The Chicago Bears are severely lacking in star power and it remains to be seen if that will change in 2017. There is certainly no true “face of the franchise” individual player right now.
“Kyle Long is probably the most popular person on the team and he’s an offensive lineman, so they got to get some superstars,” said legendary Chicago Bears cornerback Charles “Peanut” Tillman during our exclusive conversation.
“He is a funny guy, but I don’t think an offensive lineman should be the franchise, face of the team. That’s not good marketing. It shouldn’t be ‘Kyle Long and the Chicago Bears,’ it should be a skill position player, or maybe a defensive player, c’mon.”
He’s right, it should be an offensive skill position guy, and given the illustrious history that the Monsters of the Midway have at the tailback position, it should be the featured back. In 2016, Indiana graduate Jordan Howard supplanted another B1G product, Michigan State’s Jeremy Langford, in that role. Howard had 252 rushes for 1,313 yards and six touchdowns in his rookie season of 2016 while Langford had 62 carries for 200 yards and four TDs in his sophomore campaign.
Chicago Bears Tight End Zach Miller sees Howard possibly being the guy but also mentioned another candidate.
“We’re looking at the point where somebody has to get to that spot,” the ninth year guy out of Nebraska-Omaha said.
“You look at Jordan Howard, he’s young. I think anybody can develop into that, but I think Jordan would be your prime candidate as a young, budding star, Pro Bowler last year.
“I think a guy like Cam Meredith is probably somebody who can maybe get into that role,” Miller continued during our exclusive conversation with him at the fifth annual Charles Tillman Celebrity Pro BOWLer Tournament at Kings Bowl in Rosemont.
“He’s a local guy so he’s got a cool story being from Chicago; as he grows and develops he can be a great wide receiver.”
Last season saw the Bears decline to a very lowly 3-13, and it’s led to more changes this off-season.
They said goodbye to long time starting quarterback Jay Cutler, as well as his back-ups Matt Barkley and Brian Hoyer. They brought in journeymen signal callers Mark Sanchez and Mike Glennon as potential replacements.
Additionally, Bears General Manager Ryan Pace gave up several draft picks in order to move up one slot in the NFL draft and select North Carolina’s Mitchell Trubisky to be the new franchise QB1.
“I don’t think a lot of people know who the guys on the team are, that’s how brand new everybody is,” said Tillman.
“They got Trubisky and Glennon, those are the only names I know (other than the players appearing at his event that evening).”
Eventually, Trubisky should become the proverbial face of the franchise but it’s going to be awhile before that happens.
Also, the Chicago Bears simply do not have much of a tradition at the quarterback position, so the rookie is really going to have to break new ground if he’s truly going to become a superstar.
https://soundcloud.com/p-m-banks/exclusive-charles-peanut-tillman
It used to be very easy to promo a Chicago Bears game on television by including a “Brian Urlacher and the Bears face team X” or “Jay Cutler and the Chicago Bears take on Team A.” You had several personalities to chose from, including Brandon Marshall, Matt Forte and a whole host of elite defenders during the Lovie Smith era.
Miller expressed just how much things have changed.
“You went from you had a lot of names, Peanut for one, Lance (Briggs), Brian Urlacher, a ton of guys on that defense, B Marsh, Matt Forte, Jay Cutler,” he said.
“We went from a star studded team to now it’s new guys coming in, but there are players who are going to develop into hopefully stars in this league and then you will get your face of the franchise.”
https://twitter.com/Ky1eLong/status/871472666288545792
For the time being, Peanut is right, it is currently Kyle Long. He’s a great player, and in a league that squashes individuality, in favor of establishing corporate drones, Long’s colorful personality stands out even more. His very active and extremely interesting Twitter account is a big reason that he’s up front, despite playing offensive line, the position most lacking in glamor and sizzle.
“Kyle’s wild. That dude is great,” Miller said.
“He’ll play for a long time and I think he’ll remain a Chicago Bear for his entire career. He’s witty, he’s active with the fan base, really with anybody, as open as they make ‘em- great football player, great off the field, great for entertainment value.”
Overall, there’s only one sure way to ramp up the Chicago Bears brand and that is by winning.
They need to starting winning soon, and eventually start winning big. In 2017, the team must at least convert some progress and positive momentum.
“The city is starving for us to be good and it’s time for us to be good,” Miller said.
“I’ve been other places and nothing against those other places, but the history the Chicago Bears have, and the history of Chicago as a sports city, it’s phenomenal. It’s unlike any city in my mind, throughout professional sports.
https://soundcloud.com/p-m-banks/exclusive-with-chicago-bears-tight-end-zach-miller
“You saw how the city reacted to the Cubs (World Series win) last year, now if the Bears were (to reach) that, it would be legendary.”
Given the tradition of the franchise, their best bet is build a winner around the defense schematics of defensive guru John Fox, and a strong running game, with Jordan Howard as the Chicago Bears bell cow.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes to WGN CLTV and KOZN.
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