The tranquil start to Bears training camp disappeared faster than a Devin Hester touchdown return today when the Bears special teams ace refused to show up for the opening practice in a contract holdout.

Hester did not report to camp on Tuesday night before midnight as players were required to do and missed team meetings this morning, but he officially became a contract holdout with the start of practice at 3 p.m.

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/football/bears/1070830,hester072308.article

this cant be good.

And at the last hour Chris Williams is now ready for camp.  It was getting pretty close.  It doesn't seem like that huge of a contract, so it looks like we'll get a good deal on a good OL for 5 years

The Chicago Bears have signed first-round draft pick Chris Williams to a five-year worth $16 million, including $10 million in guarantees, NFL Network's Adam Schefter reports.

Williams, an offensive tackle out of Vanderbilt, was the 14th overall selection in the 2008 NFL Draft. The team announced the deal two hours before the opening of Wednesday’s first training camp practice.

The Bears now have all 12 of their draft picks signed.

So you probably have already noticed the ads all over the site, now be a part of it.

SB Nation has partnered with AOL Fanhouse to create SB Nation The Fanhouse Leagues. Each SB Nation football blog has created a league specific for their blog. This allows you, the readers, to log into the league and play fantasy football with me and other Windy City Gridiron readers.

Once there choose Windy City Gridiron and register your team.

Here we go again.  As you may have noticed the involvement of Doctor Chicago has dropped of as of late.  He is dealing with personal business and I don't know if or when he may be back, but this again leaves me with needing help with the site.  I spoke to a few people back when I was looking last time and I haven't seen them around a lot recently, but I have seen a lot of new faces, so maybe we can find somebody.

I don't have anything structured in mind, but here are some general guidlines of what I need.

1) Someone who can reliably put up 3-5 posts per week.  I will handle most news items, but they are not exclusive to me.

2) Someone who get help with post ideas when news and activity is low

Here are some things I know I can use help on.

1)  Someone who can break down a game and would be able to post a review of each Bears game in a timely manner.

2) Someone to start looking into bringing some Bears history to the site in one form or another.

Those items withstanding I am open to hearing any ideas you have.  Drop me a line at WINDYCITYGRIDIRON AT GMAIL DOT COM

Thanks

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3499320&campaign=rss&source=NFLHeadlines

According to sources, Urlacher and the Bears have come to terms on a revised contract, which includes a one-year extension, thus ending their offseason contract squabble.

Urlacher, 30, had four years and approximately $25.5 million remaining on his contract. Under the terms of the upgraded deal, Urlacher will receive a $6 million signing bonus along with a $1 million bump in salary each of the next four years. The sides also have agreed to extend the pact into 2012, at a salary of $7.5 million. Urlacher can earn an additional $500,000 in a workout bonus in 2012.

That's a total of roughly $43.5 million over the next five years, with $18 million in new money for the six-time Pro Bowler and four-time All Pro.

Packers are accusing Vikes of tampering with Favre.

Ap - Packers: Vikings tampering

So lets recap - Favre is tearing apart Packerland with his selfish and ill-considered actions, pitting fans against front office - dissension in the locker room next?

Vikings are indicating their faith in their QB by showing interest in grampa Brett.

1 week till training camp and our 2 biggest rivals are showing some turmoil.  I just gotta laugh. 

(Adding a couple more words here)

Terrell Davis interviews Matt Forte and Maurice Jones-Drew about training camp and running styles on NFL Network.

Matt Forte is a whisperer.

Hopefully his play will be louder than his voice.

An overview is that Matt Forte believes that he can make an impact in Chicago and that he has a running style that is smooth with quick feet. MJD says that he has many different styles and he does whatever he has to in order to win the game.

Link to Video

Peyton had an infected bursa sack removed from his knee.  Will be out 4-6 weeks.  He'll play against da Bears, but might not be 100%.  Some REAL news!  If his mobility (what little he had) is afffected, then the Bears pass rush could get after him and cause trouble.  Now, all we need is for Dwight Freeney to stay on the shelf and Bob Sanders to go down in the preseason and we'll have a chance....maybe.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3487657

http://www.profootballweekly.com/PFW/NFL/NFC/NFC+South/Tampa+Bay/WWHI/2008/wwhi071108.htm

Bucs QB Chris Simms may be on the verge of receiving his year-long wish for an escape from Tampa, the way we hear it. Reports recently surfaced that the Cowboys were interested in trading for Simms to make him a backup to Tony Romo. Sources tell PFW the Bears and Lions have shown interest in acquiring the fifth-year veteran, as well. Word is there’s a good chance Simms will be with another team around the time training camp begins.

With things being so slow and training camp still a bit a little while away I have been toying with things to beef up posts and viewer interaction.

I was considering doing some type of a Bears Fantasy Draft.  Initially I was thinking just using players from the last 25-30 years, to tighten things up.

The concept would be pretty simple. 

4-5 Teams

Snake Style draft order

You fill a full roster

Any player picked must have played on the Bears for 2 full seasons since 1980? (the year is negotiable).

We would do the draft off line and then post the results along with some write ups.  I would need a fair commitment from the people involved to respond quickly and be able to provide decent (not necassarily lengthy) reasons for their pick.

Would anybody be interested in something like that?