ESPN's NFC North blogger takes a look at the final 11 seconds of yesterday's game. He makes some good analysis and just kind of says it was luck more than being 1 guys fault. He says you can't blame Babich:

Babich's defense, however, was down to two cornerbacks and therefore critically undermanned in the situation. After a long day of injuries and the surprising deactivation of Nathan Vasher, the Bears were down to second-year player Corey Graham and Marcus Hamilton at cornerback.

....

And in many ways it's difficult to point a finger at Babich, who no doubt is getting excoriated on Chicago sports radio as I type these words. Should Babich have blitzed, a decision that might have forced a poor throw but also would have left a linebacker and two backup cornerbacks in man coverage?

Can't blame Brown:

As the play unfolded, Hamilton passed Jenkins off to the deep safety, in this case veteran Mike Brown. But Jenkins simply cut off the route in front of Brown and made a 24-yard catch at the sideline before stepping out of bounds. One second remained on the clock.

....

"It was just a corner route and Cover 2," Brown said. "Good ball. Good catch. Should have made the play and I didn't. I'll take the blame for that."

Brown was being a team player, but it's hard to fault him. As the deep safety, his primary job is to keep everything in front of him. He did that job.

Well not that any of us disagree with the team's decision at this point (I don't think) but if it's any thing Ced Ben's charges were dropped in both cases against him. The juries didn't think there was enough evidence to indict him.

Two Travis County grand juries declined to indict Benson on charges of boating while intoxicated, resisting arrest and driving while intoxicated.

.....

Travis County Attorney David Escamilla said there were problems in both cases. In the initial arrest, officials did not conduct a field sobriety test and there was no video evidence.

In the driving while intoxicated case, there was video evidence but Benson "appears very well" in the recording, Escamilla said.

So what's say you, do you think he will land somewhere now or are his days in the NFL over?

I am quite surprised no one's beat me to this. Especially considering that ESPN's ticker was showing through most of MNF:

Link

One day after Hester suffered a rib injury, coach Lovie Smith had little to say about his special teams star. He said he wasn't sure when, exactly, it occurred, and offered no timetable for Hester's return.

"As far as how long he's going to be out, I'm not going to get into that," said Smith, who did not rule out Hester playing against Tampa Bay this week.

So he might play, he might not. He's out indefinetly but he isn't done for the season. So really maybe this wasn't worth the post since no one is talking...

The rest of the article was typical of ESPN, basically writing off the Bears if Hester is out for any period of time.

So I guess we wait, hope and pray that Hester's rib injury isn't serious.

Not that we'll read into it or anything, but Orton will start vs. Kansas City on Thursday. Lovie and crew beg you not to read into it too much and stress that Rex will get the same number of snaps with the first team as Orton and it will roll that way the first two games. Grossman will start preseason game 2 next week.

But the Bears coach, determined to keep a level playing field in the competition for the No. 1 quarterback position, stressed that Rex Grossman will play an equal number of snaps in relief, all with the first-team offense in the first half.

“It’s not because one guy played a little bit better than the other,” said the Bears coach. “This is how we’re going to start it. It really doesn’t matter who starts because both guys will play the same amount of plays the first game as they will the second game, and we’ll go from there. Then we’ll have a better reading. After each week, the depth chart will mean a little bit more. But right now we haven’t seen enough to know really where we are.”

And believe it or not, it wasn't determined by a coin flip.

Offensive coordinator Ron Turner didn’t flip a coin to determine who would be first to lead the No. 1 unit as he did at the beginning of the offseason program and again at the outset of training camp. “We really didn’t want to do that again, and it wasn’t rock, paper, scissors,” Turner said with a smile. “It’s just Kyle is going with the first group to start this game and Rex is next. I wouldn’t read anything into that, and we told them that. It has nothing to do with performance.”

Benson, after saying he would be at OTA's today, was a no-show . JA was none to happy either:

As a result, general manager Jerry Angelo said the team would make a statement on Benson's status later in the day. Whether that meant Benson, the fourth overall pick in the 2005 draft, would be released was not clear.

