Alonzo Mayes

Tight end is no longer an afterthought in the Dolphins' passing offense. That became evident Sunday when the Dolphins selected the University of Georgia's Randy McMichael in the fourth round of the NFL Draft. In the system being installed by new...

So much for keeping up with the big boys. So much for playoff hopes dangling by a mathematical thread. Beating the Detroit Lions, as it turns out, doesn't mean much when you're playing a real playoff team. And easy schedule, easy conference or not,...

A typically sloppy preseason game? Or a game typical of what will be a sloppy team? You make the call. Actually, the replay official did in reversing a safety after Pittsburgh's block of a Todd Sauerbrun punt and calling it a touchdown to give the...

You could hardly blame them. It's pouring rain. Their team hadn't shown the ability to move the ball without turning it over, much less score. From the opposing sideline, Mike Ditka, for crying out loud, was glowering at his team to close it out. None of...

It was a miserable Sunday at Soldier Field. Penetrating cold, gusting winds, pelting rain turning to sleet. The kind of day that makes football teams look bad. Only in this case, while the Bears were huddled against the elements, slipping, bobbling and...

It was right there in front of them. Again. This time with the freaky hand of fate that hangs around places like Three Rivers Stadium, it turned a deflected pass by Erik Kramer on third-and-long into a diving completion by Curtis Conway and a first down...

They grasp at numbers now, juggling and rejuggling the equation each week until it still somehow works. And for the purposes of maintaining their professional sanity, anyway, it still does. The magic figure now is 9-7. So what if it requires beating...

Forgive them for acting a little silly. For offering up metaphors for life. And crediting a change to green Gatorade from orange. For sprawling on the Soldier Field turf when the day was over and making grass angels until they didn't know whether to laugh...

Jim Flanigan's jaw was clenched so tightly, his teeth threatened to shatter under the pressure, and you wonder how much a six-year Bears veteran can take. You wonder how many more of these any of them can absorb and dissect and move past when every week,...

If you're still watching, stop trying to figure them out. There is no statistical category for fairness, just as there is none for heartbreak. These Bears merely take each week as it comes and thank the football gods when they are allowed to survive....

They were not specifically trying to save their coach's job. Nor were they trying to prove anyone wrong, shut anyone up or lay anyone out. They were certainly not attempting to move down in the draft order, but they did not particularly care if they...

You were scared for them at first. Seriously frightened that for the first time in the annals of organized sport, a team might actually be ground into the artificial turf and disappear. Minnesota's offense operated as if running its pregame walkthrough,...