The Chicago Bears shipped Brian Griese to Tampa Bay this offseason essentially for rookie cornerback Zack Bowman. Now, the squinty-eyed quarterback would like nothing more than to get revenge on his former team as the starting quarterback of his new…er…former team.

The Buccaneers feature a strong running attack with Earnest Graham and Warrick Dunn averaging a combined 165 yards per game thus far. The talented trio of rookie Matt Forte, Kevin Jones, and Garrett Wolfe are responsible for 149 yards per game themselves.

Thus, don’t expect either Griese or Bears quarterback Kyle Orton to throw much. Considering the Bucs’ No. 1 receiver, Joey Galloway, is out with injury and the Bears don’t really have a No. 1, the winner of this game will be the team that exhibits the best run defense. (more…)

The end of August not only signals the end of Summer, but also puts to rest any ludicrous fantasies that guys like Ryan Poles and Marcus Stone have of playing in the NFL. Ah, yes. Roster cuts. The Bears have trimmed their roster tree to 53 limbs, but not all the right pieces were chainsawed. You like the metaphor, eh?

The Good: Saying goodbye to second and third-round draft picks a year into their career is never easy. But, in this case, it was necessary. Kudos to Jerry Angelo for biting the bullet, acknowleging his inability to draft early rounds well, and doing away with oft-injured defensive end Dan Bazuin and linebacker Michael Okwo.

The Bad: They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. If so, that makes safety Leonard Peters a huge admirer of Troy Polamalu. Who can say if he’d ever copy his way of playing football talentedly, but he had the hair and Islander-like intensity down to a T. (more…)