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Bears Fall To 49ers 37-30, But Did Hope Just Rise?

I don't wear glasses.  Both my parents wear them.  My sister wears them.  Both grandparents on both sides all wore glasses.  My wife doesn't, but should.  My oldest girl wears them and after tonight I think perhaps I should get my eyes checked.  Unless my eyes have gone all askew what I just saw was an offense that was smooth and effective, a massive return game that didn't involve Devin Hester and a sloppy and careless defense.  Lets take a look(video):

Kyleorton01_medium

OFFENSE

Quarterback:

Kyle Orton played through a small portion of the third quarter and ended the night with a whopping 126.3 (I don't think the last 6 ratings our QBs have racked up  combined to get that high) passer rating.   He threw for 147 yards, 2 TDs (should have been 3) and 0 INTs.  Those numbers are one TD too many of what a typical Bears QB performance was for an entire game.He saw the field very good and found the open man more often then not.

Rex Grossman took over and went 1/4 for six yards.  While the boos reigned down all that happened was not his fault.  Had Bradley gotten under that ball he would have tallied a TD.  He was jeered for throwing the ball out of bounds despite it being the correct move, but the thing is there is a difference in the offense when Grossman is on the field.  The team slowed down and starting playing clunky.  At this point I think Grossman has to be worried about his job at most and his roster spot at the least.  If he continues to play poorly (and he should have the majority of the next game to prove otherwise) the Bears could still make a run at a guy like Chris Simms.  In that case it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility that they dump Grossman and go Orton/Simms/Hanie or they could go Orton/Simms/Grossman.  Either way he needs to make a move next week.

Caleb Hanie ended with a bang throwing a 53 yard TD to Brandon Rideau.  He finished 3/7 and 57 yards.

Running Back:

Rookie and current starter Matt Forte averaged 4 yards per run on 11 carries and 44 yards.  While he did not look overly great, he did run very hard and you could see he was close to breaking one on a few occasions had he been able to turn a corner or get around one more guy.  I think this guy is a winner.

Earlier today I posted that maybe Kevin Jones doesn't make the roster....scratch that. In his first play in he broke one for 34 yards.  On the next play he spun to the outside and could have picked up a chunk had he stayed, but instead he turned back in for a small gain.  He ended with a 10 yard average.

Wide Reciever:

Rashieddavis_medium

The game of the night went to Rashied Davis who finished with 58 yards on 4 catches and 2 TDs.  He should have had 3, but let one slip through his fingers.  I don't know who the Bears starting receivers are going to be, but it appears that Orton has good chemistry with Davis. He needs to be on the field.  And for the record I still love his TD celebration.

Mark Bradley was the only other receiver who made a mark on a 55 yard reception on a broken coverage play.  He could have had another 50  yarder and a TD had he not be interfered with (ie bumped) on a Grossman lob.

Offensive Line:

Boy, did this crew come out to play.  Taking offense to the beating they took last week, the line responded by keeping Orton sack free and with a relatively clean jersey.  They still need to be more consistent and could use some more depth, but this was a galactic improvement.

Star-divide

DEFENSE

Dustydvoracek_medium

Wow, what was all this about?  When I mentioned in the comments of the Game Thread about Chicago Swiss Cheese I meant the offensive line, not the defensive line, but that is what it was.  This defense though they did a lot of good things was as sloppy as I have seen them in some time.  Tackles were missed everywhere on the field except the breezeway. 

On O'Sullivan's only TD pass, Charles Tillman on a corner blitz dove for the QB instead of running through the tackle.  This allowed him to set his feet and get off a good ball.  On the reception Mike Brown let his guy get by him and reacted late. 

On an Alex Smith TD pass, Tillman got called for holding away from the play that gave the 49ers another set of downs.

The Bears got some decent  pressure, but never really got close enough to rattle any QB.

I know in our defense there is a sweet spot that can be taken advantage of, but the Bears need to find a way to shore it up.  The linebackers were not far enough back or the secondary was not up enough.  The Niners were taking us apart there when their backs weren't shredding our line.

