Watching NFL games at a sports bar is a whole lot different than it used to be. For Chicago Bears games that aren't nationally televised, I head up to the local pub that has the Sunday Ticket, donned in my favorite navy and orange outfit of the day. The strange thing is, despite being packed like sardines into that place, I don't see many other team colors.
I don't hear much cheering for certain teams, but rather specific players on different teams. It absolutely blows my mind to see 300 people jumping from television to television with no interest in anything but the statistics of their fantasy football players. No interest in the local team. No interest in great story lines. No interest in divisional games. Only stats. It's really weird.
But, for those who have been worried about Matt Forte from a fantasy angle, he ended the day with 121 yards and a TD on the ground, with 19 yards sprinkled in from receptions.
- The defensive line is firing off the line of scrimmage faster than it has in years, with particular notice of the DEs. Detroit exploited that early, however, by running a lot of misdirection, traps, and screens.
- I officially do not trust Charles Tillman in pass coverage. He gets beat often, is out of position more often, and falls down too much. Sure, he can be a playmaker, but so far this season his coverage skills are no good.
- Detroit's TE Heller has some cannons for arms. That dude is HUGE.
- Johnny Knox is making a case for ROY, but is also making a case for having the ball stripped when he is running in the open field. Tuck the ball Johnny!
- Once again, our offense had no rhythm early in the game. How can we fix that?
- Lance Briggs should be headed to the Pro Bowl again. Big plays, tons of speed. He's really good.
- I like Tim Shaw. He is very tough on kick off coverage, and plays with a big motor. Made several ST tackles last night.
- Chris Williams is going to be a great offensive lineman for us. He still has to learn some of the small things, but considering this is his first season on the field, he does a lot of things right.
- Brad Maynard is awesome.
- Getting back to Tillman, in the second quarter, the WR was overthrown (by a mile), and Tillman still decided to push the receiver in the back to the ground. He could have gotten a flag on that one. Also, in the 4th quarter, he hit a WR out of bounds, and laughed about it.
- Zackary Bowman covering Calvin Johnson... sheesh.
- Matt Stafford has worse hair than Jay Cutler.
- 1st half defense was bend + break.
- In the first half, Detroit had 7 different players catch a pass; Chicago had 8.
- Pass rush came out strong after halftime. Good jorb Marinelli.
- Nick Roach plays hard.
- Gould from 52!!
- In the 3rd quarter, Mark Anderson ran off the field after a sack... was getting high fives from teammates, but did Urlacher ignore him? Someone watch the replay and let me know.
- For those of you who say Olin Kreutz is washed up, he was driving people last night.
- Craig Steltz earning his keep on STs.
- Forte showed some of his shiftiness on his TD run. That's what makes him good... finds the seams and quickly shifts into them.
- I don't know why, but I find myself rooting for Culpepper. I've always liked the guy... too bad about the injuries.
- Garrett Wolfe loves to trash talk. Gotta love the little man's fire.
- Rashied Davis was thrown to twice, and had 2 receptions (including good awareness of the first down marker on one).
- Another 5 sacks last night. Everyone's getting involved in those.