Bears Coaches Not Afraid to Bench Stars

Forty five minutes before the Bears kicked off against the Packers under the prime time lights, a gasp went through the press box. Pro Bowl tackle Tommie Harris was inactive. Not injured, assured Bears personnel.

"It was not disciplinary" Lovie Smith assured, "it was performance based."

The Bears simply wanted to see how Marcus Harrison and Henry Melton would fare.

Pretty big tryout for the Bears' biggest game of the year.

"Tommie’s been doing everything we asked him to do" Smith assured, "the guys know each week we can go a few different ways, its just which way we want to go as far as what guys we need up on that game. It’s back to the practice field. It should make our practice even better as we decide what happens next week.”

The Bears coaches are sending a message, if they don't get the production they are looking for, they'll go somewhere else. And with Julius Peppers drawing double and triple teams on a weekly basis, no one else is getting open on the defensive line.

Nobody?! After wide receiver Devin Aromashodu was the main offensive target from the receiving corp in Week 1 against Detroit, he too was benched in Dallas and again inactive Monday Night against Green Bay.

Offensive coordinator Mike Martz said Aromashodu wasn't comfortable as a slot receiver and not versatile enough to where he is playing outside too. At 3-0h who can argue? The bar has been raised. The message has been sent.

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