| Dennis Hobein. 6th June, 2005 - 6:58 pm
 Given the Bears futility the past, oh, decade or so, it would be easy to pencil in another losing record and another year of “landing next year’s top draft pick”. Many analysts and “professionals” are doing exactly that. However, past performance doesn’t always guarantee future results, to borrow a phrase from the financial services world. Every year there is a team or two that sneaks up on the league. Last year it was the San Diego Chargers. This year, it could be the Bears. The Bears have been lumped in with the Cardinals, Bengals, and Browns as perennial losers. And deservedly so. However, I believe this is going to be one of the biggest surprise teams of the year.
The Bears defense is the strength of the team, and was the only reason the Bears won 5 games last year. The defense will be even better this year. With a healthy Brian Urlacher, Mike Brown, Jerry Azumah, and Charles Tillman, the Bears “D” is upgraded without making a trade or signing a free agent pickup. The Bears finally have an effective, and deep, front line as well. Adewale Ogunleye, Michael Haynes, Tank Johnson, Tommie Harris and Alex Brown make up an “up and coming” defensive line that should put substantial pressure on opposing QBs. The only question mark is at strong side backer, which will be a competition between Hunter Hillenmeyer and Joe Odom in the pre-season.
Offensively, the Bears had an “Extreme Makeover: Offense Edition” this off-season. Watching the Bears offense last year was as enjoyable as watching paint dry. Perhaps the biggest improvement will be at quarterback, where the Bears will have Rex Grossman back after a knee injury knocked him out of 14 games last year. With the pickup of Kyle Orton in the draft, the Bears are deeper this year at QB. The Bears #1 pick (4th overall) Cedric Benson instantly upgrades the running game. With the Thomas Jones/Cedric Benson combo and a revamped offensive line, the Bears should be able to pound the football. That should enable the Bears to stay in 3rd and short most of the time, which plays right into the hands (no pun intended) of Muhsin Muhammad who is a huge target. The Bears also added a down field threat in Mark Bradley from Oklahoma. This Bears offense won’t challenge the Colts for highest scoring offense, but it is a vast improvement over last year and should take a lot of pressure off the Bears defense.
In the “addition by subtraction” category, the Bears dumped the ineffective David Terrell, the inconsistent Paul Edinger, and the aging R. W. McQuarters. The Bears also changed their Offensive Coordinator for the 3rd time in 3 years. Ron Turner, previously the Head Coach of the Fighting Illini, takes over the controls. Turner prefers a “smash mouth” style, which should work well in the cold, windy days at Soldier Field.
The NFC North is going to be a much more competitive division this year. With Green Bay’s defense having more holes than Swiss cheese, and the Vikings losing their biggest offensive threat, Randy Moss, the Bears will have an opportunity to gain some ground in this division. If this team stays healthy, a Wild Card bid is not out of the question. It’s easy to be pessimistic regarding the Bears, but I’m taking the road less traveled: You’ll see the Bears in the playoffs in ’05. You can stop laughing now. |
