How good are the Bears?
In the wake of Saturday night's dominant performance against the San Francisco 49ers, you have to wonder how good the Bears' defense will be with a healthy Tommie Harris.
The problem is, it might be awhile before that question can be answered.
Harris has yet to play in the preseason as he works his way back from last season's torn hamstring. And, since starters barely play enough in the fourth preseason game to work up a sweat, it's quite possible Harris won't play at all in the preseason.
Nevertheless, Bears coach Lovie Smith, who has been a fountain of confusion and contradiction regarding Harris' condition, remains optimistic about the anchor of the defensive line.
"I expect him to line up in San Diego with the first group and play at the level that we've grown accustomed to Tommie playing at," Smith said.
Hah.
If the Bears really believed Harris would be 100 percent at the start of the regular season, they wouldn't have traded for Darwin Walker during training camp and given him a renegotiated contract for $25 million over five years.
Walker, who has started all three preseason games in place of Harris, is a good player, but that's a lot of loot to pay a 30-year-old player who has never been to the Pro Bowl. Unless, of course, you're concerned that it'll be at least a few more weeks before your best defensive lineman returns to that level.
Despite assurances from Harris and Smith that all is well with the two-time Pro Bowl tackle, not even Harris can go from total inactivity in the preseason to playing at a Pro Bowl level. And it's not as though Harris has been going all out in practices and then taking off on game day as a precaution. His practice time has been limited throughout training camp.
Even if he starts at San Diego, Harris will not play his usual number of snaps, and he won't be the same player who dominated the line of scrimmage a year ago, when he had 5 sacks and 5 more quarterback pressures in the first five games.
Even without Harris, it's comforting to know the Bears' defense is capable of greatness. Saturday night, the 49ers' offense went three-and-out on its first three possessions. By then, the Bears led 17-0.
The only points the 49ers scored on the Bears' first-team defense came when they were given the ball just 7 yards from the end zone after Drisan James fumbled a punt. Their other first-half points came on Walt Harris' 52-yard interception return for a touchdown.
On offense, the 49ers stumbled their way to 44 total yards in the first half on 17 snaps and did not have a play that gained more than 11 yards, although they were missing standout running back Frank Gore. The Niners managed 1 first down in the first half while the Bears were rolling up 17.
"We're ready," said strong-side linebacker Hunter Hillenmeyer. "We came up in a sprint last year, but we tailed off. So the key this year won't be, 'Can we do it?' It will be, 'Can we keep doing it?' Hopefully, we haven't really shown what we can do yet."
That won't happen until Harris is all the way back. Fortunately for the Bears, they're talented enough on defense to dominate some teams even without him.