Thread: Ten indispensible Bears players

Ten indispensible Bears players

MARK POTASH ON THE BEARS .hideTime { DISPLAY: none}Dec 24, 2010 11:09PM

Where would the Bears be without Jay Cutler? Or Julius Peppers? Or Brian Urlacher? Or Lance Briggs?

Take any of them away from this team, and the game today against the Jets at Soldier Field might be more critical for Lovie Smith and Jerry Angelo than anybody else.
With Cutler, Peppers, Urlacher, Briggs and Devin Hester, the Bears have more difference-makers — players who can raise their level of play against playoff-caliber teams, such as the Jets — than they’ve had since the Ditka era. But they can’t afford to lose any of them.

What teams could? The Steelers have won without Ben Roethlisberger. The Jets have won without Darrelle Revis. The Patriots have won without Randy Moss. The Ravens have won without Ed Reed.

The Bears? They’ve won without Cutler. But they probably could have used Hester at quarterback and beaten the Panthers. Come to think of it, they couldn’t have done any worse with Hester than they did with Todd Collins.

The Bears are a legitimate Super Bowl contender — more legit than the 2006 team that actually made it to the Super Bowl. But of all the contenders for the big game, none has as small a margin for error as the Bears.

The Patriots can’t lose Tom Brady, but that’s about all they can’t lose. The Bears have four or five players they can’t afford to lose. Maybe more. The offensive line has worked its way up to respectability in the last six weeks. But at this point, it’s a cohesiveness that seems bonded by electrical tape and bubble gum. Even replacing Chris Williams or J’Marcus Webb seems dicey.

So who are the Bears’ most valuable players? Here’s a look at 10 they can’t afford to lose:

10Israel Idonije, DE: Even considering the Peppers factor, Idonije has been an upgrade over Alex Brown and Adewale Ogunleye. Idonije not only shares the team lead with eight sacks, but he has five tackles for loss and more passes broken up (five) and forced fumbles (three) than Brown and Ogunleye had combined last season.

9 Robbie Gould, PK: The fourth-most accurate field-goal kicker in NFL history (157-for-183, 85.8 percent) has made 11 in a row since a midseason ‘‘slump’’ in which he missed from 42 and 43 yards and had a 54-yarder blocked. And he’s 3-for-4 from 50-plus yards.

8 Johnny Knox, WR: A big-play threat on deep routes who also can turn short passes into big gains, Knox allows the Bears to use Hester less on offense and more on special teams. Knox leads the Bears in receptions (47), receiving yards (868) and yards per catch (18.5).

7 Roberto Garza, RG: Logical offensive lineman for this list. The Bears are 10-2 when Garza starts and 0-2 when he doesn’t. Moving back to his more comfortable position of right guard (he started the first five games at left guard) seems to have helped everybody else settle in to their new positions.

6 Matt Forte, RB: If he were wearing another team’s uniform, he’d be a guy we’d have to have. Forte has an 89-yard touchdown catch, a 68-yard scoring run, 1,296 total yards on 242 touches (5.4 yards per touch) and eight total touchdowns. Chester Taylor has gained 92 yards on 61 carries (1.5 yards per carry) in the last seven games.

5 Hester, KR: Though the Bears have capable replacements in the return game — Danieal Manning, Knox and Earl Bennett all have had kick-return touchdowns — nobody brings the fear factor to the return game like Hester when he’s hot.

4 Briggs, LB: The Bears lost both games Briggs missed this season (against the Seahawks and Redskins). Though Brian Iwuh played well in his place, he can’t fill the stat sheet like Briggs, who has 109 tackles, two sacks, seven tackles for loss, two interceptions, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery.

3 Urlacher, LB: Not only is Urlacher playing at a Pro Bowl level in a comeback season, but he’s maintaining it in the second half. He averaged 5.7 tackles per game after the bye in 2008. He’s averaging 11 tackles per game after the bye this season. And if he goes down, who would replace him? Last season the Bears had Hunter Hillenmeyer, who had started 56 NFL games previously. This season they have Rod Wilson, who has played mostly on special teams in five NFL seasons.

2 Cutler, QB: His 89.6 passer rating (20 touchdowns, 13 interceptions) would be the Bears’ best since Erik Kramer in 1995. Based on the game against the Panthers, the Bears would be in big trouble if Cutler gets hurt. Collins had an 8.1 passer rating as a mid-game replacement for Cutler against the Giants and a 6.2 rating as the starter against the Panthers. But that was three months ago. And for all we know, Caleb Hanie might be moved up if Cutler couldn’t play.

1 Peppers, DE: The Bears have had a lot of capable players who could have sacked Tyler Thigpen or Jimmy Clausen three times. But they’ve never had somebody who can chase down Michael Vick, like Peppers did more than once. In addition to his eight sacks, Peppers has 21 pressures, five tackles for loss and seven passes broken up. Not only can’t the Bears replace that, but they can’t cover up for it, either, if something happens to Peppers.