Bears News

"Bears general manager Jerry Angelo expressed disappointment that running back Cedric Benson put himself in a situation last weekend that resulted in his arrest near Austin Texas, but Angelo said the team isn't rushing to judgment in the case and that he expects Benson to be at training camp competing for the starting job in July. "The thing that I am most disappointed in is the fact that he put himself in a position to be the victim," Angelo said Saturday night at the Bears Care Gala at Soldier Field, which benefits cancer research. "That's the disappointment. He's done a real fine job in the off-season, (but) obviously this makes big story lines. That's not good for business."

"Don't be surprised to see the spread spreading. That is, NFL teams quietly are borrowing wrinkles and concepts from the spread offense that has become so popular in the college game. No team is going to make a wholesale change in its scheme, but many will take bits and pieces from what college teams such as Florida and Kentucky have done so well. "There is so much creativity at the collegiate level, some great concepts," Titans coach Jeff Fisher says. "What happens is, as we go through the tape to evaluate draft eligible players, a particular concept catches your eye, and you make notes.""

"Bears running back Cedric Benson had been stopped ''several times'' aboard his boat in Texas before last weekend's arrest but never had been charged with a violation, his attorney said Friday. Attorney Sam Bassett said he sent a letter to Texas authorities to preserve any documents related to previous stops ''to get a picture of what's going on.'' Bassett said he couldn't pinpoint the number of contacts Benson had had with authorities but called the frequency ''not illegal but unusual.''"

"Don't be surprised to see the spread spreading. That is, NFL teams quietly are borrowing wrinkles and concepts from the spread offense that has become so popular in the college game. No team is going to make a wholesale change in its scheme, but many will take bits and pieces from what college teams such as Florida and Kentucky have done so well."

"The black hat fit Bill Belichick so well. Of course, anyone who wins as much and as easily as he does has to be cheating, right? Cheating more than he would admit... With the way it's starting to look, that black hat fits Specter, Walsh and the Herald better than it fits Belichick. On Wednesday the NFL revealed Walsh has sent eight tapes to the league that had been in his possession. They were tapes of the Dolphins, Bills and Browns sending in sideline signals in 2001, and the Steelers and Chargers sending in sideline signals in 2002."

"The one-minute recording doesn't show Benson's face, but one can imagine he also wore an expression that captured the mixture of anger, anxiety and embarrassment his friends say he felt. Here was one of Texas' biggest football legends being arrested on familiar turf in Austin for boating while intoxicated and resisting arrest, charges Benson continued to fight aggressively Thursday. He hired a new lawyer, Sam Bassett, an Austin attorney accustomed to high-profile cases such as Benson's has become. "

"I'm not suggesting he hide in his house, coil into a ball and not come out until training camp. But sometimes, when life is running you down and the karma isn't fair, the smarter option is to find a means of entertainment that doesn't involve beer, boating and watchful cops. If the Lower Colorado River Authority had been cracking down on boaters of all sorts, why would Benson, with his NFL career at a crossroads and the Bears sending a message with the second-round drafting of Matt Forte, allow beer on his 30-foot boat and turn himself into a target? How dumb can you be, Ced? Where's your better judgment? Just as you don't run straight ahead into a swarm of five Green Bay Packers, you don't tempt fate in a lively part of the lake -- Devil's Cove -- where you obviously aren't liked and you thought the boat police were picking on you."

"The millions of dollars doled out to professional athletes, including some native Chicagoans, doesn't shield them from the perils ofstreet violence and brazen home invasions. When it comes to targeted armed attacks or random assaults, the list of victims in the last 10 months with local ties includes Antoine Walker, Eddy Curry and, most recently, Rashard Mendenhall. "As an athlete, I think it is a concern because you are dealing with people being robbed in general," said Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb, who graduated from Mt. Carmel High School and was a teammate of Walker's on the Caravan basketball team."

"The truth about what happened to Bears running back Cedric Benson aboard his motorboat Saturday night on Lake Travis—whether he was drunk and disorderly, as the police who arrested him allege, or whether he was harassed and abused by the authorities, as Benson asserts—eventually may emerge inside a courtroom. But what's already clear is Benson, by choosing to park his boat inside the lake's most popular cove for drinking and partying, placed himself at the center of an ongoing police crackdown on drunken boaters along the 64-mile-long lake, which was formed by a dam along the Colorado River and ranks among the most pristine bodies of water in all of Texas."

