Will Dave Duerson's Death Be In Vain...?

The HQ hopes sure as hell not...

Here's a story WLS-TV had involving the passing...
Karen Jordan was at Halas Hall...


The old turf at Soldier Field was like playing in a parking lot- that oughta be investigated immediately if not sooner as the first place for any Bear injuries.

If there aren't any provisions in the new labor deal where past players aren't taken care of, they should sue the league for all they're worth...

In the new deal dollars...

Here's Coach Ditka remembering Duerson...
((HT: NBC Chicago))

View more videos at: http://www.nbcchicago.com.

And where are the Mike Adamle stories on Duerson...???
Just axin'

Dave Duerson Found Dead In Miami Home

Dave Duerson, a starting safety on the 1985 Chicago Bears team that won the Super Bowl, was found dead in his Miami home today. He was 50 years old.

The cause of death was not released and is not immediately known.

"Our family asks that you please remember Dave as a good, kind, and caring man," Duerson's ex-wife Alicia Duerson said, according to NBCChicago. "He loved and cherished his family and friends and was extremely proud of his beloved Notre Dame and ... Chicago Bears. Please keep Dave and our family in your prayers."

Here's a feature our friends at Mouthpiece Sports did in Chicago with Duerson at a Golden Archers...

UPDATED: Packers fan fired over tie at Chicago car dealership....Really?

John Stone/Courtesy: alex garcia/chicago tribune

((ht: yahoosports))

Okay, this is going way too freakin' far. Apparently, a salesman at Webb Chevrolet in the Chicago area lost his job Sunday after showing up for work wearing a Green Bay Packers tie.

Yeah, seriously. Apparently his boss told him talk off the tie or he's fired.

The story from the Chicago Tribune RIGHT HERE

What's worse, the boss who fired him, didn't dispute that why he fired him. He says its because the dealership does promotional work with the Bears.

No, sorry dude, that's a really lame excuse. We all get rivalries in sports and we get that people take their sports seriously, albeit sometimes too seriously. But there is not a legitimate excuse in the world for firing someone for freely speaking.

We hope the salesman, John Stone, gets his redemption on the clowns that run the dealership. If you are firing someone strictly on that basis, you got problems. Last we checked, wearing an opponents tie isn't against the law, it's some little bitty thing called...oh...FREEDOM OF SPEECH!

Apparently someone in Chicago does have a heart, and after hearing about Stone's plight, has already offered him a job.

The update from the Tribune RIGHT HERE

UPDATE: Jay Cutler gets called out by NFL brethren

Jay Cutler/Courtesy: Brian Cassella-Chicago Tribune

Wow! Though we've never been a big fan of Jay Cutler (he's overrated), he's not a horrible quarterback either. In fact there are many, many worse qb's with starting jobs in the NFL.

That being said, we are floored at the reaction to what happened to Cutler in the NFC Championship game on Sunday. Cutler was apparently injured late in the 2nd quarter versus the Packers, hurting his knee. He tried to begin the 3rd quarter but apparently, according to reports, felt he couldn't play on the knee injured as it was.

That unto itself is not a major issue. Except, Cutler, someone not held in incredibly high esteem by neither writers or apparently players outside his team, spent the 2nd half standing around on the sidelines. Several players who--weren't playing--called Cutler out.

Said Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew on Twitter: (Jones_Drew32: "Hey I think the urban meyer rule is in effect right now...When the going gets tough....QUIT...)

Jones-Drew added: "All I'm saying is that he can finish the game on a hurt knee...I played the whole season on one"


NFL Network Analyst Deion Sanders had this to say: "There's reality and perception. Reality, he may have been hurt. The perception is he tapped out. With everything that's at stake in a playoff game...you go to the Super Bowl, carry me off man. You've got to carry me off that field to get me off that field. No one's going to tell me I'm not going back in...".  "And I shouldn't say this on television. Michael, I got everything on my body pretty much shot up inside that locker room to go out there and continue to play this game...I was going to allow that city to know I gave you everything that I could."


Sean Jensen of the Chicago Sun-Times has more on the incredible reaction to this RIGHT HERE

David Haugh of the Chicago Tribune says Cutler's toughness was not the problem read it, RIGHT HERE

For his part, Cutler has only missed one full game in his career (concussion). We can respect that. The Bears players have stuck up for their quarterback, as they should.

The amazing thing to us is the almost universal criticism. While we can understand that NFL players might criticize this amongst themselves, the fact that so many of them went public is unheard of. We really think, until we find out how serious Cutler's injury is, there's no room to be critical. Sure, we understand the NFL "Tough Guy" mantra and play through it all and the stuff the Deion Sanders said. But everyone is different.  Injuries are different. If you can't go, you can't go. For all any of the "Critics" know, he could have had a brace on under the Parka/Plastic bag.

As the saying goes..."Don't hate the play-a"....

Here's Cutler his ownself. Thanks CSN Chicago:



MONDAY PM UPDATE: Cutler has a sprained knee ligament and would have been questionable had the Bears won Sunday.

Head coach Lovie Smith says Cutler sprained one of his medial collateral ligaments in his right knee.

Asked about Cutler on Monday, backup QB Caleb Hanie said: "He's limping around
and feels bad that we lost."

DEVELOPING: Packers Advance To Dallas With Win Over Bears

It took a little while but the Green Bay Packers are heading to another Roman Numeral Classic- and some guy named Favre has nothing to do with it at quarterback...

Thank goodness...

Aaron Rodgers ran for a score, threw for 244 yards, and saved a score from happening with a shoestring lunge at Brian Urlacher and the Packers win in Chicago 21-14 over the Bears.

