Mike Tirico. Classy fellas.)

I know its important for players to respect the image of the NBA. I know Adderall is a drug thought to give players an unfair advantage. I know prejudice should never be tolerated. But when will attention be paid to employees taking to the road with a ton of metal killing machine and the inability to see what’s in front of them on the road?

Just imagine if a DUI arrest was met, universally by the sports leagues, with a month suspension. All the major American sports leagues and unions got together and said if you drive drunk and are arrested for it you are suspended for a month without pay. It would be the most significant cultural impact ever made by professional athletics.

Evan Rodriguez is a kid, yes, and probably an idiot. NFL analysts want you to think playing football is terribly difficult and requires massive brain power. Its not and it doesn’t. It requires freakish athletic ability. Sure you have your intelligent, thoughtful men like Brendon Ayanbadejo and Matt Birk. But you also have…a lot of other guys. Jerry Rice is in the discussion for greatest NFL player to ever live and he can’t put together a sentence. It is incumbent upon the Bears organization to not tolerate Evan’s idiocy.

That would be Advil for a hangover. Drunk driving in America is a deadly epidemic. Only a joint effort by the US sporting universe can make a true dent.

Here is the fantastic NFL Network Football Life on Mike Ditka. DaBearsBlog is planning a fan event surrounding the retiring of da coach’s number against the Cowboys on Monday night, December 9th.

A southwest safety
With a strange German name
Arrived in Chicago
Without much acclaim
We’d heard all the stories
The speed was unique
But his game on the gridiron
Was far from its peak

Conversion came quickly
The middle he’d fill
The land of Dick Butkus
And George comma Bill
The pressure ascended
The coverage immense
Could a New Mexico native
Man the Midway defense?

We knew from the outset
The fella could play
With Traylor and Washington
Blocking the way
From sideline to sideline
He sprinted with grace
His number fifty-four
Now filling the place

Each year came with memories
With moments of gold
As our dear fifty-four
Went from rookie to old
It’s hard to recap
All those moments right here
But since I’ve got time
What the hell, crack a beer

In 2001
The backer aimed to please
He took the ball from Alstott
Before Jauron took four knees
Later that year
In George W’s town
A punter called Brad
Threw our boy a touchdown

In 2004
With Lovie in place
A Packer fan’s cheese head
Melted onto his face
With Ahman Green looking
Like the NFL’s best
Brian jarred the skin loose
Mike Brown did the rest

In 2006
In his greatest of games
He wrestled the ball
From the sad Edgerinn James
The Bears won that night
A miracle? Sure.
But we know they are
Who Denny thought they were

There were so many moments
The moments passed quick
For the fella who chased down
One, Michael Vick
The jerseys will always be
On Lake Shore Drive
As the Urlacher legend
Continues to thrive

If only a title
If only a ring
That much deserved honor
For a footballing king
We always will miss him
The smiles, the scours
For we who bore witness
The honor was ours

Thank you, Brian Urlacher

When news broke this morning that linebacker Brian Urlacher was officially retiring after 13 years in the NFL, just one phrase came to mind.

Thank you, Brian Urlacher.

Thank you for continuing the storied tradition of outstanding middle linebackers in Chicago. Thank you providing the Chicago Bears with 13 years of incredible play and top-notch leadership. Thank you for putting up with all the terrible offenses in Chicago and still managing to keep the team competitive. Thank you for helping restore a moribund franchise to respectability.

And last — but certainly not least — thank you for knowing when it was time to walk away. The writing was on the wall already last year, when you struggled through the season after admitting your knee would never be the same. That story continued this offseason, when the Bears announced you would not return.

Bears fans’ worst fears jumped to the forefront when rumors swirled you might sign with the rival Minnesota Vikings, but that died down after they denied being interested. When the Vikings, famous for taking the washed-up leftovers of the rest of the NFC North, said no, it was obviously time to hang them up. But we all know that many players often ignore the signs with delusions of grandeur and wallow in misery at the tail end of their careers.

Bears fans like myself are immensely relieved today that we get to claim you as only our own. You played your entire career for one franchise — no small feat in today’s NFL. As a result, Chicago fans will put you alongside Ditka, Butkus, Payton, and Halas as greats that belong to them and them only. We don’t have to erase the memory of you limping around as a shadow of yourself in a strange uniform, like Bulls fans with Jordan, Packers fans with Favre, San Francisco fans with Montana, and so many others.

I am particularly grateful to not have to go through a Favre-like scenario, where some Green Bay fans are still angry at him years after he retired. Things seemed like they might be headed that way when you had some angry comments on your way out of town, but you softened your stance considerably just a few days later.

Right now it may seem like a bitter pill for you to swallow, but in time you will surely come to realize that this is for the best. You have the privilege few players ever enjoy: to go out (mostly) at the top of your game, having lead an elite defense for the franchise you defined one last time. Surely that’s better than toiling away for a bad team in a strange city for the last couple years!

