The Colts came out and eventually played pretty standard 3-4 defense. There were some blitzes but nothing really fancy. They did occasionally try to challenge the Bears with tight coverage, especially early. But they were living dangerously and they knew it. They eventually switched to a zone defense and the Bears killed them on it.
The Bears initially had a tough time protecting quarterback Jay Cutler. Fortunately Cutler has the ability to move out of the pocket and make plays and that’s exactly what he did.
Cutler is just wonderful to watch. For a little while early in the game it looked like he was going to have to single handedly carry the offense and I really wondered if he couldn’t have pulled it off. After a rough start I thought his accuracy was pretty good. You won’t see many passes better than the throw to Alson Jeffry for a touchdown midway through the fourth quarter to make everyone a little more comfortable.
The protection eventually settled down and got better in the second quarter. That’s because they got an enormous amount of help with many players being kept in to help in protection. By my count the Bears ran exactly one four receiver set the entire first half. There were a lot of double tight end and two back sets and the offensive line struggled against the blitz without at least two men to help. I think we’re looking at the plan for the year.
It wasn’t obvious and he wasn’t terrible but Gabe Carimi did have trouble. He looked a step slow on occasion and I have a feeling he’s going to struggle with that knee for a while.
New Colts defensive back Vontae Davis played well. I was surprised that the Colts didn’t move him around more to keep him on Bears receiver Brandon Marshall.
Kellen Davis looked really bad out there. There were some awful missed blocks and a couple penalties.
Matt Forte had a great day. He runs with such wonderful vision. Like Cutler, he’s a just pleasure to watch.
Evan Rodriguez did some good lead blocking out of the backfield, for example, on the first Michael Bush touchdown run. I think we now know why Tyler Clutts was released.
The Bears had a very hard time fooling the Colts on play action despite the fact that the Bears were beating them on the run. I can only assume that they decided that they weren’t going to let the Bears passing game beat them.
I like that end around play to Devin Hester that the Bears are running. He needs room to create.I know it didn’t work very well but eventually he’s going to break it.
I don’t guess I have to acknowledge that Marshall was everything he was supposed to be. But I guess I just did it anyway.
Defense
The Bears came out with some fancy defense with nine in the box and lots of single coverage in an effort to confuse quarterback Andrew Luck. It became obvious that it wasn’t working so they switched to a more standard form of defense on the second series. Not a lot more blitzing than usual after that.
Luck and the Colts knew how to attack the cover 2. They called all the right plays. It was just a question of execution. When they did, they moved the ball.
Brian Urlacher definitely looked a step slow. I was surprised that they didn’t challenge him more often. In the second quarter he was blocked to the ground on one long Donald Brown run and it was quickly followed by another Brown run for a touchdown where Urlacher both over-pursued and was blocked again. He was definitely rusty after missing almost all of training camp. Like everyone else, I thought removing Uralcher early was a good idea as long as the Colts didn’t manage a come back.
I was happy to see the Bears getting some pressure but it wasn’t consistent. Henry Melton and Shea McClellin both flashed. But there were some periods where Luck looked awfully comfortable.
Julius Peppers also was getting occasional pressure on Luck. Interestingly it was in part because the Bears moved him around so the Colts couldn’t easily develop a consistent scheme to double team him. This will be an interesting strategy to track as the season wears on.
Colts receiver Reggie Wayne looks as good as ever. I’m sure Luck will come to lean heavily on him as he adjusts to the league.
Luck wasn’t all that accurate. He was frequently bailed out with some good catches by his receivers. He got better as the game wore on and he does get the ball out fast and he does move well in the pocket, which is part of the reason why the Bears had a tough time getting to him. He’s going to be good.
Good to see that the Bears cleaned up their tackling for this game.
Generally speaking, I thought the coverage was pretty good today by the defensive backs, especially the corners, who had to compensate for the loss of Charles Tillman.
Miscellaneous
Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf were solid if not spectacular. No earth shaking insights but all the importnat information was conveyed.
I thought Dierdorf’s observation that Cutler will force the ball in to Marshall whether he’s double covered or not in the second quarter was a particularly good one. I think we all remember Cutler trying to do the same thing to Greg Olsen his first year with the Bears. He’ll be more successful doing it with Marshall but I still see trouble in the future.
I wasn’t too thrilled with the offensive interference call on Hester in the second quarter. I wasn’t too thrilled with some of the pass interference calls on both teams. In fairness, the tight coverage the Colts occasionally tried to challenge the Bears with led to quite a number being on them and many were justified.
Other than that, I thought there were too many penalties on both teams, especially early. I think everyone settled down a bit as the game went on so hopefully it isn’t a long-term problem. Notably there were no penalties on J’Marcus Webb.
Too many turnovers by both sides but especially by the Colts. The pick six thrown by Cutler in the first quarter would have been a killer against a better team.
Tim Jennings had two great interceptions on under-thrown Luck passes. But I’ve got to say that on the first one, safety Chris Conte nowhere in sight. A well thrown pass would have been a TD. Conte might have suffered a bit from last time in camp. Hopefully he’ll clean things up. However, Conte notably did manage to intercept a pass so maybe I shouldn’t bee too tough on him.
To my eye the Indianapolis special teams are much improved this year. The Bears were unspectacular and the offense was starting in very poor field position much of the time. Adam Vinatieri‘s miss wide right at end of first half and LaVon Brazill‘s fumble marred the effort.
Adam Podlesh looked good with no apparent effects from his injury.
The Colts drop the ball too often. Donald Brown really hurt the Colts with his drops. The Bears receivers were solid in this respect.
