Bears 2010. A Headline Waiting To Be Written.

Just to put this photo at the top of my article was nearly enough for me! It shows Mr. Chicago Bears, Brian Urlacher, in tip top shape for the coming season, just like his team (maybe a slight touch of sarcasm!). No hints of back trouble here folks. Pluto's about to get bull rushed.

I've been thinking while reading everyone's articles about how good/bad/indifferent the Bears will be/won't be this upcoming season. I've been thinking while everyone from Devin Hester to Jay Cutler to Brian Urlacher and Tommie Harris has been lauded/applauded/degraded and ripped apart. I've been thinking it's not so black or white. Maybe we can't use last years stats as the gospel that this coming season will be built on/crumble on. Maybe we won't know how good or bad this team will be till the season kicks off against the Pack. But hey, that's the fun isn't it?

Lets face facts. Our offence was brutal last year. No receiver topped 70 catches or 700 yards. Matt Forte was unreal, a dream come true, but he adveraged a paltry 3.9 per carry because in reality he was the Bears only consistent weapon and D's zoned on him all season. Now I'm not down on Orton. Till he was injured he actually surpassed my expectations (they weren't too high I must admit!) and 'managed' (yeah I did) to keep us in games but never threatened anymore than that unfortunately. Even the Oline did ok considering how down everyone (me included-top of the list) was on them. However a few more Forte sized holes rather than mouse sized holes would have been nice.   

As has been mentioned millions and millions and millions of times Mr Jay Cutler will no doubt give this offence more options. Devin Hester should be seen streaking away from opposing backs and actually running onto the ball downfield this season. Greg Olson may actually get more than 6-7 yards down the field and find the ball there. Matt Forte shouldn't face so many 11 man fronts. Hey, maybe Bennett, Wolfe and Jones might actually get on the field. The Bears may even score on a 4th and 1. The 'new' Oline may just possibly open human sized holes and occassionally stop Jared Allen.

Now you'd think with all this talk of offence that the defence was set. No. Not really. Sometimes last season they were positively offensive (yeah I went there) and sometimes they looked like the 05/06 D. Now I love Mike Brown but something had to give with the safeties and not just yards to the opposition (sorry). The corners got hammered on slants no matter who was there, healthy or on their death bed. Our 'backers spent most gamedays dancing by the line as we couldn't consistently create any sort of pass rush and to top it off we needed 8 in the box to stop the run.

This year? I didn't think the Rams D was THAT good with Lovie calling it but it was a million miles better than last years BFF affair. Thankfully the bromance has ended and maybe we'll see some smash mouth football again. {SIDE BAR}Please for God's sake let guys tackle in training{Thanks. I needed that off my chest}. So can the line return? I can't see why not. Harrison looks like a 3rd round steal. Brown seems to get better with age and between Dusty, Tommie, Adams, Israel, Anderson, Gilbert (the youtube pool jumper), Melton and Ade surely someone can hit the QB a few times more than 28 this season. If they can there's a quality 'backer core and more than servicable corners that can go back to work in coverage. Free safety may well be this groups WR issue but I'm hoping (praying) that Graham gets his chance to be the new Mike Brown (heracy, I know).

Finally, my favourite area of the Bears the last 3 years. Special teams. Dave Toub is a genius and now that Manning is returning kicks we'll be winging our way back to no. 1 baby. On a final note and with special teams in mind. Could Wolfe not be used to return punts? I saw that little guy run a few times in preseason last year and man he can move. Imagine him and Hester (Manning on kick offs) lined up back there ready to run back whatever came. WOW.