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Angelo fired as Bears’ GM after team crumbles |
The Chicago Bears won four division titles and reached the Super Now Angelo’s out. He was fired Tuesday following a team collapse marked by Angelo had been on the job 11 years, but the Bears called for His dismissal comes after a wild season in which the Bears at The Bears also confirmed that offensive coordinator Mike Martz Coach Lovie Smith, however, appears safe for now. The team said Angelo was signed through the 2013 season, but he was undone on Still, the Bears believe they can make a run next season. Angelo “I have tremendous respect for him and am sorry to see him go,” Cutler broke his right thumb trying to help make a tackle It didn’t help that Forte sprained a ligament in his right knee The injuries exposed a glaring lack of depth as the Bears The low point might have been the loss at Denver when Marion Meanwhile, backup quarterback Caleb Hanie was a bust filling in Chicago claimed Kyle Orton off waivers after Cutler went down, The lack of a reliable backup quarterback, continuing issues on Roy Williams struggled to hold onto the ball and get open in his The arrest only compounded Angelo’s problems. Now the Bears are For all the criticism, Angelo did have successes. The Bears won He traded for Cutler and signed Julius Peppers. But he also had Former first-rounder Chris Williams has mostly struggled, and Chicago didn’t have anyone ready to step in when a solid but Martz called for deep drops and Cutler took repeated poundings. Gotta run!. Posted in bears-news | Comments Off
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Bears place Cutler, Forte on IR |
LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) — The Chicago Bears placed quarterback Jay Cutler and running back Matt Forte on injured reserve on Tuesday, meaning they will miss the season finale at Minnesota this week. The moves were hardly surprising given Chicago‘s recent struggles. The Bears (7-8) have lost five straight since Cutler broke his right thumb late in a win over San Diego on Nov. 20, and things took another bad turn two weeks later when Forte sprained the medial collateral ligament in his right knee against Kansas City. Cutler, who was scheduled to have surgically inserted pins removed Tuesday, threw for 2,319 yards with 13 touchdowns and seven interceptions. Forte finished with 997 yards rushing and 490 receiving and was selected to his first Pro Bowl hours after being placed on IR. He’s the first Chicago running back to make it since Neal Anderson following the 1991 season. With Cutler and Forte on IR, the Bears elevated defensive tackle Jordan Miller from the practice squad and signed guard Mansfield Wrotto. Chicago also announced on its website that rookie offensive lineman Gabe Carimi had surgery Tuesday on his right knee to repair connective tissue around his patella and medial collateral ligament. The first-round pick started the first two games before injuring his knee and briefly returned to practice before having an arthroscopic procedure on the knee in November. He is expected to be ready before the start of training camp. Cutler’s injury sent Chicago into a tailspin, knocking out of contention a team that appeared on its way to the playoffs after last year’s run to the NFC title game. The Bears were eliminated with a loss at Green Bay on Sunday, but they were just about out of it by the time they arrived at Lambeau Field. One reason was the lack of a reliable backup quarterback. Chicago put in a waiver claim on Kyle Orton after Cutler went down, but Kansas City had priority and got him. The Bears wound up signing Josh McCown, who was coaching quarterbacks at a North Carolina high school, and passed on going after Donovan McNabb after Minnesota let him go. Meanwhile, backup Caleb Hanie struggled and went 0-4 as the starter. McCown got the nod against the Packers and performed better, throwing for 242 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions in his first NFL appearance since 2009, but the Bears saw their playoff hopes vanish in a 35-21 loss. A healthy Forte might have made a difference, but his season ended when he took a hit to the knee against Kansas City. It didn’t help that backup Marion Barber committed costly mistakes in losses to the Chiefs and Denver the following week. He had a touchdown catch in a 10-3 loss to Kansas City called off because he lined up illegally, forcing Chicago to settle for a field goal, and things only got worse for him the following week. Barber got pushed out of bounds on a run near the end of regulation, helping give Denver enough time to tie the game. In overtime, his fumble led to the winning field goal There is the quick update of the day. Posted in bears-news | Comments Off
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Chicago Bears hope to follow Packers’ injury… |
LAKE FOREST — Last season the Packers were ravaged by injuries, filling the injured-reserve list with 15 players throughout the course of the year. They even lost a star on each side of the ball (Charles Woodson and Donald Driver) by halftime of the Super Bowl. Did it set them back? “No way,” said Green Bay linebacker Clay Matthews, who was part of that 2010 Super Bowl title run. This year it’s the Bears who have been beset by injuries, the most costly of which was the broken thumb of Jay Cutler and the sprained knee on Matt Forte. Did they lose any steam because of injuries? “Well,” Bears center Roberto Garza recently said, “I guess you could say they’ve knocked us back a bit.” So why did the mounds of injuries not slow down the Packers, but they turned the Bears from a title contender into a team besieged by a four-game losing streak? Packers head coach Mike McCarthy insists his squad was able to sustain the barrage of setbacks because of the way it built its roster depth. “I couldn’t really give you an informed opinion on how the Bears are handling their injury situation, but I know that for us, something you always want to feel strongly about is your roster. And how you train your players from one through 53 is part of the ability to overcome these types of injuries,” McCarthy explained. “We try to spend as much time as we possibly can with our younger players to make sure that when these situations arise, they’re ready to go.” It worked well for them last year, and they may need that depth again this year. The Packers were fairly healthy throughout much of this season, but they have stumbled on hard times of late. This week alone they added rookie tackle Derek Sherrod to the injured-reserve list, bringing it up to six players, and they have already ruled out tackles Bryan Bulaga and Chad Clifton, wide receiver Greg Jennings and defensive end Ryan Pickett. And all of this comes on the heels of the team’s first loss — a 19-14 defeat to the struggling Chiefs. “There’s never such a thing as a good loss,” Matthews said, “but there’s definitely things you can take away from a loss, as far as how we need to play and respond moving forward into the playoffs.” If they move forward the way they did last year — when the injuries piled up and they rattled off six straight wins capped off by a Super Bowl championship — they’ll be fine. The Bears can only hope they can pull something like that off as well. “It’s very important to get all of our starters back out there,” Bears head coach Lovie Smith said this week. “No matter what, we’re going to have more guys than we would like on the sideline for a game like this.”
