The 2007 season for the Chicago Bears was a failure. Nobody can really debate that.... but Bear coaches and management sure as hell are trying. The Lovie Smith cliches were in abundance last season, and the offseason has been no different. "We are close," "We finished the season strong," "We are a running football team" and "Rex is our Quarterback."(At least thats what they told Brandon Lloyd, who in just his first day gave a Greise-esque performance.) The sad thing is just how short-sighted and diluted those statements are. "We are close." To what exactly? The bottom of the North. Oh wait, we are already there. The Bears are close to being a professional football team, which is one thing they were not last year. From the Greise "I called the plays...... oh, and Ront Turner helped a bit too" debacle to the "Mark Bradley is our #1 receiver" claim, the Bears have done and said a lot of dumb and confusing things.
"We finished the season strong." What a consolation prize, winning a game against a bad Saints team and a Packers crew that would have allowed the Bears to score just to get back to the sideline heaters. And Lovie, i though the Bears season was broken up into quarters, not eighths? The Bears finished 2-2 in the final quarter, so they didn't finish all too strong after all.
"We are a running football team." Thats the sad part.not only were the Bears awful running the ball, they bragged about it. In the last few months the running game has taken some huge hits overall. Cedric Benson has had surgery, Adrian Peterson has shown he is nowhere near a #1 back and Garrett Wolfe has shown he is no more then a screen play here or there, an extremely poor man's version of Leon Washington. The Bears haven't brought in a free agent tailback either. The offensive line, which was bad last year, is now bad and incomplete after releasing Fred Miller and not resigning Ruben Brown. Olin Kreutz is still very good and John Tate and Roberto Garza are also decent, but the line needs some real help.
"Rex is our Quarterback." I really am not all that upset with Bears resigning of Grossman, but they still need an upgrade at this position. Still, he was th best guy readily available and the best option for a team that needs a guy to keep the seat warm. What irks me is that Angelo and Lovie keep telling us that there is an open competition and Rex will have to fight off Orton to win the job. The recent communication breakdown with Brandon Lloyd really says it all. The Bears are habitual liars and either they believe that their fans are idiots or they just don't care about the fans. As far as the open competition goes, anybody that has watched Rex play in training camp knows he will win the job. He is great without a real defense going against him, but is not really good real-game QB. Barring any complications, Rex will win the job.
Now that i have finished venting, what have the bears done in the offseason? Really, not much of anything. On offense, they have let Bernard Berrian and Muhsin Muhammad leave, and if the recent rumors are true, Rashied Davis will them out the door. Rex was resigned and Marty Booker and Brandon Lloyd were brought in. Overall, they lost their #1 and #2 guys, but Berrian is more of a #2 at this point and Moose is a #3. They replaced them with a younger, better player then Moose and a perennial underachiever in Lloyd. If Hester develops a bit more and Mark Bradley takes that ever-elusive next step, the group of receivers will be decent, but the odds of both of those things happening are very remote. Hester is nowhere near the #1 receiver the Bears think he is and Bradley is getting talked up an awful lot after spending most of 2007 in Lovie's doghouse. The Bears haven't added any tailbacks or linemen. On Defense, they haven't done much of anything, which is a bit disappointing. resigning Lance Briggs was a good move, but it doesn't make them better than last year. What will make them better than last is better luck with injuries and the swift cutting of the garbage players that are Ricky Manning Jr. and Adam Archuletta. Archuletta isn't roster material and Trumane McBride is already a better nickleback than Manning.Nathan Vasher, Mike Brown, Dusty Dvoracek, Tommie Harris, Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs all got bit by injuries. Of that group, Harris, Vasher, Urlacher and Briggs should all be expected to play full season next year, albeit with a bit of pain for Brian. Brown is injury prone and Dvoracek is quickly entering injury-prone territory, and while both are good players, they should not be relied on. On Special teams, the Bears lost ace Brendan Ayanbadejo to the Ravens, but he wont set the Bears back all that much.
So what do the Bears need to do in the offseason? The Bears need to address the DT, S, OL, RB and WR positions in the near future, and they also must draft a QB, maybe on day 1. What i think will happen is that the Bears are pretty much done with free agency outside of maybe a minor acquisition or two. I would like to see them grab Kevin Jones on the cheap, and he would immediately be the most talented back on the roster. Grabbing a lineman like Max Starks shouldn't be out of the question either. The group of FA receivers is pretty thin at this point, and as i write this reports are circulating that Bryant Johnson, the best available WR, is signing with the Niners. The Bears need help at all 6 aforementioned spots, and after their wholly unsatisfying free agency work, they will try to do it all via the draft. Expect the Bears to as usual, hit on defense and mostly miss on offense, although for some reason i have a really good feeling about this years draft class. Considering how poor(and mysterious. Anybody even know what Dan Bazuin or Josh Beekman look like?) last year's class was, the Bears absolutely must hit big come April's draft.
Although Lovie Smith said that this past week marked the beginning of the '08 season, I have a feeling that the roster on this year's version of the "'08" team is drasticaly different than the one of the real '08 season will be. In my opinion, the Bears aren't as far from relevance as many think they are. Here is a unit-by-unit, position-by-position breakdown of the Bears, followed with some suggested additions and subtractions.
Defense
Their defense was plagued by injuries this year and aside from safety and possibly outside linebacker, they don't have any problems.
Linebacker- I was getting increasingly worried about the performance of Brian Urlacher with each passing week, but in the last few weeks he showed he can still be a dominant force in this league. The Lance Briggs era at OLB is coming to an end, and it appears that the Bears have no problem with their replacement, Jamar Williams. Whether or not he is an adequate replacement is debatable, but what is not is that if Lance does leave, the Bears will give Jamar the job. Hunter Hillenmeyer is a smart, steady player that makes the most of what he has.
Defensive End- Mark Anderson, who was handed Alex Brown's job in training camp, showed that he is not ready to step in and be a full time defensive end. In the time Alex has had on the field, he has played very good football and has made it clear that come next year, he, not Anderson, needs to be lining up opposite Adewale Ogunleye. Wale, arguably the Bears' MVP this year, has had an excellent season and will only benefit from the return of Brown. Their second round choice this year, Dan Bazuin, hasn't even been seen and is an unknown at this point. If he becomes the player that most of Angelo's middle round picks become, he will only bolster an already strong unit.
Defensive Tackle- Tommie Harris, who has been playing on one leg this year, has showed enough to warrant unwavering confidence in his inabilities. However, his partners at tackle have been disapointing. Dusty Dvoracek was IR'd after just one game, Darwin Walker has been a bust of epic proportions and the Bears have been reduced to playing practice squad guys, who have surprised me with some solid play, considering their shape and that they have been with the team for about two weeks. Anthony Adams played well this year, but he is undersized and was IR'd a few weeks ago. If Dvoracek, Adams and one of the two newcomers can all stay relatively healthy next year, i see no reason as to why the Bears' tackles can't be a top five group.
Cornerback- Not much to say about here. Both Vasher and Tillman are upper echelon cover guys and have both proved to be durable. Vasher has missed a large chunk of this season, but his groin injury is his first significant injury in the league and is most likely the exception, not the rule. Tillman has had an excellent year and has added the ball punch and punt block to his reportoire. Moreso, the play of Truman McBride will allow the Bears to let go of the useless Ricky Manning Jr. and slide Trumane in at the Nickle slot. He plasyed well for a rookie and is already an above average nickleback.
