Chicago Bears Week Whatever: It’s Finally Over

When starting this segment, I was hoping to possibly document history in the making with this Bears team…or at least the playoffs.

Instead, here we are attempting to make ourselves feel better for closing out the season with a win over the Lions thus hurting the Bronco’s draft pick we gift-wrapped for them. 

I’m just thankful it is finally over. 

Let’s go to the headlines.

 

We Get It, Jay is Our Quarterback

After passing for 273 yards and tying a career high with four touchdown passes in last Monday night’s win over the Vikings, Jay Cutler threw for 276 yards and four more touchdowns with no interceptions Sunday in the 37-23 win over the Detroit Lions.

By throwing eight touchdowns and one interception in his final two games of the season, Cutler was able to finish the season with more touchdowns (28) than picks (27).

That’s a positive…right?

 

The Bears Get Offensive

The Bears’ offense generated season-highs Sunday with 418 total yards and 22 first downs…against the Lions. 

Even Matt Forte got in the action (against the Lions), rushing for 101 yards on just 16 carries.

Greg Olsen decided to use the last game of the season (against the Lions) to actually factor in the offense hauling in five receptions for 94 yards and a touchdown.

Olsen annoyed fantasy football managers all season. He will most likely receive a lot of hate mail after this season or perhaps glue for his hands.

Devin Aromashodu, who caught the game-winning 39-yard TD pass in overtime to beat the Vikings, brought in five more passes for 46 yards and two more touchdowns…against the Lions

Devin Hester, who may have competition at all his “positions,” had three catches for 75 yards as well…against…survey says?…the Lions 

 

In Defense of the Bears…

The Bears defense was without Charles Tillman and Israel Idonije for the game. Nick Roach joined the injury party and exited the game early as well. 

This could be a big reason why Calvin Johnson had 86 yards receiving with a touchdown. That or the fact the Bears defense has not been able to stop anyone with a name even girl fans recognize. 

The Bears defense continued to prove that even mediocre quarterbacks will find a receiver if given the time as Daunte Culpepper was 23-for-34 for 262 yards passing with two touchdowns. 

However, the Bears won the turnover battle 2-0 as Zackary Bowman intercepted Culpepper and Tim Shaw, a special teamer Bears fans should look at more, forced and recovered a fumble on a fourth-quarter kickoff return.

The defense was injured and playing in a game that didn’t really matter and it showed.

 

Robbie Gould is Special

Three-for-three kicking field goals against the Lions for Gould.

Brad Maynard, the MVP of the Bears in my lifetime, however, only averaged a little under 35 yards on his five punts. I hope this is not the beginning of the end for Maynard and his beautiful eyes.

 

Finally the end to an awful season and repetitive articles I apologize for making you read.

After starting the season 3-1, the Bears finished at 7-9.

The intelligent fan knew the Bears had a lot of holes coming into the season, however, the hype is what really hurt the team and overemphasized their extremely mediocre performance. 

And although Bears fans are hearing the word “changes” thrown around a lot, it doesn’t seem as though much will happen. The defensive scheme is not going anywhere since, according to Lovie Smith, the Bears have won with it before…four years ago.

For the Bears’ sake, hopefully the right offensive coordinator is brought in, but I am not sure any coordinator can win with what is on the table right now. With no draft picks in the first two rounds, the table seems to be set and the meal is pretty awful.

Here’s hoping Sports Illustrated never picks the Bears to be in the Super Bowl again…keep picking the Cubs though, SI.

Read more NFL news on BleacherReport.com

Chicago Bears Week(s) Whatever: A Tale of Two Teams

I simply did not write an article after the Baltimore Ravens 31-7 shellacking of the Chicago Bears last week because I would not know how to put that game into a decent amount of words. 

It was a shellacking…done.

However, the show must go on and although these articles are becoming unbearable to write and extremely repetitive to read I can imagine, we are almost done with this awful season.

The Bears decided to actually win a game Monday night against the Vikings 36-30 in overtime, which either shows the potential the Bears have or just how completely inconsistent the team really is. 

When trying to write an article on the two games, it seems to be more the inconsistency thing.  It should not take 16 weeks for a team to start showing its potential.

Lets go to the headlines.

 

Jay is Our Quarterback? (Ravens Game)

Jay Cutler had another poor outing against the Ravens going 10-of-27 for 94 yards and three interceptions with a passer rating almost at beer price at 7.9.  To make sure Cutler was not killed and to shut 670 The Score Bears’ fans up about playing him, Caleb Hanie was brought in to throw for a whopping eight yards and an interception.

Cutler threw two interceptions on the Bears’ first two possessions. One of which, however, was an extremely nice play by linebacker Jarret Johnson. 

More importantly, Flacco turned both those turnovers into touchdowns moving easily down the field on the Bears’ defense and beating Corey Graham (something tells me his name will come up in the Vikings game) twice to Todd Heap. 

If Graham can’t guard Heap, I sure hope he isn’t one-on-one with Sidney Rice late in a game…foreshadowing.

After the two interceptions, the Bears moved down the field nicely for 73 yards on 19 plays to the Baltimore 1, but of course, got zero points.  A throw off the back shoulder, a stuff of Matt Forte, and a fade to a tight end later the Bears were still being shut out.

It is truly pathetic that the Bears have to do a fade with their tight end due to the fact none of their receivers are big nor can jump nor know what a fade is.

 

 

Devin Hester Who? (Both Games)

Earl Bennett drew the Bears to within 14-7 against the Ravens, giving fans the false hope they so desperately hate, by returning a punt 49 yards for a touchdown midway through the second quarter. That was the Bears only score of the game.  

Against the Vikings, Daniel Manning had three kick returns for 134 yards, including a 59-yard return immediately after the Vikings had tied the game 23-23 setting up a Bears touchdown.  

