Da Bear Cast Blog

I have and always will be a supporter of Rex Grossman. He is a great guy, and whether it is for the Chicago Bears or for another team, I hope he has success. Now that I have said that I have free reign to criticize him however I want right? Well, I am not really going to pile on him like some people have in the past, but I am going to point out one flaw in particular that has always plagued him. The propensity to let mistakes snowball out of control. When he makes an error, the crowd boos, he tries harder, over-thinks, and throws another int. We have all seen it, and it is probably his biggest knock.

So what does this have to do with Kyle? Well, in last weeks game against the Tampa Bay Bucs, the Chicago Bears and Kyle Orton had 2 turnovers. Both interceptions. One returned for a TD. So what did Kyle do when he went into the locker room at halftime. He didn’t shave his nasty neckbeard, but he did put his mistakes out of his mind.

In the second half Kyle Orton looked like a completely different quarterback. In the first half Kyle was 9 of 15 for 77 yards. He was picked twice, and sacked 3 times. In the second half he was 13 of 19 for 191 yards, 2 touchdowns, and no sacks. That is a startling difference. He also threw a lot of intermediate routes that he wasn’t throwing in the first half. I suspect someone put something in Ron Turners beverage, he passed out, and Kyle had to call all his own plays after the half. Actually, since we give Ron Turner such a hard time, we need to give him credit when he is due it. He called a great 2nd half and it was more of a defensive collapse in the second half than anything else.

One person who did not collapse though, good ole’ Neckbeard. He played a great 2nd half and it was good to see him not let the mistakes of the first half lure him into more bad decisions. He seemed only to get sharper. Let’s hope this continues, and whoever is calling the plays for Ron Turner keeps it up.

- Decatur Nate