Quick Comments: Vikings at Bears

Defense

  1. Henry Melton kiked off a reasonably good game for the defensive line with a sack right off the bat.
  2. In a change from recent games, the Bears played seven in box on first down even when the Vikings were in running formations.
  3. The Vikings do like to run on first down but, despite early predictions last week, the Vikings looked like they ran a more or less balanced offense early. They eventually figured it out, though. They began running more in the second quarter and doing it more effectively as the Bears flat out refused to bring an eighth man down into the box. Fortunately the Vikings fell far enough behind to where it limited thier opportunities to take advantage.
  4. Quarterback Christian Ponder looks like a good smart quarterback to me. I didn’t see many bad decisions and he was under pressure from a nice effort from the Bears defensive line for much of the game.
  5. I was kind of surprised that the Vikings were working Charles Tillman early before he was injured.
  6. The Vikings made good use of tight end Kyle Rudolph as he repeatedly burned the Bears. I’m thinking they saw what the 49ers did last week. The Bears are going to need to come up with an answer for that.
  7. Its worth noting that the tacking was better today.

Offense

  1. First series – fumble Matt Forte. Second series, Cuter trips and J’Marcus Webb almost gets him killed by not adjusting on a line stunt by Everson Griffen. Another nice start for the Bears offense.
  2. I like the way that quarterback Jay Cutler distributed the ball to all of the receivers. In all of the hand-wringing over the Vikings defensive line last week, no one mentioned the miserable defensive backfield.
  3. Cutler had a really good game. He was accurate, fitting the ball into some tight places, and he used his mobility well to bail out of the pocket and avoid pressure.
  4. I won’t say it was a great game for the offensive line but it was, of course, considerably better. There was pressure from the Vikings defensive line but most of the time it wasn’t anything Cutler couldn’t handle. Jonathan Scott looks like an upgrade over Gabe Carimi.
  5. Unbelievable catch by Matt Spaeth for a touchdown in the second quarter.
  6. Nice use of the clock in the 2 minute offense at the end of the half. Despite the fact that the kick was blocked, the team got Robbie Gould a lot closer for a field goal in the last minute of play.
  7. I haven’t said it lately but Brandon Marshall is unbelievable. The catches he makes with guys literally hanging all over him never cease to amaze me.

Miscellaneous

  1. It wasn’t thier best game but Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston, Tony Siragusa were still better than the average announcing team you are going to see. I particularly liked it when Johnston pointed out that Lance Louis was pulling and should lead the Vkings to the ball.
  2. Kellen Davis dropped two and Marshall had a drop. Marshall’s drops were costly as one was intercepted and the other should have been a touchdown. But the most damaging drop came in the third quarter when the Vikings Jarius Wright was wide open in the endzone and dropped the ball ultmately costing the Vikings seven badly needed points as they failed to score on the possession.
  3. I agree with Siragusa. A quarterback, in this case Cutler, should never get a taunting penalty.
  4. The game was notable for its blocked field goals as each team managed to get one. Julius Peppers just keeps them coming.
  5. Unlike recent games, the turnovers were damaging today as a fumble and an interception cost the Bears 10 points and and two fumbles and an interception cost the Vikings 14. The Cutler interception really should have been caught be Brandon Marshall.
  6. The Bears showed some intestinal fortitude and came back to play well after a miserable game in San Francisco. They took care of business, beating a team that they were decidedly superior to at home. Perhaps the bigger story will be the Bears players lost to injury as some important men left the field today (Devin Hester, Tillman, Chris Spencer, Lance Lewis and Forte). They’re goiing to be needed as the schedule continues to get tougher.

Quick Game Comments: Bears at 49ers

Defense

  1. The 49ers came ready to play and they came out going at a different speed than the Bears. Lots of sharp passes that were thrown on time.
  2. The 49ers came out in running formations, drawing the Bears into stacking the line and playing man-to-man coverage. They then proceeded to shred the Bears defensive backfield. The Bears had no one to cover Vernon Davis. In truth, they had no one to cover anyone.
  3. Collin Kaepernick looked very accurate. Give credit to Jim Harbaugh for preparing yet another quarterback to play at the top of his game.
  4. The Bears defensive line occasionally got some penetration but generally speaking, they were getting pushed around. YOu aren’t going to win many football games if you can’t consistently win the line of scrimmage.
  5. The 49ers established the run and worked the play action very well.
  6. The Bears switched to more zone in the second quarter in the hopes that it would stop the bleeding. They also tried to do some blitzing with limited success.
  7. There were a fair number of missed tackles out there on the Bears part. That needs to be cleaned up.

Offense

  1. The Bears came out running effectively on first down. It looked to me like the 49ers have decided that Brandon Marshall wasn’t going to beat them. They were doubling him and simply matching up in single coverage with everyone else.
  2. Jay Cutler might have thrown into double coverage to Marshall anyway but it was evident that Jason Campbell is a different kind of quarterback. He tried to hit other receivers instead. Of course, he had little success since most of those guys struggle to get open.
  3. It didn’t help that the Campbell is a timing quarterback. There wasn’t much of that going on. When he wasn’t under seige from the pass rush, wide receivers like Devin Hester were getting knocked off their routes.
  4. Like many fans I had hoped (and still hope) that Alshon Jeffery will be the guy to complement Marshall. But it wasn’t meant to be tonight as he had a pedestrian game. Here’s hoping his knee injury isn’t serious.
  5. Eventually the 49ers caught on and started playing Forte and stopping the run.
  6. The Bears offensive line really got pushed up front. Both ofensive tackles got thoroughly dominated. Color man Jon Grudent thought there were a number of missed assignments inside as well. Like the 49er offense, the 49er defense just seemed to be playing at a different speed compared to the Bears.
  7. On a related note, kind of wondering what happened to all of the max protection tonight. Seemed like the Bears left those tackles exposed an awful lot.
  8. I think the all time low for the night was a three man 49er rush which resulted in a near sack of Campbell in the endzone in the fourth quarter (it was ruled a fumble with Chilo Rachal recovering in the endzone). Three man rush.
  9. Hey, now. 7:27 left in the third quarter and the screen pass finally makes its appearance. A little more of that might help in the future against these aggressive defenses.
  10. Campbell took a pretty good hit in the third quarter and he was shaking his head. He was evidently having trouble clearing it. I was left wondering if he wasn’t playing with a concussion the rest of the time he was in. The men responsible for protecting him should really be ashamed at the beating he took.

