2005 NFL Preview: Chicago Bears

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Last Year

Lovie Smith has no relation to John and Jane Smith, but his new marriage with the Chicago Bears was just as rocky Mr. and Mrs. Smith's in its first year. No, Lovie and the Bears didn't resort to the same violence employed by Brad Pitt's and Angelina Jolie's characters, but a 1-5 start, compounded by season-ending injuries to starting quarterback Rex Grossman and Pro Bowl safety Mike Brown, was enough to remove the Bears from any contention. A 5-11 record does not accurately represent what this team is capable of, so be careful if you plan on underestimating Chicago in 2005.

What We Learned From Last Year

Keep smiling, keep shining, knowing you can always count on me, for sure.

Although that's what friends are supposedly for, the Bears couldn't count on, anyone as most of their starters were unavailable because of injuries.

On offense, the Bears missed guard Ruben Brown (seven games), tackle Marc Colombo (eight games), quarterback Rex Grossman (13 games), and on defense, end Adewale Ogunleye (four games), linebacker Brian Urlacher (seven games), cornerback Charles Tillman (eight games), cornerback Jerry Azumah (four games), and safety Mike Brown (14 games).

It's hard to keep smiling and shining when most of your marquee players are spending more time off the field than on it.

The loss of Rex Grossman was particularly crippling, as the team had no other viable quarterback to lead an already average offense. Chat Hutchinson, Craig Krenzel, and Jonathan Quinn were all abysmal.

To their credit, their task was exponentially more difficult playing behind the league's worst offensive line. They, too, were ravaged by injury and surrendered a league-high 66 sacks.

Surprisingly, though, running back Thomas Jones was still functional behind this deficient line. Matter of fact, he output his best season as a pro and flashed some of the brilliance that the Arizona Cardinals saw in him when they selected him fifth overall in the 2000 NFL draft.

Jones was one of the brightest running backs in the first three weeks of the season, not coincidentally while Rex Grossman was still healthy, compiling 445 rushing and receiving yards and four touchdowns. He finished 2004 with 1,348 combined yards and seven touchdowns in 14 games.

Although sack totals are not always a precise barometer for how functional an offensive line is in the running game, it's clear Jones was running behind a mediocre group. What makes his accomplishments even more impressive was the fact that the Bears entailed the worst-ranked passing game.

On the other side of the ball, the statistics were distressing, but in reality, the Bears are more advanced than their 21st total defense ranking indicates.

Consider that their offense did not offer much support, hanging the defense out to dry for 31:40 per game (fifth worst in NFL). Eventually, an already short-handed defense simply wore down.

The defensive line was one of the positive spots on this squad. End Adewale Ogunleye was acquired in a trade for wide receiver Marty Booker and anchored a very young and budding line. Alex Brown was adept at keeping double-teams away from Ogunleye and rookies Tommie Harris and Tank Johnson also emerged as quality lineman.

Glimpses of the future sprouted in the secondary and linebacking corps, as well. Third-year linebackers Hunter Hillenmeyer and Lance Briggs materialized as worthy starters. Hillenmeyer is not the most athletic backer, but is a smart defender and Briggs is simply a tackling machine, compiling 126 total tackles in his second season.

In the secondary, Charles Tillman, Jerry Azumah, and rookie Nathan Vasher didn't spend too much time to playing together, but look to be a solid trio going forward. Vasher benefited from Tillman's absence (due to injury) and led the team with five interceptions.

When it really mattered, the Bears defense buckled down and only permitted teams to convert 30.5% of their third downs (first in NFL) and when the veterans return to join the promising young talent in 2005, this will be a premiere defense.

This Year

For a team that was so badly hampered by injuries last year, it's good to hear that the strength and conditioning plan is changing heading into this season. Lovie Smith put the Bears through rigorous offseason workouts heading into his first year, which may have factored into their regular season health. This year, Smith has heeded the advice of new conditioning coach Rusty Jones and abandoned double session practices. Jones will also focus on hydration and nutrition programs and lessen the physicality of the practices.

