Bears Unlock Forte-Knox and Find Gould!

Memo to Nation’s headline writers:

There. To the best of my knowledge, I got in the first egregious play on words using all three of these players. I know the names Knox and Gould have been gnawing at you. But it’s over now. So let’s get past it all you “Punsters of the Midway,” and talk football.

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I know there are a lot of Chicago fans out there who read that headline and screamed, “But Forte hasn’t done anything yet! He’s in a sophomore slump, and he can’t see the field!” First of all, stop screaming at your PC. It’s unseemly, and you’re spraying spit all over the monitor.

Bears fans have a habit of scratching through silver linings to get a better look at the cloud. Wednesdays are particularly hard, as the football news cycle inexorably turns from game day highlights towards next game’s predictions.

It’s when the euphoria wears off, and the reverse-alchemists come out, using statistics to turn our gold (even our Gould) into lead.

I read a column this week in one of Chicago’s two main dailies that argued the Bears should have gone for the first down rather than kick the (game-winning) field goal against the Steelers Sunday. The theory is that it proves Lovie Smith doesn’t trust Jay Cutler.

And aren’t amazing finishes, what the Bears brought Cutler to Chicago for, in the first place?

No. They brought him here to win football games. Which he did. Against the Pittsburgh Steelers, reigning Super Bowl champions and perennial NFL powerhouse. A week after the Steelers outlasted Tennessee, to win in overtime.

What madness would cause Smith, Turner, et al. to decide to just chuck one out there, and see what happens?

The Bears are not going to stop being the Bears. They’ve changed their weapons, not their base philosophy.

Which brings us back to Forte, and the latest sign of the upcoming apocalypse. He has a 2.2 yard rushing average, after two games. If you write “two, point two” on your bathroom mirror and say “The Bears get off the bus running” three times, the ghost of Brian Piccolo will appear and stiff-arm you into the tub.

The Bears offense has a lot of spiffy new gadgets that they’re still discovering. Like your mom with her first cell phone, there’s going to be a period of adjustment while they figure out how things work. It’s primary function won’t be forgotten.

Look for Forte to run the ball more, as soon as the Bears get their first lead in a game. This team has always run defenses down by coming up the gut, over and over. They don’t need to do that these days, so they’re trying to work out Forte’s role in a system where he doesn’t have to be the bull. He may even become a better back for it.

So relax a little Chicago fans. Two games is too soon to try to find the doom spelled out in the tea leaves. Just drink the tea.

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Bears Defense Delivers Vs. Steelers: What Can Brown Do To You?

Observations on the Bears-Steelers game

Alex Brown introduced Ben Roethisberger to the freshest sod on Chicago’s lakefront Sunday afternoon. Twice for sacks, but more importantly when he knocked Big Ben down in mid-throw early in the second quarter, serving up Charles Tillman with an interception. That was the play that changed the tone of a first half, that had the Steelers offense moving the ball at will on the Bears.

On their first possession, the Steelers drove 92 yards for a TD, something the Bears defense rarely allows. On this next drive, that started at Pittsburgh’s 10 yard line, they had already crossed midfield to the Bears 38 yard line when Brown came in and hammered Roethlisberger during his release, causing him to loft a rainbow arc that Tillman slid under, for the Bears only takeaway of the game.

It was a game-changer in more ways than one; it was a sorely needed stop at a crucial moment. Another Steelers long drive for a score at that point, and the Bears would have been playing from a hole for the rest of the game. And it signalled, for Lovie Smith, that it was time to turn up the pressure. After gaining 144 yards on their first two possessions, the Steelers managed only 164 for the rest of the day.

Brown left the game with 4:11 remaining, but insisted he’ll be ready to play Seattle next week.

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The Jay Cutler that Chicago had breathlessly anticipated, showed up in a big way Sunday. After enduring the yo-yoing affections of both fans and media, Cutler endured the equally mercurial lakefront weather, displaying confidence in himself and his much maligned young receiving targets. Even on a day when when occasional torrents of rain made pass catching a slippery proposition. Jay went 9 for 10 in the fourth quarter, including a laser strike to Johnny Knox for a game tying touchdown. He showed a coolness under pressure that was missing in the opener in Green Bay, and managed the whole game well.

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Speaking of Johnny Knox, this kid is quickly becoming a presence that opposing defenses are going to have to plan against. He had 6 catches for 70 yards, including his first NFL touchdown, with two defenders draped on him. After the game, Knox confessed he hasn’t learned the whole playbook yet. Jerry Angelo is bringing him into the offense gradually, without throwing him too much at once, a strategy that’s going to make the Cutler-Knox connection a lot of fun to watch over this season, as Knox’s role inevitably expands.

