A lot was made last week of Mike Ditka’s return to the Chicago Bears practice field  – reportedly for the first time since his unceremonious dismissal at the hands of the mighty Michael McCaskey. And while I don’t put much stock in symbolic motivation and rah rah speeches, I do recognize the importance of 2013 in the Bears life of Ditka. The final chapter of Da Coach’s sporting biography in this city began last week on the practice field and will conclude with his jersey number being locked in the great safe of immortality on Monday night, December 9th.

Marc Trestman is the anti-Ditka. He is polite. He is genial. He is cerebral to the point of nerdiness. Whereas Ditka’s Grabowski act endeared him to every bar stool Joe on the South Side, Trestman has emerged from an offensive system foreign to this land and a resume with international flavor. Ditka was pulled over for one of the most famous DUIs in Chicago history. Trestman looks like he’s never tasted alcohol. On the surface one would find it very hard to see the new head coach as a match for the broad shouldered town he is now tasked with providing their first Super Bowl title in almost thirty years.

That’s the book’s cover. The pages tell a different tale.

Marc Trestman is a football lifer. He didn’t have a father entrenched in the coaching world like so many of the prominent names in coaching seem to have. He had his own football acumen and an astounding work ethic. After playing some college quarterback in the state of Minnesota, he spent twenty years coaching every position possible on the offensive side of the game.

He was successful – again and again – but constantly feuded with head coaches whom Trestman (without admitting it) must have believed he was smarter than. He wanted his own team, his own franchise. More than wanting it he believed it was deserved. When it didn’t come in the United States, Trestman found the position in Montreal. And what did he do? He won. A lot.

Trestman’s ascension to head coach of one of the most prominent teams in all of sports is a testament to both his intelligence and, more importantly, his tenacity. He won’t bark and scowl at the media like Ditka famously did. He won’t be shilling for car dealerships and chunky soup. He won’t be opening a steakhouse…yet. He will coach football because other than being a successful husband and father, that’s all Trestman knows how to do.

At fifty-seven years old Trestman has achieved his life’s dream and his storyline should be the type of tale fathers and mothers tell their kids. It ain’t always going to be easy, this life. Getting what you want is pretty damn hard. And sometimes you have to get off the highway and take the back roads to reach your desired location. Sometimes those back roads are in Canada.

Friday night’s Bears v. Raiders was rendered particularly meaningless by the ineptitude of the the Oakland roster. I don’t value the events of preseason much at all but is that really the extent of the Raiders team? I was set to pick the Jets as the winner of the Clowney sweepstakes but I am flip-flopping.

Pertinent questions from last night:

1. Is Marquess Wilson going to make the 53-man roster? You rarely see a seventh-round selection given first team reps in the preseason unless the coaching staff intends to carry him on the roster. Was this simply to compensate for the absence of Earl Bennett or is this going to be the surprise development of camp?
2. Has Michael Ford done enough to usurp Armando Allen on the depth chart?
3. Do the Bears survey the cuts landscape for a viable backup quarterback option or are they committed to this Josh McCown stuff? McCown is not a viable NFL quarterback.
4. Fendi Onobun can’t catch. Can the Bears really keep a tight end who can’t catch on the roster?
5. If Jonathan Scott finds his health in the next week or two is there a spot on this roster for J’Marcus Webb? Webb has been relatively unimpressive in his work with the 2’s over the last few preseason games. (I never thought Webb wouldn’t make the team. Now I’m not so sure. Word out of Bears camp is they want Scott on this team.)
6. When will my love affair with Kyle Long – which began prior to draft night – end? I love the way this kid plays football. Bears haven’t had an interior lineman this ferocious since the late 80s.
7. I assume the Joe Anderson stuff is over?

Monday comes my 50 ruminations and predictions column. It’s ridiculously long.

Biggest thing to watch for tonight: health. Nothing else matters.

Form tackle.

That is how Trent Dilfer described Jon Bostic’s massive hit on Mike Willie from the second meaningless game. The NFL lauded the hit on their website and subsequently send an envelope to the locker room, fining the rookie $21,000.

You decide.

I try not to write full columns during the preseason for a lot of reasons. This week’s excuse is I’m currently 3 minutes from the Atlantic Ocean and one  of the best public golf courses in the country. So, really? The preseason? After Friday night’s exhibition we begin the sprint to the real deal and the real Jeff Hughes stands up.

Here’s what I’m thinking about as we get there.

