Rather than try to overreact too much and draw conclusions after one game, it's important to remember this is indeed one game, there's plenty of season left to go, and while this win was impressive in many respects there's still plenty of room for improvement. Here's what I saw:
Offense : This group is leading the charge in terms of confusing me. They ran the ball pretty well, threw the ball even better, put 23 points on the board, and more than likely could have put 35 were it not for a couple of stalled drives. The star of the game was Matt Forte, who ran the ball for 68 yards at a 4.3 yards per carry clip, caught 5 passes for 90 yards, one of which went for a 56 yard touchdown.
Holy Crap Roy Williams is still alive?! Who knew? Leave it to Roy to actually have a good game and tweak his groin in the process. Groin injuries are pretty bad since there's nothing you can do to treat them except rest. Still, I have to give Roy credit. He caught 4 passes but three of them went for 3rd down conversions (complete with his annoying First Down gesture). Roy was 1 of 8 different receivers that caught passes from Cutler, and as a whole they did a good job running crisp routes while stretching the field.
Love him or hate him, Jay Cutler has never looked better than he does right now. Cutler showed that if he gets time, he'll pick apart any team, any defense, under any conditions, on his way to throwing for 312 yards, 69% Completion Percentage, 2 TD's and one flukish interception. Today was a glaring example of how keeping Cutler upright is of paramount importance.
Which leads me to my large area of concern, the offensive line. Looking back, I'm pretty amazed the Bears moved the ball the way they did, considering J'Marcus Webb and Gabe Carimi looked plain old-fashioned over matched at various times. Webb at one point pulled out a Conrad Dobler style Leg Whip in the second quarter, while Carimi looked like the NFL was too fast for him. The damage amounted to 5 sacks allowed. That is unacceptable, and needs to be cleaned up immediately if this team is going to compete for....(gasp)....the postseason.
Defense : Dominant. That's all there is to it really. The Bears pressured and confused Matt Ryan and the Falcons offense all day, and did so while only rushing their four d-lineman the whole time. Julius Peppers and Henry Melton each checked in with 2 sacks, while newcomer Amobi Okoye added a sack for a total of 5 team sacks. Peppers also forced a fumble that Brian Urlacher scooped up and returned for a touchdown. In case you were wondering the Bears only had more than 5 sacks in a game twice last season. Okoye really stood out to me. He was very disruptive and showed good burst from the 3 Technique spot.
Charles Tillman also had a great game today, forcing Roddy White to run inside routes, while also causing another fumble with his patented Ball Punch. And lets not forget Brian Urlacher. Brian had one of his best games as a Pro, which is saying a lot. Urlacher had an unbelievable interception early in the contest, to go along with his already mentioned fumble recovery, and ten tackles on the day. He might be 33 years old, but he can still get it done.
Special Teams : Return wise, Devin Hester couldn't really get it going, but it didn't matter. New punter Adam Podlesh was solid with a 48 yard per punt average, while stalwart Robbie Gould was perfect on the day.
Where Do We Go From Here : Another test of the Bears mettle takes place next week in the form of the New Orleans Saints. The Saints are statistically the most lethal offense in the NFL, and shouldn't be too slowed down by the absence of Marques Colston. They certainly gave the Packers defense fits on Thursday night, and will be looking to do so again.
Still, despite being on the road, the Bears have a chance to win this game. The Saints defense is very blitz happy, mainly because they're not very good everywhere else, particularly in the secondary. Also I believe the Bears defense has a good chance to slow down New Orleans, mainly because the Saints center is washed up (HINT : His name rhymes with Olin Kreutz). If the Bears can get pressure up the middle, they can disrupt the Saints offense. I believe they will be able to do that.
Then again, it's only one game the Bears have won, and as Jerry Glanville once said "NFL stands for Not For Long".
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