The Hangover

Well I guess we know why the Bears were hot to reunite with Kyle Orton this week. In a game where both teams were missing not just key players, but dynamic superstars as well, the Chicago Bears lost to the Oakland Raiders 25-20.

Both teams had plenty of chances to run away with the victory. The Raiders left plenty of points on the field, as their offense had no trouble moving the ball on the Bears from 20 to the 20. The Bears also had red-zone problems, particularly late in the first half with the Bears driving deep in Oakland territory down 9-7. Caleb Hanie threw an ill-advised passed which was intercepted and returned by the Raiders. Were it not for an unbelievable chase down by Lance Louis, it more than likely would have resulted in a Raiders touchdown.

Anyway, it was a winnable game for both teams, and unfortunately there are no moral victories. Here's what I (drunkenly) witnessed :

Offense : In the interest of fairness, I expected a lot worse than I got from Caleb Hanie. Don't get me wrong, Hanie still came through with some "WTF are you looking at?!" throws, but he made some passes that actually looked decent. Hanie also surprised me by displaying some nice scrambling ability. Unfortunately the game still came down to him, and he blew it, plain and simple.

While Matt Forte didn't have one of his better days, (at one point it looked like he was benched again), the Bears running attack produced 122 yards on 22 total carries (discounting Hanie scrambles). Forte also hauled in 6 passes from Hanie as well, but they didn't really add up to much. The Bears needed to produce more rushing yards than they did, particularly against one of the worst rushing defenses in the NFL. The Bears lack of explosive runs forced the Bears to rely on Hanie to make plays.

In terms of the forensics of Hanie's performance, we all saw the three hideous interceptions he threw. His 254 passing yards were padded by an 81 yard prayer to Johnny Knox. Hanie did throw 2 touchdowns, but his accuracy isn't there on a consistent enough basis to leave any Bears fan with any hope for him to get better.

Defense : Bend but don't break essentially. Carson Palmer has historically shredded Lovie Smith-coached defenses over the years. A point reflected in the fact that despite Palmer playing in his fourth "preseason" game since coming off the couch, still threw for 301 yards.

Still, the defense played well enough to win. They were stout against the run, limiting Raiders running back Michael Bush (by cracky!) to 69 yards on 24 carries. They generated a good pass rush in the first half sacking Palmer 4 times, 2 by Julius Peppers alone. Even though the Bears didn't generate as many turnovers as they wanted to, the secondary also got a key interception by Corey Graham.

It would have been nice however, if the Bears decided to cover Marcel Reece, as he had 5 catches for 92 yards. The defense even let the corpse known as Darrius Heyward-Bey have 4 catches for 42 yards, as Palmer threw to 7 different receivers on the day.

Despite not doing as much as they needed to, bend but don't break...

Special Teams : A mixed bag in many respects. Devin Hester got grounded by the lead foot of Shane Lechler. On a personal note, an 80 yard punt is a lot of fun to witness. On the other hand, Robbie Gould kicked a 53 yard field goal, and accounted for 8 points on the day.

Where Do We Go From Here? : The 4-7 Kansas City Chiefs are coming to Soldier Field. Ron Jawarski's favorite quarterback Tyler Palko might be under center, then again it might be Orton.

Either way, the Chiefs aren't very good. They have an awful run defense, as well as an inept offense. The problem is, it's impossible to know what the Bears are going to do? They have to be able to run the ball down their throats, just like they had to against the Raiders.

Will they be able to get the ground game going against the Chiefs? In my view, the Bears don't have a choice. If Hanie has to throw the ball more than 25 times again, it will be a bad day for the Bears.

Please get healthy soon Jay...

Gaines Adams

Usually when the Bears win or lose, I offer up a summary of what I saw. Only rarely do I deviate from my hack observations and evaluations, but today has provided an opportunity to do so, and I'm taking advantage.

Yes the Chicago Bears won their 5th game in a row over the San Diego Chargers 31-20, but that is not what people will be talking about. People won't concern themselves with the fact that the Bears defense failed to stop Vincent Jackson, or generate any pass rush. Bear fans won't be celebrating the fact that the Bears offense rebounded in a major way from last week. We all know what the main area of concern is, and that is the condition of the right thumb of Jay Cutler.

