No Marty?

According to the Chicago Tribune, WR Marty Booker (knee), tackle Fred Miller (shoulder), Darrell McClover (hamstring) will miss Sunday's game in St. Louis with knee injury.

Bears Bring Back Veteran Tackle Fred Miller

Veteran OT Fred Miller reportedly agreed to a deal for the minimum-salary benefit and will earn roughly $781,000 after a $40,000 signing bonus today.

They released OT Kirk Barton in order to make room for Fred Miller.

Miller returns to the team that released him in February.

They did this because then they wouldn't have to pay him a $500,000 roster bonus that was due March 4.

Fred Miller's base salary was to be $4 million this season.

He was pursued by the Baltimore Ravens, Washington Redskins, New Orleans Saints, Houston Texans and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

He took the practice field this afternoon.

Miller will become the third offensive tackle with the Bears apparently deeming experience necessary as rookie seventh-round pick Kirk Barton filled the role last week.

Miller(35), entering his 13th year, has started 160 of his last 162 games — 46 with the Bears the past three seasons.

The Bears have been in talks with Miller for more than a month, talks that began when they realized first-round draft pick Chris Williams would be sidelined for at least the first half of the season after undergoing surgery to repair a herniated disc in his lower back.

Fred Miller had this to say last month about the possibility of returning to the Bears:

``If I stay, I can finish and that would mean a lot."

Fred Miller's agent Harold Lewis had this to say about his return to the Bears:

``It's an opportunity I am glad Fred did not pass up,'' Lewis said. ``It was not about the money for him, ever. These are just days he will never forget. For players it's not so much the games as it is the time in between spent with teammates and coaches. They wanted him back and Fred wanted to return."

"His hope and dream was to be back in Chicago, "He had five teams that wanted him, but his family is in Chicago. The relationships with the players that he's made everyday and on Sundays, that's stuff he will remember forever."

``They're hopeful their tackles hold up for the rest of the season and Williams the draft pick steps in and is a solid player. Fred is an insurance policy and he's a good policy to have when you're a team spending $120 million trying to get to the Super Bowl. He's an insurance policy they will have for the rest of the year and I'm glad it worked out this way.''

How many offensive lineman are on the roster?

The Chicago Bears have nine offensive lineman including injured first round pick Chris Williams.

What's Next for Barton?

Look for them to try to sign Kirk Barton to the practice squad.

Good Move?

Obviously, if five teams pursued Miller, he still has something left in him, although he did struggle at times last season, but he is a good guy to have as a backup.

Fred Miller Brought in today for another work out

The Chicago Bears still have a one-year contract offer on the table for free-agent OT Fred Miller and Miller might sign that soon because he was brought in today for a workout.

The Bears need more depth on that offensive line in case 2nd year pro Josh Beekman or career backup John St. Clair struggle.

Taking a Look at Their Final Preseason Game

At the end of the Bears final preseason game against the Cleveland Browns, the Bears came out the winners.

The won 16-10 and held the Browns to zero points in the second half.

But, Head Coach Lovie Smith had this to say about his defense "I'm disappointed."

"The plan was to get a couple of three-and-outs and then take the players out, but it didn't turn out that way. We didn't play well. Believe me, if we could put our finger on it we would have done something about it before now. We've got a little bit more time to get it right.

"We haven't played well. That is all you can say about it. We have not made all the effort we need to play well. All the things that go into playing well, we haven't done. Once we get all our guys going, I feel we will have a very strong defense."

Starting CB Charles Tillman was aksed about the D's bad play this preseason and he had this say "If I had an answer I'd tell you right now, we have to get this cleaned up."

Keep in mind the Bears did rest two key starters on the defense, S Mike Brown and DT Tommie Harris.

They also kept G Terrance Metcalf, who has been injured for a while on the sideline and TE Desmond Clark out.

Backup G Chester Adams was injured on the last play of the first half and reportedly went out with a knee injury.

That is why they need to get Fred Miller in uniform as a backup, just to get a veteran presence in there.

Read my Fred Miller article for more info, http://bleacherreport.com/articles/52003-fred-miller-waiting-to-make-decision-with-bears.

Offensively:

On the bright side for the Bears, 3rd string QB Caleb Hanie finished the game 12/17, for 115 yards and led the Bears down the field for two field goals.

Grossman led the Bears to there only TD drive, in a 19 yard pass to Brandon Rideau.

Orton was 4/7 and threw a bad ball because John St. Clair missed his block.

P.J. Pope, who was on the practice squad last season, carried the ball eight times for 34 yards in the second half.

The last WR spot on the Bears roster could come down to Marty Booker, Mark Bradley or Brandon Rideau.

This will be a tough call because the Bears depth at WR looks like this, Brandon Lloyd, Rashied Davis, Devin Hester, Mark Bradley, Marty Booker, Brandon Rideau.

Don't forget 3rd round pick Earl Bennett from Vanderbilt.

I think Rideau and Bradley should both make the team, because last night they combined for eight catches, 105 yards and one TD.

I don't know what you do with Marty Booker, he hasn't showed much this preseason.

This will be a tough call for the Bears, but for sure you have to keep Mark Bradley, because he is the type of play maker Bernard Berrian was.

Did you know?

Because the Bears beat the Browns last night, they prevented themselves form going 0-4 in the preseason for the first time since 1998.

Good Stuff:

On a fourth and goal for the Browns in the 4th quarter the Bears Craig Steltz tipped the ball and stopped the Browns from scoring.

Before, that play S Leonard Peters, who was on the practice squad last season, forced a fumble, which was later overturned.

Also, undrafted free agent CB Trey Brown who took Cedric Benson's #32 picked off Ken Dorsey in the fourth quarter.

Lastly, the Bears K Robbie Gould looked "good as gold" last night, he kicked he made all three field goal attempts he had and his longest was a 48 yarder.

Heading into the regular season:

Cutting there roster to 53 men, is going to be tough for the Bears.

They must make there moves by Saturday.

The D is dissapointed in themselves, and they should be, they gave up an average of 25 points, 326 total yards, 161 of that on the ground per game.

If they want to be the D they were in 2006, they better step it up a couple of notches

Fred Miller Waiting To Make Decision With Bears

Brad Biggs, of the Chicago Sun-Times, reports free-agent OT Fred Miller worked out for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Tuesday and the Buccaneers have offered him a contract worth more than the one-year deal for the league minimum $830,000 offered by the Chicago Bears.

Fred Miller is expected to make a decision this week.

The Bears probably need this guy, just for depth at the offensive line.

They just lost rookie Chester Adams to an injury and who knows how long Chester will be out.

Fred wasn't that great last year, but who knows he could return back to his prime or he might be way to old.

In other news, Rookie wide receiver Marcus Monk, who was waived by the Bears on Sunday, was claimed by the New York Giants yesterday.

I think it wouldn't be a bad move for the Bears to pick up Fred Miller, if anything it would help them more than hurt them.