Previewing the Chicago Bears 2007 season

The Bears are about ready to report to training camp for the 2007 NFL season. We are returning as NFC North champions for the first time since we shuffled in 1985. We won't be overlooked this year, and everyone will be gunning to take us down. Perhaps that's why every team to lose the Superbowl in the past 5 years has a combined record of 33-47. Ouch. But this team isn't a one year wonder, or flash in the pan. In fact, I think we got there a year to early, so without further ado, here is my preview for the season.

I believe the Bears to finish with a 12-4 record, 1st place in the NFC North. I see them playing either the Eagles or Cowboys in Round 1, and meeting with New Orleans again in the NFC Championship game. Finally, this will be the year of the '85 Super Bowl rematch. The Patroits will be the team to square off against the Bears. Bears are victorious, but it won't be as big of a butt-whooping as it was back in 1985. I'm sure you are saying to yourself now, geez...what a homer, and maybe you are right. Sure every yahoo out there has their own predictions, but let me also provide some in-depth analysis of our team, position by position, to help give my prediction some backing.

QB: Weakest link first, right? Let's start at the bottom of the depth chart. Kyle Orton came out of college with a pretty good resume. He started many games for the Bears as a rookie, and won most of them. However, everyone gave credit to the defense, not to Orton's ability. That was two years ago, and Orton's grown a lot. Word out of mini-camps had him taking great leaps in decision making ability, and finding the open receiver much easier. He's a very solid 3rd QB, and has some very valuable game experience. Then, occupying the #2 seat, we have a grizzly veteran named Brian Griese. Most people know Griese from his time in Denver, where he had a decent career. Griese knows the offense and is more than capable of coming in and leading the team to victory, he has started 72 games in his career. He owns a 84.5 career QB rating, which is pretty respectable. He just has always seemed to have the ability to cripple his team late in the game, or late in the season....but doesn't every QB until they finally win the big one? And #1 on the depth chart, Rex Grossman. Rex "led" the Bears the Super Bowl last year for this first time since '85. Rex started all 16 games last year to the dismay of many a Bear fan. First of all, he stayed healthy and hopefully shook the tag of being "injury prone". Secondly, after a few of his games everyone thought he would be benched in favor of Griese. After all, the #2 QB is always the most popular guy on the team. Rex had many off games last year, with the Dec 3rd game against Min sticking out the most because of his 3 interceptions and 1.3 QB rating. But let's not forget the high either...week 2 against Det when he threw for 4 TD's, no INT's, and a 148 QB rating. So the question begs...wll the real Rex Grossman please stand up? I think Rex is somewhere in between those two examples. He has worked extremely hard in the off-season on footwork and pocket awareness, the two biggest areas of need for him. I rate this group a C+

RB: Thomas Jones is gone, and it's now the Cedric Benson show. We saw glimpses of what Benson can do, and you better believe he is out to prove everyone wrong. Benson fell out of favor last year, because he had a bad attitude or always seemed to say the wrong thing at the wrong time. Benson averaged over 4 yards per carry last year in a platoon role with Thomas Jones. Benson has shown he has the ability to run right through people. This is his third year, and will probably want to start talking contract next year, and if he has his breakout season, he'll get it. Adrian Peterson, no not the OU guy, is our #2 this year. Peterson has always been productive everytime he's been on the field, and is an outstanding teammate. And picking up the 3rd spot will be the rookie, Garrett Wolfe. Wolfe is small, but extremely fast and powerful. He catches like a WR and should see some playing time when the game situation call for it. I rate this group a B

WR: We have a veteran in Mushin Muhammed leading this group. Behind him we have the speedy Bernard Berrian, Mark Bradley, and Rashied Davis, and the newly converted Devin Hester. Mushy is the only guy that has more than 4 years experience in this group. They are a very talented group, and they will all push for playing time. Hester will be used as a decoy a lot, but they will get the ball into his hands plenty of times. Berrian exploded last year as a deep threat, which created a lot of room in the middle for the other guys. Look for that to expand this year with Hester creating Havoc for Defensive Coordinators. I rate this group a B.

