FanHouse TommieHarris

Training camps have wrapped up, the NFL season is right around the corner, and it's still hot as sin outside. But instead of cooling you off with a warm island song, FanHouse break out ye old heat check for our 2009 NFL Season Previews. " We'll rate each club in 5 categories on a scale of 1 to 10, high score wins.

Expectations in the Windy City are sky-high, coming off an offseason in which the Bears acquired who should be their first franchise quarterback in ages: Jay Cutler. He's doing photoshoots, selling jerseys with ease and playing well in preseason games. Can it translate into a playoff run ... or more?

With Fantasy Football season ready to kick in high gear, FanHouse is here to preview each and every team -- one per day until we've done them all.

Meet the ...
First Chicago Bears team with a franchise quarterback since face masks were invented. A message to non-Bears fans from Bears fans: Don't bring us down. If you want to make fun of us for being a bit overzealous about Jay Cutler, then maybe you should take a gander at the load of crap the Bears have been using at quarterback. From Cade McNown to Moses Moreno to Chad Hutchinson to Peter Tom Willis to ... whatever. You get the point. Let us also remember that having Cutler doesn't necessarily make everyone fantasy gold automatically. The tremors are more real than fantasy.

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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.

Jay Cutler is going to the Bears for three draft picks and Kyle Orton. Jay Mariotti has already discussed how much it means to have a good quarterback in Chicago. Still, I bring the voice of the fan, and I've got something to say: I love this move. One thing that's great about sports, though, is there are always opposing fans trying to bring you down.

I've taken time to check out many message boards and comments sections across the internet. What I'm finding, for the most part, is that fans of teams other than the Bears think this is a terrible deal. Their "evidence," though, is usually incredibly flawed. Here are some of the reasons people think the deal is poor for the Bears, followed by my rebuttals.

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.

As we near a full day since the Chicago Bears' season came to end, it's becoming easier to think rationally about the season as a whole instead of wanting to -- as Limp Bizkit once sang -- break stuff.

Really, yesterday was a microcosm for the entire Bears' 2008 season.

The early 10-0 lead was the unexpected win in Indianapolis. Giving the lead away was the Bears' three blown games early in the season. The late surge was the three-game winning streak, where us fans were given hope, and the awful onside kick by Robbie Gould teamed with Tommie Harris' offsides penalty and the allowed first down were losing a game when a win would have placed the Bears in the playoffs. Yep, the Cowboys and Bucs lost, so a Bears victory would have placed them in the playoffs.

Alas, it was not to be. If we can take a few steps back and be honest fans, we need to realize that this team didn't deserve to make the playoffs. There are too many weaknesses to justify a 10-6 record and playoff appearance.

I don't care if the Lions go 0-16 -- and they probably will. There is no way they are worse than the St. Louis Rams. The Chicago Bears dominated every facet of the game this week, but the Rams are getting pretty used to being embarrassed, as this is the third straight week they've faced a deficit of at least 21 points at halftime. The score could have been much worse, but the Bears completely shut it down in the second half.

I believe the overall futility of the team was nicely summed up at the 11:15 mark of the fourth quarter. The Rams were trailing by 24 points, and faced a 4th-and-2 from the Bears' 28-yard line. It would have done very little to impact the game if they tacked on three points. Regardless, Jim Haslett sent out the field goal unit. The crowd booed quite loudly -- it was actually the most noise made by Rams' fans all game -- so Haslett reacted and sent the offense back out on the field. Only now they didn't have enough time on the play clock to run a play, so they had to use a timeout.

After the timeout, the Rams did gain the first down, but then threw an interception a few plays later.

I have always been a fan of Tommie Harris for both his on-field play and his personality. He calls it like he sees it to the media, and he's not afraid to let them have it if they mess with him. In an interview with Mouthpiece Sports, he clarified some of his stances.

First of all, he's not one of those guys who just hates the media and doesn't think any good can come from them. He admits than when you sign huge contracts and play a sport that makes you famous, dealing with the media comes with the territory. He also mentions how he likes to use the media because he runs charitable organizations, so he sees the good.

He also doesn't mind when the media trashes the on-field play of him or his teammates. That's part of their job as well, he opines.

The problem he has?

If they said "he didn't perform," or "he hasn't been playing like he used to," that's water under the bridge. But, when you come out and say, "Tommie Harris says that it was not the D-line's fault, but it was the secondary, that's the difference.

The Bears are 2-2 and one of the early-season surprise stories. They beat the Eagles last week without one of their best players, defensive tackle Tommie Harris, who has been rehabbing a knee injury. And according to the team's web site, the Bears will again be Harris-less when they face the newly Millen-less Lions this Sunday.

Not because Harris' knee is less than 100 percent (which it is), but because head coach Lovie Smith has suspended him for, as NFL.com's Adam Schefter writes, "being late for treatment and a meeting, according to a source close to the situation."

Rest assured, though: Smith is very sad about the recent turn of events.

"It's always disappointing when you have to suspend one of your players, but nothing's bigger than the team," Smith said. ... "It's disappointing when you have to [suspend a player]," Smith said. "But as far as disrupting the team, it can't. Injuries happen. Players don't play from time to time. You have to move on. We played last week without Tommie, so we've been in that situation before."

To recap: it's disappointing.

The Bears should be 4-0. You could go back and change like two plays to make that happen. Of course, the mark of truly great teams is actually winning those games and not having to say something like I just did. Great teams take care of business and leave the word "if" out in the cold.

Here's the thing, though, in the NFC North this year, you aren't going to have to be a great team to win it.

The Vikings have plenty of issues, none of which relate to Adrian Peterson when healthy, obviously, but they have struggled out of the gate.

The Lions just suck. Again. Shocking, I know.

The Packers are better than the Bears, but not by a ton ... and Aaron Rodgers (don't you dare ever call him, "ARod" please) is hurt. Sure, he might play through it or only miss a game or two, but his injury really hurt the chances of the Packers to fulfill their potential. They have other injury problems as well. Brett Favre is not walking through that door!

Then you have the Bears. A team that won in Indy, and took down the mighty Eagles at home. Yes, the Eagles were without Brian Westbrook, but their defense -- the same one that people couldn't quit talking about before the game -- did yield 24 points to Kyle Orton.