Safety- The soft spot. Mike Brown is as injury prone as Danieal Manning is bad. Brandon McGowan has played better as of late, but he is not the answer at safety. Sadly, there doesn't appear to be an answer in the draft or free agency. Yeah, Bob Sanders is available, but he is too expensive considering his Mike Brown-like injury problems. The draft doesn't offer all that much in terms of safeties either. The Bears could try and bring back Chris Harris or some other run of the mill backup, but even if they do that, it looks like they have no choice but to rely on the Manning-Brown combo yet again, that is unless Kevin Payne emerges as a legitimate player and wrestles the starting spot away from Danieal, which is a distinct possibility. The good news is that Adam Archuletta and his 5.5 million dollar's will not have to be seen again after this season ends.
On this side of the ball, their biggest needs are at safety and OLB. The former most likely can't be adressed and the latter, in the eyes of the Bears, already has been. The Bears will go into next year with almost the same exact unit, minus Archuletta, Walker, Ricky Manning Jr. and most likely Briggs. On the other hand, those subtractions will free up quite a bit of cash for the Bears and will allow them to pursue replacements for their offense.
Offense
This is where the fun begins. Angelo will have to have a tremendous offseason to repair this unit. The problems begin with the....
Offensive Line- While the unit has been really bad this year, there are more good starters in this group than bad ones. Roberto Garza, John Tate and Olin Kreutz all will, and should, be back next year. If the Bears do go ahead and draft a tackle in the first round, which I hope they do, not only will that draftee be an upgrade over Fred Miller/John St. Clair, it will allow Tate to move to right tackle, where he is better suited to play. The other weak spot is at guard. Ruben Brown was IR'd a while back and will probably not be back next year, although he wasn't all that bad considering he might have been playing on a broken arm for a majority of the season. Still, he isn't under contract for next year, and seeing as he probably won't be back, his possible replacements are Terrance Metcalf, Anthony Oakley and Josh Beekman, all of which are unproven/bad, most likely the latter. There seems to be a lot of guards in the draft with decent skills set, and I think that if the Bears can land Radovich out of USC, Kraus out of Michigan or Young out of Tennessee, all of whom are projected to go in the middle rounds, the line would be in pretty good shape.
Quarterback- Not only are the Bears options at QB bad bad, but the options in free agency and the draft are bad as well. If the Bears do chose to go with a QB in the first round, fine, but I would rather take a lineman. However, the Bears could possibly land a second teir QB in the second round or late first round via trade.(Oh, and don't imagine for a second that McNabb will be in Chicago next year, I dont see Andy Reid letting it happen.) Still, drafting a QB wouldn't fix anything in the short term. The Bears would do best to take a lineman and go into training camp with an open competition between Orton, Greise and Grossman.
Runningback- Here the Bears have problems galore, but thankfully they have options. Michael Turner, Julius Jones, Chris Brown and Jesse Chatman will all be free agents and all of which are equal to or better to who the Bears have now. I would like to see the Bears sign Turner and either Brown or Chatman(Fargas is available, but he probably will demand close to Turner-like money, and the Bears can't affor to sign two top free agent tailbacks.). A stable of backs made up of Turner, Benson, Peterson, (Wolfe) and Chatman/Brown would be a huge upgrade for this team. Benson was a good number two and even if his struggles continue and/or he doesn't get back into shape, Peterson and Brown/Chatman are both excellent #2 backs. Wolfe is in parenthesis because he is not an NFL back, rather just a garbage time player.
Wide Reciever/Tight End- Things get really sketchy here. Bernard Berrian will probably leave and hopefully Muhsin and his juicy contract will get cut out of town. He isn't even a good #2 at this point, but seems to think he is a #1, so good riddance. Personally, i think the Bears have no choice but to resign Bernard, but i have a feeling Angelo won't see it that way. That leaves Devin Hester, Mark Bradley, Rashied Davis and the glorified Mike Hass, all of which aren't good #2's even on their best day. Free agency doesn't offer much either. The only players that i like from the list of FA's are Oakland's Porter and Jacksonville's Wilford. Neither are very good. If the Bear's don't do much to improve their stable of recievers, the pressure on their tight ends will only increase. Desmond Clark has been steady and Olsen has shown flashes, but neither has stepped up as a go-to guy. Olsen could be that guy, but he hasn't done enough yet. However, if he does step out next year and the Bears make their offense more tight-end oriented, which they should absolutely do, their offense should improve. Still, I am banking on the Bears improving their running game enough to allow a barely decent passing game to "thrive." 200 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT would suffice if the Bears running game and offensive line improves as much as I think it can.
If I were Angelo, I would, for once, almost exclusively draft offensive players. The Bears, if they lose could end up with a top ten pick, but even if they win, they will probably end up with a top fifteen pick. In the first three rounds, i would take two offensive linemen and possibly a QB, if the right one is still around. I wouldn't mind trying to trade up and getting a second first rounder, but Angelo's history of trading down probably makes that highly improbable.Either way, my draft prioritees would go in the following order: Offensive Line, Quarterback, Wide Receiver, and then go with maybe a linebacker, safety or D-tackle in the last two or three rounds. Obviuosly, that order could change depending on who is available, but the Bears must address their offensive line needs first and foremost.
PS- I have read up on a certain receiver from Duquesne by the name of Bruce Hocker, and he seems to be a very good sleeper candiate in the middle-late rounds. He has a good combo of size andspeed and if anybody knows anything about him or where i can find clips of him, some info. would be highly appreciated.
Before I come off as overly callous and insensitive to the needs of those that have made the game what it is today, let me say that i think that what Mike Ditka is doing needs to be done. What bothers me is the way he has gone about drawing attention. While I am only twenty and am not overly familiar with Ditka, I have always seen him as a pontificating, over-generalizing blabbermouth with no sense of what to say and what not to say. The saddest part of it all is that since Chicago is chock full of Ditka worshipers that would like nothing more than to buy every one of his ridiculously named products(Kick #### Red Liquor is one of his lead products), Ditka has, for the most part, gotten away with his antics. Because of that, it was even nicer to tune in to the Boers and Bernstein show(with Lawrence Holmes filling in for the former) on 670TheScore and hear Dan Bernstein laying it on Ditka. Bernstein isn't the only to notice that almost nothing Ditka says(not does) holds water. Hunter Hillenmeyer, a Vanderbilt graduate and the Bears' outside linebacker, voiced his displeasure with Ditka's empty claims in an interview almost a month ago. While i don't have access to what exactly he said, it was something along the lines of what I said, that Ditka is more or less just puffing smoke and that his statements are very empty and lack context. His recent episode aside, if you were to listen to Ditka on any of his radio shows in which he is simply talking football, it would be easy to see what i am talking about. When he talks football, which he undoubtably knows lots about, his claims are almost always vague, broad and very generalistic(Is that a word?).
When Ditka went in front of Congress with his complaints regarding Gene Upshaw and the Players' Union lack of funding for the injuries of the retired, in reality, all he did was act like a bully. He went up to the stand red faced with his neck veins bulging and spewed out threatening sounding sentences with very little stress on the facts and very empty claims. I'm not going to put up any quotes on this blog, but if anyone is interested in what he said in congress, or in any of his Gridiron Greats rants, the quotes are plastered all over the web. When all else fails, he usually falls back on his "Da Coach" charm and although thats enough for most fans, its not enough for me.
Now with the recent accusations directed towards Ditka's charity, his filibusters and attacks on Upshaw seem even less impressive, if at all possible. I have always felt that the best type of charity is one that doesn't garner any type of attention. Yeah, those that donate won't get the recognition they want, but really, if you are giving donations for publicity reasons, thats not much of a donation at all. If you use publicity to get donations its one thing, but the opposite really bother me. Ditka really needs to get his stuff together. I am not sure as to what Ditka should do from here on out, but it is pretty clear what he shouldn't be doing.
