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Chicago Bears Tickets – Big Signings Elevate Bears In Nfc North

Though there are still plenty of questions surrounding the Bears such as the health of Brian Urlacher moving forward and whether or not Jay Cutler can rebound for a horrible season, the Bears have made it clear that they aren’t willing to sit around and simply hope that their team will be better in 2010.

At age 30, Julius Peppers is easily among the most dominating pass rushers in the entire NFL and comes off one of the best seasons of his career in 2009. With his rare combination of speed and power, Peppers has wreaked havoc on offensive lines in his eight years in the NFL and has racked up 10 or more sacks in six seasons. On occasion, Peppers will even drop back in coverage – an incredible rarity among defensive ends in the league. Peppers is the type of elite player that can also have a tremendous impact on Chicago Bears tickets.

With such diverse talent, the Bears are in great position to improve their lackluster defense from a year ago. After losing linebacker Brian Urlacher for the season following a week one loss to Green Bay, the Bears’ defense was inconsistent at best, porous at its worst. Without much of a pass rush, the Bears got torched by good offenses and continued to erode from their state of previous defensive dominance. Though Urlacher returning to the lineup should certainly help the overall outlook of the defense, signing Peppers to get consistent pressure on the quarterback is a monumental addition in a pass-first league.

Considering the division the Bears play in, a pass rush cannot be overemphasized. The Vikings appear to be in good shape to hold onto Brett Favre for another season, coming off one of Favre’s best statistical years and a NFC North title. But Favre is certainly not the only quarterback in the division worth worrying about, as Packers signal caller Aaron Rodgers appears ready to jump into the elite category of NFL quarterbacks himself. Despite one of the worst offensive lines in the league a year ago, Rodgers still led one of the top passing attacks in the game and continues to improve rapidly each year in the league.

The Bears addressed their own quarterback issues a year ago when they traded for Jay Cutler, but Cutler struggled mightily in his first year in the Windy City, throwing a league-high 26 interceptions and posting a shaky quarterback rating of 76.8. Adding insult to injury was a slow year from Matt Forte, who failed to top 1,000 yards despite playing in every game for the Bears. Forte looked to be one of the young and upcoming backs in the league following his ’08 rookie season, in which he put up more than 1,700 yards from scrimmage and appeared to be a legit feature back. The Bears also had no real receiving threats, with cornerback convert Devin Hester leading the team with just 57 catches and less than 800 yards receiving.

To improve their offensive fortunes, the Bears brought in Vikings backup running back Chester Taylor, who would have been starting for the Vikings the last few years had Adrian Peterson not fallen to them in the ’07 draft. Taylor should be able to give Forte a nice push at the running back position but is also talented enough to possibly give the Bears one of the best one-two punches in the league. However, with Taylor being 30 years old, the magical age for running backs that frequently sees a sharp decline in production, it’s unclear what type of back the Bears will truly be getting in Taylor.

Hoping to provide Cutler a big target, the Bears also went out and grabbed the Chargers’ back-up tight end Brandon Manumaleuna, signing him to a five-year deal. Though Manumaleuna has never seen much time as a pass catching tight end with the Chargers, this is due mainly to the perennial Pro Bowler Antonio Gates than anything else and Manumaleuna does boast freakish speed for a tight end pushing 300 pounds. Even if Manumaleuna doesn’t turn into a premiere tight end, which is unlikely anyway, he still appears to be a nice addition to a listless offense from a year ago.

More than anything, though, the Bears have to find a way to return Cutler to prominence if they are to have any shot at competing in the NFC North. A legitimate wide receiver threat certainly wouldn’t hurt, but Cutler regressed in terms of accuracy and decision-making in 2009 after showing considerable promise in his years in Denver. Even with adding a dominant player like Peppers to the roster and a few nice role players with considerable upside, the 2010 season will likely still come down to the development of Cutler. The Bears have shown that they are willing to make a sizeable splash in the free agent market to bring in new pieces for their team. Now they have to see if the pieces already there can take them to the next level.

About the Author

This article about Chicago Bears tickets was written by David James in association with StubHub, a leader in the sports tickets, concert tickets, theatre tickets and special events tickets market.

Week in Review Friday Dec. 4th