We won, but it was really ugly. I wish I was as optimistic as WCG. I saw a defense that was uninspired and didn’t know how to execute. I saw an offense that was great at times and bad at others. Devin Hester fumbled, and the usually stellar Brad Maynard had a fourteen-yard punt. And, Orton’s out for a month. Bad day.
I just had to toss this picture up. But, I’d like to show his mechanical flaws. He’s throwing from the three-quarter slot, which makes it harder to be accurate. He’s also pulling his head, and if you notice, his right leg is doing some sort of ballet motion.
Anyways, let’s get to it.
Lovie on the game:
“I’m proud of our team for hanging in there and finding a way to win at the end. That’s how we’re supposed to play,” Smith said. In the first half, we can’t allow them to catch some of the passes that they did. We’re better than that. In the second half, that’s what you should see from a Chicago Bears defense. When you’re playing a team that hasn’t won a football game, you have to be careful. But as we watched the video, we saw that especially in the last three weeks they’ve played good football and they played that way today, especially in the second quarter. For us, we talk about starting fast. We started fast, but we had a lull there in the middle where we weren’t able to get a lot done. But in the second half we had to shut them out defensively and get some points with our offense, and we were able to step up.”
Rex on his performance:
“You always want to play, but never under those circumstances. I felt great probably 70 percent of the time. The other 30 percent the timing was a little bit off. If I play next week [against the Tennessee Titans], I’ll have a whole week of practice to correct that other 30 percent.”
Rex on Forte:
“Beyond his physical ability, he's extremely smart, one of the smartest guys on the team. He knows the offense like the back of his hand, and he's a rookie. … He just has a demeanor about him that reassures everybody, 'Hey, I got this.'”
Forte on the team’s performance:
“We’re always determined to get the running game going. We’ve been wanting to do that for a long time. We focused on running the ball and we did that effectively. We were beating ourselves in the first half, so we had to come out in the second half and start eliminating the mistakes.”
Forte on Orton:
“We just have to hope he'll be back. Just now, we have to look forward and get Rex ready to face the Titans. Rex knows the game plan, too. They both go over it. That didn't slow us down a bit.”
Forte on continuing to run the ball:
“Running the ball is going to be huge, especially when the weather changes. I mean, we won't always have ample opportunity to throw the ball when the weather changes. In high school, I played in like a hurricane in [
Chris Williams on his first NFL game:
“It felt good. I'm just trying to do my job. My job today was to protect on field goals, so I did the best I could.”
Dusty on the game:
“That just shows what this team is made of, the quality leadership from the vets and guys just going out there playing. When we came in [at halftime], coach Smith said the defense can’t give up any points and the offense has to score. We did that and we won. We didn’t change anything. In the second half we just said we’re going to play our base defense and we’re going to beat them, and we did.”
Mike Brown on his injury:
“Everything is good man. You'll see me back out there shortly.”
Ogunleye on his personal foul:
“After the play, Raiola kicked me in the chest while we were on the ground, and I got up and retaliated. It was dumb on my part. They always catch the second guy. I have to be smarter than that. He [Lovie] was pretty angry. He told me I owed him one."
Steltz, asked if he kept his first INT ball:
“To tell you the truth, I totally didn't. In all that excitement, I don't know what I did with it. I don't if somebody stripped me or what. I think [Orlovsky] kind of pumped fake to my right, and I don't know how much I took the pump fake. He tried to come back to hit Johnson in the seam. Just happened to make a good break on it and make a play.”
Quotables from the WCG Game Threads:
“Now that’s how ya start a game, fellas” – halfblindcubbiegirl
“WOOHOO!!!! Kyle Cunningham!” – tempchad (QOTW)
“In case the Bears need help, THEY ARE THROWING THE BALL TO CALVIN JOHNSON TODAY!” – tfrabotta
“Good work Hester. Maybe if you’d just hit the hole for once…” – mike b
“So…..we can dominate the Colts, but not the Lions. Huh.” – cwyers
“Right knee gone….PLEASE be a hyperextension!” – tempchad
“The Cart of Doom” – Hawkeyes
“Really? Sounds like it clearly hit the ground first” – guy incognito
“Come on Grossman, throw it to your targets” – aznsensation
“Yeah….spike that ball Rex” – gobulls1124
“Now with five minutes left, with the lead, our defense will play even weaker” – Scott Sox
“BRIGGSY!!!” – tfrabotta
“Lance Briggs is my hero” – Kyle75