This was a good start for the Bears. They took care of business and all credit to them for that. But many of my concerns remain about them. All that help they’re leaving in for the offensive line could eventually stunt the progress of the offense and I think we’d all like to see more pressur from the defensive front. I can’t help but think that a better team would have given them a tough time.
Daryl Johnston made the excellent point that the Bears needed to keep Tim Tebow from rolling to his left. They had only limited success.
It was very evident that the Bears were determined to limit the run. Lots of guys near the line of scrimmage. Some man coverage with a deep safety.
There were a lot of camera shots of Julius Peppers early that left me wondering if his knee wasn’t bothering him more than in previous weeks.
I’m not entirely sure why the Bears didn’t have someone spying Tebow. He hurts you badly on the ground. Perhaps it was because they needed everyone in position to defend the option, including Brian Ulacher. Either he or Lance Briggs would have ordinarily drawn the duty. Johnston suggested late in the game that Craig Steltz may have been doing a little of it.
I’ll say this. As good as he runs, Tebow does not throw the ball well consistently. He winds up like a top and he’s not accurate much of the time.
As both Tony Siragusa and Johnston pointed out, the Bears defense just lost all aggressiveness as the first half wore on. The Bears would run a stunt or rush Tebow and he would run right by them. They were worried about their responsibilities on the option and about Willis McGahee. Too much thinking and not enough reacting. They did better in the second half but they still weren’t always as aggressive as usual.
The Broncos offense is an interesting problem. The Bears basically were successful because of their speed to the ball. Without it, they would have been in some trouble.
Give the Bears credit for playing with discipline, as well (penalties aside).
I’m guessing the long Bears offensive drive in the third quarter was welcome not just because it resulted in a touchdown but because it gave the Bears defense a rest in the thin air.
The Bears played very, very soft coverage in the fourth quarter. They had obviously watched the tape of how the Broncos were pulling off these miracles in previous games. The big play wan’t gong to happen.
Offense
Caleb Hanie rolled out for his first pass. That was different.
The Broncos weren’t stacking the box against the run early on first down against run personnel, apparently believing they could stop the Bears without doing so. Personally, I thought it was a mistake. There’s no reason not to try to pressure Hanie and make him beat you through the air.
As you might expect, the Bears took the gift and got started running the ball.
Good thing as Hanie was, once again, less than impressive. His accuracy was again suspect as even the screen passes were high (again).
The Broncos were blitzing reasonably effectively on obvious passing downs, particularly second down. The offensive line was having a tough time with pass protection and Hanie didn’t help by holding the ball too long (again).
The Bears played it conservative early, apparently choosing to rely on the defense. They didn’t go for it on fourth and one on the first possession and chose to run on 3rd and about 17 on the second. The tone was set.
As you might expect, the Broncos eventually came to the realization that the Bears weren’t going to beat them through the air. They stacked the box and crowded the line in the second half, exactly like they should have from the beginning.
To the Bears credit, they still ran the ball reasonably well. The line did a reasonable job of run blocking to my mind. It’s tough sledding when there’s zero fear of the pass.
The wide receivers were also having a tough time but it looked to me like they was separation there on occasion. They weren’t awful. Hanie just wasn’t hitting them in the short windows they were open.
As often as I’ve ridden Roy Williams for his drops, credit him with a great catch with 2:00 left in the third quarter on third down.
Johnston once again made the excellent point in the third quarter that the Bears needed to keep using Kahlil Bell. He withdrew the comment later but I thought he was right. Bell’s more versatile and he’s a better receiver. Marion Barber did well (until the fourth quarter) but I think he’s more suited to the change of pace back role. Perhaps they should be splitting the carries more evenly.
Miscellaneous
Kenny Albert, Johnston, Siragusa were just excellent. Johnston and Siragusa peppered the broadcast with good comments that the average fan like myself might not have otherwise picked up. It was a pleasure.
Wonderful job blocking the field goal in the second quarter. Peppers blocked it but give the whole unit credit for getting a good deal of penetration.
Robbie Gould could have hit that field goal at the end of the third quarter from a lot farther out than 57 yards. It wasn’t close.
Punt coverage was outstanding.
Hanie was, once again, not helped by his supporting cast as Devin Hester came out and dropped the first pass to him. The Bears were fortunate that the Broncos were even worse, dropping balls all over the field.
Personal fouls on the Bears defense in the first half kept Broncos drives going early. You can’t take shots on quarterbacks high or low. Guys on defense have to play with control or the team will pay.
The penalties weren’t limited to the defense. In a game like this one, every one was damaging and special teams and offense contributed their fair share. Lance Lewis had another poor game with some false starts, making me miss Gabe Carimi more than I thought I would at this point.
Hester had a face mask at a bad time late in the third quarter. Can’t run the ball when you are putting yourself in those downs and distances.
Wonderful interception on the sideline by Charles Tillman in the first quarter. Tebow held the ball too long once all game and the Steltz caused him to fumble the ball.
The Bears almost stayed alive in the playoff race because of their defensive speed and discipline. But if you’re going to run the ball offensively and survive that way, then the mistakes have to go completely away. No penalties, no drops, no Barber brain cramps, no margin for error. It’s a tough way to live.
The Chiefs came out running against the Bears defense with a couple short passes. This was apparently to take the pressure off of KC quarterback Tyler Palko. They were probably also anticipating a defensive game with Caleb Hanie at quarterback for the Bears.
Palko came out throwing easy throws accurately.
This was a really good game for the defensive line. Julius Peppers was a beast on the pass rush.
The Bears supplemented the pass rush with some well timed blitzes but otherwise they were, once again, generally bland.
Palko avoided a pretty good rush by simply running away from it. He’s very mobile.
