But again, aren't the Bears much better now than what they were in December? Last year they were a VERY GOOD team at 7-3 and then Cutler broke his thumb. If they had Bush and Campbell last year, they probably finish 10-6 and get in the playoffs.

 

I do agree that I wanted a DE or a DT, an impactful one at that, but it didn't happen, so I trust Emery to address that in the draft.

 

 

I'm with ya

It is so exciting to see all the interest and buzz this offseason and with a new guy at the helm for the first time in 10 offseasons all the trends that could be attributed to the previous GM are out the window. Then watching the current GM put his stamp on the roster by securing a top weapon for his franchise QB add depth to the QB and RB position and give THE BEST COACH ON THE STAFF(TOUB) some resources with resigning some of our own FAs and some solid FAs to fill spots of players that are no longer on the roster.The way the current roster is configured there are 61 players listed not including Unga(who IMO is done).35 of those have 5 years or less experience 17 are draft picks with 9 considered starters right now including Webb,Louis and Wright . Thats 3 positions that should have to compete for their spots. Of the 18 remaining guys with 5 years or less experience Devin Thomas is the only 1 that was actually drafted by an NFL team leaving the rest as guys off the scrap heap. This is where the upgrade and depth needs to be focused. So thats a total 29 positions on the roster that should have competetion. With the current roster number at 61 that leaves 19 spots left with 7 going to draft picks. With UFAs and maybe resigning Okoye that has to be done in 12 spots to fill a TC roster to 80 and IMO that is not enough to address every need this team has to fill unless some surprising cap friendly cuts can be made.

I'm not a Martz fan, by any means, and the offense on those 11-5 and 7-3 teams was why he was fired/decided to resign. The glaring weakness in that offense was the offensive line, and those teams won in spite of it.

 

Precisely.

 

Attributing a major portion of wins to the Bears OL of the past few years is like when people tried to give the winning record to Shoop and his offense.

 

This was the most recent cap thread I could find, and hey, it's close to the current number quote!

The Chicago Bears have more than enough room to sign the Pro Bowl running back to a multi-year extension -- and have remaining cap space to conduct business as needed leading up to and through the 2012 season.

 

After signing their six-man draft class, the Bears have $3.81 million in remaining cap space, according to an NFL source.

Plenty of $$$ available to grab a good vet FA if one should become available.