Chicago Bears Turn the Corner Against Philadelphia Eagles, How Far Can They Go?
Published by Kelly Scaletta on November 8, 2011
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears played their best game of the season last night against the Philadelphia Eagles.
On both sides of the ball, they beat what was considered to be a superior opponent and established themselves as an elite team in the NFC.
They’ve been a gradually-improving team, and last night they showed for the first time how good they can really be. In fact, the Bears may be the one team in the NFC who can upend the Green Bay Packers and go to the Super Bowl.
There are a number of things that were positive signs and only a few negative things that were more anomalies than concerns. For the first time in forever Matt Forte fumbled the ball—twice. Devin Hester and Johnny Knox were bottled up on kick returns.
Still, the Bears were solid on the road. On both offense and defense, they outplayed the Eagles—and that is not something a lot of people saw coming.
Defense
LeSean McCoy was given all the press as being the new “best back” in the league. He was mostly held in check, gaining only 71 yards on the night.
McCoy had one 33-yard run, but with the exception of that play, he was held in check, gaining just 38 yards on his other 15 carries.
McCoy did better receiving, getting 46 yards on five receptions, but all in all you’ll take that with a back like McCoy, especially when you consider that McCoy far and away did the most damage by any of the Eagles.
It was maybe the best the Bears have looked on defense all season.
They were aggressive, hard hitting, closing on the ball, wrapping up tackles and all of those things we’ve come to expect to see from a Bears defense. The team that entered the week as the league’s leading offense in terms of yards was otherwise shut down.
Michael Vick was held to 213 yards through the air and 34 on the ground, and DeSean Jackson had only two catches for 16 yards. It was, all things considered, an outstanding defensive performance. It was arguably the Bears’ best defensive performance of the year.
More importantly, it was the type of defensive performance that portends to more to come. The types of things that we saw are things that can be sustained.
The Bears were able to sustain pressure with a four-man rush. That allowed the corners to stay on top of the Eagles’ vaunted receiving corps. The Bears were able to keep an elite offense in check.
The 24 points they surrendered is a bit deceiving in terms of big picture. One touchdown came on the first Forte recovery. Another came on a short field from the other recovery and on the big McCoy run. In reality, the Eagles only had one sustained touchdown drive, which for an offense of that caliber is eye-opening.
Matt Forte
Fumbles aside, this was another great game by Forte. He had another 150 scrimmage yards, 133 on the ground. Forte is getting a lot of media attention for not getting paid, but he’s having a historic season—and that is not an overstatement.
After eight games, Forte has 1,241 yards from scrimmage, which is just off the pace to break Chris Johnson’s single-season record of 2,509. Forte’s total is the eighth-most in NFL history through eight games.
When a player fumbles twice in a game, it would normally be disconcerting. When those are the only two fumbles in the course of a year, though, you’re less inclined to give it much thought.
All things considered, right now (apart from Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers) there’s no one that stands above Forte in the chase for the MVP.
In a lot of ways, Jay Cutler is an excellent “poster boy” for the Chicago Bears.
Lovie Smith is right in terms of his assessment of the perception of the Bears not getting the respect they deserve. Probably no Bear has received more criticism than Cutler.
Cutler had his third good game in four weeks. He’s not Aaron Rodgers, but he’s certainly playing well.
His quarterback rating over the last four games in 93.29. He’s only thrown two picks. He has six touchdown passes. Most importantly, he has the Bears winning games.
Cutler has been improving steadily in a lot of ways, and he’s not getting enough attention for the good things he does. There was only really one questionable decision that he made in the game. He’s getting that extra fraction of a second, and that seems to be making a difference.
In the last three weeks, he has only been sacked three times. Last night he wasn’t sacked at all. Over the first five games, he was sacked 18 times.
It’s not hard to correlate that with the reduction in forced decisions, turnovers and the like. The extra time seems to be having a real effect on his play.
It’s also helping to see Earl Bennett, his former college teammate, back in action.
Bennett had five catches for 95 yards and a touchdown. It wasn’t just Bennett, though. Cutler completed passes to nine different receivers. That’s indicative of a quarterback who has time and is checking through his progressions.
Cutler is looking more and more like a quarterback who is stepping up to the next level and not just a quarterback who had a good game. Cutler has arrived.
The Offensive Line
I know I just said these two things, but Forte had 133 yards rushing and Jay Cutler wasn’t sacked at all. The offensive line has improved tremendously.
They opened up some huge holes for Forte to run through. They also provided outstanding protection for Cutler. It wasn’t just that they weren’t giving up sacks—they were providing space for Cutler to step into his throws.
They were better.
Provided the offensive line can continue the improved play they’ve shown over the last month, the Bears have to be considered one of the better teams in the NFC.
The offensive line is allowing the Bears to bring a balanced attack on offense.
They ran 32 passing plays and 34 rushing plays last night. They gained 208 yards through the air and 164 on the ground. That’s the kind of balance that keeps winning games.
Going Forward
The most encouraging thing about this game is that it did not have the look or feel of a game where the Bears played over their heads. It was more like a game where they were settling into their identity and finding out how good they really are.
Who they are is a really good football team that is solid throughout. Their line has improved to the point of being decent. Their passing game is good. Their running game is excellent.
Their defense is back to being an elite-level defense. Between Julius Peppers, Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs, they have a trio that can compete with anyone this side of Baltimore.
Their special teams were a little off last night, but that has been the most dependable part of the team for the last several years.
The Packers may have the better passing game. The same goes for New Orleans, and maybe the Giants. The Bears have the most balanced team in the NFC, though, and that could be enough to put them into the Super Bowl.
If the Bears continue the kind of traction they’ve been attaining the last month of the season, they just might be the team that sneaks in and wins it all.
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