Early reports indicate that Jay Cutler has broken his thumb, it requires surgery, and he will be out 6-8 weeks. Everyone suspects it happened during the return on the interception he threw. Everyone is wondering whether or not he will be back in time for the playoffs, assuming the Bears will even be alive at that time.

First things first, I don't want to hear any retard suggesting that Cutler did this to himself by throwing the pick. I don't want to hear any MJD Parrots of "Dis Jay Cutler aint tough enough! He's gotta play wit da broken thumb because he of da money he makes!" or "I told ya he's not a leader! A leader would play with a broken thumb like dat rapist Ben Roth-el-sumthin!" Just shut your ass! Your kind isn't welcome in Whitey Guccionne's Establishment.

With that out of the way, lets focus on what's important. The important thing is determining the severity of Cutler's injured thumb. If we assume the worst is true, and that he actually does need surgery requiring 6-8 weeks of recovery time, that's the length of the rest of the regular season. It's been speculated a 3-3 split record would be enough to get into the playoffs. I don't think that would be enough to get in.

New Orleans is 7-3, Atlanta is 6-4, Cowboys are 6-4, Giants are 6-4, Detroit is 7-3, and the Bears are 7-3. That's a pretty crowded playoff picture even WITH a healthy Cutler. Call me crazy, but I'm pretty convinced that Caleb Damn Hanie is not good enough to get a 3-3 split. Even if he were, considering the records of the teams above, it wouldn't matter anyway.

Does that mean the season is over? On the surface it would appear so, however....I just can't shake the feeling that Cutler is going to try and tough this out. I know everyone is saying he won't. I know everyone is guaranteeing he's done for the regular season. I understand all of it, and it may very well be the case.

My own overly optimistic projections aside, if we go with what we're being told, I officially declare this Bears season : "over". That, along with the combination of Cutler was unjustly crucified for "not being tough enough" last season, leads me to believe that Cutler will try to play the rest of the way.

I've been wrong before, and I'll more than likely be wrong with this prediction. Still if I'm either Jay Cutler or the Bears, I really don't have a choice.

Rock Fight

I've often been accused of being too negative about things. I'm confident I'll be accused of it again after this post. While most people will choose to focus on the thuggish play of the Lions and the ensuing fight that took place, I feel the way that I feel, and at this moment I feel the Chicago Bears got away with a win over the Detroit Lions today, when they should have lost.

I mentioned it to a couple of people throughout the game : thank goodness that fight happened because it took my mind off of how poor the offense played. I understand that it's impossible to be perfect week in and week out in today's NFL. I also understand that Detroit, despite exposing themselves as nothing but dirty cheap-shot artists that try to injure rather than defeat opponents, still has some very talented football players on their team. I also understand the lesson Bill Parcells taught us that "you are what your record is".

With all that said, the Bears cannot continue to rely on superb Special Teams and opportunistic Defensive performances if they wish to reach the Super Bowl. Here's what I had a problem with :

Offense : The main source of my consternation involves the dramatic step back this unit took today. The Detroit Lions front 7 absolutely blew up the Bears pull-blocking based running scheme the entire game. The Lions spent plenty of time in the Bears backfield on passing situations as well, as Jay Cutler was hurried all game. As we know, when Jay feels pressure, most of the time he plays really, really stupidly. Today's game was no exception.

The stats reflected the offensive impotence as Cutler was 9 of 19 for a paltry 123 yards and no TD's. Mister "Pay Me" Matt Forte, was a pedestrian 18 carries for 64 yards 40 of which were gained on one play. Only one offensive touchdown happened on the day, and it was a 6 yard run by Forte early in the first quarter. Other than that, there were occasional fumbles combined with a whole bunch of "3 & outs".

Earlier in the week Mike Tice had warned us that the Offensive Line was far from where it needs to be, and the Lions proved Tice's assessment was correct. Too many times it seemed that the Lions front four were playing on field turf, while the Bears linemen were playing on mud. The O-Line needs to be doing their jobs quicker, and with more aggression than today's performance if they're going to go anywhere.

