#1 – A Shutdown Corner

Charles Tillman was a shut down corner.

Does that mean he shut down every receiver he faced in his Hall of Fame worthy Bears career? Of course not. In the modern NFL, with rules skewing more and more towards offensive football, it’ll be rare to see a defensive back opponents don’t have some modicum of success against.

No, in today’s league, a “shutdown corner” is less a corner who shuts down the opponent 100% of the time and more a corner the coaching staff feels comfortable lining up opposite a top receiver each and every down, confident he’ll win a majority of the one-on-one battles.

Having one of those guys makes playing defense in this league so much easier.

The Bears don’t have one. They don’t have anything close.

Tracy Porter and Kyle Fuller, both healthy, would have given the Bears a respectable set of starting corners. Nothing special. Respectable. But neither is a top player and without a top player on the outside somebody is gonna be open!

Oh, and neither is healthy.

Center may be the most in-demand position for the 2016 Chicago Bears. But they believe they have their center of the future.

They have known for some time they don’t have elite talent at corner. And they know they need it.