Hello, D.J. Moore!

I had to let the bears victory over the cowboys sink in for a while before i wrote this, otherwise it would have been to homerific and optimistic. The Bears won in impressive fashion against the Cowboys yesterday there is no doubt. The real question is how good is this bears team and we should get an indication on next Monday versus the Packers in Soldier Field. Either way the bears have started better than pretty much everyone (including myself) expected them to.

The Good:

- Jay Culter. A couple more games like the first 2 and we will be talking about Culter not just being in the pro bowl but starting it. Honestly, Im not sure Jay could have been more impressive than he was in this game. He made the right reads, he was spot on accurate and he took some nasty hits but got right back up. He looks like the franchise quarterback that everyone has hoped he will be.

- DBs. The bears gave up a lot of passing yards but that show how impressive Zach Bowman, Peanut Tillman and the rest of the crew were in the secondary. When a team throws 51 times you are gonna give up some yards. But DJ Moore had 2 picks and Tillman punched another fumble and this team is all about turnovers. But more so than just turnovers, the cowboys didnt get big plays. Romo checked the ball down a lot and the bears DBs played good coverage so there was no opportunity for good plays.

- Frank Omiyale. I dont particular like the player that "Ole" Omiyale has been with the bears. But he had a spectacular game on sunday. He switched over to the left tackle after Williams went down and he played very well. His play was a big reason why the line settled down after the first 2 series.

The Bad:

- No run game. To be a good team, the bears are gonna have to figure out how to run the ball. They averaged below 3 yards per carry yesterday and that is just not acceptable. I'll give Martz credit, he stuck with the run but he needs to come up with a way of the bears being more effective on the ground.

- The OL's start. After the first 2 series, I was almost hoping they would pull Cutler because he literally was gonna get killed. But to the O-line's credit, they somehow pulled together and had a decent game. They still couldnt block DeMarcus Ware but no one really can. Still I'm sure Jay is waking up today black and blue.

- No sacks. I dont need 12 sacks a game but i would like consistent pressure. Besides Peppers, who was basically double teamed every play, the bears didnt get a lot of pressure on Romo. Toenia and Melton gave some noticeable pass rush push but almost everyone else on the D-line had a subpar game. Tommie Harris may be healthy but he isnt the tommie harris that went to 3 straight pro-bowls anymore. The bears still need to find more consistent pash rush.

The Splendid: Devin Hester and your WRs. They were great all day and made big plays and the right adjustments. Not only did Cutler have maybe his best game as a bear but the WRs might have had their best day as group. This is a dangerous group and I think they can only get better and you will be seeing more run after the catch from this group as defenses become more frighten of getting beat over the top. And how bout that Hester 1-handed TD grab!

Week 2: Cutler's S.O.S.

It was just the 2nd preseason game. I have to keep reminding myself this. Hopefully, the bears can improve mightly in the 3 weeks before the opener. Here are what I took as the positives (not many) and the causes for concern out of saturday night's game:

Pros

1. The bears 1st teamers outscored the raiders first team 14-13 for one half of football. And this was basically without a kicking game because there didnt have a long snapper. The raiders may not be a great team this year but they will be solid and beating them at half is a positive sign for the bears 1st teamers.

2. Brandon Manumaluena can block and is a huge man. Mike Martz wasnt kidding when he described this guy as a 3rd OT at TE. He cleared the way for the bears running game with some punishing pancake type blocks. Matt Forte also showed us the burst that we all remember from his rookie season. Positive things happen in the running game.

VOTE: How many games will the
BEARS win this season? ---->

3. Julius Peppers is as good as advertised. He didnt tally a sack but he did cause havoc in the backfield on a lot of plays and flashed the ability that the bears are paying 13.5 million for.

Definite concerns

1. Is Orlando Pace still available? For that matter, can someone call John Tait and Rueben Brown back from retirement? Chris Williams, Frank Omiyale and Lance Louis got consistently beat in pass blocking. Williams was the worst offender. He made Cameron Wimbley and his speed rush look like oldschool Lawrence Taylor. But, Omiyale got pushed around on pass blocking as well. The 1st team O-line gave up 5 sacks and had Jay scrambling for his life. Now, some of it was Jay's fault as he failed to step up in the pocket and avoid atleast 2 of the sacks. But still, I'm not sure what the answer is to this O-line problems because i dont think a better option exists on the roster. It seems we must cross our fingers and hope for someone improvement from this young line.

2. Chris Harris can't play free safety. Harris can be a valuable player up in the box and near the line of scrimmage but the bears might be better off with me playing the deep safety. There has to be a better option on the bears roster at free safety than Harris even if Major Wright is hurt. Harris was late getting over and he just doesnt have the range to cover the necessary ground. After the game, he said that the safety spots were interchangeable in this defense but clearly they arent when every pass downfield had him getting there late from his deep coverage. The bears traded him 2 years ago because they knew he didnt have the range for free safety, why do they think he can play it now?

3. Someone has to step up on the defense. The Jason Campbell had too much time in the pocket on most plays, receivers were running down the stems open and raiders RBs were making people miss. Peppers looked good, Urlacher, Tillman and Briggs looked solid. But these are guys we know are going to perform. What will make this a good defense is if someone unknown can step up and make an impact. Tommie Harris had some flashes this game. But, I have pretty much given up on Mark Anderson to anything besides celebrate when his teammates do something good or for Danieal Manning to be anything but a confused athlete. Let's hope Irsael Idonije (who showed some flashes this game), Major Wright or Matt Toeaia (who i think can be a DT ala Chris Zorich) or anther defensive player can step up and become an impact player. Because without that, this defense is just middle of the pack.

Stay tuned for some updates on position battles and who to watch in next week's 3rd preseason game.