Bears agree to trade RB Jones to Jets for second round pick

On Monday, the Chicago Bears agreed to deal disgruntled running back Thomas Jones to the New York Jets for the 37th overall pick in next April's draft. The Jets will also receive the 63^rd overall pick. Jones must pass a physical and agree to an extension with the Jets.

Jones had requested a trade earlier in the offseason. After rushing for over 1,300 yards and nine touchdowns in 2005, he became unhappy with his contract and first voiced his displeasure by boycotting voluntary offseason workouts. However, he remained a Bear and had another solid season. Jones was set to earn $2.75 million this season, but he and agent Drew Rosenhaus are working on a new long-term contract with the Jets.

"I had a great time in Chicago, and it was a great experience
playing there and making it to the Super Bowl last year with those guys," Jones said on a conference call. "But I'm very, very
excited to be here in New York."

By trading Jones, the Bears are handing the reigns over to unproven Cedric Benson. Benson combined with Jones to give Chicago a formi-dable one-two punch during their Super Bowl run but has yet to prove he can handle a full-time load during his two injury-plagued seasons. After being drafted fourth overall in the 2005 draft, the question was not if Benson would become the starter but rather when.

As for the Jets, they hope Jones can address their glaring need for a number one running back. Last year, New York used Leon Washington, Cedric Houston, and Kevan Barlow and ranked 30^th in the NFL with an average of 3.5 yards per attempt.

"We did a lot of research on Thomas as a person, and we think
he's a good fit on and off the field," general manager Mike
Tannenbaum said. "He's a tough, outdoor, Northeast runner, and he provides leadership."

The Super Bowl Shuffle

Well, they're baaaaack. It's been 21 long years, but Sunday afternoon the Chicago Bears defeated the New Orleans Saints 39-14 to advance to the Super Bowl. Bears' quarterback Rex Grossman didn't have a great game by any stretch of the imagination. But he also did not commit a single turnover and was 6-for-6 passing down a crucial stretch of the game.

After all was said and done, Grossman's overall statistics...or lack thereof...didn't seem to bother any of the Bears' players, including star linebacker Brian Urlacher.

When we asked him to do it, he has. He's a winner. I don't know what his career record is, I don't care what his stats are, he's a winner.

But we can't ignore the AFC champion either, as much as I'd like to. Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts finally dethroned pretty boy Tom Brady and the Patriots. Their 18-point rally will go down as one of the best playoff feats ever and it's in large part to Manning and his poise in the pocket.

Now, even though this year's Super Bowl won't include the beloved Saints or Patriots, it will include two teams with incredibly athletic defenses, good running games and ...uh...strong-throwing quarterbacks? I guess there really aren't many similarities between the Bears and Colts at all other than the fact that they both live and die by their quarterbacks and defense.

It will be interesting to see how the two teams match up against each other though. Each team has all the momentum in the world coming into the game and each has an incredible fan base backing them, especially on this campus. I don't know who the winner will be two weeks from now in Miami, but I do know that this campus will be the place to be for the Super Bowl.

So I'll pose this question to all you Colts fans out there: do the Bears stand a chance against Peyton Manning? Or will they be doing a new version of the Super Bowl Shuffle two weeks from now?