Chicago Bears Football Preview: 2008 Season

Summary of 2007 Season

The Chicago Bears finished a disappointing 7-9 a year after playing in the Super Bowl. And they had to win the last two games to finish with that good of a record. What happened? For starters, the Bears traded away Thomas Jones to give Cedric Benson the opportunity to play every day. That experiment failed miserably and now Benson is no longer with the Chicago Bears.

The Chicago Bears offensive line began to look its age. In combination with a poor running game and poor quarterback play, the offense was absolutely terrible.

Finally, the defense suffered some key injuries exposing its lack of depth, especially in the secondary. When all of the starters were healthy, the defense clicked. But, it wasn't the same when a few spots had to be replaced.

Here's a look at the personnel at each position and a preview for the Chicago Bears 2008 season.

Quarterback

Quarterback has been a merry-go-round of mediocrity for the Chicago Bears in recent years. Rex Grossman showed some promise a couple of years back, but he's never been able to put it together and has looked bad more than he's looked good. At times, you think the Chicago Bears offense would be better off handing the ball directly to return man Devin Hester on every play.

Kyle Orton has not looked a whole lot better. He played quite a bit in 2005 during a winning season, but hasn't been given the chances that Grossman has. He may this year by necessity.

Brian Griese is gone and will likely be replaced by one of the undrafted free agents, Caleb Hanie or Nick Hill. Rumor is that the Bears may also have interest in the Tampa Bay Bucs' Chris Simms, but as of now, these are the Chicago Bears quarterbacks for 2008. Not a very inspirational thought.

Running Back