• I love Marc Trestman making it clear to the media that not only will Jay Cutler sit the fourth preseason game, Josh McCown will as well. How does the NFL continue the utter charade of these games when one of its premier organizations has decided the contest is not worth risking Josh McCown? You, the fans, will be forced to pay the absurd ticket prices for a valueless product featuring Jordan Palmer and Trent Edwards – two men who’ll have the same number of completions this season as Jeff Joniak. You will pay for the parking passes and beers and beef sandwiches at a non-discounted rate. You will believe the media and league-created hype about roster spots and “important” reps and tune in on local TV and some – the particularly crazy among you – will buy the NFL.com package allowing you watch a wide range of meaningless material. I am just glad Trestman isn’t perpetuating this sham.
• J’Marcus Webb taking a pay cut wasn’t a signal his days with the Bears are numbered. It seemed more a signal Halas Hall and Webb’s people have determined an actual value for his ability/role and settled on it. Barring a miraculous comeback by Jonathan Scott from injury in the next week, Webb is going to be the flex tackle for the Bears and his experience on both sides makes him the best choice by far.
• Everybody knows I’ll never get credit for endorsing the Kyle Long pick from second one, right? Matt Bowen (who I like), Hub Arkush (who I don’t) and all the draft sites killed the pick. I’m going to try and only bring it up sporadically.
• And while I am confident Kyle Long is going to be a terrific guard, he’s got a rookie wake-up call named Geno Atkins waiting for him on opening day.
• How come the big talk of last summer was the lack of depth at the safety position and this year no one’s brought it up? The Bears have the exact same depth at safety unless you think Tom Zbikowski is some kind of asset.
• I kinda wish Jon Bostic didn’t make that brutal hit in the second meaningless game because it distracted fans from what was otherwise a rather shaky outing. Bostic is going to be a fine player and the Bears should let him make his mistakes on the field but he’s certainly not there yet.
• Devin Hester looks like he has the burst back in the return game. How long till the Bears have him playing wide receiver again?
• Weems! (I just like yelling that.)
• Joe D’s comments sure make it sound like he’s finding a role on the roster for Michael Ford. Armando Allen’s injury may have come at the worst possible time for his Bears career.
• McClellin, Jeffery, Frey, Long, Bostic, Mills. Six picks from Emery’s first two drafts are projected week one starters.

We’ll have a game thread Friday night and a wrap-up column for the weekend.

The second meaningless game is in the books. Here are some thoughts of varying importance. (The thoughts vary from completely unimportant to mildly unimportant.)

Note: This is a long piece and will hopefully sustain the end til middle of next week. Starting then, I return to daily writing here on da blog.

• I have respect for all the things Chris Berman has done in the world of sports. He is a seminal figure in the emergence of ESPN as the most powerful entity in the world of sports. But I find him the most irritating thing in the universe and he makes me want to throw things at cats in my neighborhood.
• I have written it a zillion times but I’ll write it again. This offense will revolve around Matt Forte, not Cutler.
• Cutler looked too reliant on Brandon Marshall but that’s to be expected in their first “game” action of 2013. It’s not just going to go away. Cutler won’t start looking elsewhere until he’s comfortable in the new offensive structure and that may take a few months.
• This was a bad night to evaluate the skill players outside of Marshall and Forte but I thought Eric Weems looked more comfortable at wide receiver than he did a year ago.
• Michael Ford is an interesting player. He looks fully capable of backing up Devin Hester in the return game and stepping into the third running back role. If he shows Joe D he can make a few tackles on specials I can’t seem him being cut.
• DO NOT GET WORRIED ABOUT TARGETS WHEN IT COMES TO MARTELLUS BENNETT AND ALSHON JEFFERY. It is preseason.
• Kyle Long and Jordan Mills are going to be the starting right side of the offensive line come September.
• J’Marcus Webb did not play particularly well but I can’t foresee him not making this roster. His experience on both sides of the offensive line make him an asset as the flex tackle.
• I know DJ Williams is off the field with an injury but the Bears are crazy if they don’t put Jonathan Bostic in the middle to start the season. There is too much there to waste it on the bench.
• Matt Blanchard is not very good. Might he be very good at some stage? No. Might he be serviceable? Yes. But the Bears aren’t risking much by carrying two quarterbacks. (Blanchard’s injury may have made it easy for the Bears to dump him onto IR and continue his development without utilizing a roster spot.)
• I won’t get goofy about Corey Wootton and Shea McClellin but they sure look like NFL pass rushers.
• JT Thomas is one of those players who jumps off the preseason screen. But the numbers game does not work in his favor. Williams, Anderson, Briggs, Costanzo, Bostic and Greene are on this roster. Thomas is a long shot but if I’m the Bears I find him a role on specials and let him make plays.
• Sure doesn’t seem like Tom Zbikowski has much of a chance to make roster. He looked like he was running at half speed. I got that career wrong.
• Has anybody seen Brandon Hardin?

Ultimately, the game was a wild success because no one of consequence left injured. Now begins the over-emphasis on….wait for it…THE THIRD PRESEASON GAME! IT’S SO IMPORTANT! IT’S A DRESS REHEARSAL! It is just as meaningless as the rest of em and should have the same goal: no injuries.

