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Bears Will Go As Far As Offensive Line Will Allow Them
Written by Brett Solesky   
Monday, 12 October 2009 01:39
Frank OmiyaleAt one fourth of the way through the season and with the bye week officially behind them there really isn't a good way to measure how good the Bears are at this point.  They have been strong at times, and have looked shaky at other points throughout the young season.  The running game came alive against the Detroit with Matt Forte gaining 120-yards on 12 carries. 

But that was against Detroit and the yards came off of two major runs in the form of a 61-yard and 39-yard run respectively.  The Lions don't exactly have a stout defensive front, they're 21st in the league at stopping the run.  Overall the Bears' offensive line has failed to open up many holes at all for Matt Forte. 

The evidence through the first four games as to the running games' failures isn't hard to pin point.  The all important left side of the offensive line has been the worst side to run towards.  Orlando Pace wasn't brought here because he is still the same run blocking, pass blocking force he once was.  Pace is here because his pass blocking is good enough to be considered an upgrade over John St. Clair's blocking from last year. 

The biggest problem though has been the development of Frank Omiyale at the left guard spot.  I'm not precisely sure what the Bears were thinking when they decided to take a guy who hadn't really proven himself as a back up LT in this league, decided to pay him starter level money and then transition him to guard.  As if this type of transition would be seamless for Omiyale who has never played guard in his career.  Omiyale has struggled, mightily and most of the time doesn't look like he should be manning a spot on the 53-man roster as a guard, but the Bears continue to stick with him insisting he's going through normal growing pains. 

Orlando PaceProblem is the Bears have only faced one team with a top level defense, that team being the Steelers.  The Seahawks, Lions, and Packers all have run defenses that rate no better than 18th in the league at stopping the run.  Meaning the Bears, if they were to have had an improved rushing attack, should have had better success at running the ball against these teams.

Instead the Bears struggled to run the football for three weeks straight before finally seeing a small semblance of a rushing attack against the weak Detroit Lions. 

Now the question is can the Bears begin to turn things around and run the ball more consistently?  Among their remaining games the Bears face six teams that have defenses that rate in the Top-10 in the league at stopping the run.  The Ravens, Cardinals, Vikings (twice) Eagles and 49ers are all amongst the best in the league at slowing down an opponents run. 

Additionally talk of the Bears facing the toughest part of their schedule is a result of the opponents' record in 2008.  As 2009 shapes up it's becoming more apparent the Bears have one of the tougher roads ahead with eight games left against teams that likely will be fighting for playoff spots as the season rolls along.

Matt Forte is not an elite level RB but he is a good RB with very good talent that shouldn't be this ineffective because of offensive line play.  Forte can make an average run blocking offensive line look really good, much like he did a season ago, or he can look really bad behind a really poor offensive line, perhaps one of the worst O-Lines in the league currently. 

The drum beat for Josh Beekman will get louder and stronger if Omiyale doesn't show a strong level of improvement very quickly.  Over these next five games the Bears will face four teams that will be ready to battle for a chance to make a run at the playoffs.  The Falcons represent the toughest test the Bears have faced yet this season in the way that they are the most balanced team offense and defense the Bears have faced this season. 

Then comes the game against the improved Bengals who are now 4-1, and could just easily be at 5-0 like the Broncos were it not for the fluke ricochet that allowed the Broncos to pull off a minor miracle.  The Bengals won only four games last year and equaled that win total today. 

This next quarter of the season, taking the Bears to the halfway point of their season will really be the best measuring stick of how good our 2009 Chicago Bears team really is.  Improvement in the trenches in  helping to balance out the offense will be the key for the Bears to prove they belong amongst the teams vying for the playoffs in 2009.
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