Bears vs. Bills: Roy Williams and the Chicago Bears' Wide Receiver Battle

The Chicago Bears kick off their preseason schedule on the lakefront this Saturday against the Buffalo Bills.

The Bears have had their fair share of camp controversy this shortened offseason and one of the major storylines that has come out of Bourbonnais is the battle for the top wide-receiver spot on the roster.

Johnny Knox led the Bears in yards and catches last season and seemed to take a big step in development in his first year in the complex Mike Martz offense.

Roy Williams was signed this offseason to compete for starting time with the other wide receivers and while he is a veteran of the Martz offense, he has put up sub par numbers the past few seasons while playing for the Dallas Cowboys.

The Bears recently released their most updated depth chart and Williams had taken Knox's starting spot as the receiver opposite Devin Hester.

This makes for an interesting battle the rest of the preseason that will have Knox trying to win his starting job back while Williams works to keep his.

This slideshow will cover what we should look for during the preseason game on Saturday and who the right player for the job is.

The Amount of Plays Each Guy Gets

The most basic way to identify a football team's best players is to look for which players play the most.

Johnny Knox and Roy Williams will both get playing time tomorrow, but look at who plays the most and who plays with which quarterback and offensive team.

Knox and Jay Cutler seemed to have developed nice chemistry as a receiver-quarterback tandem last season, and who ever plays the best with Cutler could end up winning the starting job.

If Williams ends up playing with the first team and exiting the game early, look for Knox to play more and have the chance to "wow" the coaches against second-team defenses.

Knox could end up getting more playing time on Saturday and putting up better numbers which could really help him earn back the starting job.

The Players' Attitudes

Body language is an easy thing to read during a football game and it is pretty easy to tell how players are feeling based on the way they are carrying themselves on the field and on the sideline.

Roy Williams has had bad attitude problems his entire career which is a big part of why he has bounced around the league.

Johnny Knox is still a young, relatively unproven, player who needs to continue to earn his way up the ranks in this league.

This Saturday, how each player acts will tell us a lot.

If Roy Williams goes out and plays like an entitled, lazy veteran who expects the starting job to be handed to him, it could be his demise.

On the other hand, if Williams plays hard on every play, makes some catches and perhaps scores a touchdown acting like he is fighting for the job he is still in the process of earning, it could go a long way in the eyes of the coaches and help his cause.

But really, how likely is that?

Placing Williams No. 1 on the depth chart this early on is a dangerous thing and is a big risk for the Bears.

Williams has proven in the past that he isn't the hardest worker and will mail in some practices and even games. Awarding him a starting spot after he has done very little to earn it could come back to bite the Bears in the end.

Knox won't pout, won't complain and will just work to earn his spot back, which says a lot about the young man and which is why I think he will be the starter come opening day. 

The Numbers

Statistics always seem to be slightly overrated in the preseason, but could still help settle this debate about who should be the starting receiver.

Johnny Knox or Roy Williams putting up huge games, and filling the box score with yards, touchdowns and catches, could be the difference in the competition for the starting job.

The Chicago Bears are going to need playmaking wide receivers this season, after the loss of Greg Olsen—while both of these players are going to play, whoever is starting will make a big difference.

Roy Williams put up the best season in his career under Mike Martz, and if he can come even close to replicating those numbers it would be huge for the Bears.

Johnny Knox had a great second season in the league and took a major step forward in becoming a legitimate No. 1 guy and a big part of the Bears offense.

Both of these guys have potential to put up numbers in the regular season, and what they do in the preseason will perhaps tell us the type of success they will have in 2011.

My Take

While the Chicago Bears vs. Buffalo Bills preseason game will tell us something about who should start at wide receiver, the competition should already be over.

Johnny Knox proved all last season that he is a valued weapon of Jay Cutler and a valued part of the offense.

The fact that the Bears have listed Roy Williams, a below average production receiver who has already blown a second chance in the NFL, is a joke and upsetting.

While this move isn't final, and the Bears could easily fix it by the time the season opens, it forces me to continue thinking that the Bears have no idea what they are doing with their wide receivers and that they are completely incompetent when it comes to building a receiving core capable of winning a Super Bowl.

The Bears traded almost an entire draft for a franchise quarterback and yet refuse to give him any legitimate offensive weapons or even build around him at all.

Johnny Knox was proving that the Bears had finally figured it out and were taking small steps towards giving Jay Cutler some help.

But this roster move, along with the Greg Olsen trade, erases those steps and tells me the Bears are back to square one.