vs.
Chicago Bears (4-6) vs. Denver Broncos (5-5)

Sunday, November 25, 2007, 2:15 PM MST | Soldier Field
CBS 4 | 850 AM KOA | Sirius 140

Snowy, windy event at Soldier Field. Post your thoughts on the game here. Go Broncos, let’s beat an NFC team for crying out loud!

Denver Broncos

DE Larry Birdine
DE Paul Carrington
QB Darrell Hackney*
RB Travis Henry
WR Taylor Jacobs
CB Jeff Shoate
FB Paul Smith
RB Selvin Young

Chicago Bears

G Josh Beekman
DE Antonio Garay
WR Mike Hass
LB Darrell McClover
QB Kyle Orton*
RB Lousaka Polite
LB Nick Roach
CB Nathan Vasher

*In uniform per NFL third quarterback policy

Taking a look around the Internet, on what the experts, beat writers, soothsayers, and your grandpa are saying about the upcoming game. We’ll give you a snippet, then you can jump through the links provided and read everything they had to say.

“Blitz the left side of the Bears’ offensive line. Left tackle John Tait is banged up and having one of his worst seasons. With the loss of left guard Reuben Brown and the insertion of Terrence Metcalf into the lineup, the Broncos should be relentless in attacking Tait and Metcalf. The Broncos should blitz speedy linebacker Ian Gold and/or safety Hamza Abdullah. This would force Metcalf to kick out wide to block hard-charging Elvis Dumervil, a mismatch for the Broncos. This also might force the Bears to keep tight end Desmond Clark and/or Greg Olsen in to block and allow the Broncos to have an extra defender in coverage to help defend wide receiver Bernard Berrian.” [The War Room – Sporting News]

“With so much turmoil at the running back position, the Broncos will give Jay Cutler many chances to make plays. Cutler is coming off a very good game in which he threw two long touchdowns and had no interceptions. Defensively, the Broncos will try to put the Bears in a spot where they have to challenge Denver’s cornerbacks in the passing game. The Broncos are significantly better when they force even one interception, and the Bears have thrown many this season. [Inside Slant – USA Today]

“Of Jay Cutler, Mike Shanahan has always thought the guy that has shown up the last couple of weeks is the guy that he is going to be. It was just a matter of time because he can move and throw on the move. He is a big guy and has a very very strong arm. The only thing is does he have enough receivers? He doesn’t have them at every position and Shanahan is still looking to add something to that offense but having said that he is doing a very good coaching job in that it looked like they were out of it and now you look and they are tied with the San Diego Chargers who aren’t doing anything either. Someone has to win that division and winning the division means you are in the playoffs and once you are in anything can happen.” [John Madden – NBC Sports]

“Following its bye week and two straight road games, Chicago returns home for the first time since losing to Detroit 16-7 on Oct. 28. Soldier Field hasn’t provided the Bears with much home-field advantage, though, as they’ve dropped three straight there since beating Kansas City 20-10 in their home opener on Sept. 16. Chicago, which won 13 of 16 at home over the last two seasons, has not lost four straight at Soldier Field since Sept. 17-Oct. 15, 2000.” [Fox Sports (AP)]

“If punter Todd Sauerbrun is to be believed, the Broncos will kick to Devin Hester on Sunday. Chicago’s Hester is perhaps the best returner in the NFL. But the Broncos are improving on special teams, and Sauerbrun said they’re ready for the challenge. Aside from perhaps giving the Bears good field position by kicking away from Hester out of bounds or kicking it short, Sauerbrun said he didn’t think it would set a good tone.” [Scout.com]

Picks Around the Web

Seth Wickersham Mark Schlereth Mike Golic Eric Alle Moose Johnston Brian McGovern Bruce Murray Pat Kirwan Tim Ryan Shannon Sharpe Adam Schein	Sean Salisbury Merril Hoge Chris Mortenson Hagen/LeGreca Gil Brandt Jim Miller Jerry Rice Solomon Wilcots

Picks from ESPN, Sirius…

2-in-1 super post, better late than never. Plus I’m superstitious, and we’re 3-0 with 5 Steps to Win the Game Posts.

vs.
Chicago Bears (4-6) vs. Denver Broncos (5-5)

Sunday, November 25, 2007, 2:15 PM MST | Soldier Field
CBS 4 | 850 AM KOA | Sirius 140

The Bears try to turn their season around while the Broncos try to keep the momentum going, as well as pressure on San Diego in the AFC West. 5 Steps, coming up…

1. Contain Devin Hester

Some have said Todd Sauerbrun‘s long punts will help us here. Are you kidding me? Have you heard of outkicking the coverage? Do that against this All Pro and we could seriously lose this game. Seriously, we could lose. Think St. Louis-Chicago last year.

