Category: Game Comments

Game Comments: Bears at 49ers 9/14/14

Offense

  1. Start on the ground. The 49ers played straight up seven in the box and stopped it. The 49ers keyed on Forte and just didn’t let him do much of anything.

  2. Bears had slightly more success in the short passing game, especially to Martllus Bennett. But they really weren’t executing a lot better than they did last week. It was pretty obvious that they were going to leave the game in the hands of Bennett and the injured wide receivers and see if the Bears could beat them with them.

  3. Jay Cutler had a lot of problems with his accuracy tonight. He seemed to be having a hard time gripping the ball for some reason. He was also very jittery in the pocket.

  4. I think color man Cris Collinsworth was correct in that the 49ers didn’t think Alshon Jeffery and Brandon Marshall could run. They were sitting on the routes.

  5. On a related note, the Bears really struggled with the deep routes. It wasn’t just that Jeffery and Marshall were covered. Cutler was having a hard time connecting with them, maybe because he was used to them running faster to get under the passes.

  6. I thought the pass protection was a bit inconsistent. It was OK most of the time but there were occasional breakdowns that hurt. Cutler was nervous enough in the pocket as it was. In fairness I thought it improved in the second half.

  7. Awsome catch by Brandon Marshall for a touchdown at the end of the first half. Really a pleasure to watch.

Defense

  1. 49ers also came out ready to run and did it more successfully. Bears spent a lot of time in the staight up defense grouping trying to stop it. Of course, as happened last week, this set up the play action pass. Like last week, it worked.

  2. The 49ers really didn’t play very well. Lots of dropped balls.

  3. I was really puzzled by the fact that the 49ers went away from the run so often. I thought they could have run a lot more up the middle.

  4. It looked to me like the Bears just plain decided that they weren’t going to let Colin Kaepernick run. They basically sacrificed everything to contain him.

  5. Vernon Davis just did whatever he wanted tonight.

  6. Jared Allen looked better at times this week rushing the passer. Shea McClellin looked better and so did Jeremiah Ratliff. Willie Young pinnd his ears back and did a good job rushing the passer once the 49ers were playing from behind. Some nice effort out there.

  7. I liked the spirit I saw from the defense tonight. Guys seemed to be genuintely excited to be out there. I thought I saw a lot of effort.

Miscellaneous

  1. Al Michaels did his usual nice job. Cris Collinsworth is the best color man in football.

  2. There was a blocked punt in the first quarter. Looked like Danny McCray missed the block. Other than that I suppose they did little harm.

  3. Like all sloppy games there were plenty of penaties on both sides. Defensive holding Kyle Fuller gave the 49ers a first down when the Bears had them stopped in the first quarter. That turned in to 3 points.

  4. Martellus Bennett had drop in the first quarter. But really the vast majority were dropped by 49ers.

  5. Another pick by Chris Conte this week. A Kaepernick funble took points off of the board for the 49ers in the second quarter. Kudos to Jared Allen for forcing that one. Kyle Fuller came up with two huge interceptions in the fourth quarter.

  6. When I wrote my blog entry yesterday I said that the Bears were going to need a lot of help from the 49ers to win this game. And boy did they ever get it. The 49ers committed penalty after penalty, had drop after drop and turnover after turnover to hand the Bears a victory.

    But that’s not to say that the Bears didn’t make some plays – they did. Chris Conte, Kyle Fuller and Brandon Marshall all did some great things. But perhaps I was most encouraged by the enthusiasm and discipline I saw from the defense tonight. That’s going to be good enough to win a lot of games against many a lesser opponent as the season rolls on. I think Bear fans have reason to be encouraged.

Game Comments: Buffalo at Chicago 9/7/14

Defense

  1. The Bills came out running which is the natural thing to do when facing what was one of the worst run defenses in the NFL. They didn’t hide it with some straight out power run formations and the Bears were looking for it. And they stopped it. The Bills started going to play action after that, of course, and that’s when the fun started. That was pretty much the plan all day. Whenever the Bills felt like they needed to gather it back together they started running and went to the pass off of that. It kept the Bears linebackers off balance all day as they struggled with reading the plays.
  2. Even though the Bills weren’t getting too far running the ball it did slow the Bears pass rush and they weren’t getting to Emanuel enough. For long parts of the game there was no pass rush on E.J. Emanuel at all and it was killing the Bears defense. The Bears tried some line stunts but they didn’t help too much. That has to get better.
  3. This game reminded me a little bit of the Seattle preseason game in that there were massive amounts of space in the defensive backfield for receivers to run into. The Bills did a good job of taking advantage of it.
  4. Jared Allen failed to contain on the outside on the Bills first touchdown. He seems to have a bad habit of that.
  5. Ryan Mundy had a rough game. It seemed sometimes like every time the Bills made a play he was somewhere in the area.
  6. It was interesting to watch Lamarr Houston today. He’s a quiet guy in the media but he’s bundle of emotion and energy on the field. It’s not what I expected.
  7. In general the Bears secondary did a good job of tackling today. Good to see.

