Riddle me this. When is it not the pro football season? When the Broncos dump another 1,000-yard running back.

This time, it is the teacher's pet, Tatum Bell, just never quite what Mike Shanahan imagined him to be.

No one falls faster than a Shanahan favorite out of favor.

A Denver running back has the longevity of a fruit fly. Make no plans past lunch. Lead the team in rushing and fill out a change of address card.

Bell joins a substantial list, from Clinton Portis to Olandis Gary to Mike Anderson to Reuben Droughns.

Other teams give their leading rushers a pat on the back and smile. The Broncos pass out a blindfold and a cigarette.

Shanahan ought to just rename the position intern, or, more exactly, collateral.

The same sentiment cannot be applied to George Foster, the large right tackle who was given nearly as many chances to keep his starting job as was Bell, but possibly the fate of the pair of them is more linked than not.

Had Foster blocked better, Bell might have run better, if not fumbled less, and now the two of them can do the same for Detroit, the gulag of the NFL.

That is an additional penalty that comes with disappointing Shanahan, exile to misery.

The Broncos got rid of what they no longer wanted for something they sadly needed, a replacement for Darrent Williams, and what they got is probably better, a Pro Bowler named Dré Bly, apostrophe optional.

Donald Andre Bly was as unhappy with the Lions as were the Broncos with Bell and with Foster, so this works out for all concerned, except that the Broncos are emptier than usual at running back and Foster, for all his inconsistency, was at least wide.

Filling either hole will require more than spackling.

Optimism must come with mud flaps. This is not the kind of deal that brought Champ Bailey, not on either end. It will not be weighed and picked at for years.

Bell is more flawed than was Portis, more than Anderson and Droughns, in fact, and Bly is several Pro Bowls behind Bailey.

But to put the deal on a scale, it surely must tip toward Detroit, if only in numbers, three to two, including draft choices.

And now the Broncos are down to three recognizable running backs, recognizing Cecil Sapp as one of them. Making free agent Mike Bell or afterthought Cedric Cobbs into the next Broncos 1,000-yard rusher is going to take considerable sleight of hand and a second set of books.

Bly matched beside Bailey does appeal to lovers of mittens and bookends, a matched set with Dominique Foxworth relieved of the inevitable attention the cornerback opposite Bailey attracts.

Williams welcomed it, held up pretty well usually, failed occasionally, but Bly seems to demand it, wants to be a target, would rather smack than shadow, part of his unhappiness with the Lions, that and the fact that they are hopeless.

The Lions allowed Bly to look for where he might be better loved, so it is prudent to be suspicious of someone who wants to be part of the past rather than part of the solution.

Bly gave the Lions four years, having left the St. Louis Rams wearing a Super Bowl ring. Now he leaves the Lions wearing a scowl.

His situation is not that dissimilar to John Lynch, who saw the writing on Tampa Bay's wall, nor even that of Javon Walker, anxious to avoid further duty in Green Bay. Bailey, less antsy, came in a value for quality trade, and throw in all those Cleveland defensive linemen, and the Broncos look like a flea market of used shirts.

More to the point, there is much more work to be done.

It is assumed that Shanahan has a plan for rebuilding the Broncos, that this is merely the beginning, that what's ahead is more than merely rearranging the lawn chairs.

Another wide receiver is essential, special teams remain mediocre, a kick returner must emerge, the defensive line is confirming what Cleveland knew all along and the whole bundle has to be tied into an efficient weapon.

Getting Bly is a positive move, fixing a need, but there remains not only the imperfect offensive line, now one body less, the unclear running game, as muddled as it has ever been, but the most glaring uncertainty remains at quarterback, where Jay Cutler is still in rehearsal and no reliable backup is in place.

Just as giving up on Jake Plummer created more immediate problems than it solved, so may dissatisfaction with the once promising Bell lead the Broncos long way round.

Not that it isn't Bell's fault.

lincicomeb@RockyMountainNews.com

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