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CAN THAT HONKY TONK CHRISTIAN SCHOOL LIPSCOMB FIT INTO THIS MARCH MADNESS CINDERELLA SHOES

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When it comes to March Madness, everyone loves the underdog in the NCAA basketball tournament. In the first round of action, you look for the beloved Cinderella team to make a name for themselves. We have only seen a 16th seed take down a number 1 seed twice in history. It has happened twice since 2018 when UMBC (University of Maryland Baltimore County) took down Virginia 75-54. Then in 2023, FDU (Fairleigh Dickerson) amazed us knocking off Purdue University. Both schools I never heard of until tournament play. Taking down a 16th seed, I never thought that would happen in my time. That it was something that could not be done. A great Cinderella story could be a 15th, 14th, 13th seed winning their first game. I think the 12-5 combo in the tournament had been done to death by now. After these teams that most of the country has never heard of, it’s even better when they win their match up in the second round or beyond. I looked at all the unknown schools that have made the tournament this season to find that one which no one knows their name. A Cinderella team I can get behind. It’s not a 16th seed. It’s a 14th seed. The Bible Thumpers in Nashville, Tennessee – University of Lipscomb.

This year’s March Madness had a variety of interesting schools in this year’s tournament to choose from like High Point University, American, SIU Edwardsville and the clothes store Bryant. University of Lipscomb sounds like a swear word. Holy Lipscomb! They are nicknamed the Bison and they won the ASUN, Atlantic Sun Conference tournament. On March 9th they beat North Alabama as Lipscomb was a #2 seed in the tournament. It is the second time Lipscomb has made the March Madness tournament in school history. Last time, which was their first time in school history, was in 2018. They made it as a 15th seed, played North Carolina, and lost that match up by 18 points. The Bisons have never won a March Madness tournament game & that makes them a nice selection to be a cool Cinderella story for 2025.

Originally Lipscomb University was called Nashville Bible School and was founded by David Lipscomb and James Harding. In 1918 it became Lipscomb College. Then became a University in 1989. The school is a private christian school that you can get a liberal arts degree from, as part of the University is dedicated to seminary studies. The big school in Nashville is Vanderbilt which is only a few blocks away from Lipscomb University. I’m not one of those guys shoving religion down your throat ringing your door bell like in the Book of Mormon. How many commandments can any person break in a town like Nashville? Country music, moonshine, and sexy women wearing cowboy hats with sexy boots. I can see the temptation for an overachiever in Christian studies there, lashing out & painting the town red in an explosive manner. Then locking him or herself in a room for weeks for all the sins they committed. Makes ever tourist that goes to Nashville to party like some devil worshipers compared hard core Christians. I’m not going to assume Lipscomb University is only about religion 24/7. Everyone has the right to go with their passion in life. I have a clean slate for the Bisons and this article is about the Cinderella team that Lipscomb University could be this season.

Above is the Bisons leading scorer this season, Jacob Ognacevic, who averages 20 points per game. Jacob looks like something out of that legendary basketball movie that starred Gene Hackman, “Hoosiers.” Rest in peace, Gene. We lost a great one.

Hoosiers is about that underdog high school basketball team which takes the next step and gets themselves into the state finals. Lipscomb has played some of the bigger schools this season such as Kentucky and Arkansas as they defeated Duquesne, a team that I did not know until last year when they made it to the March Madness tournament. When the Bisons won the ASUN Tournament, they spread the ball out as they had 4 guys that had a big day putting the ball in the hoop in that championship game. Joe Anderson had 23 points who led all scorers that day. Will Pruitt and Gyasi Powell had solid games. Beating North Alabama gave the Bisons a sure ticket to tournament play as they finished the season 25-9 overall. They were 14-4 in the ASUN Conference along with North Alabama.

I wish I could teleport to places because Nashville should be rocking this Friday afternoon with two of their own schools in the mix. In the first game, the Nashville faithful will hope to see history be made and see Lipscomb University upset Iowa State who come in as a number three seed. Then later in the afternoon, Vanderbilt who gets in the tournament as number 10 seed play St. Mary’s who are number 7 seed. The Bison’s famous alum in sports comes from baseball. Guys like Casey Bind, Rex Brothers, and Caleb Joseph. Many small schools have no one that has played in the NBA. Can the Bisons pull off the upset over a Cyclone team who have history of being knocked out early in this tournament? Iowa State may be without their guard Tamin Lipsey who left the Big 12 quarter finals game versus BYU with a groin issue. The Cyclones ended up losing that one. The Cyclones’ second leading scorer Keshon Gilbert has been ruled out. You never know when a team like the Bisons who come into the tournament red hot winning their last six games, can be a threat to the Cyclones as they have that bad history that follows them in tournament play. We know the Bisons will have all the prayers lingering in the skies trying to get final approval in the heavens. Sometimes the heavens can play tricks on humanity supporting hated franchises in the NFL like the Patriots and Chiefs. Do the sins of Nashville put a gigantic dome on the Tennessee town blocking the prayers from getting to the heavens?

Some of Steven King’s stories have a happy ending. Our crystal ball is mostly on the fritz, but it’s telling us the Bisons will avoid a Cyclones disaster. Anything can go. I’ll put my hand on a stack of bibles and back the Bisons rather then turn to the High Point University chances. I would love to see many smaller schools win it and advance to the Final Four over those basketball universities that we all are sick of. The likes of Kansas, Kentucky, Duke, and UCONN. So give Lipscomb a AMEN!! Maybe the swear word, “Holy Lipscomb,” could work both ways if they beat Iowa State for their first ever victory in the March Madness tournament.

VERY WORTHY TO TAKE A LOOK AT THE ANNUAL CHIEFS’ POLICE BLOTTER

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It must be that time of year for the annual Kansas City Chiefs’ police blotter report. Just like Thanksgiving and Christmas they come every year; now after the Superbowl you have to expect a Chiefs player to get arrested. Last year Rashee Rice caused a chain reaction multiple car crash on the highway racing his former college teammate. The angered Rice also decked a photographer outside a Dallas night club. Patrick Mahomes’ father Pat did not land another DUI, but he was involved in an altercation with former MLB pitcher John Rocker in New Orleans at the time of the Superbowl. The Chiefs just re-signed Kareem Hunt who in 2018 shoved a women down to the ground and then kicked her. The latest headline for the Chiefs is wide receiver Xavier Worthy who was arrested for choking his girlfriend. Shake down, break down, you’re busted.

The Kansas City Chiefs selected Xavier Worthy 28th in the first round after making a trade with the Bills to scoop up the blazing track star from the University of Texas. The Bills had their eyes set on Keon Coleman from Florida State and they landed him with the first pick in the second round. When the Bills played the Chiefs, Worthy seems to get amped up about that. Now he has a vendetta versus the Bills because Buffalo skipped over his talents. The Bills were looking for a different type of skills set for their receiver, and Worthy did not fit that criteria. Get over it. On March 7th, Worthy was arrested in Texas just like Rashee Rice in 2024 in the same state. Worthy will be charged with assault for choking his girlfriend, Tia Jones. She says this is the 5th time the Worthy has snapped throughout this year. She was awarded protection by a Texas judge, but he says he’s innocent. Worthy this year in his rookie season caught 59 balls for 638 yards with 6 receiving touchdowns. He always ran the ball for 104 yards with 3 rushing touchdowns. Impressive. In the beat down to the Chiefs in the Superbowl by the Eagles in a 40-22 whipping, Worthy stood out in garbage time for Kansas City. He racked up 157 receiving yards and two touchdown catches.