Offense

  1. The first drive was beautiful. For some reason the Bills put Leodis McKelvin one-on-one with Alshon Jeffery in press coverage. If there was supposed to be any help, it never got there and Jay Cutler made a beautiful pass. A Bills linebacker slipped and Martellus Bennett got wide open going into the end zone. I’m not too sure he was going to be able to cover him anyway.
  2. The Bills went to a weird 2 man line formation early on. Cutler audibled to a run that didn’t go anywhere. It was an interesting wrinkle.
  3. The Bills were having a tough time getting pressure early and began to blitz in the second quarter. It was moderately effective and I thought the Bears needed to do a better job of taking advantage of it.
  4. Contrary to worries before the contest, the running game was reasonably effective. It was the passing game that was occasionally out of sync resulting in one notable interception by Corey Graham in particular.
  5. Matt Forte really is the most underrated football player in the league. He does it all and he does it really well.
  6. There’s a noticeable difference in Cutler compared to previous years. You read about it in the papers but its different seeing him out there audibling and placing players around him. He’s gone from being an arm to being a functioning brain on the field.
  7. Cutler still has a bad habit of throwing off of that back foot. It makes his throws noticeably weaker and less accurate.
  8. Nice, heads up catch by Josh Morgan in the third quarter off of a Brandon Marshall deflection. It was (yet another) miscommunication, though, as both receivers probably weren’t supposed to be in the same area. Having said that, I like where the Bears are with the third wide receiver. Between Morgan and Santonio Holmes I think there’s a fair chance that they’ll get more out of the position than last year. But they’re going to need Alshon Jeffery.

Miscellaneous

  1. The Bears continued a wonderful streak of drawing the best announcing teams in football. FOX sent Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston and Tony Siragusa and I thought they did their usual nice job of complimenting the action.
  2. Special teams didn’t hurt the Bears too badly today. Jeremy Cain was fine at long snapper. Senorise Perry made kind of a dumb decision and brought the ball out of the end zone on a kickoff to be stopped at the 12 yard line but I didn’t see much that resulted in any damage after that. Of course, nothing much good came out of them either. But nothing bad is an improvement.
  3. The Bears penalties weren’t exactly out of hand but they were irritating. An interference call by Matthew Mulligan eliminates a nice Bennett gain. The Bills had a number of more costly penalties, some of which were legitimate.
  4. A few too many drops for the Bears today. Not anything too egregious but a lot of balls off of the tips of fingers that arguably should have been caught. There were a few that Cutler could have maybe made more catchable. I’ll say that needs to get better.
  5. Neither the Bears nor the Bills are teams that can afford to turn the ball over. Brandon Marshall’s fumble in the 2nd quarter was a killer. Former Bear Corey Graham’s interception in the second quarter on a Cutler miscommunication with Martellus Bennett also hurt badly. Chris Conte’s interception turned the game and helped the Bears get back in it. It was a huge play. As was Cutler’s killer interception as he tried to make a play in the fourth quarter.
  6. I talked earlier about how the Bears offense was going to need to show that they could overcome adversity. Two injured offensive linemen could be just the start. They’d better pray that Alshon Jeffery’s injury isn’t serious.
  7. Both of these teams didn’t really play all that well. The Bears let the Bills out in front with two turnovers and the Bills let the Bears right back in it with one of theirs. Overall the Bears had more talent but executed poorly with little things here and there and everywhere stopping them all over the field. If it wasn’t a turnover, it was a penalty and if it wasn’t a penalty it was a dropped ball or a player out of position. It seemed like it was never the same thing twice but they all added up to a big problem. It could be just first game sloppiness but Bears fans have seen teams stop themselves like this all year too often in the past to be completely relaxed. These boys have a tough schedule up front and if they don’t pull it together quick, they’ll be out of the playoff race in the blink of an eye.

Quick Comments: Bears at Seahawks 8/22/14

  1. I thought I saw some good penetration from the defensive line. They just weren’t getting the results they needed from it.
  2. Russell Wilson had a lot to do with that. The key is a disciplined pass rush that traps him in the pocket. The Seahawks know that so the first think they have him do a lot of the time is drift left or right to get him outside. Its not exactly a roll out but he’s not sitting in the pocket either. It makes it tough to get a handle on him.
  3. Also on a related note, the Bears are going to be have to be able to penetrate against teams like Seattle. They aren’t physical enough up front otherwise. The Seahawk’s success in the running game pretty much demonstrated that. There were stretches where it looked like they could have run it all day.
  4. The Bears lined up Willie Young in what looked like a “wide 9” position once or twice. That’s a formation commonly played by the Lions when Jim Schwartz was the head coach there where he was way outside of the offensive tackle. So Young’s played it quite a bit in the past. Interesting.
  5. You can pretty much chalk up the first Seahawk touchdown to Shea McClellin. He got sucked inside and Marshawn Lynch went right through the spot McClellin was occupying. Color man Jim Miller attributed the mistake to defensive end Lamarr Houston but Houston was occupying the lineman and McClellin was left free to make the play. I thought he was the one out of position. I won’t say he played badly McClellin didn’t do much with the starters in this game.
  6. Chris Conte showed up. Hopefully he’s not concussed.
  7. There were definitely some problems with defensive assignments, tonight. I don’t know enough to be able to say exactly what was wrong but way too often guys were making catches with no defensive player within 3 or 4 yards of them. That really shouldn’t ever happen.
  8. The offense was pretty much all Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffrey. I sure would have liked to have seen Josh Morgan and the tight ends more involved. The running game looked better and they were making some positive yards but they didn’t do it much. I think keeping Matt Forte healthy is a major priority right now.
  9. Having said that, its worth noting that Cutler was trying to get the ball to Morgan on the interception at the end of the half. He obviously thought Morgan was going to come back to get the ball on the back shoulder. I suppose those sorts of miscues are the reason he might be hesitant to keep going away from Marshall, Jeffery and Bennett.
  10. Special teams continues to be a concern. The coverage units were especially bad. I’m looking at you, Joe DeCamillis.
  11. I thought I saw some good, aggressive play from Lance Briggs tonight. He was around the ball a lot. Good to see.
  12. I thought Cutler wasn’t maybe as accurate as I’d typically like to see him. The receivers were working mighty hard to make those catches.
  13. Jordan Palmer’s accuracy and ball placement was pretty awful. Jimmy Clausen’s was better but that’s not saying much. Neither was anything to write home about.
  14. I’m starting to like what I see from Ka’Deem Carey. I noted that he came in before Shaun Draughn and played with the starters some in the first half, perhaps indicating that he’s moved ahead of him on the depth chart. He can block, he can catch and he always falls forward for a couple extra yards. Not much elusiveness there but otherwise he might be a really good one.
  15. Demontre Hurst keeps showing up in these games and making tackles. Its worth noting.
  16. Terrell Pryor has a long way to go. Tossing that ball up for grabs under pressure for an interception in the fourth quarter wasn’t a good look.
  17. Preseason game or not the Seattle crowd was still loud enough to make it a challenge.
  18. The Bears were close to making plays all over the field this game. They were missing by inches. They’re close but I guess that’s the difference right now.

