Well, it all comes down to this. The Bears need to win this week and get help from none other than the Green Bay Packers in order to continue their season. A win over the Detroit Lions means 1 of 2 things for the Bears, either they will make the playoffs as the 6th seed OR they will be a rare 10-win team that misses the playoffs and will have the worst draft slot (20th) of all the teams who went nowhere. A loss and the season is over and they likely pick 19th, which isn't much better. So, a win and a Vikings loss is the ideal outcome for plenty of reasons.
The Arizona game was.....well, frankly...pretty boring. The defense played very well. They completely stopped the run....of the worst rushing team in the league. They only allowed 219 yards passing, picked off 2 passes, and got a solid 4 sacks....against the 3rd and 4th string QBs of the team with the league's 4th worst passing game. So, while it was nice to see the defense get back to scoring off of turnovers like they were in the first half of the season, it was against another bad offense. But with 2 starters missing and another (Conte) missing half the game, I'll take that performance any week.
Offensively, the Bears were better than the Cardinals, but that's nothing to write home about. And honestly, that game wasn't really enough to inspire any confidence
in me that even if the Bears do manage to get into the playoffs, that
they actually compete well enough to win a game (or two) once they get
there. Under 300 yards of total offense. But on the positive side, the OL perhaps played their best game of the season. The Bears were able to run the ball well when it still mattered. Cutler saw very little pressure all day with the only sack coming outside of the pocket, on a play where he should have thrown the ball away. But despite the time, Cutler was off-target most of the time when he threw the ball. And again there were a couple drops, though this time Brandon Marshall was the main culprit, which isn't much to worry about. Special teams were a disaster with a couple near blocked punts, a blocked FG for TD, and Hester's taking of a punt inside his 5, returning it near the 15 and then back inside the 5, as 2 penalties were committed in front of him. But again, that's not a huge concern as like Marshall, you expect the special teams to perform when they need to. The concern has been and continues to be, the offensive offense.
Along comes the Detroit Lions. While the Lions are about average overall defensively (middle of the pack in run D, pass D, sacks), they are bottom 5 in the NFL with 27.4 points allowed per game. Cutler and Forte have also both had very productive careers vs. the Lions. Jay
has had a career 101 QB rating, with an 11-1 TD-INT ratio and Matt has
120 yards from scrimmage per game against them. So, if the Bears are going to get it going.....ah screw it. Seventeen weeks into the season, the offense isn't going to get it going. At this point, if the Bears are going to do anything this season...it's going to have to be the 2011 49ers formula of stopping teams on defense, forcing turnovers, and protecting the ball on offense. The Lions are definitely a team that strategy could work on. Odds are Matthew Stafford, who has thrown 70 more passes than anyone in the league will put the ball in the air over 50 times on Sunday. That will give the Bears plenty of shots to create a turnover and take the ball the other way. And while Tillman did a masterful job on Calvin Johnson earlier in the season, the Lions will do everything in their power to get him to 2000 yards receiving, as they have nothing else to play for. I expect they will take plenty of shots deep, especially since the Bears will have an inexperienced Anthony Walters playing deep at FS. The Bears are going to have to get pressure up front, with the return of Henry Melton and the resurgence of Julius Peppers. If the Lions drop back 50 times, the Bears need to have 5 sacks. I'd also like to see pressure on Stafford at least 30% of the time. So 15 times in 50 dropbacks, he needs to get hit or have a guy in his face. Offensively, I really like what I've seen from the hurry up offense from the Bears. While, they don't "hurry" as much as I like, they move the ball very well when they are up-tempo. I don't expect to see a ton of it this week as you want to keep the Lions offense off the field, but I'd love to see the Bears go no-huddle after 3-and-outs or very short drives in order to move the ball more consistently.
Last time the Bears were in this situation in Week 17, they lost at Houston, as the league's best WR at that time (Andre Johnson) had a field day against the Bears secondary. I'm hoping history doesn't repeat itself, and honestly, it shouldn't as Calvin is really good, but his team isn't. The Bears are going to be in for a hard-fought game from their division rivals, but they should be able to pull out a W. From there, it's on to the lockerroom to watch the Packers v. Vikings. If all goes right, my next post will be a game preview. If not, looks like it's draft season. I love the draft, but......GO BEARS!
This blog is solely used to provide both Steelers and Bears fans with a very realistic look at their teams upcoming possible draft picks.
