Shaun Alexander wore out his welcome here in Seattle and was cut by the Seahawks Tuesday in a move that surprised no one. He was just 2 years into an 8 year contract worth $62 million. Because he’s a football player that money is not guaranteed so Alexander out a hefty chunk of change. But after his performance the last couple of years, it seems about right. He’s been hurt and ineffective when healthy. Part of that has to do with the departure of Steve Hutchinson from Seattle, and other offensive line woes for the Seahawks.

Which partially answers my initial question about whether the Bears should take a flier on Alexander and see if he does have anything left in the tank? The Bears offensive line is actually worse than the Seahawks and unless that gets fixed, nobody’s gonna be successful running the ball.

But let’s pretend. Let’s pretend that Olin Kreutz miraculously finds offensive line mates who can block someone (anyone). Then would it make sense?

The question that underlies all questions of this nature are “Is this move going to help win a Super Bowl?” Would signing Shaun Alexander help the Bears get back to the Super Bowl?

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The Bears have picked up re-tred Marty Booker and notorious malcontent Brandon Lloyd to round out their receiving corps.

These signings leave the Bears without a go to receiver for any of their inadequete quarterbacks to throw.

I think Jerry Angelo should have his General Manager card taken away when it comes to signing offensive players.

According to many web sites and wire reports, NFL legend Brett Favre will call it quits after 17 seasons in the NFL. His 2007 season was one of his best seasons ever. Favre was widely expected to return for the 2008 season. Favre will leave the game as statistically the best quarterback ever.

Many argue that he is the best quarterback ever, not just because of his statistics but his Super Bowl ring as well. Throughout his career Favre has been a “gunslinger”. He’s made throws that were ill-advised, but at the same time, brilliant. He was able to throw a football into the smallest window in the defense.

I want to steer clear of too much Favre love, I’ll leave that to Peter King, but as a fan, I truly enjoyed watching him play. There are not that many players that I would tune in to watch, Favre is one of them.

Quick story about my history with Favre. I remember sitting in my bedroom, a long time ago, when Favre was at Southern Miss, and they were playing in a bowl game (I believe it was the All-American Bowl), and I remember thinking to myself that this guy was going to be an amazing quarterback. So if there are any NFL personnel directors out there that need a scout, hook me up. I didn’t dream that he’s be so good though.

Being from Chicago, I am a Bears fan, so I should hate Favre right? No way. He’s been so good for the NFL and for the Bears/Packers rivalry. I do feel bad for my friends who are from Wisconsin and various other Packer fans, they’ll now learn what it’s like to suffer through quarterback hell. Is Aaron Rodgers really the answer? Yeah, that’s what we thought about Rex, too.

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Tra-la, tra-la, tra-la.

Mushin, thanks for bringing that veteran “leadership” and for letting your play do the talking. It really spoke more loudly than you ever could have.

The funny thing is that the Carolina Panthers are bringing him back. Don’t they know just as well as the Bears that Mushin isn’t all he’s cracked up to be? Not only that, he’s now a few years older than he was when he left the Panthers to come to the Bears. Maybe the Panthers are going to rely on that top-shelf quarterback that they have and that was lacking in the Bears offense? Hmm. But they also just cut David Carr, their starter for last year.

I’m not one to really give a rip about what the Carolina Panthers are doing with their personnel, I’m just glad that Muhammad is not a Bear.

So we’re in for another year of “Rex is our quarterback”. Ugh. The Bears say that Grossman will have to compete for the starting job with Kyle Orton, Brian Griese or whomever the Bears bring in at quarterback. Hopefully they’ll draft a solid QB in the upcoming draft, but my confidence in Jerry Angelo drafting offensive players is at an all time low.

Word is that Bernard Berrian and Lance Briggs will test free agency. Berrian I wouldn’t be too upset about losing. He can drop passes elsewhere for all I care. But I would like to see Lance Briggs back. He had a little bit of a down year, but with Brian Urlacher and his tweaky back and neck, I’d like to have a solid LB on the roster (no offense to Hunter Hillenmeyer).

Wow. I definitely did not expect the Giants to win, but I definitely didn’t expect the game to so entertaining and close. That was the best Super Bowl game I can remember.

The last Giants drive was amazing. It certainly won Eli Manning the MVP award. When he got away from the Patriots pass rush and made the crazy throw to David Tyree. It was such a great catch.

Even though Eli was great in the 4th quarter, it was the Giants defensive front that won the game for the Giants. They definitely tired as the game wore on, but Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora and Michael Strahan deserved the MVP just as much as Manning did.

One thing I love more than anything… I haven’t mentioned the Patriots once. They never established their offense and their defense played well, but didn’t shut the Giants down. The Giants controlled the game from the outset. That’s the most surprising thing for me. It seemed like Steve Spagnuolo and the Giants defense out game-planned the Patriots.

I’m so glad we don’t have to live the rest of our lives having to look back to the 2007 New England Patriots as the best team ever. They just can’t make that claim anymore. And I for one couldn’t be happier.

But this moment is for the Giants. They came out and played a fantastic game. It wasn’t a perfect game, but they were able to control both lines of scrimmage enough to win the game. Everything else was secondary.

