2007 Chicago Bears season

The 2007 season was the Chicago Bears' 88th season in the National Football League, and the fourth under head coach Lovie Smith. The season officially began on September 9, 2007, against the San Diego Chargers, and concluded on December 30 against the New Orleans Saints. The Bears entered the 2007 season as the National Football Conference Champions and had hopes of returning to the Super Bowl, but instead finished the season with a 7–9 record and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2004. The season marked the most recent time that the Bears swept the Green Bay Packers.

Offseason

Roster changes

One of the biggest stories in the Bears' off-season was Tank Johnson's jail sentence. In December 2006, Johnson came under increased scrutiny after police entered his house in Gurnee, Illinois, and found several guns and weapon paraphernalia. The situation was further complicated when Johnson's friend, William Posey, was murdered the following evening while defending Johnson at a nightclub. On March 15, 2007, a judge in Skokie, Illinois sentenced Johnson to 120 days in jail and fined him $2,500. He was released from jail on May 13, 2007, due to good behavior. Johnson also faced an additional eight-game suspension from the NFL. The league ultimately suspended Johnson for half of the regular season on June 4. Despite vowing to amend his ways, Johnson was pulled over for speeding in Arizona, and was later given a blood test after an officer suspected he was driving under the influence. The incident prompted the Bears to waive Johnson on June 25. Johnson was replaced by Darwin Walker.
Additionally, controversy ensued between the Bears' management and Lance Briggs. Only weeks after losing Super Bowl XLI, the Bears placed a franchise tag worth nearly 7.2 million dollars on the Pro Bowl-caliber linebacker, keeping him with the team for another year. Briggs became unhappy with the action and voiced his anger on The Mike North Morning Show. He even went as far to claim he no longer wanted to be a member of the Bears, a statement he later reiterated nationally on FoxSports.com. Despite Briggs' remarks, the Bears stated that they planned to keep him with the organization for the 2007 season. The Washington Redskins offered to exchange first-round draft picks with the Bears in exchange for Briggs. Angelo deferred the offer on April 3, but later stated they were interested in negotiating another deal the following day. Briggs came to terms with the Bears on July 25, and accepted the 7.2 million dollar contract.
The team traded running back Thomas Jones to the New York Jets and their second-round pick for the Jets' second-round pick in the 2007 NFL draft. In addition to the loss of Jones, Todd Johnson, Cameron Worrell, and Justin Gage left the Bears for other teams later. In order to fill the void, the Bears acquired strong safety Adam Archuleta from the Washington Redskins in exchange for their sixth-round draft pick. They also signed former Redskins' kicker Nick Novak to back up Robbie Gould. Defensive tackle Anthony Adams also was signed to further bolster the Bears' defensive line, following the departures of Alfonso Boone and Ian Scott.
The Bears re-signed Ruben Brown, the team's last remaining free agent from the previous season, to a one-year extension for an undisclosed amount of money. Amidst these significant changes, Jerry Angelo, the team's general manager, stated, "I know on the outside it looks like we want to dismantle the team. It has nothing to do with that. We want to keep this the best possible football team that we can. And that's what we're trying to do.", while addressing the media in March. By the end of May, the Bears had lost ten members of their 2006 roster.
The team re-signed Nathan Vasher and Charles Tillman to multi-year contracts. The team traded one of their draft picks to the Buffalo Bills for Darwin Walker, who will replace Tank Johnson. The Bears traded safety Chris Harris to the Carolina Panthers in exchange for an undisclosed draft pick in 2008. Dante Wesley was also traded to the New England Patriots in exchange for a seventh-round pick.

Coaching changes

The Bears' coaching staff also saw significant changes during the off season. The team did not re-sign defensive coordinator Ron Rivera, whose contract expired at the end of the 2006 season. He was replaced by linebackers coach Bob Babich, who had followed head coach Lovie Smith from the St. Louis Rams. Eventually, five assistant coaches, including quarterbacks coach Wade Wilson, would leave the Bears for other teams. The team worked out a contract extension with Lovie Smith, which extended his contract for four years to 2011. Smith will make a total of $22 million during the course of the deal. Jerry Angelo, the team's general manager, also signed a six-year deal on the same day. The Bears billed Pep Hamilton of the San Francisco 49ers as their new quarterback coach, and Charles London of Duke University as the team's offensive quality control coach.

2007 NFL draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	College
1	31	Greg Olsen	Tight end	Miami
2	62	Dan Bazuin	Defensive end	Central Michigan
3	93	Garrett Wolfe	Running back	Northern Illinois
3	94	Michael Okwo	Linebacker	Stanford
4	130	Josh Beekman	Guard	Boston College
5	167	Kevin Payne	Strong safety	Louisiana-Monroe
5	168	Corey Graham	Cornerback	New Hampshire
7	221	Trumaine McBride	Cornerback	Ole Miss
7	241	Aaron Brant	Offensive tackle	Iowa State

Going into the 2007 NFL draft, the Bears did not reveal which prospects they were interested in, but stated that they entered the draft looking for the "best athlete available". As the loser of the previous Super Bowl, the Bears entered the 2007 NFL draft ostensibly with the thirty-first selection in each of the seven rounds of the draft. However, as a result of trading activity, both before and during the draft, the Bears ended up with nine picks instead of seven, and only five of those nine were in the 31st position.

