Da Bear Cast Blog

It was a tough game to watch from start to finish but the Bears were in the game all the way up until the end. Something a lot of people aren’t really noticing. They almost tied up the game with a third string quarterback! Onto another subject, everyone is calling Jay a wimp and a quitter. Including players all around the league. It’s utterly disgusting and I want it to stop. The dude was sacked 52 times throughout the season, suffered concussions and only missed one game. Then people started to burn Cutler jersey’s after the game. SHAME ON YOU! Bunch of band wagon fans, go root for the Packers. We don’t want you in our fan base. I hope they feel like crap when it was announced today that Jay had a MCL tear. I hope you regret ever burning that jersey and I hope you root for another team.

Anyways, I’m sure I’ll have another rant like that during this entry. I like to keep it a one rant per blog, but it might not happen, sorry. Time to break down the offense. They looked somewhat deflated after being pumped from demolishing the Seahawks. I do think they were a play away from tying the game. Cutler overthrew Devin Hester in the red zone and that stalled a drive. There were several plays like that, and you can’t win games when you over throw your receivers on key third downs. Cutler didn’t look comfortable at all and it was due in part to the knee injury he suffered sometime during the first half. One play that stands out in my mind when he broke a tackle running the ball for a first down. Classic Jay right there. I think Jay had a great year, I just wish that it didn’t end this way. It’s basically a scandal it the sports world because of all the haters are taking this injury and spinning it so that Jay is the bad guy. It really disgusts me.

Onto Todd Collins and Caleb Hanie. I know everyone is wondering why Collins was even in the game and the only reason I can come up with is experience. That’s the only thing that kept Hanie from being the #2 QB in my opinion. Even with the experience, I would of put Hanie above Collins. As we saw from yesterday, Hanie definitely has talent and could possibly be a great back up for Jay Cutler for years to come… or the Bears will trade him for a late round draft pick. Either way, I’m very proud of Caleb Hanie and I do hope they give him some type of extension. Don’t pay him starter money, but give him a little more than what back up makes.

Matt Forte and Chester Taylor had a pretty good game. Especially Matt Forte, he caught several passes and ran for 70 yards on 14 carriers. Unfortunately he didn’t have any touchdowns. I was really hoping that he’d break one and stroll into the end zone. I think Forte had a great year, it’s similar to his rookie season. Not as great, but it was close. I just wish he had a better start to the season, but that’s not completely his fault. The line was non existent and Martz was trying to find a rhythm to his offense. If he’s able to continue his dominant performance after the regular season’s bye week and the NFC title game, he will be at least a top 5 running back if there’s a line to block for him. I hope they give him an extension and pay him some big player money. I don’t know what the future holds for Chester Taylor. He did sign a four year contract so he’ll definitely be back next season, but it’s cloudy after that.  A lot of Bears fans I interact with think he should be cut because of his lack of yardage on the season. I say let the Bears get a real offensive line and lets see what happens after that.

The wide receivers had an okay day. I would of preferred to see them go after the ball more often. It probably didn’t help that they had three different quarterbacks. Matt Forte lead the team with ten catches. Seven more than Olsen and Bennett who had the second most for the game. If Jay Cutler was healthy and the line blocked for him, it definitely would been a better day for the receivers.

The line didn’t do it’s job in the first half, wish they could of blocked better for Jay. If they had, I’m positive that Jay wouldn’t have an injury right now and wouldn’t be called a wimp and other hateful words. They did do a good job in the second half in the run game and part of the passing game. I think there will be a lot of adjustments to the line during the offseason. I’m expecting the Bears to draft at least one offensive linemen.

Now onto the defense. I’m not going to sugar coat this, they started out flat and looked horrible in the first half. They ended up stopping the ‘great’ Aaron Rodgers and left it up for the Bears offense to win this game. At one point during the game, Joe Buck or Troy Aikman said that Aaron Rodgers was ‘Mr. January’ because of his performance in the playoffs. I thought that was hilarious because he ended up with a 55.4 qb rating, two interceptions and only one rushing touchdown. I really despise Aikman, Buck and Aaron Rodgers. I mainly dislike Aikman and Buck more. They are easily the most biased sports commentators in NFL history for crying out loud. I felt like my ears were bleeding throughout the game just listening to those two knuckleheads. Sorry for the rant, back to the defense. They really stopped the Packers passing game and running game in the second half, something they weren’t able to do in the first half. I was very impressed when they were able to stall the supposed hottest offense team in the playoffs.

Brian Urlacher had a great game, getting a sack, key interception and ten tackles. He was easily the MVP of the defense that game. He wasn’t the only linebacker who had a pick yesterday. Lance Briggs had a great interception off the foot of a packers receivers. I was very impressed with the play from both minus the Urlacher miss on a key third down. That was ugly.

I would like to say special teams didn’t play as well as I thought they were going to. Brad Maynard needs to be cut this offseason. Especially with that horrible, horrible, horrible punt of 24 yards. That was ugly and gave the packers great field position. I also wished that Devin ran one back to tie the game, it would of been sweet if he did that.

I know, this is a lot to read, but I want to write a few more things. I believe that Mike Martz made a stupid choice to give the ball to Earl Bennett on a hand off when the game is on the line. You need to give the ball to your best play maker on the offense, Matt Forte. Don’t do a trick play, save that for when your in the lead by a few touchdowns. Not when your trying to tie the game in the NFC Championship. Get your head out of your butt and start to call smart plays.

Anyway, I’m done. I hope you enjoyed my writings for this stellar season we had. I was hoping they would make it to the show, but we’ll get there soon. Go Bears and BearDown!