Offseason Analysis: Chicago Bears
Well the Bears picked a starting QB for better or worse. To be fair, Kyle Orton looked decent at times. The Bears struck gold with rookie RB Matt Forte. Devin Hester made strides at WR last year and Rashied Davis was decent, but they could use some help at WR. My guess is they will draft an WR at some point or bring in a low-end WR a la Marty Booker and Brandon Lloyd. Greg Olsen is a major threat as a receiving Tight End, and forms a great TE pair with Desmond Clark.
Defensively Mike Brown and Nick Roach are their key free agents. Given Brown’s injury history, I don’t see him going anywhere, although the Bears may choose not to bring him back.
| Pos | Player Name | FA Status | Previous Team | Current Team |
| QB | Rex Grossman | UFA | Chicago Bears | Free Agent |
| QB | Kyle Orton | Re-signed | Chicago Bears | Chicago Bears |
| RB | Kevin Jones | UFA | Chicago Bears | Free Agent |
| WR | Rudy Burgess | Re-signed | Chicago Bears | Chicago Bears |
| WR | Brandon Lloyd | UFA | Chicago Bears | Free Agent |
| OT | Fred Miller | UFA | Chicago Bears | Free Agent |
| OT | John St. Clair | UFA | Chicago Bears | Free Agent |
| OL | Tyler Reed | Re-signed | Chicago Bears | Chicago Bears |
| LB | Darrell McClover | UFA | Chicago Bears | Free Agent |
| LB | Nick Roach | ERFA | Chicago Bears | Free Agent |
| SS | Mike Brown | UFA | Chicago Bears | Free Agent |
| SS | Josh Gattis | ERFA | Chicago Bears | Free Agent |
| FS | Brandon McGowan | UFA | Chicago Bears | Free Agent |



Evan "McSpazz" Edwards
February 11th, 2009 at 9:12 am #
Tommie Harris and Dez Clark both re-uped last offseason and are no longer free agents. Losing Mike Brown will be a blessing in disguise, though he was a “good” player when young and healthy the Bears fans and organization became to dependent that he was some great quarterback of the defensive secondary. If they were so great whe=y would they get beat constantly. His age and injuries have the game passing him by like a speeding bullet.
LestersLegends
February 11th, 2009 at 9:18 am #
Thanks for the update. I see KFFL updated their Bears report. I’ll do so too.
David Funk
February 11th, 2009 at 12:41 pm #
McSpazz does have a point about the Bears secondary. I don’t see Brown coming back, and it seems Steltz may be given the chance to start alongside Kevin Payne.
But at some point, the defensive line has to take it’s fair share of blame for not consistently providing a pass rush. It’s pretty sad when only two people on your entire defense had more than five sacks on the season. Furthermore, the team went sackless in five games in 2008, and they lost every single one of them. They were 9-2 when they recorded a sack. Despite not having to resign a player on the line, it still is a position I’m not feeling good about as Bears fan to leave unnoticed.
This is a key offseason for the Bears and Lovie Smith.
LestersLegends
February 11th, 2009 at 12:55 pm #
Interesting sack David. Thanks for adding. I agree about this being a key offseason for them. They may have to blow the thing up if they don’t compete next year.