Bear(ing) the News – A Chicago Bears Blog

Patrick Finley at the Chicago Sun-Times asks 10 questions going into the Bears game against the Cardinals Sunday:

“5. Why do the Bears have a more strenuous Saturday practice than most?

“‘Really, it’s just science behind it,’ coach John Fox said. ‘People used to shut it down on Saturdays. They’re saying now, getting a sweat or getting a lather on the day before you compete is actually a positive thing. It helps you sleep. It helps calm the nerves some.'”

I’m a huge believer in this even though I’m going to guess that at least some of the players don’t like it.

Most players undoubtedly want to rest as much as possible before a game and every time you hit the field, even if its just to work up a sweat, is an opportunity to get hurt.

Nevertheless, I’m quite sure this will result in better performance on Sunday and I wouldn’t be in the least surprised to see it catch on around the league. Anyone will tell you that Mondays stink. The reason most commonly given is that you are coming back to work after an enjoyable two day long vacation. And, hey, I admit that you need to rest.

But its more than that. Mondays are the days when we have to restart our engines. That takes time and, assuming you are like most people, you aren’t going to be working optimally for most of the day. The same thing undoubtedly goes for football players. Much better to keep that engine idling and ready to go right up until game time.

The Bears had a bad habit of coming out looking flat last year. And few things are more irritating than to hear a coach come out after the game to say that he “doesn’t understand it. They practiced really well this week.” Yeah, sure they did. But it didn’t carry over because all momentum was halted right before the game when it was needed the most. I don’t think that we’re going to be seeing this team come out unprepared to play mentally nearly as often this year.

Rich Campbell at the Chicago Tribune reviews a few keys to Sunday’s game against the Cardinals. One thing that you expect to get from them is a lot of blitzing:

“The Cardinals blitz about 40 percent of the time, running back Matt Forte said. That’s a relatively high rate. Their frequent stunts and picks up front will test an offensive line operating with Kyle Long in only his second game at right tackle.”

“‘How you get people out of doing that is picking up the blitz and hitting plays on them,’ Forte said. ‘We have to not be afraid of, ‘Oh, they’re going to blitz,’ but, ‘OK, if they blitz, we have to hit them where it hurts.””

Campbell emphasizes the adjustments that have to be made along the offensive line. But at least as important will be quarterback Jay Cutler‘s ability to read the blitz in concert with his receivers to burn the defense. Both Cutler and the receivers have struggled with this in the past and frequent miscommunications have occurred. In particular, Cutler has a bad habit of missing free blitzers coming off the edge, especially from his left. Performance in situations where the Cardinals bring more men than can be blocked will be a key to Cutler’s success.

This will be another opportunity for the Bears coaching staff to show themselves to be superior to others the Bears have had here over the past two decades. The players certainly looked better prepared last week than we’ve seen around here in a while, especially offensively. Whether they can take the next step against a dynamic defense like the Cardinals is going to be a good question. I look forward to finding the answer.