It is a fine line when talking about a performance like this. Half of you wants to squeal like a little girl who just got front row tickets to a Jonas Brothers concert. The realist in you says it was a good day, but it was the Rams. The Bears needed this. A nice easy day, had some fun, tried some things and hopefully got a little confidence back.
MVP Matt...
I think Matt Ryan is going to win the offensive rookie of the year, but no rookie is more important to their team than Forte is to ours. He is a workhorse and a 3rd down conversion machine. He takes pressure off of the rest of our offense. I can only imagine what he will do if the Bears can get their line fixed for next year. Forte had his best day with 132 yards rushing and 2TDs. He had a 6.6 yard average and broke one long for a 47 yard TD.
Forte did have his first fumble of the season.
Orton's Day Off...
Last week versus the Packers, you could see that Orton was still struggling with his angkle. This week his mobility was better, not that he really had need for it. However his timing seemed a little off. Not much was asked of him considering the day Forte had, but he ended the day with 139 yards and 1 TD. He continued his interception less streak, though 2 could have or should have been picked off.
Hester's Day...
I don't know what the Bears should do with Hester. In the off season we paid him big money, because we expected his return capabilities would remain intact and we expected to see some offense. This game they took away kick off responsibilities, he has Gale Sayers saying he is running scared, he is agreeing with his brother's assesment that he is thinking too much and he says in an interview that what he really wants to do is returns. Do the Bears just eat hiscontract next year and let him just focus on returns? If they address the wide out position that could be a possibility? I suppose we will talk about that in the off season. In the meantime Hester had a good day on the offense. The Bears used him a lot of different ways in the first quarter. They executed a reverse and a little wildcat and both were successful. He ended with 5 catches for 40 yards and 2 rushes for 32.
Babich's Bye Week...
Babich has taken the brunt of the fault for the defenses problems, but everything was working today. Sure the Rams ran through 3 QBs, but the D still played well. The defense found the pass rush, tallying 5 sacks. Ogunleye and Harris both had 2 and Alex Brown had the other. They intercepted the ball 4 times. Briggs accounted for 2 of them and Urlacher and Tillman got the other two.
The Bears ditched their experiment from last week and returned to 'mugging the line' and held the Rams to 14 yards total rushing. The Bears were in the Rams backfield all day long. Every time the Rams got some positive rush yards the Bears dropped a 5 or 6 yard loss on them.
Not So Special?...
Our special teams play was not very good this game. Devin Hester on 4 punt returns averaged 6.5 yards and a total of 26 yards.
The Rams one really positive play came on a run back by Stanely who had a long 76 yarder and 196 total yards.
Robbie Gould was 2 for 2. Danieal Manning had an opening drive return of 50 yards.
Craig Steltz is starting to look very good on coverage. He was near or involved in almost all tackles this game.
Injuries claim 4...
The Bears entered the game as healthy as they have been in awhile, but did not leave that way. Alex Brown, Nathan Vasher, Mike Brown and Charles Tillman all got beat up. Brown and Tillman finished the game.
Overall...
This was a good game for the Bears. It could have boosted them and they will be ready to visit Minnesota next week. The Vikings stayed tied for 1st with a victory over Jacksonville. Hopefully the Packers will drop off this week.
I would have liked to see more scoring in the 2nd half. They only had a FG, but they were in eat the clock mode since half time.