BEARS Score TD Late, Down Eagles 19-16

by Adam T on Oct 21, 2007 6:41 PM CDT in News

With 9 seconds left in the game, Brian Griese connects with Mushin Muhammad to move the Bears to 3-4. That along with a Dallas Cowboys victory over the Minnesota Vikings and the Bears avoid the cellar of the NFC North.

Say what you want about Brian Griese and what he may or may not be able to do when it comes to going long and his ability to win the big game, but he is showing something throwing for his second straight 300 yard game (322). He added 1 TD and kept away from the dreaded pick.

Six receivers had 3 or more catches, including Muhammad who was tied for team high with Desmond Clark with 5 for 79 yards and Chicago's only TD.

Again, Cedric Benson's numbers fail to inspire carrying 17 times for 49 yards and a 2.7 average.

After being questioned all week about his back and his playing level, Urlacher had a big ol Windy City FU totally 12 tackles with 8 solos.

Harris had 2 sacks while Arch had one.

Robbie Gould was 4/5 kicking.

The Bears next week again play the Lions. If the boys can't get up for this one after the Lions utterly embarrassed them in the 4th quarter last game, just call the season and play for the draft pick.

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Correction...

"The Bears now head to Detroit to again play the Lions."

Nope. The kitty cats come to Chi town.

by Chad @ Windy City Gridiron on Oct 21, 2007 6:48 PM CDT reply actions

Sorry

bad choice of words. That wasn't really the way I meant for that to come out.

by Adam T on Oct 21, 2007 7:18 PM CDT up reply actions

benson

when he gets a hole, he has looked great, but holy shit the run game is awful.

we have to figure what is wrong.

by mike b on Oct 21, 2007 6:49 PM CDT reply actions

"he has looked great"

he has looked good at times. got ahead of myself there.

by mike b on Oct 21, 2007 6:50 PM CDT up reply actions

Here's a formula

Benson + the O-Line = Nothing Special

by South Side Irish on Oct 21, 2007 6:57 PM CDT up reply actions

He has looked good in holes

but who dosen't? I don't think he has what it takes to be an NFL #1 back. I hope he proves me wrong.

by South Side Irish on Oct 21, 2007 6:58 PM CDT up reply actions

IMO

He's a very adequate #1. Not special not great. But good enough.

by Chad @ Windy City Gridiron on Oct 21, 2007 7:13 PM CDT up reply actions

it'd be great to really evaluate him

the o-line is still pretty awful on the run. getting decent on the pass. hopefully this is a consequence of an older line getting tired in the warmer weather. that's sort of what happened last year...we got much stronger as the year went on. but benson rarely has any room to run. it's hard to evaluate RBs when they're frequently hit in the backfield. also, as turner finally starts using hester and olsen more (his playcalling is still terrible at times, though), benson might see fewer 8 man fronts, which should make it easier for the line to block for him.

by guy incognito on Oct 21, 2007 7:26 PM CDT up reply actions

Didn't get to see the game

Or even listen to it, but in the evenings over here in Western MO we get WGN 720 in pretty clearly (not in the daytime, tho), and tonight the 3 Bears were just railing on Benson. One of them, Koz I think, said that Benson doesn't even deserve to be in the NFL. Not just not starting, not in the NFL, period.

I sure hope NFL network re-runs the Bears game, so I can see it again. A big win indeed.

I wouldn't ever go out to hurt anybody deliberately - unless it was, you know, important, like a league game or something. - Dick Butkus

by iowaBear on Oct 21, 2007 8:27 PM CDT up reply actions

hmmm...

I actually thought that Benson has one of his better games this year, though not numbers-wise.

I thought that he made some very good cut backs, and he ran very hard (as he always does).

But again - he continues to get hit behind the line of scrimmage, often by multiple guys. And that is not Benson's fault.

visit the mindful mission.

by big_lowitzki on Oct 21, 2007 10:44 PM CDT up reply actions

Yeah,

It's like I said before Benson + our line isn't getting it done. I hope they can turn it around.

by South Side Irish on Oct 22, 2007 10:46 AM CDT up reply actions

i thought chris harris was bad

but i wouldn't mind seeing him back there now.

by mike b on Oct 21, 2007 7:04 PM CDT reply actions

Is there a problem with running back productivity

in general this year?

A fantasy football friend tells me that none of the backs is a productive as they were expected to be.