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How good is Robbie Gould? On a day when rain and field conditions combined to cause two missed field goals for Pittsburgh’s Jeff Reed, Gould continued to set the standard by punching one in for 44 yards to seal the game for Chicago. Last week against Tennessee, the Steelers squeaked out a win in overtime. Until the final 15 seconds of regulation, this game had an eerie feeling of deja vu. But Gould negated any fears of putting the ball in Roethlisberger’s hands again, by coming through in the clutch yet again.

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If you want to talk about negatives, there are a couple. The secondary still looks vulnerable, although pressure from the line goes a long way towards minimizing threats. And Devin Hester’s poor decision making is frightening. He gave up on a punt he could have caught, pinning the Bears against their own goal line. And he needs to stop turning backwards after getting the ball. He does it routinely on returns, and it never goes well. Yesterday he did it on a screen, when the near sideline was open. Had he turned toward it, instead of trying to force something in the opposite direction, he would have notched a fair amount of positive yards.

Nobody wants to see him break one for a long run more than I do, but he needs to take what’s in front of him, instead of trying to create something where nothing exists.

The Bears are not an elite football team. Not yet. But if they can tighten the bolts in a few areas, they can be a contender this season. This defense gets to the ball in a hurry, but they’re not wrapping people up on first contact. If they start making that first contact tackle, they could easily be one of the stingiest defenses in the NFL.

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I’ve been optimistic about this team, since Lovie Smith took over the defense, and they acquired Jay Cutler in the off-season. There have been a lot of positives, even in the Green Bay game. After last night’s toe-to-toe brawl with last year’s Super Bowl champs, I’d bet a lot of nay-sayers are coming around.

Admit it. Even if you were one of the people saying the Bears were going 0-3 to start the season, how good does the sans-Hasselback Seattle Seahawks game next week, look now?

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Bears-Packers: Get Your Hate On!

The first game of the Bears 2009 regular season opens Sunday night, against the Most Hated Green Bay Packers, marking the beginning of another chapter in professional football’s oldest and most contentious rivalries. How has this matchup remained so intense for nearly a century?

We’re not in rivalling cities. Green Bay isn’t really a city. Or even near one. If it weren’t for the concrete and steel surrounding it, Lambeau Field would be indistinguishable from the 10,000 acres of pasture that surrounds it. Even Milwaukee, with its Packer faithful and all-consuming inferiority complex, is closer to Chicago than Green Bay.

It’s not football philosophies. One of the few grudging points that Bears and Packers fans agree on is style. Not clothing styles, as the Packer uniform appears to have been ‘designed’ largely by condiments spilled off a bratwurst. Green and Gold? Nah, that’s mustard and relish.

But we do share a passion for football the way it’s meant to be played. Down and dirty, in the trenches, fists and elbows flying. We both frown on excessive celebrations for doing your job. Even the ‘Lambeau Leap’ seems like a harmless connection with the fans when compared to the silly machinations (often accompanied by props), that mark everything from touchdowns, sacks, and routine completions in the NFL’s less storied franchises.

It’s all about the games. And these two teams have had some memorable ones. Depending on your age, the names alone bring you back to the emotions you felt watching them battle: Nietscke, Butkus, Payton, Charles Martin, McMahon, Favre…

When you hear them dozens of image flood the mind, and accelerate the pulse. There are no routine games between these teams, wherever they are in the standings when they meet.

 

Sunday Night

Sunday’s prime-time opener shows lots of promise, as an addition to the history. Packers fans, most of whom have burned their No. 4 jerseys in fits of pique (or for heat) have embraced the Aaron Rodgers era, as the second coming of Favre. They can’t help it, there’s little to do in Wisconsin winters outside of drinking, ice-fishing, and obsessing about football, often all at the same time.

Meanwhile Bears fans have a quarterback they’re ready to deify, after enduring decades of forgettable leaders at the helm (apologies to Peter Tom Willis). Jay Cutler, with a win against Green Bay Sunday, can have the keys to the city, our undying love, and permission to keep our daughters out until dawn.

Much has been made of the Packers new 3-4 scheme, the Green Bay faithful truly believe it will elevate their defense after last year’s anemic performance. Like many things Packer, I think it’s been overestimated. It’s still 11 guys on the field, and the Bears (and Cutler) have had plenty of opportunity to see it elsewhere.

I believe this game will be won or lost in the secondary. Their crafty, but aging veterans, against our speedy but unproven youth. That’s on both sides of the ball. If our veterans in the defensive backfield are up to speed at game time, I think we take this late in the game.