Congratulations to the New York Giants… Super Bowl XLII Champions.

After a week of this previewing and hoopla, I’m spent. I think I have enough in me to recap, and then give you my prediction, as well as some of my co-writers here at Vigilante Sports.

• Coaching: Patriots
• Defensive Secondary: Patriots
• Defensive Front Seven: Giants
• Offensive Line: Patriots
• Quarterback: Patriots
• Running back: Giants
• Wide Receiver: Patriots

The Patriots, on paper, will dominate this Super Bowl. They take 5 out of 7 categories here. At the time of writing, the line is Patriots -11.5. Here are our picks.

Jared: Giants and the points
Patriots 24
Giants 17

Kendall: Patriots
Patriots 35
Giants 21

Would love to see your predictions in the comments.

Obviously with 2 wide receivers with 100+ receptions, Randy Moss with the TD record, and someone having to catch Tom Brady’s record setting 50 TD passes, the Patriots are loaded at receiver. Randy Moss leads the bunch, complemented by Wes Welker and Donte Stallworth. The Patriots have 7 wide receivers listed on their depth chart, all of which have started at WR in the NFL. That’s impressive. Sure, Troy Brown and Kelley Washington aren’t great, but they’re really good for your 6th and 7th wide out. Randy Moss has a history of disappearing in the post season, and this season is no different, in the Patriots 2 wins this post season, Moss has 2 receptions for 32 yards. Both catches were for first downs, but neither we touchdowns. Not the kind of production you want from your best WR. Can Moss rebound and change his bad post season rep?

On the Giants side of the ball, the receiver story is all about Plaxico Burress. In the NFC Championship game, he dominated. Amani Toomer, Steve Smith and TE Kevin Boss round out the receiving corps for the Giants. Toomer is a strong possession receiver, and Steve Smith (when he can hold onto the ball) is emerging as a threat. Kevin Boss is a very important part of the Giants passing game. He’ll most likely be matched up with a older, slower LB from the Pats. Look for that to be exploited. Giants recievers are 1-2 in catches in the post season in the NFC (Burress and Toomer). The Giants have had problems with dropped passes all season. That must change if the Giants are going to be able to effectively attack the Patriots through the air.

When a team goes 7 deep at the wide receiver position, I have to give them the edge. Patriots have more, and better wide outs than the Giants.

The Giants running backs averaged 134.2 yards per game and 4.6 yards per carry, that’s 4th in the league. The Patriots managed 115.6 yards per game and 4.1 yards per carry.

The Super Bowl will feature teams that have gotten to this point of the season based on the play of their quarterbacks. The ground game for both of these teams is primarily used to set up the pass. Brandon Jacobs will carry the load for the Giants. In the media he was 265 lbs. last week, and now apparently he’s put on 5 lbs. Either way, he’s HUGE. And he’s a hard-nosed runner. The front-seven of the Patriots will have their hands full trying to bring down Jacobs. Right when they start to settle into his running style though, Kevin Gilbride will shuttle in Ahmad Bradshaw, the shifty change of pace back, to switch things up. Bradshaw is a burner. He’s so small and quick, that he can hide behind his offensive line and dart up the field without the defense even being able to see him.

The Patriots bring a tandem of backs into the game as well. Laurence Maroney and Kevin Faulk will handle the rock for the Pats. Maroney has been up and down this season. I think part of it is due to the Patriots devotion to the pass, but he has been absent for a lot of the season. This post-season Maroney has played well. He won’t be asked to win the game for the Patriots, which is good. He wouldn’t be able to.

As for who has the edge in the backfield, I’d have to pick the Giants. Brandon Jacobs is a load, and they have such a solid change-of-pace, I think it’ll be hard to stop them.

This match up, by far, has the most eyes on it as we head into the Super Bowl on Sunday. All-World Tom Brady vs. Peyton’s little brother. I wish it was that easy.

While Tom Brady is nearly faultless as a quarterback, I think that Eli has rallied his team and taken a leadership role in this run to the Super Bowl. Teams have forced Eli to beat them… and he has. His last 3 games have been, arguably, the best 3 games in his career. With the week 17 loss to the Patriots, the Wild Card win in Dallas, and the Divisional win in Green Bay Eli has quieted his doubters. They haven’t gone away. I haven’t gone away. I’m one of those doubters. I’ve had Eli Manning on my fantasy team the last 2 years. Trust me, he’s disappointing. If Eli plays the way he has played in the last 3 games, the Giants will have a chance to win.

It’s not all on Eli when it comes the Giants offense though. In those 3 games, I’ve seen a lot of dropped balls by Giants receivers. You can’t blame Eli for that… but maybe we should… It’s just easier that way.

I’m not sure what I can add to Tom Brady’s legacy this year (or his career for that matter). He’s done it all. He’s surgical in the way he approaches a game. He rarely makes mistakes and he can make all the throws. He has all the weapons a quarterback could want. That doesn’t always work out for teams. But this year, Brady took full advantage of his supporting cast to light up the record books.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t “like” Tom Brady. But he’s a hell of a quarterback. Brady has got to get the nod. Even if Eli plays out of his mind, he’s still not breathing the same air Tom Brady does.