Miscellaneous

  1. Mike Tirico was his usual professional self. Jon Gruden proved insightful as always. Yet another very good announcing crew for the Bears. Now that five of thier prime time games are gone, we might be seeing more of the B teams but for now its hard to complain about the announcing teams the Bears have drawn.
  2. Drops were not a problem on either side.
  3. There weren’t an inordinant number of penalties and very few of them had a big impact.
  4. Blake Costanzo distinguished himself in his old home with a holding call. In fairness he made a nice play on kick coverage near the end of the third quarter. I note that the 49ers didn’t opt for the somewhat stupid decision to pooch kick to keep Devin Hester from running the ball back. They did a reasonable job of neutralizing him in more conventional ways.
  5. the Bears didn’t get many turnonvers, something head coach Lovie Smith wn’t be pleased about. Campbell turned the ball over but I cant say it made a difference this game as the offense wasn’t moving the ball anyway.
  6. Once again, the Bears simply got beat by a better team. This time it was one that played not just well, but really outstanding. The Bears, on the other hand, were flat.They’ve played probably the best two teams in football the last two weeks and certainly they won’t see any teams this good again all year during the regular season.

    With two road games in domes and games against the Packers and Seahawks coming up, its critical that the Bears rally and win against a beatable Minnesota team at home next week. Due to inflated expectations, many fans are, I know, disappointed that the team didn’t put up a better showing against the Texans and 49ers. But I would contend that this week, more than the last two, is when we find out what they’re really made of.

Quick Game Comments: Texans at Bears

Defense

  1. Houston came out showing run to draw an eighth guy into the box to weaken the coverage, then was passing.
  2. Matt Schaub came out throwing high but seemed to settle down.
  3. Major Wright looked like he came to play with some nice tackles, especially early.
  4. Color man Cris Collinsworth did a good job of pointing out early that the Bears were trying to set the edge to turn Arian Foster inside. The Packers beat the Texans by consistently doing exactly that.
  5. Foster is deceptively strong and he’s particularly good at using it to break tackles.
  6. Andre Johnson is one of the best wide receivers in the league, raking in my mind with Calvin Johnson when he’s healthy. He certainly show some skills tonight.
  7. Despite knowing that the Texans were going to do it, the Bears still got caught over pursuing to the ball and some big holes opened up in the run game in the first half because of it. They tightened things up later in the game.
  8. I thought the defensive effort this game was particularly good overall. It seemed to me like almost everyone was taking advantage of their opportunities and making plays.

Offense

  1. Brad Biggs pointed out on Twitter early in the game that the Bears were double teaming J.J. Watt with Gabe Carimi and reserve tackle Jonathan Scott.
  2. I’m thinking Jay Cutler was told that when the Texans rushed three that he should look to run through one of the resulting holes. Sounded like a good plan.
  3. The Bears wide receivers really struggled to get open against the Houston defensive backs, including Brandon Marshall who had to fight for every reception. Jonathan Joseph is about as good a cover corner as anyone I’ve seen this year and certainly better than anyone the Bears have seen this year.
  4. The Bears were 1-4 on third down and 0-1 on fourth down in the first half.
  5. Miserable game for Kellen Davis (again). You name it, he struggled to do it.
  6. Despite the fact that the Bears ran out of the double tightend formation and gave them a lot of help most of the game, I have to give the offensive line credit. I thought they did a good job of protecting Cutler and Jason Campbell. And there were times when the running game worked OK as the line pushed around the Houston front. But Houston eventually shut it down and dared them to throw to receivers who couldn’t get open.

Miscellaneous

  1. I’ve been accused repeatedly of being too soft on the announcing teams that the Bears have gotten this year. The problem is that they are drawing national games with the best commentators. This game was no different as Al Michaels is always clear, Michelle Tafoya is as competent as any sideline reporter you’ll find and Cris Collinsworth, for my money, is the best color man in the business. Collinsworth is particularly adept at pointing out little things a fan might miss, like facts about the coverage that can’t be seen on television. He made another good point when he highlighted the fact that the Bears defensive ends were taking an inside track to penetrate against the Houston offensive tackles and set the edge. The Houston offensive tackles were jumping outside under the assumption that was where the Bears ends would go.
  2. Drops finally reared their ugly head this game for the Bears. Brandon Marshall had an awful one in the endzone in the second quarter. Kellen Davis and Matt Forte each had drops as well.
  3. The good news is that the recent penchant that the Bears have had for committing a lot of penalties didn’t appear. Other than a couple holding calls on Chilo Rachal, the game was relatively clean for the Bears.
  4. Special teams were nondescript but its hard to complain when the other team is afraid to kick the ball deep. The Bears had good field position. The missed Robbie Gould field goal in the fourth quarter hurt.
  5. I don’t think I have to say much about turnovers, do I? From the first play of the game where Kellen Davis gave away a fumble it was a travesty. Awfully hard to win football games that way.
  6. Nice to see Virginia McCaskey looking and sounding so good on her Veterans Day commercial.
  7. The easiest thing to do here would be to talk about how turnovers are death, blah, blah, blah but I think we all know that. Instead I’d like to express how much I thoroughly enjoyed this game. I understand how odd that sounds after a Bears loss but, with the exception of the turnovers, the team met of exceeded my expectations in most ways. Even the Bears offensive line really did a reasonable job all things considered. The Bears defense went up against what I thought was a pretty good offense that played reasonably well and showed their metal.I thought this was a good, physical, competitive hard fought game that any fan should appreciate.

