Marion Barber is a bruising runner who had his best seasons for the Cowboys when he was the backup and a fourth-quarter finisher.
After six seasons in the Big D, he finally wore out his welcome as the Cowboys drafted DeMarco Murray to go along with Felix Jones and Tashard Choice.
So Barber signed a free agent deal with the Chicago Bears, whose offensive coordinator doesn't know what a running back is unless he can catch passes out of the backfield like new Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk.
Mike Martz, the pioneer of the "Greatest Show on Turf" St. Louis Rams teams from the late 1990s and early 2000s, is now running the offense in Chicago and said he's been encouraged by Barber's practices in recent days after an expected rough start.
"He is who we thought he was really,” Martz said. “The system is really different from what he is used to. The protections are really different and the runs are a little bit different. He’s getting used to it. The first few days he was a little tentative, but he’s gotten past that now. The last couple of practices he’s really made progress."
