Some thoughts on today’s game, while wondering if the Bears can win even four games….

• OK, some good things.  Special teams are still good.  Hester is Hester (albeit w/ a couple more fumbles, both fortunately out of bounds).  Gould has a new career-long FG.  Two more blocked kicks.  That’s all I got.
• So, all the problems this team had would be solved by Griese replacing Grossman, eh?
• Three interceptions today.  The pick-six was all on Griese.  The other two, Berrian could have fought a little for the ball on the first one, but still not a great throw.  The other one was behind Berrian, but he can’t knock it up in the air.
• Speaking of Berrian, I put him so far down on the depth chart, he doesn’t see the field again unless injuries decimate the WR corp, and we can’t lure Jerry Rice out of retirement.
• At least Muhammad played fairly well when he was thrown to.
• Benson looked a little better to start the second half, but I continue to believe Benson was the worst draft pick this team has ever made.  For a power runner, he can’t be knocked down in open field like he was on his one big run.  And, of course, he continues to put the ball on the ground.
• The Offensive Line continues to be a joke.  How this line, which was pretty good last year, can suck as badly as they do now is beyond me.
• Greg Olsen was supposed to help revitalize this offense.  So why don’t we actually throw the ball to him on occasion?  Clark was pretty good.
• The defense held their own a lot longer than they thought they would.  I do give them some credit for the first three quarters.  The biggest issue seemed to be, with the offense not being able to stay on the field, they just kept wearing down - which, given that all four players in the secondary aren’t supposed to be the starters, that’ll happen.  But they still fell apart in the fourth quarter.
• Nice to see the Bears at least force a few turnovers this week.  Too bad they kept giving it right back.
• Already mentioned the special teams.  The TD return on the onside kick sometimes happens - the odds were stacked against us anyway.  Outside of that, they did a nice job today.
• Four games, five blocked kicks, with at least one in each of the first four games.  I don’t know if records are kept for this sort of thing, but that can’t be common.
• This game didn’t suprise me, other than they kept it closer than I thought they would.
• Finally, next week is a Sunday Night game IN Green Bay.  I don’t care what the line is, if you’re putting money on the game, you have to go with the Packers.  Green Bay giving 17 points?  Doesn’t matter - give ‘em up.  There’s no point to even have a preview for next weekend - the Bears will be annihilated next week.  If the Packers don’t win by at least 20 points, it’s only because they took their foot off the gas.

I’d end with GO BEARS, but this season is over.

For those of you who’ve been completely out of touch for the last 36 hours, Grossman has been benched for this weekends game against Detroit in favor of Brian Griese.  I don’t know if I want to see Griese start over Orton, but I do think a change needed to be made.  The more I thought about this, there was one other thing that bothered me about Grossman so far this year.  Quarterbacks are going to make mistakes.  However, I like to see a little frustration out of a QB when this happens.  I want to see a QB who just threw a pick a little pissed at himself for making a mistake.  Looking at charts, seeing what he missed.  If it’s a receivers fault, get on the receiver.  Instead, Grossman just seemed to get depressed and sort of sulk on the sideline.  Going too far in the frustration direction can be bad, but sulking is just as bad if not worse.

 Some Comments on the lastest column:

colbear writes “Why does Coach Smith keep saying that we are a running team and then not pursue every option that he has? If nothing else he should keep rotating Benson and Peterson until he finds out who wants the ball. My opinion is that Benson has the better tools but not the heart to use them,so put in Peterson who will give 100% every run and give him a full 4 quarters to show us what he can do. Its obvious that Grossman will not get it done in the air so he better get the most out of his backs!”

 I don’t think the coaches have figured out what they have with Benson.  I think the QB position was a bigger issue, and it’s been addressed.  If Benson keeps fumbling the ball, I think a change will be made there as well.  However, Benson has looked good at times, so I don’t think we’re there yet.  Of course, Grossman has looked good at times (first half against KC, the 80+ yard drive against Dallas to briefly tie the game at 10), so that doesn’t mean everything, but I’m not expecting a move quite yet.  We’ll see how he plays against Detroit.

beargirl writes: “umm, you still have the Bears at 4-10. Are they so bad the league is going to ask them not to play the last 2 games? ”

Yea, I realized that when I was telling someone (my wife, I think) what I had wrote, and did the math in my head, and realized that was only 14 games.  I blame the 62 ounces of margaritas I had during the first half/dinner.  I’m going to leave it there just because I think it’s funny.  However, if the Bears are 4-10 heading into those last two games, that wouldn’t suprise me.

