The Chicago Bears offensive line was very shaky last season and it looks to be much improved this season because of a new face.

Mike Tice, the former Minnesota Vikings head coach joined the Bears staff this offseason to coach the offensive line.

The Bears offensive line is a mixed with a lot of young players, but their are a still a couple of solid veterans showing them the ropes.

Every position on the line is set except the left guard position. The left guard position is wide open. Veterans Kevin Shaffer and Josh Beekman are the favorites, but second year pros Lance Louis and Johan Asiata have a shot.

Tice also said he would like to give 7th round pick J’Marcus Webb some reps at left guard.

Mike Tice says Louis and Asiata have been very impressive in practice so far.

Here’s what Tice had to say about the young lineman, Louis and Asiata:

“Really pleased with how things have gone to this point with the group. The offensive line group has got a lot of talent; got a lot of young guys in the room who have the ability to play at this level. [I’m] really, really pleased with their progress to this point; most notably Johan Asiata and Lance Louis have really stepped it up as young players and showed me that they have the ability and the maturity to play at this level sooner than later.”

Tice really likes Asiata, here’s what he had to say about him specifically:

“We know what Kevin Shaffer is, and we know that Kevin is an important part of what we’re putting together because of his ability to back up four positions, but I think Asiata earned the right to get a deep, long, long look.

“(Asiata) just needs to continue to grow, just continue to grow with the pace that he’s growing. Hopefully when it’s all said and done, he’s right there in the mix.”

The 6’4″, 310 lb Johan Asiata was a two year starter for the UNLV Rebels. His junior year he started every game at right tackle and his senior season he spent every game but one at left guard. Asiata should find a spot on the roster if he shows coaches why he belongs.

Its always good to have solid depth behind the starters. The reason the Bears didn’t draft a lot of lineman in the draft was probably because they have young guys in Lance Louis and Johan Asiata waiting in the wings.

The 6’3″, 300 lb Lance Louis was a four year starter at San Diego State University. He appeared in 39 games (19 starts), 20 games as a right guard and 19 games as a tight end. He ran a 4.76 40 yard dash at the NFL combine a couple years ago, that’s pretty impressive for a guy that size.

NFL.com had this to say about him when he was entering the NFL Draft in 2009:

“His combination of speed and strength impress teams despite his lack of experience on the line. Louis is a bit reminiscent of San Diego Chargers fullback/tight end Brandon Manumaleuna, so some teams may consider using him in a similar role because of his blocking and receiving skills.”

Lets hope these guys can pan out because it could be prove to be a big mistake if they don’t. This draft was filled with lots of solid lineman and I’m sure the Bears thought about drafting another linemen. Anyway Lance Louis and Johan Asiata might impress enough coaches to show they are ready to start this season. Beekman hasn’t been very great over the last couple seasons and Shaffer was pretty bad last season, but he played right tackle, not left guard.

Will have to wait and see who starts at left guard, it should be a good competition. The offensive line shouldn’t be the biggest area of concern for the Bears.

The cornerback position should be because of the lack of depth. Check back soon for my take on the Bears cornerbacks.

(Quotes from ESPNChicago.com, Chicagosuntimes.com and NFL.com)

The Bears signed LB Brian Iwuh today to a one-year deal worth the veteran minimum of $630,000. Iwuh has spent four years in the league, all with the Jaguars.

Iwuh came into the NFL in 2006 as an undrafted free agent out of the University of  Colorado. At the University of Colorado he recorded 216 tackles, 23 sacks, five interceptions and earned All-Big 12 Conference honors his senior year.

Iwuh played in 58 games with the Jaguars and started three of them. He made 61 special team tackles, which ranks third in Jaguars history and made 64 tackles, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery in his limited playing time.

Iwuh will join Tim Shaw on special teams and make the Bears special teams that much better. Iwuh should compete for a reserve linebacker job.

He was released in April by the Jaguars and the Bears brought him in last week for a tryout and decided he would be a good fit on their special teams unit. The 6’0″, 236 lbs, Iwuh should be a solid player.

