LET THE HITTING BEGIN
By: Gary Zahara and Mike Scott
BOURBONNAIS- From fireworks to VIP autograph's, the Chicago Bears are licking their chops to finally hit someone. Saturday's 'Family Night' in Bearbonnais was not all it was cracked up to be. Very few cheers during the planning practice for the Hall of Fame game in Canton Ohio Monday. The only cheers came from two rubber Staley's beating each other, scaring the crap out of one reporter(who will go unnamed).
Week two of practice was dominated by two prominent yet MIA Bears:Jerry Azumah,just returned from Denver where he had a simple procedure to relieve the soreness on an inflamed right hip and not yet signed first round pick Cedric Benson. The fix for Azumah went well. For Benson,everything is still up in the air.
Azumah appeared at Saturday night's practice to observe his teammates from the sidelines. Although he has several more weeks of rehab ahead, Azumah expressed confidence that he would be back in the active lineup by the last pre season game and ready to go at 100% by the first game of the regular season.
"It was something that was not getting better so I decided to get it attended to sooner rather than later," Azumah said. The Bears doctors recommended a specialist in Denver. "I had a consultation and decided to proceed Everything is fine. I am just frustrated after having the injury to my neck last year and now the knee. Luckily I seem to be a fast healer."
Benson is another story,however. The coaches had a mental deadline for Benson's appearance in camp that is long since past. Players and staff alike are becoming concerned about the amount of practice and classroom time that Benson has missed already. Then there's the resentment factor. Does Benson really require the $14.5 million signing bonus he allegedly is holding out for? And what kind of message does the emphasis of cash over playing time send to his new teammates?
While all of this is going on,Thomas Jones has been quietly solidifying his starting position. An admittedly unspectacular workhorse, Jones has shown himself to be dependable and productive. It's a statement he's been wanting to make to the Bears staff since Benson was drafted.
Who else is looking good? Former Arena ball player Rashied Davis has some nice moves and a good eye for the ball. Mike Brown and Peanut Tillman are getting some strong picks off of Grossman and Hutchinson. Derek Lee,a 6'5 WR from Doug Plank's Georgia Force Arena squad has impressed in limited appearances.
Punter Gabe Lindstrom had been very impressive in special teams drills. His big leg and especially hang time will give opponents fits.
Speaking of Grossman and Hutchinson, both QB's have been fair at best in seven on seven drills. Without pads, they missed badly on passing routes. That position needs to shore up quickly or it will be another long season.
Next up: The Dolphins. Lovie is certainly ready to have another NFL team to face. It's the chance he's been waiting for to see how his roster stacks up against a strong Miami defense, a team eager to impress it's new head coach. He's planning to use the starters initially,then rotate players in and out of the game while getting more of an idea who should remain on the final roster.
"We're going to play the guys until we feel good about what we're doing," Smith said.