With Manning returning kicks next to Knox, Bennett returning punts, and both Bennett and Knox along with Aromashodu looking like better receivers, one has to ask themselves where is Devin Hester’s place on this team and why did the Bears pay a kick returner so much money.

 

Paging Matt Forte…Come In, Matt Forte (Both Games)

Forte had to go against two very good run defenses in the Ravens and Vikings the last two games and his numbers show it rushing for 143 yards on 41 carries combined for 3.48 yards per carry along with two fumbles against the Ravens.

The offensive line seemed to hold up the last two games with the pass rush, allowing just four total sacks, three of which came from defensive linemen, but the Bears have no run game.

It seems to be a combination of Forte being tired in his sophomore season after having a work-filled freshman one and the offensive line.  

 

Win or Lose the Defense Looks Bad

The Ravens averaged 5.2 yards per play and the Vikings averaged 5.6 yards per play against the Bears.  

In a matter of four quarters, the Vikings and Ravens put up 61 points on the Bears. 

The Ravens used the Bears normal catatonic start to put up 14 in the first quarter, but what is interesting is both teams (the Vikings and Ravens) completely dominated in the second halves of both games, making it seem as though the Bears are easy to adjust to.

This of course points to good coaching on the sidelines opposite of the Bears. 

The defensive line is simply not getting it done. The Bears’ defensive line needed an extra quarter against the Vikings to get their first two sacks in the two-game span. 

The Bears did hold Adrian Peterson in check and by check I mean 94 yards on 24 carries, however, Ray Rice ran for 87 yards on just 16 carries against them.

The passing defense wasn’t much better with the Bears secondary dropping like flies causing Josh Bullocks and Adam Archuletta…I mean, Craig Steltz to play more.

Because of there being little pressure on the opposing quarterbacks, Joe Flacco and Brett Favre had field days with the Bears going 47-of-69 passing for 555 yards along with six touchdowns and no interceptions.

I’ll give one thing to Hunter Hillenmeyer, however, he knows how to take the ball away from Adrian Peterson as he did for the third time this season in overtime Monday night. 

 

Lovie, What Are You Staring At?

Most people wonder if Lovie Smith’s microphone is even functional, but before the Bears give him the axe, which would result in a Grinch-like smirk on the tan face of Dave Kaplan, here are some things to look at.  

The Bears had just four penalties for 40 yards combined in the games against the Ravens and Vikings after 13 penalties for 109 yards against the Green Bay Packers.

Unfortunately for Smith, that is the only positive factor that has come up since the rumors of his job security being in jeopardy. The other side of the spectrum, however, does not paint a good picture of the coaching staff of the Bears.  

Before the Ravens’ second touchdown in the first quarter, tight end Heap caught a 20-yard pass at the Bears’ 18. It appeared that Heap only got one foot inbounds. But the Bears did not challenge the call. The Ravens raced up to the line and snapped the ball.

This, of course, after Smith used a timeout against the Packers only to lose another timeout challenging Greg Olsen’s drop on the previous play.

Bears opponents have scored first in 11 of 15 games this season, and the Bears have been outscored 93-33 in the first quarter this year.

The Bears do not seem ready to play until they are down by two scores.

Each catch Devin Aromashodu makes calls into question why he wasn’t on the team earlier in the season especially with Cutler talking about him so much.

Finally, Bears’ players are talking to the enemy, the media, about how ridiculous it is for players to be switching positions so much along with missing former Bears players and coaches who were let go, not re-signed, or just not on the team including Thomas Jones, Ron Rivera, Chris Harris, Mike Brown, Ruben Brown, and John Tait.  

A coach cannot allow players to tell reporters how much they miss players and coaches on other teams or question coaching maneuvers.

 

The Positive

Against the Detroit Lions in the season finale of this horrible television show, the Bears will go for its second winning streak of the season…two.

Read more NFL news on BleacherReport.com

Cincinnati Bengals: A Brief Storybook Ending to a Tragedy

When anyone dies unexpectedly, it hurts.  But when that person is 26 years old, it not only hurts, but begs the question: “What if?”

What would that man have accomplished had he not gone so early?

How would his three children have turned out if they had him in their lives?

What if he had not died?

When wide receiver Chris Henry died falling out of a truck during a dispute with his fiancee, these are some of the questions that had to race through the minds of friends and family, along with “Why?”

Sometimes there is just no explanation.  

Yes, we tend to glorify people in the public eye only after their death instead of during their lives, as if to keep a secret from them only to reveal it when they are not there to listen.

In the case of Chris Henry, however, it was hard to ever glorify him.  

On Dec. 15, 2005, Henry was pulled over in northern Kentucky for speeding. During a search, marijuana was found in his shoes.  He was also driving without a license or insurance.  

One month later, on Jan. 30, 2006, he was arrested in Florida for multiple gun charges, including concealment and aggravated assault with a firearm. He was reported to have been wearing his Bengals jersey at the time of his arrest. He pleaded guilty to this charge and avoided jail time.

On Apr. 29, 2006, Henry allowed three underage females (ages 18, 16, and 15) to consume alcohol at a hotel in Kentucky.  One of the girls (the 18-year-old) accused Henry of sexually assaulting her; she later retracted her story and was charged with filing a false police report.  On Jan. 25, 2007, Henry pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor violation of a city ordinance commonly referred to as a “keg law.” He was sentenced to 90 days in jail, with all but two of those days being suspended.

He was pulled over in Ohio on Jun. 3, 2006 for drunk driving.  He registered a .092 blood-alcohol level, .012 above the level permitted in the state of Ohio.

On Oct. 6, 2006 he was suspended by the NFL for two games for violating the league’s personal conduct and substance abuse policies. NFL policies forbade Henry from taking part in practices, however, he was allowed to attend any team meetings. 

The following April, Henry was suspended for the first eight games of the 2007 NFL season for violations of the NFL’s personal conduct policy.

