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For some of us, this offseason/preseason was always about the offensive line.  And since I’m quick denigrate the work of David Haugh when I disagree with him (only 97-98% of the time), he’s right when he points out that things offense flow from that unit.  If the line shows a push, the Bears will run it effectively.  If they block the perimeter Cutler and the receivers will make plays all over the field.  It is all about the offensive for the 2011 Chicago Bears.  And so it’s all about the offensive line Saturday night in Tennessee – most likely their last lengthy opportunity to prepare together, against competition, for the Atlanta Falcons.

By the way, if the Bears go up and down the field and score 8 touchdowns…I won’t care.  Great preseasons are just as silly as poor preseasons.  Just stay healthy.

What else bears watching on Saturday night?

• The Bears carried 5 WRs in 2010.  If we assume Roy Williams, Johnny Knox, Devin Hester, Earl Bennett and Sam Hurd make the team, is there a spot for new flavor of the preseason Dane Sanzenbacher.  It’ll be interesting to note how he’s deployed Saturday night.  (Note: the Bears kept 4 TEs last year.  This year we can assume that won’t be the case.)
• Roy Williams needs a couple productive plays.
• So does Johnny Knox.
• Stay healthy.
• Will Purdue TE Kyle Adams keep Eddie Williams off the roster as a TE/FB hybrid?
• Who will be the safeties behind Major Wright and Chris Harris?
• Does anyone step up as an edge rusher and allow the Bears to keep Henry Melton in the middle?
• Health.  Key.
• With Lance Briggs out the remainder of the preseason, does Brian Iwuh take a stride in the right direction?
• Marion Barber’s ability to catch the screen in the flat and take off against the Giants made me think Chester Taylor was not long for the roster.  Will I be proven wrong Saturday night?
• Don’t get injured.
• I am watching Corey Graham.  Graham has looked dreadful this preseason and we’re only one or two injuries away from the guy being out there regularly.  He has regressed significantly since a year ago.

But overall, just stay healthy.

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By no means am I putting more stock in the offensive line’s performance against the New York Giants than a preseason game warrants but I have to admit my confidence level in the group rose precipitously.  And as for the poor showings of the third-down defense and special teams the other night, I just don’t care.  Neither, and I say this without even a degree of doubt, neither will carry over into the real games.  (I would be writing a long-winded diatribe against the annual August overreactions of Haugh & Friends but who has time anymore?)

My concern for the Bears after a pair of preseason games is on the outside.  The receiver position.  The boys who catch the ball. It’s not an “oh no we’ll never win with this group” concern or a “who is out there on the free agent market” concern but it is a concern nevertheless.  Who are the Bears receivers right now?  What are their roles?  After reading daily Tweets from every beat writer in Bourbonnais and watching every snap of the first two preseason games, here is what I know:

• The Bears best passing game option is dumping the ball off to the back.  This includes Marion Barber, a player I’ve never associated with catching the ball but has nevertheless been impressive.
• Roy Williams has yet to make any plays running a vertical route.
• Devin Hester has yet to make any plays not running a vertical route.
• Earl Bennett still shows up every once in a while and makes a great catch.
• Johnny Knox, clearly the Bears best receiver a year ago, has been somehow relegated to playing the fourth quarter of preseason games and is losing early-game time to half-his-potential rookies.

Are these really the collection of players, in current form, that can execute the Mike Martz offense?  There’s some speed and potential out there but not a single player on this roster has the presence, hands or discipline of a Torry Holt or Isaac Bruce.  I’m not saying you need All-Pros outside to be successful but in this shortened offseason that has led to first-string QBs around the league lacking for timing with most of their receiving corps, I can’t imagine that it wouldn’t be helpful for the Bears to have some order to things at the position.  And I can’t imagine that order would not involve Knox.

Knox is the story for me currently.  The speedster from Abilene Christian amassed nearly 1,000 yards last year and did it on only 51 catches (18.8 per).  And yet there he was lined up at wideout in the fourth quarter of a meaningless scrimmage at the MetLife Meadowlands – Snoopy in the Swamp.  It doesn’t make sense.

But then again, we’ve seen it before.  Mark Bradley.  Devin Aromashodu.  This leadership allows you only to be so successful at wideout before they cut your legs out from underneath you and banish you to the practice squad.  I don’t know why.  Nobody does.  But if Johnny Knox’s attitude is the reason he’s been relegated to the B-side of the receiver album, I say screw his attitude and just throw him the damn ball.  He’s proven it when it matters.  He’s proven it on Sunday.  And when you’re thin at receiver, the solution is not benching your best player at the position on moral grounds.