Quick Game Comments: Bears at Titans

Defense

  1. Color man Brian Billick made the comment that the Bears usually are stopping the run with only seven in the box. That really isn’t the whole truth. The Bears have done an excellent job of calling the correct plays on defense. We’ve heard color men for at least a couple weeks say that its “almost like the Bears know the other team’s plays”. So what they do is show seven men, then crash an eighth into the box at the last second. It really is uncanny how often they do it.
  2. The Bears were getting good pressure from the front four on Titans quarterback Matt Hasselbeck.
  3. The Bears linebackers were frequently pressing and blitzing the A-gaps. I’m not so sure that they weren’t actually doing it in an effort to stop the run up the middle.
  4. I don’t think I have to say that it was a good defensive game overall. Its hard to complain but the defense did allow the Titans to occasionally get some big chunks of yards on some long throws including the Titans third quarter touchdown. I know it was with a bunch of back ups in but the big run by Chris Johnson in the fourth quarter also sticks out. At that point in the game you’d think those things would be what you’d be guarding against.

Offense

  1. Some good blocking by Brandon Marshall down field this game.
  2. Cutler wasn’t really very accurate this game. Part of that is because he had a lot of defensive pressure on him for some good chunks of the game. Once again his best throws went to Marshall. Its as if the quality of his throws are directly related to his confidence in the receiver.
  3. Cutler seemed to be making a conscious effort to connect with Earl Bennett and Devin Hester but they were having a tough time of it, especially in the first half. Once again, Brandon Marshall and Matt Forte seem to be the only two biggest reasons the offense moves the ball. They were certainly enough this game.
  4. Nice run by Forte on his first quarter touchdown. He kept keeping his legs churning until the rest of the team could get behind him to push him in. The Bears were very aware of their surroundings and knew to look and do that. I think that’s probably the result of good coaching.
  5. Cutler’s mobility is such a gift. It was very evident on the offense’s second touchdown on the pass to Brandon Marshall when he bought time by getting out of the pocket and throwing on the run. Cutler is at his worst against disciplined defenses that don’t allow gaps for him to slip through. This Titans defense is not one of them.
  6. Kellen Davis just cannot seem to put two good games together. He looked lost blocking out there at times.
  7. Some good run blocking this game. With the Bears so far ahead, the Titans had to know the Bears were going to run the ball but Matt Forte seemed to run wild anyway.

Miscellaneous

  1. Thom Brennaman did his usual, professional job. Laura Okmin’s question for Urlacher was really inane but I’ll admit that its probably what the network thinks most fans want to hear. The network did try to make a bit of a theme out of comparing the current defense to the ’85 defense with a bunch of graphics and the occasional comment. Brian Billick was really good. For instance, he had a number of nice comments like the one right before the big return by Devin Hester in the first quarter. He pointed out that the return was on because the Bears were doubling both gunners on the outside.
  2. I thought both teams did a nice job of catching the ball today. There were very few drops.
  3. Penalties were another matter. There was a holding call on Kellen Davis that put the Bears in a hole right after they got a turnover. That eventually set up yet another third and long and a punt. There were a number of holding calls and an illegal hands to the face in the endzone by J’Marcus Webb that resulted in the safety. The Titans weren’t a lot better with a couple illegal formation penalties and an illegal block in the back that nullified a nice return.
  4. Beautiful block for a touchdown by Sherrick McManis. Which was, by the way, particularly well broken down by Billick. A nice return by Devin Hester set up a touchdown.
  5. Turnovers were, of course, the story of the game. The Bears ability to force fumbles, especially Charles Tillman, is amazing. Brian Urlacher doesn’t run those pick sixes back like he used to but he still got the job done. On the down side we had another Cutler fumble just before half time. I don’t know what that play was but guard Chilo Rachal let his guy go and went one way and Cutler rolled the other.
  6. The Bears once again traveled well as you could clearly hear the Bears fans on television throughout the game. Kudos.
  7. I’ve never had so little to say about a football game in my life. It was an explosive combination of the Titans handing the game to the Bears and the Bears being so good at forcing turnovers. I was ready to move on to next week midway through the second quarter.

