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LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- Here's a look at the Chicago Bears' seventh-round pick, receiver Marquess Wilson of Washington State.

Wilson led the Cougars in receiving last year with 52 catches for 813 yards and five touchdowns despite playing just nine games.

Strengths: Nearly 6-foot-3, Wilson presents matchup problems for defensive backs. Despite his height, Wilson shows surprisingly good agility, and the ability to keep defenders’ hands off him coming off the line. Given the fact he’ll likely be asked to play in the slot for the Bears, it’s encouraging that Wilson is considered a player who is willing to make tough catches over the middle. Over his first two seasons at Washington State, Wilson was highly productive, racking up 2,394 yards receiving on 137 catches.

Weaknesses: Character might be an issue. Suspended last Nov. for violating team rules, Wilson later left the team and accused the Washington State coaching staff of abuse. Wilson eventually recanted that story and explained it came as a result of him being angry with losing his starting job. Such a situation shows a lack of maturity. Interestingly, the university didn’t allow Wilson to return for its pro day. Physically, Wilson isn’t considered an imposing specimen. At the NFL Combine, Wilson benched 225 times just seven times. Wilson has also experienced concentration issues resulting in dropped passes. Wilson’s speed is considered just average.

By the numbers: Ran a 4.51-second 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine. Averaged 18.3 yards per catch as a true freshman and 16.9 in his sophomore year. Set the school record for receptions (82) and receiving yards (1,388) in 2011, and led the Pac-12 in receiving yards per game (115.7).

What it means: The Bears needed a dynamic receiver capable of taking the tops off coverages from the slot, but it doesn’t appear that’s what the team acquired with the selection of Wilson. Wilson has shown he can produce against solid competition based on his back-to-back 1,000-plus yard seasons in 2010 and 2011. But his issues in 2012 are cause for concern. If Wilson takes to NFL coaching and matures, there’s a good chance he’ll earn a spot somewhere in the receiver rotation. Although he’s not considered especially explosive, Wilson should be able to find a niche.

Next: The Bears will round out the 2013 class by signing undrafted prospects to free-agent contracts late Saturday and will likely announce the signings on Sunday.

CHICAGO -- Odds are Martellus Bennett will love Chicago. Whether the city loves him back is entirely up to him.

Known for his eclectic tastes, the Chicago Bears' new tight end will have his fill of good restaurants, art galleries and lucrative opportunities to show off his expansive personality in Chicago.

No one ever signs with the Bears and laments their time here, at least off the field.

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CHICAGO -- Brandon Marshall was well aware of the territory he officially entered Sunday.

“In the third quarter, I leaned over to Jay (Cutler) and I said ‘That catch puts me at 1,000 yards for six seasons in a row,’ and he looked at me and said, ‘You’re disgusting,’ ” Marshall recounted to big laughs after the Chicago Bears’ 28-10 victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.

“I’m aware of it and it’s social media, man,” Marshall explained. “People give you a heads up, that’s how I know stats and records because the guys who follow me on Twitter. It’s every day they’re tweeting me things I’m not aware of.”

Marshall, who went over 1,000 with an 11-yard catch and finished with 12 catches for 92 yards, may not have told Cutler that he also became the first Bears’ receiver since Marty Booker in 2002 to go over the 1,000-yard mark, but he did know that with 69 receptions this season he is 32 catches short of breaking another Bears' season record.

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LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- The expected return of rookie receiver Alshon Jeffery for the matchup Monday night against the San Francisco 49ers might restore, or at least boost, offensive production in the passing game down the middle of the field for the Chicago Bears.

That’s an area where the Bears seem to be lacking, but interestingly, it’s where Jeffery excels based on the statistics.

“We’re very happy to see that he’s out there practicing,” Bears offensive coordinator Mike Tice said. “He hasn’t had any setbacks. He’s taken his reps, and it’s very encouraging.”

The Bears tabbed Kellen Davis as the answer on throws down the middle of the field, where the team could use the tight end’s 6-foot-7, 267-pound frame to exploit potential mismatches. Targeted 22 times down the middle, Davis hauled in nine balls and dropped five, contributing 104 yards and two touchdowns as quarterback Jay Cutler produced a 67.8 passer rating on throws down the middle with six interceptions and seven touchdowns through the first nine games.

Set to start in Cutler’s place on Monday, backup Jason Campbell completed 5-of-10 passes for 22 yards down the middle in the second half against the Texans.

“For me, it’s just getting out there and just getting comfortable, trying to get my rhythm and go from there,” Campbell said.

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CHICAGO -- To borrow a tired phrase you might have heard before around these parts, the Chicago Bears are still who we thought they were after a soggy 13-6 loss to the Houston Texans on Sunday night.

Don’t get washed away with negativity, because this was already a team with obvious flaws, almost all of them on offense. Those flaws just got covered up during the previous two months with defensive dazzle and garbage-time scores.

The Bears are still a great defense capable of carrying a team to the playoffs. Still a bleak offense with a sporadic chance of making it rain. Still a Super Bowl contender. Still a team that hasn’t beaten a really good team yet this year -- 0-2 with a date in San Francisco next Monday. Still a team that employs tight end Kellen Davis for some unknown reason. Still a team riding Tim Jennings' career year.

