Bears Blitz

Published by Mark Hardin on January 23, 2011
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears

Instead of celebrating a solid season and the courageous play of their quarterback over the past month, Chicago fans miss the mark again after losing a championship game.

Several years ago the Windy City faithful blamed a disappointing loss on one fan, now they are focusing again on the negative by focusing on one person.  This is unfortunate and actually very sad.

Several teammates of Jay Cutler stepped up to put things in perspective and to explain that it is a team effort.  It is indeed easier for people watching TV in bars or in their living room to criticize a “tough NFL” player for not pitching a fit to get back into the game.

Perhaps this NFL quarterback has more poise and faith in his fellow players and his team to step up and overcome a rough first half.  There are many factors in the game which point to why Green Bay won this game and it would not have mattered if Cutler played or not.  

Granted there is also a string of tweets from people who have never sniffed a down on the field of a conference championship game.  

MJD of the juggernaut Jaguars has poor taste in calling out a fellow NFL player which, by the way, is not wise just before entering a CBA battle in a couple of months.  After looking beyond these unwarranted and unprofessional jabs, take a look at just a few reasons for the Packers visit to Super Bowl XLV.

Reason 1

The Packers won the battle at the line of scrimmage for the entire game.  

There is no doubt that the Bears have an attacking defensive line and are deserving of any and all postseason awards, but for this particular game the Pack ran effectively and the line was able to hold, claw and push the Bear attack at bay.

This opened up large holes for Starks to run through and for Rodgers to view his options down field.

Reason 2

Playing a divisional foe in the championship game is intriguing and exciting, but it does take an element of surprise away.  This does make it a lot of fun because teams know each other and everything they do.  Thus the focus becomes more on individual battles on the field.  

There were many individual victories made on the Packer side of the ball.  After watching the entire game a second time (without the sound, by the way) I noticed that the majority of the Packer players repeatedly beat their one-on-one battles against Bear players.

Reason 3

Dom Capers may be one of the best defensive minds in the NFL.  While he may not have had the most success as head coach there is no doubting his meticulous game planning and his adjustments.  

While there may not be the stars or highly paid free agents on the Packer defense they are intelligent, aggressive and are given effective and efficient schemes to show the offense during the game which allow the players to pursue aggressively and to make plays.  

This defense played as a team through trusting each other to take care of their responsibilities.  Please indulge this poor Panthers fan a minute to again restate the fact that Peppers did not play up to his huge contract.

While he does deserve the accolades that the Fox announcers love to apply to him, he is not a Lawrence Taylor difference-maker (yes, I know, sour grapes, but I feel better).

Reason 4 (Which is actually an admittedly annoying “what if” reason…sorry.)

What if Cutler had stubbornly gone in on his knee without being x-rayed and continued to be ineffective as a passer?  

How long into the next quarter would it be before people started to question his selfishness in playing while knowing he was hurting the team.  This would have happened because fans are exactly that, “fanatical” which is not a synonym for logical.

Reason 5

As I had mentioned last weekend, Aaron Rodgers is playing at a different level in the postseason.  If this were to have become a shootout offensively the secondary of the Bears wouldn’t have had a chance.

The reaction by some eccentric football fans is entertaining at most and fodder for talk radio and the blog-o-sphere, but like most arguments from whining fans, the memory of the game will outlast the emotions displayed afterward.  

The Bears will be back next year and should be fully supportive of a very tough NFL quarterback who displayed professionalism and maturity in choosing to deal with the spotlight in this manner.

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