"The trip home to Nigeria had been planned for months, every detail considered to prevent a hitch in their good intentions. On the first day of their charity mission, four N.F.L. players riding a bus on the way to meet Nigerian President Umaru Yar’Adua, were — bang! — broadsided by a truck. “It was really scary,” Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora said. For a moment, the players-turned-ambassadors could be forgiven for thinking they might have been better off staying home and sending a check."

"Cedric Benson was back at Halas Hall on Tuesday for the Bears' off-season workout program, as he has been for each of the voluntary sessions that began April 7. That was good news for Benson after a weekend of bad publicity that came with a Saturday night arrest for boating while intoxicated and resisting arrests, Class B misdemeanors which each carry a maximum penalty of six months in jail and/or a $2,000 fine. "

"A return to the defense he starred in with the Rams couldn't revive Adam Archuleta's career last season, and not even his relationship with coach Lovie Smith could get him to training camp this summer. The Bears released the veteran safety Tuesday to give him time to land a job elsewhere. Acquired from Washington for a sixth-round pick a year ago, Archuleta never panned out in the cover-2 scheme in which he thrived while playing for Smith in St. Louis. "

"A female passenger on Cedric Benson's boat Saturday night in Austin, Texas, was concerned enough about his safety after police took him into custody to phone her parents and urge them to call 911, the Tribune has learned. "I called my dad and told him, 'Call 911, my black friend is getting beaten up by police on Lake Travis,' " said Elizabeth Cartwright, 22, a friend of Benson's from the University of Texas. "It's more what I heard than what I saw. I have never heard or seen Cedric that scared.""

"Chicago Bear Cedric Benson appeared drunk when an officer stopped him while boating last weekend, with bloodshot eyes, a "strong" alcohol odor and slurred speech, a police report said. Sgt. Leonard Snyder, who pepper-sprayed and arrested Benson on Lake Travis near Austin, Texas, said he surmised Benson was intoxicated because he was "combative," "cocky," "insulting," and used "profanity." At times, he was "crying" and "cooperative," Snyder wrote."

"May 19 was already circled on Cedric Benson's calendar because it marks the start of the Bears' organized team activities. On Monday, the date took on greater significance. Benson has been ordered to appear in front of Travis County Court Judge Elizabeth Earle at 9:30 a.m. that day in the Criminal Courts Building in Austin, Texas, to face charges of boating while intoxicated and resisting arrest stemming from an incident Saturday night."

"The last conversation I had with Walter Payton happened to be the most poignant. The Bears' Hall of Fame running back, who died Nov. 1, 1999, at the age of 45, was emphasizing the importance of always being a professional, giving your best effort and "not mailing it in." Several months before he died, Payton talked about how he prepared rigorously throughout the off-season out of respect for the opportunity to perform in the NFL. Fast-forward to 2008, and we are witnessing the likely career unraveling of underachieving Bears running back Cedric Benson."

"Running back Matt Forte claims he was drafted in the second round to create competition, not controversy. From the moment Forte was chosen 44th overall, the general consensus, especially among those disenchanted with Cedric Benson's performance last season, has been that Forte will be the Bears' featured runner sooner rather than later. Benson's arrest Saturday night might speed the process, but Forte isn't taking anything for granted."

"The sound was down on the TV, but the shot of Cedric Benson blared loudly. Nothing good could come of this, could it? Some athletes, you see their pictures on ESPN and assume they completed work on a PhD, visited kids in a hospital, or rescued a dog from drowning. This athlete … uh-oh, hope for the best and expect the worst. Remember, we're talking about a football player who already plunged from the fourth overall selection in the 2005 draft to a burgeoning bust by 2008."

"The big white bus with ''COACH USA'' sat in front of Halas Hall on Sunday afternoon, and I kept waiting for Cedric Benson to get on. That was silly. The bus was for rookies leaving Lake Forest after the just-completed minicamp, taking them to O'Hare, some never to return. Benson, presumably, was still in Texas after being arrested Saturday night for drunken boat operation and resisting arrest before being pepper-sprayed into submission."