Henry allegedly assaulted a valet attendant at Newport on the Levee in Kentucky on Nov. 6, 2007. He was arrested for a second time in Orlando on Dec. 3 for violating the probation he was serving from a Jan. 30, 2006 arrest. On Feb. 21, 2008, he was found not guilty.

On Mar. 31, 2008, Henry punched a man named Gregory Meyer, 18, and threw a beer bottle through the window of his car.  Henry mistakenly thought it was someone who owed him money.  Henry was waived by the Bengals a day after this arrest and was then served a house arrest sentence.

Henry was re-signed by the Bengals in August. 

That is a long list of problems to overcome, but just as it seemed Henry was beginning to do so, he left this earth.

“Chris changed his life around when nobody thought he could,” Cincinnati tackle Andre Whitworth told reporters. “Nobody thought the Cincinnati Bengals could go from 2-14 to where we are now. We embodied that. He embodied us. He changed and we changed. That’s why he’s important to us.” 

But in the caves of questions, sport brings a light of certainty. 

As a sports fan, you were certain Chad Ochocinco would catch a touchdown pass after his emotional interview with reporters regarding the death of Henry, along with bringing Henry’s jersey to the field before the game. 

You just knew in this holiday season, there would be some kind of happy ending to this tragedy. 

Just like Henry’s chance to overcome his list of faults, however, the happy ending was brief.

After Ochocinco caught a 49-yard touchdown pass from Carson Palmer to give the Bengals a 10-7 lead, causing Ochocinco to drop to his knees, put his right hand on his heart, look up and say a few words in tribute to Henry, the Bengals went on to lose 27-24 to the Chargers on a last-second 52-yard field goal in their second attempt to clinch a division title.  

Just as is life, sport can be ruthless and heart-breaking even when it produces the occasional fairy tale.

Unlike life, however, sport always gives a chance for redemption in the form of another game.

 

 

Read more NFL news on BleacherReport.com

Chicago Bears Week Whatever: Who Cares What We Learned?

Another week, another batch of unwanted gifts in the form of lessons from the Chicago Bears. 

However, even with new findings surfacing, the Bears used an old formula of starting slow before self-destructing via turnovers and penalties in their 21-14 loss to the rival Green Bay Packers.

Lets go to the headlines. 

 

Jay, Please Don’t Throw That Baaaaaall…Damnit

The Bears’ offense is impossible to watch without some kind of alcohol or punching bag.  It is the same formula of doing nothing early, then deciding to turn it up after the other team scores two touchdowns. 

The Bears’ first four possessions resulted in 25 yards on 11 plays, with one first down and one interception.  The Bears’ offensive line had 15 yards in penalties in the first four possessions, including a holding penalty by the great Frank Omiyale, which cost the Bears a 21-yard scramble by Jay Cutler.  

The Bears’ offense then turned things up after, of course, the defense had given up a touchdown and two field goals on Green Bay’s first three possessions.

Cutler (23-36 209 yards, 2 TDs, 2 INT) completed seven of 10 passes for 87 yards on a 13-play, 80-yard drive capped by a 19-yard touchdown pass to Johnny Knox.  Cutler completed passes of 28 yards to Knox on 3rd-and-18, 19 yards to Devin Aromashodu on 3rd-and-9, and 19 yards to Knox for the TD on 3rd-and-12.

Where was this offense the entire game?  You can’t take nearly a quarter-and-a-half off offensively in the NFL.  

However, Cutler’s trigger-happy arm is what put the final nail in the coffin in this game, and in the Bears’ playoff hopes, when he under-threw a pass to Knox on 3rd-and-5 at their own 32, with a 14-13 lead in which Nick Collins intercepted the ball and took it back to the 11, leading to the Ryan Grant’s game-winning touchdown.

The ball was underthrown because Cutler took a hit on a blitz, but that ball has to either be tucked away for the sack, which Cutler has learned to do this year thanks to the offensive line, or be thrown out of bounds.  

 

The Bears’ Offensive Line is Getting Coal for Christmas

This was the only headline I had in my head that didn’t involve curse words or referring to the offensive line as a slang term for female genitalia.  

The Bears, as a team, had 13 penalties for 109 yards; nearly double the amount of yards rushing.  The offensive line was responsible for much of them.  

As stated above, a holding foul on Omiyale nullified Jay Cutler’s 21-yard scramble on 3rd-and-11 in the first quarter, and a 15-yard facemask penalty on left tackle Chris Williams wiped out a 16-yard screen pass to Matt Forte in the fourth quarter.

The Bears drew four false start penalties, three of which came on first down.  A terrible offense cannot work with 1st-and-15. 

Williams had the trifecta: getting whistled for a false start, illegal use of hands, and a facemask.  That is literally hard to do as a lineman. 

All this while not really blocking, as Cutler was sacked three times and, although Forte had 51 yards on 12 carries, most of the yardage came after he had to roll off a clogged hole. 

The offensive line is like Lindsay Lohan: everyone gets in.  No?  How about the offensive line is like Arizona State: everyone gets in?  Okay, how about this one:  The offensive line is like Tiger Woods: They let everyone in for the sack and they clog holes.

 

Devin AromashoWHO?

A guy that Jay Cutler has been talking about for a while and wanting to get involved in the offense hauls in eight receptions for 76 yards and touchdown. 

It makes you wonder who is making the decisions and why won’t they listen to their quarterback. 

So far, we’ve seen the offense look its best in the no-huddle with Cutler calling the plays, after Cutler drew up plays on the sideline, and with a receiver who Cutler has been talking about all season.  

Perhaps the coaching staff should listen to someone else besides the offensive coordinator, who was good 10 years ago.

Perhaps the coaching staff should stop listening to themselves.  