Game Comments (in Advance): Packers at Bears

Unfortunately with the Bears move from a noon kickoff Sunday to 3:30 PM, I will miss the game.  I have a flight back into Chicago scheduled late that afternoon.  It was set up many months ago and was going to be after the game ended.  But you can’t account for last minute television gree…  I mean accommodations that far in advance.

So, much to my chagrin, there won’t be any game comments this Sunday.  But then it occurred to me.  Why wait?  I’m pretty sure I know what’s going to happen.  So here are my comments – in advance:

Offense

  1. The Bears came out trying to run the ball and got nowhere against the Packers defense that was committed to stopping it and forcing quarterback Jay Cutler to throw.
  2. The Packers blitzed frequently, leaving the Bears receivers in man-to-man coverage.  This is pretty much the way to beat the Bears, especially with Cutler at quarterback.  The only way to beat this type of coverage is to throw with anticipation to a receiver coming-out of his break, something Cutler is and always will be totally incapable of doing.
  3. Cutler never saw double coverage he didn’t like.  The Packers regularly doubled Brandon Marshall on third down and Cutler tried to force it to him anyway.
  4. The Bears offensive line recovered to do a good job protecting Cutler. They were constantly under siege, as the Packers knew full well that pressuring Cutler and covering the receivers with tight man coverage is the way to beat him. Cutler spent a good part of this night holding the ball too long, as well.  Nevertheless the line got lots of help and the Packers had a tough time getting pressure.
  5. Having said that, the offensive line does deserve some credit and the Bears moved the ball reasonably well on the ground.  Matt Forte ran well against a Packers defense that chronically struggles with their tackling.

Defense

  1. The Packers came to play as they mixed it up and both ran and passed the ball well against the Bears defense.  The Bears played it straight most of the time but tried the occasional blitz on third down.
  2. The Bears struggled to get pressure on [insert name here].  When they blitzed, it never got home as the Packers got the ball out quickly.
  3. [insert name here] had a good day.  He was extremely accurate, something that’s easy to be when you haven’t seen any pressure all night.
  4. The Packers caught a bad break when running back Eddie Lacy went down to injury early in the game.  However it was good fortune for [insert name of JAG back up] who now looks like the next Adrian Peterson.  The Bears once again failed to stop the run despite keeping 8 men around the line of scrimmage all night.
  5. Many of the longer runs came from players being out of position. The worst offense (arguably) was when [insert name of linebacker here] was out of position on the [insert JAG back up] touchdown in the [insert any quarter].
  6. The Bears may not have watched the film but the Packers were definitely paying attention to what they saw in the Eagles game.  They attacked the edges and out-physicaled the Bears on the perimeter for big chunks of rushing yards.  Its hard to stop anyone when you are laying on the ground.
  7. On a related note, the Packers must have been drooling when the saw the success that both the Browns and the Eagles had with the screen game.  Neither of those teams plays it anywhere near as well and the Packers.  What a disaster.
  8. Poor tackling, yada, yada, yada.
  9. Chris Conte had another rough game and so did Major Wright.  The Packers did a good job of taking advantage of them and linebacker James Anderson with tight end [insert name of fan Packers pulled from the stands right before the game here].

Miscellaneous

  1. [insert names here] were [excellent/not on top of their game].  Many the major points were [hit/missed].  Color man [insert name here] was [his usual sharp self/having a down afternoon], [not] failing to point out little useful aspects of the game as they presented themselves.  I particularly liked it when he astutely pointed out that Cutler was failing to [insert any one of multiple mechanical problems here].
  2. Congratulations to Devin Hester, who broke the record for returns for a touchdown.  It was nice to see him get this.  Too bad the special teams were marred by multiple penalties all afternoon.  They’ll have to clean that up for next we…  oops.  Habit.
  3. The Bears had a number of drops, yada, yada, yada.  Brandon Marshall and [insert name here] were especially guilty.
  4. Too many penalties on both sides.  The Packers won’t get far regardless but if they have any hope of success next week in the playoffs they’re going to have to play perfect ball.  that means these stupid penalties and the drops have to go.
  5. Charles Woodson said it best:  “…it’s the same-old Jay. We don’t need luck; Jay will throw us the ball.”  [insert name here]’s fumble was very damaging for the Bears. Tim Jenning’s late interception was too little too late.
  6. The Packers exhibited all of the heart and perseverance that they showed after falling behind the Cowboys 26-3 in the first half of their game a couple weeks ago.  And the Bears exhibited all of the heart and perseverance that they showed after falling behind the Eagles 24-3 last week.
  7. Many Bears fans, I know, will be upset at this games.  But, in fact, it was the best possible result.  Let’s be honest.  The Bears weren’t going anywhere in the playoffs anyway.  As poster to Facebook,  Nat Mara, put it, “…watching the Bears in Seattle may scare me more than my own mortality”.  The Bears season has really been over since the loss to the St. Louis Rams.  The rest of the miserable division just wouldn’t let them realize it.  No, this was the best possible result because it exposed the Bears players each for what they are.  The biggest fear that I had was that head coach Marc Trestman would never have the opportunity to see Cutler play against the types of defenses that have revealed his weaknesses so fully for some years now.  That is not true anymore as Cutler came back from injury just in time to show what was needed.   After the last two games, Cutler is now naked with both his strengths and his weaknesses exposed fully against opponents that his Bear teams will be facing for years to come.  Indeed, after a year of trial, this is now true of all of the Bears players.  No matter what the team decides, in the Cutler matter and in all other personnel matters, they will be making those decisions fully informed with their eyes open.  That is far more important than the privilege of getting their brains beat in by the NFC West in the playoffs.

