Chicago Bears vs. New York Giants: Friday’s Top Performers
Published by Gabe Salgado on August 25, 2012
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears
In what felt like another regular-season thriller, the Chicago Bears once again pulled out a narrow 20-17 road victory Friday night over the New York Giants behind their second-string offense, the leg of Robbie Gould and a miracle interception.
Jay Cutler went a dismal 9-of-21 for just 96 yards, but he did manage to throw the first touchdown pass of the game. However, most of the time Cutler seemed to make one bad throw after another.
You may not have been able to tell by the way the offensive line played, but Matt Forte was the Bears’ leading rusher last night. He carried the ball 10 times for 39 yards, with a long of 24. It may not have been what Bears fans were looking for, but it was much better than last week’s performance.
Craig Steltz tied for second in tackles with four and showed aggressiveness while asserting himself on run defense. For once he didn’t look stiff out there on the field.
I’m still concerned about his ability to play pass coverage, but for now he’s improved to some degree. The Bears defense didn’t do anything special, but towards the end of the game they made stops when it counted.
I was disappointed with the performances of Alshon Jeffery and Evan Rodriguez. Rodriguez had a couple of special teams tackles but didn’t do much beyond that.
Jeffery only caught one pass, but it was a fun play to watch. After that Jeffery was pretty much invisible — although he did drop a pass in the second quarter that would have given the Bears a 1st-and-goal from the Giants’ 2-yard line.
Had it not been for the second-string offense, the Bears probably would have lost this one.
After being down by 10 at halftime, the Bears banded together in the second half and made one heck of a comeback. Not something that you usually see in a preseason game.
Here are the five reasons why the Bears were able to walk out of NYC with the “W.”
