Redemption, thy name is Cleveland

This week isn't just a must-win game. It's a must-dominate game. While I don't think the Bears are as bad as they looked against Cincinnati, the Browns are who we thought they were, a black hole of an NFL team with the worst defense and second-worst offense in the league.

This game should be a soothing salve for the third-degree burns Chicago suffered against the Bengals (emphasis on "should"). It worked last season: after the brutal 37-3 cheese shanking by Packers in 2008, the Bears got a psuedo-bye week against the Rams, using that 27-9 win as a springboard to winning four out of five games and being in the playoff hunt until they blew the finale against the Texans.

While a big win this week won't mean much in the grand scheme of the season, it would give the Bears a chance to reorient themselves before a pretty tough stretch between Weeks 9 to 12.

A close win or (*shudder*) a loss at home to Cleveland, however, will signal that it's officially time to panic as a Bears fan. If they can't easily handle an inept Cleveland team, how are they going to handle the Cardinals, Eagles, and Vikings in the coming weeks?

--BRANDON TRISSLER

The Long Grind

Legs like Matt Forte's don't just go numb. His eye for holes doesn't cloud overnight. The second gear to break behind the line and out into the secondary doesn't just idle and slip. Something's going on here, and unfortunately it's bigger than Forte and whatever phantom Sophomore Slump some may perceive.

Yes, rival defenses aren't taken by surprise by Forte. He's someone whom they prepare for now. But, Forte is equally as prepared to meet them - if not moreso. So what gives?

The Bears have always prided themselves on winning it in the trenches. Smash mouth, bare knuckles football. The defensive line - despite recent injuries - has shown some strong signs of returning to that prominence this season. The addition of Gaines Adams will also help long-term, though he might disrupt Adewale and some others in the short-run. But the O-line is going to take at least one more addition, if not two, sometime soon, and the young guys who are there - like Chris Williams - are going to take a little time to develop. Remember that although Williams is a first-rounder (not unlike Ryan Clady in Denver), he missed just about all of last season with the bad back. He's just a novice. Still, the Bears can't afford some of the mistakes from veteran linemen and, hopefully, Olin Kreutz can dig down one more time to show people how to be a Bear.

At this point, they're simply out manned. So it's time to man up the Chicago way.

--THOMAS TYRER