I was surprised to see Kyle Orton with Palko not doing too bad to my eye. It was a shame to see him hurt after only one play.
Dwayne Bowe always seemed to be a step ahead of the Bears defense. He’s big and he can run after the catch and he always seemed to get just enough yardage to get that critical first down.
KC did a really good job of running the ball on the Bears defense in the third quarter as Bears pass rushers eager to get to Palko ran right by the running backs. Some really good play calling there.
Bear defensive backs were having a terrible time getting off blocks on the Kansas City wide receiver screens. They’ve got to be stronger than that.
Offense
It didn’t take long for Kansas CIty to bring that safety up into the box to stop Matt Forte. As usual, the Bears opponent wanted to make the Bears beat them through the air. First possession – three and out.
Kansas City’s defensive backs dominated the Bears receivers with good coverage.
Caleb Hanie came out unable to complete even some of the short passes that Mike Martz called to get him started. His accuracy apparently did not get better in his second week wth the starters. He was missing opportunity after opportunity to hit wide open receivers on broken coverages.
Thank you Matt Spaeth for that wiff on the block that got Matt Forte hurt.
Caleb Hanie has to get rid of the ball. I know the Bears receivers were well covered most of the time but he’d have had more success if he threw with some anticipation to a spot like the offense calls for him to do.
KC did a good job of keeping Hanie in the pocket with a controlled, disciplined pass rush.
Glad to see Marion Barber running so well again.
The offensive line struggled to block for the run on occasion when they were allowing too much penetration. The Chiefs were crashing line of scrimmage against the run.
Caleb Hanie cannot throw a jump ball with Johnny Knox as the receiver. This was a lesson Jay Cutler learned his first year (with Hanie watching). Interception.
The pass protection was really poor in the second half. Mike Martz really needed to call some screens and draws. Running the ball with some delayed handoffs like Kansas City did to slow down the Bear pass rush would have been a good way to do it.
In fairness, giving Hanie max protection in the fourth quarter did help. It might not be a cooincidence that Hanie’s passing improved at that point as well.
I’m not entirely sure why Devin Hester ended up being Hanie’s primary target.
Miscellaneous
Like the Bears, Kevin Harlan was off his game. Warning that a punt almost hit Jalil Brown again was, perhaps, unnecessary given that KC kicked it. Getting Dom DeCicco mixed up with Patrick Trahan wasn’t a high point for him. It could be because we’ve been spoiled with the best color men the NFL has to offer this year but Solomon Wilcots didn’t seem to have much of any significance to say.
The Chiefs started off the special teams battle the right way with a touched punt that resulted in a turnover to the Bears.The Bears fake field goal was pretty sick. Yellow flags flew everywhere against the Bears special teams. KC kicked the ball off out of bounds midway through the third quarter. Devin Hester dropped a fair catch. Hester had a nice return at the beginning of the second quarter but otherwise special teams were just a comedy of errors. A really bad comedy.
Kansas CIty got an interception late midway though the third quarter that just killed the Bears. I thought that’s what the Bears were supposed to be doing. Instead Charles Tillman missed an interception in the second possession of the first quarter. Tim Jennings dropped one as well.
The penalty on Bowman for interference with a punt reception in the first quarter was bogus. Marion Barber sure looked to me like he was close enough to the line of scimmage to avaid a penalty on the stolen touchdown in the second quarter. A bogus defensive holding call on Tillman kept a critical drive going in the third quarter that led to a field goal. The referees hurt the Bears as much as the Chiefs did.
There weren’t many drops but it figures that the one critical one that resulted in an interception would come from Roy Williams. Its come to be expected.
I hope someone explains why the Bears called timeout in the second quarter immediately after one by Kansas City.
Late in the third quarter down 10-3. The Bears had first and goal from inside the ten. Two Hanie sacks on some terrible pass protection later, Robbie Gould missed the 42 yard field goal.
They aren’t a playoff team.
Television commercial of the year: Allstate mayhem commercial with the “300 lb streaker painted blue and completely naked apart from the cleats”. Made me smile on a miserable day.
The Chargers didn’t mess around and put eight in the box on first down immediately. No surprise. They seem to like playing single coverage and you definitely want to make the Bears beat you through the air.
That didn’t stop the Bears from trying to run. They obviously thought they could run on the Chargers anyway given their reputation as a poor run defense.
The Chargers were also keying on Matt Forte. Again, good move. Even when he’s catching passes he accounts for an enormous amount of the Bears offense.
Forte wasn’t running particularly well today. It didn’t look to me like he was running with his usual degree of patience.
I thought Cutler had decent time to throw. Of course, as usual, it helps that he’s mobile enough to get himself out of trouble.
Jim Nantz and Phil Simms made a point of saying that Marion Barber looked fast in practice. He certainly looked good while he was in.
That injury to Chris Spencer would have really hurt. The Bears offensive line, which wasn’t a strength to begin with, was very close to being officially decimated by injuries.
How nice was it to see Johnny Knox adjusting so well to the football, today? Nice work.
Roy Williams also played a good game after his usual dropped pass.
Something tells me this team misses former defensive coordinator Ron Rivera, who took the head coaching job in Carolina. The defense doesn’t look like its playing with the same intensity.
Defense
The Bears gave up some big plays, something that had to be disappointing to Lovie Smith and Rod Marinelli.
The Bears were keeping a lot of guys near the line of scrimmage but the Chargers ran very effectively with some shifty cut back runs. They got the linebackers to move out of their gaps on occasion. I thought the Bears did better in the second half.
The misdirection also hurt the Bears in pass defense as the Chargers seemed to frequently suck players to the middle, then throw outside into a lot of space. The screen game was working well, too. Basically, they were using the Bears aggression against them.