 

Quick Comments: Panthers at Bears

Defense

  1. The Bears came out with seven in the box but they were mixing it up well. Occasionally they were bring Major Write up and they did blitz on occasion.
  2. It was fairly obvious that Steve Smith was a major focal point. Tim Jennings got the assignment and he did his best. But Smith isn’t Calvin Johnson and you aren’t going to be able to completely shut him down. At least it kept Jennings around the ball for another pick six at a crucial time.
  3. I give the Bears credit in that in the first half they generally rushed Cam Newton and got pressure on him while, at the same time, doing it with discipline to limit his running. Like Smith, you aren’t ever going to shut this down completely.
  4. I thought the Bears were shutting down the run well pretty well in the first quarter but it opened up in the second for Carolina. That’s because the Carolina receivers are were getting open. Cam Newton simply wasn’t looking at them enough at the time as far as I could tell as he concentrated a lot on Smith. He looked like he came out in the second half and made the adjustment.
  5. We had read that Newton’s accuracy was suffering this year and the first half was no different. He was way off on some throws and started the game throwing behind everyone.
  6. I noticed that Nate Collins got some playing time at nose guard. I can’t say his performance was notable in the first half.
  7. I see that Greg Olson’s blocking hasn’t improved. He completely wiffed on Shea McClellin as he got a sack in the first half.
  8. Not a particularly good game for Chris Conte. He looked like he was playing too much out of control. As pointed out by color man Daryl Johnston, was Chris Conte out of position on a long, long reception in the first half.

Offense

  1. I thought the Bears ran a good mix of run/pass. Too bad they didn’t execute better in the first half.
  2. Bears were really running well in the first half. They were mostly attacking the edges though their first half touchdown was up the middle.
  3. On a related note, it looked to me like they ran a lot of double TE.
  4. Talk about protection issues. They had them for most of the game. The offensive line really struggled this game. I thought Chilo Rachal was having a particularly hard time at left guard.
  5. One of the first sacks came with an empty backfield. How you can do that with Forte running wild at the time?
  6. The plan for Carolina was obviously to take away Brandon Marshall and all things considered they did limit him. As we all know would happen should that ever be the case, they covered the other receivers easily. Cutler frequently dropped back, took a look for the pass he was looking for, didn’t find it, then started moving but by then there was nowhere to go.
  7. Once the Panthers realized their corners had the Bears wide receivers well in hand, they started to bring an extra guy up and blitzing. They definitely started keying on Forte.
  8. Cutler didn’t show any obvious signs of his injured ribs being a problem.
  9. It was nice to see Kellen Davis come alive with a good touchdown catch. It was also nice to see Cutler and the offense in general come through with it with the team down.

Miscellaneous

  1. I thought this was kind of a nondescript performance from announcers Kenny Albert, Johnston, and Tony Siragusa. I thought maybe Johnston and Siragusa were picking on Newton a bit when he gave him a hard time for not jogging over to Lewis Murphy after he recovered his fumble in the endzone.
  2. How did everyone like this exchange in the first half? “What’s going on down there, Tony? Everything’s good down here, Kenny.”
  3. The Bears dropped balls all over the field. Matt Spaeth had a bad one at the end of the first half. Hester had a bad one in the third quarter that basically stalled a drive.
  4. The referees are still carpeting Soldier Field with Bear penalty flags. They were putting themselves in a hole and letting Carolina off the hook with then continually.
  5. I thought the Panthers were over doing it with the pooch kickoffs to keep Hester from running with the ball. They constantly gave the Bears great field position with Hester in a slump. A horrible punt gave the Bears the field position to drive and score their second touchdown. For the Bears, you know things are bad when Robbie Gould is missing 33 yard field goals.
  6. Turnovers. For Carolina they giveth and they taketh away..
  7. Take final thought on Lions game. Subtract the critical comments on the Lions and a little of the enthusiasm for the Bear defense.

Quick Game Comments: Lions at Bears

Defense

  1. As color man Jon Gruden was quick to point out, the Bears came out playing lots of cover two, almost certainly to try to limit wide receiver Calvin Johnson.
  2. Everyone, including Gruden, knew that the Lions were in a situation where they had to run. And they did.
  3. The Bears did a good job of stopping the run. This was due in part to stout defensive line play, good reaction by the linebackers and some alert play calling by defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli as he snuck a safety into the box and/or had him crashing the run when they read running play.
  4. The Bears also had a bout or two of blitzing. I think it was as much to keep the Lions off balance as anything but it worked.
  5. I can’t say that the defensive line got consistent pressure on quarterback Matthew Stafford though they had their moments.
  6. Stafford was not particularly accurate and, in fact, I think he got worse as the game wore on. He was overthrowing the deep ball in particular.

Offense

  1. As he said he was going to do during the bye week, offensive coordinator Mike Tice came out determined to run the football and maintain balance in the offense.
  2. The Lions were also sneaking a safety into box on occasion. They played the run all the way on many occasions which made me think that the play action pass should haver worked better than it did.
  3. It was a bit of a rough game for the tight ends but Kyle Adams made a good block as a full back on the long Forte run that set up the touchdown in the first half.
  4. Nice job of rolling out Jay Cutler on the first half touchdown pass. It seems its said every week but the Bears really need to do that more.
  5. Jay Cutler was a bit inconsistent in the first half. A lot of the problems connecting had more to do with dropped passes but I thought he had a particular problem throwing accurately to Devin Hester. He doesn’t seem to have an issue with the larger Brandon Marshall, who he knows can fight for the ball. But I wonder if he isn’t being extra careful to try to throw the ball where it can’t be intercepted when he’s throwing to Hester. In fairness Cutler connected with Hester more in the fourth quarter.
  6. Two time outs early in the game? What was going on?
  7. Once again I note that Jay Cutler did a lot of serious damage with his legs.
  8. I thought there were some serious breakdowns in pass protection. Lance Lewis had having a tough game, for example, with a false start penalty and with giving up the Ndamukong Suh sack in the first half. Gabe Carimi had yet another rough night.
  9. Matt Forte was once again really running well. He has great patience and vision.
  10. I really like the way Mike Tice started calling some misdirection plays to try to use the Lions aggressiveness against them. Really good thinking there.
  11. Some bad Lions tackling out there.