Oh - and beargirl - you wrote a few pieces for awhile during the summer and pre-season - please feel free to write some more.  I always enjoy reading other peoples stuff!!!

Some thoughts while waiting for the game to end - that’s right - the first post-game recap written before the game ends….

•  I’m now done with Grossman.  I don’t think he’s as bad as everyone makes him out to be, and it wouldn’t suprise me one bit if he went on to have a good career with another team.  It’s clear to me he’s done here.
• Benson is officially the worst draft pick the Bears have ever made.
• Hester had one of his game where he had the ‘dropsies’.  Expect him to play well the next month or so.
• I’m also thisclose to being done with Berrian.  It’s like he spent the summer bunking with Muhammad, and said ‘Yo, you’ve got some mad pass dropping and lazy route running skillz, and turned that into a #1 WR contract - teach me all you know.”  That drop when he was WIDE OPEN at the end of the 1st half waws unforgiveable.
• As I speak, Grossman throws his third interception.  I just can’t imagine he’ll start next week.  I wouldn’t be suprised, but I wouldn’t do it.
• Have I mentioned Benson sucks yet?  And I thought he started off the game very well.  But he got worse as the game went along.
• The offensive line is a joke.  They’d allow five sacks to a high school team right now, and that’s before Reuben Brown went out of this game with an injury.
• The defense played outstanding in the first half.  I don’t know the last time a team has blocked a field goal attempt three games in a row.  But as well as they played in the first half, they played as badly the second.  Not one three and out.   Not one stop on 3rd and long.  No tackling.  To emotion.  No turnovers.  Just bad.
• And that was led by Archuleta.  I thought he was overrated when he was with St. Louis.  He was awful with Washington.  And that doesn’t look like a guy playing in a system that doesn’t suit him, it looks like he just sucks.  I believe he’d have trouble tackling a junior high running back.
• Nice to see Urlacher get a couple sacks.
• Harris, Vasher, and Ogunleye went out for the game, and Harris was injured as well.  While that didn’t help the defense in the second half, I’m not going to blame it all on that.
• Special teams were, well, ’special’ tonight.  Unfortunately, that’s more ’short yellow bus’ special.
• Gould was good, Idonije (sp?) did a nice job blocking his second FGA of the year, but the punt/kick return unit was not as good as they should be, along with Hester’s case of the dropsies.  He’s the most exciting player in the league, but twice a year, he’ll have a game like this, it seems.
• I’m still upset noone took out Owens at the kneecaps this game.  He’s the biggest jackass of the league.  I feel for Romo, especially after last year, dropping the snap on the FGA that would win them the game.  But Owens is a prima-donna, me-first, assclown that I hope with all my being doesn’t ever win a Super Bowl ring, because the winning the Super Bowl is a TEAM effort, and he may be the worst team player in the league (possibly tying with Randy Moss).
• Green Bay is a better team than the Bears.
• I’ll be suprised if the Bears win 6 games this year.  4-10 wouldn’t suprise me.  The offense is that bad.
• If I’m Smith, I bench Grossman and Berrian next week.
• Finally, I’ll say it - I’m pissed.  The defense did everything they could to keep this team in it, and the offense wouldn’t take advantage of it.  Grossman’s time in Chicago is, I think, done or close to it, Benson is - at best - an average RB, and I don’t think even as good as Peterson - and the starting two receivers couldn’t catch a pass if it was handed to them.   Oh, and the offensive line couldn’t successfully block a high school team.  The play from the TE’s has been a high point, but that’s about it.  The Bears should still beat the Vikings and Lions, but they’ll be swept by the Packers.  And I think they’ll lose at least one game to both the other two NFC Central opponents.  I’m happy they made it to the Super Bowl last year - I loved celebrating the NFC Championship on our home field.  But the Bears offense is so bad this season, that they will kill any chance the defense gives them - especially if Briggs, Vasher, Ogunleye, or Harris is out for any period of time.

I’d like to say GO BEARS, but I think the season is done as of now.

