Making sense of the secondary

The currently muddled situation in the secondary is one of those cases where I don’t blame Lovie Smith and the Bears for being secretive about the status of injured players.

Let the Packers’ offense think it will be facing cornerbacks Trumaine McBride and Nate Vasher. But then, just before game time, decide that, you know what, Charles Tillman and Zack Bowman really are healthy enough to get it on with Green Bay wide receivers Greg Jennings and Donald Driver.

Tillman is unquestionably the Bears’ best corner, but it might be risky to toss him into the fray following just one week of practice after his mid-June back surgery. Based on Bowman’s performance before his hamstring injury in training camp, he was the best corner on the practice field.

If and when Tillman and Bowman are ready for action, they should be the starters.

Inside, it appears that Danieal Manning has not regained the off-season form that earned him the starting job at free safety, which he lost during training camp because of a hamstring injury. It seems he might play nickel back against the Packers, which he did in the final preseason game. But he may not have regained enough of the coaches’ confidence to be in the starting lineup. The Bears will probably spend the majority of time on defense in nickel anyway.

That would leave strong safety Kevin Payne staying at free safety, where he’s been since the start of the preseason, with rookie sixth-round pick Al Afalava taking over at strong safety, where he started in all four preseason games. Afalava has been on the fast track since Day One of training camp, but it might be asking a bit much for him to start on opening day.

The wild card in this whole mess? Corey Graham, who has been jerked around from starting cornerback last season (when Vasher was hurt) to safety in the off-season, back to cornerback after Tillman’s surgery, and more recently to nickel back, when Manning was injured.