So now we wait for the word from Halas Hall. I would think that blowing off your team, especially if you didn't have a good excuse, when they were going to meet with you about your second arrest in 5 weeks, you probably can start looking for Realtors and have your agent start making calls (Most likely to Oakland and Dallas) for workouts.

The 10 Spot on SI.com put up a humorous list of the 10 ways Lovie Smith should pick a QB for this season. Thought it was funny enough to share:

10. Whoever survives a boat trip with Cedric Benson

9. Shots of Jack Daniels (advantage, Orton)

8. Wait for inevitable un-retirement of Brett Favre

7. Fan balloting (including the deceased, of course)

6. Flies-shagging competition vs. Alfonso Soriano

5. The one with the most Manning blood

4. Leave it up to the superdelegates

3. Why did we get rid of the single-wing again?

2. First to get his QB rating into double digits

1. The guy who stinks the least

I guess not to be outdone by the Miami Dolphins the Bears signed, not only Kellen Davis (as reported on WCG) but also all of their 6th round picks.

The Bears enjoyed a productive day on and off the field Friday at Halas Hall, not only kicking off their mandatory three-day minicamp with a spirited non-contact practice but signing six of their 12 draft picks. Inking four-year deals were fifth-round tight end Kellen Davis and all five of Chicago’s seventh-round choices: defensive end Ervin Baldwin, guard Chester Adams, linebacker Joey LaRocque, offensive tackle Kirk Barton and receiver Marcus Monk

So that's that I guess. We are now tied with the Dolphins for picks signed (if you're keeping score at home). Now let's see how long it takes for the rest. I would suspect that by Father's Day the team could have only 1 or 2 left!

Benson was back taking snaps at practice today with the first team. ESPN said he was tending to legal issues, SI.com doesn't say. Anyway he took some shots at Jerry Angelo:

Benson took issue with critics he believes have jumped to conclusions without knowing facts of the incident, including Bears general manager, Jerry Angelo.

After the arrest, Angelo expressed disappointment Benson would "put himself in position to be the victim."

"He'd have to explain to me how I put myself in a situation to be a victim," Benson said. "I was just enjoying myself, doing my own thing."

Benson has often said he didn't feel a part of the team after a monthlong contract holdout his rookie year, but the 25-year-old fourth-year veteran said teammates have his back now.

But he is also 10 pounds lighter and says he feels great. I wonder if this is good or bad for his injury issues? Some backs drop weight then end up being more vulnerable to injury.

Benson drew criticism last year for not being in shape. His season ended when he broke his left leg just above the ankle Nov. 25 after gaining 674 yards on 196 carries.

"I feel faster, stronger, clearer, healthier," Benson said.

Benson has lost 10 pounds after going through rehab for his injury. The Bears drafted Tulane running back Matt Forte in the second round last month, but Benson is lining up at the voluntary practices ahead of his new competition.

Benson both expects and is looking forward to a battle for the position in training camp.

"Nobody wants to be given anything," he said. "It makes it more fun and more exciting when you've got to fight for it."

Link

I know it's May and that doesn't mean anything but if that were the case we wouldn't be on here every day would we? So here is ESPN's May Power Rankings, the Bears are 24th. Too high? Too low? Who's overrated, who's underrated? And what about the other NFC North teams?

Personally I think that switching the Vikings (12) rank and the Packers (10) rank isn't out of the question, it just all depends on QB play. But the same can be said for us.

OK This NFL.com writer talks about the how the Saints use Reggie Bush and Deuce McAllister in packages because ones a in between the tackles runner and ones the speed guy.

I want to know what you guys think about maybe the Bears trying this somehow; maybe with a Benson-Forte backfield or a Wolfe-Benson or even a Wolfe-Forte package. Wolfe has speed and catches the ball well and Forte has some speed and he seems to catch well or so we hear. Could Turner fathom something like this?

Why not? Thoughts?