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Week 16: Bears @ Arizona, Game Preview
So, yeah....that last game kinda sucked. On the positive side, I guess, is that Alshon Jeffery is going to be a really good WR once he learns how to be more subtle with his push-off. He does a good job getting off of press coverage and has really good acceleration. On the negative side....pretty much everything else.
Another game, another OL debacle. Gabe Carimi and James Brown each got benched at the guard positions. Roberto Garza committed a costly penalty on a would-be 3rd and 1. Not only a penalty, but a false start penalty......his 4TH of the season....AS A CENTER! That's gotta be hard to do. Oh and the 5-man OL gave up a sack on a 2-man pass rush late in the game. Granted, Cutler should have thrown the ball before he got sacked, but still, 5 on 2, the QB should never get touched, nevermind the fact that the line gave up a shared sack by BOTH players rushing the passer.
Another game, and Devin Hester still doesn't know what to do as a WR. In fact, no WR other than Marshall caught a pass on Sunday. None of the TEs even had a target, as they have generally been unworthy of throwing the ball to for 3 years anyway.
On defense, while Julius Peppers did show up a little, it was few and far between on the pass rush. With Melton out, the Bears got literally 0 pressure up the middle on Rodgers. The Melton injury, combined with McClellin missing the game, forced Idonije inside which left Peppers and Wootton out on the edge for way too many plays and they frankly could not bring pressure consistently. At the LB level, Lance Briggs was his typical amazing self. Charles Tillman also had a very solid game, even with allowing a TD, but that was an impossible ball to defend. But the other CBs struggled. Kelvin Hayden didn't do a good job of getting a jam on James Jones and he got beat pretty good a couple times. DJ Moore, frankly, played like a guy that has been inactive for most of the 2nd half of the season. Several technique issues that cannot happen against an offense like Green Bay's.
As for the Cardinals, right now, the only thing that will stop the Bears from winning this game is themselves. Arizona is a worse passing team than the bottom 5 Bears, and they are the worst rushing team in the NFL. If they have more than 250 yards against the Bears, they have failed as a defense. Be nice to get some guys back. Jennings, Melton, and McClellin are sorely missed. Arizona is a decent defensive team, but then again, everyone is against the Bears. This week, I expect the Bears to rely on the run game a lot and throw a lot of short, safe passes to anyone not named Hester or Davis. Think they'll do enough to win, but won't explode offensively or anything (going out on a limb here!). It would have been a ballsy move to follow the Ravens' example and fire Tice, while promoting Jeremy Bates to OC for the last 2 weeks. But the Bears are going to have to sink or swim with status quo. And as Brandon Marshall said, if things to get drastically better in a hurry for the Bears, people need to lose their jobs.
Speaking of losing jobs....the Bears are at an interesting spot. They will likely be favored in the last 2 road games, with a good shot to get to 10-6. A loss by the Giants (v. Balt, Phil) and Vikings (vs. Hou, GB) would get the Bears in the playoffs, if they win out. But the playoff berth is likely to be met by a trip to either Green Bay or San Francisco, 2 teams the Bears have shown they cannot compete with. Win, get in, pull an upset, get a shot at a vulnerable Atlanta team, and Lovie and most of his crew probably keep their jobs. Lose, miss the playoffs, and I think there will be major turnover on the coaching staff. On one hand, it's very intriguing to see where Emery would go for his next head coach. An offensive mind is really needed in this organization for the first time, well, ever. On the other hand, I could never root for the Bears to lose, and I actually do like Lovie Smith. I do wonder if maybe Lovie gets one more year with Bates being promoted and the offseason heavily focused on drastically improving the offense (have an offseason plan in the works, FYI). It may be for the best for the organization to finally get with the times on the offensive side of the ball. Cutler is in the last year of his deal, the defense is going to be even older next year, and you can't keep wasting the most offensive talent at QB and WR this organization has ever seen.
Another game, another OL debacle. Gabe Carimi and James Brown each got benched at the guard positions. Roberto Garza committed a costly penalty on a would-be 3rd and 1. Not only a penalty, but a false start penalty......his 4TH of the season....AS A CENTER! That's gotta be hard to do. Oh and the 5-man OL gave up a sack on a 2-man pass rush late in the game. Granted, Cutler should have thrown the ball before he got sacked, but still, 5 on 2, the QB should never get touched, nevermind the fact that the line gave up a shared sack by BOTH players rushing the passer.