"Bears general manager Jerry Angelo was conveniently out of town and did not return phone calls. No doubt he needs to gather more information, as well. Sadly, it's a bit late for that. There's a big enough pile of evidence for the Bears to cut ties with Benson without another thought. Maybe that's the real positive of his water-logged weekend. Benson has one leg out the door and another on a banana peel anyway after the draft last weekend, when the Bears effectively replaced him by using a second-round pick on Matt Forte."

"Smith sounded like a coach short on patience after the workout at Halas Hall. He didn't throw out his well-used line that nobody gets kicked out of the family for one off-the-field indiscretion. Smith said he was ''very disappointed'' and was seeking more information on the incident that has Benson facing two Class B misdemeanors."

"The image of a blind, inebriated Cedric Benson is not a shock to the system, not if you saw him attempt to run the football last season. For the Bears, his arrest Saturday night for boating while intoxicated and resisting arrest pales in comparison to his shortcomings as a running back. So this should make for a very interesting case study, which we'll call "3.4 Yards and a Cloud of Pepper Spray." If his bosses are consistent in their attitude toward off-field problems, Benson can expect second chances galore. That's if they're still going by the Tank Johnson Rules, in which a man is innocent until proven guilty by a jury of his Bears."

"Sure, cutting Cedric Benson sounds like the easy thing to do after his arrest Saturday night. But one look at the experience and quality of the Bears' running backs—or lack thereof—might help explain why coach Lovie Smith will be all ears when Benson tells his side of the story."

"It is even logical to suggest that if Benson ever carries the ball again for the Bears, maybe the team has learned even less than the running back in the last three years. But take a deep breath, Windy City cynics. Just because Benson has done nothing to earn the benefit of the doubt during his tumultuous Bears career doesn't mean he should be deprived it. Fairness dictates being deliberate when deciding whether the Bears should get rid of Benson after he was arrested Saturday night near Austin, Texas, on charges of boating while intoxicated and resisting arrest. Knowing the Bears and Lovie Smith, don't be surprised if that ship doesn't sail after all — at least not because of this incident."

"Cedric Benson fully intends to fight misdemeanor charges of boating while intoxicated and resisting arrest stemming from a Saturday night incident near Austin, Texas, during which police used pepper spray to detain him..."There was no resistance on my part," Benson told the Tribune on Sunday night. "Was I drunk? No." Benson said there was alcohol on his boat but that he was not intoxicated and the boat was stationary when police arrived. He said he fully cooperated with officers and that this was the sixth time he had been questioned by lake police in the year that he has owned the boat."

"Bears running back Cedric Benson was arrested late Saturday night near Austin, Texas, and charged with boating while intoxicated and resisting arrest, both Class B misdemeanors. According to a sergeant from the Travis County Sheriff's office, Benson, who played at the University of Texas in Austin, was arrested by the Lower Colorado River Authority...and was pepper sprayed."

"Neither Southern Illinois' Nick Hill nor Colorado State's Caleb Hanie impressed NFL teams enough to get drafted. But both did show the Bears enough to warrant free-agent contracts, and each has an opportunity to make the final roster or at least the practice squad. Rex Grossman and Kyle Orton are the only other quarterbacks on the roster, and the Bears haven't gone into a season in recent memory with fewer than three. The rookies struggled with their accuracy in Friday's first day of the weekend rookie minicamp, but both were more accurate Saturday, when the Bears hopefuls were able to practice outside despite intermittent light rain."

"If there was a wow factor to the first practice Friday, it was Forte. The 6-2, 222-pounder looks the part, as real as it gets in shells and shorts. The burst he ran with was legitimate. The Bears selected Forte from Tulane with the 44th pick, passing on a chance to grab quarterbacks Chad Henne of Michigan or Brian Brohm of Louisville, to fix a broken-down running game...Forte is something the Bears didn't have on the roster -- a three-down back."

