I am Mr. Mixed Emotions. The Bears lost a tough game in Seattle 30-23.
The hard part about this one is that they never really seemed out of it. They were close, even until the end.
The offense played pretty well on the road in front of a noisy crowd. Well, let's make an exception: Fred Miller. Other than him, they seemed to play well. I still can't understand why Benson went missing in this game. Keep giving him the ball when he's running like he did early on.
The defense didn't get the job done, but I didn't think they played terribly. Hasselbeck is a great quarterback and Seattle has excellent receivers. Holmgren, well, what can you say? This one hurts, because it showed that the Bears are close to being able to play good teams on the road - but the weak spot was the defense.
Showing posts with label Defense. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Defense. Show all posts
Monday, November 19, 2007
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Bears/Queens - Game 6
Trouble, baby.
I'm glad I waited a while before posting this, as I think I have some decent perspective now.
The Bears played like crap for nearly 4 quarters. They turned the ball over 4 times - unacceptable for a veteran team coached by a guy who preaches turnovers and ball control. They were utterly gashed by the Vikes on the ground - again, unacceptable for a team that played in the Super Bowl last year (guess who watched tape of the first Green Bay drive from the week before?). Dear Bears: Fix the turnover problem. Fix the run defense.
But, there was some good. Devin Hester, you are out of your mind. On the Fox postgame show Jimmy nailed it right, on, the, head. He said that the most valuable guy on a football team is the talent evaluator. Talent wins football games. There's no coaching that can turn Bobby Wade into Devin Hester. There's no coaching that can turn - sorry Bears fans - Cedric Benson into Adrian Peterson (the Vikes, not ours).
But he can be good, if not great. The problems can be fixed. Another free bit of advice for the Bears? Tell Benson that he's got two, maybe three games. He's going to get all the carries, every down, every series. He either stands up like a man and lives up to his "special" tag or he's gone. Enough of this third down BS and enough coddling what should be a professional doing his J-O-B.
P.S. Hey, Turner? Run that go route to Hester, like, five times a game.
I'm glad I waited a while before posting this, as I think I have some decent perspective now.
The Bears played like crap for nearly 4 quarters. They turned the ball over 4 times - unacceptable for a veteran team coached by a guy who preaches turnovers and ball control. They were utterly gashed by the Vikes on the ground - again, unacceptable for a team that played in the Super Bowl last year (guess who watched tape of the first Green Bay drive from the week before?). Dear Bears: Fix the turnover problem. Fix the run defense.
But, there was some good. Devin Hester, you are out of your mind. On the Fox postgame show Jimmy nailed it right, on, the, head. He said that the most valuable guy on a football team is the talent evaluator. Talent wins football games. There's no coaching that can turn Bobby Wade into Devin Hester. There's no coaching that can turn - sorry Bears fans - Cedric Benson into Adrian Peterson (the Vikes, not ours).
But he can be good, if not great. The problems can be fixed. Another free bit of advice for the Bears? Tell Benson that he's got two, maybe three games. He's going to get all the carries, every down, every series. He either stands up like a man and lives up to his "special" tag or he's gone. Enough of this third down BS and enough coddling what should be a professional doing his J-O-B.
P.S. Hey, Turner? Run that go route to Hester, like, five times a game.
Monday, October 8, 2007
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.
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.
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Defense
It's been quite a Jekyll & Hyde 4 games for our defense - absolutely dominant in the first 3 quarters of a game, and absolutely terrible in the 4th quarter.
While I think their performance is somewhat lacking, I can't hold them as closely to the fire as I do the offense. I actually think Babich has done a great job calling this defense, he's been much more creative and strategic in his calls than Rivera ever was.
But the combination of injuries, lack of secondary depth, and too much time on the field have led to poor performances late in the games by the defense. While some argue that defense can 'make its own rest' by making stops & getting off the field, it is imperative that the ofense is bale to hold onto the ball, move the ball, and score some points for any defense to have sustainable success. Playing 35-40 minutes in a game DOES wear out even the most well-conditioned defense, and fatigue compounds the possibility of injury for the members of that defense.
