SB Nation - Alex Brown

Laundry List of Mediocracy: Stuff Since the Bears Super Bowl

Dane Noble — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 22:09:57 -0000

When a season opens up with as many high expectations as the Bears did, it's not hard to start the finger-pointing game when things go wrong. We have all taken the time to try and pin-point things, but that task can be a bit overwhelming.

Enter Bears writer Jeff Dickerson: (an excerpt):

Football is the ultimate team game. You win as an organization, you lose as an organization. Instead of simply blaming one person (Ron Turner) for the Bears being 20-22 since the Super Bowl, take a step back and look at the big picture: It's been a collective effort, from the front office down to the players. Nobody should be immune from criticism, because everybody played a part in this mess.

Dickerson goes on to try and quantify (and qualify) why the boat is not only rocking, but also sinking since the Super Bowl:

After trading Thomas Jones to New York, the Bears handed the starting running back job to Cedric Benson (bust) in 2007.

Mark Anderson is promoted over Alex Brown in 2007 -- Anderson clearly couldn't handle the assignment.

Nathan Vasher got hurt versus Dallas in 2007 -- he never recovered.

Brian Urlacher dealt with major back issues in 2007, and missed almost all of 2009 with a dislocated wrist.

The Bears drafted Dan Bazuin (bust) in the second round in 2007.

The Bears drafted Michael Okwo (bust) in the third round in 2007.

The Bears drafted Garrett Wolfe (reach) in the third round in 2007.

And that's just 2007. Make sure you check out the full article for his complete run down.

Did he leave anything out? What do we need to see, starting right now, to right the ship before it is completely capsized?

Pick 6: Impact Players In 2010

Dane Noble — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 02:12:26 -0000

More photos » by Charles Rex Arbogast - AP

You didn't make the cut, bud. If you play well a few more times this year, maybe a team would be willing to give us a 2nd round pick for you. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

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Not much going on in Bearville this evening, but I was wondering your thoughts on something. How many "impact players" do the Bears have right now, on each side of the ball?

And by "impact", I mean players that will make a significant difference for the 2010 Chicago Bears. Here's my top-6 players for each side of the ball:

Offense:

Jay Cutler: Has the tools, is young enough to improve.

Matt Forte: Great vision, excellent shiftiness. Very young...will only get better. Great receiving threat.

Greg Olsen: Rare receiving talents for a TE. Still needs improvement, but challenging for any defense he faces.

Devin Hester: All-world game breaking ability. Exponential growth as WR this year, and can only get better.

Johnny Knox: Very similar to Hester, but a truer WR. Looking forward to his progression. Big things from this kid.

Chris Williams: Despite rough patches this year, has the talent for a solid LT. I'm predicting Pro Bowl in 2 years.

Defense:

Lance Briggs: Established himself as someone who isn't going away. Tough, athletic, leader. In his prime.

Alex Brown: Seems to be tougher and faster this year. Really benefitting from Marinelli's tutelage.

Danieal Manning: Developed under Lovie Smith's personal guidance. Will be a great safety next year.

Al Afalava: Tough, fast, technical. Has faultered at times, but will benefit greatly from another year of experience.

Anthony Adams: Seems much stronger and faster this year. Is he even at his upside yet?

Brian Urlacher: Although he will be a year older, his body is getting a full year's rest this year. Can't wait...

Sure, there are other players that could make the list, and maybe there is someone that you don't think should be on my top-6. The way I see it, there are 11 starting positions, and 6 would mean that we have more than half our bases covered for each side of the ball going into next year.

Since I've done more than half the work for them, the team can take care of the rest. You're welcome Jerry Angelo!

49ers-Bears: Tommie Harris and the Bears defense

Fooch — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:00:39 -0000

There has been a lot of discussion about Tommie Harris and his ejection Sunday against the Cardinals. He popped Deuce Lutui in the face, leading to a fairly early ejection from the game (video after the jump). There has been some jabbering about whether Lutui had it coming, but either way, it was certainly a poor decision on the part of Harris. According to the Chicago Tribune, folks are not expecting Harris to be suspended. Apparently, since the ejection was so early in the game, it's more or less a game suspension, and so the league will simply levy a large fine.

