The Vikings are 5-0 with arguably their toughest 3-game stretch ahead of them. Going 1-2 wouldn’t really be all that bad. I’d really like to see us bloody the nose of one of the two AFC bullies. The Ravens in particular had a tough time backing up their bluster last week, which is always great to see.
As for the rest of the division, now is your opportunity to try to catch up. Horrible, horrible luck to you.
happy dance
Kind of looking forward to seeing what Rodgers might do with an extra half Mississippi.
The Lions are not mathematically eliminated. There is still hope. Culpepper looked pretty good Sunday. Next week he may have his game back and we can crush the Green Bay Peckers. The we will become contenders.
I’m trying to get excited about resigning an over 31, unwanted by any other team, twice knee surgeried, poor run blocker who isn’t fully recovered and isn’t close to being ready to play NFL football for at least a month. I just can’t.
Don’t get me wrong. I love Tausch. Great player, great head on his shoulders, smart, good leader, and works hard. He [was] very good in pass protection, and uses great technique.
But he shouldn’t be our RT anytime soon. The injury, the age, the mediocre run blocking, and, from his first practice, his out of shapeness, all make me think we’re better off developing Barbre (who has gotten better each game) than taking a step back with Tausch. Maybe in a month, if Barbre doesn’t continue to develop and Tausch gets in shape. But I’m not getting excited.
Wait, you signed Orlando Pace?
Unfortunately, I tend to agree with you. The offensive line needs serious help. I’m not convinced that Tauscher will be an improvement. Getting Clifton back will surely help some, but I have a bad feeling that Rodgers is going to playing “duck and cover” all season.
Clifton is huge (if it’s circa 2007 Clifton). As is just getting the reps and adjusting to the position. As much as Colledge, McCarthy, and TT want you to believe it’s no big deal going from G to T, it is. It’s a different skill set, different technique, and it takes practice and concentration. Colledge had none of those in his first game at LT and it showed. He got better as he practiced more, and maybe will be a servicable backup LT in a few weeks. But his best position is at G, and if he can stay there (and adjust back to being a G without problems) and Clifton stays healthy, the O Line should solidify nicely. I hope.
But TT deserves to be ripped for letting it get to this. Ignoring the tackle position in prior drafts, wasting valuable reps on Moll, letting the Bills get Jamon Meredith off the practice squad, and not planning ahead has all really hurt not just our O Line, but also our team. And he did the same with the Safety spot on defense. I blame TT more than anyone else for the 2-2 start. And signing Tausch simply isn’t a solution.
Maybe happy dance was a bit much. I don’t think Tauscher is a silver bullet, either. But along with Clifton coming back and Barbre getting better, this is another marginal improvement. Even if all it does is add a little depth, I think it will make the unit as a whole better, and better is what they need. It’s not like they get points for cap space.
Well, the Bears are coming off their Bye Week sitting fairly pretty at 3-1 alone in Second Place in the NFC North. The Bye Week is a time when teams do some internal scouting and take stock and make any major changes if there are any to be made. Seems like a perfect time for me to do a little analysis and review myself.
The Season Thus Far
Week 1 **@ Green Bay L 15-21 **
Week 2 **Pittsburgh W 17-14 **
Week 3 **@ Seattle W 25-19 **
Week 4 **Detroit W 48-24**
Week 5 **BYE**
We’ve had two home and two road games and so far we’ve defended home field and won a road game in a very tough environment in Seattle. Without considering the competition you’ll generally take that type of split, if you go undefeated at home and .500 on the road you’re probably winning your division.
Looking at this stretch of games in the preseason most people would probably have taken a 2-2 start if offered with the National Champs coming to town, and 2 really tough road games, going 3-1 feels like a bit of a blessing. You could easily make a case that the Bears could and should be 4-0 or 1-3, so it’s difficult to be too emotional either way about these results.
The first 3 games each come with some major “what ifs” and “buts”, from the good fortune of missed FGs (or dominant special teams play if you prefer) to some apparent growing pains and early jitters from Cutler. All in all we’ve probably got more questions than answers from this team at this point in the season. As we look at the fortunes of our opponents thus far the Pittsburgh win looks less impressive and the Seattle win probably moreso than at the time of the game. The two divisional opponents are a mixed bag with the Packers looking worse than they showed and the Lions potentially improving. In any case a 1-1 Divisional mark is nothing to sneeze at with that one loss a road tilt. The W over the other NFC opponent could be important come playoff time with the tie breakers.