"As the Bears went about their detailed search for a left tackle in the draft, they came across lots of different things. One became a burning question -- who is that wearing No. 51 for Michigan State? Defensive end Ervin Baldwin picked two prime opportunities to have his best games of the season, showing up repeatedly on tape against Michigan tackle Jake Long and against Boston College's Gosder Cherilus."

"Moms and dads out there: Do you really want your kids to grow up to be professional athletes? Some of you see it as the ultimate accomplishment. This is obvious from the amount of time, money and obsessiveness you devote to your budding LeBron James and your soon-to-be Derek Jeter. You like the idea of your talented child competing at the highest level. You see it as the culmination of a dream, yours and your kid's. And maybe, just maybe, you see it as hitting the jackpot. I see Roger Clemens."

"When NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell ruled the 49ers had tampered with Bears linebacker Lance Briggs, he decided to punish the 49ers and reward the Bears. He did so by taking away the 49ers' fifth-round draft pick and forcing the 49ers to switch third-round picks with the Bears. So the Bears subsequently moved up five spots in the round, going from the 12th pick in the round to the seventh. As it turned out, the "reward" wasn't a reward at all, because if the Bears had been picking 12th instead of seventh, they would have ended up with the same player they chose with the seventh pick—Vanderbilt wide receiver Earl Bennett."

"Safety Craig Steltz is well aware the Bears view him as a potential starter. Such high expectations haven't changed the former LSU standout's approach toward the club's rookie mini-camp. "It just makes you work harder," said Steltz, a fourth-round pick in the draft. "I know I wouldn't be in this position where I am—to be able to get drafted by the Bears—if not for hard work." At 6 feet 1 inch and 210 pounds, Steltz has good size. His sound backpedaling through the first two days speaks to his constant work on technique."

"By the time Marcus Harrison got up from the spot on the street curb where a Fayetteville policeman had ordered him to sit that night last August, he knew what direction he was headed. First Harrison was going to the Washington County (Ark.) Detention Center in handcuffs. And when the sun rose on his second chance the following morning, he vowed to straighten out a life that had suddenly, stunningly gone crooked. "I realized I had made a stupid mistake and decided then to do whatever was necessary to make it right again," Harrison said. "Maybe God had to shoot me down for me to eventually do what I had to do.""

"For a team that will go into training camp undecided on its starting quarterback, it's fitting that the Bears also have a competition to determine who will man the No.3 spot -- or at least who will be in position for that job. Southern Illinois' Nick Hill and Colorado State's Caleb Hanie were thrown into the fire with a host of unfamiliar faces as the Bears had 50 players on the field for rookie minicamp Friday: 12 draft picks, 10 undrafted free agents (including Hill and Hanie) and 28 practicing on a tryout basis."

"Dwight Freeney, Kyle Vanden Bosch, Mario Williams, Gaines Adams. Chris Williams started rolling through the list of right defensive ends the Bears will encounter this season... 'I'm really excited about the schedule we play this year,'' said Williams, the left offensive tackle whom the Bears drafted 14th overall out of Vanderbilt last weekend. ''If I am given the opportunity to start, it will be all these great players."

"The pressure was on Earl Bennett to back his college teammate's words. But he'll have to wait another day to prove Chris Williams right. Bennett, the Bears' third-round draft pick from Vanderbilt, was touted as a receiver who "catches everything," as fellow rookie Williams put it before Friday's first day of rookie mini-camp indoors at the Walter Payton Center. But Bennett, who admitted suffering from a case of the jitters, had a few drops. "I'm human," he said. "I try to hustle and make the next catch, just put it in the back of my mind and continue to play hard.""

"It would've been easy for Caleb Hanie to stay close to home and sign a free-agent deal with the Dallas Cowboys. The native of Forney, Texas, grew up a Cowboys fan, after all, just on the other side of Dallas from the team's headquarters in Irving. But like every other free agent with a dream of following the path taken by Tony Romo after he was undrafted out of Eastern Illinois, Hanie realized he needed to pick a trail that isn't blocked by Romo."