Whether we agree with that or not, having Harris on the field tonight certainly helps a somewhat beleaguered Bears defense. The Bears roll out a front seven that includes Harris, former 49er Anthony Adams, Adewale Ogunleye, Alex Brown, Lance Briggs, Hunter Hillenmeyer, and Nick Roach. Certainly talented, but not quite a murderer's row.

As we are discussing week after week after week, the question is whether the 49ers offensive line and general blocking scheme will be able to provide time for Alex Smith and holes for Frank Gore. The Bears currently sit 25th against the pass and 18th against the run. Many teams would be able to take full advantage of that, but many of those teams don't have the truly awesome offensive line the 49ers have.

The 49ers will be without Glen Coffee tonight, but that probably isn't all that big a deal given how he hasn't provided much of a contribution when Gore has played. So we'll get plenty of Gore, but it's a question of how the team utilizes. I'd imagine of all the skill positions, the contribution of Gore will have the broadest impact, as usual. In the rare instances when the team has gone to screen passes, they've been fairly successful. When they mix in the outside pitches, they've been fairly successful. My favorite running play has been the fake handoff to the fullback, followed by a quick pitch to Gore going outside. It's obviously not something you run every single play, but on 2nd and 1 or 2, and 3rd and 1 or 2, the 49ers have been able to catch defenses sleeping with that play.

As always it comes down to a mix of playcalling and execution. As I said earlier this week, I do think Jimmy Raye has attempted to mix things up. However, as somebody pointed out at some point on Monday I believe, it's almost like they swung too far the other way. It's turned into a matter of finding that perfect (or even somewhat close to perfect) balance. Over at ESPN.com, Mike Sando made a good point after reviewing the 49ers-Titans game tape:

How does Raye's vision for the offense mesh with personnel changes since his hiring? The team added Crabtree unexpectedly. Smith is now the quarterback. Davis is becoming a Pro Bowl-caliber target. The offensive line isn't very good in protection. All things to weigh. It's Week 10, but adding Crabtree and Smith to the mix so late means the offense is in a formative state. What will the identity become?

As always, even with a struggling Bears defense and potentially solid play-calling, it comes down to execution. Alex Smith and Michael Crabtree have been working out when special teams practice is going on, so maybe this will bring us closer to better execution (we'll conveniently ignore the offensive line issues in that last sentence).

Shallow Thoughts & Nearsighted Observations

Ted Bartlett — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:30:23 -0000

More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

about 1 month ago: Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, left, tries to elude the rush of Denver Broncos' Darrell Reid (95) and a second defender during the first quarter of an NFL football game Monday, Nov. 9, 2009, in Denver. (AP Photo/ David Zalubowski)

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Happy Tuesday, friends. After being up late, and watching a hard-fought game go awry, I bet you're pretty bleary-eyed, and grumpy, but let's try to make this a good day. I don't want to think that the Broncos have fallen into losing habits here, and I really don't think that's the case.

Of course, those who speak, but don't know what they're talking about, will start screaming about how the Broncos have been exposed, and they're a fraud, and every other damn thing. A few persistent issues have emerged, but they can be corrected. If anything, losing back-to-back games against good teams can teach you a great deal about your own team.

Let's reflect on this, as I know the coaching staff is, and the players are. Next week, the Broncos face the Redskins, which presents a great opportunity to get back on the winning track. After that, San Diego comes to town. The Broncos still control the AFC West, make no mistake about that.

On the other side of the jump, we'll break it all down. Ready..... BEGIN!!!!

1. It's now midseason, and the Broncos are 6-2, and in first place by a game, and having beaten San Diego on the road. Think back to August, and if I told you that's where the Broncos would be, you'd be happy to take that deal, right? It's a little less great to win the first 6 and lose the last 2, but whatever.

