Recently in Bears Category

Babatunde Oshinowo, the defensive lineman out of Neuqua Valley and Stanford, has signed with the San Francisco 49ers. Oshinowo was released by the Carolina Panthers in late June. This transaction is merely a good excuse to post a Mike Singletary video: "CAN'T DO IT!"

ANOTHER ALUMNI UPDATE: We're late posting this, but Sun-Times Bears beat writer Brad Biggs has more on Glenn Earl's decision to retire.

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As we reported again here, Naperville Central might be stuck with only one home game this season as it awaits the renovation of Memorial Stadium. These things eventually happen. The Bears played their 2002 home schedule in Champaign. And whoever buys the Cubs might need to find an alternate site at some point if the new ownership group decides to fix up Wrigley Field.

Central coach Mike Stine doesn't think it will be an issue. Of course, he's supposed to say that, but he's been pretty consistent. Whenever the topics of potential seeding or home playoff games come up in conversation, Stine always says it doesn't really matter. The primary benefit is having the team together from the final bell to opening kickoff.

"Home-field (advantage) in high school sports is a little bit overrated - maybe in all sports," Stine said. "It doesn't really bother me at all playing on the road. (Sometimes) it's actually better. You have the kids' attention from the time school gets out. They don't have time to go home. (Maybe) they're focused a little longer.

"We're not dreading that at all."

What do you think? Is home-field advantage overrated? Will this create problems for Central? In the meantime, look for more football coverage in the print editions later in the week.

The other day we caught up with Bears safety Glenn Earl, and eventually we'll do the same with Chris Brown, another Naperville North graduate and a running back with the Houston Texans.

In the meantime, here's the link for the Chris Brown Football Camp, which will take place July 10-11 at Calvary Church. The camp is free, but space is limited.

As reported earlier, Glenn Earl is making a comeback with the Bears. The safety out of Naperville North and Notre Dame signed a one-year deal on Tuesday.

Earl spent the 2007 season on injured reserve and was released by the Texans in August 2008, after being selected by Houston in the fourth round of the 2004 draft. Earl then made 31 starts for the Texans, and secondary is one area where the Bears need a major upgrade.

The Bears placed running back Garrett Wolfe on injured reserved Friday and signed linebacker Gilbert Gardner to the 53-man roster.

Wolfe, who rewrote the Northern Illinois record book, appeared in 13 games in his second season with the Bears, leading the team with 21 special teams tackles before being sidelined with a hamstring injury.

CHICAGO - Sean Payton's postgame press conference in the Soldier Field interview room lasted less than two minutes Thursday night. That was almost certainly in part because of a 27-24 overtime loss to the Bears and the tight newspaper deadlines that followed. The Naperville Central graduate hit on two big themes after Danieal Manning racked up 179 return yards and Devin Hester slipped by a Cover 2 package to draw the pass interference penalty that helped set up Robbie Gould's game winning field goal.

"It's a disappointing loss," Payton said. "We lost the battle in the kicking game and that was clear tonight. That cost us not only a touchdown but probably about 120 yards in field-position differential. You're not gonna win a lot of games by playing that way.

"We were poor (in) third-and-long with the ball getting behind us in a game that (we) felt like we had to keep it in front of us...including the last play, which was third-and-long in Cover 2 coverage but we let the receivers get by us.

"If you're gonna lose 100, 115 yards in field position in the kicking game, if you're gonna continue to let receivers get behind you, (then) you're gonna end up finishing around .500 and that's what's most frustrating."