The first question I have to ask is, “What did the Bears give up?” First, Kyle Orton. I really like Kyle Orton and I think he has a long future in the NFL. But, I’m not sure he’ll ever be a Pro Bowl quarterback. Second, their first round pick (18th) and one of their third round picks (either 84th or 99th) this year and their first round pick next year. That’s a lot of picks, plus their starting quarterback. So I’m on the fence.

Then I ask, “What did the Bears get?” A 25 year old Pro Bowl quarterback. Sounds really good to me. That’s really all I need to hear.

So then my thoughts turn to the supporting cast. What do the Bears have in place to help Cutler return to the Pro Bowl with a Bears helmet on? They have shored up their offensive line lately. Hopefully Chris Williams will turn out to be a good tackle and they can keep building around him. Last season saw the emergence of rookie running back Matt Forte. That will help Cutler because he lacks a bona fide top tier receiver. Hopefully the Bears will address this in the draft. They do have tight end Greg Olsen who was a dependable target last year for Orton.

I love this move. This helps convince me that the Bears brass is wanting to win a Super Bowl. They’re definitely a lot closer today than they were yesterday.

This creates an opportunity for the NFL to showcase it’s best and brightest as a appetizer for the Super Bowl. Of course there are potential issues with the plan. The injury issue will always be there. Also the question of what will players who are playing in the Super Bowl do? Will they not have the opportunity to play in the Pro Bowl? Seems like kind of a rip off. Especially considering the best teams usually send the most players to the Pro Bowl. It won’t be an accurate representation of the best players in the league, but it will be a more competitive game than after the Super Bowl.

That wasn’t the end though. The Bears offense still needed to put together a mini drive themselves to burn the rest of the time on the clock. Enter Matt Forte. The rookie carried the load and got the Bears the first down they needed to bleed the clock and secure the victory.

There was a lot of talk about the Bears being soft and not being able to close a game. I don’t know if this win takes away all of those fears, but they did look good in the fourth quarter. I think the Bears biggest problem is stringing together 4 quarters of their best football. If they can do that consistently they might be able to win the NFC North.

Cleveland Browns – The pieces are in place for them to make a run. Their defense will need to step up to make them contenders for the Super Bowl.

NFC

North

Green Bay Packers – They’re the best of the worst. Aaron Rodgers has huge shoes to fill, but he has a solid offense around him and a defense that is poised to win now.

South

New Orleans Saints – Drew Brees has a go to receiver in Jeremy Shockey. They still have Marques Colston, and Reggie Bush. They look good this year.

East

New York Giants – Hard to pick against the reigning Super Bowl Champs. I think this will be the tightest division in football this year. The Redskins are really the only team that doesn’t have a chance at this division.

West

Seattle Seahawks – Another case of the best of the worst. Julius Jones in at running back will help the offense, the big question mark is still the offensive line.

Wildcards

Dallas Cowboys and Chicago Bears – I think that Dallas is a train wreck waiting to happen but they have a ton of talent. If they can all keep their heads on straight they’ll be a force in the playoffs. The Bears truly are a wildcard. Their defense is still among the best in the league. If Kyle Orton can work some magic (without any real threats at receiver) or Matt Forte can come in and be a dependable back they might climb into the playoffs. A weak NFC North schedule helps.

The 2008 NFL Season kicks off tonight with Washington Redskins facing the Super Bowl Champion New York Giants. If you have payed attention in the pre-season you will have noticed the new NFL logo. The letters “NFL” are sharper than the previous letters, the image of the football has been updated to resemble the Vince Lombardi trophy and the 23 visible stars have been replaced by 8 stars representing the 8 divisions (4 in each conference). The blue in the logo is now a little darker.

I think this update is a really smart and sharp update of the logo. It shows me that the NFL really cares about the image that it is sending out there to the public. I know that the public perception of the NFL has taken a hit in recent years. Maybe this is an effort to refresh that image.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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).