Throughout the history of the Chicago Bears, one thing that has been a staple is the defense. When people think of the Bears, that's typically what comes to mind. Our offense is not something that has ever been considered to be prolific, and has never really been one to blow people away.
Fast forward to 2009, and it looks like pieces are being put in place to build an offense that could potentially be outstanding for many years to come. We don't have all the pieces yet, but we certainly are getting there... and getting there in a hurry. Let's take a look at what we have now, and where we need to go to get to an "elite" state.
Jay Cutler: 26 years old
Matt Forte: 23
Devin Hester: 26
Chris Williams: 23
Greg Olsen: 24
Earl Bennett: 22
Johnny Knox: 23
Juaquin Iglesias: 21
Frank Omiyale: 26
Josh Beekman: 26
Kevin Shaffer: 29
If you look at that list of offensive youth, some of those players might not be All Pro caliber talent for the Bears, but some of them are. We can hope that out of the 4 wide receivers mentioned, 1 or 2 of them might end up (with the help of Cutler) being prolific WRs. Same can be said for the offensive linemen.
Certainly, we will need to eventually replace Olin Kreutz, Roberto Garza, Orlando Pace, and Desmond Clark. But the pieces are coming together. Out of those 11 players listed, the average age is just under 24 years, 6 months. Look around the league, and you will se that is incredibly young, especially considering that many of those guys are either current starters, or hopeful future starters.
Hopefully, the trend will continue. Cutler will make our young WRs good, and Jerry Angelo has proven that he can go out and acquire good young talent.
Will every player listed pan out? Maybe not. But we might be witnessing an Offensive Youth movement in Chicago that has never been seen before.