Thomas Jones

Benson has had 2 good games his whole NFL career.... he is not durable.... big big mistake.

nobody knows that for sure.. the situation was unfair to both Benson and Jones.. Jones has proven he is pretty good but Benson has yet to prove anything. Who is to know that Benson won't lead the league in rusing next season... I think it is a good move for both teams.. The Jets get a good rb in Jones and the bears free up some cap space...

I do believe Lovie and his staff know more about what is good for the Bears than any of us, although this is the guy that has Grossman starting and losing the Super Bowl.

I was listening to Mike & Mike this morning on ESPN2 and Mike Greenberg said that if Thomas Jones rushed for 1,000 yards with the Jets he would "throw his panties" on the table, or something along those lines, I walked in on it at the last minute.

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Earl didn't suck..but he didn't last long either. Eventhough he played for 9 years he missed 29 games (roughly the equivalent of 2 seasons). And that is about the best back Texas has ever produced. Rickey had the tools but became a flash in the pan. Benson is gonna be another Rashaan Salaam. Good for a year or 2 and then bust. Texas backs are overrated anyways...they play in the Big 12. Let 'em get a dose of SEC football and watch the numbers drop. The Bears organization has never known how to manage a team. That's why they have only been to 2 superbowls and won a measley one. More of the same to them I guess...have all the pieces but no desire to finish the job. Classic Chicago Bears ownership.

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I was being sarcastic, Earl Campbell is still considered one of the all time greats, just like Sayers and neither had long careers.

2 measly superbowl appearances huh? Do you realize how many teams have never made it to the superbowl? Do you realize the Bears have won the most nfl championships of any franchise? They havent been that successful in the last 20 years because Halas died, Finks died, Hatley died, and McCaskey made alot of the draft decisions. Now Angelo is not ownership and Angelo was voted #8 in Forbes list of best GM's in all of sports. Ownership didnt trade Jones, Angelo traded Jones and on top of that, Jones was the one that asked to be traded, its not like they said, hey dude you suck youre getting traded, TJ didnt want to be there.

Jerry Angelo was smart enough to bring TJ in, he was smart enough to draft Tillman, Briggs, Harris, Vasher, Manning, Hester, Mark Anderson, etc. I think Id trust the guy with draft picks more than I would the lpd sports forum geniuses. The Bears have had 3 12+ win seasons in the Jerry Angelo era including the last 2 with his own coaching staff, I think they will be fine.

I cant believe yall are talkin' about ownership. Ownership is a 80 year old brittle old lady with wooden teeth, she aint making the decisions, its all Jerry Angelo with input from guys like Greg Gabriel and Lovie.

Remember, TJ asked to be traded. It had just as much to do with money as it did anything. You dont see aging running backs get big contracts. He would have been a year older next year and would have walked away scott free with out Chicago getting any compensation whatsoever. Thats why it was a good trade.

Many of you guys still arent understanding that this is salary cap football. Not a [censored] one of you were criticizing the patriots for letting McGinnis, Law, Malloy, Washington, Givens, Branch, Johnson, or Patten go, most without compensation. What did they do without all of those guys, hmmm, win a superbowl and make it within one game of the superbowl again.

What about Indy, where were you guys when they didnt resign Edge to a bigger contract? What did they do without him, thats exactly right.

Indy won a superbowl with Joseph Addai and Dominic Rhodes. New England won multiple superbowls with Kevin Faulk and Antwaan Smith before Corey Dillion ever arrived. The eagles made it to the superbowl with Correl Buckhalter and a no name Westbrook at the time. Tampa won with Michael Pittman. The list goes on and on. In the nfl, youre seeing most teams split carries with multiple backs.

Adrian Peterson(GA Southern) gets no respect. Not one time in this thread has he been mentioned but if you ask Stripes or any of the other football guru's, they will tell you, AP can play on their team any day of the week.

The bears probably wont go to the superbowl next year anyway. Thats the nature of the league. They will play a tougher schedule and probably be less hungry to win. Look at Seattle, they battled injuries all year, you gotta have some luck to make it to the superbowl no matter who you are.

Running backs are a dime a dozen, look at John Clayton's report on TJ and youll see that. An aging running back has 3rd round trade value and is not going to get what they are asking for, Jamal Lewis is a perfect example as he was cut. Benson may suck, Peterson could be even worse, but your kidding yourselves if you think Chicago is going to go several seasons without a decent running back. Even Dominic Davis got 1100 yards rushing behind the Texans pathetic line.

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How is that good for Chicago? TJ helped get them to the superbowl... TJ is the 2nd leading rusher for the Bears behind W. Payton. Jones is a durable back.. I would like to see him playing for the Giants though... TJ broke Barbers record for rushing at UVA.

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Better draft picks, if you havent noticed the Bears could use more weapons on offense, a replacement for a linebacker that turned down 63 million dollars, and a strong safety backup/starter for a guy thats always getting hurt. If TJ wasnt traded, then he walks away next year. Now maybe the Jets give him a new contract and makes him happier. Hes still going to get 850,000 dollars from Chicago this coming season as part of his signing bonus.