In 2018 after the incident that took place in a Cleveland hotel with Kareem Hunt, he did his Eagles version of a beat-down on that woman. He was cut by the Chiefs. Hunt would find a new home as he signed with the Browns. He came back to the Chiefs in 2024 and played 13 games during the regular season as he rushed for 728 yards with 7 rushing touchdowns. Head Coach Andy Reid said Kareem has matured since that incident back in 2018. The Chiefs already re-signed the running back for this upcoming season. I hate when bad things happen to good people as Rashee Rice would only play in 4 games in the 2024 season. He has 24 catches for 288 yards with two receiving touchdowns. Rice would collide with Patrick Mahomes after an interception, and he would go down with a left knee injury as he tore his LCL (Lateral Collateral Ligament.) He would miss the rest of the season. No worries Chiefs fans, he’s still on the chain gang for the 2025 season.

The Chiefs have these off the field stories that are so bizarre. How many times do we have to be force fed this Taylor Swift relationship with the meat for brains Travis Kelce? Then the annoying State Farm commercials with Patrick Mahomes. Let’s talk about Patrick’s neighbor, his father former MLB pitcher Pat Mahomes, who loves to get his drink on and then drive. I think he leads the league as the top dad racking up the most DUI’s. Your son can’t set you up with an Uber ride? Then he somehow runs into perhaps the biggest racist pitcher of all-time, John Rocker. That sounds like an excellent idea to engage in whatever meatball conversation they were going to have. Now they may fight in some celebrity boxing match for the one marble they have left in both heads of theirs.

I can see the fight card now being a thriller like the one with Screech from “Saved by the Bell” versus Arnold Horshack from “Welcome Back, Kotter.”

Did the Kansas City Chiefs land the guy in the front office from the Steelers? The team who drafted head cases like Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell, another X-Chief. Rashee Rice and Xavier Worthy may be two young talented receivers in the game of football, but they surely don’t have their head screwed on right. Maybe the Chiefs should avoid picking guys from Texas Universities. There goes the idea of Johnny Manziel being the third string quarterback for Andy Reid and company. These Chiefs may have been lovable years ago when they were facing the Tom Brady/Bill Belichick dynasty. Now times have changed, as most of the NFL world cannot stand the Chiefs. They are not going to find love as the team looks more like the prison bus pulling up to play the guards in a scrimmage game for a little extra mashed potatoes in the prison cafeteria. Nobody will forget the Chiefs’ long walk on the Eagles’ Green Mile only weeks ago which was priceless for this organization of thugs.

THE NEW YORK JETS WILL BE FLYING IN AND OUT OF JUSTIN FIELD’S IN 2025

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The New York Jets can close the book on their darkness retreat chapters starring Aaron Rodgers. Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood soured the Big Apple in New York as he single handedly burned down his own team taking the Jets franchise to nothing but a heap of smoldering ash. The Jets thought at the time they just needed a quarterback to get over the hump and signed Rogers after he left Green Bay kicking and screaming. It’s been two years of pure hell for J-E-T-S as now they can finally move on and try to put some distance between them and the Mr. Darkness retreat. The Jets in day one of free agency have found Rogers’ replacement by signing former number one pick from the Chicago Bears, Justin Fields. Fields gets a two year deal worth 40 million which 30 of that is guaranteed as he will be an expensive rebound for this fan base. This move also gives this Jets franchise a breath of air and a new start which they need right now.

Justin Fields is now 26 years of age and has 4 NFL seasons under his belt. Originally Fields was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the 1st round of the 2021 NFL draft number 11 overall from Ohio State University. He has played three seasons in Chicago where he had his ups and downs. Last year in his lone season in Pittsburgh as a Steeler, he achieved his first winning record in a season as a starting NFL QB. He was traded to Pittsburgh and only started 6 games for the Steelers where he had a winning record of 4-2. He played in a total of 10 games for the Steelers where he completed 65.8% of his passes which is a career high for Fields. He tallied up 1,106 passing yards with 5 touchdown passes and only 1 interception. He started the season as the starter for the Steelers because the other QB Pittsburgh signed at the time was Russell Wilson who had an injury to start the year off then replaced him week 7.

It took three full seasons as a starter for Justin Fields to win 10 games as a starter for the Chicago Bears. Last year he almost won half of those starts that he won in less than half a season. Fields is a duel threat quarterback that can beat you with his legs more than his arm. He has a nice deep pass but always had problems throwing over the middle of the field. I always say once athletes leave the Chicago sports landscape, they do better. Fields has always turned over the ball with an interception or he’s very good at coughing up the football. His career numbers in 4 seasons he is 14-30 as a starting QB. He has a completion percentage of 61.2% and he has tallied 7,780 yards in the air and thrown 45 touchdown passes. However he has thrown 31 interceptions. He threw only one as a Steeler. With the legs he has rushed the ball 418 times for 2,509 rushing yards with 19 rushing touchdowns. With the Bears he went through coaches and offensive coordinators like changing your underwear on a daily basis. In Chicago he had the turn style offensive line. With the Steelers and head coach Mike Tomlin, he changed his game and made less mistakes. He definitely had better protection. His turnover rate as a Steeler averaged out to 0.8% in 2024. From 2021-23 with the Bears, Fields averaged an NFL turnover rate of 2.8%. He has been careful with the ball in Pittsburgh. With the Bears he was the worst QB taking the sack. From 2021-23 he was sacked with a 12.4% sack rate. With the Steelers he cut that sack rate down to 9%. During those six games he started, the Steelers offense were averaging 20.7 points per game. The Jets would have loved to have 20.7 points per game as they did not get that with Aaron Rodgers last year.

The New York Jets pick at number 7 in this April’s draft may not get them one of the top two QB’s on the board. The Jets are in need of a future franchise quarterback. They have failed before at developing former number one picks they have selected such as Sam Darnold and Zach Wilson. Darnold finally had his best year in a Vikings uniform last season. Darnold may be a late bloomer while Wilson looks like the next Ryan Leaf. If the Jets are going to select a quarterback in this upcoming draft, they need to develop him. The best plan may be to have the guy stand on the sidelines with a clipboard and learn. Justin Fields may be a bridge gap QB for the Jets. Fields could also showcase his own talents and improve his game on the field to ultimately get a bigger deal elsewhere. However if luck is not on the side of the Jets in developing a draft pick, then if Fields performance is solid they may have found a solution behind center. If Fields does good he could be a trade chip for another team if the QB he grooms turns into something.