McKie Lands With The Super Bowl Champs:

In other news fullback Jason McKie signed a one-year deal with the reigning Super Bowl champs, the New Orleans Saints today. He will compete with FB Heath Evans for the starting job. The Bears released McKie on March 16th and it took him a while to land with another team.McKie is now reunited with longtime Bear Alex Brown, who was also released by the Bears this offseason.

Major Issue:

The Bears have all of their rookies under contract except their first pick, Major Wright. Wright has yet to sign his rookie deal, but expect him to sign very soon. When he was drafted, it was thought he would start opposite Chris Harris, but it looks like he will backup Harris at FS because he has been working with the second team with Craig Steltz during minicamp.

Danieal Manning and Chris Harris are expected to be the starters this season.

Alex Brown and Adewale Ogunleye both were starters with the Bears from 2005-2009 and now there both gone, who will miss more?

By the way, let’s all hope Adewale Ogunleye finds a home soon. If not he might have to retire.

Brian Urlacher is a veteran in the NFL, so you would think he wouldn’t pick a fight with a Hall of Famer like Gale Sayers. Especially since Gale Sayers was such a great player for Urlacher’s team, the Chicago Bears, way before Urlacher was even born.

The whole feud is silly because Gale Sayers was speaking at a banquet when a fan asked him his thoughts on the current state of the Bears. Sayers answered by saying “Cutler hasn’t done the job. Urlacher, I don’t know how good he’s going to be coming back [from surgery]. He’s 33 years old (Note: Urlacher is actually 32). They need a couple wide receivers, a couple defensive backs. They haven’t done a good job.”

Maybe Gale Sayers is right, but the Bears are clearly going to be better than last season. The moves they have made are moves that can’t go unnoticed. Players like Julius Peppers, Chester Taylor, Brandon Manumaleuna and coaches like Mike Martz and Mike Tice are great pickups. Gale Sayers can have what ever opinion he wants when it comes to the Bears because first of all he played great for them and he is still a huge supporter of them. I think if a Chicago Bears great says your not doing well, then it’s only motivation to do better.

I’m proud of Brian Urlacher for defending the current Bears team, but you didn’t have to come back and argue with the Hall of Famer, Gale Sayers.

Whose going to defend you? Nobody.

A Hall of Fame running back is going to get the support, not a player who was a great player, but might not be the same player he used to be at age 32. Urlacher and Sayers both haven’t won a championship, neither of them have a ring. Urlacher had his chance in 2006 against the Colts, but the Bears blew that chance. I can understand Urlacher coming at Sayers about rings if he did win a Super Bowl, but he didn’t.

You know when Bears greats Mike Ditka, Dan Hampton and Dick Butkus defend Gale Sayers that your not winning the argument.

Brian Urlacher needs to have a big year, so this story doesn’t continue through the entire season. He needs to back up his trash talk with solid play. Brian Urlacher is still one of my favorite players on the Bears and I respect him for what he has done for the organization, but he needs to think before he talks next time about a Hall of Famer.

Mike Ditka said the perfect things about this feud, when he talked on Mike and Mike in the Morning.

Mike Ditka had this to say:

“The Bears are in the North division. Right now, they have two concerns: Green Bay and Minnesota, that should be their only two concerns.

“Unless they can control their division they’re not going to win. And right now there are two teams that are playing better than they are, and that’s Green Bay and Minnesota.”

(All quotes from ESPNChicago.com)

Last season Sports Illustrated writer Peter King picked the Bears to go all the way to the Super Bowl. He had them sitting at #4 in the power rankings. He loved the acquisition of QB Jay Cutler and the return of Brian Urlacher. But he also ranked last years Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints as his 24th team in his preseason power rankings, so it seems to me that he really doesn’t know what he is doing.

This season he put the Bears down at number 25, not only behind the Green Bay Packers and the Brett Favreless Minnesota Vikings, but also the stinky Detroit Lions.