There you go.  Now, like me, you no longer have to watch the game.  See you in the off-season.

Game Comments: Bears at Eagles

Offense

  1. The Bears came out trying to run the ball and got nowhere against the Eagles defense that was physical at the point of attack.  Eventually the Bears started throwing the ball but that made them one dimensional.
  2. The Eagles blitzed frequently, leaving the Bears receivers in man-to-man coverage.  This is pretty much the way to beat the Bears, especially with Cutler at quarterback, if you’ve got the defensive backs to handle it.  The only way to beat this type of coverage is to throw with anticipation to a receiver coming-out of his break, something Cutler is and always will be totally incapable of doing.
  3. The Bears offensive line struggled to protect Jay Cutler.  It doesn’t help, as mentioned above, that the whole world knew they were going to pass for most of the game.  The Eagles had a particular habit of pressing the line of scrimmage on third down that cause problems in protection.  They failed to block well enough in the run game to get Matt Forte going.
  4. Cutler never saw double coverage he didn’t like and it was at least as apparent in this game as its ever been.  Like clock work the Eagles doubled Brandon Marshall on third down and Cutler tried to force it to him anyway.
  5. Cutler spent a good part of this night holding the ball too long, as well.
  6. Martellus Bennett had a nice game.  As color man Cris Collinsworth pointed out early on, Bennett on the Eagles linebackers was a match up that the Bears obviously  liked.

Defense

  1. The Eagles mixed it up and both ran and passed the ball well against the Bears defense.  The Bears played it straight most of the time but tried the occasional blitz on third down.
  2. The Bears got good pressure on Foles and actually got some sacks against the Eagles offense.  But Foles frequently foiled them with his mobility outside the pocket.
  3. Nick Foles makes the Eagles offense run.  He’s mobile outside the pocket, thus extending plays, and he throws accurately on the run.  You can see why the Eagles are so tough to stop.
  4. The run defense was pretty bad again.  Ironically, the defensive line stood tough and the Eagles didn’t make much up the middle.  But they ran well at the edges as both Lance Briggs and James Anderson played the run poorly.
  5. Other than the defensive line, the Bears got out-physicaled all over the field.  There were bodies with Bears jerseys on the ground everywhere on virtually every play.
  6. After a couple good weeks, poor tacking once again reared its ugly head.  Back to the drawing board.
  7. Chris Conte had another rough game and so did Major Wright.  The Eagles did a good job of taking advantage of them with tight end Brent Celek.
  8. The Eagles saw how well the Browns did with it last week and frequently went to the screen game with a great deal of success.  The Bears didn’t fix it in time to save them this week.
  9. The defense was on the field an awful lot this game thanks to quite a bit of offensive ineptitude.  That, along with the quick pace of the Eagles offense definitely tired them out.

Miscellaneous

  1. Al Michaels, Cris Collinsworth were excellent.  All the major points were hit and Collinsworth was his usual sharp self, pointing out little useful aspects of the game as they presented themselves.
  2. Special reams were bad.  Devin Hester’s fumble along with some inept punting by Brad Maynard were major contributors to the 21 point hole the Bears found themselves in after only one quarter of play.
  3. The Bears had a number of drops that can’t be allowed to happen.  Bennet and Marshall were guilty.  The penalties weren’t outrageous on either side.
  4. Hester’s aforementioned fumble was very damaging.  Cutler didn’t throw many interceptions in the portion of the game that mattered, mostly because the offense couldn’t stay on the field.  Jonathan Bostic got a fumble recovery on a nice strip by Tim Jennings.
  5. The Bears just plain got out-physicaled this game. The Eagles were both stronger and quicker.  Even more, they came out and they executed.  The Bears did not.  The offense almost never stayed on the field long enough to give the defense any kind of a break and they never had a chance.  This was a shameful, shameful performance.

Quick Game Comments: Bears at Lions

Defense

  1. The Bears were playing a lot of two deep coverage – probably because of Calvin Johnson. Nevertheless, as they have been doing all season, they didn’t hesitate to sneak an eighth guy up into the box whenever they suspected a run. As has been the case for much of the season, they have been frequently right.
  2. The stats will have to be checked but the Lions play calling appeared to be very balanced.
  3. There was some disturbingly bad tackling out there on the Bears part today. In particular Mikel Leshoure got a lot of yards after first contact.
  4. Henry Melton appeared to come out with some fire. He was getting good penetration. Julius Peppers deserves special mention as well.
  5. On a related note, the Bears got nice pressure on Stafford.
  6. Also related, the Lions started with some crisp passing to Tony Scheffler and Johnson. And I started to wonder if it was going to be a good day for Stafford. But things fell apart for this team quickly as they repeatedly put themselves in a hole (see turnovers, penalties and drops below). The pressure on Stafford had a big effect here. Stafford was a lot more accurate when he had time and wasn’t on the run (for example on the touchdown throw at the end of the first half).
  7. Once again, Charles Tillman did about as good of a job covering Calvin Johnson as you can do.
  8. I thought the Lions did a particularly good job of using their tight ends over the middle today.

