Williams rejoins offensive line somewhere
The revolving door that leads to the Bears' offensive line continues to spin.
This week it spit out left guard Roberto Garza, who will have arthroscopic knee surgery today and miss at least a couple weeks. It ushered in Chris Williams, who was the starting left tackle until he suffered a hamstring injury on the first possession in Week Two. Frank Omiyale was moved from right tackle to left tackle to fill in for Williams and has played fairly well there. So Williams might take Garza's place instead of going back to left tackle.
“It's all just about getting the best players on the field, offensive coordinator Mike Martz said. “It's the age-old question: Do you just put him in there and affect one position or do you move somebody and affect two. Coaches are always reluctant to do that. We know that he can play anywhere, and we like him and we know how effective he is. We're just happy that he's healthy and he's in a position to help us right now.
The only constant on the O-line has been center Olin Kreutz, the 13-year veteran and line leader. Eight different players have started at least one game, including seventh-round pick J'Marcus Webb, who got his first NFL start last week at right tackle. First-year player Edwin Williams got his first start as a Bear last week at right guard in place of Lance Louis, who started the first four games before a knee injury slowed him.
“We're going to try to have the best five guys out there, and we tried (Chris Williams) in a couple spots (Wednesday), offensive line coach Mike Tice said. “We'd like to have him in the mix as one of the guys. We'll see how he handles the different positions and we'll see how some of the injury things play out. Certainly in my opinion he's one of the five guys who should be on the field.
Spinning wheels: The Bears are now 0-for-9 from their opponents' 1-yard line this year, a situation that has offensive coordinator Mike Martz perplexed.
#8220;The goal line has been a real frustration for us, he said. #8220;We have to continue to address that and make sure we're doing the right things. I've never #8230; this is kind of new thing #8230; I'm kind of dumbfounded here about it. But we'll address it and that's got to be resolved, we've got to get that resolved this week. That's more of a coaching deal for me. You can (try to) do too much down there, and we just have to let them play.
Part of the problem, or maybe a result of the problem is that, until Matt Forte's 2 rushing touchdowns last week, the Bears had scored just 1 rushing touchdown in the previous 13 games.
Pecking order: Coach Lovie Smith declined to confirm that Caleb Hanie has moved ahead of Todd Collins on the depth chart, but that's a foregone conclusion after Collins was intercepted four times as last week's fill-in starter before he was pulled late in the third quarter.#8220;I felt bad for Todd, said Jay Cutler, who is back as the starter after sitting out last week with a concussion. #8220;It's hard to come in mid-training camp and pick up (the offense) right there and then not get any reps once the season starts. It's almost impossible. He had a few tough breaks, missed a few throws, but that's how it goes sometimes.Injury update: Linebacker Lance Briggs (ankle) and cornerback Charles Tillman (calf) did not practice Wednesday, and linebacker Brian Urlacher (groin) was limited. Safety Major Wright (hamstring) remains out but is working on the side.