FanHouse GregOlsen

When the Bears acquired Jay Cutler almost two months ago, it became required for all journalists and bloggers alike to spew on and on about how awful Chicago's receiving corps is. CBS' Clark Judge still can't stop doing it, for example. The next chapter in the Bears Offseason Reporting Handbook is to try and connect every single available receiver to the Bears via free agency. Just as quickly as a name pops up, though, Bears general manager Jerry Angelo shoots it down.

The latest example in a long line is cocaine addict former Jags wideout Matt Jones. The talented yet troubled receiver caught 65 passes for 761 yards and a pair of touchdowns last season. Angelo, staying true to form, doesn't seem interested.

As the season grows closer and closer, the malign on the Bears receiving corps gains steam. It seems as though everyone in the world believes the receiving corps is so bad that Jay Cutler can't be successful. Nevermind the fact that the vastly inferior Kyle Orton threw for almost 3,000 yards and 18 touchdowns (in 15 games) in the same offense last season. It's not as though the losses of Marty Booker and a handful of games from Brandon Lloyd are irreplaceable.

Still, Bears general manager Jerry Angelo just can't escape the question of whether or not the Bears will pursue help at wide receiver. Inevitably, Plaxico Burress' name arises.

After the Bears landed Jay Cutler in early April, the focus of many fans and media alike shifted to the receiving corps. Devin Hester, Rashied Davis and Earl Bennett will need some help, and no one can doubt that. Since then, the Bears have seen Torry Holt sign with the Jags, not traded for Anquan Boldin -- probably because they don't have enough to offer -- and drafted three second-day wide receivers.

Over the course of the past week, the Chicago Tribune has conducted interviews with the three respective quarterbacks of the three drafted wideouts. As can be expected, those interviews unearthed rave reviews.

With the draft approaching, we ignore projections and identify the dream scenario for each team in a series we call The Perfect Draft.

The Bears enter the NFL Draft in a unique position -- especially for them. They've already made a huge splash in the offseason, and won't have a pick until the middle of the second round. With Jay Cutler in house, the Bears need to give him the weapons to be successful. The situation isn't as dire as many think. Cutler made a 2nd rounder (Eddie Royal) and 3rd rounder (Brandon Marshall) into two of the most explosive players in the league in Denver.

Last week, some photos of Jay Cutler (gasp!) out on the town and possibly drinking (OMG!!) surfaced and the internet paparazzi/fun police went wild. As a Bears fan, I can tell you there aren't many things this offseason that brought on more personal indifference. In fact, the only real thing I took away from the picture was that it was cool seeing him hanging out with his new tight end, Greg Olsen. Relationship between QB and TE = Good.

Anyway, Bears general manager Jerry Angelo has publicly stated he's not overly concerned about the supposed issue, either.

I'm just gonna be real right now: Your fantasy league should be over. It's one of those things about which we've all pretty much made an unwritten pact. When people like Peyton Manning will likely not be playing because their teams want them to rest, you shouldn't have a fantasy relevant game. That's why we don't play in the preseason.

All that being said, there are leagues out there with a championship game this week. Since we are committed to helping you win your league title no matter what, we'll still be helping you out. In lieu of positional rankings -- due to a limited audience -- we'll sift through each position and give some pointers. We'll also examine guys who need to play well, as well as those who won't factor at all.

Feel free to leave specific lineup questions in the comments section, and we'll answer. We'll also be having a shortened -- yet quite effective -- Tailgate Sunday morning.

Again, we want you to win ... even if that means supporting you when your league is mishandled.

The way the Bears completely outplayed the Saints in building up a 21-7 lead and then nearly lost the football game would have been fitting. This is a team that has continued to show the ability to play like an elite team in the NFL, while also showing the ability to give away games and play like a mediocre squad.

You have a team who dominated Indy in Lucas Oil Stadium and handled a hot Philadelphia team at home. They piled up 48 points against the Vikings. They played right with the mighty Titans with their much-maligned backup quarterback (Rex Grossman, as if you needed me to tell you).

