It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday

Your two good games a year shall be missed.

Now that the season-in-review nonsense is over and done with, I can finally focus for real on what's been going on in the months that have passed since the season ended. And there's been a lot of it, way more than I'm used to when it comes to this team. I mean, last year was big, what with the Jay Cutler shenanigans and goings-on, but this year has dwarfed 2009 so far. I mean, yeah, the additions everybody knows about - The Bears finally embracing a two-back system like the rest of the league already has with Chester Taylor, that one blocking tight end dude people made a big deal about, and of course, the coming The Uberklaw, Julius Peppers. It's a big deal, so much so that it made Daniel Snyder finally had to Hulk up and go sign more fading star running backs than previously thought possible, give Rex Grossman his third last chance at being a viable backup QB, and bring Donovan McNabb's one-man sausage party to D.C., just to not lose the Crazy GM World Title two years in a row to Jerry Angelo. We know all about that. But hell, anyone with free cash laying around can sign someone, and at this point, big name free agents aren't much of a shock in Chicago anymore. The big shocking changes around here aren't about who's been added - It's about who's gone.

A preview of the rest of Rex Grossman's career.

The Bears have finally gone and done the one thing they've been unable to do since figuring everything was good to go after the Super Bowl loss and blowing the 2007 draft on unneeded backups - They've started to actually change. It remains to be seen whether or not it's good change, because well, nothing's happened yet, football-wise, but it's just so goddamn refreshing after years of "we just need to execute better" as the answer to gaping roster holes and massive strategic problems. Heads are rolling, asses are getting shitcanned, and maybe, just maybe, some of the players who got fat pay raises in the last few years are going to start going "oh snap, I could be next" and start earning their paychecks. But all that remains to be seen, and for now, let us all bow our heads and pay tribute to the exalted dead:

GONE: Orlando Pace - OT - Chicago Bear for one season.

On a weird level, this is both the hardest and easiest roster cut for me to take. I've mentioned how I feel about Orlando Pace before. I wished the Bears could have drafted him in 1997, I was envious of the Rams for having him all those years that the Bears were lining up with turds like Qasim Mitchell and Bernard Robertson for all the years in between. The dude is one of my favorite players of all time, and once again, I am totally pumped for the "Chicago Bears - 2009" inscription on his eventual Hall of Fame bust. That being said, Orlando Pace the Chicago Bear was fucking lousy. The dude just didn't have it any more. and ended up becoming the 2009 version of 2007's Fred Miller. Pace's time in Chicago was a lot like the final shameful years of Emmitt Smith in Arizona, Reggie White in Carolina, or Jerry Rice in Denver. It just shouldn't have happened. That being said, at least it did happen. Or something. Hell, I dunno.
What it means for 2010: The Chris Williams era begins, and based on the end of 2009, that could be a pretty damn good era. This is change we can believe in.

GONE: Adrian Peterson - RB - Chicago Bear for eight seasons.

This dude came into the league as one of those "ooh, he was really good in college, he might surprise you" guys, but he never really lived up to whatever little bit of hype there was, at least as a running back. Once it became clear that he was never going to be a featured back, he knew his role, and for years, this dude was the dude on special teams. And with the Bears being as diabolically obsessed with the third phase of the game as they are, that landed this dude a pretty safe spot on the roster for a long time. But all things must pass, and with the failure of the 2007 Cedric Benson experiment giving Peterson a chance to prove once and for all that he wasn't an NFL running back, the writing has been on the wall for him for a while now. I think this year, he just finally managed to not dodge the bullet.
What it means for 2010: Not a whole lot. His special teams duties were pretty much all swallowed up by gritty white dude Tim Shaw and angry black hobbit Garrett Wolfe over the last couple years, and he was only an absolute last resort on offense. Hell, the only reason he made the team last year was because Kevin Jones was hurt.

GONE: Kevin Jones - RB - Chicago Bear for two seasons

There simply aren't many players quite as snakebit as this poor bastard. After a fantastic rookie season in Detroit, (something that doesn't happen there very often) he got hurt. Then he got hurt again. And again. And again. And again. Then he signed with the Bears as insurance against Matt Forte not making it as a starter. Then, he got hurt. And he got hurt again. Then, he got released.
What it means for 2010: One less player on injured reserve, and a better shot at making the team for Garrett Wolfe or Kahlil Bell. As he never really made an impact as a Bear, his exit impacts the Bears very slightly.

GONE: Adewale Ogunleye - DE - Chicago Bear for six seasons.

Wale showed up as the big power move of 2004, with then-new head coach Lovie Smith trading fan favorite Marty Booker for this dude, after a 15-sack, Pro Bowl season. It was a steal, picking up a star defensive end for an already-fading wide receiver, but in the end, it never panned out the way it was supposed to. I mean, he was a good player and all, but he wasn't the force everyone figured he would be, and it became more and more apparent that 2004 was more of a result of playing opposite Jason Taylor, back before Jason Taylor sucked. He seemed to lead the team in sacks more often not, but off the top of my head, I only think he hit double digits twice in his time here. Last year being his contract year, everyone figured he'd go al out to earn a big payday, but in the end, he didn't, and now he's gone.
What it means for 2010: He's been replaced by the Uberklaw, meaning the Bears are way better off at defensive end, or they would be, if not for reasons I'll get to in a minute.

GONE: Nathan Vasher - CB - Chicago Bear for six seasons.

