About
I am a multimedia nut, journalism, photography, videography, radio broadcasting and production. I’ve done it all, but I love to write and have a lot to say. I live in the Chicagoland area now and have always had an extreme love and passion for the Chicago Bears
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Written by Brett Solesky
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Monday, 28 September 2009 01:37 |
 The Bears won again, in spite of another ugly performance. It's scary to watch this team play, but they do just enough to win despite an offensive line that appears to be worse off than last year and a front four that seems to be as bad as last year. For the second consecutive week the Bears were arguably out played on both side of the ball. But the man who was brought in here to win games is doing just that. Jay Cutler helped the Bears to another fourth quarter comeback and win with a 39-yard touchdown pass to Devin Hester.
In true Lovie Smith fashion however turnovers are the difference in their two wins. This team is hard to fathom how they are 2-1 when they are four missed field goals away from being 0-3. Somehow someway the defense bends and bends and bends to it's breaking point and then snaps back into place. Snaps back just in time to keep another team out of the end zone and attempting field goals. Some how these kickers choke and miss field goals that would otherwise win them the game.
The Bears were thoroughly unimpressive for the second week in a row. The defense wasn't able to muster more than one three and out by the Seattle defense, and the Seahawks were pretty efficient in third down conversions going 7 out of 17 on the day. Some how the Bears have to figure out a way to keep teams from long winded drives and keep them from getting in position to score.
Eventually against better offense's and teams with better talent this is going to come back to bite them and hard. Right now it's hard to predict exactly where the Bears will finish. This is the nature of the NFL after week three with the league a little upside down in some respects.
However the Bears have a winning record and get the Lions at home next week. The defense will again be challenged by Calvin Johnson and the Lions' passing attack.
More over the Bears need to find a way to get Matt Forte uncorked and rolling. Forte didn't look too bad today, but never failed to achieve a rhythm as the offensive line was unable to get much of a push. When you have one weak link on the it can make the entire line look bad.
 Right now there is a major weak link in Frank Omiyale who isn't showing any improvement from week to week. Omiyale is for the most part getting pushed around as an offensive guard and it's costing the Bears valuable success in the run game. Exactly how much longer the Bears let this piss poor performance go on remains to be seen.
The Bears also gave up over 100-yards rushing today to the Seahawks for the second consecutive week without Brian Urlacher. Another little aspect the Bears need to work on given that both the Seahawks and the Steelers are not known for having strong rushing attacks. Not much further down the road and the Bears will be facing teams that are much better at running the football. They need to show the ability again to consistently stop the run.
On the positive side of things the Bears continue to get all sorts of production from the wide receivers on this team. This week it was Devin Hester's turn to shine with Hester hauling in the game winning touchdown pass. A tough catch in traffic Hester made with his hands and then avoided a tackler and sprinted into the end zone. Rookie receiver Johnny Knox hauled in another touchdown catch, his only catch on the day, but Cutler was able to spread the ball around to Hester, Bennett and Forte. Earl Bennett caught four passes for 80-yards showing some of the ability that made him the starter behind Hester. Greg Olsen got on track with five catches for 44 yards and a touchdown.
The Bears are proving they can win without Matt Forte running the ball. Forte may not need to get on track and have a huge season for the Bears to win. Then again Forte may get his chances upcoming because teams will try to do more to take away the Bears' passing game. Forte banged out some tough runs today to the tune of 22 caries for 66 yards. Not a high level of production, but efficient enough when it counted a lot of times.
On defense Lance Briggs had another big game. Turning eight tackles, a huge diving INT that put the Bears in position for a touchdown and a sack on the day. Briggs is beginning to assert himself and hopefully will start getting more production from the players around him.
Al Afalava has played great for a rookie. Afalava is playing like a stout veteran and made some very athletic plays today as well some sharp open field tackles. Afalava is definitely more than making up for the loss of Mike Brown. Once Afalava gets the defense down as much as Brown did he will likely be able to be the type of leader Brown was for the Bears.
Nick Roach and Jamar Williams both made some plays late in the game today. Both have good speed at their respective linebacker spots, making a case to possibly start ahead of Hunter Hillenmeyer because of their athleticism and speed. Hillenmeyer suffered a rib injury today and it remains to be seen exactly how serious it is. Count me as one who think he should find himself on the bench.
Overall the Bears coming out with gritty victories and making enough plays to win. They are relying Jay Cutler to win game for them which is fine with me. Cutler has stepped up to the challenge and has shown tremendous confidence and control in his ability. He was brought in to do precisely what he has done and he has made the receivers better and more productive because of it.
Ron Turner might want to consider opening up the passing game even more, although the Bears haven't quite gotten their full compliment of receivers on the field. Devin Aromashadu should get a shot in this offense to see what he can do with his size and speed.
Hopefully the Bears can improve in two key areas of play, both the offensive and defensive lines. If they can get more consistent play in the trenches they do have a shot at making the playoffs. Luckily they likely need only to go undefeated at home, and pull out one more road win to make the playoffs with 10 wins.
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