I started to write this post in the theme of the song, you know “On the first day of Christmas…” but that was way too cheesy and dumb. So here it is in simple numerical form.
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Archive for the ‘Regular Season’ Category
12 Days of Bears Christmas
Sunday, December 21st, 2008
Clark, Olson Showing They Are the Best TE Combo in the NFL
Friday, October 24th, 2008It seem that the Bears have a clear advantage against defenses when they run the double tight end formation with Olson and Clark:
“When throwing with two tight ends on the field, Orton is 29-for-44 for 371 yards with four touchdowns and one interception. His passer rating is 113 and he’s averaging 8.4 yards per attempt, both well above his overall numbers.”
Click to continue reading “Clark, Olson Showing They Are the Best TE Combo in the NFL”
Bears Win Through the Air
Monday, October 20th, 2008The Chicago Bears won against the Minnesota Vikings Sunday at Soldier field mostly throwing the ball.
It wasn’t with their stifling D, it wasn’t through their battering running game either. In fact neither of those parts of the Chicago Bears showed up. Instead it was on the arm of Neckbeard himself Kyle Orton.
Orton threw for 283 yards, and completed 65% of his passes. He also threw for 2 TDs and had a 112 passer rating. All against one of the best defenses in the league.
Orton continues to look better for Chicago and he is doing it with enthusiasm. It seems that Ron Turner is opening up the playbook with Orton like he never did with Rex, or Griese. He is more creative and he trusts Orton to put the game on his shoulders. In fact the “Get off the bus running” Bears threw almost 63% of the time against Minnesota and won the game because they were aggressive and not because they played typical ball control offense.
They knew that with their secondary decimated and with Minnesota strong in stopping the run, they were going to have to trust Neckbeard, and they did.
One of the best things to see out of Orton is the consistency he is playing with. He is starting to put together full games of good play, and when he does have a bad half, he at least plays one good half. He is starting to make Chicago have a glimmer of hope that they might have a decent QB.
- Decatur Nate
Chicago Bears vs Atlanta Falcons – Keys to the Game
Friday, October 10th, 2008Some interesting things to note here that we talked about in our podcast previewing the game.
1. Roddy White has 26 receptions. The Falcon with the next highest receptions is Jarious Norwood with 11 and he is a running back. The next receiver with the most receptions is Michael Jenkins with 9. That means Matt Ryan rarely looks anywhere but to his #1 target. If there was a good game to rest Nate Vasher it would be this game because of Ryan’s inability to look more than 1 place.
2. The Falcon’s have the #2 rushing attack in the NFL. The Bears have the #4 rush defense in the league. This is a good match-up for the Bears D. In the Falcons 2 losses Michael Turner has been held to 56 yards(Carolina) and 42 yards (Tampa Bay). Michael Turner can be stopped and when he is, the Falcon’s struggle.
3. The Bears have a more balanced attack than the Falcons with the emergence of Matt Forte. The Bears have had 1 aspect of their game shut down in games and the other aspect has come through, so it is not like the Falcons where if you shut down Michael Turner they are very limited on offense. The Bears are 12th in the league in passing and 9th in rushing.
Additional note: the Bears put together 2 wins in a row. They didn’t do that until the final 2 games of the year last year (when Kyle Orton was the quarterback).
I think the Bears come out on top in this one 24 -10.
- Decatur Nate
We Broke The One Rule When Playing An Underdog
Thursday, October 2nd, 2008The ONE thing you don’t want to do when playing an underdog is to say things like “We aren’t taking this team for granted.” Or “We know what this team is capable of, it doesn’t matter what their record is.” That is pretty much guaranteeing that you WILL take the team for granted. See USC vs Oregon State on August 25th. Pete Carroll assured everyone his team would be ready for Oregon State and we all know how that turned out (good for those of us who can’t stand USC).
The Bears do have one major thing working in their favor. They were demoralized last year when they played the Lions, and the Lions somehow managed to score 34 points (an NFL record 34 points) in the 4th quarter. This should stand as motivation for the Bears to not let this one get away from them and do what they have been trying to do (and did against Philly) all season… Finish. Lovie preached this all season in 2006 when the Bears went to the Super bowl, and it is why the Bears didn’t make the playoffs last year. They blew more 4th quarter leads than Patrick Ewing (link not relevant just awesome) missed clutch shots (as fans of all things Chicago we are all grateful for those).
Now if the Bears can limit the amount of times they say they are not taking the Lions for granted (the sure way to take a team for granted) and focus more on the way the Lions abused them in the fourth quarter, they should be ok.
Quick note: The players who led the team in passing, rushing, and receiving (the second game Greg Olson led) for the Bears in both games against the Lions last year are all playing in different cities this year. Brian Griese – Tampa Bay, Cedric Benson – Cincinnati, and Bernard Berrian – Minneapolis.
- Decatur Nate
