Emissions from the Bear Nebula
Russell Wanek
Posted October 5, 2004

Let’s get the negative out of the way first.

The Bears lost to the Eagles on a day when the Bears defense made the Eagles very beatable. Unfortunately, the Bears offense would have had to improve by 300% to be considered merely pathetic.

Jonathan Quinn is a 6 year NFL veteran. During those 6 years, he rarely played, and was making only his second start in 3 years. Now I know why. Jonathan Quinn is simply a bigger version of Henry Burris. With a week to prepare, Quinn had no excuse for looking as if he was a fresh faced NFL rookie seeing his first NFL game action. His passes missed high, VERY high, or bounced, making him an equal opportunity incompetent. He was unable to complete a simple 5 yard out to a wide open tight end. He appeared very much as if he couldn’t engineer a 3 and out fast enough.

The Eagles ran stunts and run blitzes, determined to shutdown the Bears running game and force Quinn to beat them. The Bears coaches seemed to feel Quinn could, calling only 13 rushing plays all game, and calling plays that would have made Dan Fouts smile.

Quinn is no Dan Fouts.

His passing stats only look presentable because of a 50 yard completion to David Terrell on a blown coverage. And even then, he almost threw the ball to an area where the wide open Terrell would not have been able to catch it.

Lovie Smith has since made public comments in support of Quinn, saying the Bears can win with him. I understand why a head coach would make these public comments. After all, part of his job is to boost the confidence of his players. But if he isn’t privately all over Quinn, then he is failing in his main task, which is to ensure the players on the field have a clue and are capable of winning.

I'm sorry, I know we shouldn't be quick to judge on just 1 game, but Quinn is an absolute zero. He showed NOTHING in the way of competence. A 6 year NFL veteran, who allegedly knows the game plan so well, has absolutely no excuse for laying that big of an egg when he is presented with a golden opportunity. Maybe he picked up 1 of Poop Shoop's left over coloring books to study? I'm sure "look for tight end open in flat, throw ball 3 yards over his head" COULD very well be a designed play in one of those books.

Anybody know where Ken Mastrole is these days?
For those who do not know, Mastrole was the unfortunate victim in yet another of Ja-moron's bogus "open quarterback competitions". He clearly outplayed Henry Burris each and every time he was given the chance, but Ja-moron had already decided Burris was his man, so Mastrole got cut.

He went back to the Arena League, and again led a team almost to the championship (he has 1 Arena League championship to his credit I believe).

YO KENNY! Give us a call man .... can somebody rig up a big "M" to shine in the sky, ala Batman's calling method? We get him his favorite pre-season receiver of days gone by, Kenny Christian, and we are immediately better than we were with Quinn.

(sigh)

The only good news on the day was the play of our undermanned, but over inspired, defensive unit. The put good pressure on McNabb most of the day with just the defensive line, allowing the linebackers to flow into passing lanes. Hunter Hillenmeyer deserves special praise for his efforts calling the defense and flowing to the ball while subbing for injured Brian Urlacher. He also gets an assist on Nathan Vasher's first NFL interception. An injury depleted defensive team, that was supposed to be simply blown off the field by the high flying Eagles, held up well, allowing only 19 points.

It could have been 25, but David Akers decided to help by missing 2 field goals wide of the mark.

But all things considered, it was the Bears defense that kept the team in the game all the way to the end, and they should get a thumbs up for their efforts.

Last week, I had hoped the downward dip in the Bears roller coaster ride would return to the upswing … the efforts of the defense almost made that happen. But, it was only a momentary pause on a flat straightaway, before taking an even deeper plunge on the way to the bye week.

The Bears now have 2 weeks to prepare for a team that should be considered beatable, the Washington Redskins. Washington has not displayed any consistency on either side of the ball, and will be coming to Soldier Field after a probable manhandling by the thug punk criminal scum Baltimore Ratbirds. So the table is set for coming off the bye week and experiencing success. The rust, nerves, suck factor of Quinn can be knocked off in these 2 weeks. In order for the Bears to have a chance, it HAS to be, for if Quinn lays another stinker like he did against the Eagles, our season could very well be lost. And Lovie Smith’s next post game press conference may go something like this:

"The season is done ... EVERYBODY is now going to get a chance to play whatever position they want ... hopefully we'll luck into a couple of wins based on pure intensity and desire, 'cause talent ain't our forte".

That would certainly send the old Bear roller coaster on an even wilder ride.

BEAR NOTES:

• LB Brian Urlacher will probably return to action after the bye week. Urlacher had not missed a game in 4 years, after being named a starter. His hamstring injury originally occurred in training camp, and was aggravated in practice prior to the Viking game. He hopes to be at full strength and on the field October 17th.

• CB Jerry Azumah may also see play for the first time since undergoing surgery August 7th to repair a herniated disk in his neck. This would be good news for the beleaguered Bears secondary. His actual return date is more open than Urlacher’s, and when he does return, it will be at cornerback only. His kick return duties have been eliminated for the foreseeable future.

