Bears rookies making their mark early
After watching the Chicago Bears play some football against the San Diego Chargers, I like what I see — and the makeup of this roster.
I know it’s only preseason, but I have to be straight up.
The Bears have six or seven players who have been relevant for over a decade in the league — guys like Roberto Garza, Julius Peppers and Lance Briggs. But the promising part is the Bears are loaded with young talent across the board.
I was against former coach Lovie Smith being let go after a 10-win campaign, but that team — even when winning — wastired and sleepy at times. It looks like head coach Marc Trestman has brought something to the table that was starting to wane — enthusiasm!
Chicago is going to be excited about this team and the three rookie players I love right now are Kyle Long, Jon Bostic and Jordan Mills.
Long, son of Howie Long, is a 6-foot-6, 315-pound offensive guard who just abused anyone who lined up against him including San Diego Charger defensive end Jarius Wynn, who probably needs to seek counseling after Thursday’s game.
Preseason play can be dangerous to established players, because Long wants to start and never stops moving his feet. Long and Mills look like they surprised San Diego’s defense, which didn’t seem prepared for such outstanding play from two rookies in only their second game.
Then there is Jon Bostic. The Bears finally have a middle linebacker with evil intentions.
If I’m linebacker D.J. Williams, currently out with a calf injury, who was supposed to be the starter, I’m back today trying to make the decision harder for coaches.
The hit that Bostic delivered to Charger wide out Mike Willie on a curl pattern just might have solidified him as a starter. And it didn’t hurt the week before that Bostic returned an interception for a touchdown.
Bostic will have to learn on the job like Brian Urlacher did. The first three years of Urlacher’s career were filled with plenty of hype, some good and some bad, and he made his share of mistakes early on. To be fair, though, Urlacher was an All-Pro linebacker after his original position was a safety. That couldn’t have been easy.
The one thing I know is Urlacher would make you pay, but I never thought teams feared him, and maybe that is the difference. The last three or four years, Briggs was the guy who made opposing players keep their head on a swivel.
I may be wrong, but Bostic looks like he has the Wilber Marshall gene in him. Guys like Marshall, Dick Butkus, Otis Wilson, Doug Buffone and Mike Singletary had that evil mind set on the field. I think we can add Bostic to the list.
He’s just evil — I love it and Bears fans will too.
Coming soon:The Mike North Pregame Show starts Sept. 8 on Sundays from 10 a.m. to noon on WIND 560-AM The Answer.Ÿ Mike North#146;s column appears each Tuesday and Friday in the Daily Herald, and his video commentary can be found Monday, Wednesday and Thursday at dailyherald.com. For more, visit northtonorth.com.