I mentioned some issues, and I want to talk about them briefly. I think all are fixable in the second half of the season.

a. Ben Hamilton is getting to be pretty useless, and I think it's time to see what Seth Olsen has. Hamilton has gone from being above-average before his concussion-driven missed season, to average last season, to decidedly below-average this season. Every time the Ravens and Steelers needed to get pressure on Kyle Orton, they did it over Hamilton. Every other team in the NFL has seen that, and will try to replicate that strategy.

From former NFL scout Daniel Jeremiah, during the game:

I don't know what Olsen can do yet, but he's definitely bigger and stouter than Hamilton. I have to think he can anchor better than what we've seen from #50. I am pretty sure Russ Hochstein isn't the answer, but I'd like to see what Olsen looks like.

b. The Broncos need better execution overall on offense. The scheme is fine, and the players are fine, they just need to make the plays that they have a chance to make. They have had some bad penalties, some poorly-timed drops, some slip-and-falls in the running game putting them off schedule, and lately, some bad throws. Plays like Brandon Stokley coming just short of a first down, and Hamilton getting called for a (really questionable) holding penalty on a converted 4th-and-5 are what has been hurting the Broncos offense. The coaches need to send the message that if the players who are playing don't execute, they'll find somebody who will.

c. Signing Mitch Berger was a big mistake. I think it's worth working out some other punters, but really, I liked Brett Kern. If somebody better than Berger is available, I think he should be brought in. Getting a good punter needs to be a high priority in the offseason, too.

d. Interestingly, short-yardage offense has improved during the two losses, as the Broncos have shown a willingness to throw some in those situations. It is still a concern going forward, though. Olsen may help here, if he is given a shot.

e. No-huddle offenses have been problematic for the Broncos the last two weeks. They limit their ability to disguise coverages and rush packages, and they also make it hard to substitute as much as the Broncos want to. Not every team is effective in the no-huddle, but just about every team the Broncos might see in the playoffs is. They need to figure out who their best base defensive group is against the no-huddle.

I think my underlying thought right now is that the Broncos probably aren't quite ready for the Super Bowl, but they hung with a team tonight who is a real championship contender. They beat New England a couple weeks ago, who is a real championship contender. They beat Dallas and Cincinnati, who at the least are good teams. The Broncos have a ways to go, but as first halves of the season go, you have to feel pretty good about theirs. It's not time to start anything over, or blow anything up. It's time to make a few adjustments, execute better, and keep working toward winning games.

2. Information from My Eyes, Steelers at Broncos.

a. Did I mention that I think Mitch Berger sucks? Nothing has particularly changed for me on that score. John Bena coined a new term last night, Brett Kern-backers. I liked Kern, but I don't think I am a Brett Kern-backer. I am a guy who wants a consistent good performance from the Broncos punter, whoever it is.

Philosophically, not a single player or coach on this team means more to me than the team itself. I don't care who is doing it, I just want it done. As much as I love John Elway, the team always came before him to me, too. Part of his greatness, though, was that he'd never make you separate him from the team.

b. It didn't get mentioned a lot, but Tyler Polumbus struggled at RT, especially in the second half of the game. LaMarr Woodley got a lot of pressure and forced a few key throwaways. He'll be okay against most teams, but this was a tough situation for him. Ryan Harris's absence was most definitely felt.

c. I liked the work of both Brandon Marshall and Eddie Royal in this game. They consistently did a good job getting open and catching the ball. Marshall had the one drop, but it was a good effort for him overall.

d. I thought D.J. Williams had his worst game of the year, by far. He was taking bad angles all night, and didn't look like he had a prayer of getting off a lot of blocks. I'm admittedly not generally his biggest fan, but he's had the best year of his career in 2009. Monday night, not so much.

e. Wesley Woodyard played a lot more snaps than he's used to, and I thought he wore down in the second half of the game. The Steelers played a tremendous amount of 3 WR sets, which kept Andra Davis on the sideline, and Woodyard in the game.

f. Kyle Orton was actually not too bad for most of the game. He had 2 bad throws, and about 3 bad decisions (one of them was picked off). He was pretty sharp the rest of the night. He needs to cut out the bad decisions, but I was generally a lot happier with his performance tonight than I was against the Ravens. (I don't care about statistics, of course.) Nobody is saying they're thrilled with his ultimate performance, of course, but there's more nuance to the situation, than just looking at the stat sheet.

