The Good, Bad, and Ugly - Bears vs. Panthers

by ChiFan13 on Sep 15, 2008 7:05 AM CDT Comment 6 comments

The Good

Not much good came from this game, but we can run down the short list:

- Kyle Orton didn't throw any interceptions or lose any fumbles

- Matt Forte still looks good running the ball

- Brandon Lloyd is showing that he can play outside of practice, and he's a pretty good ST player

- 1st half defense. The defense was hungry and played like it.

Roll Call Winner- Yesterday it was a two person race as #23 edged our ChiFan13 by a tally of 106 to 105.

The Bad

There wasn't much bad about this game. Some was good and a lot of ugly.

- The huge numbers of penalties, many were extremely inexcusable

- Devin Hester got hurt. I don't need to say anything more

The Ugly

This list just hurts:

- Ron Turner's play calling. I'm not just talking about his last series, but overall. There was not a lot of variety, which let the defense key in on what we were doing

- Kyle Orton showed his horrendous accuracy on intermediate and long range passes. We could have won the game or gotten to a point where we could have tied it if he would have made even one of those throws

- Brandon McGowan went stupid on ST

- Our second-half defense. We played well during the first half, then we were hit or miss in the second half

- The last offensive series. We had three chances to get one yard and got a goose egg. There's absolutely no reason for that

(WCG: Not that this changes anything, but on the 3rd and 1 at the end of the game the primary call was to run Forte, Kyle Orton seeing Chris Harris moving toward the line changed the call and instead threw it to Marty Booker)

- Greg Olsen's two fumbles. The second one was a game changer

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Comments

LOL, ChiFan13. I counted posts and added one more than you.

Not really.

Kick it to me... I'm open!

by #23 on Sep 15, 2008 11:40 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

hahaha

That would take away your victory if that was true. lol

I'M A MAN! I'M 22!

by ChiFan13 on Sep 15, 2008 12:54 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

gass tank is half full not half empty

I will be the first to play the role of optimist. Here is my list of positives from the panthers game which I believe puts the Bears in much better position to win more games this season than last.

- After stunning the Colts at their new home, the Bears almost upset the Panthers on the road. Both teams were favored to win over the Bears because of their offensive explosiveness. Both teams lost control of their line of scrimmage to the resurgent Bears defense. That is a plus.
- Our new rookie running back Forte has been an immediate big boost to the offense and had some penalties not been called against the Bears offense he would have had another 100 yd. plus game. Expect more explosive runs by Forte, he is a talented tackle breaker. That is a plus.
- Kyle Orton at quarterback has brought a healthy offensive tempo, time of possession and ball control is a plus for the offense not a negative. Keeping our D off the field keeps them healthy and fresh which is what they are looking like so far.

by Chicagoso on Sep 15, 2008 1:25 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Great points, but I disagree on the last

Orton really didn’t do very much to move the chains. Yeah he did pick up a few passes, I’m not saying he did nothing, but you would think anyone would pick up a few. Most were screens and dump passes that other players made great runs on. If they want to play dump pass all day, anyone can do that. He needs to be able to complete much more passes over the middle and down the field.

On the contrast I think he did make those throws in week 1 so, hopefully this was just a really bad game for his medium-deep accuracy and next week will be more like week 1.

Kick it to me... I'm open!

by #23 on Sep 15, 2008 1:40 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I hope

I hope I hope I hope, that Orton works on his deep passes this week in practice, puts in extra time on the field with his receivers, Booker, Lloyd, Hester even. Then may be we can see some improvement. I know that he had training camp and all to work on this but I would argue that really he has been the starter for only like a month. He hasen’t quite had the time to build up a deep rapport with his receivers.

Fire Ron Turner!!!
Fire Angelo!!

by GallopingGhost on Sep 15, 2008 3:10 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Defense looks Fortefied

The bright side is that Matt Forte works and the Defense is working. We are halfway through the first quarter of the season and already the Bears have seen the impact of two of their top four draft picks Forte RB and Marcus Harrison DT. Good picks finally!! Forte has injected into the running game a toughness and elusiveness that the Bears need to advance the ball. Harrison is a Tommie Harris clone who is a monster up the middle. The middle was an area last season that both offense and defense were hurting in. This season it looks like a strength not a weakness.

Orton is no Brett Favre, Drew Brees, or Peyton Manning. Yet in the last four regular season games the Bears have won in each of those matches against those Hall of Fame QB’s with Orton as their leader, now their captain.

How did he do it? He didn’t turn the ball over like the fantasy quarterbacks he faced. His passer rating was better than theirs even though he didn’t make explosive pass plays. Orton finds a way to win, and sometimes its not pretty. But he understands the core of the Bears philosophy, run the ball and stop the run. When they have done that they have won, like they did against Favre, Brees and Manning.

by Chicagoso on Sep 15, 2008 9:03 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs