Bears

Bears to open at home vs. Colts, play 5 games in prime time
Wed, 04/18/2012
Adding wide receiver Brandon Marshall to what was a .500 team has made the Chicago Bears popular. That is evident as they totaled the maximum number of prime-time games -- five -- when the NFL released the 2012 schedule Tuesday evening. Their first night game will be at Green Bay in Week 2 on Thursday, Sept. 13, as the league has...

Targets shifting quickly on Bears
Wed, 03/14/2012
he Bears ended the first day of free agency by securing a new wide receiver, a new quarterback, a new linebacker and an old cornerback. And best of all, they still have a nice wad of cash in their pockets. The...

McGrath: Bears Stay Within Comfort Zone
Sun, 02/05/2012
Remove the Heisman Trophy from the discussion and I don’t know if Phil Emery knows Robert Griffin III from Robert Goulet. I would assume he does; Emery has spent more than a decade traversing the country in search of N.F.L.-caliber players for three pro teams. But his eye for talent was hardly the focal point of a recent Halas Hall news conference...

McGrath: 20 Years of Sports Radio
Fri, 01/27/2012
Sports talk radio was a phenomenon fairly new to Chicago the first time I heard it here. I was visiting from California, taking my daughter to college on a trip that included a two-hour drive from Chicago. I came upon WSCR — “the Score” — while punching the buttons in a rental car and heard a boisterous guy later identified as Mike North...

Martz resigns as Bears' offensive coordinator
Tue, 01/03/2012
General manager Jerry Angelo isn’t the only prominent Chicago Bears figure who won’t return in 2012: Also out is offensive coordinator Mike Martz, who resigned Tuesday morning after a meeting with coach Lovie Smith....

McGrath: Poor Decisions, Missed Signals Doomed Angelo
Tue, 01/03/2012
On Monday, while offering his post mortem on the Bears’ break-even season, coach Lovie Smith tried to spin a desultory 1-5 finish forward. He claimed the Bears were a solid football team, had practically been a lock for a playoff berth, only to be undone by injuries to key players, which they’d managed to avoid while reaching the NFC Championship...

McGrath: The New Look Bears
Tue, 11/08/2011
All that what’s-wrong-with-the-Bears grumbling that swept Chicago during the first month of the NFL season? Put it to rest. The Bears announced their presence as a playoff contender Monday night—loudly—with a quality win over a quality opponent in a hostile venue. A 30-24 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field was the...

Bears' Briggs: 'We're digging ourselves into a hole'
Tue, 10/11/2011
DETROIT -- The Bears were hoping to make some noise in the NFC North, not succumb to the excessive noise at Ford Field Monday Night. Nine false-start penalties, a few key dropped passes and big plays yielded by the defense left the Bears on the short end of a 24-13 decision to the Detroit Lions. The Bears fell to 2-3 and Detroit remained...

Bears' 'D' a little bit off
Mon, 10/10/2011
Marinelli hopes he won't have to rely on a heavy dose of blitzing to motivate his defense against LionsBears defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli was left with no other choice. His defense seemed listless in last week's win over Carolina. The front four flushed Cam Newton from the pocket a few times but couldn't bring down the burly rookie...

McGrath: Bears Rediscover Roots
Sun, 10/02/2011
So that’s what a running back looks like. The Bears were the home base for NFL immortals Red Grange, Gale Sayers and Walter Payton, and coach Lovie Smith has long summed up their offensive philosophy by insisting, “We get off the bus running.” But they had drifted away from that legacy in recent weeks, turning slick runner Matt Forte into a pass...