Bears

Chicago once home to two NFL teams

LAKE FOREST – At 6-foot-3-inches tall and 233 pounds, Bears quarterback Jay Cutler has proved this season that he can bounce back to his feet after absorbing a crushing hit.

LAKE FOREST – Bears guard Frank Omiyale envisioned a much smoother transition after he signed a four-year, $11.5 million contract with the team in February.

Each week, the Daily Chronicle will quiz a Chicago athlete about the contents of his locker. We decided to start with Bears defensive tackle Anthony Adams, whose locker is among the messiest at Halas Hall. Adams, 29, has 13 tackles in seven games on the Bears defensive line this season. The 6-foot, 300-pound Detroit native and Penn State alum played four seasons with the San Francisco 49ers before coming to Chicago, where he has started 17 games and tallied 60 tackles since 2007. Bears reporter Tom Musick caught up with Adams before a recent practice to poke through his locker.

LAKE FOREST – The Bears turned their good side toward the cameras Monday.

CHICAGO – After a pair of painful losses, the Bears were willing to take whatever they could get Sunday.

LAKE FOREST – Bears reserve offensive tackle Kevin Shaffer has a pretty good idea about what to expect Sunday from the Cleveland Browns.

CHICAGO – Contrary to popular opinion around Chicago, that cringe-inducing beating last week didn't crush the Bears. A loss to the other Ohio team just might do the trick, though.

LAKE FOREST – The word is out among NFL teams about how to stop the Bears' pass rush.

LAKE FOREST – If Tommie Harris’s elusive moves to avoid the media were any indication, he should be nimble enough to start Sunday against the Cleveland Browns.

LAKE FOREST – At times this season, the Bears' conservative approach on offense has reduced quarterback Jay Cutler’s cannon arm into something resembling a squirt gun.

Lovie hurts

CINCINNATI – The Bears finally played 60 minutes of consistent football Sunday. Unfortunately for Bears fans, it was consistently terrible.

CHICAGO – It's been a decade since liver disease did something defenders struggled to do and took down Walter Payton. Even so, No. 34 still looms large.

LAKE FOREST – Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocinco has a few messages for the Bears.

CINCINNATI – Every time Cedric Benson takes a handoff, he'll be carrying a grudge along with the ball.

LAKE FOREST – Soft talkers tend to excel in careers as librarians or light-rock disc jockeys.

LAKE FOREST – Go ahead and take your shots at the Bears offensive line.

LAKE FOREST – Chicago Bears strongside linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa needs season-ending surgery to repair ligament damage in his right knee.

LAKE FOREST – Bears coach Lovie Smith responded sharply Wednesday after Cedric Benson suggested that the Bears blackballed his career upon his release in June 2008.

LAKE FOREST – If Jay Cutler’s wardrobe was any indication, a two-year, $30 million contract extension did little to change him Wednesday.

LAKE FOREST – Defensive end Gaines Adams didn't live up to his billing in Tampa Bay. Now, the former first-round pick is getting another chance in Chicago.

CHICAGO – The Bears and quarterback Jay Cutler have agreed on a two-year contract extension that runs through the 2013 season.

Bears coach Lovie Smith is fond of saying that the Bears like to get off of the bus running.

ATLANTA – Bears guard Josh Beekman waited all week to razz his former college teammate, Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan, about when he planned to marry his longtime girlfriend.

Best of the bunch

TAMPA, Fla. – The winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers traded underachieving defensive end Gaines Adams to the Chicago Bears for a second-round pick in the 2010 draft.

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — The winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers have traded defensive end Gaines Adams to the Bears for a second-round pick in the 2010 draft.

LAKE FOREST – Statistics suggest that Bears running back Matt Forte is better on turf.

LAKE FOREST – A revived pass rush has put the Bears on pace to double their sack total from last season.