I think the D has done a dcent job considering the injuries & the amount of time they have spent on the field, and I am confident that the returns of Briggs, Tillman, Vasher, and Tommie Harris (who only played as a situational rusher against Detroit) will right the D's ship.
It would be easy to go off on Jerry Angelo for trading away Dante Wesley & Chris Harris, both of whom would provide some much needed relief in the secondary right about now, but I still think he made the right football decision. We had a surplus of guys in those positions at the time, we had no indication that guys would get hurt to the extent they have (Mike Brown excluded), and Harris & Wesley were the 2 guys who were not locked up for the long term, and for whom we could get something of value in return. I do think that our DB coach has a very important role throughout the rest of this year and before the 2008 season begins...to develop all these young draft picks into serviceable DBs. Kevin Payne at safety, and McBride & Graham at CB, are going to be our secondary depth/special teams guys for the next 2-3 years by virtue of their draft standing (and possibly potential starter for Payne), so it is imperative that these guys are brought up to speed ASAP so we don't see such a hug drop-off in the event of future injuries to our CBs.
While I think their performance is somewhat lacking, I can't hold them as closely to the fire as I do the offense. I actually think Babich has done a great job calling this defense, he's been much more creative and strategic in his calls than Rivera ever was.
But the combination of injuries, lack of secondary depth, and too much time on the field have led to poor performances late in the games by the defense. While some argue that defense can 'make its own rest' by making stops & getting off the field, it is imperative that the ofense is bale to hold onto the ball, move the ball, and score some points for any defense to have sustainable success. Playing 35-40 minutes in a game DOES wear out even the most well-conditioned defense, and fatigue compounds the possibility of injury for the members of that defense.
I think the D has done a dcent job considering the injuries & the amount of time they have spent on the field, and I am confident that the returns of Briggs, Tillman, Vasher, and Tommie Harris (who only played as a situational rusher against Detroit) will right the D's ship.
It would be easy to go off on Jerry Angelo for trading away Dante Wesley & Chris Harris, both of whom would provide some much needed relief in the secondary right about now, but I still think he made the right football decision. We had a surplus of guys in those positions at the time, we had no indication that guys would get hurt to the extent they have (Mike Brown excluded), and Harris & Wesley were the 2 guys who were not locked up for the long term, and for whom we could get something of value in return. I do think that our DB coach has a very important role throughout the rest of this year and before the 2008 season begins...to develop all these young draft picks into serviceable DBs. Kevin Payne at safety, and McBride & Graham at CB, are going to be our secondary depth/special teams guys for the next 2-3 years by virtue of their draft standing (and possibly potential starter for Payne), so it is imperative that these guys are brought up to speed ASAP so we don't see such a hug drop-off in the event of future injuries to our CBs.
Monday, October 1, 2007
Game 4 - Bears/Lions
Most depressing game in quite some time. I feel worse after this game than I did last week, and even worse than I did after we lost the Super Bowl. Not only did we lose a game, not only did our offense play like it was 2004 and our defense give up an NFL RECORD 34 points in the 4th quarter, but this game exposed serious flaws that will almost certainly doom this team and keep us out of the playof hunt. Quite a wet blanket, coming off a Super Bowl season.
While I thought Griese looked better than Rex has this year, he still made too many mistakes. 2 of his interceptions appeared to be due to being off in the timing of his throws, which can be corrected. Nonetheless, he didn't inspire anyone.
The o-line sucks. They couldn't open any holes for the running game, and they couldn't kleep Griese on his feet. The entire right side of our line stinks. Angelo is gonna need to draft a tackle on the first day this offseason, and better pray that Beekman develops into a starting caliber guard sooner than later.
