Deadline Comes and Goes, Three Sign Long-term Deals

The deadline to sign franchise-tagged players to a long-term deal has officially passed (4 PM ET). Three players agreed to new deals just prior to the deadline:

Ray Rice, Ravens: five years, $40 million

Matt Forte, Bears: four years, $31.5 million

Josh Scobee, Jaguars: four years, $13.8 million

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees led the way by agreeing to and signing a five-year, $100 million ($60 million in guaranteed money) last Friday, giving hope to the last couple of players that were seeking deals to avoid being paid under the franchise tag.

With the possibility of a training camp hold out in Rice and Forte's future, Baltimore and Chicago had some motivation to get a new deal done by today's deadline.

Rice's five-year deal, which was reportedly worth roughly $40 million, gives him $17 million for 2012, and $8 million in 2013. Had he not signed the deal, he would have been lined up to make about $7.7 million this season. Smart move for both Rice and the Ravens organization. Rice is happy with his new deal which will likely make him a Raven for life, and smart move for Baltimore in keeping their top offensive player happy.

Had Forte not signed his new four-year deal, I would like to believe that he would, in fact, have held out of training camp. This has been a hot topic for debate in Chicago over the last year or so. Will Forte get a deal he's happy with? Fortunately it has finally been settled, and we can get back to talking football.

Jaguar kicker Josh Scobee was the third and finally name to reach a long-term deal. The 30-year old placekicker signed a four-year deal that was reported to amount to roughly $3.45 million per year (I did the math, which came out to about $13.8 mil overall).

I think it's safe to say that each of the three contracts have a good chance at allowing Rice, Forte and Scobee to stick with their respective teams for the rest of their careers. That's what I'm hoping, at least. Anything can change in the coming years, however.

Now, can we finally get back to football? Training camp is just around the corner, you know!

Note: I do not own the above image (borrowed from NFL.com). No copyright infringement intended.

Repeat in Chicago? Chances of a Bears NFC North Division Repeat in 2011

Chicago capped off its spectacular 2010 regular season campaign by winning two of its final three showdowns, bouncing back after being embarrassed by New England's high-flying offense in a week 14 matchup (36-7 beatdown at home).

The team's week 17 loss to division foe Green Bay, 10-3 at Lambeau Field, may have been the result of having no motivation (already clinched division) and facing a team battling for a playoff spot.

Quarterback Jay Cutler threw for 3,000 yards and 20 touchdowns for the fourth consecutive season, and while at it he saw his interception total drop from 26 in '09 down to 16. A significant change indeed.

Despite a much improved Cutler and an increased run game led by Matt Forte's 1,069 yards and six touchdowns, Chicago's offense dropped from 23rd overall the year before, to 30th this past season. That's why it was so crucial that head coach Lovie Smith and the Bears' organization revamp the defense.

They did just that over the offseason, adding top tier pass rusher Julius Peppers and promoting Rod Marinelli to defensive coordinator. Overall, the Bears' defense went from 17th overall to cracking the top 10 at No. 9 this past season. They allowed just 286 points in 16 games, good enough for fourth in the league.

With a revitalized Brian Urlacher leading the pack, Chicago allowed less than 20 points on 10 different occasions. If the Bears were losing, it was because of a lack of offensive production on Cutler's part. Going 6-2 on the road surely helped the cause, as well.

Beating out the eventual Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers for the division title was quite a feat on Chicago's part, but with Cutler's leadership skills and toughness being questioned after his actions in the Bears' conference championship loss to those same Packers, will Chicago still be able to get things together and repeat as division champs?

When you look at the whole picture, I think it's a simple no. I believe they have the ability to return to the playoffs if Forte can get himself together. The offensive line has huge question marks as well, and will certainly need to be addressed through the draft this April. Allowing a league-high 52 sacks of Cutler surely made a difference in how the season played out.

Improving the offensive line and adding a formidable weapon or two to add to Cutler's arsenal should be Chicago's main concern in the draft. As for the defense, replacing defensive tackle Tommie Harris (released earlier today) seems to be the only troubling thing I can see, other than adding another cornerback. If Brian Urlacher remains in health I think the Chicago defense will be okay.

At this point, Chicago's chances at repeating seem very slim. Not because the improvements needed to be made wont be made, but simply because Green Bay is the team to beat. Any time a team wins the Super Bowl, they are automatically the team to beat the following season.

Super Bowl Most Valuable Player Aaron Rodgers is just hitting his prime, and with most of his weapons likely to make a return in 2011, I think this Green Bay offense is as dangerous as ever. Not to mention the return of running back Ryan Grant. The emergence of James Starks and return of Grant is enough for Green Bay's run game to set up the play-action very nicely for Rodgers in 2011.

Move over, Chicago. Green Bay is back and ready for a fifth Lombardi trophy at Lambeau.

Photo Credit

Jay Cutler: AP Photo/Klichiro Sato

Greg Olsen: Mike DiNovo/U.S. Presswire

Cutler, Chicago Put Seattle's Super Bowl Dreams to Bed with Big Win at Solider Field

After narrowly defeating division rival St. Louis at home back on January 2 to clinch the NFC West, many fans, and even 'experts' had a fit about the 7-9 Seattle Seahawks hosting a game in the playoffs. Not just any playoff game though, it happened to be a Wild Card matchup with the defending champion New Orleans Saints.

But, after Seattle knocked off the Saints, 41-36, last weekend, everybody and their momma seemed to jump all over Seattle's playoff bandwagon. It was almost as if the 13-3 Chicago Bears, the NFC's second seed, were no longer the favorites, despite being favored by 10 points according to many bookies.

All of the talk ended as soon as Seattle stepped in to the snowy Soldier Field yesterday, though.

The 35-24 final score really doesn't tell the whole story. You kind of had to watch the game in order to fully understand the Chicago dominance in this one. Once again, Matt Hasselbeck's stats were outstanding (26/46, 258 yards, 3 TDs, 0 INT), which is what we have come to expect from the veteran, but his offense didn't start clicking until the final quarter of play. Much too late for Pete Carroll's Seahawks.

Quarterback Jay Cutler (15/28, 274 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INT) seemed flawless in his postseason debut, but it was the Bears' run game that was the difference in this matchup, overpowering Seattle for 176 yards, including Matt Forte's 80 yards and Cutler's two rushing TDs.

Seattle, on the other hand, couldn't get anything going on the ground, running for just 34 yards as a team. As I told you in my preview and bold predictions post, Da Bears shut down last week's hero--Marshawn Lynch--for just two yards on four carries. Why they didn't use Lynch more often is beyond me, but Chicago did what they could to stop him on his limited carries.

The score read 28-3 at the end of three quarters, seemingly out of reach for Seattle. Not so fast. Hasselbeck finally got things under control and led Seattle on three fourth quarter touchdown drives. If it wasn't for Cutler's 39-yard bomb to Kellen Davis with just under five minutes to play, we probably would've had ourselves a game.

Nevertheless, Chicago forced the Seahawks to be one dimensional, both through defense by shutting their RBs down, and through offense for taking a huge early lead at the half. This forced Seattle to play catchup the entire second half, making it tough to effectively run the football.

With Green Bay's red-hot offense coming in to Soldier Field next weekend, there's a chance we could see a history-making NFC Championship on Sunday.

One could only hope...

Photo credit

Bears offense: AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh