Bears Relating- Tank Johnson, NFC Rings and 5 From the Enemy

by Adam T on Jul 3, 2007 12:26 PM CDT in News Comment 2 comments

Tank's Future

The big story following the Bears right now is that Tank Johnson tested below the legal limit. While no one with a brain at least the size of a Packers fan, actually thinks releasing Tank was a bad idea, it does go a long way toward him getting picked up by another team. Some team who is desperate or looking for a future replacement, can get away with picking him up and having to answer far fewer questions about morals.

Lesser Bears Not Important

The front office of the Bears has created some bad blood by their decision to create two versions of their NFC Championship rings. One, the fancier of the two, would go to the players and coaches, Jerry Angelo and Ted Phillips while everybody else would receive a much less elaborate version.

There are rules in place to limit how much a team can spend, so it doesn't appear to be a money issue.

Of course there is a spin

Scott Hagel, the senior director of corporate communications, called the decision to award two types of rings more practical than financial due to the size of a ring intended for larger men but perhaps not wearable for everybody.

Hagel also said the decision was due to the Bears increasing the number of people who would receive a ring. The list of people due to get shafted are

head athletic trainer Tim Bream, director of pro personnel Bobby DePaul, director of college scouting Greg Gabriel, popular equipment manager Tony Medlin and director of player contracts Cliff Stein. Their staffs will receive the same, smaller rings.

Five Questions From a Packer
BearReport which is free through July 4th has their Bears writer answering questions from their Packer's writer.

TK: Do you feel Rex Grossman has improved enough this offseason to help the Bears offense be more effective?

JC: Grossman wasn't overly sharp at the beginning of mini camp but looked much better as the weekend progressed, and you could say the same for his performance during OTAs. If you watched him closely last season, most of his mistakes were the result of bad footwork and poor decisions. Pep Hamilton is the new quarterbacks coach and he drawn rave reviews so far, as he has been drilling Grossman on the fundamentals this offseason. And remember that the Bears had the 29th ranked offense in 2005 with Kyle Orton at the controls, but Grossman elevated the unit to 15th a year ago.

I believe that Grossman received way too much credit early in the season for playing well and way too much criticism late in the season for playing poorly, but as we've seen in today's NFL, that's usually the case for QBs.

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