g. Rashard Mendenhall was the primary reason the Steelers won the game. He got going in the second half, and it forced the Broncos to be more aggressive in the box. I used to think very little of Mendenhall, but he has improved a lot. He runs with vastly better patience and body lean than he did even just a month ago.

h. The Steelers also have themselves a find with Mike Wallace. He's very dangerous for a 3rd WR. They don't do a lot of traditional slot-type stuff, and in nickel offense, if anything, Hines Ward is their slot guy. (I think making definitive distinctions between #1, #2, and #3 WRs is silly.) Wallace has great speed, and he showed good route-running skills Monday night.

i. I liked what I saw of Ty Law in his limited action. Champ Bailey and Brian Dawkins both mostly struggled in the game, neither making a great impact. Champ ought to be embarassed by letting Ward jump over him in garbage time. He knows better than that. He also got beat in man-to-man coverage several times by Santonio Holmes. Andre' Goodman was good in this game, though, even beyond his interception.

j. The Broncos use of the "mush rush" was very good in the first half, and very bad for most of the second. Robert Ayers played a key role in containing Ben Roethlisberger when he as assigned that duty, and that's what he was doing when Kenny Peterson knocked the ball free.

k. The Broncos got hosed on the Gaffney challenge, and also on the Haggan fumble recovery. Don Carey has joined my list of bad referees. I like how a return team becomes an intercepting team. I can't believe that he's related to Mike Carey, who is excellent. And he's the older brother? Wow.

3. Information From My Eyes, Other Games:

a. I watched a lot of the Green Bay-Tampa Bay game Sunday, for a few reasons. I haven't seen much of the Bucs this year, and I wanted to look at Josh Freeman, who I liked a lot coming out of college. He looked like a rookie at times, but he showed a lot of positives too. I thought he looked poised and confident, and I am not that surprised. I remember when he beat Texas as a freshman, and commanded the game. (My buddy lost a grand on the game, and he called me frantically looking for NFL advice for the next day, to "get back even." It was a debacle. I don't give gambling advice anymore, because of that weekend.)

Anyway, Freeman looked like a star that day in 2006, and he looked like he may be one someday in the NFL on Sunday. I think Tampa did the right thing, giving him some time to learn from the sideline, but it has to be Freeman Time the rest of the season.

b. I loved Raheem Morris's line after getting his first victory as a head coach.

Statistics are for losers, and today, we're winners.

And then, there's Chicago Bears lover/reporter/enabler/apologist Brad Biggs of National Football Post, after his beloveds got blown out again.

That's positive news? The Bears got smoked, again, Brad. Their best player, who is supposed to always play well, performed close to expectations. It's only positive news if he is on your fantasy team, which is why I don't really like fantasy football. (Well, that and the dorktastic "experts' you have to tolerate on TV.)

Cutler played alright, but he didn't do anything to elevate the play of anybody else, as usual, and the interception he threw in the 4th quarter did kill the Bears' chances of coming back.

It's amazing how the Bears team has assumed the personality of the 2008 Broncos. There's a good chance they'll get blown away on defense, and Cutler is almost definitely going to need to carry the offense. In my business, we contract with companies to take over non-core operations. We call it a lift-and-shift. You terminate your employees who work in a call center, and we'll instantly hire them. They'll work for us, and you'll pay us a fee that is less than what you pay for this operation. Meanwhile, we'll optimize, and reduce the headcount, and correspondingly, the costs.

Everybody considered Cutler's acqusition to be a lift-and-shift. The Bears got a franchise QB. Imagine what he'll do on a team that plays good defense and runs the ball. Football is such a multi-variate system, it's really amazing.

c. I would really hate to be a Bears fan. They have no high draft picks this year, and suddenly a lot of roster holes to fill. They need 3 or 4 new starters on their offensive line, to begin with. Orlando Pace is done, Josh Beekman and Roberto Garza were never starting-caliber players in the NFL, and Olin Kreutz is getting close to done. I don't care for Chris Williams, either. He's looked passable at RT, but if he was worthy of his draft slot, he would have bumped Pace, because it's clear as day that he isn't good enough. You wouldn't use a #1 on an RTO (Right Tackle Only), unless it was Jeff Otah.

