Good
1. The bears have a pass rush and its name is Julius Peppers. He made Levi Brown, the cardinals
OT, look like he was playing for the bears offensive line. He was unblockable and as a result, he
made the rest of the bears D-line better. Tommie Harris also appears healthy and was playing with
some of his old explosion. The D-line had a good game and Peppers looks as good as advertised.
2. You cant run on this team. The bears have been excellent at stopping the run and it was no
different in this game. The defensive line was getting penetration and forcing the running back
to shuffle his feet in the backfield killing any of his momentum. I think the bears will be a top 5
defense at stopping the run this year.
3. The bears have 2 good running backs. Both Taylor and Forte have shown good bursts and
elusiveness this preseason. They both can catch and carry the ball and should have big games this
year.
The Ugly
1. #6 - No one looked worse on the field than Jay. Not only was the offense as a whole confused
but Jay looked like a lost rookie out there. (I was gonna say Dan LeFevour, but he had a really good
game). It was the most inaccurate I have seen Cutler be and he tried to force plays that werent
there. In his midgame interview, he even admitted that he "left a lot of opportunities out on the
field". To be brutally honest, it looked like he was afraid in the pocket. He had happy feet, was
never set when he threw a pass, and wouldnt step up into the pocket when he needed to. He got
sacked 4 times and honestly, I put three of them on Cutler. If he played like this in the regular
season, he would have been benched.
2. The timing offense. The only time that the bears were on the same page about they needed to
get this game over fast. From the 1st play when 2 WRs ran to the same spot, the offense was a
clusterfuck. I actually think the line blocked better but still not good. But the offense routinely had
the playclock down under 5 seconds and Martz has always stressed quick offense so something was
wrong. Cutler even said guys were lined up in the wrong spots on multiple plays. Really?!?!? This
was your regular season preview and you have guys lined up in wrong spots on multiple plays!!
They have 14 days to get on the same page or this is gonna be a long miserable season on offense.
3. Injuries will kill the bears. The bears arent a deep team no matter what Lovie says. Briggs went
out with an ankle injury and you saw a completely different defense without him and Urlacher on
the field. The cardinals(derek anderson & matt leinart) coverted over 40% of their 3rd downs on
the defense. League avg last year was 27%. The cardinals checked the ball down and without those
two guys in the middle of the defense with their speed the cardinals WRs ran for most of the 1st downs.
Lovie's defense requires the LBs to be fast and sure tacklers and without them, it just doesnt work.
I'm praying to the injury god already for briggs and urlachers' health.
There is more that i found ugly from this game (Chris Harris, Tim Hightower says your jock is back
on the field where he juked you out of it. The spot of the 2nd time he did it, not the first) but
dont have the heart to keep tearing apart the bears. The bears play this thursday and the starters
wont be in for more than a series or 2. There are some interesting players to watch though like
the battle for the last RB spot between Garrett Wolfe and Khali Bell, Dan Lefevour and the young
D-line man. Look for my bears season preview to come sometime early next week.
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