Speedy Harris having MVP-like season for Bears

	Tommie Harris is tied for the NFL lead with five sacks. John Biever/SI

Here's a fall day from central casting in the suburbs north of Chicago: Blue sky dotted with dark gray clouds, low-angled sunshine throwing long shadows across the Bears' practice fields outside Halas Hall, and a cold breeze slicing across the flat landscape. You describe this stuff and it sounds like you're making it up to fit some novelist's vision of an autumn day in the Midwest. But there it is.

Practice is finished and most of the Bears have left the field. I am standing and talking about the team's new-look offense with veteran wideout Muhsin Muhammad, when defensive tackle Tommie Harris and wideout Justin Gage wander past. "You gonna stand there talkin' or you comin' with us," Harris shouts at Muhammad. He rolls his eyes and then says, "Excuse me for a minute."

Harris and Gage take places along the goalline, looking very much like they are about to race each other in a sprint. Muhammad stands at the 20-yard-line, looking very much like he is going to judge the outcome of this race.

Jim Christman, the Bears' media services manager, surveys the scene and says, dryly, "That's Tommie Harris getting ready to race a wideout." The image is more arresting than the words: Harris is 6-foot-3, 290 pounds, a human bowling ball of athleticism and power. Gage is 6-4, 212 pounds, with long, sinewy legs. It looks like 100-meter record holder Asafa Powell lined up against Shaq.

Hold that image in your mind. Now think about this: The NFL regular season is roughly one-quarter finished. That's too soon for sweeping judgments but not too soon to identify trends and front-runners. So here's the question: Has there been a better player in the league thus far than Harris?

And if so, who? Peyton Manning is the default answer on all MVP questions. Donovan McNabb has been brilliant. Even Harris' own quarterback, Rex Grossman, has been terrific. Is Harris even the best defensive player in the league, better than Shawne Merriman of the Chargers or the rejuvenated Ray Lewis of the Ravens? What about Bears' middle linebacker Brian Urlacher, the reigning defensive player of the year in the NFL?

"I'd be happy to give it to Tommie," Urlacher said this week.

"Never mind defensive player of the year," said Bears' defensive end Alex Brown. "If teams don't start doing something with Tommie, he's going to be the whole player of the year."