Doesn't matter what Angelo was voted...the whole club is tight and sorry when it comes to paying players and coaches. The Bears do have a glorious history but since 1996 they are 72-88 (with 24 of those wins coming in the past 2 seasons). They have only had 3 winning seasons in that time span. And yes, its true that 7 teams have never been to the superbowl (Browns, Texans, Jags, Lions, Saints, Cards) but Chicago has only made 2 and only won 1. The Bears are going to hover around mediocre for a few years. Losing good players and coaches will just hasten their descent to NFL oblivion tho.

Lovie's staff is making market value and the Bears have spent more money on the cap than any team in the nfc north coming into this Free agent year, care to tell me how that makes them tight? You must have missed TJ, Tait, Ogunleye, Muhammad, Miller, Brown, Garza, and Clark all getting pretty good FA contracts. TJ and Muhammad were the first FA's scooped off the market in respective years, so the Bears were the first to spend, yet you think they are cheap. Sure they arent going to go out like Washington and waste their money every year, but tell me this, what team wins spending big money in free agency, NOONE. Winning in the nfl is all about how you draft and finding a franchise quarterback. You have to have one or the other.

Other than Rivera, who did they lose? It was no secret Lovie didnt want him back, there was a rift there in style and Lovie was going to lose Babich so he chose to promote Babich. Lovie didnt want Rivera to begin with, he wanted Rod Marinelli but the bucs wouldnt give him permission to interview. Now he has a defensive coordinator that shares the same philosphies.

You dont have to go back to 1996 to have a clue btw, its pretty obvious that Waanstedt and Jauron have never won anything no matter what job they have been in and its pretty obvious that the lack of quarterback stability is the #1 reason why Chicago hasnt been good. Funny how everyone calls Grossman out but hes the best QB the team has had since McMahon. Basically a rookie, he did throw for over 3000 yards, 20 TD's, and had the second most 100 yard ratings of anyone in the league. Sure he was woefully inconsistent and may never be anything better than what he was last year. The whole "the bears are cheap" arguement just doesnt cut it anymore. Yeah they played hardball with Lovie, but why wouldnt you. If your going to buy a new car, you dont go in and say, hey Im going to buy that car for the price thats on the windshield, that would make you the stupidest fuvk to ever do business.

Halas was always known as being cheap and he won championships. The bears and even the cardinals are spending tons of money these days. Just because you negotiate a deal and it takes some time to get done and someone doesnt take your first offer doesnt mean you are cheap.

And believe me, it does matter what Angelo was voted. There are alot of BAD GM's out there. With Angelo and Smith running the show, the team has alot of cohessiveness.

If you wanna go back to 1996, tell me how many championships those big spending cowboys and redskins have won and how many times they have been to the superbowl.

If you call the bears cheap, you gotta call the pats cheap too.

The Pats are cheap..alot of teams would rather have a fire sale than a dynasty...but the Pats had both. Chicago is nowhere close to that level. I hate the Pats and I have always liked the Bears in the NFC..but the truth's the truth. Halas won at a time when winning the championship meant being the best of 12-14 teams. Isn't the same animal as it is now. I'd say the Bears are competitive for another 2-3 years and then they rebuild...with no trophy.

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I do believe Lovie and his staff know more about what is good for the Bears than any of us, although this is the guy that has Grossman starting and losing the Super Bowl.

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Huh??? The single most reason they lost the SB was because Grossman was starting. I'd rather have an old Drew Bledsoe than a young Rex Grossman any day. The Grossman start plus the Jones trade tells me Lovie doesn't know too much about what he is doing. If it hadn't been for the play of Jones this the year along with the Chicago D, they'd have been sitting at home watching the SB with the rest of the league.

nah, it didnt really matter. They were going to have to score 30 points no matter what. The best team won, Grossman doesnt deserve half the criticism for that. 3 yards and a cloud of dust wasnt going to beat Indy. Chicago's D could have easily given up 40 that game with the offense moving the ball as little as they did. Bledsoe would have been sacked 10 times behind that line. They are great run blockers but they dont have zone blocking schemes which causes them to struggle against the blitz. Blame Grossman, but the guy never has time to step up in the pocket because the pocket is usually pushed into him.

Rushing Stats
Player No Yds Avg Long TD
Thomas Jones 296 1210 4.1 30 6
Cedric Benson 157 647 4.1 30 6
Adrian Peterson 10 41 4.1 11 2

Yeah the Bears are nowhere near the pats because they dont have Tom Brady. Chicago has spent just as much money as anyone else in the league, you just dont want to admit that. Since salary cap football has kicked in, the best free agent to lead a team to the superbowl is Corey Dillion, not exactly a superstar which just shows you win through the draft.

The pats didnt have a fire sale, they just didnt see any reason to resign players for larger contracts that were a part of the system. Why should Chicago give Lance Briggs 70 million dollars when he plays beside the best linebacker in the game. Why have 125 million dollars invested in one position, you cant do that and be successful. They arent cheap, they just realize that Tillman, Harris, and Vasher will all be getting new deals next year. Would you rather sign Briggs and not have enough cap room to resign Harris? That doesnt make alot of sense when Harris is probably the best DT in the league.

If your spending big in free agency, it likely means that you failed in the draft, simple as that. Detroit does it every year and they usually fail in both departments.