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Poor Rex Grossman has suffered another loss in Chicago. The former Bears quarterback sold his his Trump Tower condo for close to a $700,000 loss.

Grossman purchased the two-bedroom unit in September 2008 for $2.681 million. The current Houston Texan backup QB has reduced the price of the 3,437-square-foot condo a couple of times, but finally had to settle for the bargain-basement price of $2 million.

The unit includes two bedrooms, four bathrooms, a den and a 17-by-12-foot "Media Room" -- a perfect spot for reviewing game film, according to Chicago Real Estate Daily, reporting on the deal when Grossman closed.

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Bears running back Matt Forte had post-season arthroscopic surgery on his left knee within the last couple of weeks, reports the Chicago Tribune. Forte, who struggled for yards in the lost '09 campaign, had an MRI at season's end on the same knee.

Forte has been been battling a hamstring issue since last summer - including an MRI after s sprain in Week 3 after spraining the hamstring in the Bears 25-19 win in Seattle against the Seahawks.

The Forte situation piles on top of the already injury-plagued Bears running back corps. Northern Illinois product Garrett Wolfe had shoulder surgery two weeks and and Kevin Jones continues to rehab torn ligaments in his left ankle. Adrian Peterson missed several weeks mid-season. Without a high-up draft spot going into 2010, it's beginning to look troublesome on offense for the Bears and the 2009 season isn't even done yet.

011710adams.jpgGaines Adams, the defensive end the Bears acquired for a second-round draft pick from Tampa Bay this season, died this morning at 26.

Adams, according to reports in The Greenville News, was pronounced dead at the emergency room of Self Regional Hospital in Greenwood, S.C. according to County Coroner James T. Coursey.

Adams, 26, was a standout player at Clemson at defensive end, and was the fourth player chosen in the 2007 National Football League draft by the Buccaneers. He was traded from Tampa Bay to the Chicago Bears in October, though didn't find much playing time with the struggling defensive unit.

An autopsy is planned by Anderson County officials and the cause of death is cardiac arrest due to an enlarged heart - natural causes.

In four years in the league, Adams, a native of South Carolina, recorded 13.5 sacks in 29 games.

Former Tampa Bay coach and current "Monday Night Football analyst tells the Sun-Times that Adams was a good teammate and well-liked:

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"He was a great kid, a hard worker who always had a smile on his face. I don't know anybody who didn't like Gaines Adams. He was a great teammate, just a stand-up guy, a class act."

The tragic news comes less than 24 hours after fellow Bears defensive lineman Dusty Dvoracek was arrested in relation to a bar brawl in Oklahoma.

dvoracek.pngOKBlitz is reporting that former Oklahoma Sooner and oft-injured Bears defensive tackle Dusty Dvoracek was arrested following some sort of bar-fueled dust-up in Norman, Okla.

Dvoracek was charged with public intoxication, assault and battery and interfering with an official process, according to the report, at Seven47.

Dvoracek played 13 games in four years for the Bears after being the definition of an injury-prone player. He missed all of the 2009 campaign after tearing his ACL during the preseason, and has ended each year of his NFL career on injured reserve.

If the charges are true, this is the most hitting he's done in a while.

Gun-slinging quarterback Jay Cutler has had a tough year. No doubt about it.

But for one shining moment in a frozen game under the lights of a national Monday Night Football stage, the maligned Bears QB of the future could say he out-dueled the king of the gun-slingers, Brett Favre, in the most entertaining game the Chicago squad played in a dismal 2009 season.

Following what is now an almost predictable Adrian Peterson fumble in overtime, Cutler wasted no time making the Vikings pay. He hit a streaking Devin Aromashodu down the sideline for a quick-strike touchdown to cap a 36-30 victory.

Who knows what this victory means in the long run - other than a thorn-in-the-playoff-seeding-side of Minnesota. In fact, maybe it's best not to think about all the baggage waiting to be unloaded at season's end and simply live in this very un-Bear-like moment of victory. Just ask Jay:

"It's good for the team, it's good for the morale of going out there and putting up points and answering the bell, especially in the fourth quarter and overtime when you have to do it," Cutler said.

For those of you foolishly pining for the days when Rex Grossman would be a world-beater for the Chicago Bears as this year's unit bumbles its way though the season, a slight jog for your defective memory.

Houston Texans quarterback Matt Schaub separated his left shoulder on the first play of a 23-18 loss to Jacksonville on Sunday.

After getting sacked by Derrick Harvey, Schaub stayed on the ground as trainers rushed onto the field. Schaub eventually walked off without any help, but spent just a few minutes on the bench before heading to the locker room for tests.

Enter Rex - as only Rex can.

