Chicago Bears: 5 Preseason Position Battles to Watch

With training camp at full speed and the regular season approaching quickly, we've arrived at the stage of the preseason where positional battles are something to watch out for. As usual, the Bears have multiple battles going on for their offensive line, but there are also a few other battles to look out for.

Due to the Hall of Fame game against the Rams being canceled, the Bears have only played one preseason game and have had minimal opportunities to see their players compete against defenses other than their own.

The next few weeks of practice and upcoming preseason games will be critical for players who are battling for roster spots to impress their coaches. Here are five positional battles on the Chicago Bears to look out for:

Starting Center: Roberto Garza vs. Chris Spencer

This is a battle that not many people saw coming a few weeks ago. Ever since the Bears parted ways with longtime center Olin Kreutz, a battle has begun between Roberto Garza and newly acquired, Chris Spencer.

The Bears signed the former Seattle Seahawk Spencer to a two-year deal and he will be making about $3 million this season. Garza has been a member of the Bears since 2005.

After the Bears go out and make a move where they sign a guy who has started 70 games at center over the past five seasons, a battle is somehow created with a guy who has only started one NFL game at center: Roberto Garza.

For the bulk of training camp, Garza has been taking snaps with the first team offense and doing a quality job. Garza played some center in college, but has been a guard for the vast majority of his NFL career.

This is a battle that the Bears will hopefully decide soon, because waiting will only hurt them. The relationship between a quarterback and center is very sensitive and only becomes a natural fit through constant repetitions.

If Chris Spencer wants to start for the Chicago Bears, he better do it soon because the longer that he waits to impress the coaches, the more comfortable Garza will get at center.

This battle may boil down to one thing: Are the Bears better off having Roberto Garza at center and Lance Louis at guard or Chris Spencer at center and Garza at guard. With the sub-par play of Louis, and unproven ability of Spencer here in Chicago, his should be a good battle to watch.

Cornerback: Tim Jennings vs. Zach Bowman

With Charles Tillman occupying one of the starting cornerback spots, the battle for the second starter boils down to Tim Jennings and Zach Bowman. What makes this a very interesting battle is the fact that they were battling last year as well.

Jennings won the battle last year and played a lot of the season at cornerback, while Bowman watched from the sideline. Jennings had 56 tackles, seven pass deflections, one forced fumble and an interception last year, while Bowman only had 32 tackles and a forced fumble.

While Jennings is a small 5'8'', Bowman is 6'1'' and a powerful player. What makes the situation so strange is that Bowman has all of the tools to be a star cornerback in this league, but simply does not seem to either have the heart or the work ethic to go out and grab his starting spot.

Throughout camp, Jennings has looked like the better corner and has made play after play.  Expect this to be a battle won by Jennings, with Bowman coming in right behind him.

Backup Quarterback: Caleb Hanie vs. Nate Enderle

Now is time for the most exciting battle of the season: Who will be the Bears backup quarterback? The battle boils down to Caleb Hanie versus rookie Nate Enderle.

The Bears drafted Enderle from Idaho in the fifth round and he has switched off with Hanie this week in taking the reps with the second-team offense. Hanie did start the Bears preseason game against the Bills and had the game's lone touchdown run.

After seeing Enderle take reps with the second team this week, many people saw this as a demotion to Caleb Hanie, who has been the backup to Jay Cutler throughout camp.

It is clear that Martz is not a huge fan of Hanie and thinks that he holds onto the ball too long in certain situations. Hanie did however move back up to playing with the second team.

This is a good battle to watch, but as a Bears fan I have to ask myself a question: If Jay Cutler gets hurt and either of these guys play, do the Bears stand any chance anyways?

Wide Receiver: Roy Williams vs. Johnny Knox

This is the battle that everyone loves to see. The new guy in town, Roy Williams, is challenging the Bears leading receiver from a year ago, Johnny Knox. Both players bring different aspects to the Bears offense and it will be interesting to see which one wins out.

Knox is one of the fastest guys in the league and if the Bears find a way to get the ball in his hands, good things usually happen. After accumulating 960 yards receiving last year, Knox came very close to being the Bears' first 1,000-yard receiver since Marty Booker in 2001.

This offseason the Bears went out and got Jay Cutler a big receiver in Roy Williams. Williams is 6'3'' and go up and grab the ball out of the air very well.

While Knox's biggest strength is his speed and explosiveness, Williams brings a big body who is an instant red-zone threat. It doesn't hurt Williams' case that some of his best years of his career were in Detroit under a Mike Martz-run offense.

Defensive Tackle: Henry Melton, Matt Toeaina and Amobi Okoye

The strength of the Chicago Bears this season will be their defensive line, which makes the battle for defensive tackle a good one to have. Between Henry Melton, Matt Toeaina and Amobi Okoye, the Bears have a good battle to look at for the other defensive tackle position next to Anthony Adams.

Henry Melton played a heavy amount of minutes for the Bears last season and did a good job. Melton has also been virtually unstoppable in practice (let's hope that this is due to his talent and not the terrible state of the Bears offensive line).

Toeaina is another guy who was on the Bears last year and played in all 16 games. Toeaina did a solid job with 24 tackles and 2.0 sacks, but nothing to guarantee him a starting spot this season.

Amobi Okoye is a guy who the Bears went out and got this offseason. Okoye, the 10th overall pick in the 2007 draft, was released by the Texans earlier this year.

During the first preseason game against the Bills, Okoye had a very good showing and let the Bears know that he is very well in this competition. Despite being in the league for four seasons, Okoye is only 24 years old and still developing at the NFL level.

This should be a good battle to look out for and if the Bears find a combination that works at defensive tackle, they could have one of the strongest defensive lines in the NFL. No matter what these guys do at defensive tackle, they should look good when they get to play next to a guy named Julius Peppers.