Results tagged “bears”

The Sox un-retiring the number 11 isn't the only shuffling going on in the Chicago sports world. The Bulls, Bears, and Blackhawks have their own shuffling going on. more ›

The trouble over Soldier Field's turf? It could get resolved even more quickly now that Mike Martz has been signed as the Bears' new offensive coordinator. The mind behind the '99 Rams' "Greatest Show on Turf" Martz's high-flying offense could be the push needed to get the Chicago Park District to follow through on a $1.5 million proposal to replace the Soldier Field grass surface with FieldTurf. The team, though, has been reluctant to make the change so far. more ›

The Chicago Bears finally have a new offensive coordinator and it turns out it was the name some folks expected all along: Mike Martz. Martz was rumored to be on the top of the list during the season but denied the suggestion at the time. He inherits an offense that sputtered in spite of some great potential. more ›

• The FBI has charged two men with plotting to kill an assistant U.S. attorney in Illinois.
• The search continues for an L.A. man last seen last week in Chicago.
• An argument over tailgating may have led to the stabbing death of trucker Alan Lauritzen last week.

Well, at least you'll be able to see a few Bears during this year's Super Bowl. No, it won't be Devin Hester or Jay Cutler. Instead, Jim McMahon, Willie Gault, Richard Dent, and a few other members of the Super Bowl XX Chicago Bears reunited recently at Park West to shuffle once again. The project? A 30-second commercial for Boost Mobile that will air during the first quarter of this year's Super Bowl XLIV. Even making an appearance in this commercial? The legendary leader himself, Ditka (who didn't appear in the original Super Bowl Shuffle video). ESPN has a lengthy feature on the reunion and more of what you can expect from the commercial. more ›

Gaines Adams, a defensive end the Chicago Bears acquired from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers earlier this season, has died according to a report out of South Carolina [via the Sun-Times]. Not other details are known other than he was taken to the Emergency Room at Self Regional in Greenwood, South Carolina. An autopsy will be performed today. more ›

• Authorities believe the trucker who was stabbed to death today was stabbed by another trucker after an "altercation."
• A soldier from Galesburg, Illinois serving in Afghanistan is currently being held on misguided child pornography charges stemming from a family photo.
• Block 37's insurance issue may soon be cleared up.

With the Bears done for the season at 7-9 and missing the playoffs for a third straight year, the team took out a full page ad in today's Tribune and Sun-Times apologizing to fans for their underachievement. Meanwhile, fans await actions, not words. And while Coach Lovie Smith didn't appear before the media today as he usually does the day after a game, he's still owed $11 million over the next two years which means it might cost the Bears a pretty penny to fire him. On the other hand, team GM Jerry Angelo promised money would not be a factor in the decision to fire or retain Smith. more ›

Today, the Chicago Bears' season will end is over. There will be no post-season. Instead, there will be a lot of second-guessing and maybe some firings. We'll let Benjy tackle that tomorrow. For now, here's a video of Bears highlights from their magical run to Super Bowl XX. It's not the same as a Super Bowl this year, but it'll have to do for another 12 months. more ›

Last night's game was, in a way, a microcosm of the Bears' 2009 season: excellent potential ultimately squandered. The difference, though, was that the Bears managed to win, stunning the favored Vikings 36-30 in overtime, and left Bears fans thinking what could have been while it left Vikings fan wondering what they've gotten themselves in to with another Favre December swoon. The Bears used three Robbie Gould field goals and a Jay Cutler touchdown pass to Greg Olsen to build a 16-0 lead which would be extended to 23-6 late in the third quarter as they used a big pass interference call to set up another Cutler TD pass to Desmond Clark. And it was then the Bears found themselves on the brink of a great collapse as the Vikings rallied for 17 straight points to tie the game at 23-23 and the Bears found themselves without cornerback Charles Tillman (ribs) and wide receiver Johnny Knox (ankle) who were both knocked out of the game. But the Bears found a way to fight back, thanks in large part to Danieal Manning's 59-yard kickoff return that set up another Cutler TD pass to give the Bears a 30-23 lead. And yet, once more, Brett Favre found a way to keep his team in the game, taking the Vikings down the field and throwing a stunning fourth down touchdown pass to Sidney Rice with just seconds left in the game. more ›

