Bears general manager Jerry Angelo said he will begin meeting with the coaching staff and making roster decisions starting next week.

It won’t be an easy decision for Jerry Angelo, Lovie Smith and Co. considering the Bears have 14 unrestricted free agents. With Matt Forte and Greg Olsen both looking for extensions it will only make their decisions on their key free agents more difficult.

Six-time Pro Bowler Olin Kreutz turns 34 this off-season and is one of the key unrestricted free agents the Bears have to take a look at. Kreutz has spent his entire career with the Bears and he is expected to be brought back on a short-term deal. Kreutz is a great leader and clearly still has some talent left.

DT Anthony Adams, P Brad Maynard, LB Nick Roach, G Edwin Williams, and LB Brian Iwuh are all free agents, who I believe will re-sign with the Bears.

S Danieal Manning, CB Corey Graham, LB Pisa Tinoisamoa, and WR Rashied Davis are all veterans the Bears will like to bring back.

TE Desmond Clark, LB Rod Wilson, RB Garrett Wolfe and S Josh Bullocks could be heading to new teams depending on what the Bears see in them.

It will be interesting to see what the Bears do in the coming weeks with these players. Angelo and Smith will have to think things through.

Other News:

Yahoo Sports has a recent mock draft where they have the Bears selecting Florida Gators guard Mike Pouncey with the 29th pick in the first round of the NFL Draft. It would be a great selection, Pouncey’s brother Marcus thrived with the Steelers last season when he came out in the NFL Draft.

Mike Pouncey plays a similar game to his brother. Mike can play both guard and center, so if the Bears are able to select Pouncey they can have Olin teach him the center position right away.

NFL.com’s writer Pat Kirwan believes the Bears will select Wisconsin Badgers offensive tackle Gabe Carimi with the 29th pick. The 6’7″, 314-pounder was a four-year starter at Wisconsin. Kirwan believes the Bears would be “fortunate” if he fell to them at #29. Kirwan also predicts that the Bears will choose Abilene Christian receiver Edmond Gates in the second round (62nd overall).

The NFL Draft will take place Thursday, April 28th.

For more news on Twitter, follow @Bearsbacker.

For more news on Twitter, follow @Bearsbacker.

Chicago Bears safety Major Wright wasn’t a major contributor last season, but he could potentially be one this season.

Wright appeared in 11 games last season for the Bears. He made 24 tackles. He didn’t get much playing time because Chris Harris and Danieal Manning did such a solid job in the secondary.

Danieal Manning isn’t under contract for the upcoming season, but the Bears clearly want him back. If Manning doesn’t return expect Wright to get his spot next to veteran Chris Harris.

Wright, a third-round pick  from the University of Florida surely has to be excited about the possibility of starting next season. But did the Bears truly see enough of him last season to just hand him the job right away.

We all saw that the potential in Wright, but could he turn into another Craig Steltz or Adam Archuleta, two safeties who had high exceptions coming to the Bears, but failed to succeed.

Wright has solid instincts, hands and tackling ability, but he was hit with the injury bug early last season. A hamstring injury plagued Wright last year and he started to gain valuable experience on the field in the safety rotation with Chris Harris and Danieal Manning.

If Wright stays healthy he will get that shot at the starting job that he deserves. Danieal Manning seems unlikely to be returning to the Bears at this point, so Wright is the next player in the line at safety.

Major Wright will take that next step next season, depending on the improvement that he shows in the off-season. Major Wright knows what he has to do and he will likely succeed.

For more news on Twitter, follow @Bearsbacker.

For more news on Twitter, follow @Bearsbacker.

You can also follow Devin Hester on Twitter @D_Hest23.

According to SI.com:

“NFL owners meeting in New Orleans voted in favor of modified changes to the pro game’s kickoff Tuesday, the most noticable of three approved rule changes this year.

Henceforth, the kickoff spot will return to the 35-yard line, where it was before the league moved it to the 30-yard line, and kicking team players can line up no deeper than 5 yards behind the kickoff spot.

But the league scrapped that part of the proposal that would have moved the possession spot on a touchback from the 20 to the 25-yard line. That change mollified coaches who were both uncomfortable with an alteration to such a tried and true spot in the game.

In other changes, all scoring plays are automatically open to review by replay officials. However, coaches will not lose their third challenge, as initially proposed in the expanded replay repertoire.

Finally, the league voted that fields must be green. That proposal had not been flouted by the league before the owners meeting, but was approved to keep the appearance of game’s uniform, the NFL said. In other words, there will be no Boise State fields in the NFL.”

Chicago Bears head coach Lovie Smith had this to say about the kickoff rule changes:

“We would work as hard as we could to try to make it safer, but to eliminate that to me is just kind of tearing up the fiber of the game a little bit. Yeah, we have a great returner. But that’s a big part of the game. Our fans are probably more interested in coming there to see Devin Hester running a ball back as opposed to seeing a kicker kick it out of the end zone with no action.”

Chicago Bears special teams coach Dave Toub had this to say:

“It’s going to help teams that aren’t real good at kickoff coverage,” Toub said. “They’re going to be able to kick more touchbacks. Touchbacks are a good option for them or for anybody playing us. That’s a win for them.”

My thoughts:

This only hurts the Bears. To move the kickoff spot back to the 35-yard line is ludicrous. The amount of touch-backs will likely double and this will hurt the Bears starting field position. Devin Hester and Danieal Manning will have to return kick-offs out of the end-zone from now on.

