Chicago Bears Thoughts
The Bears are now 6-1 and they look great defensively and OK offensively. Special teams have been fine, but not spectacular. Defensively, the Bears have scored 6 touchdowns - fantastic. Charles Tillman is probably playing the best football of his career (he was named NFC defensive player of the month), as is Tim Jennings on the other side. The mix of youth and vets on the front 4 has really worked. Conte and Wright are very good safeties. I have some concerns about Urlacher's ability to play the entire season. He does look like he has lost a step at times, but he is still a great middle linebacker. Briggs and Roach have been solid.
Special teams have been solid, but no return TDs and Robbie Gould missed a 33 yard field goal last week. He redeemed himself with a 41-yard game winner as time expired. Still, I don't feel like the special teams units have been their usual awesome selves. We'll see what happens in coming weeks.
The Bears offense has been up and down. At times they look unstoppable. Brandon Marshall can dominate, Cutler can zing the ball, and Forte can run. But other times they look pedestrian. A lot of it has to do with play calling and the offensive line. Carolina sacked Jay Cutler 6 times in the first half. Then in the second half the O-line and play calling were much better and Jay went 14 of 16 to close out the game with a TD and two drives that led to field goals attempts (including the game winner). I'd like to see more of a commitment to Forte and the running game. This will take pressure of the O-line to pass protect all the time and will tire out the defensive linemen.
Playing Tennessee on the road will be a good game, but one the Bears should manage. It could turn into a very special season if the Bears can keep up the defensive pressure and get a bit more consistent on offense.
posted by Rob @ 11/01/2012 01:21:00 PM
7 comments
7 Comments:
The Pears opponents have been pretty pedestrian. Tennessee is the same. This is no fault of the Pears and they deserve credit for beating these teams.
Will be interesting to see how they fair against the Texans and the 9ers. If they win those games, they will have proven that they are for real. However, if they get beaten in those games, people will recognize that they are just part of the muddled middle.
6-1 is not the muddled middle. You are your record - no matter who you play.
Winning in the NFL is hard and the Bears are doing it.
Don't be so defensive. Other than the Puckers, their competition has been less than stellar. I give them credit for taking care of business.
What I said was that if they lose to the Texans and 9ers (two seemingly stronger teams), they will have proven they are a legitimate contender. HOWEVER, if they lose to those teams, they will have shown that they are part of the muddled middle. Seems like you could agree with that.
As far as "you are your record." You seem pretty high on the Panthers (your words "Carolina is not as bad as their record"). Yet they are 1-5. So do they suck or are they decent? Hard to get a read of what you believe since it seems like you are applying differnt rules/standards on different teams.
Whatever. Have a GREAT weekend!
I'm not defensive, I'm stating simple facts.
I'm not using a different standard. Carolina' record is 1-6. They could probably be 3-4 or even 4-3 if they hadn't blown it - but they have blown it. The Panthers aren't going to challenge for a playoff berth, but they aren't a horribly terrible team like Kansas City seems to be. The end result is that I expect them to beat a fairly weak Deadskin team pretty soundly. By the end of the year, the Panthers may very well pass the Deadskins.
Not sure I am following. You said you are your record. As you said, the Panthers are 1-6. So if you truly go with you are your record, you would believe the Panthers suck.
Now you are saying that the Panthers could be 3-4 or 4-3 but that is not their record. The Skins are 3-5 but we could be 5-3 or 6-2 if we hadn't blown it.
So you say you are your record which seems like more of a quantitative/objective measure but then you go on to say that they aren't a horribly terrible team and they could be better than their record which seems like more of a subjective opinion.
And you say you aren't using a different standard? You funny! Have a good weekend!
It isn't that hard. I said they have blown their games - which is why they aren't 3-4 or 4-3. That means they aren't good. However, I expect that they will win some games this year and will end up a bit under .500. They aren't going to rattle off a bunch of wins in a row.
They are going to be the Deadskins.
So if the Pears lose to the Texans and 9ers they will be part of the muddled middle. If they win, they will be a strong contender.
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