2009 Bears Preview

Lester Wiltfong is on staff at Windy City Gridiron and he's the featured Bears blogger for The Sporting News. Chicago Bears 2008 Recap: Last year the Bears were a Kyle Orton injury away from being in the playoffs. You can call that statement wishful thinking, or me being a homer, but you can't deny the way Orton played before his injury (he was starting to come into his own, in the first 7 games he had 1,669 yards, 62%, 10 TD, 4 INT). Then those 2 loses the Bears suffered with Rex Grossman at QB (which led to Orton being rushed back), and the way Orton played while less than 100% (bad to mediocre). Most of the year the offense was actually more reliable than the defense. While the defense had its moments, it was rookie RB Matt Forte that was putting the league on notice. Defensively the Bears suffered a few untimely injuries, had a few to many mental breakdowns, and had some less than stellar play calling. With some changes that were made in the off season the Bears hope to ...