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.

I’m relying on your guys – the loyal readers – to help lead the Bears Fan Story Project. I need as many tales as possible from as many of you and your family as possible. This is going to be a huge endeavor when all is said and done. To read all about it, CLICK HERE.

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Free agency hath come and gone, bringing several new pieces and seeing modern Bears legend Brian Urlacher exit stage left. The draft arrived like a meteoroid crashing into New York City, if the entirety of the media spent three months debating every single inch of the meteoroid’s frame. (“This meteoroid is a downhill thumper”.) Over the final weekend of April the Bears added six new players to the spring roster and, in what might be considered a rare occurrence, one gets the sense Bears fans expect each of the players selected to do more than just make the 2013 roster. They expect the six players to make an immediate impact.

Maybe they will. Maybe they won’t. I’m not sure it matters much whether Cornelius Washington gets on the field or Marquess Wilson gets on the roster. The 2013 Chicago Bears season and beyond will defined by the hiring of Marc Trestman as head coach and his developing relationship with Jay Cutler.

This is the mark of the current NFL. Coaches. Quarterbacks. And while that may seem obvious to most intelligent football fans, it has not been obvious to the folks at Halas Hall in recent years. The Chicago Bears franchise has been defined by a successful lineage historically at two positions: running back and middle linebacker. And no positions have become devalued more in the modern game than running back and middle linebacker. In 2009 then General Manager Jerry Angelo went out and made a bold move for the quarterback. In 2013 now General Manager Phil Emery is attempting to pair him with the coach.

Reports out of the early organized activities were promising. No more deep drops into a frightening pocket. Less time for the quarterback to dodge defenders while hoping a receiver breaks free. Quick drops. Quick looks. Quick throws. While most people were enamored with the minutiae of the OTAs, I was a bit overwhelmed by the larger theme seeming to emerge. The Bears. The Chicago Bears. The Chicago football Bears now have a discernible offensive system. And it’s been an awful long time (the T Formation?) since that was true.

(Seriously, though. Can you tell me what the Bears offense WAS under Tice or Martz or Turner or Shea or Shoop or any of the last ten offensive coordinators?)

There are two pivotal questions facing the Bears this coming campaign.

1. Will Jay Cutler buy into the Trestman system? All reports to this point have been positive but its easy to “buy into things” in the spring. The relationship between Cutler and Trestman will not be clearly on display until this summer in Bourbonnais.
2. Can Jay Cutler execute the Trestman system? It requires discipline. It requires focus. And it requires an all-encompassing knowledge of what the other ten men on the offense are doing/supposed to be doing on every single play. If Cutler executes this offense he’ll have the best season of his career. If he struggles, it will look like those little kids on the Boardwalk trying to land the rubber frogs on the plastic lily pads. Haphazard. Messy. Hopeless.

If Cutler and Trestman hit – in the classroom and on the field – the Bears don’t just have an opportunity to compete for the title this coming season. They have the opportunity to compete for the next 5-7 years. That’s why Marc Trestman, not any of the free agents or rookie draft selections, was the most important acquisition of the 2013 offseason.

The next two and a half months can be dreary and depressing for the die hard NFL football fan. For myself I’ll watch golf tournaments, including two majors and The Players. I’ll watch MLS matches and NASCAR races. I may even toss on an NBA or NHL playoff game or two as long as there isn’t a Seinfeld rerun airing at the same time. But there’s no football. None. Hell, even the coaches take vacations in June.

Today I am launching the BEARS FAN STORY PROJECT. 

THE BREAKDOWN

In the early 1970s theatre director/choreographer Michael Bennett was given a sizable amount of money from Public Theatre founder Joe Papp to workshop a musical based upon the lives of Broadway dancers. Bennett gathered a collection of hoofers into a studio on Lafayette Street for a few months and they told stories. What emerged from those stories is the musical A Chorus Line – one of the most successful theatre pieces ever created.

Sports fans have great stories about their relationship to their favorite team. I’ve found Bears fans especially do. And now, because of technology, they are capable of sharing them to the world without having to gather in a studio at the Goodman Theatre.

I want to compile those tales. Will I ultimately turn them into an evening of theatre? Maybe. If I do your stories will receive all the credit they deserve. Will I simply post/air them on this website? Perhaps. That would certainly be the easiest way to share them. Will I compile them into a volume to share with the fans? It could happen if we receive enough tales of note.