Offense

  1. Jay Cutler really didn’t see a lot of pressure from the Detroit defensive line. There were some plays where he seemingly had forever to throw. He made a lot of time with his mobility as well.
  2. On a related note, one of those plays Cutler got off a great pass to Alshon Jeffery down the side line in the first quarter. Jeffery had a good game as he, for example, fought and extended to get a first down in the second quarter.
  3. Mike Tice pulled some different things out of the playbook for this game. There was a nice little misdirection play to Even Rodriguez in the first quarter. Although it didn’t get much yardage, the end around to Devin Hester in the second quarter was an interesting call.
  4. On a related note, it looked to me like Tice and Cutler made a concerted effort to spread the ball around. Brandon Marshall got his first catch midway through the second quarter.
  5. Also on a related note, the Bears ran a nice couple plays in the first quarter as the they got Matt Forte into space for a nice gain with a little screen pass. That was followed by Earl Bennett getting a little wide receiver screen while being covered by a linebacker. Six points. Bennett had a real nice game as Bears receivers go.
  6. I thought the Bears had only inconsistent success on the ground. Forte occasionally got good yardage but he was also hit an awful lot in the backfield. When they did have success, it was often stretch runs to the outside.
  7. On a related note, the Bears seemed to think they could attack the edges on the Lions. They did so with some success in part because of poor tackling in the open field. They also looked like they had more speed but that may have been because the Lions took such poor angles on the runner.
  8. I thought Kahlil Bell showed up and took advantage of his opportunities. He converted on a third and one in the second quarter. Contrast with a huge third and one in the third quarter where Forte failed to get the first down.
  9. The Bears didn’t do a very good job of taking advantage of all of the turnovers they got. As they blew opportunity after opportunity, settling for field goals, you had to wonder if it wasn’t going to bite them in the second half. It did as the Lions came out playing well.
  10. I was surprised at the number of times the Bears tried to go deep with the ball. Time after time Cutler targeted Marshall and Jeffery deep with limited success.

Miscellaneous

  1. This game was full of drops on both sides but they were particularly damaging for the Bears. While both Johnson and Leshoure had drops for the Lions, Marshall dropped two touchdowns and another at the goal line where he was interfered with. Jeffery also dropped a touchdown and so did Kellen Davis.
  2. The Bears were relatively clean with penalties but, as usual, the Lions had some damaging ones. Of particular note was a fifteen yard penalty for not getting back in bounds in a timely manner as a gunner on a punt by Kaseem Osgood and a pass interference on the Lions at the goal line. Lance Briggs drew a bad (and stupid) unnecessary roughness penalty in the fourth quarter which kept a critical drive alive.
  3. Not a good game on special teams for the Bears. They did force a fumble but Olindo Mare missed a field goal and Devin Hester stupidly took out a kick off from the end zone in the third quarter only to be tackled at the five. The return teams struggled.
  4. Cutler had a damaging fumble that the Bears eventually recovered again but that took them out of field goal range in the first half. But the really bad turnovers were left for the Lions as they did everything they could to throw this game away. There was a huge fumble by Joique Bell which was forced by Joe Anderson on a kickoff return. A Stafford fumble was forced by Israel Idonije. Stafford also threw an awful interception which gave the Bears the ball at Lions 22. The fumble by Leshoure which was recovered by Major Wright stopped some Lions momentum in the third quarter.
  5. Mid way through the second quarter and, as has been the case all year, cheers of “Let’s go Bears” could be heard from the stands on the road. You suck, Urlacher.
  6. This was a fascinating game.

    First, it didn’t go as I had thought it would. I was sure we’d see the Bears offensive line completely break down with multiple penalties due to crowd noise in the dome at Ford Field and that would be their down fall. To their credit, they didn’t and, for the most part, the damaging mistakes were left for the Lions.

    I never saw a team try so hard to throw a game away. And yet the Bears simply couldn’t generate the offense in the red zone to take advantage and they let the Lions hang around despite some awful, terrible, undisciplined play. You really wonder what kind of damage the Lions would have done during the season if they had just played with even decent control. When they played mistake free football they practically did what they wanted.

    In the end, the Bears sat back and waited for the Lions to make enough mistakes to lose. I suppose that’s a complement…

Quick Game Comments: Bears at Cardinals

Defense

  1. The Bears were once again showing cover two but sneaking that eighth guy up into the box and transitionsing to cover one.
  2. They stacked the line and playing the run and challenging rookie Ryan Lindley to beat them.
  3. The Bears Charles Tillman and Tim Jennings had a heck of a time covering covering Larry Fitzgerald.
  4. Lindley seems to lean on Fitzgerald almost as much as Cutler leans on Marshall. But it seems like a lot of short passes.
  5. It was a tough game for rookie right tackle Nate Potter. He drew Julius Peppers on a lot of rushes. He ended up getting a lot of help.
  6. The Bears may have been looking to tip balls against Lindley. Their hands were up a lot and it looked like it might have been a point of emphasis during the week.
  7. There wasn’t much blitzing but the Bears ran a lot of stunts to take advantage of the Cardinals offensive line. It seemed to work. They got a lot of pressure on Arizona quarterbacks.

