I don't wear glasses. Both my parents wear them. My sister wears them. Both grandparents on both sides all wore glasses. My wife doesn't, but should. My oldest girl wears them and after tonight I think perhaps I should get my eyes checked. Unless my eyes have gone all askew what I just saw was an offense that was smooth and effective, a massive return game that didn't involve Devin Hester and a sloppy and careless defense. Lets take a look(video):
OFFENSE
Quarterback:
Kyle Orton played through a small portion of the third quarter and ended the night with a whopping 126.3 (I don't think the last 6 ratings our QBs have racked up combined to get that high) passer rating. He threw for 147 yards, 2 TDs (should have been 3) and 0 INTs. Those numbers are one TD too many of what a typical Bears QB performance was for an entire game.He saw the field very good and found the open man more often then not.
Rex Grossman took over and went 1/4 for six yards. While the boos reigned down all that happened was not his fault. Had Bradley gotten under that ball he would have tallied a TD. He was jeered for throwing the ball out of bounds despite it being the correct move, but the thing is there is a difference in the offense when Grossman is on the field. The team slowed down and starting playing clunky. At this point I think Grossman has to be worried about his job at most and his roster spot at the least. If he continues to play poorly (and he should have the majority of the next game to prove otherwise) the Bears could still make a run at a guy like Chris Simms. In that case it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility that they dump Grossman and go Orton/Simms/Hanie or they could go Orton/Simms/Grossman. Either way he needs to make a move next week.
Caleb Hanie ended with a bang throwing a 53 yard TD to Brandon Rideau. He finished 3/7 and 57 yards.
Running Back:
Rookie and current starter Matt Forte averaged 4 yards per run on 11 carries and 44 yards. While he did not look overly great, he did run very hard and you could see he was close to breaking one on a few occasions had he been able to turn a corner or get around one more guy. I think this guy is a winner.
Earlier today I posted that maybe Kevin Jones doesn't make the roster....scratch that. In his first play in he broke one for 34 yards. On the next play he spun to the outside and could have picked up a chunk had he stayed, but instead he turned back in for a small gain. He ended with a 10 yard average.
Wide Reciever:
The game of the night went to Rashied Davis who finished with 58 yards on 4 catches and 2 TDs. He should have had 3, but let one slip through his fingers. I don't know who the Bears starting receivers are going to be, but it appears that Orton has good chemistry with Davis. He needs to be on the field. And for the record I still love his TD celebration.
Mark Bradley was the only other receiver who made a mark on a 55 yard reception on a broken coverage play. He could have had another 50 yarder and a TD had he not be interfered with (ie bumped) on a Grossman lob.
Offensive Line:
Boy, did this crew come out to play. Taking offense to the beating they took last week, the line responded by keeping Orton sack free and with a relatively clean jersey. They still need to be more consistent and could use some more depth, but this was a galactic improvement.
DEFENSE
Wow, what was all this about? When I mentioned in the comments of the Game Thread about Chicago Swiss Cheese I meant the offensive line, not the defensive line, but that is what it was. This defense though they did a lot of good things was as sloppy as I have seen them in some time. Tackles were missed everywhere on the field except the breezeway.
On O'Sullivan's only TD pass, Charles Tillman on a corner blitz dove for the QB instead of running through the tackle. This allowed him to set his feet and get off a good ball. On the reception Mike Brown let his guy get by him and reacted late.
On an Alex Smith TD pass, Tillman got called for holding away from the play that gave the 49ers another set of downs.
The Bears got some decent pressure, but never really got close enough to rattle any QB.
I know in our defense there is a sweet spot that can be taken advantage of, but the Bears need to find a way to shore it up. The linebackers were not far enough back or the secondary was not up enough. The Niners were taking us apart there when their backs weren't shredding our line.
SPECIAL TEAMS
First off, ST coach Dave Toub just looks like a football coach, but I digress.
What a feast or famine performance. There was a ton of good here. Danieal Manning racked up 171 yards on 2 punt returns including a Hester reverse that Manning had to break a tackle to get to the outside.
Isreal Idonije had a blocked punt and Brandon Lloyd had a blocked field goal. Brandon Rideau also tried to get in on the fun when he was an inch away from blocking another punt, but...
Manning and Garrett Wolfe both fumbled a punt. Manning at the end of his second 70+ run back.
Robbie Gould looked good on kick offs sending a few into the end zone, but missed a 48 yard FG and kicked another kick off out of bounds.
Brad Maynard shanked a punt.
OVERALL
The good thing is most of the bad is stuff you can work on and correct. Babich won't go easy on them in the next practice.
The offense looked much better with Orton at the helm than anybody expected. The problem is we might have to wait 2 weeks until our regular season opener against the Colts to know if this is to be the norm. I wouldn't expect Orton to play much more than a series in the 4th preseason game if any.
What did you think?