Bears Blitz

Published by Derek Crouse on December 21, 2010
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears

While the Chicago Bears clinched the division on Monday night against the Minnesota Vikings, many fans are saying that Chicago had an easy road to the playoffs. At the start of the season, many experts had the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers as perennial Super Bowl contenders, let alone atop the NFC North division. The Bears were considered a team that was in a building mode, vying for a wildcard playoff birth.

Early in the year, Green Bay’s passing game and the endless drama in Minnesota grabbed the national headlines, while the Bears were picking up wins by close scores against middle of the road teams. Week 1 against Detroit could have been a defeat if the receiver catching a ball wasn’t such a “process.”

The Calvin Johnson play added a much needed win in the parity filled NFC.

The national media almost buried the Bears when Jay Cutler became in human piñata in the game against the New York Giants. The offensive line really showed its true colors against a real strong front four.

What scares some fans are the losses the Bears took against the Seattle Seahawks and the Washington Redskins. Even though the games were only decided by three points, the premier teams need to put teams away to establish their reputation.

When Cutler was taking big hits from the Seahawk’s secondary blitzes over and over without the offensive line ever adjusting, it was a sign that something had to turn for Chicago. In the loss against the Redskins, DeAngelo Hall ball hawked Jay Cutler with four interceptions. Those two games alone show some of the flaws that the Bears will have to deal with in January.

Jay Cutler has one of the biggest arms in the league and is always willing to put the ball into tight windows. That will get wins in tight games or could prove disastrous late in a fourth quarter run. Having Mike Martz calling deep slants and Cutler gambling on 3rd and longs could prove fruitful or fatal against top tier teams. Numerous times he has had to get the ball out quickly from defensive pressure, so the offensive line should take some of the credit for the turnovers as well.

Since the bye week, the Bears have lost one game. The Minnesota Vikings have only won five games and the Packers have eight wins. The Vikings have had injuries at the offensive line and secondary.

Brett Favre has shown his age and not having a healthy Sidney Rice gives them even less firepower. While the Vikings do have talent, many of the key pieces are getting older and the division wasn’t ever in their grasp.

Aaron Rodgers put the Packers on his back, but he has suffered concussions that cost them valuable wins.

Losing Ryan Grant in the very first game took a viable running back and successful screen game away. The Packers threw the ball all over the field, with Aaron Rodger putting up 3,289 passing yards in only 13 games! They were beat by quality teams like the Patriots and Falcons, but also lost to the Redskins, Dolphins, Lions, and Browns. The dice were rolled in August and the Packers didn’t have luck in their favor.

While the Bears are in the playoffs with the second best record currently in the NFC, will they take the hand-outs given by the Packers and Vikings?

The defense has shown that they will let teams dink and dunk them to death and the offensive line still has questions. The Atlanta Falcons could easily use their scheme effectively to defeat the Bears in the NFC Championship game if that was to occur. Bear fans have to be hopeful that the team that came back after the bye will just keep improving every week en route to playoff glory.

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