Chicago Bears Training Camp Wrap-Up: Is Chicago Really Ready?

The good news is that the Chicago Bears defense eventually got things going in the end of their 16-10 victory over the Cleveland Browns in their preseason finale. The bad news is that it wasn’t because of the first-string. After only one quarter of action, another sub-par performance by the Bears defense in the first quarter leaves the question of how prepared the Bears are for the regular season. In the first two defensive series, the Bears gave up two consecutive scoring drives; one drive covering 66 yards in 11 plays, resulting in a field goal, and the other drive being a 10-play, 72-yard drive ending up in the end zone.

As for the first-string offense, things didn’t go as well as it did the previous game. No points were scored while they were on the field, and a few costly mistakes led to penalties and a turnover. Two of those penalties were by LT John St. Clair on back-to-back false starts. But besides putting up a goose egg, the first-team offense did show some flashes of big-play potential when converting on some third-and-longs. Accompanying his interception, QB Kyle Orton finished 4-7 for 51 yards, while RB Matt Forte had only two carries for eight yards behind the offensive line, but did catch a screen pass for a 17-yard gain.

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The silver lining around this dark cloud is that this poor performance by the starters could possibly be due to having key players, such as S Mike Brown, DT Tommie Harris, DE Mark Anderson, G Terrence Metcalf, and TE Desmond Clark, not suiting up for the game. Regardless of the fact, Lovie Smith and the rest of the Bears need to address some issues quickly, or it will be a rough start to the 2008 regular season.

By Clyde A. Speller
ProFootball-fans.com Chicago Bears Correspondent