In 2004, Vasher was a rising young talent. In 2005 he was a full-fledged star; a borderline shutdown corner for a team that hadn't really had one since Donnell Woolford back in the Wannstedt days. In 2006, he was pretty good, I suppose, and got repaid for his efforts with a huge-ass honking contract. I don't know why I just used "honking" there, but the way that was worded now makes me think "ass-honking," which makes me totally giggle. But anyway, in the years that followed, Nathan Vasher was completely awful, a bullshit player on a bullshit team, falling down on the depth chart to whatever late-round pick the Bears were desperately throwing out there to keep him off the field. And now, he's trying to salvage what's left of his career as a nickel back for the Chargers.
What it means for 2010: More opportunities for players like D.J. Moore, and hopefully one or two less touchdowns for Donald Driver.

GONE: Alex Brown - DE - Chicago Bear for eight seasons.

Now this is where things take an ugly turn. I know I've been hard on Alex Brown on here before, and rightly so. They dude was never as good as people made him out to be, could be taken out of games way too easily, and has mostly been riding out his reputation from sacking Eli Manning four times in a prime-time game like five years ago. But the dude was a team leader, and the closest thing the team had to a "heart and soul of the defense" guy that the Bears have had since Mike Brown's and Brian Urlacher's bodies both decided that the best way to avoid all this running around nonsense was to make something useful break or tear. And why? Because the Bears decided they were spending too much on the defensive line, and either he or Tommie Harris had to go. I'll repeat that. Either this guy, who's been at least consistent for the last six years or so and was the only dude who'd sound pissed off after a loss, or Tommie Harris, a pouting prima donna who, despite starting 28 games over the last two seasons, hasn't actually played football since 2007. And they released Alex Brown. Fuck. Fuck. Fuuuuuuuuck.
What it means for 2010: The Bears' other starting defensive end will either be Mark Anderson, (who failed miserably replacing Brown as the starter in 2007 and has gone downhill since) Israel Idonije, (a special teamer who's been playing tackle for the last couple years) Jarron Gilbert, (another defensive tackle, who showed very little as a rookie last year) or Henry Melton. (A project converted fullback who spent his rookie year on "if we cut him, we'll look bad" injured reserve.) So Julius Peppers better have his running shoes on, because all signs point to the other teams running the ball to the other side of the field with a lot of success doing it. Shit.

Gone - Ron Turner - OC - Chicago Bear for nine nonconsecutive seasons.

Ron Turner was the worst. The only reason he had an NFL coaching job was because his brother was Norv Turner, and people hoped that Norv's offensive genius rubbed off on Ron somehow. And Norv's genius mainly consisted of going, "hey, the offensive line is opening holes a mile wide. Emmitt Smith is less than a mile wide. I may have something here," so it's less like getting Diet Coke in the hopes that it tastes like Coke, and more like getting a big bowl of shit and hoping it tastes like a tall glass of pee. Ron Turner only had like three plays in his playbook, and they were all stupid. He ran Jason McKie up the middle for no gain more than anyone thought possible, and when that failed, he ran whoever the shit Jason Davis up the middle for the same non-gains. And when he wasn't doing that, he was running 170 pound Garrett Wolfe up the same middle of the same shitty offensive line, while sending slow-ass Cedric Benson on sweeps around the end. Ron Turner is fucking retarded.
What it means for 2010: The Bears have Mike Martz instead, which will probably fail the same way he failed in Detroit, and the same way Terry Shea failed while putting in the same scheme in 2004, but at least he's a guy who's reputation comes from having actually done something, from back when the Rams used to be good.

GONE - Dusty Dvoracek - DT - Chicago Bear for four seasons.

He came in with a foot injury, Then, a knee injury. Then, an elbow injury. Then, another knee injury. For the big finale, he got arrested for drunkenly thrashing someone. A fine career for Dusty Dvoracek. In an ideal world, he was supposed to provide insurance against Tank Johnson getting all legal-troubley (which totally happened) and be the gritty, hard-working, favorite nose tackle with a high motor and all those other terms that football insiders use to describe a blond white guy who tries real hard. In the end, he was yet another dude paid to stand on the sideline in street clothes and on crutches.

What it means for 2010: Overall, not much, because he barely ever played, but if nothing else, it's one less player in the way of Matt Toeaina keeping a roster spot for another year. WE TAKIN' OVERRRRRRRRRR

GONE - Jason McKie - FB - Chicago Bear for seven seasons.

Wow. Jason McKie was a Bear for SEVEN FUCKING YEARS. That makes no sense at all. None whatso-goddamn-ever. Christ. He was a pretty unremarkable practice squad/waiver wire kind of dude who lucked his way into a major role when Bryan Johnson's stint as a Bear devolved into a sea of missed games and injury settlement-related bitterness, and for some reason, they never replaced him. It's not that they had other options; they totally did. In one preseason they even had the current second best fullback in football, Lousaka "Quorthon" Polite, but ended up releasing him even after he made McKie look like the bullshit player he was. It was like they just didn't care that he couldn't run, catch, or block. Maybe he can cook really well, hell, I dunno. But thank Crom that he's finally gone.

What it means for 2010: Possibly a real starting fullback, but I'm not getting my hopes up. Practice squad dude Will Ta'ufo'ou looked like a monster last preseason, which means they'll probably cut him and go with some Eddie Williams dude they signed a few weeks ago. A lot of guys somehow related to the Redskins have come up in this one. Huh.

Next time: Not sure, because I don't follow college ball close enough to know anything in advance about the draft.