Bears Blitz

Published by Joe Willett on September 19, 2010
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears

The Chicago Bears were able to improve their record to 2-0 with an impressive win over a Dallas Cowboys team that some expected to make it to the Super Bowl this season.

By dropping to 0-2, the Cowboys are proving that a poor preseason might not be able to just magically be fixed with the start of the season, and that maybe if your team doesn’t mesh offensively throughout the preseason, there might be some issues with your team.

But this article is about the Bears, because let’s be honest, nobody cares about the Dallas Cowboys (learned that one after the Texans signed Matt Leinart).

While the Cowboys learned the value of the preseason, the Bears learned the value of an offensive line and being able to give your quarterback any sort of time to get rid of the ball.

How the Game Happened

The Bears started the game with Jay Cutler getting hit on (as far as I saw) every single play on the first two drives.  They were, however, able to put up three points to take an early 3-0 lead.

That didn’t last long, however, as the Cowboys were able to jump back to the lead a few minutes later on a 62-yard punt return by electrifying rookie Dez Bryant.

But the pendulum continued to swing back and forth as the Bears needed just three plays on the next drive, all passes by Cutler, to quickly drive down the field and score on a beautiful 39-yard catch and run by Greg Olsen (who said he wouldn’t do anything in Mike Martz’s offense).

The ‘Boys and the Bears weren’t done throwing the lead back to each other yet.  Halfway through the second quarter, the Cowboys drove back down the field on a long drive that ended in a one-yard touchdown catch by undrafted rookie Chris Gronkowski, one of three catches on the day for him.

The Bears finally took the lead for good late in the second quarter thanks to a spectacular nine-yard, one-handed catch in the back corner of the end zone by Devin Hester, which Bears fans hope is just a small preview of things to come.

Up 17-14, the Bears were able to add a field goal just before halftime and go up 20-14 at the midway point.

After pulling within three, the Cowboys seemed poised to tie the game, but replacement kicker David Buehler was unable to convert a 44-yard field goal, pulling it to the left and leaving the Bears with the lead.

The Bears were able to come back and increase their lead to 10 via Matt Forte’s third touchdown catch of the year on a perfect throw by Cutler, his third touchdown of the game.  The Cowboys were able to tack on a final field goal but were unable to convert on an onside kick with about a minute left in the game.

Analysis

The Chicago Bears seem to have fixed most of their problems from last week.  They cut down big time on penalties, only committing two for 10 yards, and they didn’t give the ball away a single time throughout the game.

They weren’t perfect, however, as they still were unable to get any sort of running game going and were only able to convert one third down on 11 attempts.

Both of these problems can be traced back to a single personnel issue, a complete lack of an offensive line.  They are going to need to improve their offensive line play big time, and a lot of that will rely on the health of left tackle Chris Williams, who left early in the game with a hamstring injury.

The rest of the team seemed to play with perfection.

Jay Cutler, despite a complete lack of any kind of protection by the offensive line, completed 21 of 29 passes for 277 yards and three touchdowns while not throwing a single interception.  Meanwhile, Tony Romo looked like last year’s version of Cutler, completing 34 of 51 passes for one touchdown and two interceptions.

Matt Forte was unable to get anything going on the ground, running for just 29 yards on 10 attempts. But like last week, he was able to get a few more yards through the air, catching five passes for 37 yards and a touchdown.

Cutler was able to spread the ball around, as four players were able to catch four or more passes.

Johnny Knox had a big game that included a 59-yard catch on a third and long play.  He ended the game with four catches for 86 yards, leading all Bears.  Devin Hester was next on the Bears for yards, catching four passes for 77 yards, including a quick screen that he took 38 yards.

Defensively, the Bears were outstanding for the second week in a row.  They only gave up 13 points (one of the touchdowns came on a punt return) and shut down the run for the second week in a row against strong running teams.

For the second strait week, the Bears were able to hold the opposing team under two yards per carry. Following last week’s domination of Jahvid Best, the Bears were able to hold the combination of Marion Barber, Felix Jones, and Tashard Choice to just 1.8 yards per carry and just 36 yards.

The Bears were just as good against the pass despite the raw statistic of 374 passing yards for Tony Romo. A lot of that came in the fourth quarter and he attempted 51 passes throughout the game.  He threw just one touchdown to two interceptions and had a quarterback rating of 78.4.

D.J. Moore had a coming out party in this game, snagging both of the aforementioned interceptions and holding Roy Williams up long enough for Charles Tillman to knock out the ball and force a fumble which was recovered by Brian Urlacher.

Urlacher had another great game as he continues to make his presence felt on a defense that seriously missed him last season, racking up eight tackles with two for a loss and another tackle for a loss which was discounted due to a holding penalty on the Cowboys.

The big story of this game, though, was the cornerbacks. 

Zack Bowman and Tillman combined for 18 tackles.  They were able to play well against the Cowboys’ duo of Miles Austin and Roy Williams, who even though were able to combine for almost 200 yards receiving, were able to do so thanks to being targeted a combined 22 times and neither were able to catch a touchdown pass.

Even though the Cowboys passing game may have left fantasy owners happy, they weren’t able to convert on scoring opportunities and were unable to get any sort of consistent attack going.

The Bears, on the other hand, looked like a team that is going to be a force in the NFC this season.  Although we are only two games into the season, the Bears were able to go up against a team that was a favorite in the NFC and come out with a decisive victory.

Next week, they will be taking on a very tough team in the Green Bay Packers who are coming off of a complete dismantling of the Buffalo Bills en route to a 34-7 victory.

Meanwhile, the Cowboys will try to begin their comeback trail after falling to 0-2 against the Houston Texans who are coming off a let down performance against the Washington Redskins.

I’m Joe W.

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