Another game, and Devin Hester still doesn't know what to do as a WR. In fact, no WR other than Marshall caught a pass on Sunday. None of the TEs even had a target, as they have generally been unworthy of throwing the ball to for 3 years anyway.
On defense, while Julius Peppers did show up a little, it was few and far between on the pass rush. With Melton out, the Bears got literally 0 pressure up the middle on Rodgers. The Melton injury, combined with McClellin missing the game, forced Idonije inside which left Peppers and Wootton out on the edge for way too many plays and they frankly could not bring pressure consistently. At the LB level, Lance Briggs was his typical amazing self. Charles Tillman also had a very solid game, even with allowing a TD, but that was an impossible ball to defend. But the other CBs struggled. Kelvin Hayden didn't do a good job of getting a jam on James Jones and he got beat pretty good a couple times. DJ Moore, frankly, played like a guy that has been inactive for most of the 2nd half of the season. Several technique issues that cannot happen against an offense like Green Bay's.
As for the Cardinals, right now, the only thing that will stop the Bears from winning this game is themselves. Arizona is a worse passing team than the bottom 5 Bears, and they are the worst rushing team in the NFL. If they have more than 250 yards against the Bears, they have failed as a defense. Be nice to get some guys back. Jennings, Melton, and McClellin are sorely missed. Arizona is a decent defensive team, but then again, everyone is against the Bears. This week, I expect the Bears to rely on the run game a lot and throw a lot of short, safe passes to anyone not named Hester or Davis. Think they'll do enough to win, but won't explode offensively or anything (going out on a limb here!). It would have been a ballsy move to follow the Ravens' example and fire Tice, while promoting Jeremy Bates to OC for the last 2 weeks. But the Bears are going to have to sink or swim with status quo. And as Brandon Marshall said, if things to get drastically better in a hurry for the Bears, people need to lose their jobs.
Speaking of losing jobs....the Bears are at an interesting spot. They will likely be favored in the last 2 road games, with a good shot to get to 10-6. A loss by the Giants (v. Balt, Phil) and Vikings (vs. Hou, GB) would get the Bears in the playoffs, if they win out. But the playoff berth is likely to be met by a trip to either Green Bay or San Francisco, 2 teams the Bears have shown they cannot compete with. Win, get in, pull an upset, get a shot at a vulnerable Atlanta team, and Lovie and most of his crew probably keep their jobs. Lose, miss the playoffs, and I think there will be major turnover on the coaching staff. On one hand, it's very intriguing to see where Emery would go for his next head coach. An offensive mind is really needed in this organization for the first time, well, ever. On the other hand, I could never root for the Bears to lose, and I actually do like Lovie Smith. I do wonder if maybe Lovie gets one more year with Bates being promoted and the offseason heavily focused on drastically improving the offense (have an offseason plan in the works, FYI). It may be for the best for the organization to finally get with the times on the offensive side of the ball. Cutler is in the last year of his deal, the defense is going to be even older next year, and you can't keep wasting the most offensive talent at QB and WR this organization has ever seen.
Friday, December 14, 2012
Week 15- BEARS vs. Packers, Game Preview
I'm usually a pretty positive guy on here. But let's face it, the Bears are probably going to lose this game. The Packers are too good of a team that will have plenty of motivation on Sunday. And the Bears are a struggling offensive team with several key injuries on defense. After 51 points vs. Tennessee, the Bears have scored a total of 44 points in their last 4 losses. Only a 28-point "outburst" and a late score last week get this team to an average of 14.4 points in the 5 games since destroying the Titans. So, there's really no reason to expect the Bears to right the ship and score enough this week to beat a Packers team they haven't been able to beat very much recently.
On defense, the Bears will be without Tim Jennings and Henry Melton, 2 players having probowl seasons, in addition to the already ruled out Brian Urlacher. If that's not bad enough, Briggs, McClellin and Hayes have also missed practice time this week due to injuries. On offense, Earl Bennett is still out. Michael Bush may be a no-go again with sore ribs. And Jay Cutler has dual neck and knee injuries, though he is expected to play.