They could also use some WRs, some secondary players, and a pass rusher. We're not asking for much, right?

Chicago has a cash-poor ownership group, and the cold weather and their ugly uniforms don't tend to help draw free agents. (Yes, both things matter. It's part of the problem in Cleveland too.) I just don't know how you can bring in enough players there to improve for next season.

d. On Monday I read a lot of epitaphs about the Chicago defense, which didn't get into a lot of the "why" they're so bad. As I was explaining to a friend a few days ago, a defense has to have all 11 players working well together, in order for it to be sound and effective. Because defense is fundamentally a reactive mission, there are many inter-dependencies among the three levels, and communication, like-mindedness through practice, and discipline make all the difference. That sounds simple, and it really is.

First of all, you'd better either be good against the run with 7 in the box, or have a big-time safety who can move 12 yards from a cover-2 shell to the line of scrimmage really quickly. The Bears can't stop the run with 7, so you know they'll have 8 in the box. Then, there's the passing game. When a team can't rush the passer with 4 players, they need to blitz with numbers. When they blitz with numbers, it makes it hard to play soundly in zone coverage, so you mostly have to start playing man coverage. When you play a lot of man coverage, you'd better hope you have the athletes to cover the other team's athletes - and chances are, their #3 and #4 options are better than yours. That's a simple fact of it being harder to find players with coverage skills than it is to find guys who can run a route and catch a ball, when he knows where he is supposed to go.

So you can't stop the run, you can't get pressure with 4, you can't play zone, and you can't play man. All that's left is to guess at what the offense is going to do, and play for that. The obvious problem there is what happens when you guess wrong. You get exposed, and give up huge plays. That sounds a lot like the 2008 Broncos' defense, right?

To apply this to the Bears, they used to get pressure with their front 4, but Tommie Harris is having a bad season. He was a healthy scratch for the Cincinnati game, reportedly because of some attitude issues, and they got lambasted. Then, he got ejected over some extreme foolishness 1 minute into Sunday's game. The Bears again got crushed. Harris is among the best 3-technique DTs in the NFL, when his body and attitude are right.

With no Harris, Alex Brown and Adewale Ogunleye have struggled to get any pressure, so the Bears have blitzed, ineffectively. They have all these tall, slow CBs who can't do anything except play zone coverage, and they got shredded in man-to-man on Sunday, as they did against Cincinnati. If you decide to be a cover-2 team, you'd better play a lot of cover-2, because your personnel can't hold up playing man.

If Harris can manage to get his body and mind right, and have a dominant second half, he could personally bring a soundness back to the Bears that could send them on a 6-2ish run in the second half to finish 10-6. The more likely outcome is that he continues to sulk, the Bears continue to get gashed, and they finish 7-9 at best. And the Broncos have a nice draft pick. Thanks, guys :)

e. Funny story. My brother Chris (who did join MHR as Chris911, incidentally) and I were talking on the phone the other night, like we do sometimes.

Chris: You know, Jay Cutler has a losing record in games where he throws for over 300 yards.

Ted: You know, Jay Cutler has a losing record as a starting QB in the NFL.

Yessir. I love that draft pick more and more every day.

f. Remember the spring of 2008 when many wanted Denver to become Vanderbilt West? It hasn't worked out so well for Chicago. Earl Bennett's ceiling is to be an average starter, if he puts it all together. He can't get off bump coverage right now, whatsoever. He also runs bad routes and drops the ball a lot. In other words, everything he was supposed to do well, he doesn't. Yes, I know he had 7 catches for 93 yards Sunday, but the vast majority of it was in garbage time, against soft zone coverage. (And, yes, wise guys, I know, most of the game was garbage time.)