Miscellaneous

    1. I know a lot of people don’t like Gruden but I usually do. He had what I would call an unspectacular night tonight but he did point out early and often that the Lions needed to have success running the ball and that was really part of the story for the offensively. He also made a good point early about the Bears using “creative chip protection”. Mike Tirico was solid.
    2. It was a really sloppy game with the dropped passes on both sides. The Bears tight ends had a rough night with both Matt Spaeth and Kellen Davis dropping balls. Matt Forte and Devin Hester had a drops as well. But the Lions are the ones who really hurt themselves with drops by Johnson and Nate Burleson at critical times.
    3. It was also a sloppy half for penalties. Gabe Carimi got caught holding twice. Lance Lewis had a false start. Chilo Rachel got an unsportsman-like conduct penalty. Not good.
    4. The Bears had some good special teams and spent a good part of the first quarter enjoying good field position. Of course the defensive stops had something ot do with that as well. On the other hand they had a blocked field goal and and frequent penalties. Detroit’s special teams continued to have their share of problems as the best play Stefan Logan made all night was when he let a kickoff sail out of bounds over his head rather than trying to catch it.
    5. Terrible, awful, damaging turnovers by Detroit as they had two critical fumbles, one on the goal line.
    6. First of all, hats off to the Bears defense who once again did an outstanding job. They were disciplined. They were patient. They tackled well. They continue to be the strength of the team.

Having said that, the last time I wrote one of these I got taken to task for being too negative. Well, the heck with you all because I’m going to do it again.

I’m sorry but this game felt to me like more of a contest to see who could waste more offensive opportunities. The Bears were constantly given the ball, constantly driving down the field and constantly settling for field goal after field goal as they shot themselves in the foot with drops and dumb penalties. But fortunately for them, the Lions are the kings at doing this as they literally fumbled away this game. They continue to compete with the Eagles to see who can waste the most talent.

Quick Game Comments: Bears at Jaguars

Defense

  1. The Bears came out mixing it up defensively. It appears that the plan was to press the line of scrimmage with the occasional blitz to confuse quarterback Blaine Gabbert and contain running back Maurice Jones-Drew. They didn’t showing much respect for the Jaguar receivers and to an extent it burned them.
  2. The Bears allowed a lot of third down conversions and had a tough time getting off the field a lot more than usual, especially in the first half.
  3. I didn’t see much of Henry Melton and the defensive tackles taking advantage of the Jaguars offensive line, including guard Eben Britton (who was actually benched at half time last week).
  4. On a related note, Gabbert had far, far too much time to throw the ball. The Bears started to get a little pressure (not much) at the end of the first half but by then Gabbert was settled in and he stood in the pocket pretty well. Things went better in this respect for the Bears in the second half.
  5. Despite getting a lot of time, Gabbert isn’t the most accurate quarterback. I thought more of those balls should have been spot on. Gabbert’s pocket was clean on the interception by Charles Tillman in the third quarter. It was so far off target, I actually find myself wondering if it was a miscommunication with the wide receiver. It wouldn’t be surprising. There seemed to me to be a lot of it going on out there.
  6. Pro Bowl-type year or not, the Jaguars came out and attacked Tim Jennings, primarily with Justin Blackmon. Presumably it was because of the height mismatch. In any case, Blackmon got the best of it as Jennings had a tough time keeping up with him.
  7. I thought Nick Roach showed up today with some good plays.

Offense

  1. The Bears come out running and they did it well. Jacksonville tried to stop it with seven in the box and they couldn’t. The run really helped open up the passing game.
  2. Jacksonville obviously was paying a great deal of attention to last week’s game tape. They weren’t going to let the Bears get away with that slant pass to Brandon Marshall that was so successful and they took away the middle of the field in coverage in the first half.
  3. The Bears responded by targeting Alson Jeffery and Marshall on the outside.
  4. In the second half, the Jaguars came out committed to stopping the run. The Bears immediately started going to Marshall over the middle again, presumably to take advantage of the linebackers moving up. Jeffery’s route that resulted in the second Bears touchdown was over the middle into the empty space left by the linebackers as they all three collapsed towards the line of scrimmage.
  5. The Bears offensive line generally did a good job out there. The run blocking was outstanding. The interior of the line was really blowing the Jaguar defensive tackles off the line of scrimmage.
  6. The Jaguars did not start the game tackling well. Bears were bouncing off defenders all over. They eventually tightened it up.
  7. The last Bears drive before the half was a disgrace. The communication between Jay Cuter and the receivers was poor with at least two miscues. Then they took a time out with the clock stopped. Sloppy…
  8. Cutler wasn’t bad exactly but he was not particularly sharp for most of this game. He had his moments, especially in the second half, but there were a lot of balls that could have been thrown better. On the other hand, again particularly in the second half, he did a nice job with his mobility of avoiding the pass rush and extending plays.
  9. On a related note, Cutler made a few good plays with his legs this game. They were particularly well timed.
  10. The Bears looked like they decided to get Kellen Davis involved early and he was doing well. Then they abandoned him later in the half and never got back to him. I’m not sure why.
  11. I was disappointed when the word came down that Earl Bennett was once again inactive, almost certainly due to his injured hand. At this point you have to question the well-paid Bennett’s ability to stay on the field.

