October 5, 2009

Monday Morning Cornerback

After the 48-24 win over the Lions -- a game that was actually much more uncomfortable than the final score would indicate -- I'm left with one question*: Just how good are the Bears?

* Actually, two questions. The other: Do you think we can cancel the defense's pre-game nap? In each of the last three games, the Bears have sleepwalked (sleptwalked?) through the opponent's first possession and allowed a long touchdown drive -- against the Steelers it was a 13-play, 92-yard touchdown drive; versus the Seahawks, a 7-play, 71-yarder; and for the ultimate indignation, the Lions had an 8-play, 68-yarder. That's a ridiculous trend that has to stop. Immediately.

Well, the Bears opened by losing to the Packers, who the next week lost to the Bengals, which admittedly sounds a lot worse than it is. But the Packers' offensive line is a disaster, and last week the team struggled to beat the atrocious Rams. While we'll know more about the Pack after tonight's game in Minnesota (in a story that's been totally ignored by the mainstream media, Brett Favre and the Vikings are hosting the Packers on MNF), but for now they're a .500 team (1-1) when not playing the Bears.

The Bears beat the defending champion Steelers, but before last night, Pittsburgh's one win was over the surprisingly winless Titans. Besides that, they also lost to the Bengals, which admittedly sounds a lot worse than it is. Sure, they beat San Diego yesterday, but I'm not convinced the Chargers are very good, either. You know, Norv Turner and all.

Then the Bears (barely) knocked off the Seahawks, whose only win was against St. Louis, which might be the worst team in the league. And finally, they beat the Lions this week. The Lions have now lost 20 of their last 21 games, with the one win coming against the Redskins, who I think are much godawfuller than their 2-2 record would indicate; their two wins were by a combined five points over a pair of winless teams, the Rams and Buccaneers.**

** Jesus Christ, has anyone played an easier schedule than Washington? Sure, they opened in New York against the Giants -- who have actually played a similarly easy sked -- but then they got the Rams and Bucs at home sandwiched around a trip to Detroit. And somehow their next two games are against two more winless teams, the Panthers and Chiefs. I'm guessing they'll lose to the Panthers, but they could wind up at 4-2 while simultaneously being one of the five worst teams in the league.

So in short, I have no idea how good the Bears are. I don't think they're one of the best teams in the league (more on that later in the week), but they are doing enough to win games, and look to be a second-tier playoff team. But at this point, I'll take any playoff bid whatsoever, and I'll certainly take 3-1 going into the bye week.

A couple of other notes about the game:

1. I was praying that the Lions wouldn't throw the challenge flag on Johnny Knox' 102-yard kickoff return, yelling at the TV, "Kick the extra point! Kick the extra point!" because it looked to me like he pulled a DeSean Jackson and started his celebration at the 101-yard mark. Luckily, no one on the Detroit sideline seemed to notice.

2. After the offense stalled at the 2-yard line following Tommie Harris' second-quarter interception, I loved the call to accept the Lions' 4th-down penalty, take the three points off the board, and go for it on 4th-and-goal from the 1. Loved the play even more: coming out jumbo (three tight ends, two backs, no receivers) and going play action. The perfect call -- unlike Ron Turner's typical fullback dive / empty backfield bullshit in that situation -- and it resulted in a 1-yard TD pass to Greg Olsen for a 21-14 lead.

3. Adewale Ogunleye was an absolute beast. Of course I was playing against him in my IDP fantasy league.

4. The Bears better not take the Lions lightly when they visit Detroit. While the scoreboard said 24-point win, the Lions were actually in the game until very late; trailing 34-21 in the fourth quarter, Detroit had a 2nd-and-5 at the Bears' 6 before the drive stalled out (thanks largely to the Ogunleye sack that injured Matthew Stafford) and the Lions had to settle for a field goal. Had they been able to punch it in, they would've cut the lead to less than a touchdown and put a whole lot of pressure on the Bears. Instead, the Bears got a nice kickoff return from Danieal Manning, and Matt Forte broke off his 37-yard touchdown run four plays later to ice the game. But it certainly wasn't easy, and if they just expect the Lions to roll when they go up to Detroit to end the regular season, they're going to come home with a loss.

1 comment:

  1. LAKE FOREST, Ill. – Bears defensive end Mark Anderson was surprised when coaches asked him to rush the quarterback from the defensive tackle position last week in practice.9/18/2009

    Hows about doing something at 6-4 255 lbs. Surprised! F****** moron do something!! Ever heard of any pass rush. I wish I had a warm fussy feeling after Sundays game but, I didn't.

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