CHICAGO BEARS - OFFSEASON 2008

---written at beginning of offseason---


Laurence Holmes (from 670 The Score) emailed me the other day with a three-step plan for fixing the Bears. While on the surface it may appear that it takes more than three steps to fix a 7-9 team, it's not really that far-fetched.

Coming off the 13-3/Super Bowl year in 2006, I knew things would get tougher for the Bears. When I first saw the 2007 schedule, I predicted 10-6--based solely on the toughness of the schedule itself. Add on top of that the unrecoverable losses of Mike Brown and Dusty Dvoracek for the season, as well as injuries to Tommie Harris, Nathan Vasher, Lance Briggs, Charles Tillman, Greg Olsen, Rex Grossman, Brian Griese, and many others...in actuality a 7-9 mark sounds about right. And that's what they ended up with.

But that aside, 7-9 really isn't that much different than 10-6. It's a dropped pass here and a first down there.

And just as the 2006 team probably wasn't as good as 13-3 would indicate. The 2007 season wasn't as bad as 7-9 showed. So in those terms, you're not that far away from a 10-6 2008 campaign. And that sounds pretty good right now. That might win the division in 2008.

"We don't have a quarterback, we don't have a running back!!!" Bears' fans couldn't wait to replace Rex Grossman and Cedric Benson this offseason. I have a better plan. Replace everything BUT your QB and your RB.

The offensive line was embarrasingly pourous. Fred Miller (class of Baylor '96) is my favorite player on the Bears. But I couldn't stand his play this year. Yuck. When he wasn't false starting, he was leaky. Get rid of him. The QB and the RB didn't have a chance this year with that kind of offensive line play. No time to throw and no room to run. I think the jury's still out on Rex and Cedric. Fix the line first. THEN see if you need to complain about your skill players.

And while you're at it, get some WRs who will fight for the ball and help out your QB. I love Muhsin Muhammed, but he's no longer fit to line up with a first team offense. And Bernard Berrian will make the highlight reel a half dozen times a year. But he won't fight for the catches you have to have to keep your offense on the field when it matters most. Fix the receivers and line. THEN complain about Rex and Cedric.

The three steps that Laurence mentioned were: 1). Sign Alan Faneca. 2). Draft one of the highly touted left tackles so you can move John Tait back where he belongs. 3). Sign Michael Turner.

I think Michael Turner kind of played himself out of the limelight after LT went down in the playoffs. (But I know what he meant...Turner's a Chicago kid ready for his own gig). But I do like the first two steps. Overhaul the O-line. With just two changes, you can affect the entire unit because moving Tait back to the right side is a big deal at this point in his career.

The Bears didn't sign Tait to play on the left side. He's done a respectable job over there, but drafting a left tackle would essentially cure both sides of the line. Then, if you're lucky enough to land Faneca on top of that, then you are talking dominance. Faneca would be a very un-Bear-like move, but it's fun about which to think.

And so very quickly--with just a couple tweaks--the offense begins to have a chance at success. Rex might be able to actually focus on what he needs to do. The running game might actually be able to set up the passing game from time to time. That was non-existent in 2007. And yes, improve the receivers. No, don't go get a number one (when was the last time the Bears had an actual number one WR anyway??? Not in my lifetime). But go get a veteran who can continue to mentor Devin Hester, and can help out his quarterback. Something tells me Marty Booker might be available this offseason. Sign him.

What's more...the tight end position can only continue to improve. I was listening to Mike and Mike late last summer, and they had on John Clayton. They asked him about what he was the most impressed from all the NFL training camps. His answer? The Bears offense. He said the early chemistry between Grossman and Greg Olsen was eye-popping. He expected huge things. So did I. A pass-catching TE would change everything.

Unfortunately, Olsen got hurt at the beginning of the season. And by the time he came back, Rex was in and out of the lineup. They never even got close to using Olsen correctly. But now...as a healthy sophomore...Olsen could transform that offense with his big play capability. I think people underestimated the impact of not having him at full strength last year.

And yes, I do want to focus almost primarily on the offense. I know the defense was particularly embarrasing at times (see the Minnesota game[s]) last year. But this is one time I think you can expect better things if players get healthy. No I won't count on Mike Brown this year. That's one I'll give up. But the Bears defensive unit wasn't healthy and together for one single game last year. I think just a little better luck on that side of the ball this year will cause that squad to return to near-2006 status.

Like I said, a play here and a play there and the Bears were a winning team last year. They needed ONE more first down against the Giants at home late in the year to beat the eventual Super Bowl champions. They were one (improbable) Ryan Longwell field goal away from forcing overtime at home with Minnesota. They were only blown out once. The Dallas Sunday night game. Every other game was extremely winnable. And that leads me to believe that they're closer than the Chicago media would like to believe... Here's to another genius draft from Jerry Angelo.