jiggadhu

Bernard Berrian is due to become and unrestricted free agent come the end of February and he has already said he would like to go back to the west coast. Great, fine, I understand the fact that he wants to go home and play in a warmer climate. He has said he would be interested in staying in Chicago if the Bears could stabalize the QB position. That's where the problem lies.

The QB position is not going to be stabalized in one offseason. The Bears will draft a QB to develop and they will probably resign Rex Grossman and go into camp with him and Kyle Orton battling it out for the number 1 sopt. That, in all likelyhood will not be enough for Berrian to want to stay, but the Bears desperately need him for at least one more year.

Here are 5 reasons the franshise him:

1. If he were to leave via FA, it would severely diminish the depth at the WR position leaving us with Moose, Hester, Bradley, and Mike Hass.

2. WR free agency this year is very shallow. Besides Randy Moss (who the Patriots will not let go), Berrian is probably the best receiver in free agency.

3. Berrian knows the Bears system very well. We can't simply replace him with another free agent like the Cardinal's Bryant Johnson or the Texans Andre Johnson and not expect a drop off in productivity.

4. By franchsing him this year when the market is so shallow, we have a better shot of signing him to a long term deal next off season if we so chose to.  The reason is because WRs in 2009 that are scheduled to become free agents include T.J. Houshmanzadeh, Terrell Owens, Bobby Engram, Marty Booker, Ashley Lelie, Shaun McDonald, Amani Toomer, and Roscoe Parrish. That ;s pretty deep FA class. The Bears would then be holding all the power during negotiations.

5. Devin Hester, could be a great WR, but he needs more time to develop. Muhsin Muhammad is still decent but for him to be effective he needs a WR that could be a deep threat to take attention off of him. Last, no one really knows what we have in Mark Bradley and if he can make it in the NFL.

To me I think #1 is the most compelling reason. Last year when they let Thomas Jones go to the Jets, the fans were basically promised that there would be no drop off in production. When they let Ian Scott and Alfonso Boone go we were promised no drop off in production. When they let Ron Rivera go, we were promised no drop off in production. That did not happen. There was a major drop off in prodcution. Now I know injuries on defense played a large role in the loss of production and I know Tank Johnson didn't give us much of a choice but to let him go, but the drop off in productivity in the defense and running game were huge.

The Bears front office has lost some credibility in my eyes. Maybe if we made the playoffs I would be more apt to believe them but at this point if they tell me that Mark Bradley or Devin Hester can step in and pick up right where Berrian left off, I would have a hard time believing them. I mean after all, they did say Cedric Benson could replace Thomas Jones production and that didn't even come close to happening.

If you're like me, everytime you see a mock draft online where someone has the Bears taking Andre Woodson with the 14th overall pick, you cringe and say "God I hope not." Most of us these boards realize that while qb is a position the Bears need help with, it is not even close to being the most important  need. Here are three needs greater than QB:

1. Offensive line - No one can deny that this is the most pressing need on the entire team.

2. Safety - Both free safety and strong safety positions were lacking this year. Danieal Manning did seem to play much better towards the end of the year, but I would like some more depth. Adam Archuleta is basically a linebacker in a safety's body. That was not a compliment. I like Mike Brown as a player but there has to come a time where you move on. I would keep him, but definately add depth.

3. Running Back - We all know we cannot get rid of Cedric Benson. It would cost the Bears entirely too much money to cut him and to be honest, I believe the decline of our offensive line had a lot to do with the struggles of the running game.

Now let's look at it this way. If we spend our number 1 pick on a QB how is that going to help us win now? That  QB will not be ready to play for at least a year. The Bears have proven that they can be dominant with an average QB like Rex. If we can fix our oline and actually give whoever the starting QB ends up being  a running game to fall on, then I think you will see a huge increase in the productivity of the passing game. I don't believe the QB position is anything the Bears will need to worry about in the short term future. Am I saying do not draft a quarterback? Absolutely not. Just not on the first day. If I were Jerry Angelo I would spend no higher than the first of our two third round picks on a QB such as Joe Flacco, Erik Ainge, or even Colt Brennan. If for whatever reason they do not work out, then it's not like you've wasted a first round pick or spent a lot of money on them.

I for one would rather see Joe Flacco in a Bears uniform that Andre Woodson.