NFL Combine: Bears, Pack shouldn't look past Lions

Share

Friday, Feb. 25, 2011
10:51 a.m.
By John Mullin
CSNChicago.com
Nicely done
Kudos to NBC colleague Peggy Kusinski for her excellent job following up on some of the torment in the Dave Duerson tragedy. Sometimes the splash of a news event can overshadow the sad realities of the people involved and Peggy does a her usual tremendous job talking with Alicia Duerson about some of the difficulties swirling around DD. Its good to always remember that we dont cover or read about sports; we cover and read about people.

Doin well

These events are excellent for catching up with old friends and it was very good to see Randy Brown, former Bears kicking coach who was a factor with Jeff Jaeger back in the day and was the calming influence on Todd Sauerbrun (such as it could be).

Randy, the kicking coach for the Baltimore Ravens the last four years, still has a nice trace of a tan from his trip to Hawaii for the Pro Bowl, courtesy of Billy Cundiff. The Ravens signed Cundiff, an undrafted free agent out of Drake whod been with eight different teams over the years, including four seasons with Dallas before flaming out there. With Randys help, Cundiff tied a record for touchbacks (40) and responded by taking Randy and his wife with him to the Pro Bowl.

But the funny part of running into Randy and having some time to visit: He gives me his business card (the non-football one). And turns out hes mayor (no, really, he is) of Evesham Township in New Joisy, when hes from. We hung out a while before he had to run off to finish some Combine interviews and also get some work done on his township budget, due Tuesday.
FootstepsThe Bears and Green Bay Packers may be looking hard at each other as the team to beat in 11 but they probably dont want to look too far past a one-time doormat in the NFC North.

The Detroit Lions increased their win total from zero in 2008 to two in 2009 to six in 2010. The jump last season came with No. 1s Ndamukong Suh at defensive tackle and Jahvid Best at running back and significant signings in free agency, which wont be available to the Lions this year.

So the question was put to coach Jim Schwartz as to whether he thought the Lions could close the gap between themselves and the Bears and Green Bay Packers, the former being the division winners and the latter being the Super Bowl champions.

Schwartz bristled, appropriately, then provided a bit of Rex Ryan Lite in declaring that he and the Lions arent in business to close gaps with anybody. Theyre about the business of winning the NFC North.

For anyone just tuning in, Schwartz was kind enough to provide some 10 play-by-replay:

Split with the Pack and lost by four both times against the Bears. Obviously the opener, the way that ended, and then Drew Stanton had a three-point lead with I guess it was a few minutes left when Cutler was able to lead them to that last touchdown.

We need to win more games and we really dont take a whole lot of pride in having six wins or even having the last four. There werent many teams in the NFL that won four in a row. That stuff sort of makes you feel good, but you cant expect that to carry over. It is what it is, it happened in the past and how we do next year wont be because of what happened in last years game against the

Packers or last years game against the Bears, it will be how we do in training camp and how we do in everything else as we move forward.

John "Moon" Mullin is CSNChicago.com's Bears Insider, and appears regularly on Bears Postgame Live and Chicago Tribune Live. Follow Moon on Twitter for up-to-the-minute Bears information.

Contact Us