Grossman threw an interception on his second attempt and finished 3 of 9 for 33 yards before the Texans decided it would be better to drag their banged-up franchise quarterback back onto the field after falling behind 17-0.

With all the ex-Bears busts flourishing throughout the league, it's kinda heartening to see that Rex will always be the same.

Though the Texans fans have yet to learn their lesson. Busy calling for head coach Gary Kubiak's head, they clearly have been too busy to study history and trends - at least that's the impression you get from this comment on a running game blog for the Houston Chronicle that reported Grossman's entry into the game:

IN GROSSMAN WE TRUST

They'll learn. And if you know a Texans fan, do them a favor and offer up some education.

twitter-ochocinco-cutler.jpgLong before the team has even landed in Cincinnati for this Sunday's afternoon skirmish against the Bengals, Chad Ochocinco is trying to fill up the Bears' bulletin board.

In tweets to both quarterback Jay Cutler and defensive lineman Alex Brown, Ochocinco said he wants Cutler's jersey, will torment cornerback Charles "Peanut" Tillman, and needs only 1.5 seconds to get open.

Yesterday, Ochocinco started in on Cutler [exchanges sic'd]:

@jaycutler6 tell your defense I'm gonna run circles around them, I'm mad we lost, peanut Tillman is gonna kiss da baby along with the rest'

To which Cutler responded:

@OGOchoCinco it's only Monday. Already starting?

The exchange with Cutler continued:
Bears wide receiver Johnny Knox electrified the Soldier Field crowd Sunday with a 102-yard kickoff return to begin the second half. But it's a uncommonly speedy ballboy who's continuing to raise some eyebrows in the aftermath.

The as-yet-unnamed ballboy kept pace with Knox as he raced down the field, even outpacing some members of the Lions' kick coverage team.

The 24-year-old, identified by ESPN 1000's Waddle & Silvy Show as Darryl MaGee of Champaign, called into the show this morning. He told hosts Marc Silverman and Tom Waddle that he found out from friends that a highlight of him keeping pace with Knox was blowing up.

On his Twitter account MaGee said, "Man I'm all over the internet and ESPN now!!!!! I  definately [sic] didn't expect this!":

 

On a day when the Chicago Bears, the NFL and anyone who ever loved the game pays tribute to Walter Payton - the 10th anniversary of his death in 1999 from bile duct cancer - it seems fitting to simply sit back and take in what made Sweetness so great. So memorable.

The Bears put together a nice video tribute, played at halftime, to the Hall of Famer that lets his friends, teammates and coaches speak to his greatness as a player and a person. One of the toughest, most elusive, most determined players in the history of the game, Payton was as well-known as a prankster as he was a hard-nosed football player.

Some great moments and memories to savor.

Isn't it interesting how the universe tends to correct itself? The natural order of things goes something like this: An old tree dies in the forest, and the forces of nature conspire to use the seeds of that tree to plant a new one while the decaying matter of one helps the other grow.

So it is with a pair of Chicago athletes who have made headlines recently in the local media: Milton Bradley and Johnny Knox.

As we bid farewell as a sports community to the Cubs' Bradley, one of the worst free agent signings in Chicago sports history, we welcome with open arms (and a back-page blowout in the Sun-Times) Bears wide receiver Johnny Knox.

He's everything this city loves in an athlete: a hard-working underdog who outperforms his on-paper abilities. He's humble, he's excited to be here and, most importantly, he helped our team win a big game.

Bradley, meanwhile, represents the me-against-the-world mindset that will sink any athlete who signs with a Chicago team.

Bradley accused Cubs fans of being racist, said he felt hatred in the outfield and blamed the collective negativity at Clark and Addison for keeping the Cubs championship-less for 101 years.

Knox, meanwhile, gets nervous before games and was in awe playing at Soldier Field Sunday in front of more fans than he played in front of his entire senior season at Abilene Christian College.

Brad Biggs spoke with Knox's college coach Chris Thomsen. "I guess it's all about getting your opportunity," Thomsen said when asked about Knox's early NFL success. "Maybe it surprised me his opportunity has come this early. It doesn't surprise me he is doing well. He is a tremendous worker. he has a tremendously positive attitude."

Every athlete who puts on a uniform for a Chicago sports franchise has an opportunity. Johnny Knox has the same opportunity Milton Bradley was afforded when he signed with the Cubs last summer: to play professional sports in one of the greatest sports cities on Earth. So far, it would seem Knox is doing everything right.

Sure, it's early. He could fizzle, wake the Soldier Field boo birds and draw our ire. But for now, he's a hard-working rookie who can do no wrong. Not to mention his "tremendously positive attitude," which makes him The Anti-Milton. 

Johnny Knox is the break Chicago sports fans needed to cure their Bradley-era hangover. He and future athletes fortunate enough to play in this market would do well to follow suit.

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