 WHAT DO YOU DO

Send me your stories. You can send them in one of three forms: written, audio, video. There are no restrictions or limitations on the stories. They can be as long or short as you want them to be. The only rule is they must involve the Chicago Bears and you.

Email me the stories – jeff@dabearsblog.com.

GET THE OLDER FOLKS INVOLVED

We don’t want these stories to be limited to folks under forty. You know, the ones who spend times on Twitter and on blogs. We want it to be all-inclusive. So get your fathers and grandfathers involved. Go over to their house and record a story of theirs. Then send it my way.

My hope is that we can create something special here. Something truly unique. But there is only so much I can do. Now it is on you. The fans. I look forward to checking the inbox.

Grading drafts the day after the draft is one of the most ludicrous things done by the sports media. It is nothing more than filler. Did the Chicago Bears have a good draft? Nobody knows. Not Mike Mayock. Not Mel Kiper. Not Pete Prisco. Nobody. Knows. Here’s what I do know.

• Emery attacked offensive line with ferocity this offseason. We know Jermon Bushrod is the new starting left tackle. We can assume Kyle Long and Matt Slauson are the new starting guards. The competition at right tackle is now between J’Marcus Webb, Jonathan Scott and fifth-round selection Jordan Mills. Only Roberto Garza will line up where he lined up in 2012.
  
• Speaking of Mills, his press call after being selected was my favorite thing about this draft. He has not entertained the idea of not starting at right tackle. I hope he goes out and earns it this summer. If you didn’t see the quotes, here they are (via Adam Jahns of the Sun-Times):

“I know they’ve got Jay Cutler,” Mills said on a conference call. “I know they’ve got Devin Hester, a beast of a wide receiver in Brandon Marshall. I know they just got the tackle from New Orleans, [Jermon] Bushrod. With him on the left side and me on the right side, that’s going to be a line to reckon with.

“And me with [first-round pick] Kyle Long, seeing him at the combine and I got to talk to him also, this offensive line is going to be good.”

• Descriptions of Kyle Long, Jordan Mills & Cornelius Washington (and to a lesser extent Bostic and Greene) all include mention of a mean streak. This is an element the Bears lacked under Lovie Smith, especially on the offensive side of the ball. Seems a definitive theme of the draft.
• Bostic & Greene may not be two thirds of the Bears future linebacking corps but their selections means Phil Emery was consciously attempting to find that future corps. If Emery hits on these two players he will have revitalized two positions in a month.
• Rest assured that Emery has ALREADY begun scouting the best college cornerbacks. Every corner on the Bears roster is on the final year of their contract but Emery decided not to reach for a project CB. He took the best player available, irregardless of particular need.
• I was off the internet and Twitter when the Bears selected troubled Washington State receiver Marquess Wilson in the seventh round. Yes, he’s talented. Yes, it could very well be a steal. But remember, this is the seventh round. Every team passed on this kid at least five times. The most likely scenario is Wilson does not make the team coming out of camp. Here’s his highlight video (apologies for the music):

• Cornelius Washington is regarded by most scouts as a pass rush specialist/quarterback hunter. Walter Football projected him as a second round pick. Their reaction to the pick? “I don’t understand why Cornelius Washington fell to the middle of the sixth round. Washington is a Day 2 talent. He is raw, but that’s fine because the Bears won’t really need him until Julius Peppers moves on.”

With a new coaching staff and some serious talent to investigate, the 2013 Bears training camp has become the most interesting of my lifetime.

I credit Jordan Mills, the fifth-round left tackle out of Louisiana Tech, for his boldness. For his tenacity. For his self-confidence. He told the Chicago media the Bears offensive line is “Bushrod on one side, me on the other.”

Does this spell the end for JWebb Nation?

Here is the full text from Adam Jahns of the Sun-Times:

“I know they’ve got Jay Cutler,” Mills said on a conference call. “I know they’ve got Devin Hester, a beast of a wide receiver in Brandon Marshall. I know they just got the tackle from New Orleans, [Jermon] Bushrod. With him on the left side and me on the right side, that’s going to be a line to reckon with.

“And me with [first-round pick] Kyle Long, seeing him at the combine and I got to talk to him also, this offensive line is going to be good.”

Phil Emery spent money in free agency to add veterans to the Bears linebacking corps. Lance Briggs will be joined in the 2013 starting lineup by James Anderson and DJ Williams. After drafting Jon Bostic on Day Two of the draft, Emery has now added Khaseem Greene and possibly solidified this corps for the foreseeable future.

From NFL.com:

But what do our friends over at Walter Football think about the Rutgers product?