Some call it parity, i just call it bad. Regardless of where you stand on the NFC and the cluster of mediocrity that is every team outside of Dallas and Green Bay, it is impossible to deny that the Wild Card race is a very tight one. With only one division still up for grabs, that being the South, teams are aware that their only chance is to get the Wild Card, and while the heat is definitely on, there is a startling small number of huge matchups left between the Wild card candidates, which are the following: The New York Giants, Washington Redskins, Minnesota Vikings, Detroit Lions, Arizona Cardinals and the New Orleans Saints. Again, while the top spot in the South is still open for the Saints, the Bucs have games left against the lowly Falcons, Niners and Panthers. As long as they take at least two of those games, which they will, they division will be theirs. So now that I have established the LEGITIMATE wild card possibilities, here is a team by team analysis of their ability and chances of getting a wild card spot.
New York Giants: The Giants don't scare anybody and odds are they won't do any damage even if they reach the playoffs, but they do find themselves at 9-4, with games left against the Redskins, Bills and Patriots. The Patriots game will be a loss, book it. The Bills game could be tough, but as long the Giants beat the Redskins, who are now without Jason Campbell and Sean Taylor, they will get the top spot. No team outside of Minnesota can get to ten wins, so if they get that W in their upcoming game versus Washington, which will be played at the Meadowlands, they are guaranteed a playoff spot. Take it to the bank, the Giants are a lock. Verdict: IN
Washington Redskins: This Skins are only one game behind the Vikings, but they don't stand a chance. The death of Taylor hurt as much on the field as it does off, and the loss of Campbell sealed their fate. With games against the Giants, Vikings and Cowboys, in that order, the Redskins would be fortunate to finish .500. Just a question, is it possible to remove someone from the hall of fame? If it is, Joe Gibbs has wore out his welcome in Canton. Verdict: OUT
Minnesota Vikings: While this team has only started garnering attention in recent weeks, I have been a believer for quite a while. Personally, I think this team has a legitimate shot against either Green Bay or Dallas, and on a good day, even against some of the better teams in the AFC. Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor make up the best running back tandem, ever. Both would be above average starters, and with the weekly progression of Tarvaris Jackson and his improving receiving core, the holes will only get bigger for the two of them. Looking at their three remaining games, I don't think a valid case could be made as to how they would lose even one of them. They already smoked the Bears back in Soldier Field, and Peterson should once again make fools out of Adam Archuletta and Danieal Manning. The Skins are as full of holes as the Bears are, and Vikings will steamroll them in their second straight home game. Their season finale, against Denver, shouldn't be too tough either, given Denver's horrendous rush defense. This team will be the second Wild Card team. Verdict: IN
Detroit Lions: Jon Kitna's 10 win prediction and Roy Williams's trash talks have once again proved worthless. The Lions are done. They have the Chargers and Packers left on their schedule, and unless the Packers rest their starters, those will amount to two losses. Both games are also on the road, increasing the improbability of Detroit victories. Could they salvage a win against the Chiefs in week 16? Perhaps, but the Lions run of futility is still going strong. Verdict: OUT.
Arizona Cardinals: Given the fact that I have the Vikings winning at least two of their three remaining games, the Cardinals will have to win out to even have a chance. The good news is that with games left against the Falcons, Rams and Saints, their remaining schedule is among the easiest in the league. The bad news is that the Cardinals are simply not that good of a team. Their defense is dinged up and so are their receivers. I don't see them winning out, just because they are the Cardinals and the Cardinals simply don’t win out. That being said, they might end up at .500, not a bad start for Wisenhunt and his young Cardinals. Verdict: OUT
New Orleans Saints: Not to gloat, but I saw this coming before the season even started(same goes for the Niners, this year's version of the '06 Dolphins). As crazy as it sounds, I think that losing Bush for the season is not all that bad. If the Saints let their runners run and let their receivers receive, like they did last night, they have a better chance of winning than when they have Bush doing his hybrid thing. Hopefully Sean Payton will see that and do what I proposed a while ago, convert him into a wide receiver and bring in a real running back to split time with their other legit tailback, “the Deuce(Is there a better name in all of football, of course aside from Craphonso Thorpe).” Anyhow, the Saints are in a similar position as the Cardinals in terms of catching the Vikings. The Saints have three tough games left, a home game against the Cardinals, another home game against the Eagles and then a road date in Chicago, a matchup of the two most disappointing teams in all of football. Can they win out? If everything goes right, but we are talking about the Saints here. The Saints will end up 8-8, a game or two behind the Vikings.
Verdict: OUT
So there you go. The Wild Card teams will be the Giants and the Vikings.
Bonus Picks: The Giants, who will end up with the sixth seed, will get ousted in the first round by the Seahawks. The Vikings will squeak by the Bucs. The Vikings will lose to Dallas, but it will be a helluva game.
Follwing the success the Tampa Bay Buccaneers exhibited in their Super Bowl season, the Cover Two style defense started gaining popularity and spread like wildfire. Whether it was the traditional Cover Two or the Tampa Two or whatever variation of this disgusting defense that was in existence, most teams employed it in one way, shape or form. The idea is to divide the field into portions, with each player aside from the four down linemen assigned one portion. The safeties play a huge part here as they are almost always the only players that end up covering deep routes, and with inadequate safety play, the defense falls apart. While all of the variations center on preventing the big play and forcing turnovers, none have become so dependant on turnovers as the particular style employed by my favorite team, the Chicago Bears. The Bears variation is pretty close to the Tampa Two, and while Lovie Smith has said it is in fact different, i have yet to see why. The Bears spread their safeties a bit wider apart than the traditional Cover Two dictates, but no more than that of the Tampa Two. Anyhow, the idea of relying on the other team to make mistakes really irks me. I am a believer in making things happen and only relying on things that you can make happen.
Last year the Bears were among the league leaders in takeaways. This year, although not nearly as productive in the takeaway deprtment, they still rank a respectabl 12th with 24. So why are the Bears so bad this year? The answer is because even though you can use takeways to limit the opposition's chances at scoring, what counts is a) what you do when you are not getting takeaways and b) when you do get takeaways, can your offense capitalize. Last year, the Bears were a defense that at times did struggle, but for the most part was of the lockdown variety. Also, the Bears were the highest scoring team in the NFC last season, thanks largely in part to the extra 2+ possesions per game the defense gave them. The is year, the Bears not only can stop anybody, but they cant score either. A cover two defense is all fine and dandy when the turnovers amount to something, but the defense is exposed as a fraud when the offense cant score or the defense has no skill other than taking away the ball.
In fairness, the Bears have struggled largely thanks to a number of injuries on defense, but the Bears, if not for Jerry Angelo and Smith's offseason arrogance, could have been in a position to succeed despite those injuries. Lovie allowed Todd Johnson to leave and traded away Chris Harris to make room for his lapdog Adam Archuletta, who should have been out of the league two years ago. He also promoted Daniel Manning, who despite his superb speed has regressed badly this year, probably because of his lack of football IQ. The Bears allowed Ian Scott and Alfonso Boone to leave as well and signed a big time cover two guy, Darwin Walker, to replace them. Smith also shafted Alex Brown by giving his job to Mark Anderson, who desoite his gaudy rookie numbers should have been used as a specialist once again.
