Week 2 v. the team america hates

Alright so i dont know if America hates the cowboys. But, they should and I sure do. They are right behind the Packers and Vikings on my hate scale. The Cowboys are coming off a pretty embarrassing loss to the Redskins. They were heavy favorites in the game and their supposedly high power offense did nothing and looked terrible doing it. They might have more questions on the offensive line then the bears do. So, here are the matchups to watch, the keys to the bears success and my hero of the day.

Matchups:

1. Chris Williams v. DeMarcus Ware. All Ware has done is record 11+ sacks in the past 4 years including 20 in '08. All Chris Williams has done is look like shit all preseason and in the first game when going against good pass rushers. No team can block Ware 1 on 1 and hope their QB lives through the game. The bears will double team, cut block and chip with backs and TEs all day but occasionally Ware will be 1 on 1 with Williams. Can Williams do enough to not get Cutler killed?

2. Tommie Harris & Anthony Adams v. the guards of the Cowboys. There is no question that Peppers will provide pressure from the outside he. He is that good that you can count on it every game. But will the huge man that is Leonard Davis, listed at 370, and the rest of the Cowboys huge interior line consume the bears' DTs? If the bears cant get penetration up the middle then the cowboys will run all over the place and with their dynamic passing attack be pretty much unstoppable for the bears D.

3. Devin Hester v. Terrence Newman. This isn't because hester has gotten so much attention this week for only catching 1 catch last week. Its because it seems that other teams deem Hester the bears #1 WR and put their best corner on him. The cowboys bring a lot of pressure and a lot of blitzing with their front 7 so Newman is constantly left 1 on 1 with the other teams top WR. If Hester can beat Newman a couple of times in the game, it will make the cowboys dial down the blitzes and give Cutler more time.

Keys for the Bears:

1. Get off the bus running. The bears ran the ball 31 times last week but only for a 3.3 yd avg. That needs to improve and they need to be able to pick up chucks of yardage on the ground against the 'boys. It will prevent hits on cutler and it will slow down the pass rush. The line must figure out how to run block against a 3-4 defense.

2. Contain Jason Witten. There was no question that last year the bears were vulnerable down the middle and to good TEs. Witten is about as good as they come at TE and he is questioned Romo's favorite target. Urlacher, Briggs and the safeties must locate Witten and not allow him to pick up big chunks of yardage down the middle of the field. Nothing is more disheartening to a defense.

3. Special teams be "special". For years the bears have had one of the best special teams units in the NFL but in week 1, they looked average. I think for the bears to win this game the special teams must come up with a big, momentum changing play, be it a long return or kick block or forced fumble. This is one area where the bears probably have more talent than the cowboys and it needs to show up.

Hero of the day: Johnny Knox. As i said above the cowboys bring a lot of guys on the blitz and leave their corners 1 on 1 with WRs. Knox and Cutler should have a few shots at deep balls in man coverage and Knox can out run any of the 'boys secondary. Look for a big shot over the defense's head and for Knox dancing in the endzone if Cutler can recognize the coverage/blitz and have time to put it up.

Final Score: I think this will be a very close game. A lot closer than the nine points that the cowboys are favored by. In the end, i think it will come down to a score in the 4th quarter to pull ahead and i have no idea which team that will be. I'll take the cowboys just because i think they have too much talent on the offensive side of the ball even though they didnt show it last week.

Cowboys 24, Bears 21

Robbie Gould missed 2 FGs??? I dont believe it.

So all day I've been trying to focus on the positives from the bears 3rd preseason game and unfortunately, I have really struggled. The starting offense and defense played into the 3rd quarter and for the most part it was discouraging for a bears fan. The offense looked out of sync and the defense didnt have a strong performance and Robbie Gould really did miss 2 FGs which i still cant believe. So, here's the good and bad/ugly from the game.

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.

What to watch for

So, the bears' 3rd preseason game happens this saturday and the starters are slated to play into the 3rd quarter against the Cardinals. The teams will actually game plan for the other team which they dont do for the first 2 preseason games. This is pretty much the game that best reflects how the team will play in the season so there are some things that we all should be watching for:

1. Can the O-Line block anyone? - This one is pretty easy to see. As Cutler goes, so goes the bears. Can the O-Line bounce back after a bad half against the Raiders?

2. The timing between Cutler and his WRs - As has been said repeated times over the offseason, Martz's offense is all about the timing between the QB and WR's routes. Martz preaches to throw to a spot on the field because the WR should be there which is really hard to cover if the WR is there. The defenses have always tried to disrupt the WRs and QBs by blitzing or jamming the WRs. Are the bears' WRs good enough to run a precise route and get off a cornerback's jam at the line? Can Culter be under control enough to throw to a spot and trust his WRs? Watch and see how much Cutler has to pump and then pull the ball down because some WR isnt in the right spot? Hopefully not a lot.

3. Don't let up D - The last couple of years the bears' defense has let the opponent convert on too many 3 downs. And on a lot of 3rd down and longs. The Raiders carved up the bears on the third down. Many things can be pointed at as the reason for this trend but most importantly its the safeties and pass rush. I have no doubt that Peppers will get consistent pass rush but what will the other linemen do? And are the bears safeties good enough in coverage to play man and let others blitz and not just drop back in zone coverage? Watch and see if the bears can get off the field on 3rd down.

Positions to Watch - The bears dont have a whole of questions at who is gonna start but they do have some interesting questions as to who will contribute behind the starters.

1. The slot WR - I'm interested in seeing what the bears do here because i dont think there is any question that Hester, Aromashodu and Knox are their best 3 WRs. But, they want to have Olsen on the field a lot and people have been praising Rashied Davis' camp and he has gotten quite a few snaps in the preseason. Who is gonna get snaps as the 3rd WR and how many will they be? This will be the first chance we have to see how Martz will juggle all the players?

2. Left side of the D-line - We know that Tommie Harris and Peppers will start on the right side. Now who will join them? Will it be Mark Anderson or Idonije at the other end (im praying for Izzy)? And who will be in the DT rotation? We know that Anthony Adams will play in run situations because he is solid against the run but who will be the nickle and pash rushing DT next to Harris? Harrison, Melton and Toenia all have a shot to win that job and it should be interesting to watch how they all perform this week. If anyone can make an impact, they will guarantee themselves more snaps and more time come the regular season.

3. The safeties - Like I've said before, I dont think the bears can win with Harris starting at free safety and Danieal Manning at strong safety. It looks like the bears safeties are healthy for the most part and maybe we will see someone else step up and take the free safety spot so that Harris can be moved back to strong. Watch to see on the deep throws to the sidelines and see if how quickly a safety gets there to cover and maybe we will have an answer to the bears safety questions.

4. O-line - Not sure, I need to say much here. They just need to block better because I'm not sure the bears realistically have any other options for players to start on the roster. They must just get better as a unit. Pray for this!

Enjoy the closest thing to real Bears football until September 12th.