By Brad BiggsMOBILE, Ala. -- Tim Shaw set a Bears' franchise record for special-teams tackles and wound up leading the NFL in that category, but if he wants to see the Pro Bowl on Sunday, he will have to watch on television.
Minnesota's Heath Farwell was chosen as the NFC's Pro Bowl special-teams player. Shaw's season didn't go unnoticed, though, as USA Today selected the reserve linebacker for its 18th All-Joe team, a nod to his standout performance. The All-Joe team was named after Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle Joe Phillips, who did steady work in the trenches but never merited the attention given to teammates Neil Smith and Derrick Thomas.
The guidelines for the All-Joe team are pretty simple.
Photo: Tim Shaw makes a kickoff-return tackle at Detroit. (Jose M. Osorio/Tribune)
"Our Joes are not average or even sloppy, but rather unheralded,
unloved and, sometimes, underpaid since the one prerequisite for being
an All-Joe is that you cannot have a Pro Bowl on your résumé."
Shaw didn't know a lot about the All-Joes when it was announced Tuesday, but he's happy and at the same time motivated to make himself ineligible starting next year with a trip to the Pro Bowl.
"I'm humbled by it," Shaw said. "You look at the list of the guys on the team and there are no overachievers on it. It's all guys who have goals. You can call us overachievers if you want, but we're working hard like everyone else and we want to be great.
"None of us are playing the game for recognition. This makes me feel good but it also motivates me for more, definitely."
Shaw was credited with 30 tackles on special teams after setting a team high under special-teams coordinator Dave Toub with eight tackles in the season finale at Detroit. According to USA Today, he had 20 special-teams tackles (it's a subjective statistic). That was still good for tops in the league, and Shaw joined the team in Week 2, a find on the street after Brian Urlacher was placed on injured reserve.
Here is more motivation for him: The Pro Bowl, being played at the site of the Super Bowl in Miami, will return to Honolulu next year.
Shaw is an exclusive-rights free agent. The Bears are expected to tender him for the minimum.
Shaw didn't know a lot about the All-Joes when it was announced Tuesday, but he's happy and at the same time motivated to make himself ineligible starting next year with a trip to the Pro Bowl.
"I'm humbled by it," Shaw said. "You look at the list of the guys on the team and there are no overachievers on it. It's all guys who have goals. You can call us overachievers if you want, but we're working hard like everyone else and we want to be great.
"None of us are playing the game for recognition. This makes me feel good but it also motivates me for more, definitely."
Shaw was credited with 30 tackles on special teams after setting a team high under special-teams coordinator Dave Toub with eight tackles in the season finale at Detroit. According to USA Today, he had 20 special-teams tackles (it's a subjective statistic). That was still good for tops in the league, and Shaw joined the team in Week 2, a find on the street after Brian Urlacher was placed on injured reserve.
Here is more motivation for him: The Pro Bowl, being played at the site of the Super Bowl in Miami, will return to Honolulu next year.
Shaw is an exclusive-rights free agent. The Bears are expected to tender him for the minimum.
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Hopefully the emergence of Shaw will end the McClover experiment once and for all. Shaw is a real linebacker, not a big safety, and can not only play on special teams, but fill in at strong side and middle if we get injuries.
He will be the cornerstone of our special teams coverage units, and give us the presence we have lacked since letting Ayanbadejo go. If we add Kevin Malast to the active roster in a similar role next year, that is two very good linebackers to have in reserve capacity.
Right now under contract are Hillenmeyer, Briggs, Urlacher, and Roach. You bring back Shaw, Tinoisamoa, and Williams, and that is a 7 deep group that is very versatile, aggressive, and talented. I would rather drop Tinoisamoa and Hillenmeyer, and add Malast so we are 6 deep and younger on the depth chart. Most of the Tampa 2 teams are getting the job done with a shorter MLB than Urlacher, so if we have to use Roach, Williams, Shaw, or Malast to back him up, I think we can make it work.