Chicago Bears -- Offensive Needs

The problems that the Bears had on offense in 2009 are well known. Even with former Pro Bowl quarterback Jay Cutler at the helm the Bears still struggled on offense and didn’t do nearly as well as many had predicted before the start of the season. Now there is a new offensive coordinator in Chicago and Mike Martz is sure to try to get the most out of this squad but what will he be able to get out of them? There aren’t many stars on offense and as we saw last year there are many more problems than there are solutions for this offense.

So what do the Bears need on offense? Which positions are hurting? Which positions are pretty solid? Let’s take a look at the top five needs on offense for the Bears and how they might get taken care of during the offseason.

Tight End-Even with Greg Olsen and Desmond Clark in the mix, the Bears will still have to look for a good third tight end who is more of a blocker than a pass receiver. Unless Martz has changed his philosophy, his offenses tend to not use the tight end as a receiver that much so we may see a drop in catches by the tight ends and increase in their pass blocking. Olsen is not well adept at blocking at current third string tight end Kellen Davis doesn’t have the work ethic to become a mainstay on the team so Chicago will probably look to get a tight end somewhere this offseason.

Guard-Roberto Garza is getting older and hasn’t been playing that well for the past couple seasons and Frank Omiyale hasn’t been the kind of player at the position that they thought that he would be. While Josh Beekman may end up being the starter on one side the Bears could use some greater depth (and another starter) on the other so look for the Bears to upgrade at the guard position this offseason.

Quarterback-Yes, the Bears have Jay Cutler at the helm but what happens if he goes down? The Bears have Caleb Hanie and Brett Basanez but they are not that experienced and could be lost the minute they step into a real NFL game. Getting some veteran help would really be beneficial so the Bears should try to look for a good veteran backup this offseason.

Running Back-No one knows if Kevin Jones is going to be able to come back from his ankle injury (suffered during the preseason) and Kahlil Bell is still pretty much unproven so it would be wise for the Bears to try to find someone to backup starter Matt Forte this offseason. The Bears should devote some attention to getting a running back that could start if needed and help provide a good two back punch that the Bears will need.

Wide Receiver-This is, perhaps, the biggest need on the offense. Chicago doesn’t have the kind of speedy wide receiver that puts fear in defensive backs (like a Larry Fitzgerald or Reggie Wayne). They need to get some additional help at the wide receiver position and if they find someone in free agency that they can make a deal with then they need to go for it and get that help.

Fullback-A lot of people have been critical of the way that starter Jason McKie plays but what will be most important in the Bears new offense is blocking. So they will want to go and try to figure out if McKie can block and if he can’t then they may seek a new fullback somewhere this offseason.

The Bears face a season of change on offense and it’s going to be tough to tell just how things are going to go because we aren’t too sure just what kind of offense they will run. Martz has been known to run a lot of passing plays which means that players will have to pass block much more than they had before and this may end up being a problem for the Bears. With the wide receivers that they currently have, passing a lot may also not be a great idea. Until we get some idea of what kind of offense will be run it may be a little bit hard to tell what players are needed where. We should be able to get a much better idea of things after the first few minicamp workouts.