Ditto for our WRs. Moose Muhammad is a fraud with slow feet and average hands. He is paid like a #1 receiver, performs like a #4. Berrian is IMO a potentially great #2, but he's playing way too inconsistently. Hester is way too much of a project to count on, and Davis simply isn't talented enough to make a consistent impact. Mark Badley is my 1 hope, as he is talented as hell and has performed well in every opporuntity he's been given, but for whatever reason Lovie & Turner refuse to give him any opportunities. At this point I don't care what he did or who he pissed off, we are desperate for production at that position and he is our best chance for that.
And shame on Ron Turner. We have a 'thunder & lightning' potential combo at the TE position in Clark & Olsen...Olsen the lightning fast rookie with upside through the roof, and Clark the tough vet who's coming off a career year and playing at a high level once again. Ditto for the RBs...Benson & Wolfe could be an electrifying combination, but Turner's unimaginative gameplans and insistence on calling the same highschool level plays time after time have damned this offense. The hallmark of a successful offensive coordinator is the ability to make game plans which take advantgae of your talent, and make adjustments when the defense is keyed in on your gameplan. Just look at guys like Ken Whisenant, Charlie Weis, Bill Walsh, Tom Moore, Mike Martz. No matter where they go, who their RB/QB/WR are, they find a way to move the ball and score points.
And it's not like the Bears don't have talented guys. Benson is a horse when he gets 25 touches up the gut, but Turner is throwing him pitches to the outside. Wolfe is a great open field runner, but barely gets the ball. Olsen & Clark could be a nightmare with Olsen stretching the field down the seam and Clark maneuvering underneath, but neither has been used particularly effectively. Berrian is a great downfield threat, but is being used on 12-15 yard 'posession receiver' type routes. And Bradley is the most talented WR on this team hands down, and he's riding the pine.
While I will maintain the Bears o-line is the biggest problem on that side of the ball, Turner has not made any adjustments in his blocking scheme or play calling to open holes for the runners, or creating time in the pocket for our QBs. If this offense doesn't turn around significantly by the bye week (conveniently located in the dead center of our schedule), I think Lovie's got a big decision as to whether Turner is really the guy to lead this offense into the future.
On a final note, while I have admittedly been a huge Jerry Angelo fan, he must also be held accountable. His offensive line is old and withering, and while with Metcalfe & Beekman he has a promising pair of backups, our tackle position is in need of an influx of young talent fast, and we have no one waiting in the wings. Also, the WR position needs a complete overhaul. Berrian is fine - as a #2. Davis is fine - as a #4 or 5. Hester is fine, if you can incorporate him into the offense without gimmicks that opposing defenses can easily stop (ie right now). Bradley should get an opportunity to start, and Moose should be gone. Either a big free agent pick-up or a high draft pick is a must at this position this off-season.
More on the defense tomorrow.
While I thought Griese looked better than Rex has this year, he still made too many mistakes. 2 of his interceptions appeared to be due to being off in the timing of his throws, which can be corrected. Nonetheless, he didn't inspire anyone.
The o-line sucks. They couldn't open any holes for the running game, and they couldn't kleep Griese on his feet. The entire right side of our line stinks. Angelo is gonna need to draft a tackle on the first day this offseason, and better pray that Beekman develops into a starting caliber guard sooner than later.
Ditto for our WRs. Moose Muhammad is a fraud with slow feet and average hands. He is paid like a #1 receiver, performs like a #4. Berrian is IMO a potentially great #2, but he's playing way too inconsistently. Hester is way too much of a project to count on, and Davis simply isn't talented enough to make a consistent impact. Mark Badley is my 1 hope, as he is talented as hell and has performed well in every opporuntity he's been given, but for whatever reason Lovie & Turner refuse to give him any opportunities. At this point I don't care what he did or who he pissed off, we are desperate for production at that position and he is our best chance for that.