So here I am, in a suburb of Milwaukee, getting ready to go across the street to watch the game at a bar, since I don’t get to go in person.  Stupid business trips.  I’m missing out on car flag night.  At least the wife will get one for me (I hope).  Anyway, a few thoughts on the game less than an hour before kickoff

• While reading through some old papers I missed while I was on vacation, and busy catching up from being on vacation.  Rumor has it that our former defensive coordinator, Ron Rivera, called Grossman a ‘mental midget.’  If this is true, I just lost a whole lot of respect for the man.  Regardless of if it’s true or not, that’s just not something you say about a former player.  It shows a strong lack of class.  If he’s upset w/ the Bears and the way things after last season, that’s one thing.  But take it out on ownership or even the coaching staff.  Saying that about a former teammate is just plan wrong.  Again, assuming he said it (and he denies it).
• I think I’ve finally figured out the problem with Rex.  He can’t shake off the bad plays like he should.   I think he has a lot of talent, and I think he played very well the first half of last week.  But it seems that, once that first little thing goes wrong, things really go downhill after that.  He doesn’t consistantly shake it off and play the way his talent allows.  When he’s on, he has all the confidence in the world and just pours it on.  When it’s off, he’s terrible.
• So what to expect this week?  Who knows.  I think it’ll depend on if Benson can run with some effectiveness again this week, and if the offensive line decides they want to start blocking people again.  You know the Bears will get blitzed.  A lot.  For the rest of the season.  If they can pick up a few blitzes, successfully run a few screens or draws, the offense might do OK.
• The defense will be fine.  So will special teams.
• However, I’m just not sold on this offensive line.  I don’t think - based on what I’ve seen so far - that they’ll be able to open the holes for Benson, and protect Grossman enough for him to get going.  The Bears defense will play better overall, but be put into too many bad situations, and I think that’ll mean a loss.
• Oh, and based on what I saw Green Bay do against the Chargers today - I think they’re the best team in the NFC Central, as much as it pains me to say so.  I don’t think their defense is anywhere near as good as the Bears, and and I don’t think the offense overall is that much better.  But their offensive line is giving Farve all day to throw the ball, and that’s the difference right now.
• Final score: Cowboys 24, Bears 10

Some thoughts on Sundays game against the Chiefs, while still trying to find the flag that brought back what should have been another return TD for Hester……