If there is any positive to take from the last 5 (soon to be 6 weeks) of the season, it's the hope that history repeats itself. Last year, the Giants started 6-2, before losing 5 of 6 games from weeks 10-15. The Giants then won 6 straight, must-win games on their way to hoisting the Lombardi Trophy. Like the Bears have/will, the Giants lost games against the NFL's elite during that stretch (SF, GB, NO), while also taking tough division losses to Washington and Philly. In 2010, our good friends in Green Bay also had their season come down to must wins in their final 2 regular season games just to get into the playoffs. The Packers blew out a conference foe in Week 16, followed by a hard-fought win vs. a division rival trying to play spoiler. If the Bears season is to end in the playoffs, the Bears will have to do similar by winning @ Arizona and then vs. a Lions team that would like nothing more than to keep the Bears at home with them. Also of similarity between the 2010 Packers and the 2012 Bears is the untimely injuries seemingly determined to end their seasons.
Much was made of the Packers having 14 players end the year on IR, but most of those injuries were relatively insignificant. The Pack had 15 weeks to replace Ryan Grant on a non-running football team. They did lose an offensive lineman, a couple defenders, and Jermichael Finley, but none of them were huge parts of what made them successful. The Bears may be in a similar situation with the most significant players on IR being Lance Louis and Robbie Gould. Both are injuries the Bears can overcome. But the Bears have also had key players such as Forte, Bennett, Jennings, Urlacher, and Jeffery miss multiple games (counting this coming week). In fact after Sunday, only 6 of the Bears 22 starters will have played in at least 1/2 of every game. The only star players that haven't missed at least 3 quarters of a game are Briggs (assuming he plays) and Marshall. In another bit of Pack/Bears parallel, the Packers also received a scare mid-to-late season when Aaron Rodgers went down with a concussion. That year, GB lost a close game to a good Detroit team by not being able to get the ball in the endzone without their QB. The week after, wasn't quite the disaster that the Bears trip to San Francisco was this year, but the Packers also lost to a very good team with their backup QB.
It is worth noting that the Bears did put up 438 yards of total offense last week, their 2nd highest total of the season. Also, worth noting is the fact that it would have been over 500 yards with a couple more scores if not for dropped passes by pretty much everybody. So, if you look at it as the offense starting to come alive, there is hope for this week and the rest of this season. Of course if you look at it as a lack of talent on the offensive side of the ball, then there isn't much hope. But even if the Bears lose this week, I'd like to think they can beat an Arizona team that hasn't won since September and a Lions team that should be just showing up just to get Calvin Johnson the receiving yards record. That would get them to 10 wins, and a good shot at the playoffs. Get in the playoffs, continue to build on something remotely close to 400 yards of total offense, and anything can happen with the way the Bears create turnovers.
On defense, the Bears will be without Tim Jennings and Henry Melton, 2 players having probowl seasons, in addition to the already ruled out Brian Urlacher. If that's not bad enough, Briggs, McClellin and Hayes have also missed practice time this week due to injuries. On offense, Earl Bennett is still out. Michael Bush may be a no-go again with sore ribs. And Jay Cutler has dual neck and knee injuries, though he is expected to play.
If there is any positive to take from the last 5 (soon to be 6 weeks) of the season, it's the hope that history repeats itself. Last year, the Giants started 6-2, before losing 5 of 6 games from weeks 10-15. The Giants then won 6 straight, must-win games on their way to hoisting the Lombardi Trophy. Like the Bears have/will, the Giants lost games against the NFL's elite during that stretch (SF, GB, NO), while also taking tough division losses to Washington and Philly. In 2010, our good friends in Green Bay also had their season come down to must wins in their final 2 regular season games just to get into the playoffs. The Packers blew out a conference foe in Week 16, followed by a hard-fought win vs. a division rival trying to play spoiler. If the Bears season is to end in the playoffs, the Bears will have to do similar by winning @ Arizona and then vs. a Lions team that would like nothing more than to keep the Bears at home with them. Also of similarity between the 2010 Packers and the 2012 Bears is the untimely injuries seemingly determined to end their seasons.
