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Bears injuries got you frazzled? Ex-Bear says: ‘Calm down. This is a growing process.’

Editor’s note: Each week during the NFL season, former Bears defensive lineman Alex Brown shares his football wisdom with RedEye. Responses have been edited for length and clarity.

The Bears (2-9) host San Francisco (1-10) at noon Sunday on Fox.

So Jay Cutler’s officially done for the year, just like Brian Hoyer’s season ended weeks ago. Which means the Bears are essentially all in on quarterback Matt Barkley.

We already know how former Bears defensive lineman Alex Brown feels about Cutler’s effectiveness. This week, he evaluates how far Barkley has come, what all the Bears injuries really mean and how long it will be before the franchise gets up off the mat.

On his confidence in Barkley after last week’s three-touchdown performance.

He looked a heck of a lot better than he did when he came in when Hoyer got hurt, so that was promising. But I’m not going to go crazy and go out and say, “Well, he’s the next [great QB].” We’ll see if he can put together back-to-back games. I don’t think the receivers can drop more passes [than they did last week]. So I fully expect him to go out and play better because the team they’re playing isn’t good at all either.

On what concerns him about playing against San Francisco.

You see different sides of San Francisco. You see where they go and take [David] Johnson, the running back from Arizona, and they shut him down to just over 50 yards rushing. But then you see other times where other teams just gash them in the run game. If they’re able to shut down [the Bears’] Jordan Howard, then [Barkley will] have all the opportunity in the world to make plays against a very poor secondary. And I think he’ll have to because [49ers quarterback] Colin Kaepernick is putting up points.

On the importance of depth in the NFL.

In my first year, 2002, we started the season 2-0. Then we lost eight in a row and had a ton of people go on IR [injured reserve]. It was a very, very tough year. I’ve been on that side in seeing a team get decimated by injuries, and then I’ve witnessed a team get decimated by injuries but because of the backups they have, they were still able to go on and win the Super Bowl in the Green Bay Packers [in 2011].

The depth on your team plays a key role. Most of the time to win a Super Bowl you have to be injury-free. The year we went to the Super Bowl we had key guys go out. [Safety] Mike Brown, [defensive lineman] Tommie Harris. With the depth that we had, we were still able to get there.

On how fans should view the litany of Bears injuries.

What I say to all the fans is, did you really think the Bears were going to win the Super Bowl this year? So relax a little bit. Calm down. This is a growing process. You didn’t think they were going to win the Super Bowl before the injuries. Why are you so shocked that they’re so bad with all the injuries?

This is a great opportunity for young guys to play and show what they can do. You have those players who sit on the bench and say, “I can do this, I can do that.” All of the sudden the coach looks at you and says, “Let’s go.” And now all of the sudden you’ve got that nervous look on your face. Well, what the hell are you nervous for? You’ve been asking for this, and now here it is, and now you’re nervous? There’s no room for being nervous then if that’s what you’re asking for. Go do exactly what you envisioned when you were sitting at the end of the bench. And if not, then sit at the end of the bench and shut up.

On what made him nervous during his NFL career.

I was nervous before every game. You got the butterflies, you don’t want to fail. But after those first couple plays that goes away, and now it’s just football. If you make a mistake, you make it at 100 miles an hour and you move on. If you make a great play, you move on. If you treat it that way, I don’t think you get caught up in anything.

On what can be learned these last five games of the Bears’ season.

I don’t think players give up. I think they play hard. They undersrtand that this is their job, this is their life. Right now the ones that are nervous are the ones that are hurt and their backup is doing well. Being hurt gives your backup a chance to show what he can do. And if what he can do is pretty close to what you’re doing and he’s getting paid a fraction of what you’re getting paid, then you’re in jeopardy.

It is hard to go out and play when you’re not winning. When things aren’t going so right, that’s when you find out what’s really behind each and every player, what’s deep inside of them, things you can’t measure at the combine. We’re seeing the guys that go out and play 100 percent every day and they learn; they don’t make the same mistakes over and over because this is what they love doing. They know they want to be a part of the change that happens, because it’s gonna change. It doesn’t take a long time for it to change, but it takes a different attitude and then a little luck keeping guys healthy.

On how long it will take the Bears to be competitive in the NFC North.

It’s not gonna be 10 years from now, it’s gonna be a couple. Two, three years, and I’m not saying we’re going to win the Super Bowl, but we’ll compete for the division, and that’s first and foremost when you’re coming into the season because that’s the easiest way to get into the playoffs.

Catch Alex Brown before and after every Bears game exclusively on CSN Chicago’s “Bears Pregame Live” and “Bears Postgame Live.”

@redeyesportschi | chsosa@redeyechicago.com