I really don't know what to make of this game....there were some positive things and some lingering questions that we can take from this game.
I'll run through the 5 things I know:
1) Matt Forte is still not right
I'm going to stress this early: It's not all of his fault. Our OL is abysmal.
At the same time, some of it is his fault. I don't know why but he's developed "Ceddy feet" - Benson used to always shuffle, hesitate, and hit the hole. Unfortunately, Forte has found that habit to be quite delightful. He needs to change that ASAP.
2) Jay Cutler will still have to lead this team
Whether we go 13-3 or 4-12, this is Jay's team. He didn't have the best performance today, but it was good enough. I was impressed with him throwing a few balls away - that's something I haven't seen him do in quite a while.
Also, he's a tough SOB. Having a 350 lbs angry man land on you can't feel good, but he hopped up and was ready to roll.
And I do like his moxie. I like having our QB yelling at the other team's DC. Go ahead and think about past Bears QB's who would have done the same AND have his play back it up. I'm coming up with a grand total of none.
3) DL: Still bad
I should probably start by saying that the DE's show flashes of brilliance at times. The DT's have been unnoticeable thus far.
Don't let their performance today fool you. The Browns aren't a very good squad and I'm sure you all know that. I missed a few parts of the game, but I didn't notice Gaines Adams at all. Ogunleye and Brown were hard to miss, but I couldn't find Adams.
4) Hunter is our MLB
I know, I know. Strange to hear those words, especially from me, huh?
Well, Hunter just understands the position better, and it showed. Whether there were problems with communication or just not being in the right spot, Roach wasn't the guy. And that's totally fine. Roach seemed more comfortable at the Sam.
Regardless, I never, ever want to see Hunter at the Sam again.
5) Don't base too many of your opinions of this team based on this game
Folks, we played the Cleveland Browns. It's kind of like a varsity HS team playing the freshmen.
Can our guys take things from this game and learn from them? I hope so. If they don't, we have a real problem. Just try not to get too pumped based on the fact that we beat the Browns. And please remember that we didn't look so hot in beating them either.
Anyways, let's push onward.
Lovie on the offense:
"Winning performance is what I would say. We had opportunities with the takeaways. You would like touchdowns, but we got field goals. When you're not having your best offensive day, you can't turn the ball over and have bad plays like that and we didn't. Today we were able to get some points when the defense got the takeaways, which was big. Of course we'd like to be able to get touchdowns, and Jay got hit a few more times than we would like for him to today. But 30 points up on the board, you like to see that."
Lovie on the defense:
"Defensively, that's what we've been looking for. That's a part of our philosophy, our approach to winning football games. I think you have to get takeaways on defense and you have to be good on third-down conversions, which we were."
Lovie on Danieal Manning:
"We've been waiting for a day like that from Danieal."
Ron Turner on the offense:
"We've got to play better. We didn't execute well enough. I'll look at it, see what we need to do to give us a chance to get better, and if we're doing too much, we'll cut back. Obviously, we are because we're making too many mistakes. Just have to figure out what we do well, and that's what we'll do. We've got to take a good look at what we're doing and make sure we're not doing too much because we're making too many mistakes that we shouldn't be making."
Jay Cutler on the offense:
"In every respect offensively possible we've got to get better. We need to make more plays if we're going to beat some really quality teams in the future."
Jay Cutler on Cleveland DC Rob Ryan:
"I love Rob Ryan. I think that he has always liked and respected me. I think he's a great coach, and you can just hear the energy he brings on the sidelines for those guys. I've always enjoyed playing and competing against him. I think he's one of the best in football. I've always enjoyed going against the guy."
Jay Cutler on whether he can keep getting beat up week after week:
"Hopefully I won't find out. Shaun Rodgers is a big guy. So every time he hits you, that counts for two."
Josh Beekman on his performance:
"I got Jay hit on one of the protections out there. I can't let that happen. But there are going to be plays like that, so [we need to] keep battling. I just didn't have my feet under me. The coaching technique was to have your feet under you and go after him. I didn't do, so I have to execute the offense."
Adewale Ogunleye on the game:
"It's a steppingstone. We don't get too high or too low. We stay away from the papers because if you do that you won't want to play the next week."
Tommie Harris on whether he received different treatment:
"No. You have to ask [Bears head athletic trainer] Tim Bream that. I don't know about a different treatment program. I don't know about a different treatment program, I'm telling you that much. So you'll have to ask them about that. Don't try to start some junk, because you don't know what you're talking about. 'Cause you started all that last week. Listen, I come in the locker room last week, and [you] ask me what's going on. I said, 'I don't play. I don't talk if I don't play.' Then the next day I read 'Mystery, Tommie Harris is going on.' 'Are you suspended?' That's negative stuff we don't need."
Danieal Manning on the defense's performance:
"Just running to the ball, that helped out a lot. Just trusting in the scheme, that puts you in good positions, so that's what we played. It was very, very rewarding. Everybody wants to win and contribute, and I felt like I contributed in this win."
Danieal Manning on his INT:
"I just read the quarterback. I think the guy ran like a skinny post, so I just read him and saw him running inside. The ball was thrown right there, so I just made a play on the ball. I was feeling great about it, but I'd be feeling better if I scored. Now I got to go talk to Peanut about him scoring. I feel like I was just in the right place at the right time. Believing in the scheme is one thing, and then just using your natural ability and trusting your instincts finishes the play.
"A lot of my family called me this week and told me to relax and have fun. Tommie [Harris] actually came in today and gave me a little Hulk statue. He's my favorite superhero. He said remember this is a kid's game and go out there and play like it."
Craig Steltz on his injury:
"It happened on a special teams play. It was on a kickoff. I'm not really sure. We'll see (Monday)."