• Devin Hester is stupid good.
• This offense scares me.  Rex did OK, generally moved the team, and made three bad throws all day.  Two were intercepted.
• The screen pass interception was bad.  But neither screen pass the team ran looked real good.  The first was a throw out of the reach of Peterson (I believe), but even if he caught it, he was going to be tackled for a loss.  And before the interception, Wolfe actually ran into the offensive linemen, which seemed to just throw off the timing as well (something Grossman commented on - that he was ready to throw the ball before the play was ready for it).  Now that takes nothing away from the awful, awful throw.  Grossman still gets into trouble when, like on that play, he did set his feet before throwing, and threw it while falling backwards.  But if the Bears are going to plan on using screen passes to slow down the blitzing they’ve run into the first two weeks, they better practice them a LOT from here on forward, because they just don’t look good right now.
• As for the second interception, that’s a mistake by a QB trying to get a first down, and misjudging the defender coming the other way.  If that’s the only type of INTs he throws, the Bears should be fine.  What shouldn’t be lost in that second interception, however, is the pass one play before it, Grossman puts a beautiful pass - under pressure - right in the hands of Muhammad, and he just dropped it.  It’s almost like he was trying to set the ball for a spike over the net.  There was absolutely no excuse for our alleged #1 receiver to drop that pass.  If he catches that, it’s first and 10, about the 30 yard line or so, and who knows what happens from there.
• The offensive line has been terrible so far this year.  Fred Miller is a turnstyle.  Even given the blitzing going on, Grossman should have a lot more protection than he’s getting.  It’s clear part of the problem is Benson just doesn’t adjust to the blitz like Jones did last year.  Even aside from that, the line simply has to do a better job.
• One positive note for Grossman.  Along with his first half play, which was pretty good, he got nailed a couple times, and even survived an attempt to swipe the ball from his hands, all without dropping the ball.  Maybe he did learn something from the pre-season.
• Benson, outside of him needing to learn to pick up blitzes better, did a much better job this week.  I still think - to steal a line from one of the late night post-game Bears shows (Fox 32’s ‘The Final Wordd) - that he does seem to want to turn a 15-yard run into a 6-yard run by running to contact and not daylight, but upon watching the replay tonight, I think he did a better job than I gave him credit for on Sunday.
• Oh yea - on Grossman’s other ‘bad’ throw, there was a near interception late in the first half.  Berrian was streaking towards the end-zone and, for some reason, instead of continuing towards the corner, breaks the route off inside while Grossman threw the ball as if he was going to continue running towards the corner.  Now, while whether the throw should have been made anyway since there was triple coverage, Berrian has *got* to start running better routes.  Last weeks interception was all his fault.  This one would have been at least partially his fault for not being where the ball was being thrown.
• Haven’t mentioned this in a few minutes, but Hester is just silly good.
• Defense - another real good game.  This defense is better than last season - I believe that.  Agressive, quick, seemingly pretty smart - I just like this defense a lot.  Doesn’t mean they won’t have a bad week or two, but I really like what I see so far.
• THE play of the game wasn’t Hester’s punt return - it was Tillman’s pass deflection late in the fourth quarter that led to Manning’s interception.  Good coverage, and he jumped at the last second to make sure that pass was broken up.  We were going crazy just on the pass deflection, when we realized he deflected that pass into an interception.  Just an amazing play.
• The one touchdown came off a couple of broken plays.  The worst was that first one, where someone was left wide WIDE open on the left sideline - I mean, noone was w/in 20 yards of the guy.  On two other plays, the Bears were thisclose to busting it up.  Hillenmeyer - who I think has been playing very well this year - almost came up with an interception (timing was barely off), and on the TD pass, both defenders on both recievers who would have caught the pass (and one did, obviously) both fell down on the play, and even then was close to getting back in the play.
• Oh, and future opposing QB’s are *not* going to like playing against this defense, if it stays healthy.
• You may want to keep an eye on this Hester kid - he could be pretty good.
• Special teams.  Last week, I thought they did OK, but their kick coverage was pretty bad.  They were just all around great this week.
• Ironic, given that he was basically a walk-on, Gould could end up being one of the best kickers the Bears have ever had.  Along with his accuracy, and his leg strength which has improved immensely since he came into the league, he is now starting to get the ball to or beyond the goal line on kickoffs.  And that just makes a huge difference at the start of the game/half/after a score.  Just huge.
• Also doesn’t make you quite as nervous when he has to kick a field goal from 15 yards farther away than planned.
• Nice job on what was a big FG block at the time.
• And then there’s this returner the Bears have - Hester, I think his name is.  I have never seen anyone like him.  The punt return was certainly good, a nice job of hurdling people trying to tackle him, staying in bounds, etc.  But the two punt returns later in the game were even better (and I think he could have scored on the second punt return if he didn’t try to run across the grain).  Even the last one, where he only got about 20 yards, got them out from deep in their end, and gave them some nice field position by avoiding a couple tackles, and completely reversing the field.
• If you’ve ever seen the YouTube video of ‘Techmo Bowl’ where Bo Jackson runs around the field for an entire quarter with players completely unable to tackle him, well, that’s what watching Hester can be like in real life.
• I saw the game live, I saw it again tonight, and I still haven’t seen the flag that brought back Hester’s kickoff return TD.  Not that I haven’t seen the penalty itself (which I watched a number of times on TV tonight, and still couldn’t figure out who was called and why), but I never saw the actual yellow flag go flying.
• Also, my apologies to the officials in this game.  At the game, I thought they did a horrible job.  And while I still don’t know what was called on the kickoff returned, they got everything else right.  The elbow I saw down on the big screen on Berrians 1st quarter fumble looked, upon further review, to be the defenders elbow, not Berrians.  The fumble the Bears didn’t get with about 17 seconds left - also called correctly.  The illegal shift that took away the flea-flicker TD (thank goodness) - correct.  They really called the game well.  And those who know me know I never go back on my official hatred.  Hell,  I still think Hue Hollins needs to get a beat down for his phantom-foul call on Pippen in 1995 against the Knicks.  But Sunday’s refs did their job well.
• Finally, I’m not sure what to think of the Bears this year.  The defense is better.  The special teams still rock.  But the offense seems to have taken a big step backwards across the board.  Offensive Line, Receivers, Benson, Grossman - all not really getting it done this season.  If they can improve to an average - that’s it, average - offense, this team could get 10 wins.  If not, well, they may not beat Green Bay for the title (although I’m not convinced that the Packers are for real yet.   I know the Lions aren’t).

Next week, at home (Sunday Night) vs. Dallas.
GO BEARS!!!

