We'll find out if Marinelli is really an Autobot or a Decepticon soon enough

In honor of the much anticipated opening of the latest in the summer blockbuster franchise, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (due out on Wednesday night, June 24th) the Bears have been attempting to perform their own Revenge of the Fallen at Halas Hall this summer. Unfortunately, from the looks of it, new Defensive Line Coach, Rod Marinelli, has taken the Transformers theme a little too serious. As you can see, Rod’s arms have completed their transformation and his left leg is almost complete.  Sadly, the goal post to the left of Jarron Gilbert in this picture is former Defensive Coordinator Bob Babich.

On a more serious note, there is encouraging news from those covering the Bears’ OTAs. It appears that under Rod Marinelli’s supervision the defensive line is actually transforming into a unit capable of generating a pass rush throughout the 2009-2010 season.  Given the injuries to the secondary last year, putting more pressure on the opposing quarterback will be essential to the Bears’ success this year. Hopefully, the Bears have realized that utilizing people in roles that allow them to focus on what they do best is the best route. Rod Marinelli, largely known as the defensive line coach in the league will focus on our mix of young guns and more established veterans. Lovie Smith will finally return to handling the defensive playcalling, rather than just being the inspirational head coach that allows his defense to be picked apart by 6- and 7-yard slants the entire second half. And Bob Babich, will return to what he does best, being Lovie Smith’s inexplicable best friend in coaching.

OFFENSIVE MEANDERINGS

A brief note on the offense: I’m only half sold on Jay Cutler’s assurance that the Bears don’t need a No. 1 receiver in Plaxico Burress, Brandon Marshall, or some other option. If Devin Hester is the Bears’ No. 1 receiver, then can the Bears get someone who will step up as a quality No. 2?  The Patriots’ No. 2 receiver is Wes Welker. Who would you rather have: Wes Welker or Devin Hester? As long as other teams have No. 2’s that are as good as the Bears’ No. 1 receiver, why can’t the Bears’ acquire or develop another receiver that is just as good as Devin Hester, say a 1B receiver. Right now as I see it, we have a No. 1.5 receiver in Devin Hester, and then a bunch of No. 3’s and 4’s in Rashied Davis, Earl Bennett, Brandon Rideau and Juaquin Iglesias.

While it’s nice to hear that Hester is building chemistry with Cutler, I would much rather hear that Iglesias or Bennett is finding a home as a reliable split end or slot receiver for the Bears. I’m not getting my hopes up for Iglesias (the 99th pick in the draft), but I’m more optimistic about Earl Bennett. Not only is he getting his college quarterback in Jay Cutler, it seems the Bears learned that asking a rookie WR to learn the playbook for all three receiver positions might have been a mistake. Hopefully they follow the approach I mentioned with the coaching staff; let their personnel focus on a single discipline they do best, and allow them to excel at it. In this case, I’d love to see the Bears have Bennett focus on starting opposite of Hester, with Brandon Rideau pushing him in camp. While it won’t solve all of the offensive problems, it is a step towards developing more capable weapons on offense.  That would leave Iglesias and the stone-handed Rashied Davis to fight it out for the slot position.  Should be fun to see all of these guys running their routes, seeing Jay Cutler check down and then hit Greg Olson over the middle for 15-20 yards, 5 or 6 times a game.