Chris Williams, I already discussed. He has definitely been a disappointment. This year, the Bears took D.J. Moore, a CB, who is somehow not good enough to beat out any of the pu pu platter of guys who take turns opposite Charles Tillman. He has been a gameday inactive all season, and is not even a special teams contributor.

I watched the Florida-Vanderbilt game Saturday night, and was reflecting on this. Vanderbilt has no hope in the SEC. They can't recruit talent that is nearly good enough to compete, and most of their guys have tended to underachieve in the NFL. They are on my list with Texas and Ohio State of schools whose players I am naturally suspicious of, although it's all for different reasons.

I wonder if Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, Northwestern, Stanford, Duke, Rice,and Baylor ever thought about forming a football-only, high-SATs conference. Actually, this year, Vandy would be in the bottom half of that league, too.

g. Staying with the college theme for a minute, the best all-around QB I have seen this season at any school is Cincinnati's sophomore backup, Zach Collaros. He has completed 76% of his passes for 1,229 yards, with 10 TDs and 1 interception in the 3+ games he has appeared in. He has also rushed 43 times for 281 yards, and 4 TDs, while only being sacked 10 times.

Cincinnati's original starter, senior Tony Pike, is expected to start this week, although head coach Brian Kelly did cop to it being a tough decision. Pike is likely to be drafted on Day 1 next spring. Collaros is going to contend for the Heisman Trophy next season, and he'll be a high pick too, when he decides to leave school. He's the total package, with an above-average arm, very good poise, and outstanding accuracy and athleticism. The only knock on him is that he's 6 feet tall, but he has some definite Drew Brees-like qualities as a thrower. This is a 75-yard TD run against a South Florida team with lots of athletes. The guy is real.

h. A guy I really like on an otherwise not-great unit is Atlanta Guard Harvey Dahl. He has been getting very good pad level, and driving guys, in helping Michael Turner have his best two games of the season. I beat up Sam Baker for his pass protection last week, but he did well in the running game Sunday, too. The Redskins are normally solid against the run, but Atlanta gashed them repeatedly.

i. Michael Lombardi stole my thunder, which is an occasional hazard of writing for Tuesday mornings. (The) Other smart analysts see(s) the same things and beat(s) you to talking about them sometimes. Ray Lewis definitely looks like he's doing it more on guile and want-to than skill anymore. I respect his effort greatly, and sometimes he makes a huge play, like against the Chargers, but he's clearly hit his downside. Big up Lombardi, for consistently seeing what the reporters don't see. (By the way, it's weird and unnatural to see Lombardi stand with a mic and interview players and coaches for NFL Network. Stop the madness, and be an analyst, Mike. You're better than some locker jockey.)

j. I was pretty critical of Dallas' Mike Jenkins earlier in the season, and he deserved it. Lately, though, he's been playing fantastic football. He did a great job Sunday night, and was the largest part of the Dallas secondary's outstanding effort not to give up the big plays that Philly wins with every week.

k. The Eagles are reputed to be a West Coast team, but they are not that, and never have been since Mr. Game Management, Andy Reid, came to town. Donovan McNabb isn't a West Coast QB, who does really well with timing throws. The Eagles are a vertical, downfield team, and they finally have guys in DeSean Jackson, Jeremy Maclin, and Brent Celek, who can get down the field and make the plays they want to make.

l. By the way, everybody knows I like Tim Tebow, but McNabb is the guy who Tebow most reminds me of. They played in similar-ish option-heavy offenses in college, and they have very similar profiles as throwers coming into the NFL. Tebow's stats are down this year, mostly due to bad pass protection, but he's throwing the ball better than ever when he gets some time.

m. The Chargers might be back. I haven't seen their LBs look as good as they did on Sunday in two years. Some of that may be due to the Giants offensive line, though, which is good in the running game, and below-average in the passing game. All this stuff about them having the best line is hogwash. (I've actually seen Michael Lombardi say that this season.) They have a natural LG, David Diehl, playing LT, and he gets owned by good pass rushers.

n. Brandon Jacobs looks really slow to the hole this season. He was never quick, but he's a different player. I have to wonder if he is hurt. Of course, I am prejudiced against tall RBs, because, definitionally, it's easier to hit them, than it is the compact guys. It's fair to say Jacobs has never been a favorite of mine.

o. I'd like to say that ST&NO favorite Alex Smith has established himself as a clear-cut solution at QB for the 49ers, but the fact is, they've lost all three games which he has played in. Two of the three interceptions he threw on Sunday were off the hands of his own players, so I don't really put those on him, personally. On the positive side, that play he made for a TD pass at the end of the first half was an All-Pro caliber play, that not many QBs could make. He kept himself alive with his feet, and made a perfect throw on the run.

