FanPost

5 Things "I Think I know" About the Bears

After two weeks of football... here are some quick observatuons:

1. The Bears running game will break out big in Seattle. The Bears have struggled to run so far against a Packer defense that they had no film of, and a Steelers defense that is very tough to run on. Well... Seattle is the perfect cure. The Seahawks allowed the 49ers to rack up 256 rushing yards this Sunday, watching Frank Gore tally 207 of them all by himself. In week 1, they let the Rams average 4.3 ypc on 17 carries, before St. Louis had to abandon the run, because they were down 14-0 at the half... and 28-0 in the 3rd QTR.

2. Jay Cutler is going to turn Johnny Knox into a star, while his former favorite WRs, Brandon Marshall and Eddie Royal, fade out of the fantasy football limelight. Jerry Angelo will have the last laugh, as he reminds everyone that the QB makes the WR, not the other way around. Knox (8 catches 152 yards 1 TD) has the benefit of playing with Cutler, while Marshall (7 catches 61 yards 0 TD), and Royal (5 catches 38 yards 0 TD) leave yards on the field playing with Kyle Orton.

3. Frank Omiyale can become an important part of the offense, if he can just block somebody, anybody, in pass protection. Omiyale continues to look like a turnstyle in pass protection, but the guy's got wheels. Look for the Bears to keep running the bubble screens and start pulling guards more in the run game to take advantage of Omiyale's only apparent strength: He's a very willing down field blocker, when he gets out ahead of the ball carrier.

4. Rod Marinelli was the best off-season free agent signing the Bears made in 2009. Marinelli's unit is clearly getting more pressure on the QB than it did last year under previous coaching. Pressure by the numbers:

Game 1 @ Green Bay
Bears: 4 sacks, 9 tackles for a loss, and 9 QB hits
Packers: 2 sacks, 7 tackles for a loss, and only 3 QB hits


Game 2 vs Pittsburgh
Bears: 2 sacks, 7 tackles for a loss, and 5 QB hits
Steelers: only 1 sack, only 2 tackles for a loss, and only 2 QB hits.

5. The Bears soft zone coverage will ultimately be the death of this team, if they continue to allow WRs to run right through it. Lovie Smith is doing an excellent job at adjusting after possessions, and confusing the opposing QB with different blitz looks and coverages. However, it's time to evolve this defense from the start, and match it to the current personnel. It's hard to run the Cover 2, when you don't have the talent at safety. But the Bears do have two big physical corners in Charles Tillman (6'1" 198) and Zachary Bowman (6'1" 193). Let them play more physical in some tighter coverages.

This Fanpost was written by a Windy City Gridiron member and does not necessarily reflect the ideas or opinions of its staff or community.