Okay, so, here’s the thing.  Don’t lose real players in the preseason.  It’s stupid.  Play your team for minimal minutes and get them into the locker room safe.  For those of you crazy enough to think this result tonight means anything, ask yourself this: would the Giants rather have won a lopsided victory or kept Terrell Thomas for 2011?

Here are my overall thoughts:

• I was impressed with the edge offensive line and I’m starting to think Gabe Carimi might be the best first-round draft pick of Jerry Angelo’s career.  He went one-on-one with Justin Tuck all night and didn’t lose.  Once.
• Tim Jennings.  I’m buying in.
• Roy Williams, here’s the thing.  You have to catch the ball.  I’ve read all the pieces about your conditioning but you have to make catches when the ball’s in your hands.  And if you plan on being a “#1” type receiver, even when it’s not in your hands.  Looked to me, tonight, like our #1 receiver might be Devin Hester.
• But if that’s the case, he should never be catching the comeback route on the goal line.  I mean, he’s still Devin Hester.
• The screen game.  Going to be amazing this year.
• Either Chester Taylor is not be given a chance to make the team or he’s so safe he doesn’t have to make the team.
• Because Marion Barber is making the team.
• Has Johnny Knox really fallen so far as to be playing in the fourth quarter?  What did I miss?
• Vernon Gholston.  You’re not getting plowed over in third quarter of preseason games and making the Bears defensive line.
• “Major Wright made a major mistake” – my buddy Brian Bonselaar on the Brandon Jacobs TD run.
• You know what the Chicago Bears are without Lance Briggs?  Not the Chicago Bears.
• Cutler can do every single thing a great quarterback does.  He just needs a few seconds to do it.
• Nice to see Nathan Enderle take the night off.
• Was it me or did Julius Peppers seem to beat his man on every snap?

You?

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Here is what I’m looking at tonight:

• The play of the edge offensive tackle (Webb, Carimi) against Tuck and Pierre-Paul.
• Is Roy Williams in shape?  Is any rapport developing between he and Cutler?
• Will Chester Taylor earn his way onto this roster?
• Will Vernon Gholston make a play for the roster spot vacated by injured Corey Wootton?
• Is Kris Adams, an offensive standout against Buffalo, a legitimate threat to make this club at wide receiver?
• Will Adam Podlesh show some big leg in the punt game?

What are you looking at?

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HOW TO GET THE BALL TO ROY WILLIAMS

Matt Bowen does a brilliant job breaking down the Mike Martz “deep dig” – a play designed to get the ball to Roy Williams in the current offense.  (Image of the play above.)  Click the link and read the story.  It is one of those great insider article we rarely find in the paper anymore.

TAYLOR MAYS ON BEARS RADAR

PFT reports the Bears made an offer to the 49ers to acquire Taylor Mays – a big time talent at safety.  I contend the Bears do not have a third safety on this roster.  Acquiring Mays would solve this in a dramatic fashion.

I don’t know why I care about this thing.  I literally don’t even know what the prize is but I’m starting to enjoy the hell out of it.  DaBearsBlog is a finalist for the CBS Most Valuable Blogger Award.  You can vote once a day from now until September 9th.  Do it!  Let’s overload the monkey!

Here’s the link: VOTE HERE

Note: this is written without editing and with pure rage.

First, the decision.  The NFL in its infinite wisdom, and with the support of the NFLPA, has granted eligibility to former Ohio State QB Terrelle Pryor for the supplemental draft.  The NFL has granted this eligibility with a catch: Pryor will serve the NCAA’s five-game suspension in the NFL, making him eligible for action Week 6.

Joke.  No other word for it.  Absolute joke.

How can the NFLPA claim to be a legitimate organization, let alone a legitimate union, when they’d allow for such a ruling to stand?  How can they set a precedent as potentially damaging as this for such a third-rate talent?  Does every NCAA ruling now carry over?  What about school-instituted suspensions?  Do they carry over?  How long till the courts get involved in this?  What if a player is kicked out of college or banned for life by the NCAA?  Does that restrict them from ever earning a living playing the game?  And wasn’t Pryor freed up to play the bowl game for Ohio State even though this ruling had been made?  Will that happen in the future if the suspensions carry over?

Can you imagine a scenario wherein Bud Selig would call Donald Fehr and suggest a Texas A&M star serve his suspension for the Trenton Thunder?  No, you can’t.  Because Selig would never be stupid enough to make that call!