SPECIAL TEAMS

 

Dmanning_medium

 

First off, ST coach Dave Toub just looks like a football coach, but I digress.

What a feast or famine performance.  There was a ton of good here.  Danieal Manning racked up 171 yards on 2 punt returns including a Hester reverse that Manning had to break a tackle to get to the outside.

Isreal Idonije had a blocked punt and Brandon Lloyd had a blocked field goal.  Brandon Rideau also tried to get in on the fun when he was an inch away from blocking another punt, but...

Manning and Garrett Wolfe both fumbled a punt.  Manning at the end of his second 70+ run back.

Robbie Gould looked good on kick offs sending a few into the end zone, but missed a 48 yard FG and kicked another kick off out of bounds.

Brad Maynard shanked a punt.

OVERALL

The good thing is most of the bad is stuff you can work on and correct.  Babich won't go easy on them in the next practice.

The offense looked much better with Orton at the helm than anybody expected.  The problem is we might have to wait 2 weeks until our regular season opener against the Colts to know if this is to be the norm.  I wouldn't expect Orton to play much more than a series in the 4th preseason game if any.

What did you think?

0 recs  |  Comment 17 comments

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Satisfied

I have to believe the defense will come around and play well, so I was just really happy to see the offense perform and most notably as you said the line was giving Orton all night to throw. Great to see.

The boos in the crowd at Grossman made me sick. I know we have had this debate before, but I see this as different. The guy is not the starter, he’s had a tough week, give him a break. Maybe others feel differently and want to boo the guy out of town, and everyone is entitled to an opinion, but my opinion is that it was classless.

by Ando on Aug 21, 2008 10:58 PM CDT reply actions   0 recs

I think maybe he is fitting

into the category of guys who need a change of scenery.

He has just been through so much in Chicago it might be time to find a new home.

Being Who You Thought We Were Since 2005!

by Adam T on Aug 21, 2008 11:04 PM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

Mr. Urlacher was very, very pissed at the way his defense played

I don’t know if you saw the sideline interview, but the girl interviewing him actually thanked him for keeping his language clean! I bet he absolutely reamed out his teammates in the locker room.

I'm not going to even bother trying to update this sig everyday anymore... that's what the standings column on ESPN is for.
Updated on May 25, 2008

by SackMan on Aug 22, 2008 9:10 AM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

wow
523 yard TD to Brandon Rideau

what a bomb.

by mike b on Aug 21, 2008 11:42 PM CDT reply actions   0 recs

yea

Word is not so good with catching problems with numbers.

Being Who You Thought We Were Since 2005!

by Adam T on Aug 22, 2008 7:17 AM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

Orton

looked great to me. He made all the right throws, checked down to receivers when first options weren’t open, and proved that he can be effective. The O-line did a complete 180 from last weeks game in Seattle, and in my opinion I believe they would rather block for Orton than Grossman. Forte looked good, not amazing or great, but he played his role and had some nice runs and catches. Davis has been great all summer and proved what he can do tonight, he’ll be a starter for sure. The D greatly dissapointed me but Urlacher knows they played shitty and u have to believe that he’ll do everything possible to get them as good if not better than recent yrs.

"URLACHER IS GOD"....."PLAY-MAKERS STAND UP!!!!!"

by Acreman20 on Aug 21, 2008 11:48 PM CDT reply actions   0 recs

not quite
The O-line did a complete 180 from last weeks game in Seattle

they didn’t blitz nearly as often. if at all.

by mike b on Aug 22, 2008 8:36 AM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

cut grossman (for his sake)

the guy deserves better than he is getting in chicago. it really pisses me off when fans boo one of their own, especially when it is a guy who cares so much. if he was just out there collecting a paycheck and didn’t seem to give a shit, fine, boo him by all means. but he has bled orange and blue (which is more than you can say for lance briggs, yet no one is booing him) and he is being treated horribly. cut him, please, let him go somewhere and be a back-up with a decent line and i hope he gets a few chances to play and either prove everyone wrong or prove everyone right.

that being said, it’s probably a good idea to go for someone like Simms, i think he’d probably end up replacing Orton.

by lopey986 on Aug 22, 2008 12:58 AM CDT reply actions   0 recs

Totally agree with WCG and lopey986

Grossman has some talent and has learned, but his own nerves are still his worst stumbling block, and that ain’t gonna get better in Chicago. Hopefully he can land a nice spot with a new beginning. Everyone wins.

