The Sports Xchange

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — At a time when teams normally are preparing for the regular-season opener, the Chicago Bears are scrambling.

The Bears entered the week of their final preseason game trying to determine who their starting right tackle would be, while still sorting through their defensive secondary among other positions.

None of it is a good sign considering their opening-day opponent is Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers, who’ve owned them to the tune of nine wins in 10 games. In past seasons, coaching regimes used the entire final week to focus on the opening-day opponent. The Bears’ biggest task is just lining up.

“We haven’t picked a starting lineup yet; we’re looking at a lot of different guys,” head coach John Fox said. “I think if you watched the (preseason) game (against Cincinnati), you’ll see, so we’re not ready to name our starting lineup for Green Bay at this point, really, at all.”

The starting offense hasn’t scored a touchdown yet in preseason. In fact, Matt Forte’s 3-yard run on a third-and-two play provided the only first down converted by the first-team offense that didn’t come as a gift in the form of a penalty on the defense.

Offensively, how do you put your assessment in the proper frame, knowing that you have been short-handed?

“The good news is, I don’t think we’ve turned it over a bunch,” Fox said. “We have moved the ball. Jay (Cutler) has been efficient.”

The right tackle problem could easily be solved by moving Kyle Long from right guard to right tackle, and the Bears looked at this at times during Monday’s (Aug. 31) practice. They’re also still looking closely at Jordan Mills and Charles Leno Jr. Even Tayo Fabuluje, the seventh-round pick from TCU who had missed some time early in came, got a chance.

Then again, if they move Long, then they’re counting on journeyman Vladimir Ducasse at right guard. Some would call such a move weakening two positions while trying to strengthen one.

All the while, they’ve carefully watched a back condition plaguing left tackle Jermon Bushrod in the offseason to keep it from flaring up.

“Offensively, we’ve got a lot of room to improve,” Cutler said.

Defensively the situation looks more settled following the Sunday night announcement that Tim Jennings had been cut and safety Ryan Mundy put on injured reserve.

“We liked (other) guys better,” Fox said about Jennings. “What we do is evaluate and we evaluate every practice and unfortunately for him, he was recovering from an offseason (knee) surgery.

“And then, really like anything, it’s not personal. It’s not that you don’t like guys. It’s that you like other people better.”

In this case, the guy Fox liked better was Alan Ball, and he mentioned the former Jaguars’ 6-foot-1 height as a big edge, as well.

The entire secondary is different for opening day than it was last year, with Ball at one corner and Kyle Fuller, who was a backup on opening day, playing the other spot. Rookie Adrian Amos appears one solid game away from clinching a safety spot over Brock Vereen and Antrel Rolle is at the other safety position.

“I think every year going in you want a new identity no matter where you are, no matter what guys you’ve got out there,” Ball said about the secondary as well as the team in general. “You’re always searching for a new identity. The team is not going to be the same from last year or the year before.”

Right now, they’d just like to figure out what that identity is in order to end the uncertainty hanging over them at a time when teams normally are ready to start the season.

–Defensive lineman Will Sutton continued to surprise with his play at a time when they need production from a nose tackle with Jeremiah Ratliff slated to miss three games due to suspension.

Sutton isn’t getting too caught up in his success in preseason.

“You know what? No. I made the mistake my senior year at (Arizona State), no offense to you (media) guys, of listening to the media and everything,” Sutton said. “So I just tune it out and just play.

“I know I can play this game. Nobody can tell me I can’t. I’m out here just making my family proud and just trying to be the best I can be.”

Fox didn’t see it as big of a surprise to him as to others.

“I wasn’t really too sure what to expect from really anybody being new and being a new staff, so we just evaluate and do our best to pick the best players,” Fox said. “And I think he’s proven that he’s moved up the depth chart. They get rewarded on how they perform.”

Rookie nose tackle Eddie Goldman suffered a concussion in the game against Cincinnati and is being evaluated, so it only adds to the importance of Sutton’s production.

–Sherrick McManis appears to have won the nickel spot now that Tim Jennings is gone. Jennings had been sliding over to nickel on passing downs when Alan Ball came in at cornerback.

Considering McManis had never gone beyond a special teams performer with the exception of a brief stint as nickel back last year, it’s a major step in his career.

“I felt right when coach came in he said the door is open for everybody to come out and compete and try to work for a job, and that’s how I took it,” McManis said.

–Tight end Martellus Bennett may have started out in the John Fox era away from the team and not exactly on good terms, but he’s made the most of his chances since that point.

“I think he’s a pretty good physical specimen to both block and run routes,” Fox said about Bennett. “Marty’s been outstanding.

“He didn’t get all of our offseason, but he’s a guy who’s picked up the offense quickly. I think he’s adapting to our new schemes and doing a very good job.”

Bennett did not practice with the team or work on the offense until minicamp in mid-June.

–Quarterback Jimmy Clausen caused the Bears to revise their postgame injury report, and he is suffering from a concussion.

Clausen likely would not have played much — if at all — against Cleveland in the preseason finale. But it appears he’ll be out until the opener now.

“He does have a concussion,” Fox said. “During the game he was cleared on the on-field prognosis, and then he had symptoms so he’s been classified with a concussion. He’ll go into that protocol.”