Da Bear Cast Blog

GammaBears here. I’m not going to lie. With three games left in the season, it’s looking like they’ll be playing for their position in the draft. After the loss to the Broncos, this season has sucked the life out of me..The Bears don’t deserve to be in the playoffs after they let the Broncos come back to win that game.

Marion barber is not an every down back with his costly mistakes, and the prevent defense just prevents you from winning the game.

Sorry for the lack of blog entries posted on here. It’s been a rough year for Bears fans. Lots of ups, but more downs than anything. Hope I’m wrong about the rest of this season and they do pull a miracle run and make it to the Super Bowl and win it.. that would be amazing… Chances are that won’t happen so.. Bear Down and happy holidays!

Going to make this short and sweet review.

Martz finally found the missing section of his playbook that was labelled “GIVE THE BALL TO MATT FORTE!”. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the Bears run the ball that much since the day’s of Walter Payton. Jay Cutler only passed for 102 yards and one interception. Very unlike Mike Martz really. I was completely shocked with the way they ran the ball over and over again.

So basically is was the Matt Forte show on the offense. He ran the ball 25 times for a career high 205 yards and one touchdown. Marion Barber also had a touchdown, his first as a Bear.

Devin Hester was on fire in special teams yesterday. He almost ran back kick off but someone wasn’t fast enough to block in front of Devin. He did run back a punt for a touchdown though. It was beautiful and it pretty much saved the Bears behind. He broke the NFL record for most punt return touchdowns with 11. What’s amazing is that he did it so quickly.

The Bears defense made some good plays yesterday and extremely bad ones. They gave up waaay to many yards through the air and on the ground. Cam Newton looked like a veteran out there against the Bears defense. I was completely wrong when I said he wouldn’t translate into the NFL. Good for Cam. I don’t think teams will ever underestimate him again. I was very impressed with the way the Bears did force that turnover for a touchdown. It was a thing of beauty. I don’t think the Bears defense was even able to sack Cam. Don’t think the Bears blitzed often, which could of been one of the reasons why he wasn’t taken down. Another reason is that he’s very mobile and can elude defenders like a running back.

If the Bears defense rebounds then they have a chance to stop Stafford and Calvin Johnson from taking control of the game.

The Bears offensive line better be aware of Suh and the rest of the Lions defense that just destroyed the Cowboys offense as well. It could be a very rough Monday night for the Bears…

GammaBears

Well that has to be the ugliest game I’ve seen the offense played since well… last week. Was hoping for more a little effort by Martz and the offensive line to actually run the ball. What a truly disgusting day to be a Bears fan. Not going to lie… I was really depressed and angry after that loss. Just seeing the Packers just tear apart the Bears was so disheartening. I guess that’s what it’s like having an actual General Manager that know what he’s doing. Talking to you Jerry. Take a notice from the Packers. They actually know how to draft and know what their team needs are. I can go on and on about how Jerry can’t draft and his inability to dress the offensive line properly, but that would be to easy…

The Bears offense pretty much sputtered throughout the game. Having some signs of hope, then those were wiped away by stupid penalties. Looking at you Frank Omiyale. So far you are two for two this year with games that you have stupid penalties. Keep it up and I’m sure you’ll break some type of record. Martz sure as heck didn’t help the Bears by giving the ball to Forte nine times! Oh yeah we’ll definitely run the ball more this week! Get out of here with that nonsense. It was worse this week! Can’t tell you how upset I am for wasting Forte’s skills and talents. It’s almost like they want to depreciate his value so they don’t have to pay him at all when they resign him. Mike Martz is destroying Jay Cutler and Matt Forte’s career one play at a time. There’s no denying it. It’s pretty evident from the past two weeks. Only bright spot of the offense was Dane Sanzenbacher recording his second touchdown of his NFL career.

The defense started of sluggish, letting the Packers stomp down the field on their first possession. They were able to stop them for a while but later in the second half the Packers just continued to run the ball down the Bears throat. They did cause a few turnovers, one of the few bright spots of the day for the defense. I was truly hoping for a complete smack down on the Packers courtesy of the defense, but that didn’t really happen. Brian Urlacher looks like a second year player again. He’s flying all over the field. Hopefully people wake up and realize that he’s a tremendous player and deserves to be voted into the Pro-Bowl.