Maybe the defenses have caught up in terms of athleticism, schemes or learned to tackle or something......

by rbhhi on Oct 21, 2007 7:44 PM CDT reply actions

running backs

there are plenty of good running backs this year, i counted over 15 who are averaging over 4 yards a carry, which is good enough for me.

by lopey986 on Oct 21, 2007 8:07 PM CDT up reply actions

I hear Adrian Peterson

is having a good year. One of the Aide Pete's is at least.

I wouldn't ever go out to hurt anybody deliberately - unless it was, you know, important, like a league game or something. - Dick Butkus

by iowaBear on Oct 21, 2007 8:23 PM CDT up reply actions

but...

the classic 100 yard 2 td guys are gone. Almost every team splits carries. so from a fantasy perspective, the landscape is very different.

by Chad @ Windy City Gridiron on Oct 21, 2007 8:26 PM CDT up reply actions

I think you're almost better off ...

with 2 backs nowadays. Look at the Cowboys, us last year, etc.

I wouldn't ever go out to hurt anybody deliberately - unless it was, you know, important, like a league game or something. - Dick Butkus

by iowaBear on Oct 21, 2007 8:28 PM CDT up reply actions

Just wanted to point out some irony..

The only time where NOT punting to Hester actually didn't give up field position was the only possession that the bears got a td and won the game.

that is ironic.

by Chad @ Windy City Gridiron on Oct 21, 2007 8:16 PM CDT reply actions

i think its time

we start playing hester regularly at wideout. hes shown he can be dangerous on every play hes out there because noone can guard him one on one.

by Jbasic89 on Oct 21, 2007 8:20 PM CDT reply actions

yeah

too bad he is a moron who will probably lead to more burned time outs and some illegal formation penalties.

by mike b on Oct 21, 2007 8:26 PM CDT up reply actions

He has been used a good amount

for a player who is new to offense in general. I thought that they have been getting him in there on plays for a good portion of the game. I love it when they got Olsen and Hester at wide out.

by South Side Irish on Oct 22, 2007 10:48 AM CDT up reply actions

Re: Running Backs

Is it the case that TEAM rushing productivity is down this year or is it the backs splitting the load that is hurting the fantasy productivity?

by rbhhi on Oct 21, 2007 8:54 PM CDT reply actions

by my simple math

the average of carries per game is only down by one. while average yards per game is down 6 yards.

pretty close and only over a third of the season.

by Chad @ Windy City Gridiron on Oct 21, 2007 9:47 PM CDT up reply actions

Also, don't know if this was mentioned already ...

didn't see it in this thread, but on WBBM's postgame interview with Griese he said that the audio in his helmet went out and he had to call all of the plays on his own for that 97-yard TD drive. I can't believe that we could have such success without Ron Turner calling all of the plays on that final drive, but we did.

Go figure [/snark]

I wouldn't ever go out to hurt anybody deliberately - unless it was, you know, important, like a league game or something. - Dick Butkus

by iowaBear on Oct 21, 2007 9:12 PM CDT reply actions

heard that

in griese's post game interview. with how much turner sucks it might not be a bad idea to go full time to that.

by mike b on Oct 21, 2007 9:18 PM CDT up reply actions

Thanks for sharing

Interesting. I don't know whether to call it funny or sad, though.

by Craig Hodges Explosion 3000 on Oct 22, 2007 12:07 AM CDT up reply actions

bears post game live....

ya i saw the interview with greise saying his headset went out. he also stated that he would be comfortable calling plays if they let him. we seem to have more of the same ol' same ol' on the o side of the ball. how about the just before the 1st half ended, instead of throwing it on 3rd down (like they did on 1st and 2nd) they run it to end the half. in my opinion, if your behind in points you try to score no matter if there is only 10 seconds left or not.with that many ticks left, yeah you might throw the int but we have all year. play calling is better but still far from good. let greise call some cuz it seemed to work in the 2 minute drill at the end.

by coolgjc on Oct 21, 2007 9:24 PM CDT reply actions

by draftday on Oct 21, 2007 10:02 PM CDT reply actions

My thoughts...

Defense walked the "bend don't break" line pretty well. It's an improvement at least.
The game was over if not for the new "tuck rule" - the fumble/offsides call.
Kudos for another late TD drive by Griese. Can we reset the clock to 3 minutes in the 4th everytime we get the ball?

4-4 would give me some hope....

Visit The Cub Reporter (mvn.com/mlb-cubs)

by thecubreporter on Oct 22, 2007 2:23 PM CDT reply actions