The cover two defense and the Lovie Smith's inability to adapt, whether it be in-season or in-game, have brought upon the downfall of the Bears. The latter probably is the bigger culprit, but i just cant help but look at the Cover Two as a problem. One of the biggest Cover Two guys in existence, Monte Kiffin, has already come to grips with the problems of the Cover Two and from what i heard has said that it needs to be readily evolved and mixed in with less reguarity thanks to the extensive knowledge coaches have about it and the holes within it.
While this blog isn't as descriptive and thorough as i would like it to be, i have run out of time. please leave comments regarding your comments on the cover two and whether you look at it the same way i do.
When Jason Campbell left the game, the Bears chances at leaving the capitol with a W skyrocketed, or so i thought. Tod Collins, without the aid of a running game, put on his Tom Brady mask and had what was said to be his his best game of the century. Has it gotten to this point for the Bears? The list of the players that have taken the Bear defense out to the woodshed is chuck full of no names, has-beens and never will-be's. Andre Hall, Derrick Ward, Eli Manning, Justin Fargas, Maurice Morris, the list goes on... and on... and on. There are so many holes on this team and i have no faith in Lovie Smith and Jerry Angelo and their talent evaluation methods. This past offseason, Lovie was given a type of freedom that no Bears coach in recent memory has ever had. Angelo brought in Adam Archuletta based solely on Lovie's word, disregarding the fact that the same Redskins that whooped the Bears tonight benched him despite his fat contract. Lovie is a good coach as far as gameplanning goes, but his talent evaluation and in-game coaching is just horrendous. Some may blame him for the offensive line's discipline issues and all the false starts, but i think that notion is downright laughable. The entire offensive line has extensive experience in the league and should never string together six penalties in one drive. Griese was also guilty for a delay of game or two. On the other side of the ball there are also a number of issues that must be addressed in the offseason. They have a solid defensive line, but if Tommie Harris isn't resigned, the Bears would be down their best defensive player. Brian Urlacher is hurt and getting old and Hunter Hillenmeyer is simply decent. I would suggest moving Lance Briggs to the middle, but odds are Lovie doesn't have the stones to do it. The Bears are strong at the CB position, but i would suggest cutting Ricky Manning lose and moving Trumane McBride into the nickle package. Manning was solid D-back in Carolina but at this point is mediocre at best. The real problem is the safeties. Archuletta wont be back next year, so there reallly is no reason to talk about him. Mike Brown will probably be back, but hopefully the Bears keep him on as a back up. He can't be trusted to stay healthy, and hopefully Angelo will go out and get somebody. Danieal Manning improved throughout last season, but he has regressed quite a bit this year. I cant remember the last time he has made a play and he takes way to many bad angles to ballcarriers. One player that wont be catching flack is Robbie Gould, but i say good riddance. The guy is accurate from 49 yards in, but he has no power and Lovie is adamnant about not using him past 50 yards. But his field goals are not the problem, rather the problem is his kickoffs. He has had a number of kickoffs go out of bounds this year and may not have had a kickoff go for a touchback all season long.
While i have no faith in the management to put together a strong draft class, i hope they address their offensive line woes in the first round. There are a number of really good lineman coming out next year and i would love to see the Bears cash in. I have my fingers crossed, but hopefully Angelo trades up for Jake Long, who is said to be just as good or better than Joe Thomas. If the Bears pick up two O-lineman, a safety and a decent QB, they should be fine, but I, and most Bears fans for that matter, know that that is wishful thinking.
PS: TD's scored aginst the Bears were by Todd Collins, Mike Sellers, Ladell Betts and ___ Yodler????
With Rex Grossman getting the starting nod this week against the Seahawks, talk has resurfaced about Good Rex/Bad Rex. I dont mean to be rude to those guys that have spent hours upon hours debating that ridiculous topic, but there is no such thing as Good/Bad Rex. Rex Grossman, when allowed to play his game, is both good and bad. He will tantalize and dissapoint. He will dazzle and fizzle out. That is so because the thing(s) that Rex does well come as a result of what makes him incompetent and will render him a solid backup for the remainder of his career.
Perhaps the most underrated component of successful quarterbacks is size. A quarterback with size has an enormous advantage over one lacking size, especially when both make their hay in the pocket, which is exactly what Rex does. Rex Grossman, who is no doubt shorter than the 6"1 listed in his player profile, will never be a (good) starting quarterback because of his lack of size and inability to escape the pocket, not so much to escape pressure, but to open passing lanes in which he wont have to throw his passes over the outstretched arms of oncoming defensive linemen. These drawbacks however, do not limit his deep passing ability, which is why it is so easy to become infatuated with Grossman if you only watch him in small doses. His aforementioned lack of height and mobility are such great deterrents to his success that they limit his game to two things: checkdowns and deep balls to Bernard Berrian. He does not have the ability to pass the ball horizontally, just vertically, because a thrown deep ball will always sail above linemen's arms and not be affected by a quarterback's size, but balls thrown to the across the field between 10-30 yards are greatly affected by a QB's size. Any time Rex needs to complete say, a crossing route 20 yards down the field, his thrown will need more arch on it than say, a pass thrown by Philip Rivers or Ben Roethlesberger, two quarterbacks with good height. The problems associated with small quarterbacks can be avoided by running numerous plays that allow the quarterback to escape the pocket and eliminate the problem of throwing over linemen, but to do that a quarterback needs to be quick, fast and aware of where blitzers are coming from, all of which Rex is not. Maybe if he had not blown his knee out in the Metrodome a few years ago he might be a pro bowler, but since he did he never will be. A perfect example of a smaller quarterback that creates new throwing lanes is Jeff Garcia. He isnt as tiny as Rex is, but the comparison is sufficient.
What makes matters worse for the Bears is that as long as Rex is in the game, going across the middle, which is the strength of Muhsin Muhammad, Greg Olsen, and Desmond Clark, a very difficult and dangerous task. If you watched all of the Bears game last year, you would have seen that contrary to what i said above, Rex did complete passes in the middle of the field. True, but those passes which were complete almost always required an extraordinary effort by his recievers and also subjected them to some enormous bone crunching hits. For the most part, as long as Rex is in the game, the only way for Ron Turner to utilize those three playmakers is to send them deep or keep a number of extra blockers in the poket, giving Rex enough space and time to complete a pass that he would not be able to complete in regular circumstances. That type of gameplan and scheme will only work, if at all, against the lesser teams in the league, but will never be able beat teams with good players and defensive strategies.
I came to terms with it a hile ago, and its about time Lovie Smith and Jerry Angelo come to terms with it as well. Rex Grossman is not, and will never be, a quarterback good enough to be a competent starter. With time, the rest of the league will come to see this.
Coming into the season, anybody who is anybody would have told you that the NFC North is the worst division in football, with one semi-legit team followed by a number of wannabes. The Bears went into the season banking on Rex Grossman, Jon Kitna predicted ten wins, Brett Favre put off retirement yet again and the Vikings looked just as bad as Tarvaris Jackson's front teeth. In the other conference, the AFC West looked to be not just the best in their conference, but perhaps the best in all of football. San Diego and Denver were supposed to win at least 12-13 wins, Kansas City still had LJ and Oakland was supposed to be on the way up.
Come Week nine, the North has the Packers sitting pretty at 7-1, the Lions at 6-2 and both the Bears and Vikings at 3-5. Menwhile, the Chargers have already lost more games than all of last season, the Broncos are down to Patrick Ramsey and the Raiders are a little better than last year, but still the Raiders. Only he Chiefs seem to be living up to their hype, but thats not saying much. Then the biggest surprise of all hit. The Adrian Petersons ran all over the Chargers, Favre stole back a win from the Chiefs after basically giving it away and the Lions embarassed the Broncos. LT, who came into the season as the best back in football, may have lost that title to a rookie. Cutler, who has drawn endless comparisons to Brett Favre, was outplayed by the latter. Aside from the Patriots and Colts, maybe the conferences arent that far apart anymore.