And shame on Ron Turner. We have a 'thunder & lightning' potential combo at the TE position in Clark & Olsen...Olsen the lightning fast rookie with upside through the roof, and Clark the tough vet who's coming off a career year and playing at a high level once again. Ditto for the RBs...Benson & Wolfe could be an electrifying combination, but Turner's unimaginative gameplans and insistence on calling the same highschool level plays time after time have damned this offense. The hallmark of a successful offensive coordinator is the ability to make game plans which take advantgae of your talent, and make adjustments when the defense is keyed in on your gameplan. Just look at guys like Ken Whisenant, Charlie Weis, Bill Walsh, Tom Moore, Mike Martz. No matter where they go, who their RB/QB/WR are, they find a way to move the ball and score points.
And it's not like the Bears don't have talented guys. Benson is a horse when he gets 25 touches up the gut, but Turner is throwing him pitches to the outside. Wolfe is a great open field runner, but barely gets the ball. Olsen & Clark could be a nightmare with Olsen stretching the field down the seam and Clark maneuvering underneath, but neither has been used particularly effectively. Berrian is a great downfield threat, but is being used on 12-15 yard 'posession receiver' type routes. And Bradley is the most talented WR on this team hands down, and he's riding the pine.
While I will maintain the Bears o-line is the biggest problem on that side of the ball, Turner has not made any adjustments in his blocking scheme or play calling to open holes for the runners, or creating time in the pocket for our QBs. If this offense doesn't turn around significantly by the bye week (conveniently located in the dead center of our schedule), I think Lovie's got a big decision as to whether Turner is really the guy to lead this offense into the future.
On a final note, while I have admittedly been a huge Jerry Angelo fan, he must also be held accountable. His offensive line is old and withering, and while with Metcalfe & Beekman he has a promising pair of backups, our tackle position is in need of an influx of young talent fast, and we have no one waiting in the wings. Also, the WR position needs a complete overhaul. Berrian is fine - as a #2. Davis is fine - as a #4 or 5. Hester is fine, if you can incorporate him into the offense without gimmicks that opposing defenses can easily stop (ie right now). Bradley should get an opportunity to start, and Moose should be gone. Either a big free agent pick-up or a high draft pick is a must at this position this off-season.
More on the defense tomorrow.
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Bears/Bolts - Game 1
So the Bears travelled to San Diego for the season opener and dropped the ball a few times. Final score: Bolts 14, Bears 3.
This felt suspiciously like the Bears last meaningful game, when they lost to the Colts in the Super Bowl. Namely: if they could just NOT turn the ball over, they could beat anybody. Heck, they turn the ball over and the beat a heck of a lot of teams, but they can't afford to do that against teams like the Chargers or the Colts.
Pros: the defense looked mid-season good. They held all-universe stud RB LT to 25 yards on the ground. The only Charger scores came on turnovers - the defense blanked them the rest of the game. Rex hooked up with Berrian for some pretty passes. Tommie Harris is back in a big way.
Cons: well, they lost for one. The running game was non-existent, and notable only for turning the ball over. McGowan was involved in a couple of boneheaded plays. Looked like Mike Brown sprained a knee on an uncalled hold/takedown.
Overall, I was pleased with how the defense played, but Lovie's got to get these guys to hold on to the ball.
This felt suspiciously like the Bears last meaningful game, when they lost to the Colts in the Super Bowl. Namely: if they could just NOT turn the ball over, they could beat anybody. Heck, they turn the ball over and the beat a heck of a lot of teams, but they can't afford to do that against teams like the Chargers or the Colts.
Pros: the defense looked mid-season good. They held all-universe stud RB LT to 25 yards on the ground. The only Charger scores came on turnovers - the defense blanked them the rest of the game. Rex hooked up with Berrian for some pretty passes. Tommie Harris is back in a big way.
Cons: well, they lost for one. The running game was non-existent, and notable only for turning the ball over. McGowan was involved in a couple of boneheaded plays. Looked like Mike Brown sprained a knee on an uncalled hold/takedown.
Overall, I was pleased with how the defense played, but Lovie's got to get these guys to hold on to the ball.
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