Williams grabbing Bear spot, but barely

Bear coach Mike Ditka is still looking for something fromthird-round rookie wide receiver David Williams before he commits tokeeping him this season.

"Maybe just an all-out, go-for-broke attitude," Ditka saidyesterday.

If Williams doesn't survive the final roster cut to 45 Monday,it will be a bigger shock than any of the trims the Bears made toreach 50. They haven't given up on a third-round rookie before theseason in recent memory.

To reach 50, the Bears waived wide receiver Clay Pickering,punter John Teltschik and second-year cornerback Ken Taylor, whomthey'll pay until his knee injury heals. They also put guard StefanHumphries on injured reserve for the third time in his three seasons.

Ditka sounded more excited about Pickering's promise than thatof Williams. He said the Bears might call back Pickering, who joinedthem a week ago after Cincinnati cut him.

Last week, Ditka talked about keeping five wide receivers andDennis Gentry, a halfback who's working at wideout. But for thatluxury, he would have to trim below 20 defensive players, a sacrificehe no longer sounds inclined to make.

"I really hope not," Ditka said.

Ken Margerum and Keith Ortego seem to have solidified theirpositions behind Willie Gault. The other wide receivers are rookiesWilliams and Lew Barnes, the fifth-round punt returner Ditka saidhe's "wishing and hoping" to find room for.

"I think David is more of a polished player," Ditka said. "He'scome out of a good system at Illinois and he's caught a lot of balls. Looking better

"I've got to see a guy that's really working all the time.

"Not that he's not working. The kid's been sick. I take thatinto consideration. He caught the ball and ran better today. That'swhat I have to see - something that's going to trigger in my mindthat four or five weeks from now, I'm going to see exactly what Iwant."

The Bears were hoping for a quicker impact from Williams. Theydrafted him and Barnes, claimed Pickering on waivers and made untoldtrade attempts for wide receivers because starter Dennis McKinnon'sknee surgeon pronounced him out for the season.

"I really feel we can get by with what we have," general managerJerry Vainisi said. "But we set out to improve ourselves at thatposition, and I don't think we did."

Ditka was less pessimistic, pointing to the wide receivers' fourpre-season touchdown catches.

"Our wide receivers haven't been disappointing me," he said. "Atleast we're getting scoring. That's what we're looking for."

The problem in trying to trade has been the Bears are lookingfor more than just depth, Vainisi said. "We're looking for afront-line guy. There are clubs that might have two or three realgood ones and are offering their fourth or fifth guy, but we've gota bunch of those."

The trade attempts yesterday were to unload players, not acquiremore. The Bears wanted to get something for Teltschik, a ninth-roundrookie, and free a spot for another week's look at Pickering.

"All we're asking for is `if' deals," Ditka said. "If they play,fine, you owe us something. If they don't, you don't."

They'll be doing the same thing until Monday, Ditka said. "Ithink (the remaining 50 players) can play."

But teams are reluctant to trade because waived players arevirtually free. Besides, they have their own cutdown problems,especially those with former USFL players who signed in the last twoweeks.

Ditka and personnel director Bill Tobin both expected Teltschikto wind up somewhere in the NFL. Ditka said he probably wouldn'teven clear waivers past the NFC teams, which have the first crack athim. Tried trades

The Bears tried to trade him to Seattle, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati,Dallas and perhaps Philadelphia and Green Bay. "Some of those teams,we don't talk to a lot," Ditka said, apparently of the last two.

"I didn't beat him out," Teltschik said of veteran Maury Buford,whose pre-season average was 43.6 yards to Teltschik's 42.4. Ditka said the difference wasconsistency.

"I didn't get much sleep last night," Teltschik said. "They saybeing a punter in the NFL's the easiest job in the world, but I don'tknow. Days like today, I'd have to disagree with it."

Ditka said he wanted "very badly" to keep Pickering at leastanother week. "I think the kid is legit," he said. But injuries atother positions, especially defensive backfield, made Pickering themost expendable. Safety in numbers

So eighth-round safety Maurice Douglass stayed. He has had agood camp, but seven DBs are ahead of him and it's hard to keepeight.

Even with seven defensive backs and 13 at the line andlinebacker, the Bears need to cut or trade another defensive player.The non-starters are linebackers Dan Rains, Jim Morrissey, Ron Riveraand Al Harris, and linemen Henry Waechter, Mike Hartenstine andTyrone Keys.

If they keep 20 defensive players, the Bears have three too manyon offense. One of them is probably Tom Andrews or Larry Rubens, thebackup centers. That leaves Williams, Barnes and tight end PatDunsmore probably fighting for one job, two at the most.