Bears Blitz

Published by Joe Willett on September 28, 2010
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears

The Chicago Bears were able to improve their record to 3-0, and take not only the lead in the NFC North, but the lead in the NFC, as they are now the only team that is undefeated in their conference.

The win was thanks in part to the Packers making mistake after mistake, ending with 18 (EIGHTEEN) penalties for a total of 152 (ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-TWO) yards.

This has caused many Packers fans to discredit this victory for the Bears, saying that they didn’t win this game but the Packers lost it due to mental mistakes and are still, in fact, a better team.

But let me ask you a question, which team came prepared and didn’t make costly mistake after costly mistake?  The Chicago Bears.  That is why the Chicago Bears deserved this victory, they came in and did their job when the other team didn’t, and if your team isn’t ready to play without these mistakes then you don’t deserve to win that game.

Now that we have that out of the way, let’s get this recap under way.

How the Game Went Down

I would like to give a quick disclaimer that I went to the game, and haven’t been able to watch a televised version of the game so there may be a few things that I miss as I’m going off my recollection of what happened for the most part.

The Bears offensive line looked just as bad as last week as Jay Cutler found himself on the run and getting sacked, this was a problem throughout the game.

The Packers were able to jump on the scoreboard first as Aaron Rodgers began his systematic dismantling of the Bears pass defense by going 4-for-4 for 62 yards on their first drive, ending with a seven-yard touchdown pass.

After jumping out to a 10-0 lead on a Mason Crosby field goal, the Bears were looking at going into the locker room down double-digits.

They were, however, able to put together a quick drive that was helped by an outstanding throw and catch to Johnny Knox, who ended the game with 94 receiving yards, and was finished with a nine-yard touchdown throw to Greg Olsen, who also had a very good game.

The Bears were given the opportunity to tie the game in the third quarter as they were faced with a fourth-down play at the goal line, but they decided to go for it on fourth-and-one and Cutler threw a strike to Desmond Clark who let the ball fly out of his hands, leaving the Bears down 10-7 at the beginning of the fourth.

Devin Hester had been on the verge of taking a few punts back for touchdowns throughout the game, and he was given another opportunity on the first play of the fourth quarter and he capitalized, taking the punt 62 yards for a touchdown, giving the Bears their first lead of the game 14-10.

Their lead didn’t last long, though, as the Packers were able to work their way back down the field thanks to Rodgers dinking and dunking down the field, ending with him running into the end zone on a three-yard scramble, Packers up 17-14.

The Packers seemingly shut the door on the Bears chances on the first play of the drive, thanks to what appeared to be an interception by Nick Barnett, but the play was called back on a roughing the passer penalty on the Packers.

The Bears ended up driving down the field and were able to tie the game on a 25-yard field goal.

The Packers began what they were hoping would be their game-winning drive, but were stopped when Julio Jones fumbled at mid-field thanks to Brian Urlacher.  Tim Jennings was able to stay in-bounds and recover the fumble, giving the Bears the ball with good field position.

Mike McCarthy thought differently, however, and decided to challenge the call to no avail and was charged a crucial timeout.  More on this later.

After a big catch by Greg Olsen on second and 20, Cutler went for the home run to Earl Bennett but was seemingly picked off by Nick Collins.  Unfortunately for the Packers a pass interference call ended up giving the Bears back the ball on the nine-yard line.

At that point, it was just clock management and hoping the Packers wouldn’t block their field goal, which they didn’t.  Robbie Gould was able to send the game-winning kick through the uprights, giving the Bears a 20-17 victory, and putting them atop the NFC North.

Analysis

The Bears’ offense didn’t open up this game looking like the team that was able to put up big points against the Lions and Cowboys.  There was a lot of miscommunication between Cutler and the receivers, and he also spent a lot of time running for his life.

This might be largely because Chris Williams missed the game due to the injury he received at the beginning of the Bears-Cowboys game.

They were also without Devin Aromashodu, Major Wright, and Tommie Harris, meaning that they weren’t anywhere near full strength for this game.

One of the biggest issues that I have with this team is Lovie Smith.  I made that clear after Week 1 when I said Lovie shouldn’t be a head coach, and I still believe it this week.

Despite this team being 3-0, Lovie didn’t have this team ready at the start of this game at all.  Watching the offense at the beginning of the game was like watching a train wreck, nobody seemed to have any clue what they were doing out there.

If he can’t have his team ready for a prime time game against their biggest rival, I’m not sure that he should be coaching this team.

The Bears also need to work on their pass defense.

After Tony Romo threw for nearly 400 yards last week, Aaron Rodgers carved up the Bears’ D for 316 yards and a touchdown (I’m not counting the interception to Lance Briggs at the end of the first half).

They are, however, still outstanding in run defense.  The Packers got the most yards than any other team has on the ground yet against the Bears, but they only got 63 yards total on the ground.

Devin Hester is beginning to look more and more like a professional receiver, he only caught one pass for 16 yards, but he got open a few times and also made a spectacular catch in the end zone despite being out of bounds and the play not counting.

He needs to work catching routine passes, as he did drop a very easy pass that could have turned into good yards, but he is very close to becoming a legitimate every down receiver.

Johnny Knox looks like he already has the receiver position figured out, he caught four passes for 94 yards, including a great 35-yard catch in the two-minute drill where he somehow got both feet in despite a ton of momentum taking him out of bounds. Cutler needs to look his way more often.

Jay Cutler didn’t have his best game, which is very encouraging for this Bears team.  Last season, when he wasn’t having a good game, he would be a lock for five interceptions.  This season, when he isn’t having a good game, he is able to keep his interceptions to just one, although there were a few other very close calls to help him out.

One sign of maturity that I really liked was when the Bears were in the red zone and all the receivers were covered, he throws it out of the back of the end zone instead of forcing it to one of his receivers like he would have last season, something that usually ended in an interception.

Overall, I think the Bears are still surprising a lot of people, and with a winnable game against a New York Giants (1-2) team with issues, the Bears could make it 4-0 at the end of the first quarter of the season.

I’m Joe W.

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