Bears vs. Cowboys Recap

I hate to say I called it, but I pretty much did. My prediction was a 27-21 Bears victory if the Cowboys were completely healthy. They were. The final score was 27-20 Bears. It's okay to be impressed.

Some things I noticed last week: the Bears offensive line sucked at first, and wasn't even that great at the end. However, some great adjustments by Mike Tice and the line cooling down helped them play well enough against a great pass rushing team. Saying that, I think the o-line could definitely witness some improvements this year, and continue to get better. I don't think they can be dominant, I'd like to draft a lot of young talent there next year, but overall, I think they can be a little above average this year. Which says a lot.

Mike Martz is a genius. The adjustments he made. It was like wow, if this were Ron Turner we'd be running the same damn plays over and over without any adjustments. We would have definitely lost that game.

Jay Cutler is who we thought he was. Over the first two games he has 649 passing yards, 5 tds 1 int, a 68.8 completion percentage, and a rating of 121.2. That doesn't include his gaudy average of 10.1 yards per attempt. That means everytime he gets the ball out he's averaging a first down. While not true, he is putting up massive yards and I honestly wouldn't be shocked if he did get to 5,000 passing yards this year with 35+ tds.

Matt Forte is going to be deadly this year. There is a realistic shot that he could get just over 1,000 yards rushing and 1,000 yards receiving. Granted his rushing will have to improve in order to meet the rushing total, but he is certainly on pace in the receiving department with 188 yards receiving already. His current pace: 632 yards rushing 0 tds, 1,504 yards receiving 24 tds. Of course I could see his rushing yards increase and his receiving yards decrease. Which is why I'm meeting halfway: 1,000 rush yards 1,000 receiving yards. He would be only the third player ever to do that.

Wide Receivers look damn good. The tight ends, mainly Greg Olsen, are playing okay but not great. Yeah he had the long touchdown scamper but overall he isn't really getting that many grabs. His blocking has improved though.

The defense is playing well, especially the linebackers. I don't know if it was made apparent how well the linebackers are playing but they completely shut down Dallas' run game. The secondary is out there hitting hard, and so far the defense seems to be very opportunistic with 6 turnovers in 2 games. They are looking good again. My only issue so far has been the play of the d-line. I don't think they are getting as much pressure as I'd like to see. Only one player on the D-line has a sack, and that was against Detroit. Yes, Tony Romo is very elusive but I'd like to see the d-line get more pressure.

Next week, if we see the d-line play better, which I think we will b/c I don't see the Packers line being great, than I think we win the game. It doesn't matter if one team sucks and the other team is on the way to the Superbowl, this matchup almost always comes down to the wire. So, no blowouts here. I think you'll see the Bears win one at soldier field for the division lead. Bears 31-20.

Bears vs. Lions Recap

Okay, so, the Bears start out 1-0. Great. They beat the Detroit Lions 19-14. We all have probably heard plenty of times about the controversial call at the end of the game. Megatron made what appeared to be a catch, then as he fell he used his hand to stop his momentum and the ball squirted loose for an incompletion and what ultimately cost the Lions the game. I don't think it should be considered a controversial call, but rather the right call. The rule is just fine the way it is also. If it weren't for that rule there would be many discrepancies as to what was an actual catch. You'd have refs calling some plays right and others getting it wrong b/c there was no clear guideline. Thus, it eliminates far more controversy than it creates. The rule maybe should be improved but watching that catch in full speed shows that he clearly uses the ball to protect himself when he's going down and thus loses control of the ball. It was an incomplete pass.

As far as the rest of the game goes: it was sloppy. The Bears offense showed that it could move the ball whenever it wanted to against the Lions amassing 450+ yards of offense. The defense completely shut down the Lions allowing only 160 yards of offense. This score should have been something like 37-10. However, the defense couldn't stop the Lions once they got into the redzone. And the Bears offense seemed to fumble the ball away every time they drove down for a TD. Issues with the O-line seem to be there. A great example is the Bears starting at the Lions 1 and being unable to score a single point. How does that happen? Why wasn't a QB sneak ever called? Things like that need to be worked out.

But, it doesn't seem like its anything too serious. A lot of it seemed like it had to do with rust, and thank god we got the Lions week one at home to get rid of the rust. Matt Forte looked like he had completely regained his speed and burst again amassing over 200 yards of total offense and 2 tds. Jay Cutler looked elite completing 65% of his passes for 372 yards and 2 scores. Julius Peppers showed why we paid him so much money getting a sack and forcing a fumble. And the Linebackers were just outright dominating. This Bears team looks like they are going to be a force to be reckoned with assuming they can iron out the little miscues they had.

Next week will be a great test. The Bears versus the Dallas Cowboys in Dallas' new stadium. The Redskins beat the Cowboys last night on a holding call by Alex Barron. The Cowboys are also missing two of their best offensive lineman and Ware may also be sidelined for the game. If that is the case, I expect the Bears to win by two or more scores. If both teams are at full strength then I see a 27-21 Bears victory. This is going to be a good year for the Bears. I'm really excited for the potential of this offense.

Two More Free Agents Needed, Jerry

While it's great that the Bears have gone out and made a splash in free agency so far, there are two more spots where we need starters for next year. One is interior offensive line - Frank Omiyale was a flop, Garza is old, and Kreutz is, well, also old.

To my mind, unrestricted free agent Rex Hadnot (G) is one name to consider. Another is Chester Pitts. Pitts is an unrestricted guard who has been on the Texans.

Free safety is the other spot where the Bears need to improve through free agency. They don't have a single quality FS on the roster right now, and as the Giants' dropping 33 million on Antrel Rolle shows, it's a position of high demand in the NFL.

OJ Atogwe is a restricted free agent, which means the Bears would either have to trade for him (Greg Olsen?) or give up some draft picks. Miami released Gibril Wilson today, but he has been overpaid and underperformed for both Oakland and Miami in the last two years. Maybe a change of scenery would do him good?

In my mind, Pittsburgh's Ryan Clark is maybe the best option. An unrestricted free agent, he can be gotten for a lower price than Rolle, and has been good for the Steelers.

But hey, then again, Mike Brown is out there too! Anybody wanna walk down memory lane?