The Bears investment in Jamar Williams and Michael Okwo when they thought Lance Briggs might be leaving may pay off in the end, be because Briggs is working on short timer's disease.

Briggs signed a six year deal with the Bears when he found the market to be dry for his services.  The deal is worth 36 million dollars, but the Bears can void the deal after two years.

If you recall the deal had an extended roster bonus of 3.6 million in the 2010 season; the bonus normally due in March was pushed back to June.  Briggs has already missed out on 250,000 from a workout bonus he missed by not showing up to workouts.

The word is Briggs is unhappy about his deal and this is his way of showing his unhappiness.

My thought is Briggs needs to shut the hell up and play ball.  Is it the Bears fault his agent and he misread the market?  Is it the Bears fault that Briggs completely turned off clubs with the tactics he used last year?  Is it the Bears fault he signed our contract?  I think not.

If Briggs were with us past the 2009 season I'd be shocked.

UPDATE:Not that you'd expect him to say different, but Urlacher is refuting that he said he would retire.

Whoa, whoa, whoa and whoa!!!! What the hell is in the pizza in Chicago?

Take a gander at this article.  If this is correct, then Bears MLB Brian Urlacher is using some pretty underhanded tactics to get his contract extension.

Listen Urlacher has been good for the Bears and in return the Bears have been good to him.  He signed a contract. I have no issue with him asking for an extension or asking to redo the deal for more up front money, but there is a time and a place.  Urlacher of all people knows what happens when there is no line in front of him, so he needs to take a step back and let the Bears take care of more pressing matters. Namely Tommie Harris.

How many games would the Bears have won without Devin Hester?  

Obviously, I don't know any of this is true, but I  don't like where it is headed.

So apparently Chad Johnson doesn't want to play for the Bengals any longer.  The Bengals have no plans on giving him up, so this should be a no story, but as it were the Bears don't have a #1 receiver, so connect the dots and rumors can be born.  David Haugh decided to jump the gun and beat the rumors, but telling us why bringing in Johnson is a bad idea.

It really is simple, the Bears don't have the passing game to sustain an ego like Johnson.  He will not be happy with 5 catches for 65 yards each game.  Soon he will be on TV talking about our QBs and that is the last think Grossman or Orton need right now.

Instead of me struggling to explain the salary cap and contract issues, I am just going to post the post and let you take it for what it is.

The Bears have no plans on letting Hester hit the open market.  They have publicly stated they think he is good enough to be their #1 receiver in the coming years.  The Bears just need to see how much improved Hester is before they can decide how to approach him with a new contract.  If Hester can put up good/above average numbers, then the Bears can throw some money his way expecting he will continue to improve with time.

So after our Draft guy and I came to an agreement to disagree with my first round selection of Rashard Mendenhall, we shook hands and decided to agree on the second round selection.

With the 44th pick, the Chicago Bears selected Anthony Collins, Offensive Tackle, Kansas.

The pick netted us an A.  This was a pretty obvious pick, though I did look elsewhere.  I considered only for a brief second Chad Henne, but the chance that he plays this year is slim to none.  Collins on the other hand gives us immediate depth and is only an injury or poor play away from being a key ingredient.

I heavily considered Chilo Rachal, the offensive guard out of USC.  He has played bigger and better opponents and has a nasty attitude, but he could be around at our first #3 pick, so this would be a reach.

What's your take?

The writers of the Tribune have picked games with the release of the new schedule and none have the Bears going more than 9-7.

The NFL has released this year's schedule and the Bears will play 5 games in prime time.

Along with opening at Indianapolis on Sept 7th, they will have a Sunday night game against the Eagle(Sept. 28), a Monday night game versus the Packers (Dec. 22) and a Thursday night game on the NFL network versus the Saints (Dec. 11).

They also have a Nov. 30th game versus the Vikings, but that is in the flexible schedule time frame, so that one could be moved.

The Bears will be at home for the Eagles, Saints and Packers game and at the Colts and Vikings.

Chicago Bears 2008 Schedule

While Team President Ted Phillips said getting star middle linebacker Brian Urlacher happy with his contract extension a priority those behind the scenes(at least according to this article) say he is actually 5th in line.  In addition to Tommie Harris, the team's #1 priority:

Like everybody else is saying this isn't a big deal yet.  With everybody else cashing in and getting new deals, I think this was Urlacher's way of letting them know to not forget about him.  Unless Urlacher comes to the table with insane numbers the Bears are going to give him his money, just in time.

A four round mock draft.

14. Chicago Bears - *Branden Albert, OT/OG Virginia
The Bears need some fresh bodies on the offensive line, particularly at right tackle where the aging Fred Miller was released following a down season. Albert, who is shooting up draft charts, has the versatility to play all along the offensive line, and would allow veteran John Tait to move to right tackle, where he is more comfortable.

13. (44) Chicago - Joe Flacco, QB Delaware
7. (70) Chicago (from San Francisco) - *Mario Manningham, WR Michigan
27. (90) Chicago (from San Diego) - *Jamaal Charles, RB Texas
11. (110) Chicago - Dexter Jackson, WR Appalachian State

I don't think it likely we take two WRs in the first 4 picks.

I suppose this is considered more speculation or opinion than it is anything else, but I still found it interesting.

Brad Biggs did a Q&A on the Bears.  One of the questions was if the Bears draft a running back, would the Bears be more likely to carry 4 backs or cut Adrian Peterson or Garrett Wolfe.

Here is Biggs response:

Now, I am not a fan of Benson per say, but he has only been a starter one year, he has been behind a broke line and he has had no help from the passing game.  He got injured to boot.  It seems odd that he thinks they would be willing to cut loose Benson before Wolfe.  I like the idea of having a guy like  Wolfe on the team, but he is too small to ever be a feature back.  He is purely a situational guy.

Benson or Wolfe?