Posts Tagged ‘offense’

Cutler Recognizes the Vital

Tuesday, May 26th, 2009

In a recent article on Yahoo.com Charles Robinson quotes Jay Cutler as saying:

“We’re going to run the ball,” Cutler said. “I think I’ve learned the hard way [that] you’ve got to run the ball and you have to stop the run to get anywhere in this league and make the playoffs and make a push for the Super Bowl. That’s not going to change, especially here in December with the wind and the weather. You’re going to have to be able to grind out those four- and five-yard runs.”

It is great that Cutler recognizes the Bears philosophy, and almost equally as important is that the Bears keep that philosophy. Running, and stopping the run is so important not for what it is, but because it will allow Cutler the most opportunities to win games.

With Pace, Williams, Kreutz, and Forte, the Bears should be in good standing to make this philosophy work on the offensive side of the ball. The question marks at defense, and receiver unfortunately still remain.

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Chicago Bears Training Camp – Day 7

Wednesday, July 30th, 2008

I keep hearing negative things about this Bears team from talking heads around Chicago. It they took the time to pay attention they would notice that we could have one of the best Bears defenses we’ve had in a long time. That of course is based on the idea that everyone stays healthy. We are really only deep on the D-line, so the linebackers and secondary HAS to stay healthy for us to have a strong defense.

Offense is another thing. If our offense can keep our D off the field, and move the ball with moderate consistency it will go a long way in keeping our D healthy. Hester (assuming he retains his role as a return man) will give us continual field position advantages, and our offense just has to get some points out of it. If we can get 17 – 20 points out of our offense, and the defense remains healthy, we will have a good year.

All in all, I am sick and tired of all the negativity that I hear spewed out of the mouths of talking heads, mostly coming FROM Chicago. I don’t know how you can be a fan of the Bears and say some of the things those morons say.

Enough talk, enjoy some highlights from Roy at Bears training camp.

Had to remove. Sorry.

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Posted in Bears, Defense, QB, training camp | No Comments »

First Things First

Monday, December 10th, 2007

Before we can get the ball to our talented wide receivers. Before we can run the ball with Cedric Benson, Adrian Peterson, Garrett Wolfe, or Joe Schmo. Even before we can have a successful quarterback, we HAVE to have a good offensive line. Our offensive line is, as most people know, the oldest offensive line in the NFL. Some of them have been around so long they were in attendance at the same play were Lincoln was shot in 1865.  Most likely the poor play is due to age, but whatever it is due to, the offensive line is playing horrendous football right now. Probably the most telling stat for the poor offensive line performance is rushing yards per game. The Bears rank 31st in the league averaging only 82. The only team worse is the Kansas City Chiefs, and they are terrible. We are also tied for last in yards per carry at 3.2, once again with the Chiefs. It is not a good thing to be in the same category with a Larry Johnsonless Chiefs.  I couldn’t find any stats on penalties, but I know Fred Miller has to lead the universe in false starts. He does so, because he knows that if he doesn’t get a head start he is giving up a sack or a tackle for a loss, and does most of the time even when he does have a head start.

Over all on our offensive line we need to replace 2 guys. John Tait looks like he might have a couple of good years left in him, Terrence Metcalf needs to be replaced, Olin Kruetz is still a stud, but not for too much longer, Roberto Garza supposedly already has a replacement in Josh Beekman (we have yet to see him play), and the player that needs replacing the most – Fred Miller.  With the acquisition of Josh Beekman in last years 4th round of the draft, the Bears hopefully fill the remaining two spots through free agency and possibly the draft. If the Bears can pick up a good O-lineman through free agency, which is what Jerry Angelo likes to do, then that would free them up to fill other needs in the draft. Let’s just hope that Angelo and the Bears don’t spend a bunch of draft picks on players who are going to spend next year on IR like a lot of players from this years draft class. 

Let us know what you think our team needs the most. 

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Bears Lose… An Offensive Battle?

Monday, November 19th, 2007

It was apparent that this was going to be a long day for the Bears defense as long as Matt Hasselbeck was playing the way he was. As long as he wasn’t on the sideline whining about some “nagging” side cramp because he forgot to eat a banana before the game, he was on the field throwing accurately all over the Bears. Hasselbeck was 30-44 for 337 yards and two TDs. DJ Hackett going ProBowl on usOne was a really gross sidearm toss while he was getting sacked, and of course the announcers thought it was the most amazing thing they had ever seen. They said it was “Farve-like”. Well, pretty much anything is Farve-like when you consider Brett Farve has played in the NFL for 87 years, and has thrown every conceivable pass known to man.

On the other side Rex Grossman actually played pretty well. It was good to see a progression and an obvious comfort level in the pocket that Rex showed. This was despite playing with one less offensive lineman the whole game because Fred Miller was evidently somewhere else. Rex did have a fumble that came at a crucial time in the game when the Bears were driving down the field and looking to tie the game. It was Patrick Kerney (Fred Miller’s blocking assignment) who hit Rex and stripped the ball from him. Rex finished the game 27-34 for 266 yards. If Rex continues to show poise in the pocket and the ability to scramble at least a little bit, and can grow in the area of checking down, and getting rid of the ball quicker, I think he has a future with Chicago. 

Cedric Benson also showed me something Sunday that I have never scene before. For 2 plays in the first quarter Garrett Wolfe and Cedric Benson exchanged jerseys on the sideline and Wolfe went in the game and ran the ball for 43 yards and 20 yards. Then they switched back and Benson only ran for 26 yards the rest of the game. Benson showed here what he did at Texas; when there is a MASSIVE whole, he is really good at running through it. It was nice to see him avoid tackles and actually outrun someone on the 43 yard touchdown run.

The defense showed how porous they can be without Nathan Vasher and Mike Brown in the secondary, but a lot of the credit needs to go to Matt Hasselbeck. Trumain McBride after two great performances showed that he is just a rookie giving up a couple really long pass plays. It was good to see the D line get better pressure than they have all year on a Seattle team that has one of the better O-lines in the NFL. I don’t know how much I want to blame the defense for this game because of how impressive I thought Hasselbeck was, but they still could have done much better. Apparently all those pull-ups the Hasselbeck does in the Campbell’s soup commercials are working out for him.

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Posted in Bears | 2 Comments »