Much was made of the Packers having 14 players end the year on IR, but most of those injuries were relatively insignificant. The Pack had 15 weeks to replace Ryan Grant on a non-running football team. They did lose an offensive lineman, a couple defenders, and Jermichael Finley, but none of them were huge parts of what made them successful. The Bears may be in a similar situation with the most significant players on IR being Lance Louis and Robbie Gould. Both are injuries the Bears can overcome. But the Bears have also had key players such as Forte, Bennett, Jennings, Urlacher, and Jeffery miss multiple games (counting this coming week). In fact after Sunday, only 6 of the Bears 22 starters will have played in at least 1/2 of every game. The only star players that haven't missed at least 3 quarters of a game are Briggs (assuming he plays) and Marshall. In another bit of Pack/Bears parallel, the Packers also received a scare mid-to-late season when Aaron Rodgers went down with a concussion. That year, GB lost a close game to a good Detroit team by not being able to get the ball in the endzone without their QB. The week after, wasn't quite the disaster that the Bears trip to San Francisco was this year, but the Packers also lost to a very good team with their backup QB.
It is worth noting that the Bears did put up 438 yards of total offense last week, their 2nd highest total of the season. Also, worth noting is the fact that it would have been over 500 yards with a couple more scores if not for dropped passes by pretty much everybody. So, if you look at it as the offense starting to come alive, there is hope for this week and the rest of this season. Of course if you look at it as a lack of talent on the offensive side of the ball, then there isn't much hope. But even if the Bears lose this week, I'd like to think they can beat an Arizona team that hasn't won since September and a Lions team that should be just showing up just to get Calvin Johnson the receiving yards record. That would get them to 10 wins, and a good shot at the playoffs. Get in the playoffs, continue to build on something remotely close to 400 yards of total offense, and anything can happen with the way the Bears create turnovers.
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Week 14- BEARS @ Vikings, Game Preview
The Bears went 3-1 in the 1st quarter of the season. 4-0 in the 2nd quarter. Just finished a troubling 1-3 in the 3rd quarter. Now starts the 4th quarter of the season. The Bears were once a 7-1 team, thought of as possibly the best team in the league had they beat a 7-1 Houston team at home. But losses in 3 out of 4 games and injuries starting to mount has Bears Nation concerned. That being said, most Bears fans know that this team has a pretty good shot at making the playoffs. The question most of us have though, "what good is it going to do if the Bears can't beat a good team"? All 4 of the Bears losses have come to teams currently in the playoffs (if the season ended). And the only of the 8 wins against a "good" team was at home in Andrew Luck's NFL debut with the Colts in Week 1. But have no fear Bears fans! I will try to put your wandering minds at ease!
Breaking down the Bears 4 losses, they may not be as bad as they seem on paper. As I mentioned, all 4 losses were to teams that are likely playoff participants. However, the 1st loss was on a short week on the road in Green Bay. Granted it sucks to lose to the Packers at any time, but that loss was on the road, against a division rival, on a short week. But not just any short week, it was Week 2. Four days after the season opener. If you throw in the fact that many Bears starters either didn't play or played very sparingly in Week 2 of the preseason, and absolutely NONE of them played in Week 4 of the preseason....you're talking about a team that played half a game together, had essentially 2 weeks off, then had to play 2 games in a span of 4 days. While the Packers had to do the same, it's a lot easier to deal with when you don't have to travel for either of those games. The next 2 losses were a close one with Cutler missing 1/2 the game, and a blowout with Cutler missing all the game. That leads me to last Sunday.
While the Bears did lose the game vs. the Seahawks, there were some positives that came out of it. The Bears are a different team without Cutler, and that team ain't pretty. But the last 2 weeks, the offense has really shown signs of putting it together. The Cutler led Bears offense has gone 17-31 on 3rd downs since he's come back from the concussion. That number is even skewed to the lower end by Mike Tice essentially giving up on a handful of 3rd downs with late leads. The Bears moved the ball to the tune of 7.16 yards per play on Sunday, and even taking out the desperation bomb to Marshall, that number would still be over 7...which is a pretty good number. The Bears put up 358 yards of total offense, which isn't an astounding number, but has been a magic number when it comes to the Bears. When Cutler has led the offense to over 350 total yards, the team is 12-2 and averaging over 26 points per game (that's with taking out defensive scores too). Despite 2 injuries and a walkout, the Bears OL has been impressive in pass protection also the last 2 weeks. Cutler has been sacked just 1 time each of the last 2 games. And even those sacks came on a Cutler dropped shotgun snap on Sunday and him tripping over his center the week before. Tice has done a decent job the last 2 weeks of mixing in short, intermediate and long drops. He's moved the pocket. He's put Marshall in the slot often and run crossing routes to get guys open. Bennett, Rodriguez and Forte have gotten involved more in the passing game. Sunday was especially impressive considering the Bears were down to Marshall and their #5 and 6 WRs for half the game, against maybe the best secondary in the league. The Bears offense should be getting Jeffery back this week, followed by hopefully Bennett and Hester by next week at the latest. Should only go up from here on offense, especially now that the big defensive tests are over......for now.