Miscellaneous

  1. I really like Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston and Tony Siragusa. It’s probably because, like Siragusa, I have a habit of watching the line of scrimmage but he frequently says things right as I’m thinking them.
  2. Give credit to both teams this game. Drops were at a minimum. In fact, it was generally quite the opposite. For example, Devin Hester made a great catch as he laid out for a long pass in the fourth quarter. this was a good game for the receivers on both sides.
  3. Penalties killed the Bears, especially in the first half. They were constantly stalling drives. Gabe Carimi’s two false starts in a row near the goal line in the second half were inexcusable.
  4. Special teams were unremarkable on both ends.
  5. As usual, turnovers played a big part in this game. In particular, the Tillman pick six in the third quarter was a huge, game turning play. Corey Wootton once again showed up and caused a fumble.
  6. The Bears did not appear to me to wear down in the heat. In fact, it appeared to me to be the opposite. The Jaguars defense looked tired in the fourth quarter.
  7. Possibly on a related note, I question the Jaguars decision to make their home uniforms black. The color absorbs heat and I don’t think it helps them to have to wear it.
  8. Gotta say that I really like the way Jacksonville does cheerleaders.
  9. Its October 7. What’s the deal with all of the Halloween specials already?
  10. Kudos to the Bears fans who showed up to the game. You could hear them clearly on television.
  11. The Jaguars really came out and played (for them) relatively well today. Not so much on offense but on defense, they were extremely patient and really made the Bears earn every yard until the appeared to wear down. The Bears, on the other hand, really didn’t come out and play well. The game on their end was relatively sloppy and the lesson to me is that, no matter what anyone says about avoiding “trap games”, its really tough to do it in action. The Bears got bitten by it today. Fortunately they played better in the second half against a definitively inferior team and it didn’t result in a loss.

Quick Game Comments: Bears at Cowboys

Defense

  1. The Cowboys came out running as expected. The game plan was to run, take the short pass and be patient. The Bears played their typical bend but don’t break. They mixed coverages but for the most part they tried to keep it all in front of them.
  2. Give Bears defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli credit. He called a pretty good game. He had eight in the box to sto the run when the Cowboys were getting ready to do it and blitzed at appropriate times. The execution wasn’t alwasy on but he put them in the right positions.
  3. One of the questions going into the game was who was going to cover Cowboys tight end Jason Witten. Turns out it was the safeties with occasional linebacker halp. He got a lot of attention.
  4. Kevin Ogletree has some jittery moves. Actually all of the OCwboys receivers did. There was some bad tacking out there on the Bears ed and the combination accounted for a fair number of extra yards after the catch.
  5. The Cowboys found Miles Austin matched up on D.J. Moore in the second quarter. It was capped with Austin catching a touchdown pass near the end of the half. Its probably no coincidence that Kelvin Hayden got more time in the second half. Its also worth noting that Moore got a little revenge with a critical interception in the fourth quarter that pretty much spelled the end of the Cowboys hopes.
  6. The Bears pass rushers didn’t do a good job keeping Tony Romo in the pocket.
  7. Romo really has a nice touch on the ball. He’s super accurate. You have to like that.
  8. I heard all week about how hard a time Doug Free was having at right tackle for the Cowboys. Generally speaking he sure looked like he did the job to me.
  9. Henry Melton had yet another good game. The Romo fumble that he caused which led to a Lance Briggs touchdown was critical. He also had a sack.
Offense
  1. The Bears also called their game pretty much as expected. Lots of running the ball. They took their shots down field but with little success.
  2. The Cowboys played seven in the box against them for most of the game on first down. As color man Jon Gurden pointed out, they played a lot of man under just as Green Bay did against the Bears. They did blitz when it was appropriate but I wouldn’t have called the defense especially aggressive.
  3. Jay Cutler didn’t have a particularly good game. His accuracy wasn’t awful but he was a bit off more often than he should have been.
  4. Its a broken record but the offensive tackles both had problems whenever they were asked to block one on one. Webb has my sympathies in that he had DeMarcus War on his side but you still have to handle him the majority of the time at least and he really had a hard time. Gabe Carimi on the other side was having trouble with the speed rush to the outside.
  5. The Bears recognized that Hester was in single coverage and they were trying to get him the ball but he was having a tough time shaking Morris Claiborne. Finally they got him in the end zone in the third quarter on a nice route.
  6. About 5 minutes left in the first half. It was first and fifteen. Cutler completed a 12 yard pass to Marshall. Lovie Smith took a five yards penalty and first and ten rather than second and what looked like a short three to me. I’m not too sure about that decision.
  7. About 4 minutes left in the half and Cutler gets up off the bench and walks away just after Mike Tice follows him and sits down talking to him. I don’t see how even the most staunch Cutler apologist can defend that.
  8. The Bears had good success with a little slant pattern to Marshall early in the game. They stuck to putting him in the slot to create mismatches and he took short little routes over the middle for a lot of yardage. Marshall also didn’t see the bracket coverage he’s seen against other teams, either. It added up to a big game.
Miscellaneous
  1. Mike Tirico is solid but Jon Gruden really is good at television. Strip away the corny Clint Eastwood references and he gives immediate, insightful looks into what’s going on during the game. I really enjoyed the broadcast.
  2. The Cowboys receivers didn’t have a great game. Too many drops. Too many catches that should have been made that weren’t. Especially Dez Bryant. Kellen Davis had another miscue as he had a drop for the Bears.
  3. Penalties weren’t too prevalent on either end but the Bears seemed to do a better job of overcoming their penalties. They handled first and fifteen reasonably well.
  4. I thought both special teams units were solid. The Cowboys new punter, Chris Jones, had a good game and put the Bears in some bad field position.
  5. The number of turnovers didn’t tell the whole story. There was one weird series where Major Wright picked off a tipped ball by Ogletree, then Cutler gave it back with a fumble as he held the ball too long, then the Bears got it right back when Melton forced the Romo fumble. It all made for a pretty sloppy exchange. All in all, the Cowboys turnovers were more damaging. As the Bears scored two touchdowns directly off of two of them.
  6. This one was as much poor play on the part of the Cowboys as it was good play on the part of the Bears. In fact, the best thing you can say about the Bear offense is that they didn’t give the game away (though there were a few good plays here and there in critical spots). The Cowboy’s offense, however, was a different story. Critical turnovers, drops, blown coverages and stupid penalties gave the Bears opportunity after opportunity and they made the plays. If Dez Bryant just just his job, the Cowboys are probably in this game. As it was, the Bears just played solid football and came away with a no frills win.

