I’m optimistic about the Bears defense bouncing back in a big way. The run game? not so much. The entire offense is full of question marks. The 1st 4 opponents (Indy, Carolina, TB, and Philly) have good to great defenses (3rd, 16th, 2nd, 10th respectively last year). I foresee a painful 1st month for our entire offense. Although, if Chris Williams, Forte, Grossman/Orton, and the receivers show me something in the preseason, I reserve the right to change my mind.

I still feel they need to bring in a LEFT GUARD

Sign Bentley already. He’s the missing piece.

Let’s look at things from this perspective, what if some of the Bears’ problem last year was a “Superbowl Hangover” that historically has affected almost all of the Super Bowl losers from the past, what, maybe ten years.

Let’s look what happen if they add Bentley, their lineup looks like:
Chris Williams: the 14th pick of the draft better be decent, obviously not as good against the run, but with a strong blocking TE (Clark?) next to him on one side, and a pro bowl guard on the other side, hopefully we can compensate.

LeCharles Bentley: played guard before, played at a pro bowl level, has plenty to prove. Yes, it’s a big question of whether he can come back from a knee injury. But the definition of being optimisitc is looking on the bright side.

Kruetz, Garza and Tait: Three older guys who have proven to be solid in the past, who I think rebound this year because the “hangover” effect is no longer. Two of three can be pro bowl calibre and even Garza can be quite studly.

Optimistically speaking, I can see the line bouncing back this year.

And I love Forte. He’s everything you look for: a guy who has a passion for the game, speed, shiftyness, incredibly productive in college. There’s no reason why he can’t be pro bowl quality.

I would still love to see the Bears get a veteran running back … Ron Dayne? Kevin Jones?

deserves more time over a dayne or jones. Adrian is a good backup. 100 yds against pack late last season and 90 against new orleans. He will be a great compliment to forte.

Also i believe he won over his teammates and staff last year by running hard.

Dayne or jones is not upgrade over peterson and wolfe.

I saw Garret Wolfe as the number one back in last season’s pre season game against the Browns. Even with a bad quarterback, some 4th stringer, Wolfe looked awesome. Wolfe was the player that stood out the most, more than Greg Olson, who got hurt actually. He was good at slicing up the middle, getting open, catching a short pass, cutting, shifting, and gaining yards. I saw him do it over and over again. He was tough to catch, tough to stop. When he settled into the regular season more, because he got more snaps, especially in the Packers and Saints game this kid made some great strides up field with screen pass plays, and he did show us a flash of his talent. His size is definitely a limitation for him as defenses, once they grabbed him, took him down. But when they missed him, and his speed kicked in, zooom!!!! I am a believer in Garret Wolfe. Now some might say well his highlights was the Browns pre season game and that was against 3rd and 4th stringers. All I gotta say is that what the Bears played like in pre season was exactly what we saw in the regular season, especially in offense. Sluggish Benson, Grossman botching snaps in the Colts game, turnover timebomb, dropped passes, etc. And the Bears lost to the Browns, which I think would have happened in the regular season as well. Adrian Peterson is versatile and productive. He proved he was better than Benson last season, not many can dispute that. His work ethic, his teamwork work ethic, his leadership on special teams, his reliability in the running and passing game, especially screen pass. His blocking, and his intelligence. And then that one Sunday where really it was Adrian Peterson versus the Packers defense in the frozen hell tundra where he racked up 100 yds and played his heart out. He exhibited instincts and character, things Benson always lacked. For Matt Forte the rookie, all I gotta say is watch film of his running with Tulane. This kid is only going to be a plus for this team and he bounce back from injury to put up big numbers demonstrating his durability and resurgence. Something Benson was alien too.

optimistic… we didn’t have that different an O-Line with Thomas Jones as RB and he managed to be productive. I echo what was written above and I wholeheartedly believe Forte will be a stud.

in the end, I just don’t think the Bears have enough brain power on the offensive side of the football to out-coach opponents on a regular basis, set the tempo of the game, and maximize their own strengths, while minimizing their own weaknesses.

In the NFL, you can score points on offense just by outcoaching your opponent. I’ve seen the Patriots win playoff games and SBs with a 2nd year QB (Brady) behind a fill in the blank offensive line… with Antwoin Smith running the football… with a no-name group of WRs. It’s all in the coaching, game planning, and play calling.

Last year, there were a couple of moments where Turner shined: he surprised the heck out of Denver or New York (can’t remember) by opening the game in a no-huddle… marching straight down the field in 8 or 9 snaps and scoring 6. That’s outcoaching the opponent. The only problem was… they STOPPED DOING IT! And whenever they had success with anything early on in a game, Lovie’s quote in the post-game conference would be something to the effect of, “Well, we knew they would eventually stop that.” Are you kidding me? MAKE THEM STOP IT, then switch it up to set teh temp in a different way.