Tough loss out of the gate

Patrick Mannelly is walking home from Green Bay tonight. What the hell was he thinking direct snapping the ball to Garrett Wolfe there? He's supposed to be team captain. Even if he caught Green Bay with an extra man on the field, we weren't going to get the first down. You just can't do that in that situation backed up on your side of the field late in the game. That was a terrible decision on his part.

And Jay Cutler, in his Bears debut, throws four interceptions. Ouch. While I think he should take a lot of the blame, the receiver play was not good. They looked sloppy. They ran bad routes, they made bad decisions. We need a legit number one receiver. Is it too late to make the trade for Marshall or Boldin?

My other beef with the offense was the play calling tonight. The running game was nonexistent in the first half. And one of the best ways to attack the 3-4 is to pass to backs and tight ends underneath where they're in coverage with defensive end / outside linebacker hybrids who, generally speaking, don't cover all that well. We have good pass catching tight ends and running backs. We should have tried more of that.

On defense, I thought we played well, particularly in the first half. Ogunleye looked fantastic. Nathan Vasher, on the other hand, looked flat out bad. And I don't understand why we brought the safety up on that last Packer touchdown. Coming out of a time out like that, with less than a 90 seconds on the clock, you have to play the pass.

We've got the Steelers next week while the Pack gets the Bungles.

Bear down.

Check please

The NFL is a tough business. There are, dare I say, hundreds of thousands of kids out there playing football who dream of making it in the NFL. At the end of the day there are 32 NFL franchises each allowed to carry 53 players on their active roster. That's 1,696 professional football players who dress on game days.

It ain't for everyone.

I'd like to keep all the nice guys on the Bears team. But it's a numbers game. It's a business. A tough business. You've got to keep the talented guys, not the nice guys. The better your depth, the deeper your talent goes, the better your team is going to be at the end of the season. It's that simple.

Here are three guys I'd like to see pack up their stuff and move to another team.

1. Rashied Davis, WR

He's a great story. He started off in the arena league. He came into the NFL as a defensive back, and made the switch to wide receiver. He's scrappy and a pretty decent special teams player. But he has no outstanding attributes as a wide out. He's a little guy who isn't really that fast. He's had every opportunity to succeed, but he drops too many balls. Plain and simple. The Bears are going to keep five WRs this year. Look at how keeping Marty Booker and Brandon Lloyd last season stunted the growth of guys like Earl Benett and Brandon Rideau. This year we have Earl Benett and Devin Hester as locks to make it. We have at least two rookies I'd like to see make the team (Jauguin Iglesias and Johnny Knox). So that leaves Brandon Rideau, Devin Aromashodu, and Rashied Davis to fight for that last spot. I'd much rather see a guy like Aromashodu or Rideau take that last WR spot. They have way more upside.

2. Adrian Peterson, RB

Again, great story, great guy. He runs hard, he plays good special teams (although his play on special teams dropped off considerably the last season I thought). But the day you drafted Garrett Wolfe, Adrian Peterson should have been shown the door. How many undersized RBs can you keep on your roster? Are you really going to keep four tail backs, a full back, and three tight ends on your roster? Think about how many defensive lineman the Bears like to keep ... think about how many DBs and LBs. Do you have room for Adrian Peterson now that you have Kevin Jones who is clearly a superior running back in all phases of the game?

3. Dusty Dvoracek, DT (nose)

I really do believe Dusty Dvoracek has the skill to play well in this league. He's an aggressive nose tackle who's extremely stout against the run and who always manages to get some pressure upfield when he's in the game. But that's the rub: when he's in the game. Dvoracek has had horrendous luck with injuries. Everyone was rooting for him, but this last MCL injury, whether it's a tear or a strain (depending on which news story you read right now), is the last straw. You can't depend on Dvoracek to stay healthy. He's worse than Mike Brown was in that regard. You've got Marcus Harrison and Anthony Adams at nose. There are other guys you can rotate in for snaps there. You have a numbers game already on the D-Line. You can't depend on Dvoracek.

Let these guys go. Give other guys the opportunity to step up. You've got to know what you've got in the other guys. We'll be better off for it.

What I'll be looking for

The Defensive Secondary

Can they cover? Can someone make a play on the ball? I'm particularly concerned about the corner backs. Will we see the Nate Vasher of 2006 who was "The Interceptor" or will he be the timid, out-of-step player we've seen more recently. I'm intrigued to see how rookie Al Afalava looks back there at strong safety.

The Wide Receivers

Right now we're a big, fat ? at WR. Will Earl Benett step up and look like a real receiver after registering zero catches his rookie year? Which one of the rookies is going to step up?

Defensive Line

Will they be a disruptive force under the guidance of DL guru Rod Marinelli, or will they get pushed around like they did last season. Will Mark Anderson return to the form he displayed as a rookie? Is Marcus Harrison still fat?

Jay Cutler

Everybody's drooling to see him in action, me included.

Danieal Manning: Double duty

Danieal Manning is a stud. No two ways about it. He's the most athletic member of the Bears secondary. He's a terror as a return man. And he's being counted on heavily as training camp gets underway, lining up as the starting free safety and moving to the nickel back position in passing situations (Craig Stetz will come in at free safety when Manning moves to nickel in passing situations).

Manning played well at the nickel last season. He has not played tremendously well at free safety. He was moved from free safety to nickel after starting there his rookie year and showing a penchant for giving up the big play (see Super Bowl XLI). It was said he lacked the football instincts to man the safety position.

Maybe Manning has seen enough in the NFL now that his knowledge of the pro game makes up for his lack of natural football instincts. And, no doubt, Manning has the best physical skill set to play that center field position. But the arrangement with Steltz seems almost backwards to me.