May the wind be always at your back, and may your placekicker have icewater in his veins.

by juperee on Aug 22, 2008 1:19 AM CDT reply actions   0 recs

Cut Grossman?!

Are you NUTS? He’s not the worst QB in football (talent-wise) and is only in the top 5 most-hated so he has some amount of trade value. Surely there’s an offensive lineman out there we can nab for Rex. Our O-line looked alright versus SF’s less-than-stellar D so I think one more guard and we’ll be fine until Chris “The Messiah with a Bulging Disk” Williams can get his shot come November.

Cut Grossman? TRADE Grossman!

by emdub on Aug 22, 2008 7:00 AM CDT reply actions   0 recs

orton looked good

but the line actually blocked this week. big difference. if our line actually does a mediocre job, our offense will be fine. not top 10, obviously, but middle of the pack. orton is a decent QB, good enough to win if he gets any time to throw. rex is better imo, but its pretty obvious our line cannot handle the nonstop blitzes defenses throw whenever rex plays (and our OC is a moron who can’t max protect when its obvious the other team is bringing the house). btw, nice job chicago fans for booing rex when he literally had a second to throw a ball out of bounds before getting killed by a defensive player. unbelievable.

by guy incognito on Aug 22, 2008 8:03 AM CDT reply actions   0 recs

come on
and our OC is a moron who can’t max protect when its obvious the other team is bringing the house).

you can tell them what to do all you want but they have to actally do it.

by mike b on Aug 22, 2008 8:36 AM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

oh, i agree

i’m fairly sure they couldn’t do it, anyway. but once it became painfully obvious that teams were going to blitz rex nonstop, turner almost never used strategies to help offset it. the ones that worked (no-huddle offense) were used sparingly, and abandoned when they did actually produce results.

by guy incognito on Aug 22, 2008 9:32 AM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

We better become a more effective screen passing team.

We’ve been so poor at executing that play over recent years, while our opponents always seem to gash us on it.

Now that our line is bad, and we’ll see good doses of blitzing… the screen is a great way to counter that. Especially with Forte and Wolfe, both very good receivers out of the backfield.

Let the rush come after you… drop back, and lob it over their heads.

I'm not going to even bother trying to update this sig everyday anymore... that's what the standings column on ESPN is for.
Updated on May 25, 2008

by SackMan on Aug 22, 2008 9:41 AM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

That's just another reason why Rex isn't our starter

They won’t blitz Orton as often as they blitz Rex.

I'm not going to even bother trying to update this sig everyday anymore... that's what the standings column on ESPN is for.
Updated on May 25, 2008

by SackMan on Aug 22, 2008 9:08 AM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

Quick edit

You have the blocked kicks backwards. Idonije blocked the FG and Lloyd blocked the punt.

As for the game – I only stayed up through the end of the third quarter, but I felt that Orton and Davis definitely have some radar love on the field. I also like that we went to Olsen on the fade – Orton just needs to work on perfecting that pass and then Greg can be deadly with it.

--Torch

by torch on Aug 22, 2008 8:10 AM CDT reply actions   0 recs

Booing of Grossman

I don’t think Grossman warranted booing particulary given the context and the fact that this is the 3rd preseason game and we might need him down the road. No reason to completely ruin his sonfidence but sadly I do think he might need a change of scenery.

You have to thinkt that Urlacher, Borwon et al. will clean this up. The Front 4 looked like girls as well which leads me to believe that Tommie might not have been giving it 100% out there, fair enough, don;t want injuries. Dvoracek played sparingly but I hope did enough to test his fitness.

Anyone have thoughts on whether Bazuin makes the roster??

by twaddle on Aug 22, 2008 10:38 AM CDT reply actions   0 recs

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