On the flip-side, you have a team which nearly lost at home to the Lions, was summarily embarrassed in Green Bay and Minnesota, and has blown three easily winnable games.

Last night, the Saints nearly joined the rest of the NFC South in garnering a win against the Bears when they had no business doing so.

That's the thing with this Bears team. When you watch them every week, you see -- about 60 percent of the time at this point -- that there is an elite team hiding in there somewhere.

The playoffs are either upon us or one week away in the majority of fantasy football leagues. With this in mind, Fantasy FanHouse is examining what you can expect from the fantasy relevant players on each team.

Chicago Bears

The Opposing Defenses: vs. JAX (14th against pass, t19th against run), vs. NO (24th against pass, t19th against run), vs. GB (5th against pass, 27th against run)
The skinny: Playing three games at home is nice, and none of them are especially good run stopping defenses. You know what the Bears want to do, and that is run the football with Matt Forte. He's even performed beautifully against rock-solid fronts -- like the Vikings. They'll need to mix in the pass as well, though, and at least the Week 15 game should be a good opportunity for that.
The must-start: Matt Forte
The likely-starts: Greg Olsen, Robbie Gould
The spot-starts: Kyle Orton, Devin Hester
The no-starts: Rashied Davis, Desmond Clark, Brandon Lloyd
The D/ST: They are a great start against the sad Jags offense, which happens to be visiting in a second consecutive road game on a short week. Lick your chops if you own the Bears for this week. The Packers and Saints don't pose especially good matchups, so you may have to look elsewhere. Still, both games are at home and you know the Saints outside in the cold doesn't exactly bode well for them, historically.

A pivotal game in the NFC North saw a pivotal series of plays twice swing the momentum in the middle of the second quarter. The Bears were faced with a third and nine on the Minnesota 45 yard line, when Kyle Orton appeared to be sacked for a huge loss. The Vikings, however, were off-sides on the play. On the third and four play, Matt Forte was stuffed on the run. Of course, during the play, Benny Sapp committed a blatantly stupid penalty by whacking Rashied Davis in the head multiple times clearly after the whistle. After the 15 yards were assessed, Forte busted through the Vikings' defense for a 26 yard gain and was knocked out of bounds at the one yard line.

Considering the score -- 7-3 at the time -- the Bears were on the verge of a major confidence boost. Scoring a touchdown to build a 14-3 lead on the road, especially after such a stupid penalty by the Vikes, would have been beyond huge.

It's a good thing for the Vikings the Bears coaching staff brought their F-game.

FanHouse fantasy positional rankings are compiled weekly by the staff in order to provide answers to possible lineup questions. These are assuming most leagues use Fleaflicker's standard scoring structure. If you need clarification, you need more players ranked, or have funky league rules, feel free to shoot us an email question.

The roller-coaster ride continues if you don't own a top-tier TE. However, even if you do - those once reliable options have been hit or miss at best. Tony Gonzalez continues to flourish in the role as the top dog, but Antonio Gates should be primed for a decent game this week. Meanwhile, fantasy owners can finally breathe a sigh of relief as Jason Witten has a pretty good matchup and -- although he might not be 100 percent -- at least Tony Romo is back.

Yet, once you get past those favorite TE options... it's really a crapshoot. Fantasy pundits fell in love, for some reason, with big John Carlson. He's returned a big helping of nothing in return during recent weeks. Plenty of fantasy owners were banking on Kevin Boss last weekend and he also dished out a helping of bust. Who's the boss now? Ah, yes ... bad, bad joke.

Well, the flavor of the week now seems to be Dustin Keller coming off a breakout stretch of games. Will he also break our hearts? I sure hope not, because I've bumped him up the TE rankings and I'm banking on big things for my own team. So don't blame me if he craps out. Stay tuned.

Quick note: I just couldn't bump Dallas Clark over the "Big Three." Worth mentioning, though, is that San Diego is a funnel for tight ends to have successful days. Just mentioning. On with the ranks...

1. Antonio Gates, IND
2. Tony Gonzalez, BUF
3. Jason Witten, SF
4. Dallas Clark, @ SD
5. Chris Cooley, @SEA