*Cedric Benson conceded that he is still not 100% and he does not know how much he will contribute on Sunday.  We love Thomas Jones in the matchup against the Packers.  Expect Jones to keep the starting job for a while.

*If you have been paying attention, it should have come as no surprise that Thomas Jones has been named the starting back for week 1.

*Our source in Chicago says that Brian Griese will be starting "no later than Halloween".  Stay clear.

*Cedric Benson will once again not play.  He'll miss the final preseason game, making the chances of him emerging as the starting back going into the season almost impossible.  Thomas Jones will keep the job until he loses it through injury or poor play.  That's not to say it won't happen this year.

*It appears that Rashied Davis is the frontrunner to win the starting receiver job opposite Muhsin Muhammad.

*There is no quarterback controversy in Chicago.  Yet.  For now Rex Grossman is the starter and that is the way things are going to stay.  For Now.  Grossman, although he has struggled a little this preseason is a very good quarterback and has the ability to lead this team.  The only thing that will get him off the field is losing games, and the Bears defense will see to it that doesn't happen often.  With all this said, don't draft Grossman unless you are in a 16 team or larger league and need a backup.

*As expected, Thomas Jones will start on Friday against the Cardinals in preseason action.  If Jones doesn't do anything to self destruct, he should be able to keep the starting job going into the season.

*While I love Thomas Jones attitude about being the starter, the fact is that Benson may be more talented.  My fear, which I've stated before, is that if Jones does not start, he'll make trouble and cause distractions.  Ask Andy Reid how well good teams do with loudmouths in the locker room.  Our bet is that Jones starts the season as the #1 back but doesn't finish that way.  By next year, Jones will probably have been moved on, unless he starts and really shines this year, too.

*Thomas Jones has come off PUP and has beaten Cedric Benson back from injury giving him the leg up on taking the #1 position heading into the season.  Benson will still be in the mix, but the starter is the one with the obvious higher value.  Move Benson down a peg and move Thomas Jones up.  Benson has been able to run with a helmet, but no pads and no contact for a while.  He needs to get in the action and prove he can stay healthy.  Thanks to Rich B. in Chicago for the heads up.

*Grossman struggled this weekend while Brian Griese looked polished.  Griese finished 6-7, 134 while Grossman was only 3-11.  As our guy in Chicago says, the most popular man in Chicago has always been the backup quarterback.

*Cedric Benson announced that he will be out 2-3 weeks with a shoulder separation.  This puts a wedge in the status of #1, as Thomas Jones will be back on the field before Benson will.  For now, Adrian Peterson will get the carries at the #1 spot with Benson and Jones battling it out the rest of camp.  We still expect Benson to end up with the starting job, but we're not sure how long it will take.

*Camp Report - Thomas Jones reported to camp at nearly the last possible moment last night - midnight was the deadline.  And this morning, he tweaked his hamstring during his physical (which had a running test - treadmill maybe?) and was placed on the PUP list.

Things that make you go hmmmm - something is going on here.  Whether it's Rosenhaus instructing his client to not play while still not holding out or if the Bears are just going to keep him off the field as to avoid injury while they shop him around the league.

Jones said he skipped the OTA's this preseason to work with his own Personal Trainer instead of the Bears.  He believes he has done enough to be the starter.  Clearly still not happy with the situation.

Cedric Benson was basically named the starting running back on Wednesday as Lovie Smith stated that the depth chart remains as it did after the last mini-camp.  Which ended with Benson on top.

*Thomas Jones has announced that he will be in camp on time.  Great news for the Bears, bad news for Fantasy football.  Our take is that it's in the Bears' better interest to start Jones.  Benson is less likely to pout.  If Jones has to come off the bench and have his playing time seriously cut into, he will not have his head in the game like last year and could turn into a major locker room distraction.

*The Chicago Bears and Cincinnati Bengals are the 2 NFL teams looking to return all starters from last season.  Even if Thomas Jones doesn't start, he'll still be on the roster.

*The latest on Benson v. Jones is that Lovie Smith claims that Jones has not been demoted and they will battle for the starting job in camp.  One of these two will emerge, but it might not be until the regular season has begun.  If you risk taking one, you might as well get the other, too.

*Rich in Chicago checks in with this one:  I don't know if a training camp holdout is for sure, but it sure smells like it. 

Jones has skipped every "voluntary" workout so far this season.  Apparently he's unhappy with his contract $$ and the idea that he's in another splitting-time scenario.  He should be concerned.  After all, the Bears have a lot of $$ invested in Benson and need to see if he's worth it.  Word up here is that Benson looks to be in great shape (and is attending all scheduled workouts as well as just continuously being around Halas Hall) and seems to have his head out of his arse as well. 

This looks to be the transition year.

The Bears demoted Jones and Briggs to second team work in retaliation for it.  That's the way they can punish a player for skipping voluntary stuff.  Remember - "voluntary workout" in the NFL is "voluntary" only because the CBA says players can't be fined for missing them.

I heard a report that Thomas Jones is (as expected) tip-top shape and that his biceps are even bigger than last year.

As always, great stuff out of Chicago.  Looks like Benson may be the may starting out of the gate.  But this might be a messy situation unless one of the two gets out of the way either through trade or injury.  Unless something changes, I might let someone else take a chance here. 

*Look for Mark Bradley to move back to the #2 receiver position after recovering from a torn ACL.

http://www.chicagobears.com/ - Official Site

http://www.suntimes.com/index/bears.html

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/

http://www.dailyherald.com/sports/bears.asp - News Sites

http://www.chicagobears.com/team/ - Roster

http://www.ourlads.com/secure/depthchart.cfm?index1=CHI - depth chart

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/bears/stats.htm - stats

http://www.nfl.com/freeagency/nfc-signings - free agency