On a different note, the NFC West, which was supposed to emerge as the clas of the NFC, now is a bunch of garbage. The Rams are winless, the Niners have regressed severely, the Cardinals are who they always have been and Mike Holmgren has done his best to hold the Seahawks back. But as bad as the West has been, the South has been ten times worse. Is there a worse team in the league than Atlanta? Is there a worse quarterback in the league than David Carr? Who is Earnest Graham and how did he become the starter in Tampa? The Saints, declared dead just a month or so ago, are now the favorites in this division. What about the East? Everybody knows about the Cowboys and Giants, but are the Redskins or Eagles any good? The answer is most likely no.
That leaves the North. Has the North, so ridiculed in the preseason by experts and analysts, possibly tops in the NFC? Not only are the Lions and Packers a combined 13-3, but the Bears and Vikings cant be called bad teams, not yet. Despite their 3-5 record, the Vikings may be the scariest team in the division. If Peterson is on his game, and all signs point to him improving by the week, they can beat anybody. If he didnt fumble against the Cowboys, they could have won that game. The Vikings can beat any team in the league, but they can just as easily lose to those same teams. The Bears, easily the most dissapointing team in the NFC, still can play some football. Their offense blows, but the defense is now healthy coming off the bye. Their offense is punchless and predictable, but they can beat any team in the NFC outside of Dallas.
There were so many things done wrong by the Bears that i dont know where to start? The offense, despite posting thirty-one points against a pretty good defense, only got things together late in the game and actually was booed a number of times. The defensive players, as Mr. Jurkovic so astutely stated on Fox's the Final Word(local tv), shouldn't pick up their week six paychecks. The tackling was dreadful and there wan minimal QB pressure all game long. Adrian Peterson made the Bears look like children among men. The special teams, Devin Hester excluded, didnt play a good game either. They gave up big kick off returns and really cost the Bears the game after allowing a near touchdown to Peterson on that last kickoff. Here goes an attempt to try and explain why the Bears played so terribly.
The Offense
Like i said above, their scoring output doesnt accurately represent how the they performed on offense. They didnt have many three and outs, but couldnt really string together any long drives. Cedric Benson, the goat of the offense so far, did not play that badly. When he wasnt getting hit in the backfield, he was ripping off solid chunks of yardage against the league's premier run defense. Although he had a decent game on the ground, he dropped a number of passes. Even if those passes were caught he would have been dropped immediately, but the fact that he dropped them worries me. The difference between Benson and Peterson was clear from the get-go. Peterson runs hard and angry and doesnt get taken down with weak arm tackles. Benson, not as strong or as fast of a runner as AP, hits the deck after the slightest touch. If Peterson isnt locked up completely, he will break away for huge runs. If Benson is merely touched, his #### is dropped. The difference is night and day. The other Adrian Peterson played a decent game and made some pretty big plays, but Garrett Wolfe, on his one rushing down, made me wonder if he will still be in the league by next season. He is simply too small to really do anything on the ground.
Brian Greise made a number of mistakes and his second interception really made me scratch my head, but he did lead a unit that put up 24 points and that, along with Devin Hester's special teams touchdown , should have been enough to beat one of the most punchless offenses in football. The positive thing that i took away from this game is that Greise, contrary to popular belief, can still throw a solid deep ball. He hasnt really been given the oppurtunity to throw the deep ball but after his performance yesterday, he may be let loose a bit more in the near future. The Bears have a number of deep threats and hopefully Greise will be given the chance to take advantage of the weapons at his disposal.
Another bright spot for the offense was the play of the lineman. The return of John Tate obviously made a huge difference and the play of the line yesterday really shows how much better they are when St. Clair is not starting. They allowed only one sack and gave Benson some nice running lines on the outside. Still, the Bears dont have much depth ot this position and i believe it is time to incorporate Josh Beekman into the rotation a little bit. Chicago Bears insiders really like his mean streak and say he has a nastiness to him that is necessary for good line play.
The recievers, despite putting up respectable numbers, had some dropped passes and didnt create consistent seperation for three quarters of the game. Greise, after being forced top throw, found his recievrs often wide open, presumably a result of the Vikings trying to prevent the big play, which they didnt end up doing anyway. Bernard Berrian schooled one of their CB's and left him in the dust. Moose showed some signs of life and grabbed a perfectly thrown pass from Greise and found his way into the endzone. Devin Hester, after his highly touted offseason transition to offense, finally got into the mix, grabbing a mammoth eighty-one yard touchdown pass. Once again, the tight ends played very well. Both Olsen and Clark had some long receptions, but Olsen dropped one pass that could have easily gone for forty+ yards.
Overall, the offense didnt play well throughout the game, but enough points were put up collectively by this unit to get a victory. For once, the blame can not be placed on the offense.
Defense
Usually i look at the defense position by position, but this week i will glob all the players together. Aside from Lance Briggs, who absolutely needs to be signed long term ASAP, and perhaps Charles Tillman, nobody on that unit did their job. Not Urlacher, Harris, Anderson or Hillenmeyer. To be fair to the lineman, the Vikings were max-protecting all game long and put the onus on the linebackers and secondary to make the plays, and quite frankly, they sucked. Adam Archuletta, who was sold to the fan base as a bad fit back in Washington, has shown that he would be a bad fit anywhere. The defense as a whole didnt tackle well, took horrible angles to the ballcarrier and didnt stick to their gaps. They overpursued the ball carrier and gave Peterson huge cutback lines. In other words, the defense, although heavily laden with good veteran players, looked like it was compriosed of a bunch of overanxious rookies. The Bears safeties are too young and raw to be relied upon to make plays, and as long as they continue to play those guys out there, the Bears will get run and passed on all game long. The Bears let some safeties go in the offseason, thinking that Archuletta would be good, Brown would be healthy and Manning Jr. would continue playing well. They would be lying if they said they wouldnt like to have Chris Harris back.
Until Darwin Walker and Nathan Vasher return from injuries, the Bears defense will be feasted on by even the most mediocre passing teams in the league.
I said in the introductory patagraph all that needs to be said about the special teams. Hester had yet another monster game, but the coverage unit was bad. Coach Taub is really gonna work his unit hard this week.
The Bears are in bad shape. The defense is struggling, and from the looks of things the offense may now have to bail out the defense. And with games against Philly and Detroit, two teams that are extremely capable in the passing department, the offense will really have to step things up. They have the toughest schedule in the NFC North and therefore have to ouplay Detroit, Green Bay and Minnesota, all teams with less overall talent, in order to make the playoffs. Until the Bears start doing things differently, there wont be any reason to write up any more Bear reports, so until then, im out.
I REPEAT, DO NOT WATCH THE BEARS/VIKINGS GAME THIS SUNDAY. It has recently ben leaked that all viewers will be subjected to the baboons in the booth, also known as Brian Baldinger and #### Stockton. One needs to be fired and the other needs to be put in a nursing home. I am considering watching the game without volume, perhaps wathing the game while listening to the radio broadcast. The one reason that i may turn up the volume is just to hear what stupid mistakes he will make this week. There is a whole slew of names for Stockton to screw up: Olin Kreutz, Bernard Berrian(Previously called Burrier by old Stocky), Lovie Smith(Referred to as Lovie Jones), Visante Shancoe, Ciatrick Fason and amany many more. I may have mispelled some of those names, but that pales in comparison to the butchering of those names sure to come on Sunday. But if Fox dares to throw that #### Siragusa into the mix, my TV may end up with a barbell through it's screen.
