Bears Blitz

Published by Bryan Dietzler on September 2, 2010
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears

Yes, after this preseason Bears fans don’t appear to have a lot of hope for the regular season.

We have seen what was to be a powerful, high-scoring offense look jittery and not at all effective this preseason, and there are several reasons why this has happened.

Can the Bears put things together in time for the regular season? Will they look better during the regular season?

Don’t fear, Bears fans; there is still hope for the Bears. There is time to put things together, and there are ways that the Bears can get better during the regular season.

However, it depends a lot on what the coaching staff feels they need to do and what management will allow them to do in terms of acquiring players that have been cut or are available via trade. Perhaps a roster move or two outside the organization would be just what this team needs to get things going the right direction.

The offensive line is having a terrible preseason and is poised to have a pretty bad regular season the way things look going right now.

Left tackle Chris Williams, a first round pick a couple seasons ago, has failed to impress so far this preseason and has been considered by many to be the weak link on the offensive line. Granted, the Bears have not (on purpose) given him any help during the preseason, but his inability to block pass rushers on his own is somewhat scary.

So what can the Bears do to fix these issues? For one, they can provide the help that they held back from Williams during the regular season. Keeping a running back or a tight end in to block would be a huge plus, but that takes away two options in the passing game. However, the passing game won’t work if Jay Cutler is being chased all over the field or is being sacked, so the Bears may have to sacrifice there in order to make things work.

The rest of the offensive line has struggled as well but should get better as the season goes on. They are still a fairly inexperienced unit, with guard Lance Louis starting for the first time and right tackle Frank Omiyale still learning and growing. Hopefully they will be able to get their problems worked out and play much better than they did in the preseason.

If everything comes together on the offensive line, then this team will be able to do well this season, and it’s not out of the question to think that the offensive line will get better and have a strong regular season. There is still time to start moving in the right direction and making things work.  

One way that the Bears can help fix the problems on the offensive line is to scan the waiver wire and see what players may be out there that can help them. They could also look to try to make a trade with another team to help improve their offensive line. These two scenarios depend a lot on what general manager Jerry Angelo wants to do (or is willing to do).

For their problems on defense, some of the issues that they have been having have been related to injuries. They have not been a healthy unit for most of the preseason, but everyone looks like they will be back and ready to go in the regular season. Once this group is back and functioning together well (and in good health), it should perform much better.

Still, some of the issues that the Bears had on defense last year (in particular their issues with allowing opposing offenses to convert 3rd-and-long opportunities, as well as their inability to get to the quarterback) still remain.

As we saw in their game against the Oakland Raiders during the preseason, they clearly still have issues keeping opposing offenses from converting third down opportunities and have to work on that before and during the regular season.

Third down conversions killed the Bears defense during the season last year, and it already looks as if they are starting to have the same problem again for the 2010 season. What can they do to get better on third downs?

First, they can rush the quarterback better. In the past, the Bears have failed to put enough pressure on the quarterback in order to force him into errant throws, interceptions, or running the ball out of bounds, and this has allowed opposing teams to convert third down opportunities, some of them from beyond 10 yards.

With the acquisition of Julius Peppers, it is hoped that the Bears’ pass rush will get better in 2010. If you watched Peppers in the Bears’ preseason game against the Cardinals, you saw just a little bit of what he will be able to do against opposing offenses. He should be able to provide the defense a lift in terms of rushing the passer and helping to take care of those long third down conversions.

So do the Bears have hope for the new season? Will they be better than last season? These questions will be answered up front with the offensive and defensive lines. The Bears will do no better than these two units do this season, so if they are going to win and be a contender, they have to be much better on the offensive and defensive lines.

Their play in the first game of the season (against the Detroit Lions on September 12th) will tell us a lot about how their season will go.

Read more Chicago Bears news on BleacherReport.com