Oh.. and how about the special teams play where Knox ran it back for a TD… That would of been awesome if it wasn’t called back eh? Makes me sick to my stomach that it was called back.

GammaBears

It’s gameday against the evil neighbors from up north. The Green Bay Packers. Every time I see them on the NFL Network or ESPN, all I can ever think about is the NFC Championship Game. The sting and the pain they put on the Bears and the fans. Ultimately one of the most pain losses, right next to the 2006 Super Bowl.

I’ll make this short and sweet. The Packers have one of the best offenses in the NFL, the Bears have to do everything to stop them. They need to be physical, hard hitting and smart out on the field. To win this game, they need to sack Rodgers and just create havoc all across the offensive line and pressure. That’s basically what this game will come down to when the Bears defense is on the field. The Bears offense on the other hand..

The Bears offensive line was atrocious last week, and I’m not going to lie… I’m not looking forward to seeing the rest of the season if every defense in the NFL will continue to pretty much clobber Jay Cutler on almost every play. It’s too hard to watch! Jerry Angelo and the rest of the front office should be ashamed of themselves. They should take a snap and let the defense clobber them! I’m not to worried about Forte really. He always finds a way to contribute to the offense, as we saw last week after Martz decided to pretty much nix the run game.

The rest of the Bears weapons, I’m a little worried about. They need to catch everything that is thrown to them. There can’t be one wasted down in this game against the Packers. Everyone needs to be on their game, specially the offensive line. I’ve already told you what I thought about the Bears line in a number of my posts. It’s not pretty folks…

To sum all this up, this game will be pretty much all about revenge. I hope today Brian Urlacher and the Bears defense just destroys the Packers offense. Make them pay for every yard gained and every ball caught. I also hope Jay Cutler has one of the best games in his career. It truly would be a great day…

To quote a pretty good movie.. “Give them nothing! Take from them, everything!”

Bears 27
Packers 17

GammaBears

Game was very ugly right after the Bears scored their first touchdown. It went down hill from there. Bears offense was clearly hurting without Roy Williams, Marion Barber and Lance Louis. It didn’t help that Jay’s go to guy, Earl Bennett went out to what appears to be a rib injury. Also didn’t help when Gabe Carimi went out as well. It was just ugly all over, except for Matt Forte and Dane Sanzenbacher. Dane recorded his first touchdown, the only touchdown for the Bears and Matt forte pretty much was the entire offense… It’s a bit reminiscent of how Walter Payton was the offense for the Bears for pretty much his entire career.

Probably didn’t help that the offense line gave up 5 sacks in the fourth and Jay Cutler was kicked in the throat in the third quarter. It was just a bad day for the offense period…

The defense clearly missed Chris Harris after Major Wright and Chris Conte were beat for a game changing long bomb from Brees. They gave up a lot of third down conversions which pretty much infuriated my dad and myself. Run defense was OK, certainly didn’t look to spectacular. The pass defense never really took control of the game away from Brees.

Really hope Jay, Wright, Carimi and Bennett is okay. Think those are the only ones who went down Sunday.

Oh… I would like to have a word with Martz and Lovie… Why in the heck did you keep Jay in the game with no chance of winning? You could of ended his season and possibly his career.

GammaBears

From what I read, this is Cutler’s first visit to the Louisiana Superdome. Don’t think he’ll be phased too much really. He’ll go to work like he did last Sunday.

The Bears defense might be in some trouble with the absence of Safety Chris Harris on Sunday. He’s one of the players who always seem to make key plays and without him on the field I’m a bit worried. Especially since they will be going against one of the most potent offenses in the league. Every player on the Saints offense is a weapon really.

They have so much depth it’s scary. I’m not 100% sure who will be replacing Harris, but I have a guess. I have a feeling it’s going to be Craig Steltz. It could even be Brandon Meriweather, but I’m not sure if he the coaches are comfortable with him starting so soon. Other than that, I’m hoping a repeat performance by the only defense in the NFL in Week 1 that didn’t give up a touchdown. I’m pretty confident that Brian Urlacher will have one his best games tomorrow. Even better than last week! Have a feeling he will be playing for his Mom tomorrow.

Won’t go over the offense much except that I hope the Bears get off the bus running. Like always they need to establish the run so it sets up the play action and the pass game basically. The most simplest thing in football really. Could be a little difficult without Lance Louis and Marion Barber though. Just hope Bell is ready for another busy Sunday. They had themselves a nice little one-two punch with Forte and Bell last week.

