The big news during the first-half of the first week of practice was the return of Charles Tillman. We’re still not sure how much (if at all) Peanut will play against the Packers. For a guy who hasn’t suited up in full pads in 8 months, the weight of the defensive backfield should not fall solely on Tillman’s surgically repaired shoulder and back.

But there’s a bigger question mark hanging over the Bear’s defensive huddle this week. And it has more to do with the big boys up front than it does with the injury-riddled secondary:

Can the Bears front 4 (or 7 if you include the LBs) generate enough pressure to disrupt the Packers’ passing game?

There’s no doubting a DB’s best friend is a strong push up front. So the Bears D-linemen must bring consistent pressure, but that doesn’t mean it has to be solely in the form of sacks. They can disrupt the Packers timing on offense through knockdowns, getting hands in Rodgers’ face, or even tipping his passes at the line. Sure, some consistent edge pressure from Brown, Ogunleye and Anderson would be nice. But Israel Idonije getting his freakishly long arms up at the line of scrimmage to bat a pass or two could lead to a game-changing pick-six.

The Packers are going to spread the Bears out with 3 or 4 WR sets. That’s going to leave one or two less men to defend the push of the Bears front 4, or 7 when we bring heat from the LBs. Aaron Rodgers is going to take a lot of 3-5 step drops to quickly get the ball into his talented WR corps’ hands. A strong push up front coupled with some well timed blitzes from our LBs and DBs (Graham or Manning on the outside) will make for an interesting chess match.

I’ll admit, it’ll be interesting to see which DBs Lovie and staff line up at the start of the game. But don’t overlook who’s winning the battle of the big uglies up front.