Offense

  1. It looked to me like the Bears plan was to force the Cardinals to play the run, then use that to effectvely pass the ball.
  2. They certainly di drun the ball well. Forte broke some fairly damaging runs against a defense that plays it poorly.
  3. Forte had a good day. I’m starting to think he may have lost just a little explsiveness but his vision was pretty good.
  4. Armando Allen looked good in relief of the injured Forte. He’s more of a quick, cut back runner that provided a nice change of pace.
  5. Brandon Marshall does out interfere with these defensive backs. He was driving Peterson insane with it. He’s extremely good at hiding it.
  6. This was definitely not one of Cutler’s better games. He really wasn’t accurate today. The Bears are going to need better next week with the season on the line.
  7. It was nice to see Cutler involving Earl Bennett and Alshon Jeffery so nicely in the two minute drill at the end of the first half. Of course the touchdown pass went to Marshall but still, it was nice to see them spread it around. He also started the second half with a pass to Kellen Davis.
  8. I heard a lot of calls during the week from people like Matt Bowen at the Chicago Tribune for the Bears to work the middle of the field more. The Bears did more of it this game with guys like Davis and Bennett and it and was effective.
  9. Solid effort by the Bears offensive line this game.

Miscellaneous

 

There weren’t an inordinate number of drops on either side but they’re all irritating. Evan Rodriguez dropped a ball deep in Bear territory that left them in third and long. Marshall dropped the next pass and it almost led to an interception.

  • The NFL assigned Terry McAulay and his crew to the game. I thought both teams did a good job of limiting them but it was evident that the Cardinals offensive line wa having trouble. They were responsible for most of the ones there was. Generally speaking there was a lot more begging for calls than actual calls.
  • The Bears made punt returns a circus as they muffed one punt and nearly muffed a second. Hester did have a nice kickoff return to start the second half. and Eric Weems made a nice play early, pushin Greg Toler into PAtrick Peterson on a punt. The fake field goal by the Cardinals in the first half was pure stupid.
  • The Beanie Wells fumble wchi was recovered by Zack Bowman for a touchdown was obviously huge, as was the Charles Tillman interception on a terrible pass by Lindley. DJ Moore muffed the punt referenced above for a turnover as part of the juggling act on punt returns.
  • It looks to me like Arizona head coach Ken Whisenhunt has had enough. He pulled Beanie Wells from this game after that early fumble and Lindley got pulled after an awful pick six. He’s starting to send a message to that team.
  • The Bears deserve plenty of credit for taking care of business and winning this game. But I’ve got to say that the story of the game was how awful Arizona is. They’re quarterback is terrible, their offense other than Larry Fitzgerald inept. The Bears were able to use Forte and Allen to run the ball forcing the Cardinals to adjust and commit to stopping it. That left a good pass defense exposed as Patrick Peterson was left on an island with Brandon Marshall.These are the games the Bears have been winning all year. The real test comes next week in that dome in Detroit. It’s going to take a lot of mental toughness and intestinal fortitude to win in that environment, possibly with the playoffs on the line. I’ll be impressed if they do. I won’t be surprised in the least if they don’t.

 

Quick Comments: Packers at Bears


Offense

  1. The Packers started the game with seven in the box and two deep safeties just like the game at Lambeau earlier in the year. They tried to hold the line on that. However, the Bears ran the ball well and they did force the Packers to bring an eigth guy down starting on the second offensive series.
  2. The Packers defense was getting an awful lot of penetration into the backfield for good chunks of this game. It looked like new right offensive guard James Brown had his hands full with B.J. Raji (not surprising for the rookie).
  3. Great run after the catch by Marshall on the first touchdown.
  4. On a related note, there was some awful tackling out there by the Packers defense.
  5. And, related to that, Matt Forte had a nice game. He’s a guy with good vision and toughness and he showed that. He broke a lot of tackles and made quite a lot of yardage on his own. He made a nice catch in the third quarter.
  6. My understanding was that wide reciever Joe Anderson would be playing his this game. If he was out there, I didn’t notice.
  7. Cutler had a rough game. He was under pressure for most of the game. The interception at the end of the first half was bad. Perhaps most important, he wasn’t very accurate for most of the game. As pointed out by both Joe Buck and color man Troy Aikman, he didn’t frquently didn’t seem to be on the same page with the recievers.
  8. End of the tird quarter, first and goal from the five yard line and the Bears settle for a field goal. The Bears coaches continue to believe that their offensive line can blow people off the ball. They can’t.

Defense

  1. Like the Packers, the Bears spent most of this game playing seven in the box. At that point I was sure that the game on this side of the ball would depend upon the Packers ability to run the ball. I was wrong. As pointed out early by Aikman, the Packers continued to throw the ball.
  2. Having siad that, the Packers did run the ball reasonably well. Just not very often. This led to the occasional but very effective play action pass.
  3. Related to that, this was a poor game for D.J. Moore. The Packers were picking on him and for good reason. His undisciplined play, peaking into the backfield or otherwise being out of position, hurt the Bears time and time again. I think we know now why head coach Lovie Smith benched him.
  4. In fairmess, this was a rough game for all of the defensive backs, not just Moore. It looked to me like Jermichael Finley pretty much did what he wanted against whoever was covering him. James Jones obviously had a great game.
  5. On the positive side, the defensive line got good pressure for most of this game. It was nice to see some passes batted down.
  6. But this game came down to Aaron Rogers. Unfavorable defensive formations or not, the Packers put the ball in his hands and they went as he went. He had a rough first quarter and so did the team. He was pretty amazing for most of the rest of the game and the Packers did much, much better.