So once again I say thank you, Brian Urlacher. Thank you for everything.

I am not going to write a poetic rambling on the importance of Brian Urlacher to the Chicago Bears over the last thirteen years. There will be plenty of those in the Tribune, the Sun-Times and on the various web outlets over the coming days. Instead I’ll compile my thoughts in list form as they are far less connected than would be necessary for a full column.

• Brian Urlacher is a great Chicago Bears, a most-likely Hall of Fame linebacker, but his immortal status is marred by his lack of championship. Think of it this way. If Charles Tillman and Lance Briggs win a title in the next few year with the Bears, which of the players will be viewed in a more positive light come a decade or two.
• My two favorite moments in Urlacher’s career:  (1) When he stripped Edgerinn James in the “who we thought they were” Cardinals comeback there was a look on his face that read WE WILL NOT BE DEFEATED TONIGHT. It was an implausible play in an implausible contest and one of the most memorable sporting events of my lifetime. (2) In Nashville, this season, watching a hobbling Urlacher live as he rumbled an interception to the house for a touchdown. It seemed to take him ten minutes to go forty yards. It was made more heroic when I watched Urlacher limp – literally limp – into the tunnel at the end of the rout.

• He affected opponent game plans as much as any non-pass rusher in the sport. Per Andrew Brandt, “Don’t remember another defensive player that affected game-planning for us in GB like Urlacher did.”
• He is one of the best regarded teammates in the modern NFL. Cameron Worrell has done a terrific job for this site on Urlacher-in-the-locker room. CLICK HERE to listen to one such broadcast.
• Spare me the Brian Urlacher-Ray Lewis comparisons. Because Urlacher is not the greatest middle linebacker in NFL history does not make him a not great middle linebacker.

The Bears should not waste time in celebrating Urlacher’s career. They don’t need to retire his number immediately but they should set up a microphone at the 50 yard line at halftime of the home opener against the Bengals. They should march Urlacher onto the field and have him say goodbye. Yes, it will be nice for him. But more importantly it will give a thankful fan base the opportunity to applaud him one last time.

Some things happened. Nothing earth shattering but events did take place. I’m massaging my way back into the flow of writing.

1. Moving the NFL Draft to May will be a ratings success but it means another month of me completely ignoring mock drafts from around the country.
2. Someone needs to write a major profile of Cliff Stein in one of the Chicago dailies. Stein, the Chicago Bears salary cap maven, has been the strength of the Bears front office for what feels like more than a decade. I don’t agree with Hub Arkush on basically anything but I agree on this: Stein could be in line to succeed Ted Phillips.
3. So is the entire Seattle Seahawks organization cramming for finals? Adderall? With that dreary, rainy shit weather in Seattle I would need Adderall just to get out of bed.
4. So it turns out a number of Washington Redskins fans purchased Bob Griffin wedding gifts off his registry. Two things. (1) Millionaires shouldn’t be allowed to HAVE registries. (2) I wish those fans had called me. I could have given them a list of very worthy charities.
5. Nice job by new Jets GM John Idzik. He made two significant free agency signings. One retired. One is in jail. 2-for-2.
6. Amazing how the Kyle Long pick perception has changed since the night of the draft. Gil Brandt reported three or four teams were targeting Long directly behind Chicago, including the Green Bay Packers.
7. I think Dwight Freeney is going to disappear in San Diego. I just spent three days in San Diego and I don’t know how an athlete can maintain a competitive edge when living in paradise. La Jolla, I miss you.
8. I am sure Rob Gronkowski will play football again but I feel confident saying his body will never again sustain the impact of an NFL season successfully.
9. Side note: I am all for Dan Snyder keeping the name Redskins. I think everyone, including Native Americans, need to lighten up.
10. Nice seeing that Packers horse stink it up at the Preakness.
11. Have you ever heard the type of nonsense you’re hearing in Dallas regarding Tony Romo? The owner wants him around the building more? He has to limit his golf schedule? If these concerns are legitimate, why pay him all that money?
12. Does Charles Woodson want to go back to Oakland? Does he really want to finish his career with a couple of five-win seasons?

More in a day or so…

For the next two weeks both myself and the Official Girlfriend of DaBearsBlog will be gallivanting joyously up and down the state of California.

Two things.

1. Unless something earth shattering happens (and I’m not sure what that could be in May) there will most likely not be a post on this site between now and Sunday May 19th. Should the Bears cut Devin Hester or sign Jay Cutler to a lucrative contract extension or annex themselves to a new league, it will be represented on this site by an audio monologue from a fella we all know and love called the Reverend.
2. We’ve received some stories of varying value but we need more! Everyone has a story to tell about their support of their favorite team. So go to the original post by CLICKING HERE and submit your tale.

And as always, I will be up and about on Twitter over the next couple weeks. It is pretty damn easy to follow me on Twitter. Do it now. RIGHT HERE.