Bears Blitz

Published by Bryan Dietzler on November 19, 2010
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears

The 6-3 Chicago Bears, coming off of a big division win over the Minnesota Vikings, had a short week to prepare for the 5-4 Miami Dolphins, whom they played down in Miami. 

As has been the case for most of the season, no one gave the Bears a chance to win this game. In the end, the Bears pulled out a pretty solid 16-0 victory over the Dolphins on Thursday night football.

Chicago’s defense was very solid in this game and played an almost perfect game.  Granted, it was against a third-string quarterback, but Miami had other weapons on offense that the Bears shut down, helping them win the game. 

The offense didn’t look good sometimes. But overall, they did an outstanding job of controlling the ball and the clock using long-time, consuming drives, which has been a rarity for the Bears.

So how did the Bears win this game? 

What did they do right? What did they do wrong?

Let’s find out in this extended review of the Bears game this Thursday night against the Miami Dolphins.

Scoring Summary

The Bears scored their first points of the game in the first quarter after kicker Robbie Gould booted a 46 yarder to put the Bears up 3-0 early. 

Gould would make it 6-0 in the second quarter after kicking a 24-yard field goal.

The score at the half time was 6-0 in favor of the Bears.

Chicago would add its third and final field goal of the game in the third quarter, when Gould kicked a 50 yarder to make it 9-0. Chicago would go ahead by 16 after running back Matt Forte punched the ball into the end zone from two yards out. 

That would be the final score of the game.

Stud of the Game

There are several Bears players that had good games on Thursday night.

But the one who had the best game (and needed to have a good game) was defensive end Julius Peppers. Peppers had three sacks and a tipped pass, plus he played the run strong and really showed us that he was well worth the money that was spent on him during the offseason. 

Perhaps he has finally arrived.

Dud of the Game

Someone has to get this “honor,” right? 

So this week, and for the second week in a row, it goes to right tackle J’Marcus Webb.  Webb had four penalties on the night.

While that didn’t kill the Bears, it is troubling. 

Webb packed on the penalties in the Vikings game, so the Bears need to take a look at what he’s doing and coach him through this slump he is in before it causes real damage in a future game.

Analysis

For some reason, the Bears weren’t favored in this game. 

They should have been to start, especially after watching them play in their game on Sunday and seeing that the Dolphins were going to start a third-string quarterback and had all kinds of key injuries. It just goes to show people that no one felt that the Bears were for real and that they would be beat on the road during a short week.

All that aside, the Bears, once again, played a pretty solid game. The offense controlled the ball for a majority of the game, using a mix of rushing and passing that worked very effectively. 

They converted a ton of third downs (something that they had struggled with in the past) and limited turnovers to just one. It was another game of almost perfect football from the Bears.

The offensive game plan was simple and was nearly flawless. They rolled Cutler out to have him escape the rush, which he did successfully for the most part, and he found open receivers almost all of the time. 

Devin Hester, Johnny Knox and tight end Greg Olsen had great games. It’s nice to see Cutler spread the ball around and have the time to do it.

Running the ball wasn’t too difficult, either, and Forte had a pretty good game doing it.  The Bears also ran Chester Taylor in this game, but they still need to give him more touches. 

He’s too valuable to let sit and go unused.

The defense played virtually flawless football, collecting five sacks—three by Peppers and one interception. They didn’t allow the Dolphins to establish their running game (Miami didn’t run the ball that much) and they kept up heavy pressure on Thigpen throughout the game. 

Most of this pressure came without having to blitz any extra players (there was a sack by linebacker Brian Urlacher on one of the Bears’ few blitzes) and the front four was getting excellent pressure on their own.

The linebackers played outstanding football, as did the secondary. It was a great effort all the way around.

Special teams hit the mark as Gould kicked three field goals, including a 50 yarder, and Devin Hester had some nice returns (and one that was called back due to a penalty). 

There was a hiccup to start the game, though, as the Bears allowed a pretty nice kickoff to begin the game for Miami. Luckily, it didn’t turn into anything.

The coaching staff called a very good game as well. Both coordinators, Mike Martz on offense and Rod Marinelli on defense, did an outstanding job of taking advantage of opportunities and getting the Bears to a victory.  

Next Up

The Bears will take on the Philadelphia Eagles next week at home. 

A full preview of this game will be posted at the end of next week.

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