 

The Defense Was Not Too Bad

Going against Aaron Rodgers, Greg Jennings, Donald Driver, Ryan Grant, Donald Lee, and Jermichael Finley, it was a safe bet the defense would get torched.  And, at first, it did.  

The first play from scrimmage was a 62-yard touchdown run for Grant, who of course was on my bench for fantasy football.  And although the Bears gave up back-to-back field goals on the next two Packer possessions, it could have been much worse considering those were two red-zone trips for Green Bay, one of which was after Cutler was intercepted by Charles Woodson.  

Once again, however, the defensive line only generated one sack leading to not only Grant running for nearly seven yards per carry for 137 yards, but Rodgers having all day to throw.

The secondary was able to limit Greg Jennings and completely shut down Donald Driver, who of course was starting on my fantasy team, but if you give Rodgers all day, he will find guys like Finely, Lee, and Brandon Jackson. 

Bears, that is what time in the pocket looks like for a good quarterback.  Perhaps one day you will try it.

The problem with watching the Bears play the Vikings and Packers is seeing how far they are from coming anywhere close to either of them. 

The Packers, for the third straight year, are the youngest team in the NFL, and they look more mature than the Bears by 10 years.

With the Vikings’ offensive threats, plus their offensive and defensive lines, it seems as though anything with arms could be quarterback and they’d be fine.

The fact is that the Bears have no solution.  They have no picks in the first or second round in next season’s draft, a coaching staff that needs tweaking, and a general manager that should, but for some reason doesn’t, have fingers pointing at him.

I try to give Lovie Smith the benefit of the doubt in terms of this team being more Jerry Angelo’s fault than his, but Smith is the man who let Ron Rivera leave, put a lot of draft picks into this defensive line, and is the one throwing challenge flags after using a timeout, only to get the call wrong, losing another timeout.

Someone needs to find Smith’s challenge record, because I assure you, it is awful.

Things are not looking good currently, or in the future, for the Bears, and the worst part about it will be watching Jay Cutler and Matt Forte go completely to waste.

 

Read more NFL news on BleacherReport.com

Chicago Bears Week Whatever: Who Cares What We Learned?

The Chicago Bears should be proud. The Bears brought an end to their four-game losing streak…beating one of the worst teams in football…barely. The Bears have taught us that even in winning you can look awful.

It was a battle of garbage versus overrated. Not a good mix. 

Let’s go to the headlines.

 

Jay Cutler Is Kind of Our Quarterback

Cutler was 4-for-7 with 131 yards in the first quarter, but after that he was just 4-for-10 for 12 yards as the Bears focused on the run game. Lord knows the Bears needed to run out the clock after, for just the third time this season, they scored first. 

Three of those yards after the first quarter, however, were on a touchdown bullet to Earl Bennett in the end zone to give the Bears a 17-6 lead. 

Another side of the story was that Cutler sustained a minor injury to his hand in the first quarter, but either way, the Bears were simply trying to escape with a win over the awful St. Louis Rams any way they could. 

Oh yeah, he didn’t throw an interception either, but no one cares about interceptions, do they?

 

Even the Bears’ Receivers Look Good Against the Rams

Well, at least we know the Bears receivers can look good against someone. Each receiver—except, of course, tight end Greg Olsen, who I started on my fantasy team—seemed to have a big play. 

On the Bears’ five-play, 85-yard touchdown drive, Devin Hester and Johnny Knox had their big plays. Hester had a 48-yard catch where he actually out-leaped a safety, and Knox drew a 35-yard pass interference call. For the Bears, a pass interference call is as big of an offensive play they will get. 

Bennett, however, was the star of the game with only two catches. He made the best of those two catches, extending one catch from about a 10-yard gain to a 71-yard gain as he burst through the secondary and scoring a three-yard touchdown on his second catch.

 

Even the Bears’ Running Game Looks Good Against the Rams

Where Orlando Pace goes, so goes the Bears’ run game…kind of. In this case, Pace goes to the bench and the Bears’ run game goes forward.  

The Bears moved Chris Williams to his more natural position at right tackle, and Kevin Schafer played at left tackle due in part to the Pace injury.

The Bears’ offensive line didn’t look too horrible, but you have to take it with a grain of salt, as it is hard for anyone to look horrible against the Rams.

Matt Forte rushed for 91 yards on 24 carries, while the second part of the two-headed monster, Khalil Bell, ran for 35 yards on 11 carries. (I actually heard a Bears fan on the radio refer to Forte and Bell as a two-headed monster. Please, 670 The Score workers, stop trying to make your radio personalities sound intelligent by screening for stupid fans.)

The offensive line did allow two sacks on Cutler, which is still very irritating, but you take what you can get from this group. At least Cutler is still alive…to go against Green Bay and Baltimore in back-to-back weeks. 

The Cutler family may want to give him his Christmas presents ASAP because he may not be alive by then.  

 

Even the Lance Briggs-less Defense Looks Good Against the Rams

Defensively, the Bears forced three sacks and had two takeaways, but more importantly they held the Rams to 2-of-14 on third down and only one red zone appearance in 13 possessions with no first-class trips to the end zone.

There really isn’t much you can say about stopping the Rams’ offense. If you are a truly good defense, then you stop Steven Jackson, whereas the Bears let him run for 112 yards on 28 carries. 

 

The Bears add this win to a couple lucky ones and three against awful teams. 

As I’ve said before, the Bears beat a Steelers team due to missed field goals before Rashard Mendenhall was named the starting running back, a Seahawks team due to missed field goals with Seneca Wallace at the helm, and three awful teams in the Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, and now the St. Louis Rams. 

There really is no way to win this season for the Bears. If they lose (5-11), they don’t get a higher draft pick—the Broncos do. If they win (9-7), they get a schedule they can’t handle next year. 

Bears fans almost have to root to lose so next season can be bearable (pun intended) to watch.