Miscellaneous

  1. Fox has assigned the television crew of Buck, Aikman and Pam Oliver for this game. Another stellar announcing team that showed it. Aikman was timely and spot on with his analysis, for example, as pointed out above, he caught what the Packers were doing on offense early. Buck asked near the beginning of the first half when the Packers went for it on fourth and long a and passed on a 44 yard field goal, “Would you rather depend on the arm of Aaron Rogers of the leg of Mason Crosby?” Easy decision.
  2. The Bears did a good job of avoiding drops this game. Until Rogers heated up the Packers did the usual and dropped balls all over the field. They were better after that.
  3. The NFL has assigned referee Walt Anderson and his crew to the game.
    • Starting with Roberto Garza’s false start making thrid and one into third and six which killed drive the Bears were continually shooting themselves in the foot with penalties. This is not a team that can afford that.
    • Blake Costanzo gave the Packers the ball back as the 12th man on the field. It looked like Devin Hester was trying to get a timeout and didn’t get it.
    • Chris Conte’s pass interference in the endzone cost the Bears seven points.
    • Alshon Jeffery isn’t gong to get away with all of the stuff Brandon Marshall does as a rookie (nor is he as good at hiding it).
    • The roughing the passer penalty on Julius Peppers in the fourth quarter was big in that the Packers got a first down to run off more clock. I disagree with Troy Aikman in that I thought the penalty was well-deserved. It looked like Peppers left his feet.
    • On the Packers side there was a damaging penalty on Morgan Burnett but it was really a good penalty. Alshon Jeffery had him beat for a potential touchdown. The Bears came away with a field goal.
  4. I thought the Beas special teams were pretty good. The Packers were starting in bad field position for much of the game. The Packers unbelievable bone-headed backward pass on the punt return in the fourth quarter put the game in jeopardy for the Packers. The Packers basically won this game without a field goal kicker.
  5. Jay Cutler’s interception looked really bad. It was so far off I was sure that Devin Hester ran the wrong route. But Lovie Smith told Oliver that it was just a bad throw. It was a huge play in this game. I loved seeing Charles Tillman force another fumble.
  6. Did anyone notice how much more intensity there was on the sideline from the Bears coaches this game. It’s possible they were trying to instill a much needed sense of urgency into the players. Its also possible that they sense that their jobs are on the line…
  7. I’m not one of those guys who puts this whole season on the back of Jay Cutler. But this game was largely depndent upon which quarterback was going to rise to the occasion. Aaron Rogers did and Cutler didn’t. It wasn’t the reason the Bears lost. But it played a big part in it.

Quick Game Comments: Bears at Vikings

Defense

  1. The Bears packed the box to stop Adrian Peterson. It didn’t matter much as, once again, they got pushed around on occasion up front, especially early on. The first touchdown was far too easy for the Vikings.
  2. The Vikings did a nice job of using misdirection to take advantage of the Bears aggressive defense. This has always been their weakness but perhaps never more so than early this game.
  3. The Vikings also occasinally took good advantage of the play action passing that Ardian Peterson sets up on the run game.
  4. On a related note, quarterback Christian Ponder had a reasonable today. Like the last game against the Bears, there were few poor decisions and he was pretty accurate.
  5. In fairness to the Bears defense, though they started poorly they tightened things up in the second quarter. The Bear defense made plays and got them off the field in a reasonable manner from that point on.
  6. Lets not forget to mention that the Bear defense got a lot of help from the Vikings as they continually shot themselves in the foot with things like dumb penalties.

Offense

  1. The Vikings obviously didn’t respect the Bears run the same way the Bears respected thiers. They came out with a standard seven in box and never really did anything special to stop it.
  2. Jay Cutler was under plenty of pressure as guys were coming almost unblocked on occasion. This put him in a bit of a bind as the Vikings coverage was mostly better than usual.
  3. The Bears running game struggled on occasion as the offensive line got pushed around again. They were allowing plenty of penetration. The trap plays that were working earlier in the season aren’t working as well anymore as almost everyone has seen it many times on film.
  4. Despite the last comment, I have to say it isn’t like the Vikings were contantly stopping the Bears cold on the run. The Bears did have occasional success as Matt Forte made the most with what he was given, made a lot of yards on his own and had a nice little game individually. The Vikings helped him out by tackling poorly in spots.
  5. Speaking of Forte, I like to see it when the Bears use him as more than a dump off option in the passing game. I’ve said this before but he’s a good receiver and he usually ends up with a linebacker on him.
  6. Once again, Alshon Jeffery flashed his potential today. If he wasn’t always open, it seemed like he was at least getting marginal separation most of the time. Hard not to like his future.
  7. Brandon Marshall and Jay Cutler are unbelievable. I can’t remember enjoying watching two Bears play as much as these two for most of this season. Certainly not on offense. Marshall was being triple teamed and making catches. I see it every week and I never cease to be amazed. I’ve never seen anything like it.
  8. Anyone else’s heart stop when Cutler was seen trying to make the tackle on the intereceptions in the first quarter and third quarters?
  9. Interesting decision to replace Edwin Williams with James Brown at left guard. I’ll be interested to find out what the reason was.

Miscellaneous

  1. Once again the Bears got one of the best of the NFL announcing teams as they drew Kenny Albert, Daryl Johnston, Tony Siragusa.
    Johnston was spot on all game as he, for example, pointed out early on that the Bears weren’t matching the Vikings intensity. Siragusa correctly pointed out that the major problem with the Bears running game was that the there was no push on the inside. Both hit the key points all game. Sorry, haters. Nothing bad to say here.
  2. Marshall dropped a big first down. Alshon Jeffery and Devin Hester both dropped touchdowns. Those would have been huge plays that would have been a big difference.
  3. the Bears had more than their fair share of penalties and they need to clean it up a bit. But what struck me was how the Vikings kept helping the Bears out by constantly shooting themselves in the foot with stupid penalties. After a nice start to this game, there seemed to be times when they were doing everything they could to give the game away.
  4. The Bears missed Robbie Gould as Adam Podlesh kickoffs were shorter than usual. I thought the Bears return teams were really poor early on. They left the Bears pinned back in poor field position.
  5. The Bears had a fumble they got back. Ponder threw a harmless intereception at the end of the first half. But Cutler’s interceptions were obviously the most damaging as this would have been a different game without the two Viking touchdowns that resulted.
  6. There was lots of slipping and sliding around my both teams today. You would think the footing in a dome on artificial turf wouldn’t be a problem. But something looked like it was wrong.
  7. Obviously this game came down to the interceptions that resulted in two Viking scores combined with good Viking defense and the Bears inability to score on offense. The dropped balls by Jeffery and Hester in the second half were imporant. Those are the big plays the Bears offense is lacking.But nothing really bothered me more this game than the difference in intensity between the two teams in the first quarter. The Vikings came out like a team fighting to stay in the playoff hunt. The Bears definitely didn’t.