Were the Bears, now 7-2 after the end of a six-game winning streak, exposed as playoff pretenders under harsh national lights? Not quite. Do they leave you wanting more? Absolutely.

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Houston plays an aggressive high-pressure scheme under defensive coordinator Wade Phillips, which will put the Texans in man-to-man coverage on some passing downs that Chicago needs to take advantage of.

The difficult decision for offensive coordinator Mike Tice is how he’ll decide between deploying extra personnel to protect Jay Cutler versus utilizing extra receivers in some routes to exploit Houston’s high-risk schemes on the back end.

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LAKE FOREST -- Whether Houston Texans defensive coordinator Wade Phillips was serious or not when he said Thursday that he’ll double team Brandon Marshall on every play, it doesn’t really matter to the Chicago Bears. They already expect it, which means other wide receivers may have to step up.

“They know we throw it to him most of the time,” Bears coach Lovie Smith said Friday after practice. “He’s our No. 1 receiver. No matter what they do we’ll try to get the ball to him. That will open up other things. Our running game also. Whatever they decide to do it should still benefit us.”

It will only benefit the Bears if others are making plays. Earl Bennett used to be Jay Cutler’s favorite target, but since Marshall came on board he hasn’t seen the ball as much. As Phillips noted, the Bears “haven’t thrown it to the other guys very much except the running back.” That’s starting to change with the extra coverage. Bennett was targeted a season-high eight times last week against Tennessee.

“We know teams are going to try to take Brandon out so we have to do our job,” Bennett said. “We have to go out and make plays and relieve the pressure off Brandon.”

Of course, Cutler also has to look Bennett’s or Devin Hester's way.

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NASHVILLE -- Here are Five Things We Learned in the Chicago Bears' 51-20 victory over the Tennessee Titans on Sunday at LP Field:

1. Who needs the offense?: On a serious note, the Bears will eventually need their offense to produce earlier in games, but that's an issue for another day. This game is once again about the defense and the records it seems to set on a weekly basis. Seven defensive touchdowns is an absurd amount for an entire season, much less through eight games, but the Bears defense keeps finding ways to score at a frantic pace, even if Brian Urlacher's trot to the end zone was a tad slower than some of the team's prior pick-sixes. Perhaps the only thing that can derail this defense would be a rash of injuries, which the Bears have avoided up until now, even though starting defensive linemen Israel Idonije and Henry Melton got a little banged up in the win. A healthy Bears defense in January makes this team a legitimate Super Bowl contender. I just don't know how that can be disputed after watching the veteran unit dominate for the first eight games. Sure, the schedule is about to get tougher, but the defense has taken on every challenge up to this point and won. Why should anybody expect that to change unless the stars begin to get hurt?

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The Chicago Bears paid running back Matt Forte well when they signed him in July to a contract extension. So perhaps it’s time to start using him, considering he’s carried the ball 20 times or more in just two games all season.

Offensive coordinator Mike Tice blamed the club’s four three-and-outs against the Carolina Panthers for Forte’s lack of carries last weekend.

“When you’re three and out, three and out, nobody’s going to get a lot of touches,” Tice said. “Fortunately (receiver) Brandon (Marshall) got some catches in the two-minute (offense) or he wouldn’t have had many touches. We can’t have the ball 23 minutes. We had been up in the 36-minute range (in terms of time of possession). When you’re in the 36-minute range you’ve got plays. But when you have the ball 23 minutes, I don’t think anybody’s going to feel they had enough touches.”

Maybe the best way to remedy that situation is to run the ball.

Forte ran the ball eight times in the first half of last week’s game, but didn’t take handoffs on back-to-back plays until the 3:57 mark of the second quarter when his 5-yard run gave him 14 yards total on the two attempts.

Quarterback Jay Cutler predicted Forte wouldn’t “get the touches that he got last year” in 2012 because “there are not enough balls to go around.”

But somehow the Bears need to find a way to get Forte involved. Ultimately, their success on offense depends on it.

CHICAGO -- Here are five things we learned in the Chicago Bears' 23-22 victory over the Carolina Panthers at Soldier Field on Sunday:

1. Never count out the defense: Let's face it, the Bears defense did not look sharp at times. Whether it was Brandon LaFell racing down the middle of the field for a 62-yard gain, the Panthers converting 10-of-19 (53%) of their third down opportunities, missed tackles or Steve Smith simply being Steve Smith, this was not one of the Bears defense’s finer days. However, as usual, when the team needed a big play the defense was there to deliver, as Tim Jennings intercepted Cam Newton and ran it back for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. That marked the sixth defensive touchdown by the Bears this year, an absurd number for a season that's only seven games old. Even when the Bears aren't playing their best ball, the defense is still capable of making something happen.

