Mandatory roster limits will have teams getting rid of people over the next 2 days working to get their rosters down to 53 for the start of the regular season.

The Bears have released offensive linemen Tyler Reed,Cody Balogh and Ryan Poles.

Given the current state of the offensive line I was a bit surprised about Tyler Reed going.  I had read there were still those that thought he was good enough to make the team.  I can only hope the Bears will be looking at other team's castoffs for any potential backups.

The Bears have also release WR Mike Hass.  I know a lot of people around here were high on him, but this in not unexpected.  The last roster spot for receivers is believed to  currently be between Mark Bradley and Brandon Rideau.

Also release were fullback Lousaka Polite and defensive end Daniel Bazuin.

The Bears were planning to go into camp with Devin Hester and Brandon Lloyd as their starting wide receivers.  With a hold out by Hester, Marty Booker stepped in and ran with the first team.

The Bears lack experience at the wide receiver spot.  Only Marty Booker has more than 3 years experience with meaningful playing time. What the Bears do have is a lot of speed and a ton of potential.  Hester, Bradley and Lloyd all have high end speed.  They also are carring two promising rookies.

The Bears current roster of wide receivers looks like this:

Devin Hester
Marty Booker
Brandon Lloyd
Rashied Davis
Mark Bradley
Earl Bennett
Marcus Monk
Mike Hass
Brandon Rideau

Hester, Booker, Lloyd and Bennett are probably locks at this point.  Based on OTAs the Bears have probably seen enough good out of Monk to keep him. Rashied Davis was the Bears top performer during OTAs, I'd like to see them keep him.  At least he is familiar with the play book.   I don't know how many recievers the Bears are going to run with, so Hass and Rideau are either cuts or practice squad players.  Mark Bradley is the X Factor.  The Bears seemed intent on marking him a starter going into this year, but with his latest surgery the Bears don't know when he will be ready.

Let's take a look at the numbers of those with NFL experience:

(numbers after the jump)

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Bears wide receiver coach Darryl Drake has said that he feels the receiving corp in Chicago is better than the one last year .

He feels there is a lot more explosiveness on the field now.  While this initially seems like it might be a dig at Berrian, really it is just a statement that the Bears overall talent pool has improved as a whole. While no one Bears receiver will likely duplicate Berrian's numbers this year, there is not reason to think that the squad will not be able to cover it.

Last year the Bears were pretty much just Bernard Berrian and an occasional bomb to Devin Hester.

This year though we replace the no longer sure handed Mushin Muhammad with the sure handed Marty Booker.  Hester will get a full camp in at the wide receiver position and rookie's Earl Bennett and Marcus Monk are both playing surprisingly well.  And from early reports Brandon Lloyd is working hard to regain his career and if he can catch on it gives the Bears another burner at the position.

While at the beginning it was assumed the Mark Bradley would be the default winner of the #1 receiver spot, there is now a possibility that when he is recovered from his knee surgery he could be fighting just for a roster spot.

But the Bears might get production from an unsuspecting place, though I don't know why he was written off to begin with:

'But the best player for us probably out on the field has been 81 [Rashied Davis],'' Drake said. ''He's quicker, he's faster, he's stronger. He puts more fear in them -- you go ask those guys on defense who puts fear inside them.''

Two years ago, Davis was clutch and a big piece of the puzzle, but last year he was lost and it looked like this year he might find his way off the team, but I guess he has something to say about that.

Last year's sqaud that had a record catch are:

Bernard Berrian, Mushin Muhammad, Devin Hester, Mark Bradley and Rashied Davis

This year's squad looks like this:

Devin Hester, Mark Bradley, Earl Bennett, Marcus Monk, Brandon Lloyd, Rashied Davis, Marty Booker

This makes Curtis Hamilton, Mike Hass and Brandon Rideau and possibly Bradley ,depending on how many receivers we carry,  cuts or practice squad  players.

Obviously not having Berrian is a big hole, but despite their overall youth, I like the looks of this squad.  At least as much as I can for not having really seen them play many games.

Add to this that Desmond Clark is still solid and Greg Olsen should have a bigger role.

If either Grossman or Orton can have a consistently decent year, the Bears can do some damage.