Read more NFL news on BleacherReport.com

Chicago Bears Week Whatever: Who Cares What We Learned?

I began writing this segment hoping the Bears would actually learn something from themselves and show some progress in the season toward, not necessarily the Super Bowl as genius Sports Illustrated predicted, but at least competing. However, all we’ve truly learned from them is a football team cannot change with one player. 

Chicago Bears, meet a good team, the Minnesota Vikings.  They combine an offense with weapons everywhere anchored by a good quarterback, who rarely gets touched by defenders, along with a defense who gets to the quarterback and stops the run. 

The Bears have none of that accept maybe the good quarterback part, which could be why they’ve lost six out of seven games and are currently on a four-game losing streak.

 

Offensive

The Vikings showed why they are 10-1 and the Bears are 4-7.

The Vikings had 537 total yards to the Bears 169, 31 first downs to the Bears eight, and 83 offensive plays to the Bears 38.  This, of course, leads to the Vikings’ time of possession of 40:55 as opposed to the Bears 19:05.  

Simply unbelievable.

The only time the Bears offense got going was when Cutler operated in the no-huddle.  He completed five of six passes for 54 yards on the TD drive, and then led the Bears to the Minnesota 23.  His nemesis, the interception, however, ended the second drive as he threw into the endzone. 

Cutler added a second interception on a clear pass interference call two minutes later.  He now has a career-high 20 interceptions and leads the NFL.  Welcome to Chicago, Jay.

What does this say about the offensive coaching staff if the only time the Bears’ offense goes anywhere is in the no-huddle or when we see Cutler drawing up plays on the sidelines?

The Bears’ offense this season was summed up perfectly in their first drive of the second half.  Johnny Knox made up for a fumble earlier in the game by taking the opening kickoff 77 yards to the Minnesota eight where Forte had a run for no gain, Orlando Pace had a false start, and Cutler was sacked on back-to-back plays.

If you haven’t puked up Thanksgiving left-overs yet, the Bears were out-gained 225-2 in the second half. 

Don’t forget to hold your hair back.

And finally, in case you’re having the dry heaves, the Bears have two touchdowns in their last three games.

 

Adrian Who?

The Bears actually held Adrian Peterson in check, and by check I mean gave up 85 yards rushing, which for the Bears is a Christmas miracle.  Hunter Hillenmeyer also caused two Peterson fumbles. 

But don’t go thinking the Bears actually stopped the running game of the Vikings.  Percy Harvin and Chester Taylor had 78 yards on six carries.  The Vikings averaged 4.7 yards per carry.

The secondary was picked apart as they have been all year by good offenses.  Brett Favre completed 32 of 48 passes for 392 yards and three touchdowns. 

The Bears helped Favre by only sacking him once on a safety blitz.  Another stellar performance by the Bears’ defensive line, which management and the coaching staff has put so much stock and draft picks into.

 

The Revolving Linebacker Door

The Bears have signed Cato June to a one-year contract after Lance Briggs left the Minnesota game early and made it official that all three starting linebackers for the Bears this season have now been hurt.

June has appeared in 88 games with 73 starts in six NFL seasons with the Indianapolis Colts (2003-06) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2007-08).  He has 498 tackles, 12 interceptions, one sack, three forced fumbles, and three fumble recoveries.

He applied to the job opening at ChicagoBears.com that said, “Looking for defensive player who doesn’t get hurt on every play nor cares about losing…a lot.”

The extent of Brigg’s injury is not known, but it should not be season-ending, although, that would be the best news Bears fans have had all season. This would assure them Briggs would not get a career-ending injury this season considering he currently makes every tackle on defense.

Nevermind, the Bears don’t really have a future considering they have no draft picks as their first-round pick went to the Broncos for Cutler and their second-round pick went to the Buccaneers for Gaines Adams. 

Free agency in the NFL is not where you want to fix your team.  The Bears know that firsthand.       

The Bears should also think about benching Jay Cutler and Matt Forte if they want them to live to see Christmas.

 

Someone ask Santa for an offensive line, a defensive line, a secondary, a couple receivers, and a brand new coaching staff.  

Who am I kidding?  Even Santa couldn’t fix the Bears.       

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read more NFL news on BleacherReport.com

Week Nine: What We Learned About The Chicago Bears…They Are Really Bad

NFL announcers and writers tend to over-analyze everything and repeat themselves over and over and over and over and over again, which is why I will never understand why ESPN shows NFL Live year-round.

Out of all this repetition, we begin to get idiotic comments that go overlooked and are just accepted like “that guy is a football player” or “this team just knows how to play football” or anything that comes out of Chris Berman’s mouth. 

I refuse to become a mindless, repetitive robot and continue saying the things the world knows about the Chicago Bears after yet another loss to another beatable team in the form of the San Francisco 49ers.  

It is very simple, if you have no offensive line, no running game, dumb receivers, a quarterback who will force too much, a defensive line that doesn’t get pressure, and a defense that gets injured with a strong breeze, you will be a bad football team.  

The Chicago Bears are a bad football team. 

Of course, blaming a franchise quarterback is the easiest thing in the world to do when calling in radio shows and complaining about a football team and lord knows Chicago fans love going the easy route when analyzing any sport (they still think a fan lost them a World Series appearance and small ball won them another).

The Chicago Bears are a bad football team, not a bad quarterback. 

 

The Defense Stopped Alex Smith….Yay?

Not exactly sure why the Bears defense is being bowed down to after giving up 104 yards on 25 carries to the only difficult part of the 49ers offense, Frank Gore.  This was Gore’s second highest rushing total this season.  

With nine minutes left in the game and the Bears trailing by four, the Bears defense was able to stop the 49ers…after a drive of six minutes and 14 seconds.

In between going offside three times, one occurrence nullifying a Lance Briggs interception, and giving up 110 yards rushing, the Bears defensive line had two sacks.