Trade activity

The Bears improved their placement in the second round by trading Thomas Jones and their second round pick for the New York Jets' second round pick, which was the fifth pick of the second round. Thus, the Bears then possessed the 31st and 37th overall picks of the draft. However, the Bears then traded this second round pick to San Diego in exchange for the Chargers' 2007 draft picks in the second round, third round, and fifth round, as well as the Chargers' third round pick in the 2008 draft. The Bears also traded away their sixth round pick to the Washington Redskins for Adam Archuleta. Additionally, the Bears acquired the 11th pick of the 7th round by trading Lennie Friedman to the Cleveland Browns.

Actual selections

The team used their 31st overall selection to draft Greg Olsen to solidify their tight end position. They later traded their second round, 37th overall selection to the San Diego Chargers, in exchange for the team's second, third, fifth and next year's third selection. Next, Dan Bazuin was selected to further bolster the Bears' defensive line, while Chicago native Garrett Wolfe was selected in the third round following Thomas Jones' departure. The team spent their other third-round pick to acquire linebacker Michael Okwo. The bears drafted Offensive guard Josh Beekman in the fourth round, and then selected two defensive backs, Kevin Payne and Corey Graham in the fourth round. Lastly, the team drafted offensive tackle Aaron Brant and cornerback Trumaine McBride in the seventh round.

Undrafted signees

Following the Draft, the Bears signed several undrafted free agents. Most notably, the team acquired Chris Leak, who had previously led the Florida Gators to a BCS National Championship title, and Dave Ball, who broke Jerry Rice's Division I-AA record with 58 career touchdowns. The team acquired six other rookie free agents to reinforce other positions. An additional six undrafted rookies were recruited following the team's rookie mini-camp to fill various needs in their team's depth chart. The Bears became the first team in the League to sign all of their draft picks when they came to terms with Dan Bazuin on July 25.

Training camp

Though the team started conditioning for the upcoming season as early as February, the Bears had scheduled several training camps between the 2007 NFL draft, and the first game of the 2007 preseason. The first mini-camp for first year players was held less than a week after the Draft so that coaches could further evaluate the talent of rookie players. Next, the team had a mandatory mini-camp, which started on May 18, 2007. During the Bears' first mini-camp, Tommie Harris, Dusty Dvoracek, and Mike Brown returned to practice after missing portions of the 2006 season. Additionally, the team converted Devin Hester to wide receiver in hopes of using his play-making ability on offense as well as special teams.
The Bears held training camp from July 27 to August 18 at Olivet Nazarene University.

Staff

Roster

Preseason

The team won their first preseason game against the Houston Texans by a score of 20–19. The game was highlighted by a staunch performance from their three quarterbacks. Rex Grossman completed eight of ten passes for fifty yards, while his back-up, Brian Griese, went six for seven with seventy-two yards and one touchdown and interception. However, third-string quarterback Kyle Orton played an integral part in their victory. Orton, who played nearly two-quarters, completed sixteen of twenty-five passes for 151 yards and a single touchdown. At one point, he had completed twelve consecutive passes. Running back Josh Allen and Orton got the Bears to the Texans' twenty-nine-yard line, where Robbie Gould kicked the game's winning field goal. While the team's defense and offense performed productively, their special teams unit drew skepticism after allowing the Texans to produce several large kick returns. Dave Toub, the Bears' special team coach, blamed the problems on a lack of experience and poor tackling, which have since been properly addressed.
The following week, the Bears faced the Indianapolis Colts for Super Bowl XLI rematch. Although the game took place during prime-time, they would treat the game as if it were any other preseason game. Regardless, the Bears won by a score of 27–24, but not without controversy. Grossman, making his homecoming to Indiana, struggled throughout the night. He fumbled the ball three times, and threw an interception. Despite completing the night by completing nine of eleven passes for fifty-nine yards and one rushing touchdown, Grossman's struggles became the focus of the night. Griese, however, threw ten completions on thirteen attempts with one touchdown. The Bears defense was able to record three interceptions, while the special teams unit was able to force a fumble on a return. Return specialists Devin Hester and Danieal Manning also performed productively as kick returners.
The Bears trumped their third opponent, the San Francisco 49ers, by a score of 31–28. Grossman opened the game with a forty-yard pass to Bernard Berrian. He went on to throw two touchdowns, but also threw an interception to Walt Harris, who returned the pick for a touchdown. Benson continued to struggle and only averaged less than a yard on each carry. Nevertheless, the team's first-string defense held the 49ers offense to only six points, and caused two turnovers. The Bears' special team's unit, who lost Hester to an injury in the first quarter, was plagued with fumbles, missed-snaps, inaccurate field goals. The 49ers, who had fallen behind by thirty-one points before the second half, mounted a fifteen-point rally in the fourth quarter. Their second-string quarterback, Trent Dilfer completed nine of twelve passes for two touchdowns, en route to earning a perfect quarterback rating for the night.
The team lost their preseason finale to the Cleveland Browns, 19–9. Grossman and most of the team's starters saw limited action during the night. Instead, the team turned to Orton and Chris Leak to lead their offense. The Browns initially struggled but used their special teams unit to score twelve points in the first half. Their second-string rookie quarterback, Brady Quinn allowed the Browns to score their first offensive points of the night. The Bears quarterback, Kyle Orton, lead the game in passing but failed to engineer a touchdown drive. The Bears turned to their fourth-string quarterback, Chris Leak, to finish the game. While Leak threw the Bears' lone passing touchdown of the night, much of the night's praise went to David Ball and Mike Hass, who both made difficult catches. The Bears finished the preseason with a 3–1 record. However, the team's top three draft picks, Greg Olsen, Dan Bazuin, and Michael Okwo sustained injuries. While Banzuin and Okwo were lost for the season, the team was optimistic that Olsen may play in the season's opener.