The Bears are not the only team that is going to be upset about this. The Bears will find a way to overcome this new rule, their coaches are very good and they will get through this.

all quotes from SI.com

For more news on Twitter, follow @Bearsbacker.

Chicago Bears head coach Lovie Smith defended his QB Jay Cutler after he went out with a knee injury in the NFC Championship against the eventual Super Bowl champs, the Green Bay Packers.

Lovie Smith had this to say about his QB Jay Cutler today:

“Yes, yes, how could I not?” Smith asked. “For every question that you’re gonna ask me, I love Jay being our quarterback. I’ve got no problem with him. Can we … we can all do things better. We work on that. But I’m not gonna tell Jay Cutler to change who he is. I don’t tell you to change your style. I’m not gonna do that. I like who Jay is. I’m so excited about him being our quarterback in years to come. I trust him. I know he’s a tough guy. Think about it: as a coach, you see a quarterback take the amount of sacks he took in that Giants game and he kept coming. He’s gonna lead us to a lot of wins.”

“Gosh, man, these [questions about] fundamentals. Jay works on his fundamentals,” Smith said. “Jay Cutler is an outstanding quarterback that led us to 12 [wins]. The questions on Jay, I just don’t know. Everybody’s gonna be working on fundamentals. Jay doesn’t need to work on them any more than anybody else does.

“But that’s what you do in the offseason. Jay’s a competitor. When I’m worried about our football team, quarterback isn’t one of the positions that I’m spending a whole lot of time worrying about. I feel pretty good about the play we’re gonna get from that this year.”

“Yes,” Smith said. “Jay has the best quarterback tutor in the game working with him in [offensive coordinator] Mike Martz and [quarterbacks coach] Shane Day. So I feel pretty good about that.”

“Not at all. I don’t think any player should have to go through that,” Smith said, “because it wasn’t warranted at all.”

“[Woodson] walked off, and he was standing on the sideline, Donald Driver walked off, and he stood on the sideline. But we’re not questioning them. I never question them. Totally off base for that to happen.”

“What do I think about it? That’s what he normally does, what most of our guys do,” Smith said. “They’re out in the community. That’s Jay Cutler, what he normally does.”

All quotes from Chicagosuntimes.com and ESPNChicago.com.

For more news on Twitter, follow @Bearsbacker.

ESPN Sports Nation, for the first time will allow the fans to choose which NFL player will have the honor of gracing the cover of EA Sports Madden 12. Chicago Bears Pro Bowl defensive end Julius Peppers is one of 32 players on that list.

In a bracket like contest, Julius Peppers is listed as an eight seed. Peppers will take on Minnesota Vikings own, running back Adrian Peterson in the first round.

You can vote for Bears Pro Bowl defensive end Julius Peppers here.

That dates you can votes are below:

Opening Round: March 21st-27th
Second Round: March 28-April 3rd
Third Round: April 4th-10th
Semifinals: April 11th-17th
Finals: April 18th-26th (the winner will be announced April 26, 2011)

If your a fan of Madden and you believe in the Madden curse than I would suggest you go ahead and vote for Vikings RB Adrian Peterson.

Bear Down!

For more news on Twitter, follow @Bearsbacker.

For more news on Twitter, follow @Bearsbacker.

Chad Ochocinco is not happy that the NFL lockout has taken place. He is also not happy with the current team he is under contract with, the Cincinnati Bengals. The 33 year-old wide receiver doesn’t seem content spending a 11th straight season with the Bengals.

A member of the Bengals since 2001, when he was drafted in the 2nd round. In 151 games, Ochocinco has made 751 receptions for over 10,000 yards and 66 touchdowns.

His time with the Bengals will likely come to end with the threats made by Carson Palmer to retire if he isn’t traded. Also, Ochocinco like many other veteran players, wants to win a championship before his time in the NFL is over.

Ochocinco said he would welcome a move to the Bears: “Honestly man I’m just sick of losing.”

Ochocinco still has some talent left in him no doubt and if the Bears decide to trade some draft picks or sign him if the Bengals release him, it could turn out to be a great decision. Add him to the mix alongside Johnny Knox, Earl Bennett and Devin Hester and the Bears receiving core would make them much improved.

Ochocinco is sick of talking about the lockout. By asking him what his take was on the lockout, he responded “I don’t give a f***.”

Obviously many people have been constantly asking him and other NFL players that same question, so I didn’t expect anything else from him in return.

In the meantime, Ochocinco has been in the news for possibly making some MMA appearances and as of today a scheduled tryout with the MLS. Sporting Kansas City an MLS team has invited Chad Ochocinco to a four-day tryout next week. He says “soccer was his first love.” Maybe taking his mind off American football will be a good idea for Ochocinco.

It will be interesting to see what happens with Ochocinco. Maybe Ochocinco will head to the Bears, we will just have to wait and see, in the meantime he certainly isn’t pleased with the Bengals, so a change of scenery is much needed for him.

Bear Down!

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The NFL lockout is a joke. For the league to be locked out after arguably having the best season in revenue. April 6th a hearing between the players and the NFL will be held in federal court. That will likely be an important event for the NFL to figure out.

The NFL and it’s players has six months until the season starts to solve all of this. It is complete bogus that the NFL has gotten to this point. No one really thought it was possible, but now that it has happened fans and players are definitely disappointed.

The NFLPA has warned the incoming players to boycott the draft. That could start up a riot.

Either way the league needs to figure everything out with the CBA and the labor deal because no NFL means a bad end to the 2011 year. Without no NFL for 2011-2012, I would miss out on so much in the world of football and I know every other football fan out there would as well. Lets all hope for an NFL season in 2011-2012.

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