The Chicago Bears had to trim there roster down to 53 today and they decided to keep three quarterbacks, four running backs, and six wide receivers.

They cut one guy, who everyone thought showed great promise and it could be a huge mistake.

Brandon Rideau, has been on the Bears practice squad for a couple of years now and in four games this preseason he caught three touchdown passes.

Rideau had 127 yards in those games, he totally outplayed veteran WR Marty Booker, who in my mind was the guy to go.

The Bears are looking to establish their eight man practice squad and they better put Rideau on that list.

Rideau is a big kid at 6’3″ and I hope they add him to their roster this season, if they get him through waivers.

The Bears had talks about keeping only two QB’s this season, but realized rookie QB Caleb Hanie from Colorado State showed too much this preseason.

Hanie is the QB of the future for the Bears, not only does he have a decent arm, but he is athletic and he can scramble for the first down, if you need it.

Hanie combined for 29/49 on passing attempts, 321 yards through the air, three touchdowns and two interceptions.

Hanie had this to say about making the 53 man roster “After a couple of [exhibition] games, I figured I had at least a shot at making it.”

“It just really depended on the numbers for me. I’m just thankful to be in this position now.”

“[Coach] Lovie Smith gave me a call and said, ‘Usually these calls are bad, but I just wanted to let you know you made it.”

Veteran Fred Miller has been offered a one-year deal, but has yet to act on it.

Also, rookie LT Chris Williams is likely out for the season and Terrance Metcalf doesn’t know how long he will be out.

The Bears have only seven offensive lineman on their roster, with John St. Clair replacing Chris Williams at LT and Josh Beekman replacing Terrance Metcalf at LG.

Aslo released to get the roster down to 53 were offensive linemen Anthony Oakley and Tyler Reed, tight end Fontel Mines, long-snapper Thomas Gafford and nine rookies in punter Zacrey Atterberry, defensive end Ervin Baldwin, tackle Cody Balogh, cornerback Trey Brown, defensive ends Joe Clermond and Nick Osborn, linebacker Joey LaRocque, guard Ryan Poles and tight end Marcus Stone.

So here is the breakdown of the Chicago Bears 2008-2009 roster in alphabetical order:

Quarterbacks (3): Rex Grossman, Caleb Hanie, Kyle Orton

Running backs (4): Matt Forte, Kevin Jones, Adrian Peterson, Garrett Wolfe

Fullbacks (1): Jason McKie

Wide receivers (6): Earl Bennett, Marty Booker, Mark Bradley, Rashied Davis, Devin Hester, Brandon Lloyd

Tight ends (3): Desmond Clark, Kellen Davis, Greg Olsen

Offensive linemen (8): Kirk Barton, Josh Beekman, Roberto Garza, Olin Kreutz, Terrence Metcalf, John St. Clair, John Tait, Chris Williams

Defensive linemen (9): Anthony Adams, Mark Anderson, Alex Brown, Dusty Dvoracek, Tommie Harris, Marcus Harrison, Israel Idonije, Adewale Ogunleye, Matt Toeaina

Linebackers (6): Lance Briggs, Hunter Hillenmeyer, Darrell McClover, Nick Roach, Brian Urlacher, Jamar Williams

Cornerbacks (5): Zackary Bowman, Corey Graham, Trumaine McBride, Charles Tillman, Nate Vasher

Safeties (5): Mike Brown, Danieal Manning, Brandon McGowan, Kevin Payne, Craig Steltz

Specialists (3): Robbie Gould, Patrick Mannelly, Brad Maynard

The Bears want to get some other veteran offensive lineman in the mix, atleast as backups, just to help out the current line, which is shaky right now.

Also, they might regret the release of Rideau, but who knows, maybe Booker will wake up and have a big game.

Yesterday it was announced that former Chicago Bear and most recently New England Patriot Rosevelt Colvin was released by the Houston Texans.

Colvin signed in June, this off-season with the Texans, after being released by the Patriots.

The Texans wanted to use Colvin as a situational pass rusher, but it didn’t work out.

This is what head coach Gary Kubiak had to say about the release “The bottom line was to have a player on your team to just play nickel, he would have to be special, we had to sit there and weigh him against players who could play special teams and do some other things for our team.”

Colvin had recovered from a foot injury, that kept him out of the last five games and the playoffs last season with the Patriots.