The Jets have had a solid defense the last few seasons during which I thought they took a step backwards last year. The stench of Aaron Rodgers rotted everything it touched in that Jets locker room last year. The Jets have hired a defensive-minded head coach in Aaron Glenn, former Lions D-Coordinator. Glenn can probably get that defense to its old self. If Justin Fields is careful with the football, then the Jets may have found a new formula to win games. Defense and duel threat QB who does not turn over the football. I think Fields will also flourish because he will have his former teammate catching his passes. From Ohio State, former Buckeye Garrett Wilson is the best receiver the Jets had had the last three seasons. With all the bad quarterback play the Jets had over the last few seasons, he still has found ways to tally over 1,000 receiving yards. The Jets were 5-12 last year and finished 3rd in the AFC East. They should benefit with an easier schedule next season. My knock of Fields in something he may not be able to improve, is the killer instinct with the ball in his hands in the last minute of the game. Taking the lead or tying the game to send it to overtime. Most importantly, the comeback to win the game. He was a disappointment in close games in the last few minutes in a Bears uniform. Right now Fields has a chance to showcase his talents with a new team and being the starter. How will he handle objects in his side mirror that are closer than he thinks? I like this move by the Jets because it turns the page on Rodgers. Fields is most likely only a rebound after a bad break up for the Jets. He gives this franchise a chance to heal. He gives this franchise a chance to rebuild. He gives the Jets a fighting chance every Sunday and makes each week exciting even if the record is not a winning one. The Jets should be better than 5-12 as the darkness retreat clouds have lifted over the New Jersey stadium on home games.

WE NOW KNOW WHO PETE CAROL’S GUY IS AND IT’S NOT RUSSELL WILSON

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When Pete Carol was signed by the Las Vegas Raiders, you knew the “win now” mentality was going to be the plan for the oldest head coach in the league. You knew the Raiders would go in another direction with their quarterback room from last season that featured Gardner Minshew and Aidan O’Connell. Many thought the Raiders would sign free agent Russell Wilson and Carol was set for their own reunion back in their Seattle days. The Raiders inquired about Matthew Stafford. The Rams were not going to trade their starting veteran quarterback. The free agent waters had some other interesting names like Sam Darnold, Justin Fields, and if you have the oldest coach in the NFL… why not get the oldest Quarterback in the league in Aaron Rodgers. Instead the Raiders went with Carol’s other guy from his Seattle days and struck a deal with the Seahawks bringing Geno Smith to Vegas baby! The Raiders will give Seattle a 2025 3rd round pick and the 34 year old Smith will be set for reunion with his old coach from Seattle.

Geno Smith was originally drafted by the New York Jets back in the 2013 NFL draft in the 2nd round 39th overall. After going 8-8 in his rookie season, Smith struggled after his first year in the league with the Jets. After 4 seasons the Jets pulled the plug on Smith. Smith bounced around the next two seasons before finding a back role for the Seahawks, as he backed up Russell Wilson. The Raiders will be Smith’s 5th NFL organization as he suited up one season each with the Giants and Chargers. Smith finally got another shot at the starting job when Wilson and Pete Carol’s relationship soured and he was traded to Denver. For the Jets, Smith had a 12-18 record as a starter dressed in green. For Seattle he will leave with a winning record of 28-24 in 5 seasons. He made two pro-bowls in 2022 & 23 both with Seattle where he resurrected his NFL career. In 11 seasons Smith has played in 94 games and has a record of 40-42 as the starter. He has tallied up 19,143 passing yards for his career with 105 touchdown passes to 72 interceptions.

Why Geno Smith over Russell Wilson? Wilson would have not cost the Raiders to give up any draft capital. I think the Raiders could have gotten Wilson cheaper as well. Wilson played 11 games last year for the Steelers where he was 6-5 as the starter. Wilson tallied 2,482 passing yards completing 63.7% of his passes. He threw 16 touchdowns to only 5 interceptions. Wilson had the Steelers in the driver’s seat to win the AFC North. The Steelers struggled at the end of the season and backed in the playoffs as a wild card, before they were quickly dispatched from the post-season after 1 game. Geno Smith completed 70.4% of his passes last season. He went 10-7 as a starter as he tallied up 4,320 passing yards. He threw 21 touchdown passes compared to 15 interceptions. He had Seattle in the driver’s seat in the NFC West, but the Seahawks would also fold down the stretch and miss the post-season. Wilson is 36 years of age and he can’t move like he used to back in his Seattle days. Smith is two years younger but has the ability to escape the pass rush with his legs. I think Smith has the stronger arm and can throw the ball down field better than Wilson can. Smith is more of that gunslinger mentality as Wilson is better at being careful with the football. Both guys are pretty much equal, but I would give Smith the edge. I think it comes down to Pete Carol probably has more trust with Smith than his old Quarterback he won the Superbowl with back in his Seattle days. I think Smith would get more respect in any locker room as Wilson is high maintenance and gets under most players’ skin with the special treatment he needs.

What is Seattle doing retooling or rebuilding? The Seahawks have one quarterback on their roster, former Washington Commander Sam Howell. In 2023 Howell chucked the ball 612 times that season which is by far the most passing attempts in the league. Howell has been in the league only 3 seasons and was back up to Geno Smith last year. He has played in 20 games and has a 5-13 record as a starter. In 2023 he tallied up 3,946 passing yards while throwing 21 touchdown passes but also threw 21 interceptions. He seems like Jameis Winston reincarnated. The Seahawks could be linked to Sam Darnold as their next starting quarterback. The Seahawks have freed up money by dealing Smith to the Raiders. Smith is the 19th highest paid QB in the league and is in his final year of a 3 year deal worth 75 million. The Seahawks were about 10 million apart with an extension for Smith. Seattle was looking to pay Smith 35 million per season, but his people wanted him to be paid 45 million per season. Seattle also has one of their top wide receivers in D.K. Metcalf who wants out and is seeking a trade. Even if you trade Metcalf, the Seahawks still have some interesting pieces for whoever their next starting quarterback will be. Jaxon Smith-Njigba is a top receiver in the league. They have a pair of solid running backs in Zach Charbonnet and Kenneth Walker III. The Seattle defense played well last season.

The Raiders made a splash before this trade locking up their best asset on defense in Mad Maxx Crosby as he will be paid the most money by a player not being a quarterback in NFL history. The Raiders have brought in Chip Kelly to be the team’s offensive coordinator. Last year the Raiders ranked 29th in the NFL averaging 18.2 points per game. Kelly has had successful offenses that he had run in the NFL. Kelly was not a good head coach in the NFL. Kelly is most known for his exploding offenses at the college level. The Raiders have one of the best tight ends in the league. Brock Bowers may be the newest Travis Kelce in the entire NFL. Bowers in his rookie season caught 112 passes for 1,191 receiving yards and 5 touchdown catches. The Raiders will need another wide receiver. The one they currently had in Jakobi Meyers did have a nice season as well catching 87 balls for just over 1,000 yards and he caught 4 touchdowns. The Raiders will need a better running game than what they had last year. If the Raiders can add a few more guys to this high tempo offense Kelly likes to run, things may have gotten even more interesting in the AFC West.