I really respected King last season when he made that bold prediction, but I have lost all of that respect because of the ridiculous predictions he’s made this season. The Bears finished in the middle of the pack last season and that was without Brian Urlacher and with a bad offensive coordinator named Ron Turner.

Fast forward to 2010 the Bears added the best defensive end on the market in Julius Peppers. They added versatile running back Chester Taylor, the best blocking tight end Brandon Manumaleuna and offensive coordinator Mike Martz to coach Jay Cutler and Co.

I just can’t see how the Bears can possibly be worse. Especially worse then the Lions. Come on, man! The only teams worse according to King are Kansas City, Tennessee, Oakland, Cleveland, Tampa Bay, Buffalo and St. Louis. Peter King has lost all of his credibility as a writer with this new article.

King ranked Green Bay as #1 and San Diego as #2. I can understand those selections, but the Lions are clearly not better then the Bears or even the teams listed behind the Bears for that matter. Mike Martz has to make this offense work because if not they could be in big trouble. The defense will be back with healthy players like DT Tommie Harris, LB Brian Urlacher and LB Pisa Tinoisamoa. The return of safety Chris Harris and the addition of Major Wright certainly will make the secondary much improved. Obviously, Julius Peppers will be a game-changer.

Here’s what King wrote about the Bears in his new article:

“The Mike Martz-Jay Cutler marriage could work, or it could explode. The defense will be solid, assuming Julius Peppers comes to play, but he can’t solve everything on a unit that allowed 375 points last year.”

King says he isn’t very confident in his list, “I stink at this, in fact, my recommendation if you really want to find out what’s going to happen in the NFL this year is to take a bye on this column.”

(All quotes from Chicagosuntimes.com)

Yesterday the Bears locked up seventh round pick, OT, J’Marcus Webb to a four year deal, today they locked up fifth round pick, CB, Joshua Moore to a four year deal as well.

Three remain unsigned for the Bears: Safety Major Wright, DE Corey Wootton and QB Dan LeFevour.

The Bears are among one of the few teams that  get their rookies locked up early. Bears contract negotiator Cliff Stein said his goal was to have all five rookies signed before May 28th. Last season all of the rookies were signed before June 10th.

Joshua Moore will primarily be a special teams player and J’Marcus Webb might get put on the practice squad this season, but that doesn’t mean these two players don’t have bright futures.

Moore is very excited to get things going here in Chicago.

Here’s what Moore said about his familiarity with the Bears system so far:

“Since I’ve been in this week, I’ve just been getting familiar with the system, [Fellow cornerback] Zack [Bowman] has been helping me. I’m learning the system and getting things corrected. If you make a mistake, learn from it and don’t make that mistake again.”

(All quotes from ChicagoBears.com )

Is veteran QB Josh McCown on his way to the Windy City? If so, would it be a good move by the Bears?

QB Josh McCown is an eight year veteran, who was drafted in the third round in 2002 by the Arizona Cardinals out of Sam Houston State. He played with the Cardinals from 2002 to 2005, where he appeared in 33 games, starting 22 games, throwing for 5431 yards and 25 touchdowns and 29 interceptions. He also rushed for 429 yards in three touchdowns in his time with Arizona.

McCown’s best season in the NFL was in 2004 when he started 13 games and threw for over 2500 yards, 11 touchdowns and 10 interceptions while he recorded a 74.1 QB rating.

Since 2005, McCown has played for three different teams, Detroit, Oakland and most recently Carolina.

McCown played in 14 games over those four seasons, only started two games and both starts came in Oakland. McCown threw for over 1000 yards, 10 touchdowns and 11 interceptions in his only season in Oakland.

His career QB rating is 71.4 and he has five more interceptions than touchdowns, but his 31 career starts could be his way into the crowded quarterback position in Chicago.

Caleb Hanie is entering his third season with the Bears and has had two solid preseason, but he stepped in for Jay Cutler during the Baltimore beat down last season and threw seven passes while only completed three and throwing an interception.

Is Caleb Hanie really a capable backup if Jay Cutler went down?

