One, two - heck, three - thumbs up to the Bears
Random thoughts while waiting to see who will be dumb enough to challenge the Bears in Super Bowl XLV:
• The longer the Bears' free-agent hits kept coming Friday, the more the NFL seemed like Bizarro World.
Brandon Manumaleuna, Chester Taylor and Julius Peppers - Jim Brown, Dick Butkus and Jerry Rice -
Wait, stop the presses, the Bears just signed Superman, Batman and Spiderman!
• Seriously, the Bears had a terrific day. If I had three thumbs, one would be up for each of the free-agent acquisitions.
• Just as seriously: The Bears won March the way the Cubs have won so many Decembers.
• The Bears' buying binge concedes their failure to be fiscally conservative and build through the draft.
This winter they already violated a couple other professed philosophies, to hire college coaches as assistants and to "get off the bus running."
It's a brave new world in Halas Hall, like it or not.
• Wait, the Bears just traded for Peyton Manning to back up Jay Cutler!
• General manager Jerry Angelo mentioned how everybody responsible for consummating the signings had their Timexes synchronized.
Maybe they had to hock their Rolexes to make the down payment on Peppers.
• Sure, Blue and Orange Julius came here because of the Bears' tradition. Oh, and the guaranteed $42 million wasn't bad either.
• Isn't one of the problems with sports that there aren't enough athletes named Chester anymore?
• The day's events made it seem like the Bears were Eldrick Woods and Bears fans were his wife Elin.
You know, like the Bears had been naughty and felt compelled to pay for being unfaithful to the faithful.
Peppers was the dozen FTD roses, Taylor was the box of Godiva chocolates and Manumalenua was the 295-pound Vermont Teddy Bear.
The cost was a potential $101 million, almost as much as the ring Kobe Bryant bought his wife after he was caught cheating on her.
Breakups are hard but makeups are expensive.
• Wait, the Bears just acquired the entire New Orleans Saints roster!
• From the New York Times: "Now the N.F.L. knows what happens without a salary cap: the Chicago Bears turn into the Washington Redskins and the Redskins turn into the Bears.
"The Bears, one of the most conservative spending franchises, went on a Dan Snyderesque shopping spree on the first day of free agency - "
Being mentioned in the same sentence with Snyder is an insult considering the Redskins haven't won anything under his ownership.
The good news is the 'Skins' problem wasn't strategy as much as talent evaluation.
• The bad news is the Bears have been so wrong evaluating talent that they had to overpay a new pass rusher, running back and tight end, yet before being complete they still have to fix the defensive backfield and offensive line.
The same evaluators who created the decay are trying to fill the cavities.
• Wait, the Bears just signed every player in the Pro Football Hall of Fame!
How cool would it be to sign Bill Cowher to coach them?
mimrem@dailyherald.com