Where does veteran Geno Smith fit in the pecking order of the AFC West at the quarterback position? You have to still rank Patrick Mahomes of the Chiefs number one. Is Chargers Justin Herbert number two? His performance in the post-season last year versus Houston was weak. The Rise of Bo Nix for the Broncos may be the 2nd best QB in the division. Herbert and Smith could equal out behind Nix and Mahomes. The head coaching in this division is unbelievable. Remember the Chiefs, Chargers, and Broncos made the post-season last year leaving only the Raiders at home from the AFC West. Andy Reid, Sean Peyton, and Jim Harbaugh all explain why three teams made the post-season. Pete Carol and the Raiders are behind the 8-ball looking in, but today they improved their team with Smith behind center. The Raiders will need more pieces to be able to leap frog some of these division rivals. For the long haul I see the Raiders getting better as a team. They may grab a wild card spot next year or the year after. The Raiders and post-season don’t go together like the days of “just win baby” which now was decades ago. I don’t see the Raiders winning a Superbowl with Geno Smith as their quarterback. Smith is nowhere close to being the Rich Gannon style of QB who blossomed like Geno late in his career and led the Raiders to a Superbowl appearance. The Raiders need a true number 1 QB to go along with the rise of a Max Crosby and Brock Bowers. It is always good to talk about the silver and black finally getting their act together.

THE BEARS SEEK THE HELP OF A MAN THAT HAS HELPED TWO HATED DYNASTIES WIN MULTIPLE SUPERBOWLS

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The Chicago Bears are Trumping up their offensive walls to keep out the opposing defenses’ migrants. Maybe General Manager of the Bears Ryan Poles got a good fence guy recommendation from Donald Trump. The Bears pulled off a monster trade with the Kansas City Chiefs to give Chicago a true pillar on an offensive line that gave up more screws than a whorehouse last season. The Bears acquire left guard Joe Thuney from the Chiefs for a 2026 4th round draft pick. Thuney has been the protector of Tom Brady back in the New England dynasty and has given protection to Patrick Mahomes for several seasons and this current Chiefs dynasty. Thuney has won 4 Superbowls in his 9 year NFL career, which 2 of them came from the Patriots and the other two the Chiefs.

Joe Thuney is 32 years of age. He was drafted by the Patriots in the 2016 NFL draft in the 3rd round 78th overall from the University of Carolina. His first 5 seasons was with the Evil Empire Patriots. His last 4 seasons he was down in Kansas City joining another hated franchise. Don’t let the age fool you as Thuney has only missed two games in his entire career. He played in all 17 games last year for the Chiefs. He has 146 games under his belt in the NFL. He is a 4x All-Pro and was selected to 3 Pro-Bowls in 9 total seasons. Last year he played 895 snaps at the left guard position. Then he was asked to protect Patrick Mahomes’ blind side at left tackle due to an injury. He played 217 snaps at left tackle. In the last two seasons he has had the highest pass block win rate of 97.8% in the entire league.

So why did the Kansas City Chiefs suddenly make Joe Thuney expendable? The Chiefs’ best offensive lineman Trey Smith recently got the franchise tag and is a guy younger than Thuney. Trading Thuney to the Bears will free up 16 million dollars off the Chiefs salary cap. Smith is only 23 years old and with a franchise tag would be paid in the neighborhood of 23.5 million which is the going rate out of your top protectors in the NFL. The Chiefs coming off their Superbowl loss will look to retool their roster but also get younger in the grand scheme of things.

For the Bears it’s simple, they have to protect their investment number one pick from last April’s draft in Caleb Williams. Williams was sacked 68 times in his rookie season which almost broke David Carr’s single rookie season he had in his first year with the Houston Texans. In 2002 Carr was sacked 76 times. This is the second move by the Chicago Bears in a matter of days. Both moves to improve their offensive line have come through trades. The first trade was with the LA Rams which landed them a 315 pound moose in Jonah Jackson, an X Detroit Lion who has ties to newly hired head coach Ben Johnson. The Bears have three free agents from last year who were fixtures on that terrible O-line they had who they will most likely let walk away instead of re-signing them.

Ben Johnson as the offensive coordinator for the last several years had success because of the guys in the trenches. The Detroit Lions had one of the best offensive lines in the NFL the last few seasons. They ran a well-balanced offense with a two-headed monster at running back that opened up the play action pass for Jared Goff. Johnson turned Goff into a serviceable quarterback that can help your team go deep into the post-season. The experts think Caleb Williams has all the star-studded tools of being a top NFL quarterback in this league. Williams now will have protection in the middle of the line in these first two moves of the off-season by the Bears landing a pair of guards. Obviously Johnson still has to work on Williams’ mechanics and help him get rid of the ball quicker to avoid those types of sacks in which Caleb found himself doing his rookie season. Now it will appear he will get that time after these two trades.

As many expected, the Ben Johnson era will be a carbon copy of what the Lions needed to do to resurrect that franchise from the dead. The Bears are now investing heavily into the offensive line as Joe Thuney will get 16 million next year as he finishes a 5 year extension he got in 2021 by the Chiefs that was worth 80 million. Rumors are swirling that Thuney may get an extension even before putting on the shoulder pads. The Bears will be paying Jonah Jackson 17.5 million who’s in his second year of a three year contract he signed with the Rams. I don’t expect either deal to be a one year try out. If the Bears don’t give Thuney the extension, they can let him ride out the end of his deal and call it a day. For Jackson the Bears could cut ties with him before next season in his final year which would not cause problems for the salary cap. I think Johnson and Ryan Poles think these two guards will be here longer than one season. For Jackson who only played 4 games last year for the Rams, it is a move right now I will question. I give Johnson the benefit of the doubt as they have connections. I do like the Thuney trade. He is older but looks like a guy that still has thread on the tires and we know he plays that way. He’s been a part of elite winning programs like the Chiefs and Patriots. I like he comes from colder climates such as Kansas City and New England, so he should feel right at home in Chicago. I like Thuney able to play either tackle or guard. The Bears may need one more guy for that O-line to get the full makeover. Now they can address that in the draft or through free agency. All of the moves the Bears have made on offense the last two seasons are for Caleb Williams. Williams will be the final piece of the puzzle if this franchise will contend for years to come. Winning the off-season does not win Superbowl titles.

ANOTHER BEARS BLUNDER NOT RE-SIGNING SANBORN

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The Chicago Bears organization’s best comparison is a teenager who constantly makes bad decisions. It does not matter who’s in charge at the top. Does not matter who is the head coach. Somehow the Bears will make a blunder which will leave you scratching your head in disbelief. The latest is non-tendering strong side linebacker Jack Sanborn who’s a local kid and a player that has thrived the last three seasons since being signed as an un-drafted free agent from the University of Wisconsin. Sanborn was a restricted free agent and the money to keep him on this team is chump change which tallies to 3.263 million. Now Sanborn is a free agent and can sign anywhere he wants to. Some say the madness of this Bears move was to re-sign Sanborn for his services at a cheaper price. I have to believe some team will come in and scoop up a talent and want Sanborn’s services in the upcoming season.

