Wait till next year.
Not that the Bears aren’t having a remarkable season this year, but the future looks bright. The top 10 reasons:
They are among the youngest teams in the league. About 20 are older. Rookies Kyle Orton, Mark Bradley, Chris Harris, Robbie Gould and Cedric Benson all have contributed, and it is a common assumption that players improve most between their first and second years.
The least-experienced coaching staff in the league will have one more year under its belt. The jobs first-year NFL coaches Harry Hiestand and Don Johnson are doing with the offensive and defensive lines, respectively, are two of the most overlooked reasons the Bears are winning. Strength and conditioning coordinator Rusty Jones, the most experienced NFL coach on the staff, also is completing his first season with the Bears. Now that everybody sees results, this off-season should be even more productive.
There likely will be more continuity in the coaching staff than on rival NFC North teams. Upheaval in Detroit is certain, it’s probable in Minnesota and it’s possible in Green Bay. If the Bears lose defensive coordinator Ron Rivera, it would be a blow. But it would be an easier transition for head coach Lovie Smith, a defensive specialist, to make than changing offensive coordinators.
Orton will have the benefit of his first off-season to work with wide receivers, and Rex Grossman will be healthy, setting up the most promising situation the Bears have had at quarterback since, since, since . . . please send suggestions. Hint: It goes back further than Jim Miller, Shane Matthews and Cade McNown. Jim McMahon, Jim Harbaugh, Mike Tomczak? McMahon, Steve Fuller, Tomczak?
Nickel back and kick returner Jerry Azumah is the lone free agent not expected back. Guard Terrence Metcalf isn’t signed beyond this year either.
The Bears are projected to be nearly $20 million below next year’s salary cap. That’s better than at least 20 other teams, giving them plenty of space to lock in their young veterans and to explore the free-agent market.
If they can’t draft a reliable kickoff/punt-return man, they should be able to attract one in free agency, such as Detroit’s potential free agent Eddie Drummond.
They should be able to add speed on offense, as well as recruit help at receiver such as restricted free agent Aaron Moorehead, Emery’s son, from the Colts. This is assuming, of course, they have no interest in Terrell Owens, who will be on his best behavior in 2006 and provide some brave (presumptuous?) team with instant offense at a cut-rate price.
The draft class of tight ends is very good and the Bears could be drafting at the slot in the first round where tight end would be a good fit. Pittsburgh’s Heath Miller, for example, was the No. 30 pick and is a rookie-of-the-year candidate. Maryland’s Vernon Davis, a junior, looks like the prize prospect if he declares.
Their schedule next season includes the NFC West and the AFC East, the only two divisions with three losing teams each.
QB problems
The Bears aren’t the only winning NFC team concerned about quarterback performance. Second-year Giants quarterback Eli Manning has thrown 11 touchdown passes and 10 interceptions in the last eight games, and his passer rating has dropped to 77.2, ahead of only seven other starting quarterbacks.
Two of those, Atlanta’s Michael Vick (76.0) and the Bears’ Orton (60.2), also are on potential NFC playoff teams.
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Manning’s 51.4 completion percentage is third worst in the league and lower than Orton’s 53.4. In the second half against the Cowboys last week, Manning was 4 of 16 for 49 yards while trying to protect a 17-0 lead, which he jeopardized by throwing an interception that gave the Cowboys the ball at the Giants’ 7-yard line and set up their only touchdown.
“I’m concerned about accuracy,” Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. “I’m concerned about the completion percentage. I want it to be higher.”
Yet Manning outpassed the Cowboys’ Drew Bledsoe in the 17-10 victory.
The only NFC quarterbacks among the top 10 in passer ratings are the Rams’ Marc Bulger (fourth) and the Seahawks’ Matt Hasselbeck (ninth). Bulger is injured.
Big winners
The Colts have won all 12 of their games by at least seven points, the longest such streak in NFL history. The previous mark was 11 by the 1942 Bears.
Is 10 enough?
Since the NFL went to six playoff teams in each conference in 1990, 49 teams have finished with 10 victories. Of that number, 46 (93.9 percent) have made the playoffs: 18 as division champs, 28 as wild cards.
The only 10-victory teams that didn’t advance: the 1991 49ers and Eagles and the 2003 Dolphins.
But with the Colts already at 12 victories and 16 other teams still within reach of 10, this looks like a year when a 10-victory team will stay home again.
Not Ray Lewis
At 30, Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis is breaking down. He has been sidelined since the Oct. 23 Bears game and his season ended with surgery last week on a torn right hamstring.
Over the last four years, Lewis will have played in 42 of his team’s 64 games. Shoulder surgery cost him 11 games in 2002. With him in the lineup the last four years, the Ravens are 22-20. Without him, they’re 8-10.
Bend Ben
After Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger called a hit to his knee by Cincinnati linebacker Odell Thurman a dirty shot, Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher asked: “Where are we supposed to hit the guy? You can’t hit him in the face, you can’t hit him in the chest, you can’t hit him in the knees. I don’t understand where we’re supposed to hit guys.
“People call it dirty. Call it what you want. We can’t hit him. We get fined, we get flagged. . . . There are so many rules for the quarterbacks now.”
Layman’s terms
The Carolina Panthers are mad at the Atlanta Falcons after “cut blocks” injured defensive ends Julius Peppers and Mike Rucker.
What’s a cut block? In Carolina, Panthers defensive end Al Wallace knew his audience.
“Cut blocking is not fair–it’s going after the legs,” Wallace said.
“It would be the same thing in NASCAR if you were able to shoot people’s tires out.”
Actually, the low blocking technique is legal as long as the defensive player isn’t engaged with another blocker.
The Falcons are criticized the same way the Denver Broncos were because offensive line coach Alex Gibbs teaches it as a consultant in Atlanta.
Gibbs used to coach in Denver.
Not good
How does a player feel after losing a fumble? Oakland running back LaMont Jordan: “It was a terrible feeling, like dropping an infant.”
Colombo plays
Ex-Bear Marc Colombo, signed by Dallas on Nov. 1, played for the first time last week on a field-goal block team. Cowboys strength coach Joe Juraszek has Colombo on a program to help with his flexibility more than power.
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“I’m in a much better body position than I’ve probably been in my life,” Colombo said. “I have a lot more work to do, but I’m on the right track.”
Colombo, who spent most of his three years in Chicago rehabilitating from nerve damage from a left knee injury, is signed through next season.
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