Chicago Bears: 5 Moves This Team Should Make Soon

Three games down and the Bears are on the ropes.

Mike Martz's offense is in shambles. The defense is spending far to much time on the field and is not getting enough rest between playing time. Even the special teams unit has been decidedly average.

However, all is not lost.

There is still plenty of football left to be played and the Bears can still be the team that stomped the Falcons in Week 1.  

Changes will have to be made, though.  The Bears cannot continue down the current course and expect a different result. 

What we've discovered so far is that, at the current pace, the Bears are not narrowing the talent gap with Green Bay and are being surpassed by Detroit.  Sunday, the Bears were outmatched and out-coached, just as they were in Week 2 against the Saints.  

So what can Chicago do to adjust? What changes can be made by head coach Lovie Smith and general manager Jerry Angelo to turn the corner and close the gap with the Packers, as well as the Lions? Follow me forward as we delve into the moves the Bears should make soon in order to get back on track for the season.

Move Chris Harris Back to the Free Safety Position

The Bears made two mistakes at the safety position during the offseason. Unfortunately, only one is correctable.

The Bears never should have allowed strong safety Danieal Manning to get away via free agency. Jerry Angelo underestimated the value Manning presented to the team. But, Manning is gone and the Bears are forced to move on.

The mistake they can correct however, was the decision to move last year's free safety Chris Harris to his natural strong safety position.

While Harris is better suited for the strong safety spot, the importance of the free safety in the Bears scheme necessitates moving Harris back to his role from 2010, a position he is by far the most qualified Bear to fill.

The decision to rely on Major Wright to fill such an important need was folly, and the Bears need for Harris to elevate the play coming from that important spot now.

Delve Back into Free Agency to Get Some Offensive Line Help.

The Bears spent two first round draft picks, a second round draft pick and a starting quarterback to bring Jay Cutler to Chicago. It's about time they start doing something about protecting their sizable investment.

In fact, Jerry Angelo's job should officially be in jeopardy after failing for the fourth consecutive year to get a proven linemen to shore up weak spots on the line. The last proven linemen the Bears signed were Roberto Garza and Fred Miller in 2005.  At that time, the Bears had a very good offensive line in John Tait, Ruben Brown, Olin Kreutz, Terrence Metcalf and Fred Miller, with Roberto Garza as a backup. Garza replaced Metcalf in 2006.

However, in 2008 that line started to turn over it's aging players. Brown and Miller left that year. Angelo's answer? John St. Clair and Josh Beekman.  He also drafted Chris Williams knowing that Williams had a back issue. That problem kept Williams out of about half of the season and stunted his impact, as he didn't start a single game even with St. Clair leading the league in sacks allowed. 

Tait retired in 2009 and Angelo responded to the Bears tackle woes by promoting Williams and signing Kevin Shaffer. However, the Bears were forced to start Frank Omiyale and J'Marcus Webb at the positions the following season.

Meanwhile, the guard position has been a mess as well. Garza has been solid, but the LG spot has been a turn-style since Brown retired.  

And Kreutz was allowed to leave over $500K of separation between his number and the Bears offer. The Bears answer was to sign Chris Spencer from Seattle, which has provided them with a decent backup for their trouble.

Why Angelo has such an aversion to bringing in proven talent to fill the gaps is anyone's guess, but at this point Ted Phillips should be stepping in to tell Angelo that he must go out do what he can to fill those holes now.  It may be too little too late for some, but there is still some talent out there that would be an improvement over the current roster placeholders, even if they aren't in their prime any more.

Max Starks has had his issues, but he's ready to contribute and the Vikings just worked him out. Starks is just 29 and under Tice could be the answer the Bears are looking for at either tackle position.

Flozell Adams is another body floating around that could provide a short term answer at tackle. He's well past his prime at 36, but he's still better than the players the Bears are currently starting.

And Leonard Davis is still available. He was a cost cutting casualty for the Cowboys and while he's 33 years old, he played well last year and still has a few good years left in him. The Bears could certainly use his help at guard.

While none of these players would likely have the impact for the Bears that a Willie Colon, Carl Nicks or even a Brian Waters would have had, they would go a long way towards keeping Cutler upright and maybe even creating some holes for Matt Forte.