"Bears Hall of Fame linebacker Dick Butkus has reached an out-of-court settlement with the Downtown Athletic Club of Orlando to end a yearlong dispute over the use and distribution of the Butkus Award. Under the terms of the settlement, the Orlando club has released any trademark claims to the award to the Butkus family, which will present the award in Chicago. "

"The images will remain embedded in Matt Forte's memory forever. As the bus rolled into New Orleans that fall day in 2005, he glanced to one side to see a boat drifting down the road as if on a body of water. He glanced to the other side and saw car upon car overturned off the highway, as if the city had been transformed into a massive junkyard. The picture was one of total destruction, devoid of human existence. Hurricane Katrina."

"While often disagreeing with his policies and picks, the feeling here has never been that Bears GM Jerry Angelo is insane or obtuse. That assumption in hand, we can only surmise that the Bears have conceded the 2008 season. They passed on NFL-ready quarterbacks during the draft, have no designs on finding one this off-season, and appear instead to be planning for the future when they can sign a QB in free agency. Now, Angelo can't tell you he has flushed 2008. That's a bad business practice, but he also knows -- he must know, right? -- that Rex Grossman is not an NFL quarterback."

"After signing quarterbacks Nick Hill and Caleb Hanie -- who presumably will fight for the third quarterback job unless a veteran castoff is brought in -- the Bears added a host of linemen as undrafted free agents in preparation for rookie minicamp this weekend. Oregon tackle David Faaeteete, Pittsburgh end Joe Clermond and San Diego State end Nick Osborn were signed Monday, as was Montana offensive tackle Cody Balogh."

"It generally takes three years to assess the impact of an NFL draft accurately. But after three days, here are 10 things I know now about the Bears that I didn't know before last weekend's draft."

"Initial impressions came to mind Monday morning as the Bears introduced first-round draft choice Chris Williams. First: Man, this guy is one big quarterback. Second: Man-oh-man, this guy is still one big quarterback. Third: Oh man, you mean this guy isn't even a quarterback? No, Chris Williams is a 6-foot-6, 315-pound offensive tackle tabbed to protect quarterbacks -- as if the Bears had any."

"First-round pick Chris Williams and third-round wide receiver Earl Bennett were teammates the last three years at Vanderbilt. When Bennett was drafted (70th overall) at about 9:30 a.m. Sunday, he couldn't wait to tell Williams, who was still asleep, that they were going to remain teammates. "It's very nice because me and Chris are very good friends," Bennett said. "I called and told him. He was still in bed. I don't know what he was doing (Saturday) night, but he said, 'Congratulations, let's get ready to head to Chicago to win the Super Bowl.' "That is our main focus right now, coming up there and helping them win some games." Williams said Bennett brings a lot to the table."

"Bears first-round draft pick Chris Williams wasn't always the confident mountain of a man who visited Halas Hall on Monday to meet the media. He didn't even start a varsity football game at Catholic High School in Baton Rouge, La., until he was a senior, and then not until the player in front of him suffered an injury. "I was like a chubby kid, then I got taller," the 6-foot-6 Williams said. "Between my sophomore and junior year, I grew about 4 inches. So my junior year I was just kind of goofy, trying to adjust to all this height I've got. Then by my senior year I started coming into my own a little bit. I got to college, and then I gained weight, so I had to refigure out my body again, and now I know my best is ahead of me as a football player.""

"So began the Bears' courtship of Chris Williams, which culminated with the drafting of the 6-foot-6-inch, 315-pound left tackle in the first round Saturday. Bears general manager Jerry Angelo and coach Lovie Smith beamed about their new rookie as if it were a match made in heaven."

"The Bears signed 10 undrafted rookie free agents Monday, including quarterback Nick Hill from Southern Illinois, cornerback Leslie Majors from Indiana and Thornwood High School, and kicker Shane Longest from St. Xavier. Majors is from South Holland, Longest from Wilmington and Hill from DuQuoin."

"Oregon tackle David Faaeteete, Pittsburgh end Joe Clermond and San Diego State end Nick Osborn were signed Monday, as was Montana offensive tackle Cody Balogh."

"The "experts" are idiots. The know-it-alls don't know a thing. First, they whined because the Bears did not draft a quarterback. Then they saw the Bears quickly sign Southern Illinois' Nick Hill and Colorado State's Caleb Hanie but continued to whine that there's no way an undrafted quarterback could possibly be a help to you in the NFL."