The Chargers seem to like to use Mike Tolbert as a receiver on third down. You wouldn’t think about such a big round man having such good hands. I guess once you get him the ball and let him get rolling he’s tough to stop short of the marker.
Late in the first half the Bears were getting burned for big plays by blitzing the Chargers. I’m surprised. That isn’t typical of the way the Bears play defense.
Related to 5, Charles Tillman was drawing the single coverage assignment against the Chargers best receivers. He was out matched and, really, it wasn’t his fault. Phillip Rivers was getting rid of the ball quicker than the blitz could get there and unless you’ve got Darrelle Revis out there, you’ve got to give help on guys like Vincent Jackson. Single high safety just isn’t enough.
Miscellaneous
Though I alway prefer noon games (and absolutely despise night games), one advantage to later games is that you almost always get really good announcers. Today was no exception. Nantz and Simms were sharp. I thought Simms, in particular made a good point about the benefits of keeping Jay Cutler in the pocket. On the negative side, Simms made the point that Devin Hester couldn’t jump up over the cross bar and goal tend on the missed Chargers field goal at the end of the first half but failed to point out that, had Hester caught the ball short, he could have returned it. That is, of course, why he jumped up to try to get it.
I think the Bears came out flat. San Diego seemed to be playing at a different speed at times.
Roy Williams dropped a long pass early but otherwise I didn’t see anything too awful bad out there in this respect.
The Bears had some penalties that hurt them today. Two of the Devin Hester returns were called back for holding penalties.
What is the deal with Earl Bennett and those orange shoes? $20,000 for a lark? I can’t believe it.
Special teams had a good game. Adam Podlesh had a couple good punts. The San Diego punter, Mike Scifres, hit some line drives to Devin Hester and he took advantage (though the penalties limited them). Kickoff coverage wasn’t awful but should have been better. I can’t believe they ran a fake punt with two minutes left up by eleven. Why?
Rivers threw a couple bad interceptions in the fourth quarter but up to that point, he was solid. I think he was just pressing at a time when you could argue that some risks were called for. The Bears recovery of a fumble in the third quarter was a big play. The Cutler interception in the fourth quarter was just one of those things. The receiver slips and that’s the way it goes.
Nice to hear Bear fans making some noise on occasion during this game. I’m thinking of first and ten from the sixteen in the fourth quarter.
I think everyone knows the saying that most games are lost by the loser than won by the winner. I’m happy to say that was not the case today. The Chargers weren’t turning the ball over right and left. There weren’t a lot of penalties. The receivers weren’t dropping the ball all over the field. Their quarterback played reasonably well (desperation interceptions aside). I don’t get to say this often but I thought the Bears ran up against a reasonably good team that played well and just played better. Wonderful game.
The Bears played a lot of straight seven in the box with nickel personnel.
The poor tackling continues. Very disappointing. Again, in past year they would have cleaned that up by now.
The pass rush was really poor, especially when compared to the Lion pass rush.
Brandon Meriweather is a thug. Honestly, he might be the dirtiest player I’ve ever seen.
This wasn’t one of Stafford’s better games accuracy-wise. He missed a lot of open receivers.
Matthew Stafford had all day to throw the ball on the first touchdown pass to Calvin Johnson. Johnson got a free release. Terrible tackling by Brandon Meriweather. It was just the beginning of a horrid day for Chris Harris. Awful play.
I can’t even tell what went wrong on the Jahvid Best touchdown in the third quarter. But I know bad defensive play when I see it. To state the obvious, someone wasn’t in their gap. No safety help. You have to start to wonder if this is just who these guys are.
Offense
The Bears come out running against the Lions who pretty much stick with seven in the box. You can’t succeed doing that if you’re constantly pushing yourself back with penalties.
With the Lions defensive center being as strong as they are, the Bears were attacking the edges and off tackle with limited success.
With Forte running well, the Bears didn’t seem to use play action like I thought they should have.
Jay Cutler didn’t seem to be panicking unnecessarily in the pocket as he has been doing. That was largely because he never had a clean pocket to panic unnecessarily in. He was fine this week.
Cutler did a nice job on the move. He used his mobility to avoid the rush and burn the Lions on the blitz on occasion. I’d have to say I’ve never seen anyone do a better job with basically no offensive blocking in front of him. In its own way it was heroic.
The receivers seemed to be better this week in that they were fighting for the ball and making some tough catches with close coverage. Good game for Devin Hester.
The Bears basically worked their way down the field on Lions penalties in the first quarter and Lovie Smith goes for it on fourth down. I hated that call and not just because it didn’t work out. You take the points there in a defensive game.
The Lions were getting an extraordinary jump on the Bear snap count. There must have been a tell somewhere.
As Jon Gruden pointed out very well, you need to give those putrid offensive linemen for the Bears some help if you have to pass. I know the Bears are in a bind in that situation but you can’t let them tee off like that on the worst offensive line in the league.
Miscellaneous
Mike Tirico, Gruden, Ron Jaworski did a nice job. I thought Jon Gruden’s attempts to dissect every play were particularly laudable. I enjoyed the call.
Penalties all over the place on both sides. Kellen Davis false started at least three times. The Bears claim they practice all week with piped in noise. They better turn the volume up.
Someone is going to have to explain to me why Lovie Smith challenged the spot on the fourth down at the end of the first quarter. It was clear that the ball came down on top of the 25 yard line and the marker was well beyond that. That was the last time out they had in the first half. Poor decision.
The Lions didn’t drop many passes. The Bears weren’t bad but Devin Hester dropped a touchdown in the first quarter. Forte had a bad drop.