Not content to just spend money on a billboard, the folks of BearFansUnited are asking fans attending tonight's Bears-Vikings game to participate in a "walk-in," i.e., staying out of their seats until after kickoff. BFU head Andrew Gasser told NBC 5, “That way, when ESPN’s cameras pan across the stadium, it’ll look like no one is there." Gasser told NBC 5 he was inspired by walk outs held by Detroit Lions fans when they were attempting to rid themselves of Matt Millen. Okay, but to compare the current Bears situation to the train wreck that is the Detroit Lions franchise seems an overstatement to put it mildly. If coach Lovie Smith is fired after the season, one coach we know won't be part of talks is Mike Shanahan. more ›

7.9. It's not today's high temperature, nor is it the amount of lines you will read before we mention Lovie Smith's job security. 7.9 was actually Cutler's passer rating in the Bears' 31-7 losing "effort" against the Ravens yesterday, begging the question, So what's the deal with Lovie? more ›

While the Bears had a bit of trouble even getting to Baltimore thanks to this weekend's huge East Coast snowstorm, the team arrived as planned around 11 p.m. Baltimore last night and this afternoon's game is on, if a little delayed. The game, originally slated for a high noon kickoff (Chicago time) is now slated to start at 3:15 (the Eagles-49ers game suffered the same fate. Workers at Baltimore's M&T Bank Field were still working this morning to get snow off the field and out of the stands to improve game conditions. The 700 workers at the stadium even got a helping hand -- from 125 inmates being used to help clear snow from the field. [One has to assume that's not an inmate handling heavy machinery in the photo above.] The storm dumped 21 inches on Baltimore, the seventh-highest snow total since records starting being kept in 1883. more ›

If you've found yourself stuck in airports over the last 24 hours, you're not the only one. And if you're stranded at O'Hare this evening, don't be surprised if you see Jay Cutler or Johnny Knox wandering around. The snowstorm that's socking the East Coast right now has already played a bit of havoc with the Bears-Ravens game by pushing the kickoff back from noon to 3:15 p.m. Now there are questions about when the team will even arrive in Baltimore. As of right now, the Tribune reports the Bears are scheduled to take off around 8 p.m. from O'Hare with an arrival in Baltimore two hours later. As long as the weather clears enough for the flight. more ›

There's a big storm headed towards the East Coast that's going to cause a lot of travel delays for folks headed that way. The D.C./Baltimore area is getting special attention as they could receive anywhere between 10 to 20 inches. As a result, a lot of stuff is getting shuffled around, including Sunday's Bears-Ravens game. Originally scheduled for a 12:00 p.m. kickoff, the game has been pushed back to a 3:15 p.m. kickoff at the request of the City of Baltimore to allow more time for things to be clear and to give fans more time to arrive for the game. more ›

A pair of interesting football rumors making the rounds this afternoon. First, the Sun-Times is reporting that former Notre Dame football coach Charlie Weis is interested in the offensive coordinator position with the Bears should Ron Turner not be retained after this season. Given the Bears' woes and what he did with Tom Brady and the Patriots, it certainly would be an upgrade. Meanwhile WBEZ pointed us to this tidbit at the National Football Post which says that Weis' old employers - Notre Dame - are interested in Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald. more ›

Our pals over at Not Qualified For Comment shared with us this awesome image of a corn maze near Spring Grove. There's also an Illini-related maze you can check out at NQFC. Though we do suggest the maze's creator needs to update that QB; Rex is only a memory most Bears fans would like to forget. more ›

According to Mike Martz, there will be no "Greatest Show On Turf" at Soldier Field. With the Bears mired in a three-game losing streak (and losers in five of their last six games), rumors have swirled that both head coach Lovie Smith and GM Jerry Angelo are on the way out, rumors the team has denied. Another rumor has offensive coach Martz coming to town, pushing out Ron Turner. Martz was the architect behind the '99 Super Bowl Champion St. Louis Rams' explosive offense and the chance to work with Cutler would seem irresistible for Bears fans. Or not, as some fans might also remember Martz as the offensive coordinator who more recently struggled mightily in Detroit. more ›

