What more can actually be said about this game? We came into this game having just lost two straight to the Ravens and the hated Packers, and with our last two wins coming against the cellar dwellers of the league in the Rams and the Browns.
Yet, in what is obviously a lost season, I know I wasn't the only one that had an odd feeling of hope about this game.
If our Bears had anything to show us, surely they would do so against an amalgam of hatred something best described as a Frankenstein's monster of Bears legend. The Minnesota Vikings led by the former general of the Green Bay Packers. The whole team showed up yesterday to give us a late Christmas present, by not only felling the beast, but by doing so in the same fashion they've lost so many games this year.
The entire defensive line deserves a round of applause, even if they don't all deserve their current contracts:
Anthony Adams, Mark Anderson, Alex Brown, Tommie Harris, and I'll even give a shout out to Izzy for his ability to seemingly always deliver in the clutch. A lot of these guys have been much maligned this year, and most of last year as well. Every last one of them showed up in the game, and were getting consistent pressure going towards the quarter back. We had it all, QB hits, pressure, and when you're dealing with an old QB in the dead of winter it's nice to lay the wood on the QB legally even if you don't get credit for the sack.
Tommie Harris definitely made it known that when motivated he can still contribute, but sadly after watching the game over again he looked great, but not what he once was.
Alex Brown was the same consistent force that he's been through the good and the bad, and with his play last night made me feel okay if the Bears want to give him a front loaded deal to finish off his career.
Anthony Adams was the real star of the show, being where he was supposed to be for every single play I saw, and against a team with a running back tandem like Minnesota, that's about 75% of the battle.
Mark Anderson, the guy everyone had listed as a one hit wonder finally showed the same thing he did in his rookie year, if everyone else is contributing he'll be right there with him.
Hats off to all of them
The hits keep on coming for the Bears WR corps who are literally developing before our eyes:
What can I say, but Devin Aromashodu really stepped his game up when it mattered most. I'm not as in love him as a lot of people are, but I have to give credit where it's due. This guy is a great asset to the team and really has the fire of a number 1 receiver right now. His huge high jumping catch across the middle on a slipped slick ball was one of those plays that makes you catch your breath just so you can scream a bit louder when he comes down with the ball. This was your coming out party to the NFL DA, enjoy it, and we'll see if we can't pad your stats a bit next week. However, this seven catch 150 yards and a touchdown performance should be going down in your rapidly forthcoming highlight reel.
That's not the only good thing going in this game as far as our WR go, as Bennett got a few balls thrown his way even with the reemergence of Clark into the line up, and a nice game from Olsen. Three catches with a very clutch touchdown is nothing to be ashamed of.
Jay Cutler finally stepped up and showed us what he's made of:
He's made of pure unadulterated win. Yeah, I know. Allow me to go into homer mode for a second. Cutler's play today is the kind of play I've been wanting to see out of him all year. Starting with a gutsy run involving him lowing his shoulder to break a tackle a the end of the first quarter, all the way to his winning TD pass, this is the punky QB I was expecting to see when we traded for Sizzle.
When you watch this game you get to see what Jay does best, and that's the play action passing, the bootleg passing, the passing that involves movement of some kind. Yeah, he's got a cannon and can definitely air it out, but it's these plays that we've seen virtually none of this year that are his bread and butter.
That's not all folks though, we got to see some of that precision passing starting with his first TD of the game throwing over the head of one defender and leading Olsen between two other defenders absolutely perfectly. Great pitch and catch, that was also ran off of a run fake.
Again we see another nice precision laser thrown to Bennett in the last two minutes of the second quarter, and a great job by Bennett to come down with the ball in traffic for the first down.
Not more than a few plays later we were a hairs breadth away from a touchdown to Knox, one that will likely be one once the two have a bit of time to get on the same page. For all the good that we saw out of Cutler there is still a bit to work on, and this play was one of those few that you'd like to have back.
Once again on a play action pass that the Vikings bit on heavily we got to see a nice TD lob to Clark in the back of the end zone leading him to the back corner over a few Vikings defenders.
We've also got the fantastic throw while getting hit to Bennett in the end zone, just a fantastic move by Bennett and gutsy throw while getting hit that was absolutely spot on.
And then we've got the game winner to DA, which is well...enough said.
We had to wait 15 games to finally see what we paid for, but man if the rest of the games from here on out are anything like this one, you'll never hear another word about it from me.
Quick Hits
Olsen looked a lot like a great TE tonight, breaking more than a few weak arm/leg tackles, and doing the same thing he's always done in campaigning for the call.
Manning has finally found a place to shine at kick returner, I hope he enjoys his ST role and sticks with the team.
CDub vs Rodeo Cowboy, and CDub wins. I couldn't be prouder of our new starting LT.