Game Comments: Bears Vs. Falcons, 9/11/11

Offense

1. It definitely looked to me like the Falcons started the game selling out to the run. The Bears did a nice job of passing and loosening them up but I never did think that they used the play action like they could have.
2. There were little picks with the offensive line here and there.   Game commentators Daryl Johnston and Tony Siragusa kind of got on Gabe Carimi and I thought there were times when J’Marcus Webb looked over matched against John Abraham as well. But generally speaking I thought the offensive line was adequate. They did a better job of picking up blitzes and stunts than most pundits thought they would.
3. There was some awful tackling out there on the part of then Falcons.
4. Matt Forte did everything he could to prove that he’s worth every dime. He’s not flashy and it’s deceptive in that respect. He made an awful lot of yards on his own today.
5. Kudos to Roy Williams. Reasonable performance. No dropped passes.
6. The Bears did a marvelous job of spreading the ball around today. Kellen Davis got a lot of balls. Even Dane Sanzenbacher got into the act.
7. Jay Cutler looks great. Just great. Couldn’t ask for anything better in terms of accuracy and anticipation.

Defense

1. The Bears didn’t seem to be too thrown by the Falcons no huddle offense.
2. The Bears got plenty of pressure on Matt Ryan. They showed what the coaches have been saying all of training camp. That the defensive line is improved.
3. What gets me about Atlanta is that sometimes they make plays that are practically impossible to stop. Ryan is deadly accurate. But they don’t do it consistently. Some of the dropped passes and poor execution, particularly in the second half, were inexcusable.  They’re a dangerous team if they get themselves together.
4. Major Wright again got himself in trouble. He got blocked out of a long run that Michael Turner broke in the third quarter.
5. Kudos to Charles Tillman for the job he did with some tight coverage today. He played about as well as I’ve ever seen him.
6. Anybody seen the great Julio Jones? Maybe he caught one ball. Hardly what you trade away your draft for.

Miscellaneous

1. Johnston, Kenny Albert and Siragusa did a decent job today.  It wasn’t anything special, perhaps, but its always nice to have one of the better announcing teams in town.
2. Five minutes into the game and the field already looked awful.
3. Pretty clean game for penalty-wise except for special teams on both sides.
4. Very few drops for the Bears. A lot for the Falcons. It made a big difference in the game. Again, kudos to Williams for having on to everything that came his way.
5. Special teams for the Bears were much improved over the preseason. Of course it helps if your kicker is putting it out of the end zone. Kudos to Corey Graham. He was all over the place.
6. Obviously the Bears broke out of their preseason slump to got out and get some turnovers. Brian Urlacher‘s interception was wonderful. Jay Cutler’s late game interception didn’t hurt but in other circumstances it could have. It’s also worth pointing out how many near interceptions Cutler threw. Maybe they need to clean that up a bit.
7. If I’m a Falcons fan, I’m pretty upset right now.  That was a poor game from a team that’s a lot better than that.  Poor execution, poor tackling.  These are the things that lose games.  However, I’m not a Falcons fan.  I’m a Bears fan and I’m pretty happy.  The offense looked every bit as good as they did in the preseason against what is ordinarily a good defense. The Bears defense looked as good as they usually do.  I had to sit all summer and listen to “experts” trash the Bears and predict that they’d “take a step back”.  That’s because no one outside of Chicago has been really looking at what’s been happening here, especially on offense.  I hope those experts are sitting up and taking notice now.  This might be a very good team in what might be the best division in football.