Its about time the Bears have a victory monday. Any Bears fan with a head on his shoulders knew that this past game against the despised and abhored Packers was do or die. Win, the playoffs are still a very real possibility. Lose, kiss the season goodbye. The odds were no doubt tipped in Green Bay's favor. The Bears came into the game with a still decimated defense, missing Nathan Vasher, Mike Brown and Dusty Dvoracek AND playing with a number of players far from full strength: Charles Tillman, Lance Briggs, Tommie Harris and Adam Archuletta, who played with a broken hand. On offense the Bears also had injury issues and some other problems. Brian Greise was starting only his second game with the Bears, John Tate was out with an ankle injury and Bernard Berrian left halfway into the game with a toe injury. Still, after a horrendous first quarter the Bears defense hung tough and the offense did just enough to get a huge victory against a streaking Green Bay team playing at home, where Brett Favre usually plays at the highest level.
Here's the Bear Breakdown:
Offense
QB: The key to the game for Greise was patience. Although Greise was clearly frustrated early on with the anibility of the offense to string together a drive, Greise stayed patient and eventually found a way to march down the field a number of times and lead a previously inept offense to 27 points against one of the better defeneses in the game. Aside from an interception thrown on a deflected pass, Greise played sound, smart football, looking off defenders and hitting recievers in stride. He seemed to have a better grasp of his limitations than he did last week, when he forced throws that he probably could have made three or four years ago, but today, no way. He spread the ball around and made use of his tight ends more than Rex really ever has. Overall, Greise played exactly how the Bears expected him to.
RB's: Cedric Benson has continued to dissapoint. Andrea Kramer reported that Jerry Angelo said that he traded away Thomas Jones because he and Ced couldnt get along. If what he said is true, that really changes my perception of Angelo. Not only did he make a move for a bad reason, but he got rid of the better player, at least at this point. Thomas Jonesing aside, Benson did what he has done all season long. He showed signs of life, but most of the time was stopped for two, perhaps three yards. He didnt make any defenders miss and with a defense that was clearly geared towards stopping the Bears' running game, the onus was on Cedric to do some heavy lifting. Instead of improving as the game wore on, which Benson himself said he does, he seemed to be gassed and forced Greise to win the game. Luckily for Benson, Greise did win the game and took the heat off of Benson. I personally would like to see a bit more of Adrian Peterson in the game. He seems to run harder and with more of a purpose than Benson. Players feed off of energy and Benson, even after big runs and touchdowns, seems hesitant to get off of the ground and sulks around like a guy that doesnt give a damn. When he ran out of bounds on a stretch play, he really confirmed what most Bears fans already know The Bears need to mix up the running back situation.
WR/TE's: I myself predicted that if Greise is to succeed as the Bears quarterback, he would need to utilize his tight ends more than his recievers. The speedy recievers seem to be a better fix for Grossman because they are best stretching the field vertically. Tigght Ends reall work sideline to sideline, which is Greise's strength. Greg Olsen, in really his first chance at playing extended minutes, played an outstanding football game. He had a number of huge catches, none bigger than the go route in which he caught a pass for a huge first down onthe final game winning drive which ended with the a touchdown pass to the other tight end, Desmond Clark. On the topic of the wide recievers, they werent as bad as they looked. There were a number of times in which the recievers got open where Greise didn't have the time to get the ball off. Better results will come with more time to mesh for the recievers and Greise. There is no doubt in my mind that Greg Olsen will be seeing a lot more playing time, starting with next week's game against Minnesota, who the Bears will only beat if they can throw the ball.
OL: While the run blocking still left a lot to be desired, the fact that the Packers seemed to stack the line on almost every play needs to be taken into account. Teams know that the Bears want to establish the run and they gear their defense towards stopping Benson, and so far they have succeeded. On the other hand, they played pretty well in passing situations and gave Greise enough time to make plays when he needed to. It also didnt help that the Bears were missing a very good player in John Tate, who was replaced by the human turnstile, John St. Clair. The offensive line did enough considering the situation, i.e the Packers stacking the box.
Defense
DL: The linemen, like every other defensive unit on the Bears, really improved as the game went on, particularly in the second half. The Packers really gashed the Bears for a lot of rushing yards in the first half, about 100 yards or so. But come the second half, the line really beat up on Green Bay's running backs and forced Brett Favre to throw, resulting in a few costly mistakes and a number of other close, game changing plays. Tommie Harris was the only lineman to register a sack, but pressure was still consistently applied to Favre and pressure was the sole reason for the interception thrown to Brian Urlacher.
LB's: The Linebackers really responded after getting embarassed by the Packers in the first half. Brian Urlacher had a key interception in the Packers' red zone, but Lace Briggs really stole the show. He registered sixteen or so solo tackles and by the time the coaching staff beefs up his stats, the number may jump into the twenties. As usual, Hunter Hillenmeyer did his job and really helped elimnate the tight ends from the game and also helped limit the number of yards gained by passes to running backs releasing after a block or immediately after the snap. Whatever the linebackers did in the second half, it worked. Brett seemed to abandon the intermediate passing game, which in my opinion is his strengh and looked downfield too often.
CB/S's: The secondary as a whole really played a nice game. John Madden appropriately awarded Charles Tillman with a spot on the horse trailor for his stupendous effort despite still being pretty ####ed up and being questionable coming into the game. His two strips were game savers and his second half coverage of his reciever really were the main reasons for the Packers' inability to have any success in the passing game after halftime. Tillman told a reporter that Lovie Smith was livid in his halftime speech and Tillman said he was really shaken up by Lovie, who almost never loses his temper. Danieal Manning perhaps played his worst game as a Bear, but really stiffened up his defense as the game wore on. He got beat badly by Jennings on his second quarter TD but after that, he had his side of the field on lockdown. Adam Archuletta really deserves credit for stepping up and playing a realtively solid game considering he was playing with a broken hand and couldn't really wrap up ballcarriers, which he doesnt do much of even with two healthy hands. The safeties really could have played a lot worse, but i think Brandon McGowan had the wrong approach on the last second hail mary, which he intercepted. He did break up the play and grab the int., but i would have rather seen him bat the ball batted down rather than get into a jumping match with a one-time high jumper, Donald Driver.(Thanks for that nugget Chris Collinsworth)
Special Teams: Even when Devin Hester doesnt get his hands on the ball, his impact on the game is enormous. He forced the Packers into short kicks all night long and it resulted in the Bears really dominating the field position for most of the game. The few times the ball ended up in Hester's hands, he made something out of nothing, leaving numerous Green Bay gunners in the dust. Coverage ace Brendan Ayanbadejo played a huge game, making some big special teams tackles and more importantly, stripping the ball on a punt return at a crucial juncture in the game. The coverage unit allowed one big return, but other than that they were great. Robbie Gold had another strong game and continues to be automatic from anywhere less than fifty. Not to say that he cant hit from farther than fifty, but the Bears dont seem willing to let him try.
Overall, the Bears really stepped up their game and made the type of plays that good teams make. Above all else, the Bears won the turnover ratio 5-1, a formula for a W in 99.9% of the time. They now have to play a good, turnover free game against the punchless Minnesota Vikings. As long as the special teams and defense play a good game, force turnovers and influence field position like they just did against Green Bay, the offense should be able to do the job against a very stout defense.