TE: Desmond Clark did an admirable job last year at the TE position catching 45 balls for 600 yards and 6 TD's. With the drafting of Greg Olsen out of Miami, we are looking very good at the TE position. He has the speed to run right by Linebackers and has the ability to make the tough catch. These two guys working together should help out the QB when the rush is on. I rate this group a B+

OL: Probably the highlight of our offense last year. Anchored by Olin Kruetz, it just doesnt' get much better than this line. We have John Tait, Ruben Brown, Olin Kruetz, Roberto Garza, and Fred Miller. The only complaint about the O-Line is that they are starting to get a little long in the tooth, but these guys know how to play together and have been extremely successful. I rate this group an A-

DL: Mark Anderson pushed his way into a starting gig last year with an amazing rookie year capped off with 12 sacks. Adewale Ogunleye will start the opposite side with veteran Alex Brown and rookie Dan Bazuin rotating in to keep everyone fresh. Ogun needs to prove to everyone that he deserves to be the starter or he could be the one rotating in for playing time. This is a very athletic bunch at DE, and they know how to get after the QB. In the middle we have Tommie Harris and....and...Dusty Dvoracek? Antonio Garay? Anthony Adams? Harris is an absolute stud who looks to have fully recovered from a hamstring injury last year. With Tank Johnson gone, I look for Adams and Dvoracek to get the most playing time opposite Harris. I rate this group a B+

LB: Let's see, Brian Urlacher, Lance Briggs, and Hunter Hillenmeyer. Which one of these is not like the other? Hillenmeyer is often overlooked, seeing as how the Bears play a lot of 2 LB sets. When Hillenmeyer is in there, he is a very smart player and a great compliment to Urlacher and Briggs. Urlacher is a beast at MLB and Briggs is the top Wingman in the NFL. No other team can top this group. A+

DB: We have Charles "Peanut" Tillman and Nate Vasher at the corner spots, Ricky Manning JR at the Nickel, Mike Brown and Danieal Manning at the saftery positions. For depth we have Chris Harris, Adam Archuleta, Brandon McGowan, Dante Wesley and a couple rooks. This is a very solid group, and if Mike Brown can stay healthy, they will be one of the top DB groups in the league. Brown is the unquestioned leader of our Defensive backfield, it's just a matter of him making to the field each week. How many of you knew that no other CB duo had more interceptions over the past two seasons than Tillman and Vasher? I rate this group a B+

ST: Devin Hester, Brad Maynard, Robbie Gould, Patrick Mannely, Brenden Ayenbedajo, Dante Wesley, Adrian Peterson. These guys are the keys to our special teams. Everyone knows about Hesters ability to return kicks, especially the record keepers. Gould was as good as gold last year and Maynard had yet another solid season punting the ball back to give our defense a good starting spot. Mannely is probably not well known at all, but he is the long-snapper specialist. I can't remember the last time I saw a bad snap from this guy, he's amazing. The others, they are the "gunners" on kicks and punts. These guys are the first ones down the field looking to kill whoever catches the ball. I rate this group an A-

The coaching staff returns intact minus DC Ron Rivera. Bob Babich takes his place, but has been here since day 1 with Lovie. We have one of the best HC in the NFL, IMO, in Lovie Smith. He knows how to lead, he coaches with integrity and respect for the game and his players. He became the first African-American to lead his team to the Super Bowl last year, and his best friend became the first African-American to lead his team to a Super Bowl victory last year.

This team has a great blend of Veterans and Youth with great leadership in the coaching ranks. These are the reasons I believe the Bears are not a one year wonder, and will not suffer through the same letdown that past Super Bowl runner-ups have. Homer or not, this is a great team the Bears have assembled. This will be the year of the New Super Bowl Shuffle. But just so you don't forget the old one....here it is...one more time:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRj76375kZ4