As much as Aaron Rodgers and the Packers offense has been hailed for their preseason offensive output, last year Green Bay had a tendency to run out of steam before the fourth quarter ended. It remains to be seen if they can finish a ballgame.

Come Sunday night in Green Bay they’ll be tailgating, leaving the cheese fields to be harvested another day, or however that works. In Chicago, People will gather around big screens in bars, clubs, and homes.

I’ll be here in Ottawa, making my own Italian Beef sandwiches from a roast that’s been in my freezer three weeks waiting for this night.

All of us eager to watch the next chapter in the story, as it unfolds.

Go Bears. 

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Bears’ Cutler Vs. Broncos, Fans In Most Important Game Ever!

Is Jay Cutler a bad leader? Is he embroiled in a blood feud with Brian Urlacher? Did he “throw Devin Hester under the bus”? Will Sunday night’s pre-season tune-up game against Denver, be a violent grudge match, living up to the pre-game hype?

Well…No

Training camp and pre-season is hard. Hard on everybody. Rookies trying to break into the league, veterans trying to regain their form from past seasons, coaches working to put it all together into that one core, that will take a team all the way to the Big Game.

And sportswriters.

Yes, sportswriters. Poor, beleaguered wordsmiths, with the unenviable task of making two months of drills and calisthenics seem interesting. Training camp is actually pretty dull stuff, so if the media punches up all the mundane exercise with a little drama, it’s forgivable, right?

Well…No. Not really.

Take Jay Cutler, for example.

Cutler arrived in Chicago, and walked straight into a media circus. His acquisition was unparalleled in Bears’ history. A Pro-Bowl QB, who will challenge the very notion of what Chicago fans have come to expect of an offense. It was perhaps the most aggressive trade the Bears ever put together. A cause for celebration, right? You were giddy, I was giddy, the anticipation for the upcoming season was as positive as anything you could hope for, right?

Well… 

Happy doesn’t sell papers. Not two days in a row. Cutler IS the story of this season’s Chicago Bears, but how many times can you say that? So what to do? 

Create controversy.

Jay did leave Denver under contentious circumstances. But that’s not unusual. New brooms are designed to sweep clean, and management did make efforts to sign a different QB, and they were already thinking of trading him. I’ll bet he WAS angry. I would be. Wouldn’t you?

That doesn’t translate into being “difficult”, or a “Prima Donna”. If you want to see difficult, look no further than Cutler’s old target Brandon Marshall. That’s being difficult. With Cutler, we’ll probably never know more than half the story behind the trade. And the bottom line still is, it was one hell of a ‘get’. Bravo!

But the grind of training camp goes on, and there’s newspaper columns, and talk radio minutes to fill. Enter the Urlacher/Cutler *yawn* ‘controversy’. Did Brian call Jay the ‘P-word’? We have it on good authority, he did. An ex-Bears player, yakking it up on some sports talk radio show in Minnesota SAID so!

Stop the presses! Let’s dish!

This ‘story’, which dominated Chicago sports media for a week was a sad, Desperate Housewives, E! Channel excuse for news from camp. But it was great, because it was a welcome human-interest change of pace from stories about injured players, rookie competitions, and who-in-the-hell-are-we-using-in-the-secondary stories, right?

No. No. No.

I understand that you need to write something, I do. But all that was just a distraction. Good for writers, meaningless to fans, and really? Unnecessarily bad for a team trying to gel before the regular season.

Ditto the ‘Hester controversy’. Cutler described, in a post-game interview, why he and Hester failed to connect on a long pass attempt. When I read it, I understood the statement to mean, in part, that he (Cutler) was still trying to get a feel for his new receivers.

I guess that wasn’t a sexy enough explanation. The media grabbed hold of this shapeless lump of clay, and created another week’s worth of headlines:”Cutler Blames Hester for Overthrow!” And reams of nonsense, speculating whether Cutler could be a good leader, because he wouldn’t “accept responsibility” for his mistakes.

The only mistake Cutler made, and I hope he learned from it, is that you can’t assume, that a roomful of college-educated, professional sports writers, are going to behave like adults, if you talk to them like adults. 

And the hype and drama of a QB showdown, against the teams that traded them, in the all-important third preseason game? More hype. More space-filling fluff.

This is the NFL, millions of dollars on the line every minute, even in the pre-season. The first-teams will get a bit more playing time, and the playbook gets opened a little deeper. But for all that? It’s still just running drills, a scrimmage that everyone will forget when the regular season mercifully starts in two weeks.

It can’t come soon enough.

 

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