Defense : On the surface, it would appear that this unit was the very definition of dominant. In many respects that is true. Julius Peppers continues to show how versatile and vital he is to the defense's success. His early forced fumble on Calvin Johnson paved the way for the Bears first touchdown on the day. Peppers also spent a lot of time lined up at the 3-technique and got great penetration through the A-gap all day, while adding an extra dimension to the line stunts the Bears like to use. The most amazing part of Peppers play, was that he's doing it on one leg! I'm of the opinion that his knee is more injured than he and the Bears are letting on.

Henry Melton and Anthony Adams also played well on the defensive line while Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs played even more aggressive than usual to fall in line with the overall chippiness of the game. The secondary had a notable day as well with 3 picks on the day, 2 of which were "Pick 6's".

I'm not fooled by this performance however, and neither should you. It was obvious the Bears took advantage of Matthew Stafford's injured right hand. Stafford was oddly inaccurate and sailed a lot of wobbly passes that I know for a fact he normally connects on. Not to mention there were plenty of open receivers, many of which dropped a lot of balls they normally catch.

Despite those factors however, the Lions still had little trouble moving the ball on the Bears. Not convinced? How about the fact that the Bears STILL gave up 393 yards to the Lions on the day? How about the 4.2 yards per carry the Lions averaged on the ground? How about Nate Burleson having 8 catches for 83 yards? Calvin Johnson having 7 for 81 yards? How about 7 different Lions receivers having receptions on the day?

In my odd football world, those numbers are not reflective of a dominant performance by the defense.

Special Teams : No complaints here. Devin Hester continued to add to his NFL Record total of Returns for Touchdowns. Gould missed a field goal, but made three others while having several touchbacks on the day. Dave Toub's unit picked up the slack in the  points department for the offense.

Where Do We Go From Here?: For as much as I'm bitching, the Bears have won four in a row. They are now tied for second place in the NFC North at 6-3. If the playoffs started today, the Bears would be a #6 seed against the #3 New Orleans Saints.

1 month ago, the Bears were 2-3 and looking very much out of the playoff picture. They needed to win the next four games, and they've done so. In that respect, I'm very impressed and I give them all the credit in the world.

My issue however, is that the way the NFL is set up in 2011, you must pass the ball to win in January/February. The rule changes alone, dictate the importance of the passing game. Anybody who tells you differently, is not living in this century. If you look at any of the past ten Super Bowl winners, you will largely see Hall Of Fame caliber Quarterbacks hoisting the Lombardi Trophy (Rodgers, Manning, Brees, Brady, etc).

Today's game showed that the Bears passing game, largely the pass protection, is still a work in progress, after showing promise the last three games. I'm confident they can adjust starting next week against the San Diego Chargers.

Still, these types of offensive performances cannot stand, and must never be repeated again.

Monster

It’s over Jerry Sandusky. It’s over Joe Paterno. It’s over Penn State University. It’s all over. You are all finished. You are guilty of something way beyond a sports scandal, or a college football scandal, or anything we’ve seen in the past. Not only are you guilty of committing one of the most sickly acts a human being is capable of, but you are also guilty of allowing it to continue when you could/should have stopped it.

In case you’ve been enjoying a vacation on the planet Mars the past 72 hours, you have no doubt heard that longtime former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky has been charged by a Grand Jury on 40 counts, all centering around his rape and sexual assault of young boys ranging in ages of 8-14.

Hopefully, you have read the actual Grand Jury Finding Report, rather than just some of the websites devoted to the scandal. If not you can read it here, but I must warn you it is very graphic and tough to read. It took me a couple of attempts before I finally got through it all.

As someone who considers himself a largely cynical person who tries to avoid hyperbole and overreaction as much as possible, I still come away with a feeling that this is completely unforgiveable. Jerry Sandusky was a Monster, plain and simple. He used his position with Penn State Football to set up a charity called “Second Mile” which provided a pipeline of young boys to become victims of Sandusky’s demented and criminal sexual desires. As I type this, the current number of victims that have come forward now stands at 20, up from the original 8 in the Grand Jury Report. I have a feeling more victims will follow shortly, as Sandusky had access to these boys since 1977-when Second Mile was founded.