The Next 4 Games
Week 6 Sun, Oct 18 **@ Atlanta** 8:20 PM
Week 7 Sun, Oct 25 **@ Cincinnati ** 4:15 PM
Week 8 Sun, Nov 1 **Cleveland** 1:00 PM
Week 9 Sun, Nov 8 **Arizona** 1:00 PM
These upcoming games are a little tough to gauge, but what immediately leaps out at me is the lack of any divisional games. At the midpoint of the season the Bears will have played only 2 divisional foes and half of the final 8 games will be against the Norris with 2 against the Vikings for divisional supremacy.
The league and networks have given the Bears a little love moving the Week 7 matchup versus Cincy into the 4:15 National timeslot. I suppose between Cutler’s heroics and the unexpected surge from the Bengals it’s a must see game. Perhaps there are a couple other jackasses in Cincy people might be talking about too.
The rematch of last seasons shocking last second loss to the Falcons gets a Sunday Night nod and I’m sure there will be more than a few clips and highlights in the lead up and again if the game is remotely close entering the 4th. Here’s to hoping we get some payback, certain Cutler has shown a knack for those types of finishes but I’d much rather Forte get rolling and put the game out of hand early. My heart could do without another last second finish.
Hopefully the Brownies will still be floundering so that we can go into that big Cardinals game with a head of steam. The Cards have slipped quite a bit since last years SB run but their offense is starting to get rolling and I have a sinking suspicion that by Week 9 they’ll be electric again. Count me as thankful it’s a home game.
Three tough games, starting with 2 monsters on the road, the Bears are going to have to solve those issues at the point of attack to match their 3-1 start in these 4. The Falcons and Bengals have both shown quite a bit more than the Bears running the ball and each plays really tough defensively. I don’t expect good things if the entire burden falls on Cutler once again. They are imminently winnable games but we’ll have to play well, we can’t count on backing into wins any more. Optimistically I’m going to project that we indeed match that 3-1 total and reach the halfway point at 6-2.
Analyzing the Free Agent Acquisitions…and that One Little Trade
First and foremost we have to talk about Jay Cutler. He’s the big addition that overshadows every other one and thus far he’s been as good, if not better, than advertised. He got off to a rocky start in the opener in Green Bay which everyone remembers and it seemed clear that the pressure and media attention got the better of him. Many people in other parts of the country may not have noticed but he’s recovered completely from that outing and has been almost flawless in every game since then. He led two 4th quarter game winning drives against good defenses and has built a rapport with the WRs that seems to be steadily growing. As yet the much hyped relationship with Greg Olsen hasn’t gotten off the ground, but perhaps that’s has more to do with playing four 3-4 defenses to start the season and the associated struggles in the running game and line play.
Jay Cutler’s arm is every bit as incredible as reputed and he’s using to make throws that no Bears fans alive has ever seen. Right now the gameplan has dictated that those throws be short ones, but the arm strength is a huge asset when throwing those quick slants, seam routes and quick outs. Hopefully if we can get the O Line play improved we’ll see more down the field. The other much talked about Cutler trait is his attitude, and that too is as advertised. He’s been pissy with the media and made some vaguely critical comments of teammates but so far it’s been much ado about nothing. He’s been getting tons of support from everyone on the roster and with the amount of youth on offense a demanding, critical QB seems to be something of an asset. Cutler works hard and knows the offense and it seems that Hester and the rookies all are following his lead. Plus, it makes watching post game press conferences a hell of a lot more fun. Lovie might as well be a corpse up there, Cutler at least gives me a reason to tune in.
The most under reported aspects of Cutler are his mobility and intelligence. Our blocking has been spotty at best and Cutler has had to shift the pocket around and occasionally make plays with his feet. The lack of a running game has meant that defenses can essentially pin their ears back and attack and he’s still been able to stay vertical and make plays under duress. Perhaps most importantly is how smart the guy is. His in-game management is fabulous, he’s calm and collected in the 2 minute drill and commands the huddle very well. The WRs are young and inexperienced and without his leadership there’s little chance we’d be able to execute under pressure, hell he’s even improved Lovie and Turner’s late game management. He makes them actually look competent.
