Winning ugly

It wasn't pretty, but by gawd I'll take it! Any time you beat the defending Super Bowl Champs it's a good win. The Steelers are a tough team. After last week's dismal loss and the bad news about Urlacher, it was big for this team to come away with a win.

And, the Pack lost. To Cincinnati! Thank you, Bungles!

Good things in the game yesterday:

Cutler comes back from last week's disaster with two touchdown passes and no INTs. I thought he showed good poise against a tough pass rush and made the big plays when it counted the most.

Johnny Knox! Holy cow, the kid can play. After a pretty good game against the Pack, he comes up big against the Steelers in the home opener.

TEs Greg Olsen and Kellen Davis came up with some big catches. And Olsen falling on the Matt Forte fumble in the fourth quarter may have saved the game for the Bears.

The defensive line continues to get decent pressure on opposing QBs. Alex Brown came away with two sacks. It's good, but I think they can do better.

On to Seattle next week. That's a tougher game than a lot of people think, but I think the Bears should be able to come away with a win.

Bad break

Chicagobears.com is reporting that LB Brian Urlacher's season is over after he had surgery this morning to repair a dislocated wrist sustained in last night's loss to the Green Bay Packers.

Hunter Hillenmeyer is likely to assume the role of starting middle linebacker in Urlacher's absence. Fourth year player Jamar Williams may also be in the mix.

This is, to say the least, a tremendous blow to Bears. Expectations for Urlacher were high this season, as he reported his neck and back injuries were behind him and spent the entire off-season working out at Halas Hall.

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?