Chicago Bears PRESEASONSEASONPREVIEW Part Three - Running Backs

The biggest change here is that Thomas Jones, the guy who came within a hundred yards in 2004 of three straight 1,000 yards seasons and seemed to be the only guy on offense who realized that Super Bowl XLI was actually being played that day, is gone to the New York Jets. There was absolutely no good reason to get rid of him, so they went with the bad reason that Cedric "Hey, that's my TV!" Benson was being paid way too much to be a backup or change-of-pace guy. He showed some flashes last year, really turned it on later in the season, and has one thing over Jones in that he will actually hit a hole, rather than dance around and get dropped for a loss half the time, but if the guy couldn't consistently stay healthy while getting the ball eight times a game, I don't think he'll be able to keep himself together for sixteen games while getting it 20-25 times a game. Add in fumbling issues, off-the-field behavior that hasn't endeared himself to his teammates, and some really shitty showings in training camp and preseason so far, and this could potentially be a disaster. And I think the coaching staff knows this, or they wouldn't have tried to sign Titans RB Chris Brown a little while back, and they wouldn't still be thinking about bringing a veteran in. Cedric Benson has the ability to be a top running back in the NFL, but so does Ron Dayne, and he hasn't done anything, either.

Behind him, the number two guy is Adrian Peterson (the Georgia Southern one, not the Oklahoma one) who is an odd case, in that he's so good at special teams that the coaches actually want to keep him away from the offense, so he'll stay fresh for kick coverage units. Normally, special teams is where players go who aren't good enough to contribute on offense if they want to make a team, but in Peterson's case, he IS good enough to contribute on offense - after Jones and Benson went down in '05, he came in and pretty much whooped ass - but is so insanely ridiculous on special teams that they only want him playing there. Talk about a Catch 22. So the deal here is that he'll probably only see time at running back if Benson gets injured, and the change-of-pace guy will likely be third-round draft pick Garrett Wolfe. He's a shifty little lightning-quick dude with the hands of a wide receiver, which means he'll probably see a lot of action on third-and-long situations, but he's one of the smallest players in the league (5'7", 186 lbs.) and probably wouldn't be able to take the physical pounding of being in the game much more than that. Then again, he did lead the NCAA in rushing yardage last year, so you never know. A wild card here is undrafted free agent Josh Allen, who's coming off a superdestructive knee injury that almost ended his college career before he could really even consider going pro, but has supposedly looked really good in camp. With Peterson being the special teams ace and Wolfe being Smurf-sized, he might actually make the roster as a fourth running back, if he can keep it up over the course of the preseason, as long as the Bears don't decide to bring someone else in.

At fullback, the big change is that for the first time in a while, Bryan Johnson won't be listed on the injured reserve list, as they were finally able to get rid of him. He was supposed to be a major addition to the team a few years ago, but seemed to stay hurt the whole time, and ended up going down in Bears history as more of a Merrill Hoge or a Craig Heyward than as a Brad Muster or Matt Suhey. Bummer. So Jason McKie returns as the starter, and I guess he's competent enough, but he's not exactly a threat to make the Pro Bowl any time soon. He'll catch a few passes here and there, but mostly, he just blocks. Or at least he tries. This year's backup is veteran Obafemi Ayanbadejo, who pretty much got talked into signing with the team by his brother Brendon. He's not much of a contributor as a fullback, but he's yet another major special teams guy, like Adrian Peterson or the previously mentioned Ayanbadejo brother. He's also suspended for four games for pulling a Jim Miller and not reading the vitamin bottle carefully before swallowing the shit. J.D. Runnels is still on the team, but after screwing his knee all up in minicamp, he'll be on injured reserve. His whole career has been a bummer so far, as this follows 2006, where he followed up a career of smashing people's faces as a blocking back at Oklahoma by spending the entire year deactivated, until McKie went down with an injury, when he served as the backup for backup tight end Gabe Reid, who got the starting nod instead. Ouch. Hopefully 2008 will suck less. Also, they apparently picked up Quadtrine Hill from the Patriots like five minutes ago, and I know nothing about him, aside from him having a really weird first name. I'm sure he's a nice enough guy. Hell, I dunno. and there's this other Jon Goldsberry dude I know nothing about, and him and Hill will be locked in an eternal preseason death struggle to see who gets to not play for four games while Ayanbadejo is out. It's clearly a preseason struggle that the entire season may be riding on.

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