Jack Sanborn is only 24 years of age and signed with the Bears as an un-drafted free agent in the 2022 season. That year he cracked the starting line up and made six starts for the Bears. In three seasons with the Bears he has played in 48 games and has made 19 starts at linebacker. Last year he played in all 17 games and tallied up 17 tackles while registering 1.5 sacks on the QB. Sanborn is a tackling machine as he has been involved in 164 tackles in three NFL seasons which 110 of those were solo. He has racked up 14 tackles for a loss of yards while defending 5 passes. He has one interception while racking up 4.5 sacks. He grew up a Bears fan and is from Lake Zurich, Illinois. Former Bears coaches say Sanborn is a versatile player, intelligent, a hard worker, and a guy that can play in nickel situations on third downs. You have to like his motor as he keeps going until the whistle blows. He can back up all the team’s linebacker positions. If not a starter, Sanborn would give any team depth on the roster.

The Bears have a new head coach in Ben Johnson who is here to fix the team’s offense and develop the quarterback. Johnson hired former Saints/Raiders head coach Dennis Allen who will be bringing in a different style of defense than what Matt Eberflus had the last few years. The Bears have invested heavily in linebackers through free agency by signing former Eagle T.J Edwards and former Bill Tremaine Edmunds before the 2023 season. Both Edmunds and Edwards might not be the linebackers in Allen’s defensive scheme. The Bears will be looking for guys that can pressure the quarterback is my guess and that made a guy like Jack Sanborn expendable for this new regime.

One team that may scoop up a guy like Jack Sanborn is the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys have a new D-Coordinator and it is Matt Eberflus who definitely knows what his defense needs and will know what he would be getting if they ink Sanborn to a free agent contract. Sanborn should have multiple suitors for his services. I know he was not drafted, but he played defense in the Big Ten at the University of Wisconsin. Big Ten manufactures linebackers and solid defensive options like a factory. It’s a conference that plays defense still. Many of these un-drafted free agents play with more heart than most of these guys that were drafted. Sanborn seems like that guy that a coach would say, “If I only had 11 Jack’s out there, what this defense could do.” That defense would play hard. That defense would not shoot themselves in the foot and play smart. Whoever signs Sanborn will get a better version of Jack because he will be even more motivated to be better if that is even possible. I’m not going to lie. I hate seeing the Bears give up on a local kid that was doing well. He is only 24 years of age and has not even hit his prime of his football career. I wish him the best of luck. I really do think the Bears have made another blunder which is the norm for this franchise and for all the teams in the Chicago Sports landscape.

IS J.J. GOING TO BE DYNAMITE FOR THE BEARS OFFENSIVE LINE NEXT SEASON?

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The Ben Johnson era in Chicago starts off with a move that several past General Managers for the Bears used the band aid method on over the last two decades. You could even throw the current GM Ryan Poles under a bus for not knowing what an offensive lineman looks like. The Bears pull off a trade with the LA Rams to land a veteran guard and one of Johnson’s old disciples from back in the Detroit days. The Bears acquire 28 year old left guard Jonah Jackson from the Rams for a 6th round 2025 draft pick. Before you make your Superbowl plans for the Bears, it comes with a cost of 17.5 million on the salary cap. The Bears will take on the entire length of Jackson’s contract – a guy that only played in four games last year. This sounds more of a Bears-like move.

Jonah Jackson was originally drafted by the Lions in the 2020 NFL draft, as he was selected in the 3rd round 75th overall from Ohio State University. Jackson has 5 seasons under his belt as he has started 61 NFL games. In 2021 Jackson was named to his only Pro-Bowl, by far his best season in the NFL. Last year the Lions chose to let Jackson walk out the door in free agency as he signed with the Rams on a 3 year deal worth 51 million. His lone season in LA was not worth remembering as he missed most of training with camp due to a injury. He did return to line up for opening week then in week two a shoulder injury landed him on injured reserve. He would return late in the season and play in another two regular season games. In Jackson’s first two seasons in the NFL, he played in 16 games in back to back years. In 2022 he played in only 13 games. In 2023 he played in only 12 games. Last year he played in 4 games. The Bears hope he can stay healthy this upcoming season and have a bounce back year.

Last season the Bears GM Ryan Poles improved the offense by adding all the fancy play makers and new offensive coordinator. Like past Bears General Managers he did not address that offensive line and it was like putting make up on a pig. Poles’ number one pick, Caleb Williams, paid the price in almost breaking David Carr’s rookie record of being sacked the most in NFL history. Williams made mistakes as a rookie that did not help the guys the Bears had protecting him. He would hold on to the ball way too long. Most of the games, the Bears offensive line caved in like a house of cards as defenders would blow up the middle of that line each week. The Bears coaching staff had no answers and no adjustments as Williams is lucky he is still in one piece by the end of another miserable season on the gridiron for Chicago. Williams’ first season was like Mitch Trubisky’s & Justin Fields’ first season with the Bears. Quarterbacks selected in the first round come in with a shaky line and a coaching staff that is doomed from the start. Then after that year, all three quarterbacks have to start over with another head coach and offensive coordinator. This go around the Bears kept Poles as he convinced ownership they need to spend the big money to hand the reigns over to Ben Johnson. He’s that hot shot offensive coordinator who did wonders in Detroit the last few years. Can Johnson avoid what happened to Matt Nagy and Matt Eberflus who ruined Trubisky and Fields? It looked like the Commanders who picked second overall in last April’s draft and selected Jayden Daniels, which made the better choice for now after one season. Will it continue?

The Bears will need more than one move to solidify their offensive line this off season. The Bears will not resign Teven Jenkins, Coleman Shelton or Matt Pryor who all played on the offensive line last season. They are set to become free agents and other teams’ problems. The Bears could address their line issues with free agency, the draft, or by trade, like they did with their first significant move of the off-season. This first move is indeed interesting. Jonah Jackson and many others in the NFL worked very hard to get that first pay day and after they get it, their performances drop off the map. Jackson got the big deal and after year one has not lived up to it. Injuries happen in football. Ben Johnson knows Jackson very well working with him for years so I suspect they think he will bounce back and the shoulder problems should not linger for years to come. You have to give head coach Johnson the benefit of the doubt because he knows what an offensive line man looks like over the yahoos who have failed at finding the right big guys to protect your asset which is the quarterback. Hopefully Coach Johnson can develop the quarterback as well. Which the Bears brass have not figured that out for quite some time. Keeping the QB upright is the first step which is basic Football 101. Jackson is a 315 pound beast the Bears are adding at left guard. He can play some right guard as well. He should help prevent the opposing defenses from caving in the middle of that line. He’s getting the big bucks so he better be worth it. The Bears have some space in their salary cap which will not be an issue making other signings. In the third year of the contract which will be the 2026 regular season, if Jackson is not worth keeping he would not cost much against the cap to cut ties with next off-season. His track record raises red flags for me as his career goes on, the less he plays. The Bears did not give up a lot for him. You are not getting a starting offensive lineman in the 6th round of this April’s draft. The pressure will be on Ben Johnson as he is getting paid well and this is his guy. Right now this move will be a wait and see. It could be dynamite in either way. Bears fans hope it does not explode against them like most of their front office moves they have seen for years.