• C Olin Kreutz has undergone arthroscopic surgery on his right elbow to correct something that has been bothering him for a while. He is not expected to miss any game action.

• G Rex Tucker is expected to return to practice within the next two weeks for the first time since dislocating his right elbow in training camp.

• LB Hunter Hillenmeyer has played well enough subbing for the injured Urlacher that he may remain on the field with Urlacher, replacing Joe Odom at strongside linebacker.

• Fines have been levied for the altercation started by Randi Moss after Todd Johnson cleaned Nate Burleson’s clock at the Humpty Dome. Johnson received a 15 yard unnecessary roughness penalty, but was not one of the players fined by the NFL, indicating the NFL knows football is a contact sport in spite of what “alligator arms” Moss may think. The 9 Vikings fined were Moss, $5,000; Nate Burleson, $7,500 (for removing Bear player's helmet); Corey Withrow, Sean Berton, Daunte Culpepper, Keenan Howry, Chris Liewinski, Bryant McKinnie fined $2,500 each for entering the area of the altercation; Onterrio Smith, $1,000 for entering area of the altercation. Todd Johnson was not fined, but 6 other Bears were: R.W. McQuarters, Todd McMillon, Lance Briggs, Tommie Harris, Ian Scott, Cameron Worrell fined $2,500 each for entering the area of the altercation. R.W. McQuarters received an additional $5,000 fine for unsportsmanlike conduct on a separate play.

• Bears Coaching Staff
Lovie Smith, Head Coach
Terry Shea, Offensive Coordinator
Ron Rivera, Defensive Coordinator
David Toub, Special Teams Coordinator
Pete Hoener, Offensive Line
Karl Dunbar, Defensive Line
Bob Babich, Linebackers
Tim Spencer, Running Backs
Darryl Drake, Wide Receivers
Vance Bedford, Defensive Backs
Wade Wilson, Quarterbacks
Bob Boras, Tight Ends
Torrian Gray, Asst. Defensive Backs Coach
Charlie Coiner, Asst. Special Teams
Harold Goodwin, Asst. Offensive Line
Mike Bajakian, Offensive Quality Contro
lLloyd Lee, Defensive Quality Control

My weekly picks (home team in CAPS):
LAST WEEK 8-6SEASON 35-25
* note - I do not use any of the many “point spread” formulas when making my picks, primarily because I am not some polyester clad doofus sports bookie. I am a football fan. They do not pause at the end of games to add in the point spreads before declaring a winner do they? No, they don’t. Which means the point spreads mean absolutely nothing to me.

I choose who I think is going to win based on my feelings and observations, and some selections are chosen simply because of my tremendous dislike of a particular team ... like the Baltimore Ratbirds for instance, a team filled with thug punk degenerates and over rated alleged stars, who if not for the NFL, would probably be modeling orange prison jumpsuits somewhere. I want them to lose. A lot.

So if you’re somebody looking for some key insight in order to mortgage your house with a bookie, my picks are probably not for you.

If you are a fan, who likes being amused while hearing what someone else thinks, then stick around and enjoy.
My week 5 picks (home team in CAPS):

PITTSBURGH over Cleveland
ATLANTA over Detroit
NEW ENGLAND over Miam
iHOUSTON over Minnesota
DALLAS over NY Giants
INDIANAPOLIS over Oakland
NEW ORLEANS over Tampa Bay
NY JETS over Buffalo
Jacksonville over SAN DIEGO
Arizona over SAN FRANCISCO
DENVER over Carolina
SEATTLE over St. Louis
WASHINGTON over Baltimore
Tennessee over GREEN BAY
Bye week = Chicago, Cincinnati, Kansas City,Philadelphia

Bears 2004 Schedule:
Preseason:
08/12 @ St. Louis Rams 7:00pm WON 13-10 O.T
08/22 SAN FRANCISCO 7:30pm WON 20-13
08/27 NEW ORLEANS 7:30pm LOST 17-13
09/03 @ Cleveland 7:00pm LOST 24-10

Regular Season:
09/12 DETROIT Noon LOST 20-16
09/19 @ Green Bay Noon WON 21-10
09/26 @ Minnesota Noon LOST 27-22
10/03 PHILADELPHIA Noon LOST 19-9
10/10 bye
10/17 WASHINGTON Noon
10/24 @ Tampa Bay Noon
10/31 SAN FRANCISCO 7:30pm
11/07 @ NY Giants 3:05pm
11/14 @ Tennessee Noon
11/21 INDIANAPOLIS Noon
11/25 @ Dallas 3:15pm
12/05 MINNESOTA Noon
12/12 @ Jacksonville Noon
12/19 HOUSTON Noon
12/26 @ Detroit Noon
01/02/05 GREEN BAY Noon

Contact Russell at RRWANEK@aol.com

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