Chicago Bears Insider: The Bears Can Really Use a Barber

It appears as if the Bears made the decision to keep former Dallas Cowboys running back Marion Barber over last year’s free agent acquisition Chester Taylor. The Bears had been quietly seeking a trade for Taylor but they didn’t have any luck so he became a roster cut casualty this past weekend. 

Barber has done enough this preseason to make the Bears realize that they would be much better off with him than they would have been with Taylor. Taylor struggled a lot last season when he was used in certain running situations and he just never fit in well with the team.  Now that they have, Barber Taylor was expendable.

In the past, Barber has been known as hard runner that is willing to sacrifice his body and his health for that extra yard. He has spent some time on the sidelines with various injuries but he was being used much more then. The Bears won’t use him as much as the Cowboys did.

Matt Forte will continue to be the starter in the Bear’s offense with Barber coming into relieves him in certain situations. Barber will definitely come in when the coaching staff feels that they need a change of pace or to give Forte a rest. Barber may also be a valuable goal line runner due to his size and ability to get in between the tackles and gain yards. 

He will be an asset that the Bears use to their full advantage this season.

The Bears also discovered that backup running back Kahlil Bell can be another option in the running game and his performance this offseason may have also helped to seal Taylor’s fate. 

A Couple of Tidbits From Halas Hall

It appears as if linebacker Lance Briggs, just three years after signing his big contract with the Bears, wants out of Chicago. The reason that Briggs has asked for a trade is because Chicago is not willing to pay him the money he is seeking and so he wants to go somewhere where he can get paid. So now he leaves the team in a big bind. 

His agent, Drew Rosenhaus, is now seeking a trade partner for the Bears to trade Briggs to.
This wouldn’t be a good thing for the Bears because their linebacking corps lacks ideal depth right now. There is no one there to take over and play at the level that Briggs did (or even close to that level). Unless they made a trade for a solid Pro Bowl linebacker the loss of Briggs would be damaging.

So what should the Bear’s do? Should they bend or send Briggs packing?

The Bears offensive line actually played well during the preseason but when the real bullets start flying just how well are they going to play? There are soft spots all over the line but the softest could be at the left tackle with J’Marcus Webb. If he doesn’t fit well there expect the coaching staff to pull him early and try someone else there, perhaps rookie tackle Gabe Carimi. Or they could try to grab someone off another team’s scrap heap.