On offense, Smith will introduce his second offensive coordinator in two seasons. Last year, Terry Shea did an excellent job of putting Thomas Jones in a position to succeed, but the rest of the offense was dreadful.

As Ron Turner takes over the reigns, Jones will be pushed aside in favor of a power ground game with rookie Cedric Benson. Jones was exceptional in an all-around role last season, but he's not a power back who can carry the ball 25 times a game.

Enter Cedric Benson.

He will have one of the better offensive lines in front of him — if they can stay healthy — with Pro Bowler Olin Kreutz right in the center of it. Tackles Fred Miller and John Tait and guard Ruben Brown are in upper echelons at their positions and Roberto Garza is versatile veteran who could start if no one better step up in front of him.

This line will not allow 66 sacks like the one last year.

For Rex Grossman, who has fully recovered from his knee injury, that is great news. With a renewed focus of pounding the ball, Grossman should have some more time to develop as a quality quarterback. He has only started six games in two seasons.

Muhsin Muhammad, who led the league in receiving yards and touchdowns last season, will be a major boost to what was one of the leagues worst set of receivers.

The grouping is still thin without a solid number two receiver. Bernard Berrian and Justin Gage will compete for the immediate starting role, but rookie Mark Bradley could be the long-term solution. Tight end is also a bare position.

But the Bears do not need a ton of production from their receiving corps, they just need reliability — which they should have if either Berrian, Gage, or Bradley can evolve as a weapon.

If the offensive line is as dominant as it looks on paper, the Bears will be able to score more than their league-worst 14.4 points per game in 2004.

On defense, the Bears will put sufficient pressure on opposing quarterbacks with their front four. Ogunleye is the stud, but Alex Brown and Tommie Harris are quickly catching up.

The return of Brian Urlacher and Mike Brown will be an enormous lift to the defense in the clubhouse and on the field.

Urlacher has been much-maligned over the past couple of seasons, but is still a premiere linebacker. He hasn't had legitimate partners to his left and right since Rosevelt Colvin and Warrick Holdman departed in 2002 and 2003, but Hillenmeyer and Briggs have matured into proficient starters.

Brown is an emotional leader and will be teamed with Mike Green as the safeties. Green is only average, so the Bears will be relying on Brown to recover from his Achilles injury.

The Bears defense doesn't have any household names outside of Brown, Urlacher, and Ogunleye and sent zero defenders to the Pro Bowl in 2004, but is laced with young potential.

Charles Tillman is a budding shutdown cornerback and Tommie Harris, Alex Brown, and Lance Briggs are all burgeoning with promise. Lovie Smith is a defensive-minded coach, so you can expect this squad to be ranked highly by the end of 2005.

The reason why the Bears are a sleeper team is because of the weak competition in their division. Even though injuries impeded the defense, they still boasted the highest ranking among their division opponents. Green Bay is declining, even if Javon Walker, Bubba Franks, and Grady Jackson end holdouts, Minnesota has never been mentally tough under Mike Tice, and Detroit, as highly-regarded as they might be, has yet to prove anything whatsoever.

In a division that is up for grabs, I'll take the best defense any day.

Over/Under: 6.5

With Randy Moss out of the division and Green Bay's defense being as horrendous as it is, no team has a clear-cut advantage over the Chicago Bears anymore. They should be able to win at least three games in-house which means they will need four more from: @WAS, CIN, @CLE, BAL, @NO, SF, CAR, @TB, @PIT, and ATL. Considering they have Washington, Cleveland, San Francisco, and a Week 17 meeting in Minnesota — by that time the Vikings will be in the midst of another collapse — seven wins should not be too arduous.

Fantasy Sleeper

If you're in a league that drafts defenses, the Bears will be a nice ace up your sleeve. Lovie Smith worked wonders in St. Louis, leading the league in takeaways with a desolate defense so he should be able to exploit all of the talents of this squad once his full arsenal returns. The team plans to run the ball, control the clock, and play defense, so don't expect them to get blown out very often, especially with Randy Moss far and away.

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