Most of the other big moves took pace on the offensive line. We added Orlando Pace, Frank Omiyale and Kevin Shaffer along the OL. At this point the results have been pretty disappointing. If there’s any reason the Bears have looked suspect in the opening 4 games it’s almost entirely on the backs of these guys. I advocated addressing the position in the draft and they didn’t but considering the picks they traded away this appeared to be a wise choice. Unfortunately the Bears took the cheap approach and instead of landing proven starters in their primes they tried to scoop backups with starter potential. As of yet that potential is still unrealized.
Orlando Pace is old and has lost a couple steps. We knew that going in and I’m not terribly concerned with what he’s provided us. Yes he’s terrible in the run game and yes he gets whipped occasionally by speed rushers, but the guy is reliable and never misses a adjustment. If the Bears were getting more from their Guards in the running game they’d be able to help him out. Asking him to stone DEs who don’t have to worry about the run is unreasonable. Pace can be an adequate stop gap measure until Chris Williams is ready for the position. He’s played fairly well on the right side, as least with pass protection, and sooner than later Pace will have to move or sit. Anyone who expected differently when the signed him is insane.
Omiyale and Shaffer were each expected to move from Tackles to claim starting jobs at Guard and neither has been worth the money spent. Omiyale thus far has failed miserably at LG and Shaffer seems to be slotted in as the top backup at both LT and RT. Considering Pace’s age and Williams’ back issue keeping Shaffer primed at Tackle is wise and I’ll be interested in seeing what he could do in the run game if he got the time. Omiyale has been an abortion though, he beat out Beekman (though many think that that had everything to do with the contract and not performance) and has failed in both the passing and running games. I have no idea of Omiyale is simply built to be a Tackle and will never be able to handle the OG position with blitzing LBs and 2-gap NTs to contend with of if he just sucks overall, but right now he looks like a bust. Forte and Cutler had better hope a solution is found, at some point either Beekman or Shaffer will have to get a trial at LG.
On the Defensive side of the ball we added a few FAs, most notably Pisa Tinoisamoa at Sam LB. The he’s been hurt off and on ever since he was brought to town, missing big parts of camp and now missing 3 games. Really I have no idea of he’s any good or not. With him and Urlacher down the backups all played admirably. Tinoisamoa will be back on the field this week against the Falcons and will be given the starting gig back, time will tell if he can stay out there and if he improves on the work Jamar Williams and Nick Roach did. Call it an incomplete.
We brought in help in the secondary in the form of Josh Bullocks who hasn’t seen the field much, this is a good thing. Defensively the biggest FA decision is one we didn’t make in passing on Darren Sharper. He’s been predictably good in New Orleans and he’d have added veteran awareness and playmaking ability that out defense sorely lacks. What a shame.
How About Those Rookies?
This has been one of the better rookie classes in recent memory for the Bears, doubly so if you consider that our 1st and 3rd picks went for Jay Cutler. That we’re getting immediate positive contributions from a 5th and 6th round pick is surprising and that we’re getting so little from our four 3rd and 4th rounders is a little frustrating considering the holes on Defense.
Johnny Knox has been outstanding. I loved him after the draft and he’s looked like an NFL Pro since the first day of camp. He’s dropped a few balls here and there that he needs to catch, but considering the epidemic of drops across the league these days maybe I shouldn’t be too critical there. He’s probably going to lock up the KR role even if Manning is healthy due to his performances and the Bears reliance on Manning in the secondary making him even more valuable. Knox, like Hester, will benefit if and when Turner and Cutler start opening up the deep passing attack. If this happens a Rookie of the Year award wouldn’t be a shock.
On the other side of the ball Al Afalava has played solidly if unspectacularly at Strong Safety. We had serious issues at the position and did nothing to address it in free agency so Afalava turning out to be a steal in the draft is real good fortune. He hasn’t been a world beater, we won’t be confusing him with a young Mike Brown just yet, but his tackling has been surprisingly sound (a real issue for the Bears last season) and he’s prevented big plays downfield. He’s been involved in run support and is capable of generating turn overs. Both he and Knox appear to be long term answers at their positions, I feel good about this.
The rest of the class is a bit of a crap shoot, or perhaps just a mystery. We spent several picks on defense and Henry Melton, Jarron Gilbert and DJ Moore all made the team but didn’t earn much playing time even though their competition hasn’t exactly impressed. Henry Melton was put on the IR with a minor injury as an excuse to basically red shirt him. Considering the log jam of underachievers ahead of him this was a wise move, if Mark Anderson continues to struggle and with Ogunleye’s contract up there could be a spot for him next season. Jarron Gilbert is getting talked up by the coaches and has been in uniform the last couple weeks but has yet to get into any meaningful action. This is a concern since Tommie Harris and Co haven’t been playing that great. They are better than last season, but not good enough to strand a capable player on the bench. Gilbert needs to earn playing time, when the inevitable injury happens I expect to see him. DJ Moore has been invisible thus far which I consider a good thing since that means our CBs have managed to stay healthy and in the game. His size is suspect so my hopes aren’t very high.
