Expect a lot of scoring tonight -- the 49ers' defense ranks 24th against the pass, and the Bears have been very susceptible vs. the run (No. 21 in the league, seven rushing TDs allowed).

START

Bears: QB Jay Cutler, RB Matt Forte, WR Devin Hester, TE Greg Olsen, K Robbie Gould

49ers: RB Frank Gore, WR Michael Crabtree, TE Vernon Davis, K Joe Nedney

Quick slants: Forte has been disappointing, but there is hope. The consensus top-five fantasy pick has rushed for 123 yards and two touchdowns and caught eight passes for 105 yards in his last two games. He has posted more than 100 total yards in back-to-back games for only the second time all season. ... Hester has 27 catches for 359 yards and a TD in his last four games. In that span, he's had at least six receptions and 81 yards in each contest. ... Cutler is coming off his best fantasy day as a Bear, a 369-yard, three-TD effort against the Cardinals. ... Olsen had only 10 catches for 94 yards and two scores in his first four games, but has 17 catches, 192 yards and four TDs in his last four. He matched his TD total for the season by scoring three times last week. ... Gore has erased any worries about his ankle injury in the last two games, during which he's rushed 28 times for 174 yards (6.2) and two TDs, and caught 12 passes for 118 yards. ... Look for Crabtree to score his first NFL touchdown against a beat-up Bears secondary. ... Davis, who has been one of this year's best draft-day bargains, has 35 receptions and seven TDs in his last six games.

SIT

Bears: WR Earl Bennett, WR Johnny Knox, defense and special teams

49ers: QB Alex Smith, WR Josh Morgan, WR Isaac Bruce, defense and special teams

Quick slants: Bennett is worth a look only in deep PPR leagues. He had seven catches for 93 yards last week, but has yet to reach the end zone. ... Knox, who had three TDs in Chicago's first five games, has only 116 yards and zero TDs in the last three games. ... Smith could be useful in deeper leagues. He's thrown for 690 yards and six scores, with five interceptions, in three games.

Beanie Wells, like Rashard Mendenhall before him, might be one who got away -- a running back you released because he wasn't producing and you needed the roster space due to bye-week restrictions.

But if you had Week 7 in your When Will A Healthy (For Now) Beanie Show Signs Of Life, Ticking Owner X Off In the Process office pool (what, you don't have one?), you, like the guy who selected Ray Rice in the sixth round, followed by Ben Roethlisberger in the seventh, are a winner.

In his last two games, Wells has 30 touches (26 rushes and four receptions) -- six more than his total for the Cardinals' first four games. The former Buckeye had 14 carries for 67 yards last week -- to starter Tim Hightower's 4-for-9 effort. Coach Ken Whisenhunt said the latter is still his starter, but with a two-year average of 2.9 yards per carry and a season total of 167 yards rushing, you have to figure the job will be Wells' soon.

Wells should be considered a low-end No. 2 running back this week, since six teams are on a bye and the Cardinals will play host to the Panthers, who rank 26th against the run. Even better: Arizona's next five opponents are Carolina, Chicago (No. 18 vs. the run), Seattle (No. 14), St. Louis (No. 27) and Tennessee (No. 9). The five teams have allowed a combined 33 rushing touchdowns in 31 games.

Hightower, who has 31 catches for 239 yards, is only an asset in point-per-reception leagues. Soon, he might not be anything more than a No. 4 fantasy back.

Marching to a familiar beat: Another team with a favorable upcoming schedule and a confusing running-back situation is the undefeated Saints, who are so prolific and so generous the only fantasy givens are quarterback Drew Brees and receiver Marques Colston.

In the last two weeks, running back Mike Bell has 27 carries for 114 yards and a touchdown, including a 12-for-80 effort last week. Pierre Thomas -- who ran for 212 yards and three touchdowns in Weeks 3 and 4, when Bell was out because of a knee injury -- has 23 carries for 102 yards in that two-game span. Then there's Reggie Bush, who no longer gets more than seven or eight touches per contest, but has scored a TD in each of his last two games.

Since the Saints are averaging 427.3 total yards and 39.7 points per game, I'd expect them to stick with what works, which is dividing the majority of the carries between Bell and Thomas, with Bush getting a handful, along with a few catches.

All of which makes Bell and Thomas no better than a No. 3 running back, but the pair will be enticing the next four weeks, when New Orleans faces Atlanta (No. 19 vs. the run), Carolina (No. 26), St. Louis (No. 27) and Tampa Bay (No. 29). Both can be considered low-end No. 2 backs if bye weeks have wreaked their usual havoc on your roster.

LeChange in Philly: Brian Westbrook missed practiced again Thursday, and it seems more and more likely the Eagles running back will sit out Sunday's game against the Giants, who, surprisingly, have allowed more rushing touchdowns (10) than all but the Raiders and Rams this season. If Westbrook sits, rookie LeSean McCoy can be counted on to be a No. 2 back, especially in PPR leagues. When Westbrook missed the Eagles' 34-14 win over the Chiefs in Week 3, McCoy had 20 carries for 84 yards and a touchdown.

Start 'em

-- Sidney Rice, not Bernard Berrian or Percy Harvin, is the Vikings' most productive receiver. He has 33 catches for 545 yards and two TDs in seven games, and 16 catches for 312 yards in his last two. He should now be considered an every-week regular.