BUFFALO BILLS NEED A GAME WRECKER ON DEFENSE

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The NFL is a copycat league like in all sports. Once the recipe is out there in the football world for how to prevail against your enemy, suddenly your own team gravitates to some changes. When the Philadelphia Eagles defense gave the Patrick Mahomes’ Kansas City Chiefs a beat down in this past Superbowl, you better believe it that general managers around the entire league took notice. Especially Brandon Beane, the GM of the Buffalo Bills. The Bills can’t clear that final hurdle to the Superbowl which is the Chiefs. It may not be the extra weapon Josh Allen needs on offense to get the job done versus the Chiefs. What Allen and the Bills need most is a guy that can help disrupt the flow of Mahomes and that Chiefs offense to put up another disastrous performance like he did last month. Could a game wrecker be possible for the Bills this off-season in a trade with Cleveland for defensive end Myles Garrett? Could the Bills simply sign Khalil Mack who is available in free agency? Would either one of these guys be the key to getting by the Chiefs?

Myles Garrett is unhappy in Cleveland and has demanded a trade. Garrett is 29 years old & has 8 seasons in the NFL all with the Browns who drafted number 1 overall in the 2017 NFL draft. In 117 games in the NFL Garrett is one of the best at killing the QB, as he racked up 102.5 sacks in his career so far. Last season he had 14 sacks in 17 games with 40 solo tackles and 3 forced fumbles. Garrett has been named defensive player of the year multiple times from different outlets over his career. He is also a six time Pro-Bowler. Khalil Mack was originally drafted by the Oakland Raiders in the 2014 NFL draft in the first round 5th overall. Mack is 34 years of age and has 11 seasons under his belt with the Raiders, Bears, and Chargers for the last few seasons. He has played in 167 career NFL games and has racked 107.5 sacks. Mack is a 9x Pro-Bowler and also has won multiple defensive player of the year awards. Last year he had only 6 sacks in 16 games and 20 solo tackles along with 2 forced fumbles. Mack has only 5 playoff games under his belt in his career as he tallied up 3 sacks in post-season play. While Garrett has one sack in three post-season games.

I would love to have Khalil Mack and Myles Garrett on my defense rushing from opposite ends. With Garrett you get a younger guy that has more octane in his tank than the old Mack truck. Garrett is like a crazed animal out there on the field and he can easily wreck your game plan. Only one time he used the quarterback’s helmet as a weapon of mass destruction on the the QB he took it from. He is not that guy who will cost you a game for losing his cool as he did that night with Mason Rudolf when he played for the Steelers. Garrett was drafted in 2017 and Josh Allen was drafted in 2018 which means the Bills’ top two guys on their respected units are about the same age. Allen is 28 while Garrett is 29. I remember when the Bears first landed Khalil Mack from the Raiders as he had no pre-season action and helped the Bears get back to the post-season. The Bears had one of the best defenses in the league. The Bears got there with Mitch Trubisky as the starting quarterback and they have moron Matt Nagy as the head coach. Mack was unstoppable that year as he had 12.5 sacks in his first season in a Bears uniform. Mack is a streaky kind of guy. Some years he can have monster numbers and some years like last year, he only had 6 sacks. It’s not like he has less effort as he could be getting double teamed. When you take on double teams, it should free up someone else on that defense that can create the havoc that week.

The bottom line is how much is it going to cost you to land one of these guys? Brandon Beane has pulled the trigger on landing a big player before. Right before the 2020 season Beane got Josh Allen, one of the top play makers in the league with Stefon Diggs. That trade was a bowl of mixed nuts for the Bills as they dealt Diggs to Houston before the 2024 season started. For the Browns who are being handcuffed by the biggest flop of a trade in NFL history they made by acquiring Deshaun Watson from Houston. They will certainly will ask a lot for a Myles Garrett. It will cost the Bills trade capital and chunks of salary cap to get Garrett. Other teams could drive the price up for Garrett as well. For Khalil Mack it is about how much does he want in his bank account. Will Mack take less at his age with a chance to go further in the post-season with the Bills than any other team he has played for in his career? Mack played his college ball with the University of Buffalo where he dominated. Could that be enough to entice him to come back and play in the cold weather after a few seasons in the LA sun?

These moves are always a doubled edge sword which can cut your own team more than help. When the Bills went out and signed Von Miller in 2022, it was supposed to be “MILLER TIME” in Buffalo instead of the normal Lablatt Blue. Last year Miller tallied up six sacks in 13 games as a guy who is 35 years of age. Giving Khalil Mack a big contract or big money next season at the age of 34 kind of makes me nervous. Miller should be a salary cap casualty coming up which will give the Bills more money to spend on the open market. The biggest question is does one guy make that much of a difference? The Eagles used the legs of Saquon Barkley to ride them all the way to the Superbowl. At the end it was the Eagles defense who won that Superbowl. The Eagles defense did it as a unit. If I had to pick out of Mack or Garrett, put me down for Myles over Khalil. Age makes a difference on the football field. If the Bills could land two impact free agents for the one price on that defense, then sign me up for that. I think Sean McDermott and the Bills may be heading to a different philosophy on the defensive side of the ball with some of the new hires as coaches on that side of the field. I would like to see some new horses in the trenches. I would like to see a shut down corner back as well. This Bills defense is not terrible. They already have some solid pieces in place. The Eagles defense has some of those names you probably heard the first time because of the Superbowl. Let’s keep the draft capital. Let’s invest in multiple needs for the entire roster and not put all our eggs in the single basket.

WHEN DID THE NFL KICKER/PUNTER TURN INTO SAVAGES?

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The job as a kicker or punter in the NFL was always a quiet position. They were two positions that were known as your outcasts on the team’s roster over the years. Kickers and punters don’t get down and dirty. The only time you would hear about a punter was if their kick was blocked or if he somehow botched the punt and it cost your team. The regular kicking job was a different story as you are either loved or hated. If you deliver a game winning kick on Sunday, they may be hoisted on the team’s shoulders in celebration. If these kickers miss a game winning field goal, they may be shunned in the locker room by their teammates. They may receive hate mail with death threats. The kickers/punters jobs are no longer the guy from the soccer team booting the ball for his team. No longer the foreign guy kicking the ball for your team. The positions have evolved as they are no longer the hush puppy on the sidelines. In the game of football, many players turn into savages in a violent game. It’s no longer the big guys in the trenches that have lost their marbles on the football field. It’s no longer the primadonnas at the wide receiver position talking foolishly. Suddenly the kicker and punter are contributing to those dramatic off the field stories like the rest of the players.

