Why can't the Bears get a break?

Or maybe more accurately, stop getting them. On Aug. 12, quarterback Rex Grossman went down with a broken left ankle, the third straight year injuries have laid him low. Grossman has shown flashes of potential since the Bears drafted him, but he's been able to start only six games in two years, including three last year. He appeared to be markedly improved from his rookie season but a knee injury sent him to the sidelines. In those three starts, it's difficult to assess him but one thing was apparent - the Bears played better when he was in there. In Grossman's three starts in 2004, Chicago scored six times. In the remaining 13 games, they scored only 13 times or half as often. Now he's gone again for three or four months, replaced by fourth-round draft choice Kyle Orton.

Orton started for three years at Purdue and completed 59 percent of his throws and he looked impressive in the pre-season, when he beat out Chad Hutchinson for the job after Grossman went down. Orton becomes the 20th different quarterback the Bears have started since 1990 and the 10th since the new millennium. That is not a good omen for Orton. Or the Bears.

Chicago signed free-agent right tackle Fred Miller and guard Robert Garza as well as one of the league's most explosive wide receivers in Muhsin Muhammad to help the passing game. Then they drafted running back Cedric Benson No. 1 and Oklahoma wideout Mark Bradley in the second round. That should have given Chicago more weapons and a better chance for their quarterback to stay upright because the line has been bolstered and so has a running game offensive coordinator Ron Turner intends to use to protect whoever his quarterback is. Then Benson held out through the entire training and the history of rookies who do that is not a good one.

Along with Benson, the Bears also have veteran Thomas Jones, who rushed for 948 yards on only 240 carries last year while also catching 56 passes. They may provide Orton with a sound running game to take some heat off him and Miller and Garza give him two more solid blockers to keep the defenders off his back after Chicago quarterbacks went down 66 times last  season.

HOT SEAT: Muhsin Muhammad. He comes to the Bears as a free agent after leading the NFL in receiving yardage with 1,405 while grabbing 93 passes and scoring 16 touchdowns. To put his value in perspective, Muhammad scored seven more touchdowns than the entire Bears' receiving corps last season, so he's being expected to turn a dormant passing game into an explosive one. But he had other weapons around him in Carolina and a top quarterback in Jake Delhomme. Now he's coming to a team with no true No. 2 receiver and a starting quarterback who's played only six games. This could be a recipe for disappointment.

OVERHEARD: Benson was being counted on to revive the Bears' once legendary running game and comparisons are natural. But his are eerie. Benson was the fourth player taken in April. In 1965, Gale Sayers was the fourth player selected and 30 years ago Walter Payton was. That's two Hall of Fame running backs taken in the same spot as Benson and coming to the Bears. Holding out instead of coming to work this summer did not remind Bears fans of either Payton or Sayers, however, so it's not off to a good start.

OUTLOOK: Chicago has to get points from an offense that was the worst in football a year ago to change anything, but it also needs a defense that stood pat to avoid the crippling injuries that caused them to lose their top five players for 39 starts. They're not deep enough to survive those kind of injury problems. The defense was ninth in points allowed and total defense when the injuries began to hit in Week 9. By the end of the season they were 21st overall and 13th in points allowed.

PREDICTION: Second.

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