Bear with Us

For me to say that this game is about anything but Rex Grossman would be insulting your intelligence. So I will merely give you things to note in between fretting about whether this will be the snap Rex fumbles:

• The performance of the running back corps. Without a running game, well, yikes.
• John Tait's performance in his . Left tackle is the third-most important offensive position, and while John St. Clair and Terrence Metcalf are solid backups, Tait is the man Bears fans want protecting Rex's blindside.
• Health.

And that's about it.

Comment board and auto-refresh on the right or e-mail me at rrstrohl@yahoo.com. Sorry about the abbreviated intro, but I spent the afternoon trying to sleep off the remnants of a head cold. Yes, I got a head cold in August. I am lame.

Green 51. Green 51. Rover, sit, hut, hut (thump).

FIRST QUARTER

Wow, a fair amount of Rex love goin' on. Keep the positive vibes going, folks, maybe it will pay off. Danieal Manning and Rashied Davis back to receive the kick from Joe Nedney, whose short field goal attempt a couple years back resulted in Nathan Vasher's 108-yard return. Things haven't improved for Nedney, as he rolls his kick out of bounds and the Bears have it at their 40. Boy, they waste no time as Grossman airs it out to Bernard Berrian up the left side and the Bears have 1st and 10 from the 49ers' 15. Cedric Benson loses a yard. Grossman pump fakes and goes for Berrian up the right side of the end zone, but it was just too far out of bounds. However, there was illegal contact on Berrian and the Bears have 1st and 10 from the 11. Benson gains three up the middle and stayed upright on that run, counter to Earl Campbell's "stay low" advice. Benson makes a cut in the backfield and gets three more yards. That was a Thomas Jones type of run, he spotted a breakdown in the blocking early and turned a loss into a gain. Benson again, and he gets to the 1, but not enough of the 1 to get a first down. Since it's preseason, they go for it. Benson runs into the line, then gets the score on the second effort. PAT is good.

Bears 7, 49ers 0, 11:35 left in the first quarter

Oh, by the way, Tommie Harris isn't in, story over on the right. Not many folks expected the Bears would play him, and I wouldn't be surprised if his first live action of the season is Sept. 9 in San Diego. Low, short kick is returned about 20 yards to the 30, and No. 1 overall pick in the 2005 draft Alex Smith hands off to Maurice Hicks, who loses a yard. Smith goes to Darrell Jackson on a stop route on the left side for six yards. Vasher closed quickly to stifle any kind of gain on that. Smith rolls right and throws too low for Taylor Jacobs and it's yet another 3-and-out for the Bears' defense. Hester gets a huge hand as he pumps up the crowd, then fields the punt at the 20 and just knifes through the coverage and isn't brought down until he's crossed the Bears' 40. I don't mind that people kick to him, but why would you ever?

Okay, I underestimated the extent to which Hester crossed the 40, the Bears have 1st and 10 from the 49. Quick toss to Hester gets three into 49ers' territory, then Grossman goes to the right corner for Greg Olsen, but Olsen was held, so 1st and 10 from the 49ers' 43. Benson loses a couple but here's where the preseason is a bad thing: Devin Hester is down and we go to commercial. Uh, yikes. Well, not so yikes. Apparently Hester popped up and ran off the field after being attended to. The guy's a showman, that's for sure. Grossman threads the needle to Desmond Clark on a seam route on the right hash mark down to the 19. Grossman then overthrows Rashied Davis in the end zone. Are you kidding me Rex?!? He fumbles a snap again, falls on it for no loss. Seriously, does he like the scrutiny? Grossman has Mark Bradley wide open across the middle but Bradley wasn't looking for the ball, so it goes off his body. Gould bounces the field goal off the right post and in.

Bears 10, 49ers 0, 7:14 left in the 1st quarter

Gould was unhappy with himself. I guess he has exacting personal standards. He told me Wednesday that he just has to make 'em, which is what he did. Oh, and on that Hester injury, he tried to cut block a guy on that Benson run and collided with a guy's knee. So he just needed to shake the cobwebs loose, I guess. Kickoff goes to the 2, Brendan Ayanbadejo breaks through and tackles the return man at the 13. I guess there's a reason he was a Pro Bowler. Handoff to Hicks, Darwin Walker basically manhandles his blocker and gets a hit on Hicks in the backfield, and second effort gets Hicks a yard. Hicks again, goes to the left side and Dusty Dvoracek catches him from behind, 3rd and 7 just across the 15. False start and those three yards Hicks worked so hard to get are removed, plus a couple. "It looks like a case of jet lag to me," quoth Ditka. "The 49ers, they're still on the plane." Michael Robinson gets past the 20 on a draw, then Berrian catches a long punt fairly at the Bears' 19. They're holding Hester out the rest of the game with a "shoulder injury," according to sideline reporter Ryan Baker. Probably precautionary, but stay tuned on that one.

Benson gets five, then Grossman dumps off to McKie, who sheds a would-be tackler shy of the sticks, gets past the sticks plus about five to the 34. Grossman has a while and that lets G-Reg get WIDE open on the left side at the 45, then he scampers across midfield to the 49ers' 43. Grossman checks down to Benson for a couple. According to Ditka, the play was for Berrian deep, but he was double-covered. Benson cuts back in the backfield and shoots through a hole on the left side for six yards, bring in Peterson, who gets three for the first down. To those unsatisfied with the speed of updates, I'm sorry, I'm trying to give you as much info as possible as quick as possible. It's preseason for me, too. Benson appears to be held up but drags some guys with him for a gain of six. Then he runs right, hops over a would-be tackler but gets lit up as soon as he lands on the ground and the Bears will have 3rd and 3 or so on the 49ers' 25 when we come back for the second quarter.