FanHouse Lovie Smith

In 2003, Pisa Tinoisamoa led the 12-4 St. Louis Rams in total tackles as a 22-year-old rookie. His defensive coordinator was Lovie Smith. After five seasons apart, the two will once again be working together in 2009, as the Chicago Bears have agreed to a one-year deal with the linebacker.

At first glance, due to the hulking presence of Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs, you might think there's no way the Bears need a linebacker. Tinoisamoa does, however, represent an upgrade to the serviceable yet unspectacular duo of Hunter Hillenmeyer and Nick Roach at the strong side linebacker position. It will be a two-down job on many possessions, as Urlacher and Briggs never leave the field.

With the departure of Mike Brown from the Bears, a hole was left in the Windy City secondary. Adding Josh Bullocks via free agency and drafting Al Afalava in the sixth round of the draft don't appear to be answers. With the roster seemingly set for the 2009 season, the Bears will have to find a free safety starter in-house. They have many cornerbacks, so moving one to safety could work well.

After wrapping up the first rookie mini-camp, Lovie Smith discussed some of the options.

Who moved to the head of the NFL class during the draft? Find out with FanHouse's team-by-team 2009 Draft Grades.

When the Bears made one of the biggest offseason splashes by trading for Jay Cutler, they were left without a first-round pick. Many Bears fans would argue this was a blessing in disguise, considering general manager Jerry Angelo's rocky history with first-round picks (David Terrell, Cedric Benson, Rex Grossman, Michael Haynes).

Still, there were more needs than just quarterback on this team for the near future. Would Angelo be able to fill all those holes with a bunch of second-day draft picks?

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.

The man who Bears fans hope will be the first franchise quarterback in recent memory, Jay Cutler, was introduced officially as a Chicago Bear at a press conference late Friday afternoon.

Kyle Orton doesn't have Jay Cutler's franchise quarterback pedigree. He was taken in the fourth round of the 2005 draft, two years after the Bears had invested a first-round pick in Rex Grossman. And, from the beginning, his role was clear: a raw, strong-armed talent, who would spend the first few seasons on the bench learning the nuances of what it means to be an NFL quarterback.

That lasted up till the moment Grossman broke his ankle in a 2005 preseason game. At the time, head coach Lovie Smith told the AP that "I don't know exactly who there is out there but we like the guys we have right now ... Chad Hutchinson is a good player, we feel comfortable starting him, and Kyle Orton continues to shine as far as we're concerned."

After the Bears made the announcement of their franchise-shattering acquisition of Jay Cutler, they didn't rest. Within a few hours, they announced they had also agreed to terms with venerable left tackle Orlando Pace. I'll admit, I was overly excited about the two new Bears, as were all my Bears fans friends -- which is weird, usually at least one of us disagrees about player movement. Make no mistake about it, though. We aren't delusional. This team is far from complete and the die-hards know it.

With the team still a decent amount below the salary cap and several holes left to fill for 2009, here's what I think the Bears should do.

CHICAGO -- So the Summer Olympics must be coming in 2016. And a minefield of potholes soon will be magically filled. And the Cubs will win a World Series for the first time since, oh, your grandparents' grandparents were double-dating in Henry Ford's Model T. And those wicked, face-eating winters will be replaced by pleasant, sunny, balmy, gorgeous ... all right, I'm obviously overcome by shock.

With the not-so-shocking news that the Broncos and Jay Cutler will be filing for their inevitable divorce, more than a handful of teams in the NFL will surely be trying to get their hands on the Pro Bowl signal-caller. Apparently, the Bears are among those who will be in hot pursuit.

I have been very critical of Bears' brass in the past, namely general manager Jerry Angelo and head coach Lovie Smith, when it comes to building an offense. They sure know their defense, but for every Matt Forte there is a Rex Grossman (he was a first-rounder, remember?) or Cedric Benson (fourth pick overall). Should they pull off a deal for Cutler, though, I'd gladly eat crow.

The news that Orlando Pace paid a visit got most of the headlines, but the other free agent who visited the Chicago Bears on Monday, cornerback Ken Lucas, is the one who strikes me as exactly the type of player the Bears need to sign.

Like Pace, Lucas has some downsides: He's a veteran on the wrong side of 30 who was released by his former team in a salary-cap move. But I believe Lucas would be a better signing for the Bears because he's younger (he just turned 30 in January) and less prone to injury (he started all 16 games for the Panthers in each of the last two seasons).