    Judging from the comments of players and head coach Lovie Smith last week, I’d say Smith spent his time reminding this team that they were still 8-4. Maybe its time to instill a little urgency instead.

Quick Game Comments: Seahawks at Bears 12/2/12

Defense

  1. The Bears defensive line was getting handled up front on the run plays. Some of it was lack of discipline as players got out of their gaps but much of it was simply failure to get off of blocks. They did better the second half.
  2. On the other hand, the defensive line got good pressure on Russell Wilson as they were able to penetrate in passing situations.
  3. It looked like the Bears might have played quite a bit more zone defense today than they have recently. Lots of cover two and maybe some quarters coverage. Certianly not as much single high safety as wenve been seeing.
  4. On a related not, as usual the Seahawk wide recievers were a hand full for the Bears defensive backs. They always seem to have guys like Mike Williams or Golden Tate coming through for them year after year to cause the Bears trouble.
  5. I can see why Russell Wilson is starting for Seattle. He’s about as accurate as any quarterback you’ll see. That little college option that he runs with Marshawn Lynch out of the shot gun is surprisingly effective. He did a lot of damage on the run.
  6. I thought it was interesting that Shea McClellin was the one spying Wilson in the second half.
  7. I would have liked to have seen some better tackling near the end with the game on the line. As color man Tim Ryan pointed out, they did look tired.

Offense

  1. The run game went nowhere as the Bears got dominated up front. They successfully executed the short, quick passing game instead. They moved the ball nicely at times doing that as Seattle settled for limiting the big play. In fairness, the Bears did run better late in the game.
  2. Having said the above, the pass protection wan’t bad and Gabe Carimi in particular was pretty good at his new postion most of the time in this respect.
  3. Nice play by Jay Cutler on the first touchdown as he flipped the ball over an unblocked defender to find Earl Bennett.
  4. Cutler was a little erratic today. He was really accurate at times, especially when he threw to Marshall. He was fitting the ball into some very tight windows. On the other hand, there were times when easy throws were off base by quite a bit more than they should have been. He did a lot of damage at important times by taking off and running.
  5. Much was made of Seattle’s big corners and how they were going to handle Brandon Marshall. They didn’t succeed as he once again caught many balls. Admittedly they were short passes. As stated above, the Seattle corners were concentrating on keeping him in front of them.
  6. What a downright stupid decision to go for it on fourth down near the beginning of the second quarter. With the offensive line being pushed around by a physical Seattle defensive front, Lovie Smith had to have been blind not to have seen what would happen. His decision to coach like he’s actually got talent on the unit was really poor. He has to see what’s going on and be smarter than that.

Miscellaneous

  1. Chris Myers did a nice, straight forward job. My Bear senses were tingling as I thought I occasionally sensed a pro-Seattle bias. Borderline calls were often pronounced to be in favor of Seattle even though they were eventually reversed upon a more neutral review by the referee. Myers even continued to argue with former Vice President of Officiating Mike Pereira on the dropped Seattle touchdown at the end of the first half after the score was overturned. Still, honestly, if the bias was there at all it wasn’t enough to bother me. It certainly wasn’t overt.

    Nothing against Ryan, who was fine and who I’ve always liked, but after a long series of seeing some of the best announcers in football, he was a half step down. Teaching moments were fewer and farther between.

    Jamie Maggio did a good job of getting Pete Carroll’s take on the overturned touchdown as she caught him giving the referees an ear full going in at half. And she’s hot.

  2. Seattle’s wide recevers did a good job of avoiding drops. The the Bears Earl Bennett dropped a touchdown in the second quarter. Marshall dropped one near the end of the third quarter that would have been a first down.
  3. A horse collar tackling call on Brian Urlacher all but put the Seahawks in field goal position in the first half. J’Marcus Webb had a damaging false start in the fourth quarter as the Bears were nearly in field goal position. They eventually punted. Julius Peppers had an offsides that sopped the cloack late in the fourth quarter.

    For Seattle Bruce Irvin’s’ illegal hands to the face followed by a personal foul on Alan Branch in the third quarter let the Bears off the hook deep in thier own territory. The Bears eventually scored a touchdown.

    Brandon Marshall had a good penalty as he prevented an interception by committing offensive pass interference at the end of the third quarter.

  4. Seattle kept the Bears pinned up against the goal line for much of the game. I wasn’t entirely sure what the Bears were doing on the punt return early in the second quarter where Eric Weems ran back at the last minute to field a punt. On the other hand the Bears did a nice job of limiting Leon Washington’s production.
  5. The Marshawn Lynch fumble in the first quarter was huge as it stopped a nice Seattle drive to open the game.
  6. This was one you look back on at the end of the year and remember the game that got away. Things fell right for the Bears today. They fumbled three times and got it back all three times. Tipped balls were getting through. They were the beneficiaries of a few borderline calls and a couple no-calls. They played good defense all day, were ahead in the fourth quarter, then collapsed and let it get away.

    I honestly think that Seattle is a little bit of a better team. But the Bears should have won this one.