• “4/24/13: Despite a ton of production, Greene has gone under the radar. He could be a second-day steal.Greene was an animal for Rutgers in 2012. He amassed 136 tackles, six sacks, six forced fumbles, five passes batted, two interceptions and 12 tackles for a loss. The senior was tremendous at consistently producing impact plays and was the leader of his defense.

  Surprisingly, Greene didn’t perform well at the Combine. His 40 time was slower than expected, and his bench press total of 17 reps was rather small.”

A new era of Bears linebackers may have begun in the last 24 hours. The question is whether Mel Tucker and his coaching staff can extract greatness from these dynamic, athletic talents.

We knew Phil Emery wanted to get younger at linebacker. He did so by selecting Jon Bostic, linebacker, Florida. I don’t know a ton about the kid firsthand. I simply haven’t seen enough tape. So here’s some stuff to look at.

Here is the breakdown from NFL.com:

Here are some bits from Walter Football:

• “The Bears are without a third-round pick, so if they want Bostic, they would have to take him in the second round. Bostic would be a nice scheme fit in Mel Tucker’s defense.”
• “Player Comparison: James Anderson. At times, Anderson flashed for the Panthers since being a third-round pick in 2006. Anderson (6-2, 235) is similar in size as Bostic and both players’ strength is defending the ground game. Bostic could go in the same region in the 2013 NFL Draft, and it wouldn’t be surprising if Bostic is a pro comparable to Anderson.”
• “Entering the NFL, Bostic’s strength is his run defense. He is a tough in-the-box run defender and is very physical. He has no issues with bigger backs and attacks the line of scrimmage. There is no hesitation to take on blocks, although he needs to improve on his ability to shed blocks. Bostic is a hard-nosed defender who should will help a team’s run defense.”
• “Weaknesses:
  • Needs to improve pass coverage
  • Stiff
  • Lacks change of direction ability
  • Not fluid
  • Needs to get better at shedding blocks
  • Consistency”

Hard to evaluate the player without extensive film study. But the decision was clear. The Bears must get younger at linebacker. They did today.

Kyle Long is in the books and slated to started at left guard against the Cincinnati Bengals in early September. (The entire DaBearsBlog team will be at both the Bears opener and the USMNT match against Mexico in Columbus a few days later.) Now we move on to the second and third rounds of the NFL Draft – with the latter anticlimactic unless Phil Emery is able to acquire an additional selection in the next few hours.

As with last night, I’ll be providing a bulk of my commentary on Twitter. You can easily follow my Twitter feed on the right side of this page or by simply CLICKING HERE. Once the Bears select a player or players tonight I will have a post up with information regarding the man shortly thereafter.

If you haven’t see the video of Justin Pugh receiving his draft night call from the New York Giants, you must see it. Here it is:

DaBearsBlog launched in 2005 as the brainchild of a Jewish computer nerd, open-toed dirtbag Reverend and football-obsessed, couch-dwelling playwright. In all of those years I have never firmly defended a first-round selection the way I have defended Kyle Long on Twitter in the last 12 hours. Why? Three reasons:

1. This is a Bears offensive line that was literally shoved by their quarterback last year. This is a Bears offensive line featuring a starting tackle seemingly more interested in the McDonald’s drive-thru flapjacks than pancaking a defender. This has been an offensive line that smiles as defenders roam free into the backfield. The smiles are gone. The shoving offensive linemen is over. Kyle Long is a nasty, angry kid and he’s about to bring nasty to the front five. They desperately need it.
2. If Phil Emery was telling the truth and Kyle Long will start at left guard, the Bears now have a Bushrod-Long left side of the offensive line. While pass protection was the focus of fan derision, run blocking was also suspect for a majority of the 2012 campaign. Now Marc Trestman can hand the ball to Matt Forte, point left and say, “Go! Follow!”
3. Pedigree. It may not mean much to you but it means a hell of a lot to me. The son of Howie Long and brother of Chris Long – two pretty good football players – has got the right bloodlines. And you are crazy if you think Howie and Chris will allow Kyle to revert to his previous life and let off-field issues consume him. You can hear an interview Chris gave recently about his brother by CLICKING HERE.

The pick is bold. The pick is interesting. The pick is exciting. We’ll find out as the summer and fall progress whether the pick is right. I think it is.

DaBearsBlog fully endorsed the selection of Kyle Long in the first round for the Chicago Bears. If he’s terrible we will take full responsibility.

But here is what the Reverend thinks of draft day prognostication.