FanHouse John St. Clair

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.

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.

The good news for the Bears is that they will get Lance Briggs, Charles Tillman and Adam Archuleta are expected to be back in action against the Packers. Having the three starters back in action should help the Bears keep Brett Favre from gashing them the way Jon Kitna did in last weekend's 37-27 loss. If Nathan Vasher were able to play there might even be a return of the stifling Chicago defense of last year but that will have to wait a while as his groin injury hasn't healed sufficiently enough for him to get back on the field.

But all the news from the trainer's room isn't so positive. Starting tackle John Tait won't be protecting Brian Griese's blind side because of his high ankle sprain. That leaves John St. Clair to do battle with Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila on Sunday. He'll need to come through with a strong performance. KGB had three sacks against the Vikings last Sunday and Griese will need all the help he can get to avoid another dismal performance.

Even with Tait the Bears have had a hard time moving the ball on the ground and without him Cedric Benson will have a difficult time taking advantage of Green Bay's vulnerable run defense. That's going to mean more pressure on Griese, both internal and external. That's been a bad recipe for the Bears this season.