Manning, while by no means slight of build, has never been noted as much of a force in the run defense. His speed has always been his greatest asset. Steltz, on the other hand, is lauded for his in-the-box abilities, and is considered a more natural strong safety because of his lack of range in the passing defense. Instincts and stopping the run are supposed to be Steltz's strong points.

So why is Steltz only coming into the game for passing downs? And if Manning is the guy you want back there because of his speed and ability to cover, why are you letting him play free safety on running downs? Don't you want that speed at center field in passing situations?

And, as a postscript, what about Manning's contributions as a return man? If he's going to play every down on defense, you have to imagine his kickoff return totals will be diminished, much like Devin Hester's when he assumed more responsibility on the offense.

I'm surprised we're not hearing more about Josh Bullocks being in the mix at free safety. He struggled in the New Orleans defensive scheme, but the Bears defense was supposed to be a better fit for him.

Jay Cutler vs. Aaron Rodgers

Jay Cutler or Aaron Rodgers? All the Bears fans like Cutler. All the Packers fans like Rodgers. I'm a Bears fan.

Both are super high quality young quarterbacks in this league. If their respective teams can hold on to them, it should really be a fantastic duel twice a year for the next five, six, seven years. You really can't go wrong with either guy.

Cutler comes to a new team, new system, new personnel. Rodgers comes back to the same team, those fantastic receivers, familiar opponents. It's not hard to predict a big statistical year for Rodgers. It's a little harder to see Cutler putting up the type of numbers for the Bears next year that he did with the Broncos last year. I'm hoping, but I don't think that's quite realistic.

Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled with Cutler. And if I had to start a franchise, right now, and choose a young stud QB to lead that team for the next decade, it would be Cutler over Rodgers in a heartbeat. The upside is just too high with Cutler. That cannon, those feet, that frame, are all just too alluring.

And there's just something I don't like about those California boys. I don't know, maybe Cade spoiled 'em for me. Give me a corn fed Midwestern type any day (although Rexy didn't exactly help their cause).

But I think Rodgers is primed to put up another 4,000+ yard season in 2009. Is Cutler going to be able to put up 4,000 yards on a new team with that offense? How many yards can the Matt Forte/Greg Olsen duo account for? If Hester is good for 1,000, and that's a big if I think, then another receiver is going to have to step up and have a big year too.

Who's that going to be?

Touchdown Mike Brown: C-ya

It's sad to see Mike Brown go. He was a great player for the Bears—a leader, a play maker, and always a fan favorite. He had a knack for the big play, as evidenced by his Chicago Bears franchise record seven defensive touchdowns. He always played full speed, hard, all-out, aggressive. Mike Brown was everything you want in a football player.

When he was healthy.

That was always the only knock on Brown. He got hurt and he missed large portions of multiple seasons, starting only 36 of 80 games since 2003. 

Maybe it was his style of play that led to his injuries—maybe he played with the kind of reckless abandon that left himself open. He was always flying around full bore, looking for a collision. He was a missile. 

Or maybe it was just rotten luck. Bad things happening to a good guy. You see it all the time.

I know that Kansas City is fortunate to have Mike Brown. I also know that a lot of people around town in Chicago would have liked to have seen the Bears keep Brown on the roster, especially with the uncertainty the team seems to have at safety.

I don't know if the Bears are better off without Brown or not, especially now that we have Jay Cutler and seem like we're potentially built to win it all now. An experienced guy back there lining up the defense counts for something. Chemistry counts for something too. 

Jerry Angelo has indicated Craig Steltz is expected to be the opening day starter at free safety with Kevin Payne at strong safety. I feel good about Payne, and while I think Steltz can play in this league I wish Steltz had better range at FS. We got hurt over the top with the deep ball last year with Brown and Payne. I think the combo of Payne and Steltz does have more top-end speed, but neither player has elite speed. 

With Steltz, Payne, Danieal Manning (who they have playing the nickelback but has started at safety),  Josh Bullocks, Al Afalava , Glenn Earl and Corey Grahm all in the mix at safety, it was tough to keep a roster spot for a 31 year-old  (strictly) strong safety who has only started less than 50 percent of the games the last five seasons. 

It's too bad, because there should be a place for a guy like Mike Brown on your team, but with the situation the Bears have at safety I can see why Angelo had to cut him.

We wish Mike Brown the best.

I love it

Well Bears fans, since we last spok the Bears have added former St. Louis Rams LB Pisa Tinoisomoa and former Lions TE Michael Gaines to the roster, and they've signed all of their 2009 NFL Draft picks, the first team in the league to achieve that distinction this off season.

I love what I'm seeing out of Halas Hall. The trade for QB Jay Cutler is the centerpiece, but their have been a flurry of solid moves in addition to that masterstroke. 

The offensive line has the potential to be as good as it's been in recent memory. They've invested heavily in the defensive line and added the best D-line coach in the game. They've given themselves some good options at safety through free agency and the draft. Adding an extremely active and productive Tinoisamoa to the linebacking corps should make that unit about as good as it gets.  And while they haven't gone out and signed that marquee receiver (yet?) they've thrown enough bodies at it that Cutler ought to be able to find something to work with there. 

I'm not as worried about WR as everyone else is and here's why:

It's not a stretch to say Hester can improve to 1,000 yards this season. Someone else in the Earl Bennett, Juaquin Iglesias, Johnny Knox, Derek Kinder, Brandon Rideau group has to step up to be a legitimate number two, and the fight is on between the rest of them and Rashied Davis to fill the number three spot. I don't think that's going to be the worst group of receivers in the NFL. I think it will be a better group of receivers than we've had around here definitely since Berrian left. 

With the other weapons we have on offense–Matt Forte, Greg Olsen, Desmond Clark ... Garrett Wolfe?— and Jay Cutler, that could work out alright.