We start with our Deshaun Watson of the kicking world. The last player from the Baltimore Ravens team that won the 2012 Superbowl is Justin Tucker. He’s 35 years old and has played 13 seasons in the NFL, all with the Ravens. Tucker has played in 212 NFL games and has hit 417 field goals while knocking through 524 extra points. He has made quite the name for himself on the football field kicking winning field goals and burying long distance kicks through the uprights from high 50’s to 60-something yards out. He is a 7 x Pro Bowler and was part of the HOF All Decade 2010’s team. Tucker, like Watson, has the same problems on the massage table as he wants to fondle the merchandise. So far 16 massage therapists have come out of the woodwork just like in Watson’s case as he had more. All of them from the Baltimore area which makes sense. All the allegations are from 2012-’16 so Tucker eventually stopped. Or found the right girl with everything in the package deal. He exposed himself during the massage and probably handled all the girls stroking them on the inner thigh while leaving a wet spot on the table when concluded. More details will emerge.

Other recent news is a former Viking punter from 2005-’12 was arrested in California at a city council meeting. Chris Kluwe is 43 years old and he spoke at the meeting as he made his feeling clear that he is not a Donald Trump supporter. He compared the Make America Great Campaign to the Nazi Party. He compared Trump to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. He had to be dragged out of the meeting during his speech as things got heated. It was the Huntington Beach city council that were installing a plaque at the local Library of Donald Trump’s slogan Make America Great Again and giving MAGA their support. This is not the first time Kluwe has had words against this same library who were banning books a few years back. Kluwe said he’d rather play video games than be a politician which the Democrat party has been knocking at his door. He may consider running as multiple topics have him venting against the Trump regime. He played in 127 games in the NFL which was 8 seasons all with the Vikings. He says when he became an activist for gay rights and same sex marriages, his career was terminated by the Vikings and the NFL after the 2012 season.

The Kansas City kicker used his soap box in 2023 in a commencement speech at his Alma Mater, Georgia Tech University. Harrison Butker is the opposite of what Chris Kluwe is preaching. In that speech he said women that get degrees get excited more about getting married and having children than having a career. This is freedom of speech. It can be true and false, just an opinion. He goes on saying Catholic leaders are pushing ideologies on the youth of America. He ripped Joe Biden’s stance on abortion. Made comments on Pride month and the LGBTQ community. Butker did not get in trouble for his speech but did get some backlash. It’s freedom of speech but using all your political stance in a commencement speech is a little odd. He did not do it on the Chiefs clock. Maybe Butker and Kluwe will debate in the future of this country.

Then you have a former Buffalo Bills punter who was drafted in 2022 in the 6th round who got cut from the team because he was involved in a group rape back at his college, San Diego State. Matt Araiza calls himself the punt god. The girl in this sticky situation said she was 18 years old and she was at the college campus partying. She was only 17 years of age. At first it was said that Araiza got oral sex from the Jane Doe 17 year old, outside somewhere during the parties. Then led her back into the house where his teammates got a turn on Jane Doe as she was drunk and most likely everyone had a fair share. It went on for over an hour where three of the punt god’s teammates gave her a ride. The Bills did cut ties with Araiza who turned out to be innocent as the case was dropped. Araiza played his first season in the NFL with the Chiefs this season and played all 17 regular season games including the playoffs. You have to wonder why this kid put himself into a situation like this. Sure he is probably innocent, but some truth even if it’s a sliver of it means this kid made a bad decision. I blame the girl as well and whoever she hangs out with should not be called a friend of the future. She may have been embarrassed and was caught in a pickle or more. Someone could have paid her to go away. Maybe the others got the blame. The nickname punt god… give me a break. Kick the ball and that’s it. Do your job.

Marquette King played 84 games as a punter in the NFL. He played six seasons in the NFL 5 with the Raiders and one with the Broncos. He is now kicking in the UFL United Football League for the Arlington Renegades as he may tell you the NFL black balled him. King was a solid punter and he still is presently. In football, every player has to use the referee’s signal for first down when they achieve one. You have your touchdown celebrations. You have your sack dances on defense. Now on a turnover from all the defenses in the league you have, your group dances for that particular celebration. It’s really pathetic. King had his punt dances which would draw flags from the referees. King would also get in fights with the special teams coaches because he would call his own plays on the field. Like instead of kicking the ball, he’s going for the first downs and not getting them – putting his team in bad field position. Which some of these calls surely resulted in losses which head coaches are not going to like. King is a talent as he is also a pop and hip hop artist. Just do your job on the field and do your other stuff on your own time. No fan wants to see their punter dance or call plays on the field. Stay in your lane. King suffered an injury in his last season in Denver which may be the NFL’s excuse not to bring him back.

I remember when Todd Sauerbrun was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the second round of the 1995 NFL draft from West Virginia University. He purchased a sports car he showed up to training camp in with vanity license plates that said “Hang Time.” It’s better than punt god. Why does a punter or kicker have to be flashy or use their position as a soap box opportunity? Justin Tucker is hot garbage like Deshaun Watson. The old days you never heard anything about kickers or punters off the field. Present days with social media everything is game and out there to read. You would think being in the spotlight just playing the game would be hard enough and not add off the field issues to the situation. All athletes are under the microscope. For Tucker he should be arrested. For Harrison Butker and Chris Kluwe, wait until your career is over and then get into the politics game. Look what happened to Colin Kaepernick. No team wants him bringing that kind of baggage to any locker room in the league. It would be stupid talking about day in day out “Colin this Colin that.” He was just an average QB. If a player is average or below average and your off the field issues are loud, you’re expendable. Marquette King is a solid punter but an easy change of the light bulb as a replacement. I think Tucker will be out of a job soon. Even if Tucker was winning Superbowls with the Ravens, he would still be kicked out the door. He is not a QB. Even though Watson should be done in the NFL because he not a very good QB anymore. The Browns are heavily invested and have their hands tied. Only a few kickers and punters play in the NFL. Only 32 punters and 32 kickers. Maybe some teams keep an extra kicker to do kick offs. Imagine how many kickers and punters that play in college and want a job in the NFL. Many!! You can replace a kicker and a punter easily. The best referees are unknown in the game. The best punters in the league are unknown. The best kickers you know because they convert when they are called upon in the clutch. Tucker will not be remembered now by those big kicks. He will be remembered as a sexual predator like Watson. Two peas in the same pod could compare their war stories on the massage table. The world has turned the footballer into a common savage like all of the others.

REMEMBERING THE 2001 CHICAGO BEARS WITH HEAD COACH DICK JAURON

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When it comes to the Chicago Bears, decades and decades have gone past without a franchise quarterback. The jury is still out on Caleb Williams’ rookie season this past season. When it comes to head coaches, the Bears have had a list of clunkers since the team fired Mike Ditka in 1993. The Bears have been looking for a solid coach since they fired Lovie Smith in 2012. He led the Bears to a Superbowl loss in 2006, the last time they made it to the big game. We know with Ditka the Bears won their only Superbowl in 1986. We know before Ditka, Papa George Halas was a legendary head coach in Chicago for decades. The Bears have not figured out a way to find a head coach better than Smith. Many will say the Bears have not found a better replacement than Da Coach. In between Ditka and Smith, the Bears did find success. It was 2001 when the Bears went 13-3 under the former Yale graduate of Dick Jauron who had the Bears in the post-season in one entertaining magical year in team history. Jauron coached 28 seasons in the NFL and played 8 seasons as a player. He was loved by all whereever he worked as a coach and a player. It’s a shame when good people pass away as Jauron quietly did less than a week ago at the age of 74.