On offense Juaquin Iglesias looks to be on the Earl Bennett program to basically sit on the bench all season. The breakout of Johnny Knox makes you wonder what chance he’ll have even next year but as of right now the guy is a disappointment. He had all the opportunity in the world and can’t get on the field. Most people figure Devin Aromashodu will get the nod if there’s an injury before him making matters worse. In hindsight the Bears probably should have looked to a RB here. Lance Louis is the last rookie who made the team and he’s been slotted in as a backup guard. If the Omiyale experiment continues to be a mess you have to wonder if he’ll get a look at all this season, he’s really raw and probably not ready but I’m almost willing to risk it at this point. Hopefully he’s learning fast.
To Be Continued…
Big Picture: Offense
Jay Cutler is keeping this team afloat. The 3-1 record looks great and they’ve scored when they had to, but the points have been hard to come by too often. We’ve yet to really see a dominant series of drives. The difference between being a playoff contender and a Super Bowl contender will not be decided by Jay Cutler, that will fall on Matt Forte and the running game.
As noted above, the Offensive Line has serious issues. They pass protect well enough for a mobile QB like Cutler but the run blocking is a complete joke. It needs to improve, and I’m not seeing how this will happen. Neither starting OT has any potential to develop into a road grader as it stands. Some day Williams will move to the Left Side and we could slot in a powerhouse RT but so long as Pace is on the Left we’ll be sacrificing the Right Handed running attack too. Not good. If the Guard play was exceptional you could compensate for that but the strategy of converting a OT to LG certainly doesn’t bode well for the running game. Garza is holding his own but he’s just average and Kruetz is beyond the point of his career where he can get into the second level and affect the running game or move NTs to allow an inside running game.
So, this will fall to Forte. He’s getting almost no help from the Fullback or O Line so he needs to make plays himself. Last year he was getting better run blocking and made huge strides. This season he looks a step slower and a lot more indecisive. If the blocking doesn’t improve he’ll have to change his running style a bit. He can’t afford to be patient and wait for plays to develop he’s got to attack every play and every slight hole at full speed. Without a adequate backup this may be difficult to sustain but it’s perhaps the best he can hope for unless the Bye Week provides some magic mojo from the O Line, Tight Ends and Fullbacks.
The first quarter of the season and I’d losing hope in the running game. If you’d have asked me what I though back in March this would have been at the very bottom of my list of worries. Woe is me.
The passing game looks pretty good. Cutler is making Hester, Knox and Bennett look great. I feel like these guys can sustain what they’ve done so far and there’s lots of room to go up. I’d like the Bears to suit up another WR and get Aromashodu on the field, his size could make us better in short yardage and the redzone and Cutler like going to him along the sideline. Desmond Clark seems to have aged quite a lot this season and should probably be passed on the depth chart by Kellen Davis. Clark’s blocking isn’t making him valuable any longer, though I worry that neither Olsen and Davis can replace that. It looks now as if the Bears should have let Clark go and rolled the dice with the young guys at TE, I wonder if Lovie will have the balls to bench Clark in favor of Michael Gaines as the blocking TE.
Big Picture: Defense
The loss of Urlacher is huge and make no mistake, he’s what made this defense go. Injuries to Hillenmeyer and Tinoisamoa also thinned the position nearly to the breaking point. I’ve been very pleased with the performances of Nick Roach and Jamar Williams in relief, so much so that I think Roach deserves the starting MLB job ahead of Hillenmeyer. If we get to go to war with Briggs, Roach and Tinoisamoa all season long I think our chances are very good. Hillenmeyer and Williams are both solid fill-ins. So long as Briggs stays healthy we can feel good about the LBs.