And don’t get me started on the damn league itself.  At one time, about a year ago, Roger Goodell carried the image of a tough-as-nails, no nonsense commissioner.  He was ready to suspend your mother for six games if she blew a .08.  Then he lost control of everything, got booed out of the building at Radio City and watched his pet project, the 18-game schedule, never make it onto the negotiation docket.  Goodell is the perfect commissioner to administer this new ruling for he is a joke commissioner.  He has the power of the Queen of England and the intelligence of her tapestries.  Why in hell should the NFL become responsible from fixing the NCAA’s bullshit?

And what about Pete Goddamn Carroll?  How can this league look itself in the mirror as one of the most corrupt college coaches of the modern era collects $5M a year in Seattle as they thump their chest to remove five game checks from a 2011 third-string QB like Pryor?  Is the NFL truly this hypocritical?  Answer: unequivocally yes.

The NFL, as a league and American institution, needs to seriously consider a minor league system.  I don’t know how it would work and I don’t care.  But if the NFL is going to start aligning itself with the NCAA, it won’t be long till the close the big tent and put the elephants to sleep.

I’m not usually a big links posting guy but there’s some interesting stuff out there worth paying attention to.

MOON MULLIN is predicting the Bears repeat as NFC North champs with a record of 10-6.  I see them with a similar record but how can anyone predict whether that’ll be enough to win division/make playoffs.

LANCE LOUIS left practice Wednesday due to vomiting all over the field and Chris Spencer lined up at center this afternoon due to it.  Last night he was lined up at guard in pass protection drills.  I don’t believe for a second that Spencer was brought here to provide OL depth.  He was brought here to play center.  And it’s going to happen before too long.

ANY PLAYER CONNECTION TO “THE U” is going to be asked to comment on the allegations that have folks recalling the SMU death penalty.  Devin Hester is no exception.  Whatever Hester did while down in Coral Gables, I don’t care.  I’m not stupid enough to believe any Division I university’s athletics program is on the level and you shouldn’t be either.

ROY WILLIAMS WANTS TO BE THE MAN.  And I would love him to be the man, even if it remains he starts to pull a little prima donna receiver shit off the top shelf.  Seeing a rapport between Roy and Cutty will be perhaps the only offensive plays of interest this preseason outside the work of the fellas up front.

SEAN JENSEN’S TWITTER ACCOUNT featured these back-to-back posts:

Caplan reports #Bears put in a claim RT @caplannfl: LB Thadedeus Gibson, who was waived by the 49ers, was claimed by the Redskins.

As I’ve said before, I still believe linebacker is one of the positions the #Bears are more inclined to make an addition at.

So…can someone out there explain to me why Lofa Tatupu is not already a Chicago Bear?  Is he not in football shape?  Tatupu is capable, when healthy, of being an elite linebacker.

I’ll be part of the Mouth of the Midwest show at ESPN radio Des Moines for much of the 2011 season and hopefully beyond.  Click here to listen live: http://www.1700thechamp.com/.

When I started to think about the Chicago Bears training camp, I had positions at the forefront of my mind.  Second corner.  Third safety.  Third linebacker.  Back end of defensive line.  Offensive tackle.  Never, not once, did I think we’d see a newspaper article (never mind about 7) about Caleb Hanie’s status as the backup quarterback.  Especially considering the only man challenging him for his position is Idaho’s Nathan Enderle.

But that is exactly what has happened.  Watching the sideline interactions Saturday night between Mike Martz and Caleb Hanie made one thing abundantly clear: Martz is not thrilled with his backup quarterback.  As Hanie puts it:

‘‘Mike’s done that before with me; last season in training camp, too,’’ Hanie said. ‘‘Mike’s tough on his backup quarterbacks. It’s been his m.o. his whole career. I’m glad he is because it pushes me and makes me better.’’

Every kid on the playground knows one universal truth.  Pushing someone is fine.  Cracking him in the jaw means ‘game on’.  And demoting Hanie off his disappointing performance in the first meaningless game of 2011 was inching its way close to a closed fist to the chin.

Folks around here like to say the Bears stay luckily unscathed injury-wise last season.  Poppycock!  That would be true if you didn’t count losing their best offensive weapon (#6) at intervals due to a toll booth of an offensive line.  And losing him for the second half of the NFC Championship Game might have been the biggest injury blow to a franchise all season.  We would all prefer the only action Hanie see all season be mop duty during a couple of blowout victories over the Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers (how they will be referred to on this site until it is no longer true).  But while I expect rampant improvement from the offensive line, it would be a bit unfair to expect one of the league’s worst units to become one of the league’s best in one non-existent offseason.

The Bears need their backup quarterback ready and they need Hanie confident.  If Nathan Enderle ever takes a snap in a regular season game for the Chicago Bears, the car has ventured well off the road.  Hanie must be put in the position to succeed, even if it’s only for the next three meaningless games.