Colvin was a 4th round pick with the Chicago Bears back in 1999.

Colvin recorded 26 sacks, 185 tackles, ten forced fumbles, two interceptions and appeared in 56 games in his four years with the Bears (1999-2002).

Colvin signed with the Patriots in the 2002 off-season. In his five seasons there (2003-2007) he recorded 26.5 sacks, 180 tackles, seven forced fumbles, one interception.

Colvin is only 31 years old and could be a solid backup, sord of like a Takeo Spikes, who knows what he has left in him, but he better show something or he will have to retire before he wants to.

The Chicago Bears announced today that they released 2nd round pick Dan Bazuin and 3rd round pick Mike Okwo.

Both of these players were plagued by injuries in the two seasons, that they were with the Bears.

Dan Bazuin had this to say about his release “They basically told me that the circumstances at my position were a lot different than the circumstances were when I was drafted in the second round.”

“Part of that had to do with my injury. And the other part of it had to do with Alex Brown getting a new contract. It changed the way they looked at me.”

“I never felt as a Chicago Bear that I had the explosion I had before my surgeries.”

“Fully healthy, I think I can be a starter in this league for somebody.”

Approached after Thursday’s preseason finale, Mike Okwo seemed resigned to the fact his time with the Bears was coming to a close.

Other confirmed cuts, included WR Mike Hass, FB Lousaka Polite,RB P.J. Pope and S Leonard Peters.

Zackary Bowman doesn’t know if he will make the team.

Bowman had this to say about the possibility of his release “You don’t know. It’s a business, you just have to wait and see what’s going to happen.”

These picks are now looked at as mistakes by Jerry Angelo and who knows they might turn out to be good, but the Bears have Nick Roach replacing Mike Okwo and Dan Bazuin wasn’t needed at the DE position.

The Bears have to bring there roster to 53 and that means they have to make some tough moves.

The Bears will be fine without these players who were always injured.

At the end of the Bears final preseason game against the Cleveland Browns, the Bears came out the winners.

The won 16-10 and held the Browns to zero points in the second half.

But, Head Coach Lovie Smith had this to say about his defense “I’m disappointed.”

“The plan was to get a couple of three-and-outs and then take the players out, but it didn’t turn out that way. We didn’t play well. Believe me, if we could put our finger on it we would have done something about it before now. We’ve got a little bit more time to get it right.

“We haven’t played well. That is all you can say about it. We have not made all the effort we need to play well. All the things that go into playing well, we haven’t done. Once we get all our guys going, I feel we will have a very strong defense.”

Starting CB Charles Tillman was aksed about the D’s bad play this preseason and he had this say “If I had an answer I’d tell you right now, we have to get this cleaned up.”

Keep in mind the Bears did rest two key starters on the defense, S Mike Brown and DT Tommie Harris.

They also kept G Terrance Metcalf, who has been injured for a while on the sideline and TE Desmond Clark out.

Backup G Chester Adams was injured on the last play of the first half and reportedly went out with a knee injury.

That is why they need to get Fred Miller in uniform as a backup, just to get a veteran presence in there.

Read my Fred Miller article for more info, http://bleacherreport.com/articles/52003-fred-miller-waiting-to-make-decision-with-bears.

Offensively:

On the bright side for the Bears, 3rd string QB Caleb Hanie finished the game 12/17, for 115 yards and led the Bears down the field for two field goals.

Grossman led the Bears to there only TD drive, in a 19 yard pass to Brandon Rideau.

Orton was 4/7 and threw a bad ball because John St. Clair missed his block.

P.J. Pope, who was on the practice squad last season, carried the ball eight times for 34 yards in the second half.

The last WR spot on the Bears roster could come down to Marty Booker, Mark Bradley or Brandon Rideau.

This will be a tough call because the Bears depth at WR looks like this, Brandon Lloyd, Rashied Davis, Devin Hester, Mark Bradley, Marty Booker, Brandon Rideau.

Don’t forget 3rd round pick Earl Bennett from Vanderbilt.

I think Rideau and Bradley should both make the team, because last night they combined for eight catches, 105 yards and one TD.

I don’t know what you do with Marty Booker, he hasn’t showed much this preseason.

This will be a tough call for the Bears, but for sure you have to keep Mark Bradley, because he is the type of play maker Bernard Berrian was.

