The Chicago Bears offensive line is terrible. I read an article around week 3 or 4 by one of the Bears beat writers that said our OL was pretty average compared to the rest of the league, that there are only a few really good OLs and only a few bad ones.
He had Chicago lumped in with all the rest and claimed us to be average.
You, sir (Pompei, Dickerson, Haugh... whoever it was) were wrong.
-For those of you clamoring for Kevin Shaffer to replace Orlando Pace, you got your wish. Pace either got the breath knocked out of him, as one report said, or he was feeling dizzy, as another said. Either way, Shaffer still sucks just like he did in the preseason.
- We got to see Frank Omiyale in the last drive at LG... Ron Turner said that he wanted a bigger body in there since we were going to passing every play.
- Chris Williams, who I have been supporting all season, looked awful at times. He made a few really good blocks, and showed very quick feet, but he also got blown backwards a number of times in pass protection.
- Luckily, Nick Roach's injury wasn't bad enough to keep him out of the game. After Vernon Davis trucked him, I was concerned that we would be down to our final 3 LBs.
- I support Lovie Smith and his defensive scheme. Jerry Angelo has not done a good job of acquiring talent in the secondary. That said, there is no excuse for week after week of penalties. penaltie that kill our drives, and penalties that keep alive our opponents' drives. That falls on Lovie. No excuses.
- Teams continue to miss FGs against the Bears. What's up with that?
- Hunter Hillenmeyer looked tiny last night. I don't know for sure, but he looks 10 pounds lighter than he did at the beginning of the year. Was it the injury? Either way, he did not look like a MLB last night. He looked like a unsersized CB trying to make one tackle on Frank Gore.
- Jay Cutler likes Greg Olsen as a receiver. Matt Forte does not like Greg Olsen as a run blocker.
- We saw our first glimpse of Shaffer on the Red Zone INT that Cutler threw. He was lined up left of Pace.
- Say what you will about Tommie Harris, but I'm not buying what he is selling. He looked good last night, but I want to see that happen again. Actually, I hope he plays at a high level for the rest of the year so we can try and get a 2nd round draft pick for him next year.
- Anthony Adams is fast. And round. He is round and fast.
- Alex Smith showed something on one play that made Hillenmeyer start pumping his hands up and down over his head as an audible to the defense. Then, Lance Briggs and Nick Roach started relaying the audible to the CBs, doing the same upward hand pumping. I thought "Wow, this looks like the Bears defense have sniffed something out... this looks really intense." Well, whatever it was, it looked cooler than it actually was. Niners converted a first down on the play.
- When our CBs are 10 yards off the WR, and the DL doesn't get pressure on the passer, the WRs can run 5 yard hitches all day long. Even on 3rd and 3.
- Oh yeah, one other thing that falls on Lovie Smith's shoulders: clock management. We were around our own 40 yard line at the end of the first half, with timeouts in our pocket, and saw the clock wind down from 1:07 to 0:37, with only 1 play being run. Apparently, the referees can't hear me calling timeout from the bar.
- Offsides, against the defense. 5 yard penalty, 1st down. Rinse, repeat.
- I have no idea how good of a head coach Mike Singletary is, but he damn sure looks the part. He is very involved in the game, and coaches up everyone on his sideline, from players to other coaches.
- WR screen, bubble screen, Matt Forte screen. Rinse, repeat. Our OL is embarrassing.
- Johnny Knox showed just the right amount of fight last night... hopefully Tommie was paying attention. Sure, stick up for yourself and push back. But let the other guy throw the punch, and walk away when he does. Then, we get the extra 15 yards... not the other way around. This after school special brought to you by Windy City Gridiron.
- The sheets of paper that have my notes written on them... smells like Bridgeport IPA. Not a good thing to smell with a hangover.
- Jay Cutler is the first Bears QB since 1962 to have two 4INT games in one season. Thanks for the stat NFLN.
- Shaffer didn't know his assignment on at least 2 plays last night. He kept trying to get them at the last second from Beekman. Oy vey, have I said our OL sucks? Because they do. Write that down.
- Matt Forte, bless his heart. That kid ran his butt off last night. And poor thing, couldn't actually get anywhere (except for receptions, but I'm talking about on rushes), but he sure did run hard. Love seeing the legs keep a'churnin'.
- As I've said before, it is pointless to try and find out whose fault something is... the fact is that our OL sucks, and a lot of our troubles would go away if it didn't. But, the officiating crew last night did not have a good game. I'm not blaming anything on them, because our OL sucks... but still. Won't be a pretty meeting Monday morning for those guys.
- Clock management at the end of the game... call a timeout Lovie. Clock ticked from 25 seconds to 17 seconds just so we could line up to spike the ball.
- Hey, Devin Aromashodu... nice footwork on the sidelines. Why were you dressed out again?
- Lance Briggs, thank you. You are a good football player on our team We need more of you.
- Stop trying to do the math and figure out how we can still make the playoffs. Our OL is terrible.