The Return of Ron Turner

With the hiring of Lovie Smith in 2004, Bear fans were told to expect a focus on scoring points, something not seen in Chicago since at least 1995, possibly '85 prior to that. Smith announced at his initial press conferences that his intention was to install an offensive attack similar to those in Kansas City and St. Louis. Those offenses are noted for long passing attacks and utilizing their backs and tight ends heavily.

To this end, Smith hired Kansas City quarterbacks coach Terry Shea as his offensive coordinator, and 2004's free agent signings tailored the Bears personnel to fit that scheme. Shea's tenure was a disaster, and he was fired following the season.

Coincidentally Ron Turner, who was Bears offensive coordinator under Dave Wannstedt from 1993-1996, was fired as University of Illinois Head Coach in December 2004. Smith then announced that he wanted his offense to focus more on running the ball, and Turner was hired again to rebuild the offense. Turner's hiring marked the third change at this coordinator position in three years.

In his first tenure in Chicago, his offense started out slowly, mainly due to personnel issues. Turner's attack, described by Wannstedt in 1993, is a west coast offense that incorporates a passing game like San Francisco's, but relies more on the run, such as Dallas' did at the time. While previous Bear coordinators John Shoop and Terry Shea relied on wide receiver and running back screen passes as their "bread and butter" plays, Turner has always utilized quick slant passes to wide receivers, much like Green Bay's successful offenses of the past 15 years.

Turner's return was most noticable in that the Bears rose from the 25th ranked rushing team to the 8th in 2005. The bad news was their passing game only rose one notch, from 32nd to 31st out of two teams. Overall, the team rose from the 32nd ranked offensive unit in 2005 to 29th in 2005. Certainly Turner was hamstrung since he lost his starting quarterback in Rex Grossman, who only started one regular season and one playoff game. Though Turner may partly be at fault for calling several passes at the outset of the playoff loss, his offense rebounded nicely in that game to score 21 points, much better than their season average.

If the improvement of Turner's offense in the 1990's happens also in this century, this bodes well for the Chicago Bears.

The Bears were much quieter in the offseason prior to the 2005 campaign than they were in 2004. Whereas in '04 they signed several middle-tier prospects, in '05 they made their biggest splash by signing WR Muhsin Muhammad after he was released in a salary cap move by Carolina. "Moose" cost the Bears almost $30 million on a six-year contract, but as always the deal is very cap-friendly for the Bears. Also signed prior to the season was G Roberto Garza from Atlanta. Another somewhat surprising move took place when Chicago released kicker Paul Edinger, the most accurate field goal kicker in Bears history, after a one-day competition with New York Jet castoff Doug Brien. Brien himself would be let go early in the season after failing on most of his tries. By virtue of their 5-11 record in 2004 and a complicated tiebreaking formula, the Bears picked fourth in the 2005 draft, ahead of other teams with 5-11 records. The Bears bypassed several receivers and running back Carnell "Cadillac" Williams and selected Texas running back Cedric Benson. Benson shed tears at the draft, commenting on the difficult pre-draft process when his personal life and attitude were scrutinized. The Bears selected unknown Oklahoma receiver Mark Bradley with their second pick, QB Kyle Orton in the fourth and safety Chris Harris in the sixth. All of the aforementioned players started in '05, while Benson did not. The Bears appeared in the NFL Hall of Fame Game in Canton, OH for the first time since 1990. They defeated Miami 27-24 in that Monday Night contest. GM Jerry Angelo and coach Lovie Smith decided to go with Chad Hutchinson, Orton and signee Kurt Kittner as backups to Rex Grossman, again in a year where more proven veterans were available. In the second preseason game, Grossman broke his ankle and it was feared he would be lost for the season. Hutchinson was declared the team's starter in the third preseason game against Buffalo but performed miserably. He was cut shortly thereafter and Orton was named the starting quarterback as a rookie. Rookie running back Benson was the second-to-last NFL draft pick to agree to terms. Benson had been in the Chicago area to sell the house he purchased in Libertyville after the draft when he was convinced to sit down again with team officials. The signing came shortly after Angelo declared publicly the Bears had made their final offer and would begin pulling money off the table going forward. At that point it was a distinct possibility that Benson would be the first player in years to sit out his rookie season to re-enter the draft the following year. Benson never started in '05 and fell to third on the depth chart, although he did turn in some strong relief work. The reason for Benson's absence were both a knee injury that looked excruciating but ended up only being a sprain, as well as the stellar season of Thomas Jones. Jones became the only Bear running back other than Walter Payton to rush for over 1,300 yards in a season. It was Jones' first thousand yard season as a professional. In November it was announced that tackle Fred Miller had broken his jaw when he got out of bed at night, and he missed his first two games as a professional. It was revealed the following week, however, that he and center Olin Kreutz were involved in a fist fight on the players' off-day, somehow in conjunction with a visit to an FBI shooting range. The players were fined by the NFL but no further action was taken. Grossman returned to the starting lineup in the season's penultimate regular season game, giving him a total of six regular season starts in three seasons. Orton started 15 games in '05. The Bears' defense was ranked #1 overall until the final week of the regular season, when a controversial decision was made to play backups throughout the final meaningless game at Minnesota. Due to that the team finished being ranked second to Tampa Bay. They came close to breaking their 1986 team record for fewest points allowed, but that milestone was missed by virtue of opponent's points scored in the season's final two games. Second-year cornerback Nathan Vasher, an '04 fourth-round pick, made his first Pro Bowl by intercepting eight passes. He also set an NFL record for the longest play in NFL history by scoring on a 108-yard missed field goal return. In an eerily wind-swept day on Chicago's lakefront, San Francisco attempted a long field goal that fluttered into Vasher's hands in the back of Chicago's end zone. After thinking briefly about downing the ball, the cornerback came out and eventually dove in for a touchdown, 108 yards downfield, following tremendous blocks by his teammates. On that day, for the first time the Bears donned orange "alternate" jerseys with white numerals.

In what was becoming an annual ritual, the NFL watched through the 15th week of the season to determine if the Indianapolis Colts would become only the second undefeated team in the history of the NFL. That week, however, the San Diego Chargers upset their hosts 26-17. The Colts, possessing homefield advantage throughout the playoffs with a 14-2 record, would be upset in the divisional round of the playoffs by the Pittsburgh Steelers. In a draft where no team seemed to want the first overall pick, the 49ers ended up keeping it and selecting quarterback Alex Smith from Utah. The draft's second-best quarterback, Aaron Rodgers from Cal, lasted to the 24th where he was selected by Green Bay. The jury remains out on both passers. Denver hosted the AFC Championship game but lost to Pittsburgh, and Seattle soundly defeated Carolina. The Steelers, once deemed to be out of the race in the regular season, won Super Bowl 39 21-10 in Detroit.