Did you know?

Because the Bears beat the Browns last night, they prevented themselves form going 0-4 in the preseason for the first time since 1998.

Good Stuff:

On a fourth and goal for the Browns in the 4th quarter the Bears Craig Steltz tipped the ball and stopped the Browns from scoring.

Before, that play S Leonard Peters, who was on the practice squad last season, forced a fumble, which was later overturned.

Also, undrafted free agent CB Trey Brown who took Cedric Benson’s #32 picked off Ken Dorsey in the fourth quarter.

Lastly, the Bears K Robbie Gould looked “good as gold” last night, he kicked he made all three field goal attempts he had and his longest was a 48 yarder.

Heading into the regular season:

Cutting there roster to 53 men, is going to be tough for the Bears.

They must make there moves by Saturday.

The D is dissapointed in themselves, and they should be, they gave up an average of 25 points, 326 total yards, 161 of that on the ground per game.

If they want to be the D they were in 2006, they better step it up a couple of notches

Brad Biggs, of the Chicago Sun-Times, reports free-agent OT Fred Miller worked out for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Tuesday and the Buccaneers have offered him a contract worth more than the one-year deal for the league minimum $830,000 offered by the Chicago Bears.

Fred Miller is expected to make a decision this week.

The Bears probably need this guy, just for depth at the offensive line.

They just lost rookie Chester Adams to an injury and who knows how long Chester will be out.

Fred wasn’t that great last year, but who knows he could return back to his prime or he might be way to old.

In other news, Rookie wide receiver Marcus Monk, who was waived by the Bears on Sunday, was claimed by the New York Giants yesterday.

I think it wouldn’t be a bad move for the Bears to pick up Fred Miller, if anything it would help them more than hurt them.

This is an update from the Chicago Bears last preseason game at halftime.

Kyle Orton played the first quarter and a little of the second.

He threw one interception and was 4/7 for 51 yards. The interception wasn’t his fault, because LT John St. Clair made a bad play and left Orton exposed.

Rex Grossman came in and played most of the 2nd quarter until the two minute warning.

He went 5/7 with one touchdown throw to Brandon Rideau and 59 yards.

Then Caleb Hanie got his shot to run the offense and looked good as well.

Hanie was 6/6, with 55 yards.

He also had a 23 yard touchdown pass to Mark Bradley taken away from him because of a holding call on 7th round pick Kirk Barton.

The game is 10-10 at the half, but Grossman and Hanie looked good helping the Bears tie it up.

Positives:

The “other” Adrian Peterson (He had six carries for 36 yards)

Rex Grossman (He was 5/7 and lead the Bears to there only TD drive).

Caleb Hanie (He was a perfect 6/6 and looked good)

Brandon Rideau (He had two catches for 25 yards and a TD).

Mark Bradley (For a guy trying to find his groove after two knee surgeries, I think he did). He had five catches for 42 yards.

Brandon McGowan (He looks the real thing, whether he moves to nickel back or stays at safety, he makes the right moves).

Negatives:

Craig Steltz (He got beat a couple times and I haven’t seen look real good this preseason, he might still be injured or it might be Adam Archuleta’s jersey).

Corey Graham (He was supposedly getting a whole lot better, but I haven’t seen that this preseason and defiantly not tonight against the Browns).

Kevin Payne (For a guy, who was supposedly a big hitter, he looked real slow to the ball).

Brian Urlacher (He might still be hurt, because he is not the same old Urlacher anymore).

Hopefully the negatives must improve soon, because the Bears need everyone to contribute this season.

This has been Chicago Bear Report at halftime.

Lindsay Lohan was in Chicago for “girlfriend” Samantha Ronson’s monthly party at the Crimson Lounge.

There she saw Chicago Bears starting quarterback dancing away the night.

“Also spied dancing with an attractive blonde at Crimson Lounge: Chicago Bears quarterback Kyle Orton called ‘’super-hot” by Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson both admired his dance-floor moves.”

I guess the beard can get the girls.

I thought he was married, I guess not.

I can’t believe someone would be call Orton “super-hot.”

She must be kidding.

If she is that’s pretty funny.

It was reported yesterday that Jay Mariotti of the Chicago Sun-Times and “Around the Horn” of ESPN has left the Chicago Sun-Times to pursue other opportunities.