 

Quick Game Comments: Bears Vs. Rams, September 23, 2012

Offense

  1. The Bears game plan was pretty solid. They came out running and throwing the short pass to protect the offensive line in pass protection.
  2. The Rams came out in a standard 4-3 and played that for most of the game. They did blitz quite a bit when the situation called for it. This is different from the coverage defense they played in their first two games. It didn’t seem to discombobulate the Bears, too much though. The Bears countered by throwing a number of very effective screen passes, once again protecting the line in the process.
  3. It has to be noted that the pass protection really still wasn’t that good in that the Rams still got occasional pressure in passing situations. The Bears offensive line was jumpy as a result and there were a number of false start and holding penalties, some of which were rather damaging (see Miscellaneous).
  4. Eventually the Rams starting bringing extra guys into the box to stop the run. This was effective to a degree but it didn’t really stop the Bears from doing it.
  5. Michael Bush ran well in place of Matt Forte as expected. Kahlil Bell also ripped off some good runs.
  6. Like many of the linemen, Chilo Rachal had a rough afternoon with some missed blocks and some penalties.
  7. 4th and 1 with about 3 minutes left in the first quarter and Bush gets it. That’s a lot different from last year.
  8. I spotted the Rams putting five defenders on the line of scrimmage though not often. I thought it was interesting, though. Maybe it was a response to the Bears running game.
  9. Though he wasn’t particularly accurate, I liked the way that Jay Cutler was trying to be patient and not do too much. Generally speaking, Cutler didn’t force passes on third down but instead settled for something short and the punt when it was called for.
  10. The Bears were really pulling linemen all over the place and trapping defensive linemen in the running game. On one long Bell run, Gabe Carimi pulled from right tackle all the way to the left to spring him.
  11. J’Marcus Webb wasn’t really any more terrible than anyone else on the line.
  12. The Bears were also bringing in extra linemen to block. Real power football.
  13. Janoris Jenkins and Cortland Finnegan had a very good game. These guys are pretty good in single coverage. That’s a pretty good couple cornerbacks to build around.
  14. The Rams started bracketing Brandon Marshall in the second half. They really should have done it more in the first half but at least they made the adjustment.
  15. I thought the Bears not as effective with the run in the second half in the face of extra men in the box, either. One wonders if the Rams didn’t adjust to all of the trap blocking they were doing, too.

Defense

  1. The Rams game plan seemed to be to run set up by the short pass. The Bears were in standard nickel/4-3. Nothing fancy though, like the Rams, they also did blitz when the situation called for it.
  2. The pass rush was once again pretty good but it generally came in obvious passing situations when they could sell out to the pass rush. It came from a lot of guys. This is crucial to future success.
  3. Danny Amendola wasn’t especially damaging, presumably because D.J. Moore did a good job covering him.
  4. When Sam Bradford gets out of the pocket he’s really pretty fast.
  5. It was another great game for both corner backs.
  6. I spotted the Bears at one point with three down linemen. Interesting twist.
  7. The Rams made some halftime adjustments on offense, too. They came out in no huddle. They were also running more and using it to set up the pass – the opposite of how they started. They were effective with the run until they got two touchdowns down and had to pass.
  8. I didn’t watch him all of the time but I thought maybe Urlacher played better today. I think he’s back in the swing now.

Miscellaneous

    1. Dick Stockton, John Lynch and sideline reporter Jennifer Hale were all solid if not spectacular. I can’t say there were any earth shattering insights.
    2. Way, way too many penalties on both sides. Especially on the Bears offensive line. Rachal had some false starts. Lance Lewis had one. Webb had a damaging holding penalty that offset a pass interference call on the Rams which could have gotten the Bears a lot of yardage. They were jumpy against the Rams pressure. Mario Haggan had an unnecessary roughness call that kept the drive alive that resulted in the Bears first field goal. The unnecessary roughness call on Julius Peppers also kept a drive going in the second half.
    3. Too, too many drops. Alshon Jeffery and Marshall and Devin Hester were all amongst the major guilty parties. Both Jeffery and Marshall are known for it but that’s not any reason to consider it to be acceptable. The Rams receivers had more than their share of drops as well. Jenkins had a particularly bad drop of an interception.
    4. I have to say that strategy-wise I thought the Rams did a pretty good job this game. Generally speaking I think halftime adjustments are overrated but their theirs on both sides of the ball (above) were pretty effective as far as they went.
    5. Turnovers are never good but I won’t say it was a particularly bad game in that respect except the Bears are never happy when they aren’t getting them. Major Wright’s interception was huge. A wonderful play. I think the Bears are doing a better job of defending that slant after being burned so badly by the Packers with it last year.
    6. Special teams were OK but this whole game was typified by the end of the first half. The Rams were going to punt but the Bears were unprepared. They called time out and that gave the Rams time to reconsider. They put in the kicker and, poof, 3 points.

