Breaking Down The Bears Defensive Line & Secondary

The health of Tommie Harris has been well publicized all off season after an injury plagued season. Harris who just signed a $40 million dollar contract in June of 2008, has only missed six games in his career, but has hardly been healthy the past few seasons. Harris is an essential key to the Bears defense and the entire defensive line. He will have to be the healthy and disruptive force that everyone has seen in the past if this Bears defense plans to rebound from an atrocious past few seasons. If he continues to struggle and doesn't force a double team in the middle - expect the Bears defensive ends to be very inconsistent at getting after the QB.

The once frightening front four the Chicago Bears possessed during the 2005 and 2006 seasons is still largely in place. The biggest acquisition made to improve the play of this unit was not a player through the draft, but rather Rod Marinelli, former head coach of the Detroit Lions. Marinelli is notorious for his great work as a defensive line coach and has already shown to have a positive impact. This defensive line is littered with talent including Tommie Harris, Adewale Ogunleye, Mark Anderson, Alex Brown, Anthony Adams, Israel Idonije, Marcus Harrison, and others. Although, Adewale Ogunleye has shown some aging, his drop in production can be attributed to Tommie Harris not being on the field. Ogunleye, now 32 years old, is entering the final year of his contract and should have some added motivation to cash in for his likely last decent sized pay day. Alex Brown has been arguably the Bears most consistent defensive lineman since 2003 both against the run and getting after the quarterback. Brown is not likely to get double digit sack numbers, but his consistent play against the run and knack for breaking up passes is thought of highly by the coaching staff. The big wild card is Mark Anderson - who has been quite the enigma. During his rookie year, he forced 4 fumbles and collected 12 sacks. The past two seasons he has been largely ineffective and a disaster against screen passes and run plays. If there is one player Marinelli can really bring back to life it would have to be Anderson who has been to known to take off plays and not play as hard as he can. Another disruptive force ready to break out is Marcus Harrison, the Bears third round choice in 2008. Harrison always thought of as a highly talented player fell in the draft, because of character concerns. Harrison showed up to training camp out of shape and missed some time, but looks to be in shape and ready to make an impact this season. The rookies Jarron Gilbert and Henry Melton are not likely to make a huge impact this season barring an injury. Both are very raw, but Melton is much further away at this point. The bottom line is the Bears need both Adewale Ogunleye and Mark Anderson to play up to their potential. If Tommie Harris can stay healthy expect some really good things from this front four. Detroit's offensive line is pretty brutal with a very old Jeff Backus at LT and a 2nd year player Gosder Cherilus at RT. Minnesota's long time center Matt Birk is gone and they will be starting a rookie RT in Phil Loadholt who gets crushed by speed rushers. The Packers OL has Chad Clifton's corpse at LT and a young player in Allen Babre at RT. This defensive line is set up to have a great year - no more excuses.

Another potential problem the Bears are going to face in 2009 is in their secondary. The Bears' best player in the secondary Charles Tillman has been watching from the sidelines all summer and has struggled with injuries in the past. A huge camp surprise has been Zackary Bowman, a 5th round pick in 2008, who was your typical boom or bust selection. He was having arguably the best camp out of any player not named Greg Olsen before going down with a hamstring injury. Injuries are nothing new to Bowman whose entire career has been derailed by injury after injury. At one point Bowman was thought to be a potential first round pick. Bowman is still day-to-day with his hamstring injury, but if he can get back on the field anytime soon - he will likely be the starter opposite of Charles Tillman week one. Nathan Vasher has been the biggest disappointment this summer and it has to make you wonder what his future is with this team. He had an awful 2008 season and was called out by then defensive coordinator Bob Babich. He was already burned week one in the preseason against Lee Evans. Vasher signed a $28 million dollar extension in 2007, with a majority of that money front loaded. It's very possible that this is Vasher's last season in Chicago with the amount of depth the Bears have at CB. However, the CB position is not the problem in the secondary, it's likely going to come down to the play of the two safeties. Long time leader of the Bears Mike Brown is no longer here after it was clear all the injuries had caught up to him. Kevin Payne is locked in at SS at the moment and has shown to be a pretty decent starter, however, Danieal Manning who moved from CB back to Safety recently is penciled in to start next to Payne. Manning is a great athlete who most definitely has the range to play the FS position, but he has missed plenty of tackles in his career and blown a lot of coverage. Not only that, Manning is injured right now and has missed both preseason games. Another camp surprise Al Afalava has taken advantage of his opportunity and played very well - showing off great tackling ability and decent athleticism. Afalava was a 7th round pick and reminds me a little bit of Chris Harris. Both were late round picks who are not exceptional athletes, but are big time hitters who seem to have a nose for the ball. Could the Bears coaching staff decide to give up a little bit of athleticism for more consistent tackling and football instincts? The one thing we do know is that this secondary is going to be tested within the division. The Packers are loaded at receiver with guys like Donald Driver, Greg Jennings, Jordy Nelson, etc. and a coaching staff that is likely to scheme for match ups against this relatively untested secondary. The secondary success can also be directly attributed to whether or not the defensive line brings the heat like they have in the past. Last season, the secondary was hung out to dry by the defensive line. I expect much improved play by the corners, but every Bears fan should be extremely worried about the safety play.