Did I give you a ray of hope yet? Well, now I gotta call it how I see it on the other side of the ball. The last 4 weeks the Bears defense has been very lackluster. Granted, they've only given up 321 yards per game over the last 4 (even with a 450 yard output allowed Sunday), but they have been exposed. Houston opened up a huge can of worms with their stretch run plays. This is the play that is a long-slow developing handoff where the OL all takes hard slants to the play side, blocking anyone who tries to cross their face. Sometimes there are crackback blocks, TEs in motion or pulling weakside linemen. Arian Foster was able to get a couple of big runs and Gore, Peterson and Lynch have now followed suit. The Bears OF old would have little trouble stopping this play, but now the Bears ARE old at some key spots. A young Brian Urlacher would have been able to scrape to the outside and beat the slanting/pulling OL to the punch and stop the RB for minimal gain. And he did do that on occasion the last 4 weeks, but he typically cheated to the outside to do so. The Bears have also been hurt a couple times because of the cheating outside and are susceptible to the cutback. But Urlacher doesn't get all the blame here. The Bears DEs have done a horrific job holding the edge. Julius Peppers and Israel Idonije have allowed OTs to block them away from the edge to allow RBs the corner to pick up positive yardage way too often. Russell Wilson joined into the act Sunday as the Bears DEs consistently lost contain and he picked up any 3rd down he needed with his legs. The coverage also suffered Sunday as Wilson kept plays alive and the CBs couldn't stay with the Seahawks speedy WRs for that long. With Urlacher now out for possibly 3 weeks, I'm interested to see how Nick Roach handles this at the Mike LB position. He really looked good in the preseason and a good end to this season could mean he takes over the job full-time in 2013. Minnesota will definitely test him this week with Peterson and with Kyle Rudolph the TE in the middle of the field.
But basically, this Bears D has become entirely dependent on getting turnovers. It feels like when they don't get a turnover, they really don't know what to do. Of course, the Bears D has gotten multiple turnovers in all but 2 games so far. But the 2 games they didn't, the 49ers dominated them and the Seahawks beat them with TD scoring drives of 94, 97, and 80 in OT. They have won every game that they've forced at least 2 turnovers, other than when they've given up 4 TOs on offense themselves.
Going forward, I can see the Bears offense continuing to get better. Cutler-to-Marshall is as good as any QB/WR combo in the league. But as the Bears get some guys healthy and get more guys involved, it's only going to make them more dangerous, with 350 yards as the benchmark. Defensively, turnovers may not be as easy to come by once they get the better teams in the playoffs (if they make it there). But it has been the one phase of the Lovie Smith era that has been consistent. Don't discount this team's chances to move the ball with a healthy offense and to take the ball away with an opportunistic defense. As for this week's game, I expect more of the same from 2 weeks ago. I think the offense will move the ball, and put up points. I think the defense will struggle some against Peterson, but don't feel Christian Ponder is good enough to beat them with his arm. And while he is mobile, he's not Russell Wilson back there, so he shouldn't be able to beat them with his legs either.
Breaking down the Bears 4 losses, they may not be as bad as they seem on paper. As I mentioned, all 4 losses were to teams that are likely playoff participants. However, the 1st loss was on a short week on the road in Green Bay. Granted it sucks to lose to the Packers at any time, but that loss was on the road, against a division rival, on a short week. But not just any short week, it was Week 2. Four days after the season opener. If you throw in the fact that many Bears starters either didn't play or played very sparingly in Week 2 of the preseason, and absolutely NONE of them played in Week 4 of the preseason....you're talking about a team that played half a game together, had essentially 2 weeks off, then had to play 2 games in a span of 4 days. While the Packers had to do the same, it's a lot easier to deal with when you don't have to travel for either of those games. The next 2 losses were a close one with Cutler missing 1/2 the game, and a blowout with Cutler missing all the game. That leads me to last Sunday.