Sandusky is the kind of person that vigilante justice was invented for. He deserves to experience every possible definition of the words “pain”, “suffering” and “anguish”. Sandusky is the reason parents stay up at night worrying where their kids are. He is the reason we are instructed to not trust strangers. He is also the reason innocent young boys had their lives shattered before they even truly began as he fondled, assaulted and raped them for goodness knows how long. In short, Sandusky is an absolute SONOFABITCH of the lowest order. Death is almost too good for him, and he deserves to spend the rest of his remaining life in prison.

Unfortunately and tragically, I should have been writing this in 2002 versus 2011. 2002 is when Sandusky was caught by graduate assistant Mike McQueary, raping a 10 year old boy in the Penn State Locker Room Shower,  Did McQueary call the police when he caught Sandusky?  Did he find the nearest blunt object he could grab and put a stop to what Sandusky was doing immediately? Nope, McQueary instead called his dad. Then McQueary met with “Saint Joe” himself, Joe Paterno, to ostensibly discuss what should be done about the situation.

Did Paterno immediately release Sandusky from his emeritus status and ban him from all Penn State facilities? No. Did Paterno call the police and try to contact the boy immediately? No. Instead Paterno, the “living legend” of college football who has made an entire image and career out of standing for integrity, did the BARE MINIMUM of what he was legally required to do, and informed his Athletic Director Tim Curley of the incident.

Obviously as we now know, there was ZERO contact with the police, and nothing happened to Sandusky. He kept his emeritus status with Penn State. He still has his office in the locker room, and was seen working out in Penn State’s facilities as recently as LAST WEEK. As for Athletic Director Tim Curley and his assistant Gary Schultz, they’ve stepped down from their positions with Penn State this week, as they are now charged with lying to a grand jury in their ridiculous attempt to cover up for Sandusky.

With everything that has happened, and is continuing to happen here is my bottom line.  Penn State deserves The Death Penalty. This isn’t SMU paying kids to play football. This isn’t Ohio State and USC with their “lack of institutional control”. This isn’t Notre Dame putting Declan Sullivan in harms’ way. This is the RAPE of CHILDREN taking place by Penn State staff at PENN STATE’S ATHLETIC FACILITIES!

Not only that, Penn State KNEW ABOUT what Sandusky was doing and did NOTHING to stop it. NOTHING. Mike McQueary knew it. Joe Paterno knew it. Tim Curley knew it, and Gary Schultz knew it. I don’t know about you, but I believe the NCAA should take exception to children being raped in the facilities of a major NCAA program, while the very administers of the program fail to notify the authorities. If you believe the NCAA has any conscience, you will agree that they need to act swiftly and immediately by blowing up the Penn State Football program and starting it over again from scratch two years later.

If anyone who has a problem with that punishment, I’d like to remind them that they should remember that their precious football program and its’ old fart, hypocritical legendary coach are responsible for raping and molesting boys. No record amount of wins will override this, and there is nothing more pathetic than someone defending a head coach that allowed this to continue versus showing vitriol at what was done to these young boys.

We may never know how many victims Penn State/Curley/Paterno could have spared had they acted correctly, or with any sense of DECENCY, when they first knew about Sandusky’s rape. All we know for sure is that they failed to use that supposed integrity they are so eager to flout to anyone who listens.

“May no act of ours bring shame”.  Not only are they bringing shame, but currently 40 criminal counts with more on the horizon.

"Dream Team" This!

How's a come-from-behind win on the road sound? That's what happened on Monday Night's nail-biting win for the Chicago Bears over the Philadelphia Eagles. Both teams are already fighting for their playoff lives at the midway point, and the Bears scored a crucial win to up their record to 5-3 on the season. This game was vintage Lovie Smith in terms of it being far from perfect, but with an effective result. The main cause of victory as I saw it, centered around both the Bears' offensive and defensive lines performing exceptionally. Here's the rest of what I saw :

Offense : It's hard to really summarize this groups effort tonight. Overall, they played well, but the few mistakes they made were very costly. Matt Forte's case for not getting the contract he wanted, got a couple of dings in it tonight with two fumbles - one of which directly resulting in 7 Philadelphia points. Sure Forte ended up with 133 rushing yards on the night, but not before being benched for a while after his second fumble. Hopefully Matt starts to realize that fumbling is not an option when pissing and moaning about getting "only" a $14 million in guaranteed money contract offer from the Bears - which he rejected.