Special teams weren’t bad but they never really had much of a chance. It seemed like they were pinned back against the goal line the whole game.
The Bears didn’t turn it over themselves and they got one interception. But if they keep playing like this they are going to need more than that.
Frank Omiyale just cannot block. J’Marcus Webb couldn’t come close to keeping up with Kyle Vanden Bosch. Lance Louis struggled. Meanwhile Jerry Angelo says nobody did more to address the offensive line than the Chicago Bears. He should be totally ashamed.
For some reason I don’t understand the Bears were giving Steve Smith no apparent extra attention. Its fairly obvious that Cam Newton depends heavily on him. I had flash backs to Wes Welker last year.
The Bears were playing a lot of straight up zone. The times they blitzed they frequently got burned by a screen play. They did blitz much more often and more effectively in the second half.
The Panthers called plenty of misdirection and cutbacks against the aggressive Bears defense. The Bears weren’t in their gaps, especially in the first half.
Bears really tackled poorly. I got very tired of watching DeAngelo Williams run though them.
Cam Newton looks a whole lot more accurate than we were led to believe he was coming out of college. He’s going to be a good one.
Its near the end of the first quarter and Brandon Meriweather gets caught out of position covering over the top and allows Smith a completion on the 1 yard line setting up a touchdown. This is why the Patriots didn’t want him. Inexcusable.
Not a lot of pressure on Newton from the defensive line. The Bears were really trying to rush with discipline and keep Newton in the pocket. As a result Newton frequently had a long time to throw the ball. What was tough was that the Bears just couldn’t get him down. He’d just step through the tackle and get out of the pocket anyway. He’s like Dante Culpepper was only better at it.
Poor clock management at the end of the half by the Panthers. You don’t want to leave that last time out in your pocket.
Jeremy Shockey has got to shut up and play.
Offense
The Bears came out running and the Panthers insisted on meeting it with seven in the box. Its was a contest of wills until just before the end of the half when the Panthers wisely finally started sneaking a guy up. They wanted Jay Cutler to have to throw – as well they should. One big mistake they made is that they didn’t do more. There’s no reason whatsoever to respect the Bears passing game at all.
They didn’t throw much in the first half but I don’t have words to express the utter disgust I feel for the pass protection by the offensive line. There’s no excuse for the poor protection against a four man rush. Pulling Frank Omiyale from right tackle and replacing him with Lance Lewis helped. Martz quickly started leaving more people in to block as he did against the Packers.
The run blocking was pretty good but a lot of the offense was Matt Forte making yards on his own. He continues to look extremely good.
Like Cutler, I’m a little tired of seeing this team have to call time out because the plays aren’t getting in fast enough.
Miscellaneous
Thom Brennaman and Brian Billick did a reasonably good job. Billick pointed out a few things I missed.
Give credit to FOX for being sure to catch Jay Cutler congratulating D.J. Moore after his touchdown.
Outstanding special teams play by the Bears. In contrast the Panther’s special teams are pretty awful. The Devin Hester touchdown was on a line drive punt. The blocked field goal by the Bears was well done but as Billick pointed out, it was a poor kick. I’m not sure what that last kickoff by the Panthers was supposed to be. If it was supposed to fool me because most sane people expected an an onside kick, it did.
The Bears got a key turnover and left at least one or two on the field. Cutler threw a bad interception (see below).
There were plenty of disturbingly open Panthers receivers who didn’t make catches. That won’t happen every week. The Bears continue to fail to fight for balls and allow opposing defenses to knock balls away and/or drop passes when they’re hit. You aren’t going to be wide open all the time. The drop by Dane Sanzenbacher on a key third down took place at a poor time.
Greg Olsen obviously needed to settle down. Two penalties on opening drive. The Panthers constantly shot themselves in the foot with lots and lots of penalties beside that. The Bears weren’t clean but they weren’t hurt as bad as the Panthers who had play after play eliminated by it. I’d like to point out that Brandon Meriweather was dancing on the edge of the rules for a lot of this game. He had at least one helmet to helmet hit on Steve Smith that really needs to be called.
Lots of pink out there for breast cancer awareness.
Certainly the story of this game was the Bears commitment to the run. But I’m concerned. Its obvious now that the book on Jay Cutler is to hit him and he folds. I understand that the protection isn’t good but he’s has got to stand in against the rush. He sees blitz and no matter how much protection he’s got, he panics. He’s constantly throwing off of his back foot. He short armed the interception and it flew high. Someone has to do something about this or its gong to be a miserable year passing no matter what the line does. They aren’t going to win many games like this.
The Bears came out in the cover two and stuck with it for the most part during the first drive. But I think it quickly became evident that it wasn’t going to work and they started mixing some single safety with man coverage underneath. The aggressive defense, particularly in the second half, did a better job of confusing and stopping Aaron Rogers.
There weren’t many times when Roger had a lot of time but he gets rid of the ball so fast he’s tough to get to. Again, the BEars did a better job of pressuring him in the second half and it really threw his accuracy off.
On a related note, the contrast between Rogers and Jay Cutler was never so evident as when they ran the ball. Rogers drops back, looks quickly and runs. Cutler drops back, waits…, waits…, waits and runs at the last minute. Weather its a question of style or personality, quick decisions just aren’t in him. Rogers is clearly the more efficient thinker of the two.
I really thought the Bears defense was playing on their heels for much of the first half. They looked pretty confused. I don’t think they were mentally in the right frame of mind nor do I think they looked particularly prepared for what they saw on the field. You can chalk much of their success in the first half up for the Packers coaches.