2. Stop Cedric Benson

Which has seemed pretty easy of late, although he’s coming off arguably his best game.

3. Force the Gross out of Rex

IF Sexy Rexy comes out to play, we’re in for a long day. Wow, I totally sound like a hack pregame FOX analyst now.

4. Spread the Bears defense

We’re wounded at runningback, so Jay Cutler needs to spread the ball around to open up the running game.

5. No stupid mistakes, and let’s beat an NFC team

Penalties have been brutal the last few road games. Let’s clean that up, and beat an NFC team for the first time since Arizona last year!

Injury Report for the Denver Broncos and Chicago Bears for Week 12 in the NFL, November 25, 2007.

Denver Broncos

DOUBTFUL
RB Travis Henry (Knee)

QUESTIONABLE
FB Paul Smith (Calf)
WR Javon Walker (Knee)
RB Selvin Young (Knee)

PROBABLE
DE John Engelberger (Shoulder)
OG Chris Kuper (Thigh)
OT Matt Lepsis (Ankle)
WR Glenn Martinez (Ankle)

Slant – Javon Walker has said he will play this week. Andre Hall will likely get the start in Selvin Young‘s expected absence and is speculated to split carries with Mike Bell.

Chicago Bears

DOUBTFUL
CB Nathan Vasher (Groin)l

QUESTIONABLE
DT Tommie Harris (Knee)
CB Trumaine McBride (Hip)
RB Jason McKie (Foot)

PROBABLE
WR Bernard Berrian (Toe)

Slant – The Chicago defense has been banged up all year, but is the healthiest it’s been in a while coming into this game.

Shortly after writing yesterday’s quick post on Javon Walker and Kyle Johnson, strong winds knocked out power at my house in northern Arizona.  From 10:20 AM yesterday to about 1:00 AM this morning I was without electricity, as were the rest of my neighbors.

Yeah, it brutally sucked.

I’ve got a few things written in a word processor that I’ll be posting the next few minutes — most of them shorter than usual.  At this point I’m just glad to get them up at all.

And since the windy city tried to jinx this site by blowing over trees and knocking down power lines all the way here in Arizona, I’m more than ready for our team to send them a knock-you-out message right back.  Go Broncos!

I had a great holiday, hope all of you had the same.  My turkey day was sandwiched by work and traveling both Wednesday and Friday, but I was glad to get Thursday off.  Posts have been sparse, but we all knew that wouldn’t last, didn’t we?

In the past few days the big news around Broncos camp has been the practicing of Javon Walker, who has missed 7 straight games with a knee injury.  Also, the resigning of fullback Kyle Johnson made a splash – his release was a headscratcher to begin with, so it was nice to see Johnson back in the fold.  The move likely comes in the wake of injuries to Travis Henry and Selvin Young, moving Mike Bell back into the tailback portion of the depth chart behind Andre Hall.

Walker is listed as questionable for Sunday, and while I’m excited to have #84 back in uniform, I think we’ll still give the Chicago defense problems with Marshall and Stokley alone.  I wouldn’t mind him sitting one more week as we prepare for 3 AFC West foes in our final 5 weeks.

Andre Hall finding a hole on Monday Night Football.Photo Courtesy (Joe Mahoney © The Rocky).

The Denver Post is reporting that Andre Hall might actually get a shot at starting at RB this Sunday vs Chicago.

After Friday’s practice Mike Shanahan said that Selvin Young did participate on a limited basis (although he did not practice Wed or Thurs). Shanahan has classified Young’s decision as ‘game-time.’ Which mean even if the master mind knew he won’t be tipping his hand until the game starts.

Shanahan has ruled Travis Henry out with a partially torn PCL and with Young questionable, Andre Hall might get his first NFL start at RB.

In another surprise move this week, Denver resigned former starting fullback Kyle Johnson to their roster which means Mike Bell could move back to tailback if he is needed to back up Hall this week.

Now, for those of you who don’t know much about Andre Hall, you’ve stumbled upon the perfect blogger to fill ya in!

Hall hails from St. Petersburg Florida. He only played a single year of High School ball, but in that year he led the country in rushing yards with 1,742 yards on 227 carries (that’s a 7.7 yard average for those of you in Oakland). After a brief stint in the Georgia Military Academy, Hall returned to his home state of Florida to attend USF in Tampa.

At USF Hall was a stand out RB his Junior year. He actually, broke USF’s single-season rushing record that year. Some NFL teams expressed interest, but instead of entering the draft he returned to USF to finish his degree. Hall truly impressed his senior year, as the one dimensional Bulls offense ran the ball over 65% of the time that year. And Even with most defenses stacking 8-9 men in the box with the goal of stopping the run, Hall still managed to score all but 8 of their 31 touchdowns that year.