 

The Bears players made some plays but I sincerely hope that this is the sloppiest game we see all year. There were times when it seemed like a comedy of errors on both sides, some of them very damaging. You expect that from a talented but young (and bad) team like the Rams. This game was, as far as I could tell, much like their first two in that respect. But the Bears have no excuse. They were constantly putting themselves in ugly situations and when they made good plays, they were often shooting themselves in the foot with mistakes that neutralized them.

The Bears do not have the talent to play football like this. They won’t win many games like this one in the future.

 

Quick Comments: Packers at Bears, September 13, 2012

Defense

  1. The Bears went standard defense, mostly cover two for this game. Nothing fancy. Green Bay responded with all of the standard cover two beaters. They ran the ball and attacked the middle.
  2. Unfortunately attacking the middle meant attacking Brian Urlacher. And Urlacher still isn’t himself. He was a step slow, he wasn’t getting off blocks. They attacked him with both the run and the pass. If we’re lucky, he’s rusty. If we’re not, then the team has a big problem because there’s not much depth at linebacker to help Urlacher out.
  3. Cedric Benson had a nice game running the ball right at the linebackers. Again, Urlacher’s weakness was Benson’s gain. Recall that Urlacher didn’t play in the Bengals game when Benson destroyed the Bears some years ago.
  4. The Packers had Benson lined up very deep in the back field. Seven yards. I assume Benson likes to pick up steam but it makes for a long developing run play.
  5. The Bears flat out refused to bring an extra man into the box to stop the running game. They simply were not going to let the pass beat them. Nevertheless the play action did appear to be effective for Green Bay.
  6. Benson’s success led to the play action working effectively for Green Bay.
  7. I thought it was odd that the Bears had Nick Roach covering Jermichael Finley so much. Nickel back D.J. Moore also drew duty. Neither was effective.
  8. Nice work Shea McClellin with a sack. Julius Peppers had a good night as Green Bay didn’t do a lot extra to stop him. The pressure from the front four was about as good as you could expect. Like the Bears, the Green Bay offensive line is weak.
  9. Tim Jennings showed up again. So did Charles Tillman. Its only game two but they’ve both been very good so far.

Offense

  1. The Bears tried to do what they did last week but it just wasn’t working. The offensive protection was just too poor for the Bears to make much head way. They had a great deal of trouble every time Green Bay blitzed.
  2. The Packers didn’t really try that hard to stuff the wide receivers at the line. Maybe they recognize the size of the Bears receivers. Maybe the plan was to get pressure on Jay Cutler and not give up the big play by doing anything risky in coverage. Maybe both.
  3. There was a lot of blame to spread around as regards the poor protection but the interior offensive line looks like they were a big part of it to me.
  4. The Bears eventually responded to to the Green Bay pass rush by establishing the run. This was moderately effective but they just couldn’t sustain anything.
  5. I’m thinking that the Bears might have tried mor quick hitting plays to allow Cutler to get rid of the ball quicker.
  6. There was another poorly executed swing pass out of the backfield. Green Bay read it like a book and was all over it just like Indianapolis was on the pick six last week. Maybe the Bears should shelve that one for a while.
  7. As I feared would happen, the Packers took Brandon Marshall out of the game. None of the other receivers stepped up to fill the gap. Many of Cutler’s sacks in the second half were coverage sacks. Cutler had the time. No one was open. In particular, despite his touchdown catch, Kellen Davis once again was a disappointment tonight.
  8. This was an excellent Green Bay game plan to put pressure on Cutler and at the same time limit his mobility. The Packers surrounded Cutler and brought pressure from all angles so that he didn’t have any place to go. We’ll see more of that from the better teams this year.

Miscellaneous

  1. Brad Nessler, Alex Flanagan and Mike Mayock were OK. Mayock hits all of the major points. He’s got an irritating habit of forming an opinion and then sticking with it in the face of the evidence. The 12 men on the field penalty was a good example. The ball was snapped before the man got off but he insisted that it was a poor call to the point where he told the man in the booth to fast forward the replay to make it look better for him. I don’t blame a guy for not wanting to be wrong. But honesty and integrity means everything if you are a fan listening to a guy in the booth.
  2. It wasn’t just the number of penalties. It was that they were so damaging. Gabe Carimi loses his mind and stupidly gets an unnecessary roughness penalty to to kill a drive. There was a delay of game to help kill a drive. Twelve men on the field to stop a punt and give the Packers the ball and a field goal.
  3. The Green Bay receivers should be totally ashamed. They dropped balls all ove r the field. But, like the penalties, it was the Bears drop that was the killer. Brandon Marshall in the end zone. The Bears settled for a field goal.
  4. The interceptions for the Bears were partly Cutler desperately trying to make something happen out there.
  5. Both special teams were OK but the Packers took the prize with a wonderful call on a fake field goal in the third quarter.
  6. The tweet of the night came from Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune: “I’d pay for Mike Martz commentary on this game. Maybe Ron Turner too.”
  7. The penalties, the turnovers, the Marshall drop. It wasn’t the Bears night. Its not just that things went wrong. They went wrong at critical times. But having said that, there was a deeper problem. The Bears frequently didn’t look like they had it together. They just weren’t completely ready to play mentally on a short week after stuffing Indianapolis and they let down.