Another part of the offense that needs to be the spot on is the route running and the smart decisions by Jay Cutler. He really needs to play smart out there. If the relievers and Cutler are on the same page, then it will be a great day for the Bears passing game. Oh, totally forgot about the offensive line. They really need to work on protecting Jay better. I have a feeling that the Saints D has taken a lot of flak for giving all those points up to the Packers last week and they are looking to rebound.

Time for the prediction!
Bears 24
Saints 17

GammaBears

From what I read this morning, the Bears just didn’t beat the Falcons. They were so good on defense that they gave Matt Ryan his worst regular season game of his NFL career. He’s one of the top QB’s in the game and the Bears defense just dismantled him. They were able to force three turnovers, sack Ryan five times and break up a few passes. The Defense had one of it’s best games I’ve seen in quite some time against one of the elite teams in the entire league. If they are able to keep this up throughout the season, it will be reminiscent of the 2005-2006 Chicago Bears. They were able to get pressure without blitzing and that’s the sign of a great defense in the making.

The offense was spot on throughout most of the game. Cutler looked fantastic. The only blemish was a tipped pass that turned into interception and a TD. He threw for 312 yards with two touchdowns and the fluke tip that turned into a interception. He was spot on and bounced back from the NFC Championship Game and shut up his critics. I do have a feeling that Trent Dilfer will still talk trash about the Bears and Cutler though.

Matt Forte and Kahlil Bell had a good day, even without scoring a rushing touchdown. Forte played extremely well for someone who wants a new contract, unlike Chris Johnson who stunk up the game after getting paid. Forte rushed for 68 yards, 4.3 average on yards per carry. He also had 90 yards in receiving as well. Mainly came off that monstrous screen that looked reminiscent of last years screen against the Detroit Lions in week one. He broke quite a few tackles in that screen that made me very confident that we’ll see more plays like that throughout the season. Bell proved himself to be a very valuable back up running back. Always fighting for yards whenever he got the ball. I’ll be very happy when Barber comes back though, not knocking on Bell. Just means the Bears run game will be even that deeper.

The wideouts and tight ends had a great game without Greg Olsen on the field. Don’t get me wrong, I miss Olsen but the Bears offense was still able to put up points without him. Kellen Davis had a good day, minus that one oops where he stopped running when Cutler threw him the ball. He has to be the single toughest tight end in the league though. At one point I thought I saw more than 5 guys try to bring down Davis and he still putting up a fight. I love seeing that strength and toughness in navy blue and orange. He was also very helpful in blocking too. Gabe Carimi was having some trouble blocking and they just stuck Davis in there and it helped out a lot. Matt Spaeth had a good game too! Recording his first touchdown in a Bears uniform. He ran all the way from one side of the end zone to other side to give the ball to what looked like a Matt Spaeth cheering section. From what I heard his mom was one of the ladies.

The wide receivers played extremely well compared to what they did last year. I saw a lot more focus on the rout running this game. Something they weren’t able to do very well last season. Cutler didn’t have one favorite target really. He spread the ball out fairly evenly. Don’t think we’ll find out a favorite go to guy until game four or five this season. After having one of the worst preseasons for a receiver, Roy Williams caught everything that was thrown to him and it caught me by surprise. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who was caught off guard. Very glad he was able to contribute to the game. I saw a Dane Sanzenbacher on the field a few times. One was an awful play call where he was running the ball and other one was a catch for six yards.

On a side note, Adam Podlesh was fantastic in his first regular season outing with the Bears. Six punts with a 46.3 average. Something the Bears were lacking last year, no offense to Brad Maynard.

-GammaBears

Football is here finally! Time for families to gather around the television on Sunday’s to root for their favorite team! In this case, it would be the greatest team in the world, Da Bears! Been waiting for this ever since the NFC Championship Game and Draft day.

I’m not going to lie, this will be a very tough game. Even though the Falcon’s seem to jinx themselves in the playoffs, they are a superb regular season football team. Matt Ryan and Micheal Turner are just both ridiculous. They are hard to stop at what they do, but the Bears were able to halt Turner from what I remember the last time they were matched up against each other.

