Mark Anderson News

Pretty much everyone around the nation expected to turn on ESPN last Monday and see the halftime score at 20-0. Of course, only the most die-hard, over-the-top Cardinals fans would have said it would be Cardinals 20, Bears 0. Over-the-top they may have been, but they'd have been right.

When a season opens up with as many high expectations as the Bears did, it's not hard to start the finger-pointing game when things go wrong.

Angelo talked to the Sun-Times before a recent game about short-term goals and the long-range plans for the franchise.

Referee Ron Winter and crew called 24 penalties, assessing 19, during the 49ers' 10-6 victory over the Bears on Thursday night.

I covered some of the personnel issues facing the Bears this morning in the print and online edition of the paper , specifically looking at the help that has been brought in via the draft over the last five years.

I guess it was inevitable that wea d hear talk of the Bears dumbing down the playbook.

In football, a 24-point win should feel great. But the vibe in the Chicago Bears locker room and post-game press conference was just short of "relieved." Despite Chicago's own struggles in last week's 35-point loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, the laughable 1-6 Cleveland Browns were no challenge.

Pounded the previous week and losers of two consecutive games, the Chicago Bears couldn't afford to go down again.

Bears left defensive end Adewale Ogunleye agreed the Browns look awful on offense, from a statistical standpoint.

If Mark Anderson is concerned about how the addition of Gaines Adams will affect his playing time, the Bears defensive end has kept his feelings to himself.

Chicago Bears general manager Jerry Angelo said new defensive end Gaines Adams will be active Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals .

"Just going out and just practicing hard is the first thing, and just earning their respect," Adams said.

The Bears on Friday night traded their second-round pick in next year's draft for Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive end Gaines Adams , the fourth overall pick in the 2007 draft.

Are the Bears trying to send a message to their defensive ends by trading for Gaines Adams? Christopher K. Atwood, Illinois I don't think that's the case at all.

LAKE FOREST, Ill. General manager Jerry Angelo coveted Gaines Adams in the 2007 draft.

If you would have known in August that after four games the Bears would have had all of one sack from the "three technique" position, you probably would have assumed their defensive line was succeeding like a four-man relay team with one of its runners wearing cement shoes.

Like an old car battery, it took the Bears awhile to get cranked up Sunday, especially on defense.

If another team should dial up the Bears on draft day one April offering a couple of fifth round picks for a first round pick, the Bears might want to consider it.

Three games into the era of Lovie Smith as defensive coordinator, I took a look at the tendencies the team has had using the blitz thus far .

LAKE FOREST, Ill. Off to the best start in his nine-year NFL career, Adewale Ogunleye credits his early success in part to the arrival of first-year defensive line coach Rod Marinelli.