Rogers is masterful at drifting to the right, drawing the defenders with him, then taking off to the left. It takes discipline to stop him.
Speaking of discipline, the Bears defense wasn’t doing a very good job of filling gaps against the run in the first half. There were some massive holes. They tightened it up in the second half.
The Bears actually got some good penetration on some runs. But particularly in the first half it looked to me like they just weren’t wrapping up and thenPackers running backs were allowed to escape.
Offense
The Packers started the game with four down linemen on the first play. I’ve never seen them do that before. They didn’t do it often but they mixed it in occasionally, apparently when they expected a run. Other than that, I think we probably saw two down linemen most frequently.
Mike Martz apparently thought that little off tackle run to the left with the pulling linemen was going to work again. It didn’t. The Packers were looking for it and adjusted adjusted well to stop it.
I thought the Bear wide receivers had more success getting off the line of scrimmage this game than they did the last time they saw the Packers.
Too bad the rest of what we saw at the line of scrimmage wasn’t better. There were stretches where the Packers dominated it.
But what really hurt the Bears was the pressure that the Packers were able to bring. They were constantly resenting whatever quarterback was in the game. As a result the offense had no rhythm for most of it. The BEars were particularly susceptible to the delayed blitz and the blitz of Sam Shields off the edge. These have been their achilles heel all year. They never managed to counter them.
As bad of a day as Rogers had, Cutler’s was much worse. His accuracy was as bad as I’ve ever seen it. He left some big plays on the field.
I don’t know why the Bears continue to run screens against the Packers. They have the best offense in the league at running them and their defenses sees them in practice every week. There has to be a better way to counter the blitz.
The Bears had to bring in Caleb Hanie. Todd Collins was a sitting duck in the pocket and with the problems the Bears offense had in protection, they had to have a quarterback who could move. I thought Hanie did fine all things considered. Yes, two interceptions but what do you expect from your emergency quarterback who probably hasn’t taken a snap in practice in weeks. Give him credit for bringing energy to the game and engineering a drive which made this game closer than it really was.
I don’t think its any coincidence that the Bears best drive came about when they managed to get Greg Olsen and Earl Bennett involved in the game.
Defensive coordinator Dom Capers did a masterful job of scheming today to take the Bears offense out of their element. Kudos.
Miscellaneous
I thought that Troy Aikman and Joe Buck did their usual solid job during this game. I’ve complained about Buck in the past because I’ve felt he was biased. Whether it was fair when I said it or not I have absolutely no complaints today. Good call.
Man, did penalties hurt the Bears today. They cropped up at crucial times and it always seemed like first and 15 or 20 all game. Once again the offensive line was a major culprit but the defense really got into the act as well. They did a lot of complaining during one particular series in the forth quarter but those all looked like good calls to me.
The Bears special teams were OK. They covered fine and generally speaking they did as well as they could giving the Bears decent field position. But with the offense not moving the ball there wasn’t a lot they could do other than on kickoffs where they performed reasonably well.
But the star of the game was Packers punter Tim Masthay who picked up where he left off at the end of the last Packer-Bears game. He did a masterful job of pinning the Bears against their own goal line. He was huge today.
The Bears defense really didn’t meet expectations as far as turnovers were concerned. Hanie’s interceptions obviously were the game killers.
I didn’t think the Bears dropped the ball too much. I think the Packers receivers did. These guys are used to having Rogers lay it in for them and when it doesn’t happen, they don’t catch the ball as often as they should.
The Bears came out with lots of single coverage with nickel personnel. They did a good job doing, it, too.
A key to the defensive effort was the ability of the Bears to stop the run with seven in the box.
The Seahawks were doing a lot of things right. For instance, with the exception of a brief period in the second quarter, they were mixing it up well with some good play calls.
The Seahawk plan was obviously to attack the edges. They also came out and showed some good misdirection plays. As most fans know, speed defenses like the Bears are susceptible to this.
Having said that, without looking at the actual statistics, I thought maybe the Seahawks could have run the ball more. Admittedly when they did they weren’t effective.
The Bears did start to blitz a lot in spurts when they were reasonably sure the Seahawks were going to throw. It was effective in that it did throw Matt Hasselbeck’s accuracy off a bit and that allowed them to fake the blitz and pull out effectively at other times. But in truth, Hasselbeck wasn’t bad. His receivers just killed him by dropping too many balls.
I know it didn’t look like Julius Peppers and the defensive line was getting that much pressure but they were. Peppers was regularly pushing Russell Okung back into Hasselbeck’s lap.
Offense
Gutsy call by Mike Martz throwing the bomb with 3rd and short on first possession. Greg Olsen – touchdown. Heck of a throw by Jay Cutler.
The offensive line provided good protection for Cutler. But the Bears were keeping a lot of blockers in to do it.
Most of us thought the Seahawks would come out blitzing. They did do much of it. But note that when they did do it, they were getting pressure. I’m sure the Green Bay Packers noticed.
Of course, as everyone saw, the Bears just ran over them. As I’ll note below, the Seahawks looked flat from the time they walked on to the field. Nevertheless, the offensive balance is back.
The Bears were drawing that eighth guy down into the box on first down occasionally but really, it was probably their stubborn refusal to do it more often that kept the Bears running the ball at them. Seattle insisted on playing straight up cover two with little blitzing. The Bears took what they gave them.
Some of the worst tackling I’ve seen all season from Seattle today.
Was that Cutler throwing the ball out of bounds in the second quarter? Was it snowing in hell, too?
Big, big game for Greg Olsen.
We all thought that Seattle would be the team that would pull out all the stops but it was the bears who pulled out a few special plays like the wildcat. They were the ones throwing the bomb on third and short. It did bite them when Matt Forte threw his interception but the point it that the Bears were teh ones that played it more loose.