-- No longer just a return specialist (sorry, Josh Cribbs), the Bears' Devin Hester has 14 catches for 184 yards and a TD in his last two games. Up this week: the Browns, who rank 28th vs. the pass and No. 32 overall.

Sit 'em

-- Braylon Edwards is back to his old tricks in his new home. Aftter a productive first game with the Jets (a five-catch, 64-yard, one-TD performance at Miami on "Monday Night Football"), the former Browns wideout has four receptions for 54 yards and zero TDs the last two weeks. I can only come up with two reasons to play him this week: the opponent again is Miami, and with six teams off, you probably have to start the butterfingered one.

-- Terrell Owens has been even more quiet on the fantasy front than in the throwing-his-quarterback-under-the-bus department this season. In his first season with the Bills, T.O. has yet to have more than 60 yards receiving in a game, he has one TD all season and none in his last five contests. Has he lost a step? Should he be blasting Ryan Fitzpatrick? Whatever the answer, Owens is a No. 3 receiver only in weeks in which byes are a factor.

Drop 'em

If you need the roster space, it's time to bid adieu to Browns running back Jamal Lewis (zero touchdowns, only one game with more than 57 rushing yards), Jets tight end Dustin Keller (three catches for 42 yards in his last three games), Cowboys running back Tashard Choice (who's not a factor in Dallas' backfield as long as both Marion Barber and Felix Jones are healthy) and Dolphins receiver Ted Ginn Jr. (five catches for 77 yards and a TD in his last four games).

On deck: Saturday, we'll look at the projected impact of a pair of young running backs who will now play prominent roles -- the Jets' Shonn Greene and the Chiefs' Jamaal Charles. The weekly column for the print editions will be posted on the Sports section of the News-Herald's Web site, and the link will also include our weekly audiocast. Saturday, we'll also have the "big blog," with start-and-sit advice, injury updates and an expanded playlist. That will be published in this space and on the N-H's Sports site.

We interrupt the non-stop baseball portion of this blog to address the non-stop soap opera of the NFL offseason.

Jay Cutler finally has a new home, and it's one almost none of saw coming.

The Broncos traded the 25-year-old Pro Bowl quarterback to the Bears on Thursday, getting two first-round picks, a third-round pick and Kyle Orton for Cutler and a fifth-round selection in this month's NFL draft.

Instead of Cutler in Cleveland, Tampa, New York or any other rumored destination, the strong-armed, seemingly thin-skinned QB is in the Windy City, forced to contemplate life with Devin Hester and Rashied Davis and his top wide receivers.

Rookie Broncos coach Josh McDaniels' reputation has taken a hit during this juvenile, back-and-forth, text-message-filled drama, but maybe not as big of a blow as the one Cutler's fantasy value just endured.

In January, I ranked Cutler third in a list of the top keeper-league candidates at quarterback, trailing only Peyton Manning and Drew Brees. Four months from now, fantasy owners will be considering whether to spend an early draft pick on a QB whose top receivers -- at the moment -- are a running back (Matt Forte), tight end (Greg Olsen) and Pro Bowl kick returner (Devin Hester, who led all Bears with 665 receiving yards last season).

Heading into next season, Cutler has to drop behind Philip Rivers, Aaron Rodgers, Tony Romo, a seemingly healthy Tom Brady and a re-signed Kurt Warner, and don't be surprised if many owners prefer Matt Ryan, Matt Cassel (the guy who inadvertently started this whole mess because of McDaniels' preference of coaching him in New England), Donovan McNabb and even Ben Roethlisberger over Cutler.

Instead of Brandon Marshall and Eddie Royal, Cutler is faced with a depth chart of Hester, Davis (35 catches for 445 yards and two TDs last season) and Vanderbilt product Earl Bennett (zero catches as a rookie in 2008) as his top three wide receivers. He does have a solid tight end in Olsen (54 receptions for 574 yards and five TDs last season) and a stud running back (Forte) who is a very good receiver (a team-high 63 grabs in 2008).

Conservatively, Cutler's new home plummets him from No. 3 at QB to No. 9 entering next season. The list starts with Manning, Brees, Rivers, Warner and Rodgers, and Brady, Romo and Ryan should also surpass Cutler. If you prefer McNabb or Cassel, the case could be made that Cutler has dropped from an upper-echelon fantasy QB to a low-end No. 1, and possibly a No. 2 in 10-team leagues.

The biggest beneficiaries of this deal figure to be Hester (who could score double-digit touchdowns next season with the strong-armed Cutler throwing to him), Forte (who might find more running room) and, yes, Orton.

The latter has been a punching bag for many during his career in Chicago, but he was pretty effective for much of last season, when he threw for 2,979 yards and 18 touchdowns, with 12 interceptions and three TDs on the ground. The bearded one now goes to a franchise with a young, gifted offensive mind calling the shots, and two young, productive receivers in Marshall and Royal.

Could Orton be a better fantasy option than Cutler next season? Will that be one of the crazier, ironic subplots of 2009?

I wouldn't rule it out. But I would rule out taking Cutler in the first few rounds next August.

He got his wish. And it's one he might be second-guessing sometime this fall.