Marion

Barber

He was found deceased in his apartment by Frisco police. The cause of Barber’s death is currently unknown. The former No. 109 overall pick of the 2005 draft by the Cowboys out of Minnesota, Barber spent his first six seasons with Dallas and made the Pro Bowl in 2007. He spent his final season with the Bears in 2011 and then retired. Barber was set to turn 39 years old in nine days. He’d battled some mental-health issues post-retirement. Our thoughts are with Barber’s family and loved ones.

He’s been fumbling a lot lately. Coach Parcells is notorious for being tough on young running backs. It took an injury for Julius Jones to ''get it’’ last season.

It’s just the preseason, but he showed much more explosion than Julius Jones, who had the same amount of touches and finished with 29 yards.

Barber will see the ball more depending on the game, but any hope owners had for Barber to seriously challenge Julius Jones for carries should be put to rest for now. Jones had 17 carries.

We finally have an update on his status. “Marion Barber is getting better,” said Lovie Smith. “We should know a little bit more tomorrow.” Barber is tentatively expected to miss Sunday’s game against the Falcons, perhaps leaving Matt Forte to handle goal-line work.

If Barber can make it through a week of practice without a setback in his left calf, he’ll likely be active against the Saints Sunday. Barber’s main role will be goal-line and short-yardage situations, somewhere the Bears continued to struggle in Week 1 as they converted 1-of-3 red-zone chances.

Barber remains questionable for Week 2, although he’s slowly getting better. It’s unclear if he’ll have a normal role at New Orleans if he’s not quite 100 percent. Barber could be a drain on Matt Forte at the goal line this year.

Barber practiced in full on Friday, so he likely had a small setback during the last two days. He’s no more than a handcuff with Matt Forte the clear No. 1 back (and player for that matter) in Chicago.

Barber turned in a full practice week and will probably move into the No. 2 back role, ahead of Kahlil Bell. Matt Forte remains locked in as the Bears’ feature back. The team’s plans for Barber are unclear after three missed games.

The Bears didn’t get closer than the 9-yard line of Detroit, so there were no goal-line carries for Barber to have. He’s clearly no threat to Matt Forte’s every-down role, and even if Forte went down we doubt Barber could sustain a full workload. There are better players to target instead of owning Barber as a handcuff.