[bears9]

LAKE FOREST, Ill. – The Bears on Monday placed defensive end Mark Anderson on injured reserve. The second-year pro suffered a knee injury Dec. 17 in a Monday night loss in Minnesota and was not active for Sunday’s win over Green Bay.
Anderson is currently tied for third on the Bears with five sacks and ranks fifth on the defensive line with 36 tackles. The 2006 fifth-round pick from Alabama also recorded five tackles for loss, nine quarterback hits, one pass breakup and one forced fumble in his first full season as a starter.

Asked to assess Anderson's season, coach Lovie Smith said: "Mark's year was like the rest of our year. He's played at a 6-9 pace like all of us have. We would like for all of us to improve next year to get back to where the Chicago Bears belong. Mark is like everyone else. We can all play a lot better."

Anderson burst on the scene in 2006, setting a Bears rookie record with 12 sacks, the fourth highest total by an NFL rookie since sacks became an official statistic in 1982. The 6-4, 255-pounder finished second in balloting for NFL Rookie of the Year behind former Alabama teammate DeMeco Ryans, a linebacker with the Houston Texans.

Asked about Anderson's decline in sacks, Smith said: "It's a different year. You're in a different situation. You have to look a little bit farther than just sacks. I think when you have the type of year that Mark had, teams will look at you a little bit differently.

"You can say that he's gotten chipped a few more times and had to deal with tight ends and things like that, but that's just a part of it. I'm going to go back to our football team. For the most part, we all played about the same way. We didn't play as well as we need to and as we will this coming year."

Anderson was replaced by six-year veteran Alex Brown, who set up a touchdown with his fourth career interception and registered the game’s only sack in his first start of the season.

http://http://www.chicagobears.com/n...?story_id=4226

[Weird harold]

The Bear's season was disappointing, and Anderson's season was disappointing. I expected great things from him, last year, It seamed he got a sack on every down he played, and I wondered why he wasn't in the game more. Now it looks like him not playing, and Brown starting was the difference between a Superbowl year, and what we got this year. I'm trying to look on the bright side, maybe since it was going to be a bad year, no matter what, it was good for him to get experience, and in the long run he will be better than Brown.