The only thing that stopped the Bears from winning that game was the offensive’s line ability to block for Forte. It was a close game though, only lost by 7. They were able to hold Turner to 35 yards, but he had a touchdown. Ryan threw two touchdowns, but two interceptions as well. Unfortunately Cutler threw two interceptions as well.

I think this game will be different though. The Bears still had Ron Turner as the offensive coordinator and a horribly predictable offense. The Bears have a better offensive line as well. I hope so anyway. In my honest opinion, the Bears need to establish a legitimate run threat so that will open up the complicated pass game that Mike Martz is famous for. If Forte, Bell and the offensive line produce a legit threat the Bears have a very good change of winning this game(No Marion Barber for the game, he’s out with a calf injury).

The other thing that has to happen is that the receivers and Jay Cutler need to be on the same page. Can’t tell you how many times that they were not on the same page last season. It was just horrible to watch to see drives stall because of that. I am also very worried about Roy Williams. He had a awful preseason and was named the number one receiver on the depth chart. He did absolutely nothing to prove himself to be the number one. Unless he’s playing everyone for a fool, the Bears will be in big trouble if butterfingers doesn’t catch what is thrown to him.

Now onto the defense! The Bears defensive line has so much depth. I can’t remember when the Bears had that much depth to be honest. I don’t even think the 2006 season had that much depth. Could be wrong though. As long as the guys on the front line can stop Turner, and get pressure in Ryan’s face, it will be a good day for the Bears defense. I’m predicting at least one sack from Peppers and Idonije to be honest. Both are looking to start this season by sending a message that the Bears defense is back and is ready to take on the Packers, Vikings and Lions.

I’m not too worried about the linebackers really. They are always solid every year. Hardly any player changes for this group. Which is a good thing in my opinion. I also think that the secondary is a solid group as well. Certainly helps that the Bears went out and got some help by signing Safety Brandon Meriweather after the Patriots let him go. He’s currently in competition with Major Wright for a starting job after he had a somewhat poor season. It’s certainly nice to have another pro bowler on the defense. They certainly need another when they go up against Matt Ryan and all the offensive weapons he has. Between Turner, Roddy White, Tony Gonzales, Julio Jones and Jason Snelling. Lots of weapons to drop the ball off to very quickly. The Bears defense needs to be fast, simple as that.

So here’s my prediction of the game..

Bears 21

Falcons 17

Go Bears! Bear Down!

-GammaBears

Bears released their week one depth chart today. Click here for the depth chart.

I’m not too happy with the way the wide receivers depth chart turned out. Pretty much because Roy Williams is listed as the number one without proving himself. I would take Dane Sanzenbacher as the number one before I would Roy Williams because he can actually catch the ball.

I just wish they would of put Knox, Bennett or Hester as the number one. Someone who has actually worked with Cutler for more than just preseason. That’s just my opinion after all. I’m not paid to make those decisions. Sorry for the rant… hopefully Williams proves me wrong and has 90 catches.

I am very intrigued with the offensive line. Not so sure why the Bears paid Chris Spencer, who is a center so much to just be the back up for Garza instead of starting. Here is the current offensive line depth chart. Here’s hoping they can block for Jay and the RB crew. Certainly should be better than last year. If not, Jay will be in very big trouble.

LT J’Marcus Webb
LG Chris Williams
C Roberto Garza
RG Lance Louis
RT Gabe Carimi

The defensive line was pretty predictable, Peppers and Idonije starting on the ends. Henry Melton listed as the defensive tackle, while Anthony Adams listed as the nose tackle. Very solid line in my opinion.

Bears newly signed Safety Brandon Meriweather is listed as number two behind Free Safety Major Wright. I have a feeling that Meriweather might be starting soon with the way Wright performed in preseason. He missed on a lot of tackles and that could be his downfall this season.

Pretty interesting they have Devin Hester listed as both the kick returner and punt returner this year. From what I remember last year he didn’t do much on the kick return game, mainly just did punts. Maybe since they are deep in wide receivers they are able to use him on specials teams a lot more this season. I’m sure with his speed he’ll be able to take out the ball a lot farther than most since the new rule. I call it the “I’m tired of seeing Devin Hester destroy teams” rule that Goodell put in this year and the teams who actually voted for it are probably teams Devin Hester burned in the kick return game. Chickens! Hahaha.

That’s my brief run down the depth chart, check the Bears official depth chart by clicking the link at the top of this post.

Gammabears