Dick Jauron was born in Peoria, Illinois. Jauron would attend grammar school in Rensselaer, Indiana. He played his high school football at Swampscott High School located in the state of Massachusetts. He was named top ten best high school players in the state of Massachusetts. He then played his college football at Yale University where he was 3 x First Team all Ivy-League. The Detroit Lions drafted Jauron in the 4th round of the 1973 NFL draft as a safety. He was also drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals as a short stop in the 1973 MLB draft. However he chose football over baseball. He played 8 years in the NFL with two teams. The Lions for 5 seasons and then the Bengals for 3 seasons. He earned his only pro bowl nomination in 1975 as he was still with the Lions. He played in 100 NFL games as a free safety and had 25 career interceptions. He had two defensive touchdowns. His NFL career ended after the 1980 season. In 2015 Jauron made it to the College Football Hall of Fame for his stellar play for the Yale Bulldogs.

Dick Jauron then took his talents to coaching as he started in 1985 with the Buffalo Bills as a defensive backs coach. Then from 1986-1994 he held the same job he had in Buffalo, only he did it with the Green Bay Packers. From 1995-98 he was the defensive coordinator for the Jacksonville Jaguars under Tom Coughlin. Then the Bears gave him his first head coaching job from 1999- 2003. In 2001 he led the Bears to the post-season as they were one and done. They were quickly dispatched in the wild card round by the Eagles. Jauron would get fired by the Bears and finished with a 35-45 record in 5 seasons in Chicago. In 2005 Jauron was defensive coordinator in Detroit the last few years after Chicago and he took over the head coaching duties. In the last games in 2005, he finished 1-4 as the interim HC. It was good enough that the Bills gave Jauron his next head coaching job in 2006. He was fired in week ten of the 2009 season as he lasted 4 seasons. Jauron had three straight 7-9 seasons in Buffalo until the 4th year when things got worse. He started the season with a 3-6 record and was fired. He finished with a 24-33 record in Buffalo. In 10 seasons as head coach he had a 60-82 record and only coached one playoff game which was the loss to the Eagles. After Buffalo, Jauron did one season in Philadelphia as defensive backs coach.Then got the defensive coordinator job in Cleveland for another three seasons.

The Bears before the 2001 season were picked by the experts to be one of the bottom feeders in the league. The Bears most likely played a weak schedule from being a bad team the year before. Like the LA Chargers this season played well, got into the playoffs, and looked like they did not belong. I think the Bears may have gotten lucky in some of these games they played in this magical season where they went 13-3. It was a year that they were 8-0 in games decided by 7 points or fewer. The things most Bears fans remember were the back to back overtime games they won that year with Dick Jauron as the head guy. These two games were comebacks by the Bears to send them to OT. The Bears then won both overtime games against the Browns and 49ers with Bears safety Mike Brown scoring two defensive touchdowns to seal the deal in back to back regular season games. Jauron instilled a work ethic with these guys in 2001 and it was working.

Mike Brown was Johnny on the spot as you would think he had some magnet that had the football go to him like a dog bringing back a stick after you tossed it. Every winning season has some luck. Look at the Kansas City Chiefs blocking a field goal to deny Denver an upset this past season. Then all those games where the zebras gave the Chiefs the call that sent Kansas City home with a slew of victories and followed that same MO throughout the postseason until they were denied in the Superbowl. What comes around goes around.

Dick Juaron won 13 games with quarterbacks named Jim Miller and Shane Matthews as the starters. Miller was one of my favorite Bears quarterbacks of all-time. Miller arrived in Chicago in a clunker he drove from Pittsburgh. Probably his high school car. He was a fat guy who tested positive for steroids. Something has to be wrong with the NFL testing when you see a QB fleshy and gooey. Miller that season was 11-2 behind center as the Bears’ main guy. Matthews went 2-1. The Bears had the A-Train at running back.

Anthony Thomas was bruising back the Bears drafted from the University of Michigan. He had a solid season for the Bears rushing for 1,183 yards with 7 touchdowns. Jauron had the defense playing well and the offense. The QB’s were game managers taking what the defense gave them and not making the mistakes to cost their team. It was the last year in Soldier Field before the city gutted the insides and put a space ship on top of the stadium in an all out makeover.

The next season the Bears played all their home games at the University of Illinois while the makeover was going on.. That did not help Dick Jauron’s team. It would also be the quarterback play that eventually doomed Jauron’s first head coaching job. The Bears signed former Falcons veteran Chris Chandler who was at the end of his NFL career. Chandler made 7 starts in 2002 and went 2-5 as the starter. The Bears also gave another washed out veteran a chance in former Steelers QB Kordell Stewart, aka Slash. The Bears then drafted Rex Grossman in the 2003 NFL draft as Chandler would linger another year after 2002 to be the bridge guy. The Bears did not play well after 2001 and Jauron was fired.

Dick Jauron was a players’ coach like Lovie Smith. These coaches were always calm, cool, collected and more like father figures than an NFL head coach. Jauron was head coach of two of my favorite teams that I follow to this day, the Bears and Bills. He came into both jobs when both franchises were not playing well. He was a guy that was a straight shooter to his players, media, and people in general. He did things his way. You knew where you were at with Jauron. He treated everyone like how he would want to be treated. Both the Bills and Bears did not have a solid team built for him to work with. He took average guys and made them better. You would have loved to see what he could have done if he had a solid roster to work with. Smith had the horses as he was the guy hired after Jauron. Jauron was hired by a different General Manager than the one that fired him. Jerry Angelo was the guy that fired Jauron and he probably had no choice to keep Dick after that 13-3 record. Angelo did more moves-wise for Smith than Jauron. You could say the deck was stacked against him after that 2001 season.

Watching Bears football over the years Dick Jauron would not be the worst coach I’ve seen on the sidelines. He definitely is one of my favorites. In Chicago we have had a lot of bad teams in the Windy City landscape. Jauron would not make that list of all the bad coaches we had in this town in the four main sports. He was a brilliant mind. Played the game smart. He was a better college player than professional. In 28 years of coaching in the NFL he called some great games on the defensive side of the ball for many teams. Jauron was diagnosed with cancer and lost his battle at the age of 74 years old which is a shame. He stepped away from the game to help his wife deal with dementia. He always put others ahead of himself. The NFL world lost a wonderful guy, husband, father, coach, and friend. The 2001 Bears team was one of the best seasons being a fan of a very bad franchise. You have to thank a guy like Dick for giving us something to cheer for in bleak times. As Bears fans, we hope Dick RIP!!!