The Bears almost got out of the offseason with no major injuries. Until now. Charles Tillman has had back surgery to remove a disc fragment. Tillman is prone to back problems, as it has sidelined him before in previous years.
The main concern is will he be able to play the opener? The Bears management believes so. Injury in the defensive backfield for the Bears is not new. Mike Brown has missed most of the past 4 seasons, with Achilles, calf, and Lisfranc injuries.
What could hurt the Bears is if Tillman does miss some of the first few games, especially when they play Green Bay and Pittsburgh. Those two teams have very good passing quarterbacks: Aaron Rodgers and Ben Roethlisberger. These dangerous quarterbacks could throw all over the Bears, just like last year, without the right leadership in the secondary.
The Bears passing defense wasn’t all that great last year to begin with, even with a healthy Tillman. They ranked 30th out of 32 teams in passing defense. An injury like this, if it is prolonged or nagging, could be devastating to the Bears defense. With the possibility of Mike Brown getting injured also, as he has every year since 2004, and the possibility of Tillman missing a few games, the Bears playoff chances could be hindered by a limping set of DBs.
But Tillman missing games is still unsure. He could be totally fine by the time the season starts. We will just have to wait and see.
Injuries are what every team wants to avoid, but you can never avoid it completely during any season. The key is to have your team ready to play without the injured player. New guys need to step up and take charge when a leader gets injured.
With Jay Cutler now taking the reins, the Bears have a chance to compete in the NFC. Defense will still be key though, just like it always has been. They need to stay away from major injuries, get a lot of wins, and hopefully get a second chance this decade at the Super Bowl.
* – Charles Tillman photo credit: Suzy Allman for The New York Times
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