It seems the media world around NFL franchises all take the same approach these preseason games, me included. You zero in on a handful of players/positions and hope something can be learned from the performance. In most if not all cases nothing is learned.

So here’s hoping the Bears leave Soldier Field tonight as healthy as they entered. It is all that matters.

I will be Tweeting tonight throughout the game. You can experience those Tweets by checking me out HERE. We’ll be testing out a new DBB program tonight as well but more information on that will be available in the coming weeks.

We all look for reasons to watch these meaningless preseason contests because like watching those Bears uniforms in competitive football games. Here are the players worth focusing your attention on should you decide to tune in Thursday night.

• J’Marcus Webb has reached the crossroads of his Bears career. How he responds to his most significant demotion and the fan/media discarding of his potential will determine whether he fights for starting time at right tackle, earns the flex tackle position or ends up on another roster come September.
• Joe Anderson is quickly becoming the new Mike Hass, a summer fan favorite with limited autumn significance. Earl Bennett’s concussion has left an opportunity for someone deep on the receiving chart to make a contribution and impress coaches. Will it be Anderson?
• Jordan Mills & Kyle Long. From the sound of Jay Cutler and Roberto Garza are both prepared and excited to enter the 2013 campaign with a pair of rookies along the right side of the line. Will there be growing pains? Sure. But allowing those growing pains to start the 15th of August as opposed to the 8th of September may turn out to be a coaching masterstroke.
• Khaseem Greene may not have had the highlight reel pick six in the preseason opener but the Bears have been singing his praises just as loudly. Greene is not going to be starting at linebacker to begin the season but his speed and athleticism – especially when it comes to coverage packages – makes him a more interesting component than either Anderson or DJ Williams.

Remember, none of it matters. All that matters is the roster walking back into the locker room without crutches.

The following are not concrete ideas. They are mere trifles, thoughts, things to consider as the Bears approach their second meaningless game of the summer Thursday night.

• The Bears don’t have a quarterback behind Jay Cutler. I understand McCown’s intelligence and Cutler’s desire to have him on the bench but if Cutler goes down for any significant period of time the season is over. Then again the same can be said for just about every contending team in the sport. Nobody in this league can survive losing their starting quarterback.
• If there is a player worth actually watching over these next two preseason games it is Joe Anderson. I’ve never seen it with Anderson. I don’t get the hype and don’t really care what he does with the number twos and threes in practice. With Earl Bennett resting his brain and Brandon Marshall hopefully seeing no action this preseason, Anderson needs to show he can be a productive NFL receiver. To this point, he hasn’t approached even that.
• The player who jumped off the screen at me during the absolutely unbearable exercise of watching the first preseason game: Nate Collins. Looked faster and more aggressive than anything we saw in 2012. If Collins can be productive alongside Melton and Paea the Bears interior defensive line could be a force.

Does any of this matter? Not really. But I like to write.

A late-round long shot with an abundance of personality should have transitioned easily into the role of fan favorite in Chicago. But J’Marcus Webb is instead the most universally derided player on the Bears roster (and it’s not close).

The reason is social media.

Fans have a single deep-rooted fear – the fear the they, the ones buying tickets and jerseys, care more about game results than the actual players. When Webb struggles on Sunday and discusses the re-release of the McRib on Monday he perpetuates that fear. Webb is the first Chicago Bears player to be bamboozled by Facebook and Twitter. His  “J-Webb Nation” was developed as a somewhat cute fan-building project and has instead become the target at which the arrows of fan anger are fired.

Webb is not a bad football player. Both Mike Tice and Aaron Kromer have lauded his physical tools. But he projects himself as an uncommitted one. And lack of commitment is not something fans are willing to bear. (Yeah I know.)

Enter Jordan Mills. After a few bad practices and poor effort in the preseason opener Kromer and Marc Trestman may have seen enough of J-Webb Nation. Mills is a big, nasty prospect from Louisiana Tech and he’s not the type of man who’ll let this opportunity slip through his fingers. (He famously called himself the starting right tackle moments after he was drafted.)

If I’m the decision makers at Halas Hall, Mills is the starting right tackle on opening day even if he struggles over this next month. Commit to youth. Commit to the future. And perhaps most importantly, send a message to J’Marcus Webb that his lack of commitment will be met with more than practice demotions and newspaper quotes about maturity. Force Webb to stand on the sideline and watch Mills play a real game against a real opponent.

The possible results:

1. Jordan Mills fits in seamlessly and stays at right tackle for the next five years.
2. Mills struggles and a newly-motivated Webb steps back in a few weeks into the season.
3. Jonathan Scott returns to the starting lineup once healthy.

It’s not complicated. J’Marcus Webb can only be a project for so long. At some point he needs to be a producer. And without production imminent, it is time for a change.