The Bears held Alex Smith to 118 yards on 16-of-23 passing with one interception and were able to lock up Smith’s first win in eight starts. 

Zackary Bowman left with an abdominal injury.  Once again, if you know anyone who can play defense for 16 games, call the Chicago Bears.  

 

Jay Cutler is our Quarterback?

It is getting more and more difficult to stick up for Jay Cutler as he threw five interceptions to push his league-leading total to 17. 

Yes, Devin Hester fell on one interception, stopped a route on another, and another was a clear pass interference along with an awful snap by the, for some reason, 500-time Pro Bowler Olin Kreutz, but there is no excuse for throwing interceptions in the redzone, which Cutler did twice and has done nine times in the last two seasons combined.

Two picks in the redzone equals at least six points lost and the win for the Bears.

Cutler’s decision-making just isn’t there and it doesn’t help when there is no time to throw or any type of running game.  That combination has disaster written all over it and so far the Bears have seen it.

The gunslinger mentality is only useful when you have weapons and a connection with your receivers, hence why it worked for Brett Favre in Green Bay.  The Bears receivers are in no way shape or form weapons nor have they had the time to learn Cutler’s habits when a route breaks down. 

 

If You Can’t Beat Them, Cheat

Interceptions weren’t the only problem for the Bears as they were flagged 10 times for 75 yards showing once again how well-coached and disciplined they are. 

As stated above, an offside penalty against Adewale Ogunleye took away a Lance Briggs interception, and an illegal-man-downfield foul on Roberto Garza wiped out a 40-yard pass from Cutler to Earl Bennett.

And to continue the trend of the head-scratching season, the Bears were flagged twice for delay of game penalities during their two-minute drill at the end of the first half. 

One penalty came as Robbie Gould hit a 45-yard field right before the half.  Gould was forced to hit a 50-yard field goal after the penalty was assessed.  What boggles the mind regarding this was the Bears had one timeout remaining. 

Where was the coaching staff when the playclock was winding down?

Just read the sequence below of the final drive for the Bears because I don’t feel like writing the details:

1st-10, CHI20      2:47     J. Cutler incomplete pass to the right
2nd-10, CHI20     2:42     J. Cutler incomplete pass down the middle
3rd-10, CHI20      2:36     J. Cutler incomplete pass to the left
4th-10, CHI20      2:31     SF committed 5 yard penalty
1st-10, CHI25      2:23     M. Forte rushed to the right for 3 yard gain. CHI committed 10 yard penalty
1st-17, CHI18      2:15     J. Cutler passed to M. Forte to the left for 12 yard gain. CHI committed 15 yard penalty
1st-20, CHI15      2:00     J. Cutler passed to D. Hester to the right for 10 yard gain
3rd-10, CHI25      1:34     J. Cutler passed to M. Forte down the middle for 20 yard gain

In one minute and 13 seconds the Bears moved five yards while trailing by four in their final drive of the game thanks to two huge penalties.

Playoff teams do not play like this and the Chicago Bears are not a playoff team. 

Did I mention I’m tired of sounding repetitive?

 

Read more NFL news on BleacherReport.com

Week Eight: What We Learned About The Chicago Bears…They Are Bad

After a dream vacation in victory lane against the Cleveland Browns, the Chicago Bears came back to reality Sunday and were completely dominated by another solid, but beatable team in the form of the Arizona Cardinals.  

However, bad teams lose to beatable teams and the Bears proved to all the doubters out there that they are indeed bad.   

The Bears gave up four touchdowns on the first four Cardinal drives and that was the end of it.  As always, the Bears decided to attempt some kind of come-back in order to make the score look readable, but in no way shape or form were the Bears ever in this game. 

 

The Bears Are Easier to Score on Than Your Mom

It is not like the first four Cardinal scoring drives were in Bears territory either.  Kurt Warner led the Cardinals on drives of 81, 74, 70, and 86. 

Arizona converted on their first eight, third downs.  As football rules state, in order to get off the field, the defense must stop an offense on three plays. 

The Cardinals had 320 yards and 21 first downs in the first half.  Matt Forte has 441 yards on the entire season to put that into perspective…and I was basically looking for an excuse to knock Forte’s production. 

The Cardinals did all this without Anquan Boldin. 

And to the people who roll their eyes and say no team can stop Larry Fitzgerald, the Cardinals found a rushing attack against the Bears defense as well.  The Cardinals were averaging an NFL-low 64.9 yards per game rushing and had 182 yards on 31 carries against the Bears. 

And to the people who for some reason continue to make excuses for the Bears and say they ran into a running back on a career day, Tim Hightower (averaging 35.4 yards per game this season) had 77 yards rushing and Beanie Wells (averaging 38.8 yards per game this season) had 72 yards rushing.  This was Wells’ highest and Hightower’s second highest rushing total in a game in the NFL.

Two players having a career day rushing is not a fluke.

The rushing debacle could have been thanks to Tommie Harris making his hardest hit of the season…with his fist…to Deuce Lutui’s helmet.  Harris was ejected after four plays.  A sign that this team is well-coached and disciplined. 

Perhaps instead of writing “PSALM” across his nose, Harris should write “CALM”…no?  Bad joke?  Lets move on.      

Not exactly sure why players feel the need to punch other players in their helmets.  I don’t see how that hurts anyone but the puncher, while the punchee laughs at the flag/ejection that follows.  

In terms of non-scumbag departures, the Bears lost Charles Tillman and Al Afalava to shoulder injuries in the first half as well. 

The Bears will be holding open tryouts for people who can play defense for 16 games of football without getting hurt.  Apparently there are people in the world who can do that nowadays.

 

The D-line Got a Sack, but No Balls

The defensive line actually got a sack from Alex Brown in between letting up 182 yards rushing and punching people. 