Another week goes by, same old story for the Chicago Bears. After an embarassing 37-27 loss to the Lions in which the Bears led 13-3 going into the fourth quarter, it makes you wonder if one quarter into the season isn't too soon to throw in the towel. Going into this NFC North showdown, the Bears had to answer many questions, most of which were directed towards the offense. Is Brian Griese gonna be the man? WIll Cedric Benson show the fans a) he can actually play and b) does he even care? Will the Bears recievers finally get open and make some plays against a defense fresh off of a beatdown in which it allowed 50 + points? Is the offensive line just getting into gear late like last season or will it be this bad all year long? The defense also had some questions coming into the game, particularly on the injury front. Can a makeshift secondary madeup of rookies and backups be able to put up a fight against the number one passing team in the league? How will Jamar Williams, the linebacker that will replace Briggs should he leave after this season, play in his first complete game? Can the defensive line feast on the decimated front line of the Detroit Lions? Lets take a look.
QB play: Just looking at the numbers, Griese had a very uninspiring performance. Can his poor showing be attributed to rust or is this the Griese that will show up every week? In my opinion, it is 70% rust and 30% Greise. Of his three interceptions, only one really looked to be a result of bad decision making. The pass intercepted in the endzone was intended to Berrian and just didn't have enough zip and was a little behind him, but still should have been caught. The other pick, on a crossing route to Berrian just short of the endzone, was also a bit behind Berrian, but could have been caught as well. It looked like Greise didn't have enough zip on those passes? Is that a result of his aging or just rust? Again, i think rust, but it makes you wonder whether he isnt the same guy anymore? His last interception, which was run back for a TD, looked like a result of a bad read of the defense. The interceptor, who Greise apparently belived to be coming in on a blitz, driooed into coverage and had an easy interception. The positives for Greise were his completion percentage and his poise. He stood tall in the pocket, mad throws while taking hits and despite being substantially older than Grossman, showed off his wheels for a nice gain. He showed the football IQ that is expected for a QB which was lacking from Rex. Lastly, he looked like a leader for teh offense, something which no lpayer has emerged as so far. I fully expect for his play to improve as he gains trust in himself, learns hi limitations and gets more reps with the first team.
RB play: Cedric Benson once again dropped the ball, this time against a well below average rush defense. He displayed good hands out of the backfield, but he fumbled yet agin, which resulted in a lengthy hiatus on the bench. What surprised me was that instead of bringing ni Adiran Peterson after the fumble, they brough in tiny Garrett Wolfe, who proceeded to nothing in the running game and failed to pick up blitzers. Wolfe is really small and i wouldn't be surprised if he is out of football in a few short seasone. Back to Benson. He doesn't really appear to have any heart on the field and it shows in his game. More often than not he seems to be running soft and looks far too relaxed on the field. He lacks the intensity that usually comes with bruising, powerful running backs, which Benson is said to be.
WR play: With the Greisebomb at the helm, it came as no surprise that there wasnt much action vertically for the wide recievers. Bernard Berrian, despite missing the 100 yard mark by just one, only had a decent game. He has dropped way too many balls the last few weeks and he dropped 3 or so more against Detroit as well. If he can fix his dropping issues, he can be a #1 reciever, but untill then, hes nothing more than a D-Jax type of reciever. Moose finally got things going, but he too dropped a pass or two. Still, Moose hasnt really been involved early on and a TD catch might be what he needed to get going. I hope to hear the Moose call a bit more frequently with Griese behind center. The other recievers really didnt do much. Desmond Clark had a nice game, but where was Greg Olsen? He only played a few snaps and it makes you wonder if the coaching staff trusts him enough to use him in close games.
O Line play: This has got to be the most disapointing unit on the Bears offense. Just last year they it was easily a top 5 unit but along with age comes wear and tear. The nuit took a hit this week when John Tate left with an Ankle Sprain midway through the game. With both Fred Miller and Terrance Metcalf on the O-Line simultaneously, it was no wonder Greise was sacked SIX times. The holes were not there for the running backs the few times that Ron Turner called for a running play and the protection was just average. The six sacks are a bit misleading. With the situation calling for a majority of passing plays, the Lions just teed off on Brian. The O-Line started slow last season but really picked it up around wek 5. hers to that same thing happening agin this year.
Defensive Line play: One of the few bright spots for the Bears was the overall play of the defensive line. They registered six sacks, with both Wale and Mark Anderson picking up 2 and the others going to a gimpy Tommie harris and Jamar Williams. This unit did exactly what it needed to do. They also did their part in shutting down the running game. For the fourth starught week, the Bears absolutely dominated the line of scrimmage on the defensive side of the ball. Also, Tommie Harris, who's agent reported that he might miss up to four weeks, suited up with a bad knee and still had a big affect on the game. Again, Wale and Anderson played sensational football and were the primary reason that the Lions couldnt get their passing game on track for a majority of the game.
Linebackers: The Linebacking unit, minus a Lance Briggs, had an overall above average game. Brian Urlacher had his usual mammoth game and Hillenmeyer did his usual dirty work. What was great about the job that the linebackers did was how well Jamar Williams did in his first chance at starting in the NFL. He played a pretty good game and was in on some pretty big plays all game long.
Secondary: For the first three quarters, the makeshift secondary, made up of rookies Kevin Payne and Trumane McBride and backups Danieal Manning, Ricky Manning Jr., and ... McGowan played a really good game. Once the fourth quarter started and the defense started to tire, it was clear that the rookies wouldnt be able to stand up against the Lions recievers for the full sixty minutes. Their play was encouraging for the most part and once agin showed that Jerry Angelo has a knack for picking quality defensive players in the latter rounds of a draft. Danieal Manning rotated between corner and safety and did a pretty good job at both positions.
Special Teams: No matter what the situation, Greg Taub's special teams units continue to be the best in the league. They blocked three kicks coming nito this game and left with five. Thats four straight games with blocked field goal/ extra point attempts. Absolutely amazing. The coverage unit was great and shut down Detroit's return game. The Lions brought ni some new guy to return kicks and he had a rude welcoming to the NFL. Brendan Ayanbadejo laid him out a few times on kickoff returns. Safe to say that guy will be in the hot tub a number of times this week. Finally, yet another TD for Devin Hester. He had over 300 yards in return yards and was close to breaking two more returns for TD's as well. teams continue to kcik to the kid, even though he has proved to be more productive than the Bears offensive unit. I cant say enough about the job Hester has done for the Bears. He is the most dynamic player in the game. Period.
Coaching: Taking into account that it was only Brian Greise's first game and that Ron Turner didnt know how he would perform ni his first start, i still give Turner a C, and thats being generous. He abandoned the run way too early and allowed Greise to throw over 50 times, despite having the lead for the first three quarters. Benson did show signs of klife in the third quarter but for the second staright week he was abandoned despite finally getting on a roll. the defense did a great job but Bob Babich needs to be a bit more creative with his blitz packages. He hasnt disguised the defense well enough and it looked like Jon Kitna had a really good read on what the Bears were throwing at him.
Overall, the Bears really missed a golden oppurtunity here. With a win they could have established some type of NFC North dominance and had some momentum going into next weeks game against Lambeau. This is it for the Chicago Bears. Rumor has it that Lovie was hot inthe lockerroom after the game and really let his players hear it. The players need to respond to their recent turbulence and show Lovie that not only can they can play, but that their hearts are in it. The coming game aganist Green Bay is really make or break. Win, you live to play another (meaningful) day. Lose, and the season is over. I hope to see some serious emotion against the pack, along the lines of how LT expressed himself after losing to KC. He was on the verge of tears and i applaud him for being a player that truly wants to win every game possible. The Bears, particularly Benson and the O-Line, need to get their mean streak going and start taking the NFC North back from the Packers.
