- Man, I can't wait for Chris Harris to come back, I'm sure he'll solidify our safety presence and we'll stop giving up so many big plays!
Seriously, Harris was about as bad as I think we've seen him. Completely overran the reverse in the first quarter, went one-on-one against Calvin Johnson in the open field and got headfaked out of his pants, and got sucked in on Best's huge 88-yard touchdown run. - Was it just me, or did Cutler seem like he had had enough of standing directly in the line of fire? The second quarter of his was near excellence, evading pressure, creating time, making good reads escaping more than one sack, rolling out and throwing to receivers coming open. His rating only dipped below 100 during the fourth quarter final drive. Pay attention Martz, I'm pretty sure that was a Cutler middle finger in your direction, that he won't just stand behind the deathwall when he can help it. He took a beating and still had a strong game.
- Kellen Davis racked up three false starts before False Start Frank Omiyale even collected his one. The Bears had nine on the day. On one occasion, 3rd and 6 became 3rd and 16 after two consecutive false start penalties. Speaking of, anyone else think we've seen the last of the Omi-Ole! era? Cliff Avril was all over him, and on one or two run plays where Suh matched up with him (such as the 4th and 1 on the DET 25), Omiyale may as well have not existed. When Jon Gruden is pointing out how bad you were, might be time to consider cleaning out your locker.
- I'm confused. Why was the Second Coming of Rash Davis getting primo receiver snaps in place of anybody else on the roster? At about 11 minutes left in the third quarter, someone in my living room and I realized we hadn't heard Johnny Knox's name at all. If this isn't indicative of the Bears' receiver dilemma, I'm not sure what is.
- So... Anybody know what rest stop the D-Line Bus stopped at? Izzy collected a sack, but aside from that, Stafford's jersey was clean far too often. Too many times, he had a clean pocket.
- Speaking of Stafford, wow. He looked... fairly inaccurate last night. Not a lot of pressure in his face, just a bunch of overthrows and misfires.
- Stop me if you've heard this one before. It's third and one in the first quarter, Cutler takes the snap, takes a five-step drop, and sacked.
- Jahvid Best. 12 carries, 163 yards, TD. Let that sink in for a second. Jahvid Bleeping Best.
- RPRT just keeps making plays. DJ Moore made a beautiful break on that interception, his first where the ball wasn't tipped.
- There were a couple curious things in this game. First and foremost, the fourth down call in the first quarter. Surprisingly enough, I didn't mind going for it. What I did mind was A) going right into the teeth of the Detroit defense, and B) not blocking anybody at either the point of attack or Suh on the backside.
Second, I had no idea about the "tipped ball" challenge. I always thought as long as the ball was catchable (it was) and the receiver was interfered with (Sanzenbacher was), that's pass interference. Third... At what point did Urlacher's helmet hit the Lions' receiver's? - Matt Forte, why you no catch critical third down pass?
- Somewhere, Kellen Davis just got whistled for another false start.
- Back to Jahvid Best for a second. I understand being able to break DJ Moore's tackle. But Lance Briggs? Really? I'm not sure if the Lions could have broken more tackles yesterday even if they had all bathed in Crisco for an hour.
- Devin Hester. Love what he can do with the ball. Hate that he'll still make the same mind-numbing mistakes like catching a kickoff just to step out of bounds, or catch a screen and run backwards for ten yards. I understand trying to make a play, but sometimes, just gotta accept there is no play and take what you can get, even if it's zero.
- For all the talk about the Bears' special teams advantage, the Lions did a very good job of containing the Bears' return game. Hester couldn't manage a thing.
- So the Bears burned through all three first half timeouts in the final 5:40 of the first quarter, behind two timeouts and a failed challenge. Good effort!
- Cutler was really effective getting the ball out early on quick drops and routes - I recall Spaeth, Sanzenbacher, and Davis all making real nice plays out of the two-step hot read in quick succession.
- Time of possession was almost 2-to-1 in favor of the Bears. What's wrong with this picture? Big plays and penalties. Stop that.
That's all I've got for you. What did you notice yesterday?