FanHouse FredMiller

Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 2009 Offseason Roadmaps for front offices to navigate through the summer.

The Bears surprised everyone by being a respectable football team in 2008. Most expected them to completely unravel, winning maybe three of four games. Instead, they took down the Colts in Indianapolis to kick off a winning season.

Along the way, though, they blew several key games and ended up severely disappointing their own fans by not winning a very winnable division -- not to mention one additional win would have garnered a wild card.

In the NFC Championship game two years ago, Reggie Bush took a swing pass 88 yards to the house. The last ten or so were accompanied by Bush pointing back at the Bears defense before doing a flip into the end-zone and dancing the night away. Of course, the Saints had only cut the Bears lead to two, and didn't score another point en route to a 39-14 loss.

Several Bears were a bit peeved by this at the time. Adewale Ogunleye was in the field, and got the chance to tell Bush what he thought. "I told Reggie that was unprofessional," Ogunleye said.

"He's a rookie and he's going to be a hell of a player in this league. But for him to point back and taunt, that was no class. I swear I was a second away from punching him. I'm glad I didn't. I ran right to him and said, 'Be professional in this league.'"

Olin Kreutz -- who was fortunately on the sideline or he certainly would have punched Bush, just ask former teammates* -- didn't like the act either.

The Chicago Bears needed offensive line depth, and they decided to turn to one of the biggest problems with last year's team ... Fred Miller. I wrote in the Bears team preview that Miller was the worst lineman I'd ever seen in the NFL, and I stand by that criticism based upon last year's sample. According to Fred, though, that wasn't really all his fault:

"I was probably playing about 40 to 50 percent," he said. "Once I had my surgery taking out the bone spurs and the cartilage that was floating around, it's back to 90 percent.

Fair enough. I'm sure Lovie Smith and the rest of the Bears' coaching staff knew that he was less than half-go and still kept running him out there to embarrass the team. Right?

"Dr. Miller told you that?" Smith joked. "No, wasn't aware of those numbers. We wouldn't put a guy out there who was [not healthy]. I think we can move on from there."

Oh boy. Thankfully Miller was only signed on as a backup blocker this season for depth, and will likely only see game action via injury to one of the starters. He was never even good to begin with, but now we know he'll suffer through injury, even if it means embarrassing himself while masquerading as a sieve for an entire season ... if sieves also commit an inordinate amount penalties.

It was time to pay the piper in Chicago yesterday and the veterans fell fast and furious. Mushin Muhammed was sent packing in the afternoon and then, in the evening, word broke that Darwin Walker and Fred Miller would be joining him at unemployment office. Neither move was a surprise.

Walker was due a $5.2 million bonus, a ridiculous notion after he spent most of the season laid up on the sidelines with knee and elbow injuries. Acquired from Buffalo to solidify the middle of the line, Walker was a bust even when healthy and the Bears shouldn't find it all that hard to replace him next season.

Miller will be even easier to replace. For most of the season the team would have gotten the same production from an immobile block of granite that jumped offsides from time to time. Miller's play at right tackle hurt the running game and the passing game and is a big reason why the Bears will be searching free agency and the combine for new blood on the offensive line. Since Ruben Brown needs to be replaced as well, they'll probably end up with new faces from each place.

Before yesterday's season ended with a 33-25 win over the Saints, FanHouse's Ryan Wilson cautioned Bears fans to expect some big changes on the team heading into next season. While there will certainly be new faces in the lineup next year, it didn't take Lovie Smith long to assure the masses that there wouldn't be any changes at the top. He was asked if he anticipated making a change at either coordinator position and you didn't need a linguistics degree to parse his answer.

''No, I don't.''

That settles that, I guess. If the Bears are smart, though, they won't be so complacent with their roster.

The offensive line needs to be upgraded, starting with Fred Miller at right tackle. Cedric Benson struggled as the starting tailback before getting hurt but the team wasn't exactly giving him wide open spaces to scamper through on his way to a good season. Obviously quarterback remains a position of uncertainty as well, but if they had All-Pros at both positions behind this line they would still be 7-9. At least Ron Turner finally got the message about getting Devin Hester more involved in the offensive game plan.

To get you ready for Week 16, FanHouse is previewing all 16 NFL games. Here is your Packers/Bears preview.

2007 Records:

Green Bay Packers: 12-2 (NFC North Champions)
Chicago Bears: 5-9 (Last in NFC North)

Last Week:

Packers 33, Rams 14
Vikings 20, Bears 13

When the Packers have the ball: Green Bay's first choice is to attack through the air but they aren't totally reliant on the pass. Ryan Grant has the second-most yards in the league since Week Eight and has found great success running behind a very good Packer line. With Tommie Harris and Darwin Walker ailing, the middle of the Bears defensive line should yield good gains for Grant and force the Bears to adjust their defense forward. When they do that Favre can take advantage. Tight end Donald Lee is a force in play action and Donald Driver, James Jones and Greg Jennings down the field. Nathan Vasher played for the first time in ages last week and made some plays in Minnesota, but he's missed practice all week and Tarvaris Jackson isn't exactly of Favre's caliber.

The Bears may be without one of their starting tackles when the Giants come a-calling on Sunday. On the surface that would appear to be a bad thing. The Giants rush the passer as well as any club in the league and you'd want to be at full strength with Osi Umenyiora and Michael Strahan on the other side of the line. For the Bears, though, full strength means Fred Miller at right tackle and his play has been troubled of late.

Miller was responsible for two false starts in Seattle two weeks ago and nullified a Greg Olsen touchdown catch against Denver on Sunday because he held Elvis Dumervil. Miller left the game with an injury in the fourth quarter, though, and John St. Clair outplayed him as the Bears tied and then won the game. Miller's sprained right ankle might not allow him to go on Sunday but the Bears probably won't be any worse off without him in the lineup.

Strangely, each of the Bears offensive injuries may benefit them on Sunday. Even though Cedric Benson had played better of late, Adrian Peterson is more useful to the entire offensive package. He's a better receiver and pass blocker which should help Rex Grossman's efforts. The problems with Chicago's offense aren't solely Benson's or Miller's but neither one was setting the world on fire either. Little changes can have ripple effects sometimes. The Bears are hopeful this is one of those times.