Its ok, give it to me. I have talked up the Bears over the last few months and they have done nothing thus far in the season. They, particularly the offense, have been absoluteley dreadful. Anybody that wants to gloat over the victory can and certainly should do so. What makes thing worse, is that Lovie Smith once again delcared that "Rex is our Quarterback" in the postgame press conference. Rex Grossman was brutal, the receivers were brutal, the running backs were brutal and the coaching was brutal. Even the defense fell apart in the second half.
Post week 3 analysis:
QB: The question is not whether Rex is the proper quarterback for the Bears. The question is whether there even is a viable option on the roster. Greise hasnt started in the NFL for almost three years now and Kyle Orton is as unprovern as any quarterback could be. Will Lovie Smith realize that Rex is not the man to take snaps for the Bears? Will Jerry Angelo #### his pride and admit that he messed up with drafting Rex, and therefore go get a different quarterback, at least for the short term?
RB: Another huge question mark here. Benson and Peterson have been fumbling machines. Benson picked up a touchdown, but he looks like he is running around looking for somewhere to fall down. Peterson has looked good when holding on to the ball, but he has also fumbled twice. I thought that Benson was the real deal and he still might be, but Thomas Jones is sorely missed right now by the Bears.
WR: There were drops all over the place tonight. The main culprit was Bernard Berrian, but Moose got in on the fun as well. The only recievers getting consistent seperation were Berrian, Desmond Clark and Greg Olsen. Muhammad looks like he is done, and i mean done. He is still tough and can throw blocks, but if he wasn't able to get seperation against the paltry Cowboys' defense, should he still be starting?
Offensive Line: It struggled again with run blocking and pass protection once again. The Cowboys were sending the house at Rex and the linemen really couldnt give Rex time. When he had time he was allright, but still, even if he gets time from his linemen, it feels like an interception is inevitable.
Defense
Defensive Line: The line did a good job stopping the run and pressuring Romo, but Romo gets all the credit in the world for eluding tacklers all night long. Mark Anderson was the only lineman to register a sack and both Wale' and Tommie Harris got nicked up.
Linebackers: Urlacher added two more sacks to his total, but the real story is that Briggs was injured. If his groin pull is serious, Jamar Williams will have the weight on the world on his shoulders when he gets his first start. Hunter Hillenmeyer, and all the linebackers for that matter, didnt play well in coverage, but any time receivers are given extra time(thanks to Romo's excellent scrambling) to get open, its almost impossible to prevent big plays.
Secondary: Like i said above, as long as the QB buys time for his receivers, the secondary is really helpless. As was the case the entire game, Owens, Crayton and Witten had tons of time to get open and the secondary isnt to blame. However, Adam Archuletta still played a terrible game. He missed a lot of tackles and was left in the dusk by the Cowboy Tight Ends all night long.
Special Teams: Although Devin Hester didnt have his usual theatrics, the Bears special teams played pretty well. They blocked yet another field goal and the coverage unit also had a good game.
Coaching Staff: The coaches get an F for the playcalling today. The big bonehead call was going for it on fourth down at the end of the first half. Wade Phillips was furious and deservedly so. Dallas could have knocked in an another field goal or gone for a long touchdown, but the referees just whistled the half over.
Overall Assesment: The offense was a trainwreck. The defense hung tough in the first half, but wilted in the second half, partialy due to a slew of injuries that they suffered. Nathan Vasher, Lance Briggs, Adewale Oguleye and Tommie Harris all left the field and the Bears defensed wasnt the same thereafter. There are no excuses for this blowout loss and the Bears should be embarassed.
Week two has come and gone and while some of the questions coming into the season have been answered, the others have become even bigger. Will Rex Grossman ever get his head out of his #### and play like an NFL calibur QB? Is Tommie Harris back to his Pro-Bowl form? Will Bob Babich have a successful inaugaral campaign as the defensive coordinator? Will Cedric Benson take advantage of the great oppurtunity he has been given by Lovie Smith? All these issues, and various others, will be adressed in the week two edition of the Bear Report.(There wasnt a week one edition.)
After a dismal performance by the offense last week against the Chargers, a game against the Kansas City Chiefs looked like it was just what the offense needed. Still, Rex Grossman managed to make the same rediculous and unforced errors that were the story of his 2006 season. He threw an interception on a screen pass. Let that sink in.... a screen pass, the easiest completion in the game. He also threw another pick inside of Bear territory and lucky for him the defense did it's job. He had a few nice throws and if Moose makes that catch on a sideline route/broken play, Rex probably doesnt throw that interception over the middle. Still, 1 TD, 2 INT and around 150 yards against a mediocre pass defense did nothing to silence his doubters. If anything, it only fueled the fire behind all the Rex haters, which I am on the verge of joining.
On a brighter note, Cedric Benson showed Bear fans why he was taken with the number four overall pick by hitting the century mark against a pretty stout run defense. He also caught the ball well out of the backfield and showed the ability to not only knock opponents on their #### but that he can outquick them too. Adrain Peterson made the most of his carries but almost lost another fumble. Maybe the Bears should think about bringing in Tiki Barber, a big fumbler early on in his carreer, to give the running backs and recievers a crash course on ball protection. Bernard Berrian had another decent game but it looked like for the second straight week, he and Rex weren't on the same page. Desmond Clark had a solid, all-around game and gave Rex a safety valve when the pressure came, which was early and often.
The pass protection was a little better this week. The offensive line picked up blitzers better and although Rex got sacked three times, that was not due to missed assignments, rather just getting beat. Whether or not that is better is debatable, but at least the Bears identified blitzes much better than last week. Hell, even John St. Clair got in on the fun for a TD. The line stepped it up, but the unit still has to improve in bothe run blocking and pass protection.
Ahh... the defense. As nervous as i was when the offense was on the field, i was in a state of euphioria when the defense was out there. Nevertheless, the Bears cant afford to keep their defense on the field for a majority of the game. Injuries are much more common in the latter parts of games and while the Bears have depth, injuries are something the Bears can not afford to have.
The defensive line was once again pretty good. Tommie Harris racked up two more sacks and was an absolute menace in the trenches. Alex Brown had a pretty nice game but nicked up his ankle, but it doesnt look to be any more than a mild sprain and shouldn't be an issue. Adewale Ogunleye stepped up and showed why he was named a team captain after Mike Brown was stripped due to injury. He supplied a steady pass rush, was stout against the run and batted down a ball or two. Mark Anderson also showed once again that he will not be a liability against the run. He has shown that he is a complete player and the sacks will eventually start piling up. Newcomer Darwin Walker, who is just getting into game shape, had another stellar game.
The linebackers, the heart and soul of the defense, had brilliant games. Both Briggs and Urlacher registered sacks and Hunter Hillenmeyer did his usual dirty work, whether it be sticking the stud tigt end Tony Gonzalez or having to stick the unnnig back in the flats. FOr Urlacher, it was his first sack in over a season and with Bob Babich's aggressive scheme in place, i find it hard to believe that the Urlacher wont have at least 5-6 sacks by season's end. Briggs was excellent and is making Jerry Angelo seriously reconsider resuming contract talks with the pro bowl linebacker.
Charles Tillman and Nathan Vasher, who make up the best cornerback tandem in the NFC, once again showed why they got such lucrative contracts this past offseason. Dwayne Bowe