This is what I know about Smith. His biggest problem is that he struggles with the mechanics of drops from under center which are more than 3 steps. It's not natural to him, and his footwork is slow, like he is thinking about it. That got him sacked on A-gap blitzes two or three times Sunday.

Smith is much more comfortable from the shotgun, and I think I would go to a medium-gun alignment with him, that is often called the Pistol. It's run a bit at some colleges, notably Nevada, and the Chiefs used it with Tyler Thigpen last season. The QB lines up 3 yards behind the center, with the RB 3 yards behind the QB. It provides better directional evenness to your running game than lining up in a full shotgun with the RB to one side or the other of the QB.

Smith can do all the things you need your QB to do; it's just a matter of putting him in position to be successful. I'll be interested to watch this game on Thursday night, against Chicago, because he could have a huge game.

p. I did like what I saw of Vince Young, again. He has played like he's fine with being part of a conservative game plan, which is what he needs. The option stuff he was running with Chris Johnson was effective, and he did hit Justin Gage deep on a couple throws. One, in particular, used all of Gage's vertical. He was actually a starter on Missouri's basketball team in his college days.

q. The Titans are suddenly playing some defense again too, especially Michael Griffin at safety. I also was impressed with William Hayes, who has taken over at LDE for Jevon Kearse, who may have finally had it, at this point. The Titans are a threat to make noise as a spoiler in the second half of the season. The return of Cortland Finnegan has helped them a lot, too. He's not the greatest cover guy, but he's a hitter, and he is always close to the ball. He compares favorably to Asante Samuel in that way.

r. The Panthers just make me shake my head sometimes. They are almost completely back to their 12-4 level from last year lately, except for their QB play. They really erred by not getting one, but John Fox and Jake Delhomme are almost married. Delhomme is going to cost Fox his job, for his sentimentality.

Remember when the Chargers whacked Marty Schottenheimer coming off the 14-2 record? It was the right move. So would cutting ties with Delhomme have been, after last season. Of course, the Chargers blew the second part by hiring Norv Turner. The Panthers will get their chance to do something in the offseason, but they have no first-round pick. If San Francisco decides Alex Smith isn't their guy, he'd be perfect for a team like Carolina, who runs the ball and attacks downfield off of play action. Marc Bulger might be a possible fit too, as the Rams will almost certainly be drafting a QB this year. The Panthers will likely need to get a retread, though.

s. The Saints deserved to get beat on Sunday, but they managed to win anyway. That's something championship teams do, is win without their best stuff.

t. The Texans are really close to being a serious playoff contender, but a Chris Brown goal-line fumble and a Kris Brown missed field goal have basically cost them two games. People haven't noticed, but Matt Schaub is putting up Pro Bowl numbers in Houston. Old friend Gary Kubiak needs to get his team to execute better in key situations.

u. I said I wasn't going to pick the addict Jaguars again, but I did on Sunday, because the Chiefs are horrible. The addicts then proceeded to almost give the game away. Shocker! ST&NO favorite Reggie Nelson had a very good game for the Jags, and so did Brandon Marshall's best friend from college, Mike Sims-Walker.

v. Matt Cassel was the bright spot for the Chiefs, again, and he continues to do pretty well with very little help. I guarantee that the Chiefs don't regret trading for him, especially at the price they paid.

4. In honor of Veterans' Day, I wanted to blaze a different path by doing something apolitical and propaganda-free. It's Tangential Story Time, in ST&NO. Yay!!!