Back from vacation, and I finally got a chance to watch the Bears/Chargers game.  Some thoughts as we get ready for the home opener against the Chiefs…

• For all the grief he gets, I don’t think Grossman deserves once ounce of blame for the loss to the Chargers.  He didn’t have a great day - although that was certainly  helped by a few drops and an interception that wasn’t his fault - he did a lot of things that should have helped win this game.  If he can play like this all year (not the overall stats, just the way he played), the Bears may be fine.  I say *may* be because…
• Benson was not good.  At all.  He had one good play when he caught an outlet pass and made a move for a first down, but aside from that, he was awful.  He’s supposed to get better as the game goes along - I accept that.  But he had two chances to get two and then one yard late in the game, and instead of looking to avoid contact, it looked more like he asked himself ‘where can I find the least chance of success’ and ran right into a group hug of linemen.  I know it’s his second start and all that.  But if he doesn’t turn it on somewhat against the Chiefs this week, I think Benson will end up quite possibly being the worst draft pick the Bears have ever made.  Even with Enis and Salaam, the Bears needed a RB at the time.  They didn’t need a back when they drafted Benson, which would end up making this pick much worse.
• Also, the offensive line has some work to do.  Grossman - obviously - has issues at times holding onto the ball.  Given that, it’s probably not a good idea to repeatedly let someone come in from the corner untouched.  They certainly also have to work on opening bigger holes for Benson (not that CB looks like he’s trying to avoid running into people anyway), but a little more protection would be nice.
• The defense was outstanding last week.  To hold LT down the way they did was impressive.  He got through for one big gain - his TD run to put the Chargers up 14-3 once things had really started to unravel.  Speaking of which…
• I hope Lorenzo Neal has his knee blown out this week, and also has to miss the rest of the season.  I do not believe Neal is a dirty player, but that particular play was crap.  It was a horse collar.  Granted, Mike Brown - as much as I love him as a player - has a fragility rating about that of cheap crystal, but that was still bullshit.
• Speaking of Mike Brown, again, as much as I like him, I almost have to think he’s done.  He just can’t stay healthy.  However, I’d love to see him with the Bears in some sort of coaching capacity, as he always seems to make big plays.  It’s just that he can’t stay healthy long enough to help the team.
• I only got to read accounts of the game until I watched the DVR replay tonight, and as such, on Harris’ forced fumble from inisde the 1 yard line of the Bears, I expected him to have a good 1 1/2 second jump w/o a flag.  While he was offsides, it was a much closer play than I thought it was.  In fact, when the play was shown at speed, it looked like he just timed the snap well and, while he was moving before the snap, it didn’t look like he got over the ball before it was snapped.  He did, but it was real close.
• Speaking of which, Harris looked real good Sunday.  Hopefully, he can stay healthy throughout the year.
• Given what they did against a damn good offense on their home turf, I think the Bears defense *is* better than last year.  If the offense can get on track, they can beat anyone in this league.  Of course, if Benson can’t run the ball, they can also lose to anyone in the league, since even a well played game can turn on a couple of unlucky bounces.
• Right before the real short punt that hit McGowan (not his fault at all - he was 10-15 yards away from where the ball typically lands on a punt, and where Hester was), the Charger punt returner actually fumbled the football in a sea of Bears, only to have it bounce right to a Charger.  Just before LT’s TD pass, there was a missed catch that, had all three Bears not decided to hit the reciever to try and get him to drop the ball, could have easily been intercepted.  Yet McGowan has the ball bounce right into him, and both Benson’s and Petersons fumble - the second of which killed a nice looking drive by the Bears) bounce right to the Chargers.  Sometimes, it’s just not meant to be.
• All that said, I’ll say it again.  I think this defense is better than last years.  If the offense can get on track, they will be fine.  The fact that the Bears were the only NFC Central team to lose on Sunday doesn’t matter at all.  The Vikings and Lions played noone of consequence, and the Packers needed a moronic decision by a punt returner and a lucky bounce to win their game at home.  But none of those three get to play the Chiefs this week.  I had the Bears slated to lose to the Chargers, and I still think they can win 10 games.
• Finally, to echo what my pre-season thoughts were, this season will not hinge on the play of Grossman.  He’ll be fine.  How well the Bears do this year will depend on one player, and that’s Benson.  He has to step up and prove that he’s worth all that money he got.  He has to prove that, if he’s going to run into people, be better damn well bowl them over and not a constant stream of 1-yard pickups.  He better be able to get those late game short-yardage conversions.  And he better do something soon, or defenses will key entirely on Grossman, and this could turn into a very long season.

GO BEARS!