The Chicago Bears placed kicker Robbie Gould on the injured reserve list with a season-ending calf muscle injury Tuesday and signed veteran kicker Olindo Mare.

Mare won a tryout Tuesday morning at Halas Hall, which included Billy Cundiff and Neil Rackers. All three kickers performed well, according to a source.

Mare, 39, kicked for the Carolina Panthers last season. He also has played for the Seattle Seahawks and New Orleans Saints and spent 10 seasons with the Miami Dolphins. Mare has made 81.2 percent of his field goal attempts in his career and was 22-for-28 last season, when he also kicked 53 touchbacks for the Panthers.

Gould wasn’t the only player to land on injured reserve. Safety Craig Steltz (chest) and cornerback Sherrick McManis (knee) were also placed on IR, dealing a blow to special teams depth. The Bears promoted wide receiver Joe Anderson from the practice squad to the 53-man roster and signed linebacker Jerry Franklin off the practice squad of the Dallas Cowboys.

Steltz was a backup safety and the team's seventh defensive back while McManis was purely a special teamer. Both players are under contract at a cheap rate for the 2013 season. Dec 11 - 2:08 PM

Mare, who will be 40 in June, beat out Neil Rackers and Billy Cundiff at a Tuesday tryout. He replaces Robbie Gould, who pulled a calf muscle while warming up for last week's game against the Vikings. Mare was last seen in Carolina during training camp, where he lost the placekicking gig to Justin Medlock. Mare went just 6-of-9 on field goals from 30-39 yards out with the Panthers in 2011, costing them at least two wins. Dec 11 - 1:21 PM

It seems to me I was hearing alot about wanting to run the ball better and be more balanced and now that they are getting that people want the big play offense back. C'mon guys. You don't get it both ways.
Teams have chosen to take the big play offense away with two safeties playing deep. We see it every week now. So the alternative is to run the ball and fortunately that has been going well. This does not, however, provide an opportunity to put up big numbers.

It's all about the playoffs now and if we secure home field the run game becomes a huge part of being able to win. If we can run as effectively or nearly as well as our opponents Rodgers will take care of the rest.

Besides, how many games have we had the whole receiving group on the field together? Not many. So with Jordy back and Jennings playing again I can see Rodgers really putting the ball all over the place again. Something we haven't seen much of this year.

Originally Posted by: warhawk 

It seems to me I was hearing alot about wanting to run the ball better and be more balanced and now that they are getting that people want the big play offense back. C'mon guys. You don't get it both ways.
Teams have chosen to take the big play offense away with two safeties playing deep. We see it every week now. So the alternative is to run the ball and fortunately that has been going well. This does not, however, provide an opportunity to put up big numbers.

It's all about the playoffs now and if we secure home field the run game becomes a huge part of being able to win. If we can run as effectively or nearly as well as our opponents Rodgers will take care of the rest.

Besides, how many games have we had the whole receiving group on the field together? Not many. So with Jordy back and Jennings playing again I can see Rodgers really putting the ball all over the place again. Something we haven't seen much of this year.

Originally Posted by: warhawk 

It seems to me I was hearing alot about wanting to run the ball better and be more balanced and now that they are getting that people want the big play offense back. C'mon guys. You don't get it both ways.
Teams have chosen to take the big play offense away with two safeties playing deep. We see it every week now. So the alternative is to run the ball and fortunately that has been going well. This does not, however, provide an opportunity to put up big numbers.

It's all about the playoffs now and if we secure home field the run game becomes a huge part of being able to win. If we can run as effectively or nearly as well as our opponents Rodgers will take care of the rest.

Besides, how many games have we had the whole receiving group on the field together? Not many. So with Jordy back and Jennings playing again I can see Rodgers really putting the ball all over the place again. Something we haven't seen much of this year.

Originally Posted by: warhawk 

Simply put...stop Brandon Marshall, stop the Bears offense.

Cutler- 213 completions for 2,495 yards and 16 touchdowns
Marshall- 101 receptions for 1,342 yards and 9 touchdowns (we'll say 8 since 1 was from Campbell vs SF)

Completions- 47% to Marshall
Yards- 54% is Marshall
Touchdowns- 50% is Marshall

Last game vs Vikings
Cutler- 32 pass attempts
Marshall- 19 targets
59% of pass attempts to Marshall

Of course, I didn't have to post any of these numbers to show any of you that Brandon Marshall is all Cutler has and looks at but I thought what the hell. I thought the completion % would be a bit higher to Marshall but it is still pretty close to 50%.

With the way Tramon played Marshall last time (2 receptions for 24 yards, 0 TD) and the way he played Megatron this past week, I think the Packers defense overall dominates the Bears offense with the return of our starters. Matthews, Woodson, and Wilson being back is HUGE for this defense.

No Urlacher for the Bears will be big for us as well. Urlacher has always played well against the Packers and with him missing, their run defense is hurt. This will open up a lot of opportunities for our offense.

Packers by 10.

Originally Posted by: Yerko 

Is Tim Jennings still out, as well? He is their best pure cover corner, imo. Losing him is a huge loss.

Originally Posted by: doddpower