Bears Super Bowl hopes: good Rex or bust

With less than three weeks before the NFL regular season starts, the Bears head into the 2007 season with more talent on each side of the ball than last year’s Super Bowl runner-up.

Since the Bears lost Super Bowl XLI to the Indianapolis Colts, there have been numerous changes to the team, including the departures of Thomas Jones, traded to the New York Jets, Tank Johnson, gone after numerous run-ins with the law, Ian Scott, lost in free agency, and Chris Harris, traded to the Carolina Panthers.

Twenty of the 22 starters from last season are back, including $7.2-million man Lance Briggs, following a long dispute over the franchise tag.

With the trade of Jones, Cedric Benson takes over as the starter at running back, with Adrian Peterson (not to be confused with the player from Oklahoma of the same name and position) and rookie Garrett Wolfe from Northern Illinois as backups.

Many people have questioned whether this move was done because Benson is being paid $16 million, or because Jerry Angelo feels that Benson can be the leading runner. I tend to think it was the former. Whether his body can withstand a full season worth of hard hits in the leading runner role remains to be seen, and is a legitimate concern, given his injury filled past.

His maturity is also an issue. Benson has admitted to losing focus during games before. Last year, on Dec. 3 against the Minnesota Vikings, Benson scored a touchdown on fourth down. After the game, when asked about the touchdown, Benson said he didn’t realize it was fourth down. Such lapses of concentration cannot happen for Benson and the Bears to succeed.

On defense, Tank Johnson is gone after continually getting arrested, and it remains to be seen how Tommie Harris will recover from his badly torn hamstring last year. If “Real Deal” Harris comes back and shows he is, in fact, the “Real Deal,” then the defensive line will be better.

The linebacker trio of Brian Urlacher, Hunter Hillenmeyer and Briggs is back, and the Bears have added depth with Jamar Williams and rookie Michael Okwo. The secondary will get a boost from Mike Brown’s return, and Peanut Tillman and Nathan Vasher are going to be around for the long term after receiving extensions. Adding Adam Archuleta to the secondary only adds depth.

The Bears will also have the weapons to be a very explosive offense. The entire offensive line is back, and they’ve gotten deeper. Electrifying return man Devin Hester is being moved to receiver in an attempt to get more touches, joining an already talented wide receiving corps.

Ever since Mike Ditka retired, the Bears have not had a true tight end. Rookie Greg Olsen from Miami should end this. He has the combination of speed, power, and size to be an elite player. If G-Reg can play as good as he raps, other teams better watch out.

However, the biggest question for the Bears is as usual, the quarterback. After a season in which he played like he was Joe Montana one game, and then reminded us of every other Bears quarterback of the last 12 years the next, Rex Grossman must improve his consistency this season and cut down on turnovers. In the second pre-season game, he fumbled two snaps, blaming sweat on his wrist for one and a bad exchange on the other. These excuses are not acceptable, as there are 31 other quarterbacks in this league, none of whom have a fumbling problem.

Rex also needs to show more consistency and not heave it every time. He has many weapons this year, so there are no excuses. If Bad Rex continues to go out there, there is no way Lovie Smith will have the kind of patience he had last year. The catcalls for Brian Griese and Kyle Orton, and maybe even Lovie’s job will grow louder with each bad game Grossman puts up. When the goal is to win the Super Bowl, there is a concept known as “I don’t care for the future.” A few bad outings by Rex, and it’d be a good concept to grasp.

Overall, this team is loaded and built to return to Super Bowl XLII on Feb. 3, 2008 in Glendale, Ariz. The window of opportunity to win a Super Bowl is going to slam shut pretty soon. This is their best shot. Ultimately, the Bears hopes of going to Glendale will lie on Grossman’s right arm and on his brain.