He joined the Sun-Times in 1991.

This is a poll from the Chicago Sun-Times website.

Will you miss Jay Mariotti?

Yes

24% ,1314 votes

No

75% ,4048 votes

I never liked this guy, it seemed like he would bash his own teams before complementing them.

I think he was the guy, who started the Rex Grossman bashing.

I’m glad to see him gone, now a quality can take his sport for Chicago.

This is an article about being a Chicago sports and with this Jay Mariotti gone we can feel a little relieved.

This hasn’t happened yet, but I can see happening very soon.

The Buccaneers QB Chris Simms will likely be trades and the Ravens are the team that needs a QB.

Now, that they lost Kyle Boller for almost the whole season or even the whole season, he could compete with rookie Joe Flacco from Deleware and Troy Smith.

Simms thought he might have been released yesterday, but the Bucs cut Linebacker Antoine Cash, CB Sammy Davis, safety Donte Nicholson and wide receiver Paris Warren.

They still have 75 players on their roster and they have to cut that number down to 53 by saturday.

Simms said he guarntees he will be cut or traded by then.

He doesn’t want to be in Tampa because he knows the depth in front of him and that is why Baltimore suits him better than any other team in the league.

Simms had Brian Griese, Jeff Garcia, and Luke McCown in front of him and rookie Josh Johnson.

The Bears, Texans, Cowboys, Titans are all teams considering picking Simms up, but I don’t see those teams actually making that move.

Simms was the starter for the Bucs in 2006, until he went down for the that season and the 2007 season with a ruptured spleen.

David Dorsey of the Ft. Myers News Press asked Simms a few questions.

Firstly he asked him if he received enough playing this preseason and Simms said”It just didn’t work out.”

Simms went 10 of 14 for 84 yards this preseason for the Bucs.

Simms told Dorsey that he knew the other 21 teams’ depth charts, just so he knows where he would fit in with those teams.

“It’s somewhat my job to know that kind of stuff,” Simms said about knowing the other 31 teams’ depth charts. “We’re all competitors. We like to know what’s going on out there.”

Dorsey finally asked him, where he sees himself going.

Simms said “You know me”, “I’d love to answer your questions, but I have no answers. I really don’t.”

Simms doesn’t know it yet, but he could be in Purple and Black before he knows it.

Simms would be a nice fit for a team that hasn’t had a real quarterback, since I guess Trent Dilfer, since Dilfer took them to the Super Bowl.

We all saw this coming.

Today veteran CB Ricky Manning Jr. was released by the Chicago Bears.

“Getting released was more emotional for my wife than me,” Manning Jr said.

“She was a little upset that they said I was a part of the program, then they released me this late in the process when it could have been done a while ago. That would have made things easier for my family.”

Manning Jr. signed with the Bears as a restricted free agent in 2006 off-season.

In two seasons with the Bears, Ricky Manning Jr. appeared in 31 games with 11 starts.

Manning Jr. had 106 tackles, three sacks and five interceptions in his time with the Bears.

Manning Jr. had no interceptions last season, while playing nickel-back with the Bears D.

All five interceptions made my him, came in the Super Bowl season.

Manning Jr. was a third round pick out of UCLA, by the Carolina Panthers.

He had 168 tackles and nine interceptions in his three seasons with Carolina.

Ricky skipped practice this morning, showing his displeasure towards the team.

He wants an opportunity to play as a starter, but with his stats from last year he might not have a chance.

Hopefully Manning Jr. will get a shot somewhere, he was very good in the Bears Super Bowl season.

Detroit, New Orleans, Tampa Bay and Cleveland have said to have interest in Manning Jr.

People look at this move like the Chris Harris trade last off-season, which was terrible, but the Bears have plenty of CB’s.

They not only have Nathan Vasher and Charles Tillman, but they have Corey Graham, who is looking good and Trumaine McBride, who started in place of Vasher last season, due to injury.

The Bears defense will be fine, remember they didn’t blitz at all in the Niners game.

This is what coach Lovie Smith had to say about the performance “Well, it’s still a preseason game. Do you not feel the same way? It’s a preseason game. You don’t want to play that bad obviously, but we did. We know what we need to correct, and we’ll do it. Come the Indy game, you won’t see that defense, I’ll tell you.”

They don’t want to give away any plays for the other teams in the league.