Jay Cutler was his usual blend of brilliant and maddening. Cutler certainly took advantage of the time his offensive line provided, and despite a couple of wide open drops from Roy Williams and "Doe-Eyed" Dane Sanzenbacher, hit 9 different receivers on the night. Cutler will never be confused with Aaron Rodgers, but there's no denying his ability anymore. Anybody who still thinks he sucks, clearly isn't paying attention, and anyone who still treats him like he's an axe-murderer is clearly overstating things.

It can't be overstated however, the huge lift Earl Bennett gave the Bears tonight. Playing in his first game back since New Orleans, Bennett hauled in 5 receptions for 95 yards, including the go ahead TD catch late in the 4th quarter. Bennett's touchdown is significant because it was not the play that was called from the booth. Cutler and Bennett checked each other at the line and each knew the fade was on despite the huddle call. That tells me that no matter what happens the rest of the way, come next season Mike Martz is out of a job.

None of tonight's performance happens without the play of the Offensive Line. They get a game ball. Despite hearing all the worry about the Eagles "Wide 9" technique, they still didn't allow any Eagle sacks of Jay Cutler. The line also displayed their Power O blocking scheme, and are getting much better at pulling their guards on both sides of the line of scrimmage, while opening up bigger holes for Forte and an emerging Marion Barber. This unit has showed continuing improvement in the past three games, especially with the odd combo of Chris Spencer at right guard, and Lance Louis at right tackle. It's gotten to the point, where rookie first round pick Gabe Carimi might find himself not starting when he's fully healthy...

Defense : You heard it all week long. Julius Peppers, Henry Melton, and the rest of the line had to show up for this game, and they did. Peppers, while tweaking that gimpy knee he's had all season, got back on the field and was incredibly disruptive.

Most importantly though, Peppers finally wasn't a one-man gang as Melton, Amobe Okoye, and Izzy Idonije got great push up front, while showing excellent contain and pursuit. Lance Briggs and Brian Urlacher also played outstanding, as they continued their career excellence against Michael Vick aka Ron Mexico.

Even though the front 7 got gashed by LeShon McCoy a couple of different times, the unit did what they needed to do in limiting a vaunted Philly offense while generating a key turnover in the second quarter.

Special Teams : The return game never got going, as Philly didn't allow the Bears to set up their blocking the entire game. They also got away with not being prepared for a fake punt, which if the Eagles punter Chas Henry didn't throw like a girl, probably would have gone for a touchdown.

Still Robbie Gould was excellent, particularly when he nailed a 51 yard field goal in the first half. For as much as I didn't think Robbie was anything special when he first joined the Bears, he really has blossomed into a legit NFL Kicker. I give him all the credit in the world for working as hard as he has.

Where Do We Go From Here : As I mentioned earlier, this was a huge win for the Bears and their playoff chances. Next week is an even bigger test, as they have a rematch against the resurgent Detroit Lions. A win against Detroit puts the Bears in a tie with the Lions for second place in the NFC North.

Can the Bears do it? It will still depend on the play of both lines, of course, but there's something else that's starting to really bother me and that's the play calling of Mike Martz in short yardage situations. Something really needs to be done about this, as there have been at least three different games now, where Martz tries to be too cute around the goal line, calling plays that have little to no chance of success i.e. throwing a play action fake to a double covered Kellen Davis on 3rd & 1, near the end zone. It makes me long for the Gary Crowton-style wide receiver screens we saw so much of a generation ago.

Either way, it's clear to this observer that Martz is being completely phased out by the rest of the players and coaching staff, and it's with just cause. How long can we trust Martz to not be Mike Martz? He still wants to run what he wants, despite everyone else knowing that what he wants to run will get Cutler killed, aka "Mark Bulger'ed".

Despite the Bears winning three in a row, the question must still be asked, "Do you fire Martz  right now?" My answer hasn't changed, has yours?