However, they were unable to get the football…what balls were you thinking of?

Get your head out of the gutter, we all know the Bears defense has no testicles. 

 

Jay Cutler is our Quarterback

Cutler actually had a really good game even after it became pretty obvious the Bears would be throwing on every play.  Cutler was 29-of-47 for 369 yards with three touchdowns and one interception with a passer rating of 98.6.  All three touchdowns were to Greg Olsen who remained on my fantasy team’s bench.  

Cutler was sacked four times, which is bound to happen when you pass 47 times.  

Forte had 33 rushes off of five carries, but the possibility of a running game progressing was short-lived thanks to the Bears forgetting to play defense.  

 

The Bears Are Who I Thought They Were…Mediocre

At this point the Bears are borderline bad as opposed to mediocre.  They are field goals away from losing to the Steelers, before they realized Rashard Mendenhall was better than Willie Parker, and the Seahawks, who nearly won with Seneca Wallace as their starting quarterback.  

That leaves wins over the Detroit Lions and the Browns.  Impressive if you’re in the Arena Football League, but not in the NFL.

The problem for the Bears is they only have two wins left on the schedule against the St. Louis Rams and the Lions.  Otherwise they play the San Francisco 49ers, Philadelphia Eagles, Green Bay Packers, Baltimore Ravens, and the Minnesota Vikings twice. 

Amongst that mess, I only see maybe two wins, three tops.  

The Bears are looking at a best-case scenario of 9-7 and that won’t cut it, especially since they’ve already lost to teams they will be competing with for the wild card spots.

A new quarterback cannot play defense nor can he improve the offensive line, so thinking the Bears were going to the Super Bowl solely because of the addition of Jay Cutler was foolish.  The Bears came into the season depending on inexperienced receivers, an aged offensive line, a second-year running back, and a defense that was awful last season. 

The Bears fairy god-quarterback has no powers that can make that into a winning football team.     

Read more NFL news on BleacherReport.com

Week Seven: What We Learned About The Chicago Bears

Who knew it was possible to make a 30-6 win look mediocre, but the Chicago Bears found a way.

The defense forced turnovers, which was a positive sign, however, the defensive line and offensive line were once again no where to be found.

The offense as a whole looked like a car driven by crash test dummies into a wall, scoring 20 points mainly because of the defense and struggling in the redzone. Starring as the crash test dummies were Orlando Pace, Josh Beekman, Olin Kreutz, Roberto Garza, and Chris Williams. Starring as the car was Jay Cutler.

Oh, and by the way, the Bears played the Cleveland Browns.

Mommy, What’s That Red Stuff Coming Out of Jay’s Mouth?

The real question is, “Mommy, what are those guys in front of Jay supposed to do?”  Although, your mom would be pretty cool if she knew each lineman’s assignment.

Once again, the offensive line decided not to block for Cutler, allowing four sacks and seven quarterback hits answering Cutler’s question as to what his blood tastes like.

Beekman finally replaced Frank Omiyale, but the man who was welcoming him back to the starting lineup was defensive tackle Shaun Rogers. No easy task your first day back on the job.

The offensive line looks lost and the Bears do not have a fullback-tight end combo, or a running back that is going to bail them out blocking. Offensive coordinator Ron Turner said Sunday the Bears would scale back the offense to help the offensive line. 

What does that mean? The mediocre-to-bad Bears offense is going to play more timidly?

Cutler wasn’t all that special when he had time, going 17-of-30 for 225 yards with one interception and a 66.7 passer rating. This was his first game without a touchdown pass.  

The fact the Bears have nine more games against better defenses than the Browns, has to leave Bears fans wondering not only if Cutler will play the rest of the season, but will he be alive by the end of it.  

Could Running be Matt’s Forte?

UOL (ugh out loud, you heard it here first) not another pun involving Forte’s last name; I apologize. 

Forte finished with 90 yards on 26 carries and two touchdowns. He never had a run more than 12 yards, but I suppose it’s a step forward. Any step against the Browns, however, is really more like a half step. His only two quality games have come against the Detroit Lions and the Browns. 

The two touchdowns proved huge, however, based on the fact the Bears could not score in the red zone or get anything going early. They went three-and-out on their first two possessions and then settled for Robbie Gould field goals of 37, 29, and 32 yards after reaching the Cleveland nine, 11, and three yard lines. 

The Bears didn’t get into the endzone until 1:56 was left in the first half to make it 16-0 and that was thanks to a roughing the passer penalty by Kamerion Wimbley on third down at the Browns’ 31. It was a 10 play, 71-yard drive, but an offense cannot bank on stupid roughing the passer flags to score touchdowns.

The fact the score was 16-6 against the Browns with under two minutes left in the third quarter, is not a good sign.   

The Bears had another red zone opportunity go to waste in the fourth quarter after Cutler threw the ball away on first down, Forte was stopped for no gain on second down and was held to one yard on third down.

On fourth-and-goal from the one-yard line, Cutler’s pass, intended for Desmond Clark, was batted down by Wimbley.  

Whatever the Bears are doing in the red zone, is just not working. Getting past the goal-line inside the 10 for them is like pulling teeth. 

 

The Defense Bullied the Nerdy Browns

The secondary for the Bears did it all. The Browns had only 74 yards passing, while the secondary was responsible for four of the Bears five takeaways,one of which Charles Tillman took back for the Bears’ first defensive touchdown of the season. The secondary did what a good secondary should do against a bad team;they dominated. 

The  line backing crew and defensive line, however, were not so good. The defensive line had one sack and the Browns rushed for 117 yards. Tommie Harris was back, which helped a little, but he didn’t bring anything spectacular to the table.  

 

There is Something Special About Looking Into Brady Maynard’s Eyes

The Bears special teams did everything right except on two trip ups. Maynard shanked a punt, but that was after a penalty was called on Garrett Wolfe, which brought back the previous punt. Hester had a touchdown return off a punt brought back on a penalty as well. 