2. Jennings is going to the Pro Bowl: We kind of already suspected that Jennings might make his first Pro Bowl, but Sunday's two-interception performance put it over the top. Jennings has six picks over the first seven games after entering the season with seven lifetime interceptions. He also did an admirable job on Smith. There is no way to completely shut down Smith, who is still one of the game's great wideouts, but Jennings made him earn every one of his seven catches as the two squared off all over the field on Sunday. Jennings continues to make the Bears look like geniuses for re-signing him to a modest two-year contract in free agency, one of the best moves the organization made all offseason.

3. Jay Cutler can bring the Bears back: Maybe it was due to Cutler's sore ribs or the consistent pass rush the Panthers were able to generate up front, but the Bears quarterback was a little off for most of the game, much like the rest of his teammates. But Cutler completed six of seven passes on the Bears final drive to help set up Robbie Gould's game winning field goal. That was huge. Cutler has always played well when ahead or when sparked by the defense, but here was a chance for the quarterback to rally the team when the chips were down. To me, this signified another step in the maturing process of Cutler as a quarterback. Throw out the pedestrian 186 passing yards and 83.3 quarterback rating, this was one of Cutler's best games because when the team turned to him to win a game, he delivered.

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CHICAGO -- With the Chicago Bears down 13-7, Jay Cutler walked off the field at halftime on Sunday to a cascade of boos after taking six sacks, throwing an interception and losing a fumble while generating a passer rating of 18.1.

Perhaps the harsh treatment from the Soldier Field crowd motivated Cutler, who led his squad to a 23-22 comeback victory over the Carolina Panthers by completing 6 of 7 passes for 52 yards in the last 2:20 to put Robbie Gould in position to kick the game-winner.

Cutler admitted the crowd gave him and the offense what they deserved at the break.

“I’d boo us too,” he said. “I told those guys it was a boo-worthy performance, if you will. It’s pathetic offensively what we put out there. It wasn’t up to standard product-wise. So we’ve got to get better. We know that, the fans know that.”

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With Alshon Jeffery still out of the lineup, the Chicago Bears need to decide how much playing time to give to Devin Hester as opposed to Earl Bennett. Furthermore, the staff needs to determine how much increased repetitions for Hester could affect the Bears’ return game.

Hester and Bennett put up similar numbers against the Detroit Lions, with the former catching three passes for 38 yards and the latter contributing 37 yards on three receptions.

But it might be more advantageous for the Bears to give Bennett the majority of the snaps on offense, so Hester can focus more on special teams. Hester played 61 snaps on offense against the Lions, while Bennett lined up for 39 snaps.

Maybe decreased snaps on offense would allow Hester to be more productive in the return game.

Special teams coordinator Dave Toub acknowledged Thursday that Hester needs to improve his decision making on punt returns. Against the Lions, Hester averaged five yards on one punt return and called for a fair catch on two, including one that Toub thought could have been returned for a touchdown.

Toub said the staff made sure to take into account how Hester’s increased offensive snaps would affect him as a returner, which is likely one of the reasons the Bears used Eric Weems for one return.

Given that Bennett can be just as productive on offense as Hester, the team might need to put off the “Hester Package” a week and give Bennett the opportunity to pick up the slack offensively in Jeffery’s absence.

Bears quarterback Jay Cutler talks to John Jurkovic and Marc Silverman about the offense's slow start each week and whether his chemistry with Brandon Marshall is where he expected it to be.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- It seemed like a foregone conclusion the Chicago Bears would find success on the ground against the 30th-rated rushing defense in the NFL.

But while Matt Forte topped the 100-yard rushing mark (107) for the first time this season, the true star of the offense in the Bears' 41-3 victory was wide receiver Brandon Marshall, who made tough catch after tough catch when the game was competitive in the first half and early third quarter.

Marshall torched the Jaguars' defense to the tune of 12 catches for 144 yards and one touchdown, his third 100-yard receiving game since he joined the Bears.

However, in the postgame interview room Marshall praised the Jaguars secondary for playing him tough.

"Hats off to (Jacksonville cornerback) No. 21 (Derek) Cox, I played against him last year in the preseason," Marshall said. "He honestly beat me in the first half. The first half, he won that, and really humbled me. I was on the sidelines talking to myself, like, 'Man, these guys get paid, too', just to talk myself into me not winning. There's a lot of things I can improve on, be more consistent. There were a couple of times I was out of position on a few routes, a few plays. So I have to be more consistent with my play."

The Pro Bowl wideout is on pace to have a blistering 112 receptions for 1,587 yards, which would shatter the Bears' all-time marks held by Marty Booker (100 catches in 2001) and Marcus Robinson (1,400 receiving yards in 1999). If Marshall had started his career in Chicago, he would already be the most accomplished receiver in franchise history based on his production at previous stops Denver and Miami, even though Marshall is still only 28 years old.

"I haven't thought about it," Marshall said. "It's always an honor to have the opportunity, that platform to have that chance. But it's all about winning. If we continue to win we're all going to be special and we're all going to go down in the record books."

"That's why we brought him here, to be that guy, that No. 1 wide receiver," Bears quarterback Jay Cutler said. "When he gets a one-on-one (match up) we expect him to win 100 percent of the time, hands down. He comes to the sidelines and says, ‘I didn't win,’ I say, ‘Why not?’ He's that guy and he's living up to it."