The talk all offseason was that Rod Marinelli would turn around this D Line all by himself. Many were skeptical that a position coach could have such an impact but I’ll be damned it appears to be working. The Bears have a lot of money committed to the group and they should be getting more from them than they did last season. This season is much better but frankly they still need to produce more. Harris seems to be getting better and better as the season wears on, perhaps he’s just starting to work back into game shape and getting healthier. If that trend continues we’ll be in good shape, but that’s a big if. The ends have been impressive, though they’ve gotten a bit of a gift from the scheduling gods, and if they can sustain this level of play we could be in decent shape. The Bears are blitzing less and have still been able to produce sacks and have contained the running game for the most part. Things are looking up but they still have a long ways to go. With Turner and Benson coming up in the next two weeks we’ll really learn what these guys are about.
The biggest area of concern for any educated Bears fan was the Secondary and it’s been easily the most surprising aspect of this season. Everyone managed to get healthy and have survived the opening series of games and with the Bye we ought to be at 100% this week. Tillman is playing close to his old Pro Bowl self and Zach Bowman is solidifying his claim to the starting CB position replacing Vasher. Bowman hasn’t shown his playmaking ability from camp yet and seems to be taking a conservative approach, 3rd on the team in tackles but only 1 pass defended. Manning’s move to FS has been a success so far and the Bears have generally been good about preventing the big play. Much of this is Lovie’s cautious approach to the Tampa 2 but unlike last season we’re making tackles and keeping the big plays to a minimum. The flipside to that scheme is the inability to get off the field on 3rd down and shut down offenses in must-stop situations. With the pass rush improving the secondary can afford to be slightly more aggressive but at some point we’re simply going to have to start locking down teams on 3rd and 10 situations.
All in all the defense is playing better than expected thus far. We’ve faced some powerful offenses and kept them in check. We haven’t generated enough turn overs or sacks and we haven’t dominated any games yet. I’m not sure the defense is built to do that any more, especially with Urlacher out, but that’s what the expectation is here. That’s what Lovie was brought here to do. I will give Lovie credit for making adjustments though. In years past the Bears were consistently out coached during the game. The Bears would always start strong before reaching the second half and simply getting schooled but opponents who adjusted to our schemes and made out defenses especially look lost in the 4th quarter. This year it’s been the exact opposite, starting slowly but owning the 4th quarters and turning up the heat when needed. Why we’re starting slow I don’t know, but it’s nice to see us making teams look bad when we come out of the half.
Big Picture: Special Teams
Very very good, as usual. Hester is starting to find his stride on Punt Returns again. Still no TDs yet but he’s scaring teams and has a couple long ones. More importantly he’s making smart decisions and not trying to make something out of nothing, letting those balls bounce into the End Zone when he can. It’s a matter of time until he starts killing people again. Johnny Knox looks like he’s staked his claim to the KR job and has already gotten a TD in the books. Speed kills.
The coverage units are doing a great job. We’re averaging 12.5 yards per return on punts and only giving away 5.3 yards per, that’s a HUGE disparity. The kick off coverage unit may be even better, holding teams to just 23.5 yards while we’re averaging 31.1 yards. Maynard shanked one important punt against Seattle but has been typically outstanding, pinning the opponents inside their 20 on a full half of his 18 punts.
Robbie Gould has missed just one FG attempt all season, and that was from 53 yards, and made his first from 50+ yards in his career in Detroit. The guy will never be a reliable threat from deep, he doesn’t have the range from 50+ off grass, but he’s easily the most reliable kicker out there. Good as Gould indeed.
The Vikes are quite luckily 6-0 after taking the 4th quarter off defensively against the Ravens. We will take it, but we really need to learn how to play with a lead as this game and the game against the Packers has proven.
The Lions were whipped today. The offensive and defensive lines were non existent. Rumor is that Stafford has a dislocated kneecap.
Culpepper and Stanton took a beating today. They had a floating pocket ,but I don’t think it was planned that way. We only need about 8 linemen to fix the problem.
The Lions looked like the Lions of last season. Without Stafford and Megatron, they’re nothing. With those two, they’re still a losing football team, but at least they don’t look as defenseless as a kitten in an ass-kicking machine.
Lions QB ratings today were 22.3 and 22. That was Culpepper and Stanton. They had no time and got sacked every 2 minutes whether they were playing or not. They were probably sacked in the parking lot on the way home too.
It escaped attention, but Rodgers continued to go down like a drunken prom date too.
A couple of sacks a game does not make. I wish it did. That means we could at least compete.
Five =/= “a couple.” But point taken. Didn’t seem to be a factor today.
It kept them from scoring 50.
So the Bears lose to the Falcons and all is well this NFL weekend. Goodnight all!