T.O. Doesn't Just Have to Stand for "Turnover" in Chicago

Here's where I'm sure I'm going off the reservation with some of you. But hear me out.

Terrell Owens is not the receiver he was 10 years ago. He's not even the receiver he was five years ago. But, he's still better than any receiver in Chicago and he's still the best receiver available in free agency.

Has he been a problem in the past? Yep. But has he kept his nose clean in Buffalo and Cincinnati? Yep. Honestly, I don't see his shenanigans being a problem in Chicago. The coaching staff is pretty no-nonsense and Owens has been on his best behavior over the past couple of years.

And, he still has the ability to produce. Owens is arguably the best receiver of his generation and while his diva antics have certainly tainted his career,  they haven't tainted his production. Even last year, at 37 years old, Owens put up 983 yards and nine touchdowns on a bad Bengals team, in just 14 games.

He's reportedly in South Korea having stem cell therapy performed to try and speed up his recovery time.  But many have estimated that he will be ready by mid-season. The Bears shouldn't waste any time.

They already screwed up by not surrounding their franchise quarterback with top level talent so far.  The least they could do is provide him with the best of what's left now in a still very game Owens.

Pay the Men......

Let's face it, we've all seen this song and dance before. The Bears will stretch out renegotiating a contract for as long as they can, and then end up rewarding that player pretty fairly.

So why not get rid of the distractions? The Bears are not going to let Lance Briggs get away. They are going to resign Matt Forte.  

Let's put aside the petty "slippery-slope" argument and get these men paid.  

The locker room has been grumbling about respect since seeing the way Tommie Harris, Danieal Manning, Greg Olsen and especially Olin Kreutz were treated in their departures. Some—myself included—questioned the impact that the disgruntled locker room would have on the Bears season. Giving a show of good faith to two of the most respected players in the locker room might help mend some of that resentment.

I understand the argument that Brigg's contract was front-loaded. But the counter to that argument is that the team's in the NFL have a very what-have-you-done-for-me-lately attitude towards players.  They don't keep players who don't perform around on the roster just because they outperformed their contracts previously.  It's hypocritical to expect the players to view it any differently. Briggs is a vital part of this defense and a respected veteran. Pay the man and get it over with.

Forte has far outperformed his contract, especially when you consider that only Adrian Peterson and Chris Johnson have accumulated more yards from scrimmage than Forte has since the Bears rusher entered the league.

I understand that Angelo is a cap wizard.  For all his failings, he is one of the best in the league at dealing with the salary cap while still structuring contracts in ways that ensure that the Bears pay their players very well while staying well below the cap. But, what good is tons of cap room if the team doesn't win?

Stop pinching pennies and pay these players. They have both earned a raise and it would certainly help to earn back some of the good graces lost in the locker room.

Move Play-Calling Duties from Mike Martz to Mike Tice

I'm not ready to advocate a wholesale firing of Mike Martz because the man still has great value as an offensive coordinator.  

My issue here is that he seems to create some very good game-plans and then fails to execute them from a play-calling standpoint. Additionally, he doesn't seem to be able to call his plays in a manner that accounts for the strengths ad weaknesses of his offensive line.

Martz's system can work. But while he should continue to be the genius behind the plays and the game-plan, he needs a general to command the troops.

Tice could and should be that guy.  

Tice understands what his offensive line can and can't do effectively.  He understands how best to exploit the strengths of his line while disguising and compensating for the weaknesses.

With Mad Mike's ability to design plays that best exploit defensive weaknesses combined with Tice's better understanding off what our own players are capable of, the Bears could stand a real shot of turning this offense around.

And remember that Tice has play-calling experience as the head coach of the Vikings, where he lead their offense to top 10 finishes in yardage and points in three of his four full years in charge.

Something has to give, and regardless of how it is presented, Martz needs to be relieved of his play calling duties. Tice seems like the obvious and best solution to that problem.  

Now it's your turn, ladies and gentlemen. Do you think we're way off base here? Think we hit the nail on the head?  Have some idea's of your own? Step right up to the soapbox below and let your voice be heard.