Bears' running game still not in gear

The important thing isn't that the Bears somehow managed to outscore the defending Super Bowl champion Indianapolis Colts on Monday night.

What's important is that they looked lousy doing it.

And it wasn't just quarterback Rex Grossman's inability to handle the snap from center or hold on to the ball or keep from throwing it to the Colts. Certainly, all of that is troubling, especially when extrapolated over four quarters, not just 1½ quarters of football.

But the running game, allegedly the heart and soul of Ron Turner's offense, also barely is beating.

Cedric Benson, who supposedly made Thomas Jones expendable, picked up just 24 yards on 10 carries, with a long gain of 6 yards.

Backup Adrian Peterson, the only other tailback on the roster with NFL experience, had 8 yards on 5 carries, a 1.6-yard average.

While two of rookie Garrett Wolfe's carries netted 25 yards, the other 6 managed a total of 3 yards.

Altogether, the Bears had 68 rushing yards on 32 carries (a 2.1-yard average) against a Colts defense that was the NFL's worst against the run last season, and Indy was without run-stuffing safety Bob Sanders on Monday.

If the Bears can't run the ball against the Colts, one has to wonder if they can run it against anyone.

"It's a work in progress," coach Lovie Smith said. "We're a work in progress as a football team. The game plan has been pretty basic with what we've done. But we're a running football team, so I would like to talk about how we rushed for 200 yards. We're not there yet; (we) still have time."

But it's only 18 days until the Bears travel to San Diego for the season opener against the Chargers, who were an NFL-best 14-2 in 2006, and it doesn't seem as if they've made much progress toward their goal of a repeat Super Bowl appearance.

The offensive line is supposed to be a team strength, but it has been far from dominant, and left tackle John Tait (ankle) has yet to take a snap.

This veteran group ultimately will determine the success of the running game and whether Grossman has time to get the ball down the field to deep threats Bernard Berrian, Devin Hester and Greg Olsen.

But only 1 of Grossman's 9 completions Monday went for more than 8 yards, and on that play he stepped up to avoid the rush and then bought some time by moving outside the pocket before throwing the ball. That was the high point of Grossman's otherwise forgettable performance.

Because backup Brian Griese thoroughly outplayed Grossman, the question of who should be the Bears' starter will be hotly debated.

Maybe the topic will even be discussed within the walls of Halas Hall, and that would produce the kind of instability most self-proclaimed Super Bowl hopefuls manage to avoid.

Griese, an experienced veteran who knows he was brought in to be a backup and not to make waves, won't provide any fuel for a quarterback controversy, but he knows he has played well enough to start.

"I feel good," Griese said after a second straight exceptional outing. "My body feels good. In the second year in the offense, I feel like I know what's going on and I feel like I'm in good rhythm. You've got to make plays when you're in there, and that's what we did."

Saturday against the San Francisco 49ers, Bears starters will get a lot more playing time, and they need to make a lot of progress.