Pittsburgh Steelers fan Zack Heddinger is suffering from brain damage and blindness. Why this is pertinent on the Chicago scale is unfortunate, as Heddinger says the effects are the result of having been poisoned by Bears fans at a local bar following a 17-14 Bears victory over the Steelers in September. The Pittsburgh Channel reports that Heddinger, 46, has "basically been blind for two months," following the incident. more ›

• Former DuPage prosecutor, state attorney general, and current gubernatorial candidate Jim Ryan apologized today for the prosecutions of Rolando Cruz and Alex Hernandez, the men originally convicted and sentenced to death for the 1983 murder of Jeanine Nicarico. He claimed the prosecution “acted in good faith...and still came up with the wrong result."
• Swine Flu's toll so far, according to the CDC: 22 million sick, 4,000 dead.
• Police in Cleveland have arrested a woman from Chicago who's been using her children to help her shoplift.

It was a slow night in Chicago sports with all teams off, giving sports fans in the city a chance to catch our collective breath. But there's plenty coming up for the rest of this week. Here's what's on tap for our (pro) sports team through the rest of the week. more ›

There are no box scores to link to today as none of Chicago's teams were in action last night. However, there's plenty of sports news to go around. more ›

It seems having one of the biggest rock bands on the planet and thousands of its fan is pretty hard on a stadium's turf. The Bears are busy replacing the sod at Soldier Field ahead of this weekend's home opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Resodding the field after the preseason is actually routine, but the team decided to wait until after the U2 concerts this past weekend before going ahead with the sod replacement; the sod being used is a bit deeper so it'll hold better. Meanwhile, Desmond Clark lashed out at the field conditions before U2 ever took the field, concluding a rant about field conditions with, "we have one of the worst fields in the NFL and there are no excuses why the Chicago Bears, of all teams, should have to play on such a bad surface." [Tribune] more ›

Now that star linebacker Brian Urlacher is out for the season, the Bears are moving quick to fill that hole. While Hunter Hillenmeyer will be the team's middle linebacker for now, yesterday the Bears signed linebacker Tim Shaw, who played in a few games for Jacksonville last year and for Carolina before that. As for the negotiations with veteran Derrick Brooks, those have been put on hold in favor of the younger Shaw. The status of another injured Bears linebacker, Pisa Tinoisamoa, is still uncertain. more ›

It seems Brian Urlacher's injury was much more serious than originally thought and the Bears' defense has been dealt a blow. Urlacher text messaged the Trib earlier today that his "season is over.'' While the team has made no official announcement, Coach Lovie Smith will most likely address the issue later today at his afternoon press conference. more ›

Does a bear scat in the woods? Not if he's made of cardboard. more ›

Stephen Colbert's worst nightmare: bears up among us and they're playing our winter sports. [via] more ›

If you see a lot of No. 6 Bears jerseys around town these days, there's a good reason: the Bears QB has the top-selling NFL jersey right now. Crain's cites Street & Smith's SportsBusiness Daily as saying Cutler is the tops in players - with fellow Bears Brian Urlacher and Devin Hester at numbers 19 and 20, respectively - and the Bears are the second most popular team behind the defending Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers. We'll see if those numbers still hold up come late October. more ›

There was a lot going on this weekend so we can understand if you didn't have a chance to peruse the site. And we're sure you're already cracking at work, so here are some helpful links from our weekend coverage that might help you catch up on what you missed. more ›

Even though football means the waning days of summer are upon us, we can't help but get excited to see our beloved Bears take the field once again. Especially when there is a major new addition to check out. On Saturday night, they suited up for the first time in '09 to knock pads with the Buffalo Bills and, more importantly, Jay Cutler made his Bears debut. The final score was 27-20, but, like all preseason games, it's pretty irrelevant as teams try to knock the rust off the veterans, players with the slightest of dings sit out, and new players try to make the regular season roster. more ›