I don’t really know, no one does. Quarterback is all about confidence and if Hanie has the confidence then he can be a solid backup. The other backups right now are Brett Basanez, who was basically a coach for Jay Cutler and recently drafted Dan LeFevour in the sixth round, but he is making a transition from a spread offense to the confusing offense Mike Martz runs.

Here’s what Josh McCown told ESPNChicago.com yesterday about his interest in becoming a Chicago Bear:

“I understand right now there’s not anybody beating down my door to be a starter, so understanding that, where do you go to be in a great situation where you are a backup? For me, in Mike Martz’s offense and where I’m at in my career, I feel comfortable with [coming to Chicago]. The fact that Jay [Cutler] is there doesn’t affect me at all, and probably gets me more excited because you get to work with a guy that talented, and hopefully help the coaches get the best out of him.

“The commitment they have to Jay, there’s nothing you can do coming in to get on the field. So for me, my motivation would be to come in and help him be the best he can be, but also get myself ready so if anything happens to Jay, I would be able to help the team win games.”

My Thoughts:

I think Josh McCown would be nice insurance behind Jay Cutler, but I really like Caleb Hanie and I want to see what he would be able to do if Cutler went down. Basanez probably won’t make the team and LeFevour will probably be stuck on the practice squad, so McCown has some leverage there and with the offense because he played for Mike Martz in Detroit.

Adding McCown isn’t a big decision for the Bears. If they get him cheap then its a solid move, but I wouldn’t be upset if they passed on him because there is a better guy still out on the market, Marc Bulger.

Marc Bulger would be a great backup and he would teach Jay Cutler and the rest of the young quarterbacks so much because of his experience with Mike Martz.

Bulger is a better backup plan than McCown, if they can land Bulger then I think Bears fans would be very happy.

McCown wouldn’t be a bad pickup though.

(All quotes from ESPNChicago.com )

Credits to Bears linebacker Nick Roach for uploading this hilarious video of Bears special team ace Tim Shaw rapping during his college days at Penn State. Who knew Tim Shaw was a rapper? I certainly didn’t.

What do you Bears fans think of Tim Shaw’s rapping ability?

The Bears signed one of their rookies and it’s not one they drafted. His name is Averell Spicer, he is 6’2″, 305 pound defensive tackle from USC. He was projected to be a late round pick, but when undrafted and was invited to the Bears rookie minicamp last weekend.

Averell Spicer whose nickname is “Spice” appeared in 30 games in five years at USC, his freshman year he was redshirted. Spicer played nose tackle at USC, but played defensive end and running back in high school.

Spicer appeared only in one game last season because he got injured in practice leading into the second game. He suffered an ankle injury which made him miss the rest of the season.

Maybe Spicer can earn a roster spot but it will be hard with Tommie Harris, Anthony Adams, Marcus Harrison, Jarron Gilbert, and Matt Toeina all ahead of him.

Spicer is the 75th player the Bears have under contract. 80 players is the max at this point, but Danieal Manning hasn’t signed so there really is only four roster spots left.

You always want the underdog to make the team and Spicer has a chance. He impressed coaches at the minicamp enough to leave with a contract, so he’s a got a shot.

I can’t believe it has been two years that I have been writing about my favorite team, the Chicago Bears on Bearsbacker.com. When I first created the site I remember how new this blog world seemed to me. It’s different now, I’m used to this blog world and it’s used to having me a part of it.

My writing has improved so much, my readers are starting to pick up and because of sites like twitter and windycitizen.com my website is starting to get more popular. I have had two interviews with Bears players and those were some real experiences. Josh Beekman and Brandon Rideau were very nice and it was pretty neat interview the players I look up to.

Funny thing about interviews, I was supposed to interview SS Kevin Payne last week, but then the Bears acquired Chirs Harris and Kevin Payne was the last safety on the depth chart, so he is gone and so is my interview with him. It’s a shame, but hopefully if my website really gets known across the web as a great Chicago Bears news source, then maybe I can keep getting interviews.

Thank you readers for coming to my site, keep commenting, keep reading because without you guys my site wouldn’t exist.

Bear Down!