Anticipated Dumbass Bears Fan Free Agent Signing Wish du Jour

(I definitely need an acronym or a better way to phrase that.)

This is the first in a continuing series: continuing because I know damn well that, every time a significant athlete is cut from his team while he has any potential or strength left in his aging body, sports fans from every team will clamor that their team needs to sign him RIGHT AWAY DAMMIT HE'S THE ONLY HOPE FOR US OBI-WAN!

I bet that, by the time I leave the office and turn on some sports talk radio, there will be a rush of Bears fans yammering that the key to the Bears' 2009-2010 season will be Fragile Fred Taylor, recently cut by the Jacksonville Jags. (Frankly, I'm surprised they waited this long. With Greg Jones waiting in the wings, and with Freddy's body giving out on him bit by bit, this was kinda inevitable.) After, what, 11 seasons with the Jags (and a huge number of those being 1,000-yard-plus seasons), the guy's still talented and still fast and still productive... but unfortunately, he spends as much time on the bench as he does on the field.

So do I think Bears fans are dumbasses for this anticipated heated desire for Mister Taylor? Kinda yes and kinda no. Kinda yes: we've got running backs, what my grandmother would call a passel of them. The Fake Adrian Peterson. Garrett Wolfe, who's never been used adequately (aside from special teams). And Kevin Jones. Remember Kevin Jones? You might not, as he got just about zero playing time this last season.

And understandably so, given the kind of season that our rookie back and savior Matt Forte had. With Forte's fantastic performance, it's easy to overlook the second guy in the rotation.

But that leads me to my 'kinda no' point: what the dumbasses clamoring for Fred Taylor are really saying is that we need a second back in the rotation, that Forte is going to eventually snap in half if he's the feature back on every damn play in every damn game, and when he's about sixty percent of our offense, that's a bad thing. So he needs some support.

So does this mean we need Taylor? It'd be nice: he'd be one hell of a backup. But given his injury-prone nature, we couldn't count on him long-term (and he's sure not gonna sign a one-year deal).

My proposal is this: let's USE Kevin Jones. We've got him, right? Let's spell Forte more often. Jones can be used as a third-down back. Or, heck, what about a few two-back plays? I think the desire for another back is rational, given that it signals we all know that Forte needs a break every so often -- so let's make Jones that break, and save ourselves the heartache when Freddie's leg falls off in Week 9.