Besides those two instances, Maynard dropped three of five punts inside the 20 and Robbie Gould was three of three on field goals. Hester showed promise on the touchdown return brought back on a penalty and the coverage team held the best return man in the NFL, Josh Cribbs, to 23 yards per return. 

Overall, the Bears stopped their two-game losing streak and beat a bad team. However, for the third week in a row, the Bears looked uninspired and sluggish. 

The offense couldn’t score in the red zone, both lines played terribly, and Cutler was on his back the entire game.  

A playoff team does not let any of that happen against one of the worst teams; not just this year, but ever in the NFL.

All these factors of not looking prepared point to the coaching staff and leave Bears fans wondering what they are doing all week.

What will happen if the defensive line cannot get pressure against the Cardinals with Kurt Warner at quarterback and Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, and Steve Breaston running wild? That’s what is on the menu for next week. 

The Bears, in a 30-6 win, found a way to teach us that they really are not a playoff team.

 

Read more NFL news on BleacherReport.com

Week Six: What We Learned About The Chicago Bears

Although I just realized it is technically week seven and actually game six, I am sticking with my mistake and am going to carry it out until the end. That’s the American way. 

As for the Chicago Bears, what we learned about them after week seven and game six is they are extremely mediocre at every position except quarterback and linebacker in the forms of Jay Cutler and Lance Briggs. 

Unfortunately no help around both positions, no matter how good the positions are, leads to losses.

 

The Offensive Line and Matt Forte Do Not Exist

With the Broncos, Cutler was sacked every 57 snaps. With the Bears, Cutler is sacked every 18 snaps. Not good. 

Matt Forte had 24 yards on just six carries as the Bears had to pass most of the game.  He did have four catches for 25 yards. You’d like to see the Bears get Forte going in the passing game more considering there is no run-blocking up the middle. 

With the receivers the Bears have, having no running game is unacceptable and impossible to win with. The Bears are not the Patriots or the Colts. 

Notice how Hunter Hillenmeyer and Nick Roach bit on the play-action by Carson Palmer, who then threw to J.P. Foschi for a three-yard touchdown pass. That is what a running game will do for your passing game. 

The play-action worked all day for Palmer because Cedric Benson was having his way with the Bears. 

 

Two Weeks in a Row Without a Sack

After starting the season scorching hot, the defensive line has been nowhere to be found the last two weeks for the Bears. 

Benson ran for 189 yards and Palmer had all the time in the world to throw.

This could be why the Bengals didn’t punt until midway through the fourth quarter.  

 

Secondary Scorched

This is hard to pin on the secondary due to the fact the defensive line and blitz packages just didn’t work on Sunday. Give any quarterback time to throw and he will find someone.  

However, I bring this up because herein lies the difference between the Bears and other NFL teams. Give a quarterback time and players like Chris Henry, Laveranues Coles and Chad Ochocino will find you; players like Devin Hester, Earl Bennett and Johnny Knox will not. They just aren’t that experienced with Cutler nor are they that good. 

 

Jay Cutler is our Quarterback

Cutler doesn’t get completely off the hook for the offensive line, Matt Forte, and his lack of good receivers. Cutler knew what he was getting himself into when he came to the Bears, so his three interceptions cannot go without comment.

What I notice when watching the Bears passing game, however, is that if you notice when Cutler looks off his first option, the play is done for. In other words, if the play doesn’t work to perfection, it’s essentially dead because the line will not hold nor are the receivers good enough to get themselves open on a broken play.

Hester, however, had a solid game hauling in eight catches for 101 yards and a touchdown, but he fumbled on the first drive the Bears offense seemed to have any type of rhythm and essentially ended their chances of a comeback.

 

Coaching 

Coming off a bye week and looking awful in your first two games does not help your coaching staff look too good. 

Now, I hate pinning losses on coaches because if the players don’t execute, there is nothing they can do. However, you chose to make Frank Omiyale a starter, you chose to bench Tommie Harris, you chose to invest a lot of draft picks and money into the defensive line that can’t get pressure on the quarterback, coaches.

You are choosing to not use Forte in the passing game, you are choosing to send Hester and Knox deep when the offensive line cannot give Cutler enough time, and you are choosing not to use a double tight end set.

Coaches must get part of the blame because a lot of what you see on Sundays stem from their choices.  

However, I hate to sound like the typical idiotic fan and blame everything on play-calling and what not due to the fact the Bears just aren’t executing the two main features in a football game: blocking up front on offense and getting pressure on the quarterback on defense. 

Without those two factors, no coach in the world can win. However, the other side of that argument is the coaches choose the offensive line, the defensive line and blitz packages.  

Essentially everyone is to blame…ESPECIALLY YOU, THE READER. This is all your fault.

Stop reading blogs and go buy a newspaper, you bastards, I’m tired of working for free…sorry, I got a little side-tracked.  

The Bears look awfully mediocre and the fact they already lost to the Falcons and Packers, who they most likely will be fighting for a wildcard spot with, is not a good sign for tiebreakers. They also physically cannot beat the Vikings in any way shape or form at this point.  

Ladies and Gentlemen, they are playing and looking like a third-place team.

Even third-place teams, however, should beat the Cleveland Browns, so this would be a good week to get the Bears back on the positive note and above .500.          

 

Read more NFL news on BleacherReport.com

Next Page »

NFL Sport Channel Latest

• Just How Far Would You Go?
• Sorry Rex, But It Isn’t Happening
• Super Bowl Predictions: Five Stat-Free Reasons Why the Eagles Will Reach The Super Bowl
• Seahawks Attempt to Turn Corner With Heavy Pursuit of Pete Carroll
• Bill Cowher Unlikely to Coach in 2010