Hey folks... fellow followers of the Beloved... interesting news coming out of Halas Hall today on the verge of the trip to BEARbonnais. Lovie and crew have installed Danieal Manning as the starting free safety when our heroes take the field on Friday. Kevin Payne will line up at strong safety with Craig Steltz taking over the nickel position on passing downs.
I'm intrigued. The Bears did this ostensibly to get all their best (most talented) players on the field; I just hope that Manning's return game doesn't suffer like one certain former all-world KR-now-turned-WR's game did. Let's also hope that Manning does a better job of recognizing signals from the sideline better than he did in Super Bowl XLI. For those who don't remember, the Colts faced a 3rd-and-long situation in the 1st quarter, down 7-0. The Bears lined up in a cover-2. The FS (Manning) was expected to pick up coverage on the WR after Peanut Tillman passed him off in order to pick up TE Dallas Clark squatting in the flat. It's been reported that Manning looked to the sideline for the call and saw a coach signal with one finger - which told Manning to shadow Clark. In reality, the coach was holding up two fingers - Cover 2. Manning, based on where he was standing on the field, couldn't see the second finger. The ball was snapped and Tillman and Manning both converged on Dallas Clark - leaving WR Reggie Wayne absolutely wide open down the seam. Peyton Manning fought off a late charge from DT Tank Johnson and found Wayne for the 53-yard touchdown. PAINFUL. As you can probably tell, that's not something I'll forget for a while (at least until we get back to another Super Bowl). Well, it will definitely be interesting to see how this shakes out... with any luck, the safety position will end up being a source of strength instead of weakness this year.
Thoughts? BEAR DOWN!!!!!!
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