Hello my Friends,
We have to be thankful whenever we get a win. I am thrilled with the top notch play of some (see Hester, Devin; Defense, Bears), happy with the improved play of others (see Benson, Cedric; O-Line blocking for Benson), and a bit squeamish at the thought of others (Grossman, O-Line picking up the blitz). This was far from a perfect game, but I will take the win and the opportunity to gush about the Bears. The Defense was sacking, tackling, and dominant. Hester was unstoppable, Benson was running, and we pulled out the win.
I missed the first half of the first quarter, and seemingly that included missing Berrian fumbling, Lance Briggs tackling, and Benson getting his groove on. Apparently, Briggs was everywhere on the first series. My buddy was just telling me that it seemed that every play was made by Briggs on the first drive. I have been very impressed with the play of Briggs so far this season. He shows no signs of missing a beat from his holdout fiasco. He has been continuing to establish himself as a staple of this defense, and is even reaching outside of his "comfort zone" (Can I call it that?) by notching a sack in the game. This was a sick play by the way, where he perfectly anticipated the snap count and bull rushed from the outside edge of the box and introduced Mr. Hurad to the turf.
Our defense had a good game. We held another elite Running Back in check and did what we are supposed to do. Brian Urlacher and Briggs led the team in tackles and each picked up a sack. I was very pleased to see them used in a blitzing scheme and to see our defense go outside of its box. Tommie Harris is still showing no signs of slowing down after his injury last year as he picked up five tackles and two sacks and as a result continues to posture himself as one of the most dangerous DT's in the game. I know we gave up one TD to Dwayne Bowe, (which is really funny play by the way because its like he stole it from Tony Gonzales and a collective Fantasy Football nation wept), but that was just a great play on his part and if we only have to worry about giving up one touchdown a game, I think we will do fine this year. Also, we have to be excited about the heads up play of Peanut Tillman tipping the ball to Danieal Manning for another sweet turnover forced by our D. Our defensive unit had a great game.
Another staple of our game was the Special Teams unit. Hester again leads this stacked squad by running back everything he touches. If it wasn't for an unnecessary holding penalty he would have finished the game with 2 TD's. Gould did his thing by giving us two FG's and also filling in by punting! Seriously, how crazy is it that we can lose Maynard for a game and just sign some Joe Nobody off the street and not miss a beat? This guy won't be taking anybody's job, but he did a fine job as a fill in and our ST squad adapted without missing a beat. To top it all off we blocked a FG attempt by the Chiefs. This was a great day for out ST unit, and I hope that this can turn into momentum that will carry into next week when we play Dallas.
The Offense continues the weakest part of our team. We didn't have a bad day, and I was happy to see some creativity when John St. Clair lined up as eligible and Grossman hit him for our only touchdown. However, we didn't establish ourselves against a team that we were given 12 points against. Also, it is worrisome to me that our only offensive touchdown came on a pseudo trick play and not from ay of our regular offensive producers (i.e., Berrian, Muhammad, Benson, Clark).
I believe in Rex Grossman, and I can over look one of his picks, but he has to stop throwing when he is rushed. He was being pressured and he over threw a simple screen pass to a linebacker, and that can't happen. Overall he is looking good and appears to be gaining confidence with his offensive weapons. Hopefully, Greg Olson will be ready for next week and can be another body for Grossman to throw to and maybe even run some double TE formations to mess with Dallas. Interceptions are going to happen and are a part of the game and even one of the greatest of all time (Brett Farve) was INT prone. However, I am not just talking about Grossman cutting down on picks. I want to se him establish himself as a good quarter back in the league. I want to see him get multiple touchdowns in a game. I want to see Ron Turner open up this offense like he promised he would and play Hester and Wolfe more often on offense. I want to see Mark Bradley utilized in this offense. All in all I want to see our offense excel. I am thrilled with the play of Benson and I am glad that he is getting over 100 yards and becoming instrumental in sustaining long drives. This is exactly what we needed him to do. He had a bad game last week and I will admit I was a bit hasty to anoint Adrian Peterson as being the better of the two in that game. Benson is our guy and he is going to be good this year.
Our offense isn't horrible and I don't hate it, but there is definitely room for improvement. Our O-line looks iffy, and on one hand has seemed to have improved in making holes for Benson, but on the other hand appears to be having problems picking up the blitz and Grossman was sacked 3 times this week. I really want to see the O-line do a bit better and I want to see Ron Turner do a better job. I give Kudos to the O-Line for helping Benson get to 101, and Turner for having the foresight to catch the KC Defense sleeping and get the ball to St. Clair.
Those were great moves, but I want to see more. We can only hope that we beat up on the Cowboys next week, otherwise we will never hear the end of it from the media, and I will never hear the end of it from by buddy from Dallas, and honestly I don't know which would be worse. I hope out ST and Defense runs all over Jerry Jones pretty boys and that our Offense can find some life.