His offensive coordinator likened it to a mash unit as he looked for ways to figure out who all the new guys are. But the Bears have not been laughing about their injury situation much of late. Not only did they lose Cutler and Forte during their best seasons as a pro, but they just added wide receiver Johnny Knox and safety Chris Conte to IR, and they have a slew of questionable players this week. Stars in all phases (defensive tackle Henry Melton, running back Marion Barber and kick returner Devin Hester) could be missing from the Bears’ active roster Sunday in Green Bay. And, at this most inopportune time, the Bears are turning to third-string QB Josh McCown, a recent free-agent pickup who is considered injury prone even by his own coaches. “Unfortunately,” Martz said, “in his career, when he’s gotten going, he’s usually gotten injured or nicked.” If he does this time, he will join a long list. Chicago currently has eight players on injured reserve, after having only two make that grade last year. And that’s not counting the two most severe losses: Cutler and Forte, who have not yet been ruled out for the year. The Bears are clearly nervous. The Packers feel a little bit more at ease with their issues after they ignored them so well last year. But that doesn’t mean they’re not worried about it, like the Bears. “It’s a situation everybody goes through. We had a bunch of injuries last year, and we understand how it feels and really the approach you need to take,” McCarthy added. “You don’t want to get injuries, you especially don’t want to get injuries down the stretch, but that’s part of our challenge preparing for the Bears.” And this year, it’s part of the challenge for the Bears as well. Jay Taft covers the Chicago Bears for the Rockford Register Star. He can be reached at 815-987-1384 or jtaft@rrstar.com. Thanks for reading! . Posted in bears-news | Comments Off
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Bears lead Eagles 17-10 at halftime |
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Marion Barber‘s 2-yard touchdown run after a costly fumble by DeSean Jackson helped the Chicago Bears take a 17-10 lead over the Philadelphia Eagles into halftime on Monday night. Jackson, a Pro Bowl punt returner, was stripped by Corey Graham and the Bears recovered at the Eagles 9 with a minute left in the second quarter. A roughing-the-passer penalty on Jason Babin gave Chicago a first down at the Eagles 2 after Jay Cutler threw an incomplete pass on third down. Barber then ran in from the 2. Eagles linebacker Brian Rolle stripped Matt Forte and returned the fumble 22 yards for a touchdown late in the second quarter to tie it at 10. Cutler threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Matt Spaeth and Robbie Gould kicked a 51-yard field goal to help the Bears build an early 10-0 advantage. Rookie Alex Henery kicked a career-high 47-yard field goal for the Eagles, and the defense made a big play on Chicago’s ensuing series. Forte caught a short pass from Cutler, but Rolle knocked the ball loose. He picked it up and ran untouched into the end zone, avoiding Cutler on his way in. The Bears took the opening kickoff and drove 79 yards on 12 plays, capped by Cutler’s TD toss to Spaeth. Forte had 52 yards rushing on the drive, and the Bears got 60 of the 79 yards on the ground. Cutler completed two passes, including a 14-yard toss to Earl Bennett on third-and-7. After struggling badly against the run the first five weeks, the Eagles improved in the last two games. They allowed just 127 yards rushing combined in wins against Washington and Dallas. Michael Vick, seeking his first win as a starter in four tries against the Bears, had a rough first half. He was 8 of 15 for 84 yards and threw an interception in the red zone. Vick had just 8 yards rushing. LeSean McCoy, who had a career-best 185 yards rushing against Dallas last week, was held to just 33 yards on nine carries. Helped by a pass interference call on Major Wright that kept their second drive going, the Eagles reached the Bears 19 early in the second quarter. But Vick made a poor throw into double coverage that was picked by Wright, who returned it 36 yards to the Bears 48. That set up Gould’s field goal. Cutler threw a 26-yard pass to Bennett on third-and-16 to the Eagles 32. Vick connected with Jeremy Maclin for 31 yards to the Bears 40 on third-and-9. The drive stalled and Henery made his first field goal from beyond 38 yards. Philadelphia safety Nate Allen left the game after sustaining a concussion in the first quarter. Forte had 62 yards rushing at the break. The Eagles are trying to even their record with their third straight win after an awful 1-4 start threatened to ruin a season that began with Super Bowl aspirations. Coming off a bye, the Bears (4-3) are seeking their third straight win. The teams are meeting for the fifth straight year. Chicago has won three of the last four games against Philadelphia, including a 31-26 victory at Soldier Field last November. Beloved former Eagles coach Buddy Ryan will be honored at halftime. Ryan, who is battling cancer, was Chicago’s defensive coordinator during their Super Bowl championship season in 1985. He came to Philadelphia the next season and led the Eagles to the playoffs in 1988-90. That’s all for today. Posted in bears-news | Comments Off
