The Bears signing of Mike Martz shows one thing. That they are desperate to improve their team. Who wouldn’t want to? The Bears traded away two of their first round picks for a quarterback that was a total disappointment.  Jay Cutler threw the most interceptions out of any QB (26) and finished with an un-impressive quarterback rating of 76.8.  Who knows? Maybe Cutler had a bad year due to the lack of talent that surrounds him (other than Greg Olson and Johnny Knox). Or maybe Cutler was glorified by his time in Denver.  Maybe Cutler really isn’t that good. Spending 2 first round picks was a very high investment that did not pay dividends. To exacerbate the Bears position even more, they traded away their highest pick in the upcoming draft for Gaines Adams, who died shortly after. RIP.
Thirdly, Matt Forte, who had a solid rookie season, pretty much did the opposite in this 2009 season with only four total touchdowns. It looks to be that Forte had a fluke of a rookie year.
With all of this in mind, it seems that the Bears only chance at success will either be shown in beneficial free agent pick ups or changes in personnel.  So far Chicago has taken the latter approach. The Bears just signed one of the extremely aggressive Mike Martz, who may in fact make the team better for quite a few reasons.
1. Lovie and Martz have a great relationship. The two were very successful in St. Louis together and Martz’s offense was once named “The greatest show on turf.”
2.  The rest of the receivers are almost sure to put up bigger numbers.  While Devin Hester, Earl Bennett, and Johnny Knox are nothing like Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt, and As-Zahir Hakim, I would say that those receivers should be able to be larger threats than they were under Ron Turner.

3. Martz could utillize Greg Olson and make him a big difference maker.

While all these are reasons the Bears could improve, it is my theory that Bears will still suck.  A team can have the best personnel in the world, but if there’s no talent to back it up, then there will be no chance at victory.  I believe a safe prediction can be that the Vikings will once again be the only threat to the Packers in the NFC North…. Unless the Bears sign ‘out of this world’ free agents.

1)  The unstoppable force against the immovable object.
The 49ers bring Frank Gore, who is rushing for 5.2 yards per carry, to Lambeau against a stubborn Packers rush defense that ranks 4^th in the NFL.

To date the Packers have shown impressive performances against the likes of Adrian Peterson (3.0 yards per rush in the two games against the ViQueens), the Cowboys running back trio (61 yards), as well as stout efforts against the Bears, Lions, Bucs and Browns.

If the Packers are able to take away the 49ers run game, it will force one of the worst quarterbacks in the league, Alex Smith, to throw the ball more.

2) Will lightning strike twice for San Francisco?
Last week against the Bears, the 49ers forced Jay Cutler to throw 5 INTs. They did this by taking away the run and forcing the Bears to become one-dimensional as Cutler threw the ball 52 times.

In one of the ugliest games of this year’s NFL season, the 49ers won 10-6 solely because of all the turnovers. Even though A-Rodge doesn’t throw picks like Cutler, if the 49ers force the Pack to stop running the ball, Rodgers will be taking hits all day, resulting in another ugly game.

If Green Bay is able to keep some balance however, it will be a long day for the 49ers’ secondary, who will be missing its best player, Nate Clemens.

3) Bringing the heat on D.
Against Dallas last week, the Pack forced Tony Romo to run for his life. After a terrible performance against Tampa Bay the previous week, the defense rebounded by recording a season-high 5 sacks and countless pressures on the Burlington, WI native.

The 3-4 defense looked like the defense that we thought we would eventually see. The question is: Was that just a one-week aberration, or has Dom Capers realized that blitzing is essential to the Pack’s success?

Also, will having Aaron Kampman back in the lineup help or hurt? His replacement, Brad Jones, did a great job of pressuring the QB and covering the flat last week. We’ll find out Sunday how the D responds.

4) Me, because I’ll be at the game!

Go Pack!