FanHouse Trumaine McBride

Tuesday afternoon, the Chicago Bears announced via press release they have agreed to a one-year contract with cornerback Roderick Hood. In and of itself, this isn't terribly huge news, considering Hood was recently cut from the Cleveland Browns. The issue at hand, though, is the overall health of the Bears' secondary.

Between Charles Tillman, Nathan Vasher and Zackary Bowman, the Bears were expected to have their two starting cornerbacks and one solid backup. Instead, both Bowman and Tillman are hurt. Tillman doesn't expect to be ready for the final preseason game and he's even worried he won't be ready for the Week 1 tilt in Green Bay.

While those truly following the Bears' every move this offseason know the defensive backfield is a much greater concern than wide receiver, the masses are left trying to figure out who newly acquired quarterback Jay Cutler will be throwing to (the sheep can now insert, "no one!" and feel good about themselves).

After all, the leading receivers -- in terms of catches -- last season were running back Matt Forte and tight end Greg Olsen. Devin Hester was the top wideout, with 51 catches and 665 yards. Rashied Davis caught 35 balls, but no other wide receiver in training camp caught a single NFL pass in 2008.

The Chicago Bears have added the quarterback they think they need to contend. Now, it's up to the defense to stay healthy and improve on a poor (by its lofty standards) 2008 season.

That "healthy" bit is not off to a good start. Cornerback Charles Tillman had shoulder surgery in January, then had to undergo a procedure on his back two weeks ago. The latter that will leave Tillman a candidate for placement on the physically unable to perform list to start the season.

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.

Nathan Vasher missed all but one game since injuring his groin in the season's third week. He'd practice intermittently, keeping hope alive that he'd come back and help the Bears back to respectability this season. There's no more hoping, though, since Vasher was placed on injured reserve today, guaranteeing his absence from the lineup against New Orleans and ending a frustrating season for one of the team's best defenders.

If there's a silver lining to Vasher's lost season, it is that in the one game he was able to play after the injury, the Monday nighter with Minnesota, he played quite well. Vasher picked off Tarvaris Jackson once and helped force a second interception and didn't look like he'd lost any of the skills that made him a big part of 2006's NFC Championship. Another positive to the injury is that it jumpstarted the learning curve of 2007 seventh-rounder Trumaine McBride, who showed enough to contend for the nickel back spot next season.

The Bears missed Vasher a great deal, their pass defense dropped to 24th in the league in yardage, but he wasn't the only reason for their downturn in play. Mike Brown's injury and Adam Archuleta's inability to cover receivers had a lot more to do with it. Vasher's play against Minnesota should remind the Bears that safety's where they need to focus their attention to improve in 2008.

Hope you're happy, Bears fans. After more than a year of kvetching, Brian Griese is in and Rex Grossman is out. Bring out the filet mignon and champagne for we must celebrate the clearing skies over Chicagoland! Alas, it's never that simple in the NFL and things still aren't looking that hot for the Bears even with the franchise pariah shuffled to the bench.

Neither Nathan Vasher nor Charles Tillman practiced yesterday and the Chicago Tribune reports that neither one is likely to play this Sunday against the Detroit Lions and their 345 passing yards a game. If there's two players you'd like to have in the lineup when facing a Mike Martz offense featuring Roy Williams and Calvin Johnson at wide receiver it's your starting cornerbacks. Especially when one starting safety, Mike Brown, is out for the season and the other one, Adam Archuleta, has been limited in practice because of a broken hand.

The replacement starters will be nickel back Ricky Manning Jr. and rookie Trumaine McBride. Manning is best known for hazing pasty computer jockeys at Denny's while McBride, all 5'9" of him, will have his hands full trying to make eye contact with the Lion receivers. Another rookie, Corey Graham, would move into the nickel package when Mike Furrey and Shaun McDonald come in to offer Jon Kitna more targets. The Bears would get a huge break if Johnson, day-to-day with a bruised back, was unable to play but even so the Lions will likely look to pass and pass often against the hobbled secondary.

The problems don't stop there for the Bears defense. Defensive tackle Tommie Harris is also expected to miss Sunday's game and Lance Briggs didn't practice yesterday. Two more defenders, Darwin Walker and Adewale Ogunleye, practiced in a limited capacity. One of the biggest problems with Grossman is that he couldn't win with a lights-out defense but can Griese win with a skeleton one? We'll find out Sunday.