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Surging Eagles host equally hot Bears |
After a rough start, the Philadelphia Eagles might finally be on their way to meeting the lofty expectations they set for themselves this season. The Chicago Bears might not be a true Super Bowl contender at the moment, but they are certainly happy with the way they have played of late. Each team looks for a third consecutive victory when they meet Monday night at Lincoln Financial Field. Saddled with Super Bowl expectations after adding six former Pro Bowlers to a roster that already included Michael Vick, LeSean McCoy and DeSean Jackson, Philadelphia (3-4) dropped four straight after a 31-13 opening win at St. Louis. Just when it seemed the Eagles were ready to be branded a bust, they outscored division rivals Washington and Dallas 54-20 to win two straight since the skid and move within two games of NFC East-leading New York. “We made tremendous strides to where we wanted to be,” linebacker Brian Rolle said. “I feel like we’ll continue to get better and better and we’ll be a force to be reckoned with.” Philadelphia played like the Super Bowl contender many thought it would be when it rushed for a season-high 239 yards and did not commit a turnover for the first time this season in a 34-7 win over the Cowboys last Sunday night. Vick was 21 of 28 for 279 yards with two touchdowns and also ran for 50 yards, while McCoy rushed for a career-high 185 and two TDs on 30 attempts. The Eagles limited the Cowboys to 267 yards – the second straight week they held an opponent to fewer than 290. “We still have a lot of work to do,” Vick said. “We acknowledge the fact that we work hard each and every week and so we deserve to take a moment to reflect and enjoy this, but at the same time understand our position. We’ve got game two next week. The start of our new season.” Though the Eagles are riding high for the moment, the Bears (4-3) have the potential to bring them down to earth. Chicago has won three of the last four meetings, including 31-26 last season and 19-16 in their last matchup in Philadelphia in 2007. The Bears are coming off their bye week after outscoring Minnesota and Tampa Bay 63-28 the last two games. “Things are on the way up,” said coach Lovie Smith, whose teams are 4-3 coming off the bye. “Feel real good about it. We’re a good football team.” Chicago has been good when it comes to stopping Vick, who is 0-3 as a starter against the Bears. He has posted a 76.2 passer rating, rushed for 187 yards with no TDs, been intercepted three times and sacked 15 in five games versus Chicago. The Bears remain confident they can keep the versatile quarterback in check. “It’s real difficult for us because he creates a lot of time for the [receivers] to get open with his legs,” cornerback Tim Jennings said. “But we believe in our pass rush and our rush is going to get to him and make it easy for us in the back seven. So we’ve just got to stay in cover and believe in our pass rush.” Though Chicago held the Vikings and Buccaneers to a combined 83 rushing yards over the last two games, McCoy averages an NFL-high 107.7 and has scored at least one touchdown in every game. He has rushed for 152 yards and one TD on 30 carries in two games against the Bears. Chicago has a budding backfield star of its own in Matt Forte, who leads the NFL with 1,091 scrimmage yards. He ran for 145 yards and a TD on 25 carries in a 24-18 win over Tampa Bay in London on Oct. 23. Despite having not received the contract extension he wanted by this point in the season, Forte’s 672 rushing yards are the most by a Bear through seven games since Thomas Jones had 713 in 2005. “It makes you feel good that I’m being successful on the field, and I want to continue to be successful out there,” said Forte, who ran for 117 yards on 14 carries against the Eagles in 2010. Though Chicago has held the advantage versus Philadelphia, each of the last four meetings have been decided by five points or fewer. What are your opinions. Posted in bears-news | Comments Off
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