Should the Chicago Bears Bring Back an Old “Rex-Like” Offense?
Published by Joe Willett on May 27, 2009
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears completely retooled their offense on their way to trying to become a potent offense throughout this off season.
However, with all of these changes, their changes to the offensive playbook should be only the addition of plays that were lost after our Super Bowl appearance.
The Bears have many of the same weapons that they had, even a better choice at certain positions.
Let’s take a look at some of the similarities they had with that season and this up-coming one.
Gunslinger quarterback
Rex Grossman may have been a scapegoat when the Bears fell apart late in the season, but he was a big reason that some experts thought that the Bears could go undefeated early in the season.
His great quarterback play opened up a lot of luxuries in the offense, and although he had a lot of bad games late in the season, he would still pose that deep threat that would make teams stay back on defense.
Jay Cutler will bring a lot of those same qualities, only we don’t have to worry as much about his breakdown part-way through the season.
Reasonable deep threat
In the 2006/07 season, the Bears kept teams from playing full run with the deep threat of Bernard Berrian.
Berrian took his success with the Bears to an over-sized contract in Minnesota, but the reason he got that contract was his ability to pull off the highlight play or long touchdown that could turn around a game.
Devin Hester brings that same quality, however, many of the faults that Berrian had such as inconsistent hands and lackluster route running seem to amplified in Hester.
Despite the issues, Hester will make that big play that keeps defenses from committing completely to the run.
Speaking of the run
Thomas Jones and Cedric Benson combined to make one of the more consistent running tandems of the 2006 season.
Jones was the starter, who got the bulk of the carries and was outstanding throughout the season, but Benson was still effective, giving hope to Bears fans that he was the future.
Although he became a bust after that season, Benson was still a huge part of the team that went to the Super Bowl, and was strong throughout the playoffs as well.
This season Matt Forte will look to avoid a sophomore slump, and he will do so behind an improved offensive line.
If the Bears are lucky, Kevin Jones will play the Benson role without the whole falling apart beyond that one season thing.
What does all this mean
Although the Bears do miss the possession receiver that Muhsin Muhammad provided in their Super Bowl appearance season, they still have many of the same weapons.
If they commit to keeping defenses honest by using a lot of go-routes with Hester and opening holes for Forte and Jones, the Bears could create the same offensive magic that had them ranked as one of the top offenses for the first few weeks of the NFL season.
I’m Joe W.
