Bears Blitz

Published by Zack Pearson on October 4, 2010
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears

We all knew the Bears offensive line had problems. You could see it last season, and it carried over into the preseason.

Yet the Chicago Bears hardly did anything to fix it. The organization was so high on the prospect of Chris Williams, but it hasn’t helped much. Williams has missed the last three games, and even in Week 1 he wasn’t very effective.

Thanks to Jay Cutler and the defense, the Bears started off 3-0. There was a lot of buzz in Chicago following the teams impressive start. Much to the fact that something was being ignored. The poor play of the offensive line was overshadowed by the teams successful first three games. Not many fans were paying attention to how bad the offensive line looked, even with Cutler playing like an early MVP candidate.

Then came last nights embarrassing performance against the New York Giants. The Bears gave up 10 sacks in the game, with nine coming in the first half. The last sack, ultimately ended Jay Cutlers night.

Other than the fact the Bears offensive line looked really bad last night, they just might have cost the Bears their season.

Now before anyone says the line played well the past three games, go back and look at how they played. They played very poorly. One example was the Dallas game in week two. Cutler felt the heat early on, and was hurried in his first seven pass attempts. The Bears made adjustments though, which caused Dallas to stop blitzing. That lead to a Bears victory, backed behind solid defensive play.

Against the Giants, the Bears couldn’t make adjustments. Cutler was being pressured and hurried almost every time he went to throw. The Giants defensive line flat out dominated the Bears offensive line.

Even with Chicago bringing in extra blockers like Greg Olsen and Brandon Manumaleuna, they couldn’t stop the Giants front four. It’s a team effort out there and nothing has shown me that this team can get better like this.

Cutler has been criticized for holding onto the ball for to long. If you’re bringing in extra guys to max protect that leaves two wide receivers to get open against a seven or eight-man defense. You’re not going to see a wide receiver get open in that coverage very often.

If max protect is what it’s going to take for Cutler to survive this season, then the Bears wont make it very far with two-wide receiver sets. The line has one job to do. That is to block and protect your quarterback.

Actually I’m not surprised it happened. They revealed their true colors in Week 4.

The running game has been poor all season for Chicago. You can’t survive on the pass alone. With limited holes by the poor blocking from the offensive line, the Bears will see a lot of pass coverages thrown at them.

Quoting the famous Dennis Green, “They are who we thought they were”. Yes they are, they are a bad offensive line.

You simply can’t win in the NFL with a bad offensive line like the Bears. They will be lucky to win five more games if the line plays like this all year.

Now with Jay Cutler possibly facing missing a few games, the Bears could be in trouble. With what would seem like winnable games against Carolina, Seattle, and Washington, turn out to be games that could bury the Bears in the NFC North. That is, if Cutler can’t play.

Say Cutler can play and the Bears are at full strength for the remainder of the season. I’m not as confident as I was Tuesday morning following the Bears 20-17 win over Green Bay.

I just don’t trust this offensive line and Cutler shouldn’t either. I don’t know how it will affect Cutler. But wouldn’t you be a bit uptight knowing you cant trust your offensive line?

I wouldn’t say it’s time to panic just yet Bears fans. But if Cutler misses a few games, I wouldn’t bet on Chicago to make a playoff run.

If the Bears want a successful season in 2010, the offensive line will need to wake up and realize that it all rests on their shoulders.

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