Game Stories

Seriously? The defense couldn’t stop the run…..they couldn’t stop the pass…the offense was anemic…way too many turnovers….way too many WR screens….Once again the Bears appeared completely unprepared. Really, the only highlight was Earl Bennett returning a punt for a touchdown. He actually broke a tackle (granted it was the punter) but Bennett absorbed contact, stayed on his feet, and ran to the endzone. I was amazed, especially considering earlier in the game he ran out of bounds about 4 yards before contact from a DB.

This performance was so bad that I found myself actually rooting for Baltimore to run up the score in the hopes that a more lopsided loss may persuade the Bears ownership to blow the whole thing up and start over. Unfortunately, it seemed Baltimore took their foot off the gas in the second half, though it is hard to blame them with a 3 TD lead 5 minutes after halftime.

Game Notes:

Olin Kreutz and Omiyale spend waaaaaaaaay too much time in the backfield….I like that Fox uses a nice bright blue line to represent the line of scrimmage so I can clearly see how far back they get pushed every play. (The average seems to be about 2.5 yards)

Cutler actually does a nice job scrambling…he needs to do more of that and less of the throwing to the other team and taking sacks.

Briggs is a beast. A BEAST.

Gaines Adams…stats say 1 tackle, but I swear I actually saw him in on tackles on back to back plays…more than I can say for Tommie Harris.

There were some plays where the D-line gave Flacco all day, but more often then not, guys were running free in the secondary.

Khalil Bell has made enough of a statement to me….adios Wolfe and Jones.

Apparently the Bears are the only team that can not successfully run a slant.

If only we could bottle some Tim Shaw passion and give it to the rest of the team.

At this point, Jerry Angelo needs to DEMAND that Lovie starts to look to the future. Iglesias and Gilbert need to dress and get some playing time the rest of the season. If Omiyale is the future right tackle, play him there. The Bears need to find out ASAP who is salvageable and who needs to be gone for next season.

Lovie, by all counts, this was another legitimate loss.

Thank God for the Blackhawks.

Charles Tillman

During ESPN’s Monday Night Football broadcast this week, analyst Jon Gruden proclaimed that Packers cornerback Charles Woodson is the best ball-stripper he’s ever seen.

It was an interesting statement given that Bears cornerback Charles Tillman has forced more fumbles than Woodson both this season and in their careers.

Told what Gruden had said, Bears cornerback Zackary Bowman replied: “Then [he hasn’t] watched Peanut do it because he’s the best. He does it in the games, he does it in practice; he does it every day. He probably does it in his sleep too. That’s his craft, and for the most part, he’s mastered it.”

This season, Tillman is tied for the NFL lead with six forced fumbles, including three in a Week 11 loss to the Eagles. He now has forced 21 fumbles in 95 games over seven seasons, a rate of one fumble in every 4.5 games. Woodson has caused 17 fumbles in 164 games in 12 seasons, a rate of one fumble in every 9.6 games.

Bowman forced a fumble in last Sunday’s win over the Rams, but he knows that he has a long way to go before being as adept in that aspect of the game as his teammate. As for Tillman, he insisted that he wasn’t offended by Gruden’s comment about Woodson.

“I don’t care about none of that stuff,” Tillman said. “Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion.”

Larry Mayer – Bears Web Writer

So Bad it’s Funny

Gruden has wrong “Charles In Charge”