(Written by kencraw)

It was the worst of times, it was the best of times… or is it the other way around?

2007 was definitely a season that toyed with the hearts of all Bear fans. It’s been 10 months since last season began and it feels like 3 years have past since Tennessee came to town. So to set the scene here’s a recap of where we were just before the 2007 season began.

The 2006 season had been a meaningful redemption from the 2005 season. Nevertheless there was a bit of a bad taste in the mouth of Bear fans because they were denied a Rose Bowl beth yet again. Unlike 2004, in 2006 it was the short-comings of the teams itself that had held the Bears out of the Rose Bowl. Their collapse against Arizona left them one victory short of what is needed to get an at large berth to a BCS game and their subsequent loss to USC left them a tie-breaker short of winning the Pac-10 outright and the associated prize of a Rose Bowl. Nevertheless a 10-3 season doesn’t come along every day.

The big loss in the off-season was junior Marshawn Lynch who decided that the NFL was the best choice for him. It was the 2nd year in a row that the Bears had lost a Junior to the draft and nobody was a bit surprised. With the exception of Lynch, almost the entire offense was coming back. With Justin Forsett returning at tailback, a player who had filled in admirably when Marshawn was injured during the previous two seasons, everyone expected 2007 to be a banner year offensively. The list of offensive talent was remarkable:

Nate Longshore was coming off his breakout season in 2006. His generally mistake-free play coupled with his good decision making skills and good touch on long passes made him the Pac-10’s most impressive quarterback coming into 2007. The trio of receivers Longshore had to throw to were also remarkable and probably the best trio in the nation. With DeSean Jackson’s amazing speed and fluid route running coupled with Lavelle Hawkins ability to pull-down the tough passes over the middle it was easy to forget just how good Robert Jordan was if it wasn’t for his record setting consecutive games with a catch record. Add in stud Craig Stevens at tight-end and Justin Forsett at tailback and this was an extremely talented offense at the skill positions. Not to be forgotten was the experienced offensive line that was anchored by Alex Mack that was 2nd only to the 2005 team in its promise of keeping Longshore grass-stain free and give Forsett the holes he needed to explode into the secondary.

If there was a weakness coming into 2007 it was the defense. All-American corner Damien Hughes was off to the NFL after graduation as was Desmond Bishop and Brandon Mebane. Cal would need SydQuan Thompson to continue his strong play late in 2006 as well as have Brandon Hampton smoothly make the transition from safety to cornerback. They would also need Worrell Williams to fill Bishop’s shoes and for Zack Follet to find the consistency he needed to live up to his promise as an outside linebacker. Finally the Bears would need to rebuild it’s defensive line. With a number of candidates to fill the holes left behind including former military man Rulon Davis there was a great deal of hope that this too could be done.

If the Bears could at least play respectably on defense, and it seemed it had enough tools to pull that off, the offense should be able to lift the Bears to glory. Particularly with USC looking vulnerable yet again in 2007, it seemed that the Bears had the potential to make another run at the Pac-10 title and that elusive Rose Bowl. Adding to the anticipation, Bear fans would find out just how realistic those asperations from Day 1 when Tennessee, the team that had destroyed the Bears in Knoxville the previous year, came to Berkeley to open the season. Tune in tomorrow to see my analysis on Tennessee.