Bears starting QB Jay Cutler only lasted into the third quarter with a knee injury. Todd Collins saw some duty- going 0-for-2- before Bears OC Mike Martz had to talk into the ear of third-year player Caleb Hanie from...???

Anyone...???

Colorado State...

Coming into the game, Hanie was 5-for-7 for 55 yards passing on the season...

Here's BJ Raji's pick and return for score against Hanie to make the game 21-7 before Hanie threw for a score of his own... to a teammate...
((HT: NFL on FOX/Youtube))


"It's a dream come true," Rodgers said after the game. "It's an incredible feeling. I'm at a loss for words."

Trent Dilfer and Merril Hoge analyze...
((HT: ESPN))

Brian Urlacher On Packers: "We Don't Like Them."

[Thanks Comcast Sportsnet Chicago]

NFL Playoffs: It's Chicago and The Jets (?)

((HT: NFL/NFL Network/Youtube))

The first game on Sunday was to determine if the Seattle Seahawks could make it:
A) To .500 and,
B) The NFC title game at Soldier Field...

Didn't happen...

Jay Cutler ran for two touchdowns and threw for two as Chicago and Green Bay will play for the 182nd time next Sunday- but their first meeting for the NFC title.

The Bears won 35-24...

Here's your highlights...


The Packers lost to the Bears 33-14 at Wrigley Field a week to the day after Pearl Harbor in their only previous playoff meeting. Green Bay beat Chicago 10-3 in the season finale this season to clinch a playoff spot earlier this month. The Packers haven't been to the Super Bowl since the 1997 season, when they lost to Denver.

Remember that whole Terrell Davis-John Elway thing...???

And it'll be the Patriots smelling the agony of de-feet in their 28-21 loss to the New York Jets Sunday...

One of the early failures was a fake punt with the Pats down 7-3
((HT: NFL on CBS/Youtube))


Let's hear from the fella's that called the game Jim Nantz and Phil Simms. (Thanks CBS Sports.com)



Jeff Howe of NESN.com found out that the call was Chung's to make...
"We trust the decision Patrick makes," Mesko said. "It just didn’t work out in that particular occasion. That’s why the coaches trust him to run it, and that's why they give him the green light, if he has it."

Mesko said the play was implemented in training camp, and it's the first time it was run this season. Chung has the green light from the coaching staff to call for the direct snap by making a signal at the line.

"It would have definitely swung momentum our way if we could have marched down and take the lead into the half," Mesko said.

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was asked about the fake punt after the game.

"We just made a bad mistake," said Belichick, who wouldn't add anything else about the play

So now you get to root for a loudmouth with an alleged foot fetish or a QB who was alleged to have done some not-so-nice things in rural Georgia over the summer...

Like your choice...???

And it seems the Jets post-game celebration was way to over the top for the Patriots. Comcast Sportsnet New England is reporting that according to tweets written by fans Jets coaches were flipping the bird to Pats fans.

Patriot wide receiver Deion Branch says the Jets are classless. (Thanks Comcast Sportsnet New England)

DEVELOPING: Seahawks Carlson, Trufant Taken Off Field By Stretcher

((HT: NFL on FOX/Youtube))

The day hasn't gone very well for the Seattle Seahawks in their NFC semi-final 35-24 loss against the Chicago Bears.

It took the Bears three minutes to go down the field for their first score, and the visitors lost their starting tight end to an injury in the first as well...

Here's the injury...


The third-year tight end from Notre Dame lay on the field for several minutes before taken off on a flatboard. No word on his injury, but the network TV guys are saying it's a head injury- not one to his neck or spine. That leaves the team with one tight end on their roster- Cameron Morrah.

In the third quarter, DB Marcus Trufant was trying to go low and tackle Bears WR Kellen Davis when Davis' knee connected with the side of Trufant's head.

Here's that play...
((HT: NFL on Fox/Youtube))


More when we know more...
Follow the Seahawks here at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer site...

It's going to be a Snowy Night in Minnesota

Vikings Players on field Sunday/Courtesy: jerry hold/Star Tribune.

And really, the only reason this game will be interesting is because of the weather conditions.

We all know about how cold it's been in a good chunk of the Midwest, South and Northeast this month and we've all seen the pictures of the Minneapolis Metrodome.

Also, we know the Bears and Vikings are playing tonight (Monday) on the University of Minnesota's field. A field that up until a couple days ago was completely snow covered and frozen. Well, it's now defrosted and at least for the time being, sans snow.

Brother Jon reported Sunday about Vikings punter Chris Kluwe tweeting that the field appeared "Unplayable". However, he's a punter, he doesn't "Really" play on it.

Now comes word that along with the cold, you should expect snow Monday night. In fact, up to 8-inches of snow is expected, with a half-inch per hour coming down during the game. Hehehehe....

Your morning update from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, is RIGHT HERE

We think the whining player part of this story is hilarious. We would ask if any of them realize that the Vikings played outdoors for a long, long time, but we suspect they've been told that this week.

Really, the bigger story, is going to be how people sitting in chairs trying to watch will deal with it. At least the players will be moving and have heaters. Yeah, the field is going to be hard. No argument there, but it is part of it. You've got pads guys, deal with it.

Here is your Monday/Tuesday weather forecast from the folks at myfoxtwincities.com :

Winter Storm Warning for Monday into Tuesday: MyFoxTWINCITIES.com

For a reminder of football at Metropolitan Stadium, where the Vikings used to play. Here is a clip of the Browns/Vikings game from 1980