Game 5 - Bears/Packers

The Bears travelled north to the frozen tundra... nah, it was something like 80 degrees at kickoff. Lovie ran his Lambeau record to 4-0 as the Bears beat the Packers 27-20 on Football Night in America.

From the get-go, it looked like a long night in Beardom. But look who was back on the field...

Charles Tillman made his return felt in a big way by forcing two fumbles in the first half. Lest the Green Bay faithful pull a Denny Green "we let them off the hook" rant, it should be noted that on a defense that prides itself on taking away the football, Tillman is widely regarded as the best on the team in that department.

Another big contributor was Lance Briggs, who unofficially had something like 600 tackles. OK, maybe it was 16. Both of these guys missed last game - both were hurt, as a matter of fact two weeks ago vs. Dallas (as was Nathan Vasher, who sat out last night's contest).

The first half ended with the Pack throwing up some huge yardage, and a 17-7 lead. The Bears would come back, capitalizing on Urlacher's pick of Favre and the Bears finding Greg Olsen for the score. More stops and a little more offense, and McGowan gets that last pick, we kneel for the last :01 and that's that.

Good news: we're getting healthy again. Tillman and Briggs were back, hopefully we'll get Vasher in a week or two. The offense showed signs of life. Benson ran the ball hard, if not spectacularly, and held on to it. Our two tight ends showed what we all thought was possible at the beginning of the season. We've moved to 2-3 and beat the Packers.

Bad news: Darwin Walker was injured. We looked bad in the first half, and could have been down 3 scores. Archuleta still seemed like he was out of position on a couple of plays.

Bears/Boys - Game 3

Football Night in America on NBC and the Bears drop game 3 to the Cowboys by a score of 34-10.

There's not much good to say here. The play of our TEs was encouraging. We didn't miss any field goals or extra points. Benson scored a TD.

Rather than write a 10,000 word post on all the horrible things Grossman did, I'll make it really simple: everyone's got him figured out. Those great games last year? He sneaked up on people. Now defenses know: he doesn't step up, you can pressure him, and when you do he loses his vision and telegraphs passes. Or throws them into triple coverage. And yes, the offensive line shares some blame for the sacks, but the Bears had a hand on Romo easily a half a dozen times that he got away from. Rex has had something like 25 runs in his professional career - a staggering 22 of them have been taking a knee. He won't run and teams know that.

And folks, when the offense was doing its job (check out the first half time-of-possession), the Bears D shut down arguably the best offense in the league. This loss rests squarely on the shoulders of the offense. By the way, has anyone seen Cedric Benson? Last I saw him, he was scoring. I still don't understand how he goes missing in games.

So now we're off to Detroit next week. We're banged up and need a gut-check.

I think T.O. just caught another pass.

Bears/Chiefs - Game 2

So KC rolled into town this past weekend, and the Bears sent them home still winless. Final: Bears 20-10.

Highs and Lows:

Highs: From the get-go, Lance Briggs was playing out of his head. He was in on seemingly every play. The defense as a whole played strong, with the exception of a Chiefs drive right before the half that resulted in points. There was a lot of crisp hitting; again, these guys already look like they're in mid-season form. Walker and Manning stepped up in starting roles, with no noticeable drop off from the injuries of Week 1. The offense started out OK. The first half wasn't spectacular, but it also wasn't plagued by poor quarterback play (more on that in a minute). Benson ran the ball with some authority and finished with a 100-yard game. And Devin Hester, let's not forget him. What can you say about this guy? He's probably the most electrifying player in the league. And lastly, we got in the "win" column.

Lows: Well, I mentioned that drive before the half. Not pretty. Turnovers continue to be a problem. The only offensive points scored so far this year are to a reserve offensive lineman. Not good. And Grossman? When he's bad, he's horrid. Those two picks were just beyond awful. And the timing of his implosion - hanging on to a lead late in a game, when you should be trying to grind out the clock as much as possible - couldn't have come at a worse time (well, unless you consider that pick against Indy when they were only down by 5 points in a game they should have been getting blown out of because of how crappy the offense was playing. Not that I'm bitter.). What else? Oh, yeah, hopefully we get Maynard back from injury this week - watching Gould punt made me a little nervous. That's our second most valuable offensive player.

Most Valuable Bears? I'd say Hester, Briggs, and Benson. Most Likely To Get Run Out Of Town If He Keeps Turning The Ball Over? Tough call.