Miscellaneous
I was told during the week that I’m too nice when it comes to evaluating announcers. Sorry. I still think Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston, Tony Siragusa did a solid, if not spectacular job. They hit on many of the points above during the broadcast. Admittedly they didn’t teach me a lot, today, but I was happy.
Generally speaking the Bears covered kicks pretty well today. Both Leon Washington and Devin Hester ripped off one good run.
I thought that Jon Ryan generally did a good job of handling Devin Hester. Good high kicks with lots of hang time.
Hard to believe Seattle punter Ryan drove Hester out of bounds in first quarter. They were basically one on one. I don’t know how to put it but something was off about Hester today. He was generally hesitant.
Generally speaking I didn’t think either team had too many penalties.
Corey Graham, Corey Graham, Corey Graham and some more.
The Bears had one turnover but didn’t get any. Lovie Smith won’t be happy with that.
It was nice to see the other team slipping around more than the Bears for once.
A surprising number of Seattle players went down with injuries. The hits weren’t dirty but perhaps it was a sign of how physically they were treated.
Tweet of the game from BradBiggs: “#Bears lead 21-0 with 10:01 left in 1st half. Prices for Packers Bears NFC title game tix gotta be skyrocketing.”
Two minutes left in the third quarter and the Seahawks kicked a field goal. Johnston called it an “interesting decision”.
I’ve been extremely vocal about the fact that the Bears haven’t been able to play effective man defense. Today the Bears flipped the finger at me and everyone like me. They won the game playing tenacious Packers style man-to-man defense. I was holding my breath every time Hasselbeck threw at Tim Jennings and only a little less so when he threw at Charles Tillman trying to get the ball to the sizable Mike Williams. But they held up. Kudos.
The minute they hit the field, before even the first snap, you could see that Hasselbeck looked excited but everyone around him looked dead. The Seahawks came out sluggish after last weeks big game. They let down and the Bears literally just ran over them. Now lets hope the Bears can avoid doing the same thing next week.
The Bears defense came out with all of the starters and they apparently came to play. For the most part they played fast and down hill.
The defense came out mixing it up and blitzing early. They did less blitzing as the game wore on.
The Bear defense had a bit of a problem when the Packer offense played their 22 personnel (2 backs, 2 wide receivers). They couldn’t stop the run out of this formation without an eighth guy in the box but they also didn’t like leaving their corners in single high man coverage. Rogers was trying to audible into a favorable play depending upon what the safety did. The Bears played a lot of it situationally depending upon whether the Packers were likely to need to pass but the intermediate downs and distances were a problem.
The Bears had a hard time getting to Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rogers in the first quarter, even when they were blitzing. They did better as the game progressed.
The Bears pass coverage was pretty good. Rogers was continually escaping pressure only to find that no one was open.
The Bears defense did well today but the team was also fortunate in that Rogers and the Packer offense had an off day. Rogers occasionally struggled with accuracy and the receivers were continually dropping balls.
I thought generally speaking the Bear defense played with a lot more discipline this game. To my eye they weren’t often caught out of their gaps.
He wasn’t getting great protection but I am surprised that the Packers didn’t take more shots down field.
Danieal Manning bit on an inside route on the long pass that set up the Packer touchdown in the fourth quarter. That was tough to swallow.
Offense
The Bears offense came out running and they were also mixing it up well.
The Packers played a defense with two down linemen much of the time. They did a lot of pre snap shifting trying to confuse the Bear defense and, like the Bear defense, they weren’t afraid to blitz. Their defense was effective.
The Bears offensive line did a poor job of protecting quarterback Jay Cutler. The Packers did a good job of confusing them.
Related to that, the Bears did a terrible job of handling the Packer blitz. The Packers aggressively covered the Bears wide receivers as they made their adjustments and the Bears simply had no answer. The Bears may have missed Earl Bennett a great deal more than most of us realized they would this game. In his absence, the Bears tried to use Greg Olsen more in these situations, especially late.
The Bears did have good success running against that two man line for big chunks of yards.
B.J. Raji had a great game. He was especially effective off of the Packer line stunts.
The Packers did a good job of shutting down Johnny Knox by being very physical with him. Indeed, the Packers seemed to be getting away with being a bit too physical at times.
Indeed, related to that, the Bears receivers had a very difficult time getting away from the aggressive, tight man coverage that the Packers specialize in.
Miscellaneous
Joe Buck and Troy Aikman did a good job today. In fact, Aikman mentioned most of the points I made above during the broadcast. The only pick I have is that they didn’t mention when Matt Forte went over 1000 yards.
Brad Biggs tweet of the game: “Jay Cutler yelling at Chester Taylor as he leaves field. Does he know Taylor fights teammates?”
Someone better talk to the Bears about getting some proper spikes. I’m tiered of seeing them slip to the ground on footing that the other team seems to be handling well.
Some of the Bear drops were tough to take – there were certainly too many. But if you are a Packer fan you are going crazy with the poor performance by your wide receivers in this respect.
There were too many penalties on both sides.
Nice job by D.J. Moore stripping the ball from Donald Driver in the first quarter.
Cutler threw a terrible interception in the third quarter in the end zone. He was off balance and threw it short. What’s worse, the Bears were in field goal position in a tight game. I know that to some extent you have to accept these things from Cutler but that just shouldn’t ever happen.
Brad Maynard and Packer punter Tim Masthay did an excellent job today.
The Devin Hester we saw today looked a lot like the one from last year. Masthay did a good job of pinning him against the sideline. The error of letting the Packers punt bounce at the twelve to be downed at the three in the fourth quarter came at a critical time.
