With the hiring of Mike Martz, the Chicago Bears have officially changed from the normal pound it in, grinding run game in bad weather, to the aerial passing that Martz is commonly known for. Not to say the Bears went in this direction due to a lack of a run game, as Matt Forte has ran for 1k yards before and almost reached that mark last season despite the whole Bears team basically failing most expectations. Jay Cutler can be a great QB at times, and a horrid one as well. What we do know, the guy definitely has a cannon of an arm. Martz will try to open up the passing game more for Cutler to take advantage of his arm, but are the Bears’ WRs ready for the task of becoming the new ‘Greatest Show on Turf”?
The Bears possess all the weapons that Martz likes to utilize in his complex passing style, such as speedsters Devin Hester (The U!!!) and Johnny Knox. The Bears also have a special WR in Devin Aromashodu, as he possesses the size (6’2) and speed the Bears have been looking for. He also was Cutler’s favorite redzone WR, along with Greg Olsen (The U!!!). The possession WR for the Bears will most likely be 2009 draft pick Juaquin Iglesias, out of the University of Oklahoma. The Bears also picked up Chester Taylor in FA, who nabbed nearly 60 passes as the backup to Peterson in Minnesota. He will be essential for pass blocking protections, and giving Cutler another lifeline under duress. It will be interesting to see how Martz uses all of the Bears’ pieces to the best advantage he can use them in. Of course, it all depends if Cutler actually throws to them instead of the opposing teams.
With the blockbuster signing of Julius Peppers, the Bears suddenly have a very nice defensive line. Alex Brown, Peppers, Mark Anderson, and Tommie Harris highlight the D-line, and at LB, ol’ wily veteran Brian Urlacher is still one of the top MLBs in the game as well as an all around player. Lance Briggs should help shore the run game along with Urlacher, and with new D coach in Rod Marinelli, the former Lions Head Coach, the Bears defense should be stronger this year as Rod is a strong defense-minded guy. Charles Tillman will continue to be the Bears’ number one guy at cornerback, with young CBs Alphonso Smith and Zach Bowman taking the other spots. Their safeties are questionable, with rookie Major Wright likely to grab a starting spot, with the other given to probably Daniel Manning. The defense certainly should improve from their atrocious rankings from last season.
Prediction – Hmm, hard to say as Martz is spotty in his teams’ success, but I will say they will have a .500 season or better. I don’t see the Bears ahead of the Packers or Viking though.
8-8 3rd place in NFC north
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Alphonso Smith is a bronco, good try