I despise the QB Rating as a statistic.  The minimum and maximum contribution for each of the attributes seems somewhat random.  The fact that there can be a maximum is just sort of stupid, especially since that maximum isn't "100", but rather "158.3".  

Let's break it down, shall we?

Here are the components that go into the QB rating (wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QB_rating ):

Completion %
Yds/att.
TD %
INT %

Each statistic is normalized so there is a minimum and maximum possible contribution.  Here are the mins/maxes:

30%/77.5% comp %
0/12.5 yd/att.
0/11.875%
0/9.5%

Is there anything intuitive about any of those numbers?  I mean, someone that completed 90% of their passes for a game/season clearly played better than someone who completed 77.5%.  Likewise, 15 yd/att is better than 12.5.  15 TDs in 100 attempts is better than 11 and 15 INTs in 100 is worse than 9(.5).

The statistic sucks because there are fictitious limits.  Why don't they just make it one big continuum?  Who the hell came up with this?  

All of that being said, I still think it is a useful stat when talking about someone's career or season, but game to game numbers don't really need this stat.  Just put the damn line up and let people figure it out themselves.  I'm absolutely bored to death reading about the 0.0, 1.3, and 10.2 games Grossman had last year.  The chicagobears website keeps listing those in article after article and it means absolutely nothing.  You'll have a terrible line if you throw 2+ INTs and have no TD passes.  It's that simple.  If receivers drop the passes you actually get to them it will be even worse.  Big deal.  Oh, and listing the QB rating for Griese's 7 passes last week is beyond asinine.  http://www.chicagobears.com/news/NewsStory.asp?story_id=3697

but the Bears traded Dante Wesley to the Patriots for a late round draft pick.  

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/cs-070807bears,1,2272805.story

We have all kinds of draft picks now.  Next year's draft is going to rule.  We could put together picks and actually move up to get a high quality O-lineman or we could just use all the picks we have and continue our success at drafting nobodys that contribute very quickly.  Shoot, we might even trade some of the current old geezers for more picks in 2009...

Go Angelo!

Bear Down!

Chris Harris that is.  :)

Not sure what could have prompted that.  Especially with Mike Brown's injury history.  Oh well, I'm sure the brain trust knows what they're doing.  Angelo has done a fantastic job thus far.  

Perhaps they really like their rookies they have on the roster I've never heard of.  I know I've heard Payne has been playing pretty well.  But, we'll see why soon enough.

I love the fact that he's not even on the roster already:

http://www.chicagobears.com/team/roster.asp?is_flat=y&sort_by=1

There is only one current Chicago Bear on this list:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=halloffame/nfl41-50

How is Olin Kreutz not on that list?  Furthermore, how is it that our players get zero hype.  Olsen could very easily have been considered if they're going to put the likes of Adrian Peterson and Charles Johnson on the list.  It's almost as if the writers from the coasts deliberately piss off the city of Chicago.  It's probably because they hate Jay Mariotti, but whatever.  

This is quite possibly the dumbest thing I've ever seen.  

Furthermore, they mention how Troy Aikman was a first ballot hall of famer.  What about these numbers say the guy should have been a first ballot inductee?  He won three Super Bowls, but he had, literally, the best OL in the league for many years.  I hate the fact that you are a lock on the hall if you happen to have played when your team was stacked.  It's asinine.

I will say this, I would really be excited if Rex Grossman could turn into the good Aikman years.  There are those who argue that "he can't be Peyton Manning".  Well, I think he CAN be Troy Aikman, at the very least.  

I think we have the surrounding talent to win at least 3 or 4 Super Bowls in the next 8 years.  Yes, we, too, will have a stacked team and therefore will have many inductees into the HOF in 15 years or so.  That is how prophetic I feel today (or delusional...)

Bear Down!

A few things from this report piqued my interest:

Grossman did just that in Friday's practice, connecting with Benson, Berrian, Bradley, Clark, Hester, Muhammad, Olsen and wide receiver Mike Hass for key completions.

I was really hoping to see David Ball's name on the list there, but Mike Hass is good enough. I really want our team to be in a position where it doesn't matter who is running routes.  

In addition, Clark made a spinning catch on a ball thrown slightly behind him, Benson hauled in a pass on a skinny post and Hass made a leaping grab along the sideline.

Benson running a skinny post?  That means they lined him up as a flanker?  This is going to be a good year.  I could not stand the fact that we always sent our backs into the flats, never into the middle of the field.  The sideline is another defender, especially when the receiver doesn't have anything other than Reggie Bush* explosiveness around the corner.  I would be fine sending Hester/Wolfe out there though.

* Note: If we lost the game to New Orleans I would totally not even consider using his name in this context

The only two blemishes for the offense came when Wesley and rookie cornerback Trumaine McBride intercepted Brian Griese on back-to-back plays. But neither turnover was entirely the backup quarterback's fault as Bradley slipped to the ground while running his route on the first pass and the second was deflected at the line of scrimmage.

You read that right, Griese, not Grossman, being the only two blemishes.  Hopefully this is a sign of positive things to come.

I've been a bears fan since I was brought home from the hospital in a Bears onesie.  When I was 5 years old I received a Chicago Bears ski cap with the little ball on top.  I'm now 26 and the ball has since fallen off, but it still "fits".  

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We've signed all of our picks.  I love the brain trust.  I love training camp this week.  I love the future 2007 Chicago Bears Super Bowl Victory!

http://www.chicagobears.com/news/NewsStory.asp?STORY_ID=3612

Is this some sort of record.  It almost has to be...

The only thing, literally, left to do now is sign Briggs for one year and then we get to evaluate all of next year's free agents.  

Perfect timing!

Surely you all have seen the first 30 Super Bowls for sale on DVD.  When I saw these I got so excited in anticipation for the next logical step: complete seasons on DVD.  

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Just so everyone knows, we were not a very disciplined team last year with regard to penalties.  We had the most penalties on 1st down in the league (36).  I don't think there was any ONE culprit, but we need to get better at taking penalties, especially on first down, this year.  We were also 5th in the league in total penalties and 8th in total yards penalized.

On a slightly related topic, we were also especially terrible on third down last year.  Some of that can be attributed to 1st and 15s, but most of it had to do with poor execution and throwing to dump off receivers 2 yards short of the line of scrimmage.  This isn't necessarily the QBs fault as forcing the ball into an area it won't go could lead to more INTs, but if we don't get better at moving the chains, we're going to struggle against solid teams again this year, just like we did last year.

Hopefully Turner's new weapons will help us improve here...