The Chicago Bears are preparing for Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Vikings and the news and rumors are ramping up.
Check out the latest buzz below.
Marshall Bets Lions Fan
Starting wide receiver Brandon Marshall’s back-and-forth with a Detroit Lions fan on Twitter led to a $25,000 bet on a fight between the two.
Marshall told the fan that a fight would net the winner $5,000, and that he would give up another $10,000 if he lost. But if Marshall won, the fan would have to serve 100 hours at an orphanage.
But the fan, Anthony Kalla, later upped the ante to $25,000.
“25 it is. Ha! You thought i wouldn’t say yes,” Marshall told Kalla via Twitter.
The fan later responded saying that the fight could happen if the Bears win 3 more games.
But the idea seemed to be quashed when general manager Phil Emery told Marshall at the team’s facilities on Friday, “Read your contract.”
Bears coach Marc Testman seemed to cast doubts on the fight ever taking place as well.
“I’ve said this many times in here: We’re in a new world of social media. We talk to our guys about it. We don’t police everything that they do. We ask them to take a deep breath before they press that send button,” Trestman said, reported ESPN.
“Hopefully they make decisions that are in the best interest of their team. But we’re not perfect, none of us are.”
Fans Fall for Satire About Cutler
An article claiming Jay Cutler blamed the team’s punter for the 55-14 loss to the Green Bay Packers fooled some of the team’s fans.
The article was published by The Onion, possibly the most well-known satirical website.
“It’s certainly not an easy thing to say, but at the end of the day, someone has to step up and accept that mistakes were made by our punter, Pat O'Donnell,” Cutler was quoted as saying in the fake story.
“Going forward, there will have to be some serious adjustments made to our punt unit — when individual players aren’t doing their part out there, we’re going to fall short as a team. Pat didn’t play well, and he needs to accept responsibility for that.”
But some fans didn’t get the message and appeared to think that the story was real.
“Jay Cutler says the bears are in desperate need of a new punter. You sir are a special kind of stupid,” said one Twitter user.
MORE: Cutler Under Fire as Bears in Free Fall
“Jay Cutler honestly blamed the punter in the loss? Is this dude serious? Cutler is AWFUL,” said another.
Cutler didn’t comment on the article but did tell reporters that “I have to get better.”
“You can definitely feel the pressure,” he said. "Whenever you’re losing, your confidence is going to be a little bit lower.
“I think earlier in the week and throughout the week, you’ve got to gain confidence for the game. If you go into the game with low confidence, you don’t have a chance in this league. We probably, as an offense and as a whole, have to get some plays going, get some drives going, and we can build on that for sure.”
What’s Forte’s Trade Value?
Some fans have been wondering about potential trades, including running back Matt Forte.
“This team has a lot of holes. Would there be a market to trade Matt Forte to a contender for a late first-round or second-round pick next year?” one fan asked the Chicago Tribune via Twitter.
“Now you’re talking about taking the most reliable part of the offense away. I think you’re shooting too high in estimating Forte’s value and that is not meant to knock him at all. He’s far and away the most consistent performer the Bears have on offense and have had for some time,” wrote Brad Biggs.
“But teams are reluctant to use a first-round pick on running backs in the draft these days. Just because the Colts made a blunder and forked one over to the Browns for Trent Richardson last year doesn’t mean it will happen again.
“In fact, that probably heightens caution among general managers when it comes to trading for running backs. Forte turns 29 next month and will be in the final year of his contract next season, meaning his value would be further diminished on the trade market.”
Biggs said that, if it came down to it, the Bears might be able to get a second-round pick for Forte.
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