While the Bears did lose the game vs. the Seahawks, there were some positives that came out of it. The Bears are a different team without Cutler, and that team ain't pretty. But the last 2 weeks, the offense has really shown signs of putting it together. The Cutler led Bears offense has gone 17-31 on 3rd downs since he's come back from the concussion. That number is even skewed to the lower end by Mike Tice essentially giving up on a handful of 3rd downs with late leads. The Bears moved the ball to the tune of 7.16 yards per play on Sunday, and even taking out the desperation bomb to Marshall, that number would still be over 7...which is a pretty good number. The Bears put up 358 yards of total offense, which isn't an astounding number, but has been a magic number when it comes to the Bears. When Cutler has led the offense to over 350 total yards, the team is 12-2 and averaging over 26 points per game (that's with taking out defensive scores too). Despite 2 injuries and a walkout, the Bears OL has been impressive in pass protection also the last 2 weeks. Cutler has been sacked just 1 time each of the last 2 games. And even those sacks came on a Cutler dropped shotgun snap on Sunday and him tripping over his center the week before. Tice has done a decent job the last 2 weeks of mixing in short, intermediate and long drops. He's moved the pocket. He's put Marshall in the slot often and run crossing routes to get guys open. Bennett, Rodriguez and Forte have gotten involved more in the passing game. Sunday was especially impressive considering the Bears were down to Marshall and their #5 and 6 WRs for half the game, against maybe the best secondary in the league. The Bears offense should be getting Jeffery back this week, followed by hopefully Bennett and Hester by next week at the latest. Should only go up from here on offense, especially now that the big defensive tests are over......for now.
Did I give you a ray of hope yet? Well, now I gotta call it how I see it on the other side of the ball. The last 4 weeks the Bears defense has been very lackluster. Granted, they've only given up 321 yards per game over the last 4 (even with a 450 yard output allowed Sunday), but they have been exposed. Houston opened up a huge can of worms with their stretch run plays. This is the play that is a long-slow developing handoff where the OL all takes hard slants to the play side, blocking anyone who tries to cross their face. Sometimes there are crackback blocks, TEs in motion or pulling weakside linemen. Arian Foster was able to get a couple of big runs and Gore, Peterson and Lynch have now followed suit. The Bears OF old would have little trouble stopping this play, but now the Bears ARE old at some key spots. A young Brian Urlacher would have been able to scrape to the outside and beat the slanting/pulling OL to the punch and stop the RB for minimal gain. And he did do that on occasion the last 4 weeks, but he typically cheated to the outside to do so. The Bears have also been hurt a couple times because of the cheating outside and are susceptible to the cutback. But Urlacher doesn't get all the blame here. The Bears DEs have done a horrific job holding the edge. Julius Peppers and Israel Idonije have allowed OTs to block them away from the edge to allow RBs the corner to pick up positive yardage way too often. Russell Wilson joined into the act Sunday as the Bears DEs consistently lost contain and he picked up any 3rd down he needed with his legs. The coverage also suffered Sunday as Wilson kept plays alive and the CBs couldn't stay with the Seahawks speedy WRs for that long. With Urlacher now out for possibly 3 weeks, I'm interested to see how Nick Roach handles this at the Mike LB position. He really looked good in the preseason and a good end to this season could mean he takes over the job full-time in 2013. Minnesota will definitely test him this week with Peterson and with Kyle Rudolph the TE in the middle of the field.
But basically, this Bears D has become entirely dependent on getting turnovers. It feels like when they don't get a turnover, they really don't know what to do. Of course, the Bears D has gotten multiple turnovers in all but 2 games so far. But the 2 games they didn't, the 49ers dominated them and the Seahawks beat them with TD scoring drives of 94, 97, and 80 in OT. They have won every game that they've forced at least 2 turnovers, other than when they've given up 4 TOs on offense themselves.
Going forward, I can see the Bears offense continuing to get better. Cutler-to-Marshall is as good as any QB/WR combo in the league. But as the Bears get some guys healthy and get more guys involved, it's only going to make them more dangerous, with 350 yards as the benchmark. Defensively, turnovers may not be as easy to come by once they get the better teams in the playoffs (if they make it there). But it has been the one phase of the Lovie Smith era that has been consistent. Don't discount this team's chances to move the ball with a healthy offense and to take the ball away with an opportunistic defense. As for this week's game, I expect more of the same from 2 weeks ago. I think the offense will move the ball, and put up points. I think the defense will struggle some against Peterson, but don't feel Christian Ponder is good enough to beat them with his arm. And while he is mobile, he's not Russell Wilson back there, so he shouldn't be able to beat them with his legs either.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)