I’m not too sure about the Lovie Smith decision to go for it on fourth down on the Packer 40 yard line up by only 3 points. I know that it worked out with Charles Tillman intercepting the ball on the following Packer possession. Never the less I think playing field position and continued offensive patience was called for in that situation.
The officiating in this game was generally poor. On the Bears side, the missed pass interference on Knox and the bogus roughing the passer call on Julius Peppers comes to mind. Certainly a good argument could be made that the ball hit the ground on Tillman’s interception.
This was a generally sloppy game but well worthwhile. Though many would question the wisdom of doing it, the Bears were well rewarded by playing this game all the way like it counted. The Packers exposed a number of offensive weaknesses, most notably the reappearance of the offensive line problems, the problems that the Bear receivers had getting away from the Packers coverage, the problems handling Greg Jennings on deep routes against cornerback Tim Jennings as the safeties were late getting over the top, and the problems handling the blitz. The Bears will now have two weeks to work on correcting those issues.
The Bears came out running and the Jets came out playing aggressive man-to-man defense, crowding the line and blitzing a lot. The Bears struggled and their wide receivers just weren’t getting open in the short passing game. The Jets won the first half in this respect.
Late in the first half the Bears stopped running the ball quite as much, which I thought was a mistake. On the other hand they started throwing to Matt Forte out of the back field which was extremely effective.
Jay Cutler’s mobility was a great plus against the Jets blitz and he was constantly running out of trouble and throwing it down field.
On a related note, Cutler’s accuracy was frequently off in the first half and that hurt the Bears (see the first interception when Cutler threw behind Earl Bennett). Though he’s usually good on the move it didn’t get better until the second half when he was able to stay in the pocket.
And speaking of that, the Bear offensive line did as good a job as they have all year protecting Cutler in the second half.
Kudos also to Cutler for throwing with more anticipation this game in response to the blitz. He was getting the ball out of his hand quickly in response to the blitz as the receivers adjusted. He still held the ball too long on occasion when trying to make a play but not as much as he has been.
Matt Forte’s first touchdown came off of a wonderful block by the full back (Greg Olsen?).
There were times when the Jets defense was too aggressive and it hurt them. For instance, they badly lost contain on Cutler’s touchdown in the second quarter. I’m wondering if more misdirection in the ground game would have worked if the Bears had done more of it.
The Bears did a nice job of adjusting at half time this game. Realizing that the short passing game in response to the Jets blitz and their aggressive man coverage wasn’t working, they started throwing deep to great effect. Touchdowns by Johnny Knox and Devin Hester resulted.
If the Bears threw at Darrelle Revis all game, I didn’t see it.
Defense
The Bears came out blitzing and loading the box. Generally speaking they mixed it up with a lot of cover two and even some quarters coverage. But whenever they had to play man-to-man they got burned. The Jets responded with a lot of sort passes. The defensive backs played too far off of the Jets receivers and there were large gaps for Mark Sanchez to throw in to. Ultimately the Bears couldn’t handle the Jet passing game in the first half and it looked like pitch and catch at times out there. They did better in the second half with some tight coverage.
The Jets attacked the edges of the Bear defense in the running game. It was also very effective.
Tommie Harris made got good penetration on the first defensive play of the game. How unfortunate that this was the exception to the rule. The Bears had a lot of trouble getting pressure on Mark Sanchez this game. Even the blitz wasn’t getting to him most of the game.
Santonio Holmes really thought they should have challenged his fumble in the first quarter but it looked like the ball was out before he was down to me.
There was some bad tackling out there but the real problem that the Bears had with stopping the run was over pursuit. This used to be b Bear weakness but they’ve done well with it this year up until now. Hopefully it isn’t rearing its ugly head at the wrong time.
On a related, Lance Briggs overran the play on the Jets first touchdown. Indeed, it wasn’t a good game over all for the Bears linebackers.
Tim Jennings also had a bad game. He dropped an interception and he struggled in coverage. He lost contain on at least on long run around end.
Danieal Manning bit on a short route in the third quarter, resulting in a Santonio Holmes touchdown. Fortunately Chris Harris didn’t do the same thing on the Jets last offensive play, intercepting the ball.
Miscellaneous
I watched this game in a sports bar in St. Charles, Missouri. It was good to be among so many Bear fans. This must be how the Bears feel while on the road.
Per the Chicago Tribune‘s Brad Biggs’ Twitter, the last time a game was played on a Tuesday was 1946. The Vikings and the Eagles will now be doing it this week thanks to a blizzard in Philadelphia.
I sure do wish the Bear offensive line would cut down on the penalties.
The ball was dead all day, causing kicks to be short and giving both teams good field position, especially the Bears.
Heaven knows Robbie Gould has earned the right to do it but I’d have appreciated it if he had finally missed in a game which was less close.
The Bears dropped a couple easy interceptions this game (Tim Jennings and Charles Tillman were two culprits). That can’t be allowed to happen. I’m not complaining too much but they should have had more turnovers.
There weren’t too many drops this game (not counting the Bear defensive backs) but its hard not to notice that Knox dropped another one.
The Bear defense was a disappointment today. Although they still played a lot of cover two, the game plan required them to really mix it up and I don’t think they responded well. There wasn’t much pressure on Sanchez most of the game and they didn’t play with the needed discipline. The man defense wasn’t as bad as it was against the Patriots but it still needs a lot of work and both Jennings and D.J. Moore are weaknesses.
This was a great game for the Bear offense. The offensive line did a very nice job of protecting CUtler in the second half. That was a good team they beat today and they played well. It was about as good a performance as you can reasonably expect.