By the time he graduated, Hall had captured the all-time leading rushing title for the school at 2,731 yards (averaging 5.7 yards per carry). He also had 44 receptions for 470 yrds (10.7 yards average). He knows how to have a BIG day too, as he gained over 100 yards 12 times in those 23 games (two of those went over 200 yards). He also stood out on Special Teams where he returned three kickoffs for Touchdowns.

After going undrafted in the 2006 draft, the Tampa Bay Bucs picked up the home town product. However, he was waived before the season started. Chicago picked him up in August, but dropped him in their last rounds of cuts. After watching much of the 2006 season without a team, Denver signed him in Nov last year. He spent the end of last season on Denver’s practice squad.

It was his time on our practice squad that gave him a chance to compete for a starting position during this off-season. During his time on the PS, Hall had the responsibility to impersonate the leagues best running backs as the squad set up to give Denver’s defense a look at what they would be seeing on any given week. He got to play Larry Johnson and LT among others. Denver coaches were impressed and when OTA days rolled around they wanted Hall to show off what he could do as a bronco.

He didn’t let his coaches down. He was one of the stars of week one of training camp and his performance during these OTA days had catapulted him to the top of the roster behind Travis Henry. Last in Camp, however, Hall injured his right hamstring which kept him from displaying his ability in live action this preseason. So, it was a position backing up kickoff returner Hixon that kept Hall on the team as the season started.

When Hixon was sacked for lack of production and no one else surfaced with enough consistancy to keep the job, Hall stepped in (and up) to make a HUGE improvement in our starting field position with his impressive speed and toughness.

Last week, with our whole bench full of running backs injured, Hall got his first chance to show off his skills on Monday Night Football. He was a surprise to most folks (including the announcers) who didn’t know who he was. But after gaining 89 yards on seven carries (that’s 12.7 yards average) and a touchdown, all of broncomania has begun to notice this humble runner from Tampa Bay.

This Sunday, if Hall ends up starting vs the Bears, Chicago might regret not keeping him when they had the chance!

HERE is the link to the Denver Post article and HERE is a recent Rocky Mountain News article on the Bronco’s ability to uncover 1,000 yard rushers.

Jonathan, Earl and I want to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving. Personally, I’ll be traveling to visit family and likely won’t be able to post again until Saturday.

Since this is Thanksgiving we’d like to thank you, the readers, for making this site what it is. Nothing makes us happier than writing stories that get feedback from you, good or bad, and there’s nothing like a good football discussion between friends to get the mental juices flowing.

Here’s a toast for a safe Holiday weekend for everyone, and also for no Broncos finding themselves on the police blotter. :) Happy Thanksgiving and go Broncos!

With our Turkey Day football coming up tomorrow, we’ll get these picks up today.

For your entertainment I’ve once again take the liberty to give you my meaningless decision making process. And THIS week I have a guest decider with me. My six year old foster daughter Tia has agreed to help her dad out by providing all of the NON-Thanksgiving Day picks. I truly hope the law of averages prevails and I can end around .500!

Kyle’s picks are still pending…

Kyle’s pick	Jon’s nearly useless comments	Jonathan’s pick
	GB @ DET – Leading off, we have the first big blowout of the day. The NFL is running a serious chance that tomorrow will forever be remembered as the T-day Massacre.
	NYJ @ DAL – Blowout #2. All day football and we can’t get a single decent match up.
	IND @ ATL – After watching a full day of Peyton Manning commercials, I’m almost willing to pick the Falcons JUST cause I’ll be sick of seeing Manning’s face. But we all know the outcome – Blowout #3.
	BUF @ JAC – On to Sunday’s games! Tia says Jags (so do the odds by 7.5).
	SEA @ STL – Tia says the Seahawks will win by 9 points.
	MIN @ NYG – Easy one. Tia says the Giants win it… after all THEY’RE HUGE!
	OAK @ KC – Ok, I admit it… my foster daughter likes the “Skeleton Heads.” I’ve tried to talk her into being a Broncos fan, but she just flat out likes skulls (see the TB game below).
	HOU @ CLE – Tia says Houston has the edge on logo design, as she states “they just look cooler.”
	NO @ CAR – I think you always go with with the wild cat if you’re six.
	WAS @ TB – Are you kidding me, pirates AND skulls!!! Tampa Bay all the way!
	TEN @ CIN – Wild cats win again… and this is officially taking too long for a six year old that wants to play Nick Jr.
	SF @ ARI – No reason given and there is whining at dad for taking too long.
	BAL @ SD – Jon STRONGLY encourages Tia to go against the Chargers.
	DEN @ CHI – Without encouragement, Tia picks my Broncos… She’s a fast learner.
	PHI @ NE – I’ve officially lost the little one… who is now in full-on pout mode over my domination of the computer… So, I’ll make this last easy one.

From the whole family — we wish you a happy and safe Thanksgiving!