That might be true Jason. You might prove to be a better team as the season goes along, but NOT TODAY. By the way, anybody get the score of the Green Bay-Atlanta game? The Chicago Bears beat a red hot flavor-of-the-month Philadelphia Eagles squad today. An Eagle squad that was billed as having "the most explosive offense in the NFL". Since the Bears were featuring the number one overall ranked defense in the NFL, it was going to be an interesting mix. Here's my observations:
Offense: Ever since I gave up on him after the Redskins game, it seems Jay Cutler has taken it personally. Today he really gave me, and all the other Cutler doubter's, the middle finger with an outstanding performance. Cutler set a career high with 4 TD passes in a game while only throwing 21 times. He had a near perfect passer rating of 146.2, while chucking the ball around for 247 yards and ZERO interceptions. Matt Forte ran the ball well with 147 yards mainly fueled by a 61 yard scamper early in the game. The receivers played pretty well too, finding open spaces, getting good separation with crisp route running-taking advantage of an Eagle secondary missing it's top two corners. This mainly was evident by Earl Bennett in the redzone as he hauled in two of Cutler's four TD passes.
As for that 3rd down conversion stat....I guess it's not that vital for the Bears to win since they only converted 3-10 third downs on the day. Like every football team taking any field in any game, all of the Bears offensive success is predicated on the offensive line. While I'm inclined to agree with Peter King when he tweeted "That Bear offensive line will prevent a very strong team from being a great team", they got it done today despite some 2nd quarter hiccups, and 4 sacks allowed. They gave Cutler the time he needed overall, and they were successful in opening up enough holes for Forte, not for Chester Taylor though.
Defense : As funny as it sounds to brag about a unit that gave up 333 passing yards, 105 net rushing yards 2 passing touchdowns, two fourth down conversions and 26 points overall, here we are.
The Bears went old school and simplified everything with the Tampa 2 today. They really stuck to it's founding principles of only rushing four lineman most of the time, dropping both safeties WAY back in coverage to prevent big plays, shooting their gaps while keeping Vick in the pocket on their way to 4 sacks and 7 QB hits. That plan of attack lead to the Play Of The Game late in the second quarter at the Bears own four yard line, as the ghost of Tommie Harris deflected a Vick pass which found it's way in the arms of Chris Harris and resulted in the first interception Vick has thrown in four years. That pick, allowed the Bears to go up 21-13 at the half and resulted in a completely different complexion for the rest of the game.
Speaking of that front four, they continue to show they look playoff ready. FYI, I'm still waiting for that whole "Takes Plays Off" version of Julius Peppers to show up? That was the common lament of Carolina Panther fans during his time there, and I haven't seen a shred of that have you? Peppers racked up another sack today, while being one of a very few select defensive lineman capable of chasing down and tripping up Michael Vick when he's scrambling. That's not the best part though. The Best Part is that the Bears have found the right rotation of Henry Melton, Israel Idonije, Matt Toeaina, and Anthony Adams to compliment Peppers. It's lead to a lot of the success the defense had today, as well as their overall play throughout this season.
Special Teams : Once again Dave Toub's unit showed why they remain one of the best in the league as the kick returners gave the Bears excellent field position when called upon. Devin Hester returned one for 46 yards, while not to be outdone Danieal Manning had a 44 yard kick return. Brad Maynard managed to drop one within the Eagle ten yard line, and Robbie Gould continued his solid kicking.
Where Do We Go From Here : 8-3 is 8-3. I keep trying to remember how the Bears went 13-3 using smoke and mirrors in 2001, and promplty got exposed in the playoffs, but it's getting tougher to do that these days since this Bears team is WAY more talented. That being said the Bears keep winning games they need to win, and manage to do so in somewhat impressive fashion. The most important thing I've observed is that ever since the Bye Week, the Bears seem to be getting better as the season wears on. It also needs to be repeated that they've stayed INCREDIBLY healthy this season.
Up next lies the Detroit Lions at Ford Field. One of two more winnable games I see on the remaining schedule. If the Bears stay healthy, that offensive line holds together, and they continue to execute solidly designed game plans by the long suffering coaching staff on both sides of the ball, it should mean the Bears go to the playoffs-dare I say win the division.
Now that the Bears own a 1 game advantage over the Packers, the Impossible is becoming all the more Probable.
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