Most regular readers are at least generally aware that I spent 4 years in the United States Navy. I don't think I have ever mentioned that going to sea is basically my family business, though. My dad was in the Navy for 14 years, and then has worked as an executive for companies which supply the Navy for the last 20+ years. His brother recently retired as a long-time civilian mariner for the Navy, and his other brother was a Marine, who rode a Navy ship or two. My youngest brother is currently employed as a Naval civilian mariner, presently working for a ship stationed in Gaeta, Italy. There's lots of salt in my family.

So, I woke up early on Sucker-Free Saturday, and a headline popped into my RSS reader that grabbed my attention.

Navy ship built with WTC steel to go into service

I clicked the link to read the article, and saw something very interesting in the first sentence.

NEW YORK — The Navy is commissioning its newest battleship with a bow forged from steel that once held up the World Trade Center.

The Navy decommissioned its last four remaining Iowa-class Battleships in the early 1990s, and I didn't think that they had any plans to bring them back, despite some misgivings from parts of the Marine Corps that current Naval Gunfire Support programs wouldn't be sufficient for a Normandy-like shore landing.

A Battleship is a specific type of ship, like in the children's game of the same name. The Iowa class had wooden decks, and three turrets with three independent 50-caliber 16-inch guns each, for a total of 9 guns. The shells were 16 inches in diameter, and weighed 2,700 pounds each. (Modern Cruisers and Destroyers have one or two (mostly two) 5-inch, 54-caliber guns each, by comparison. Those shells are 5 inches in diameter, and weigh 70 pounds.) Each Iowa-class turret took a crew of 94 men to operate, and I actually served with a guy who was working in Turret #3 on the Iowa in 1989, when Turret #2 exploded and killed 47 men.

Battleships played a large part in the Pacific theater in World War II, and somewhat minor parts in Korea, Vietnam, and the first Persian Gulf War. The primary missions of Battleships were shore bombardment, and ship-to-ship combat. The advent of precision-guided munitions (like Harpoon missiles, for ship-to-ship combat), and the reality that 5-inch, 54-caliber guns are considered by the Navy to be sufficient for Naval Gunfire Support, largely made battleships unnecessary, and the last Battleships were decommissioned not long after World War II, with a few held in reserve status. Iowa, New Jersey, Wisconsin, and Missouri were each re-commissioned several times over the coming decades, with the Missouri being the last active battleship, being decommissioned for the last time in 1992. (The picture below is of the Iowa, shooting her guns to starboard.)

So, there's this new ship, called the USS New York, and the AP says it's a battleship. At first, I was skeptical, because I know that the Battleship mission is obsolete. Thinking about it, though, it is named after a state, like US battleships have historically been. I also know that the Bush Adminstration Pentagon had some meat-heads in high places of their procurement organization, who favored weapons systems with some badass factor to them, whether they were strictly necessary or not. But I would have heard about new Battleships, right? Hmmmm.

I called the guy who would know, my father Ed, who has appeared in ST&NO before, and I got my answer.

Ted: Hey, what do you know about this new ship, New York, that was partially built from World Trade Center steel?

Ed: Well, it's being commissioned this morning.

Ted: What kind of ship is it?

Ed: It's a piece-of-(bleep) LPD-17 class. A Gator Freighter. (Note: Gator Freighter is the ~~somewhat~~ very derisive name for Amphibious Navy ships which primarily carry Marines. Surface combatant guys, like me, don't think too much of Amphibs, or the people who ride them.)

Ted: Oh, OK. This AP reporter called it a battleship, and it's named after a state, which lends that some coincidental level of plausibility. I was skeptical, so I thought I'd ask somebody who knows.

Ed: <Scoffs> The media doesn't know what the hell they're talking about.

The media doesn't know what the hell they're talking about. Hmmm... Where have I heard that before?

5. What's New In Cleveland Update:

We have a great local brewery here called Great Lakes Brewing Company, that puts out this great stuff they call Christmas Ale every year, at this time. It tastes like cinnamon, but it's 7.5% alcohol by volume, so if you're like me, and you drink them like they're just expensive Bud Lights, they can really creep on you quickly.

So, I was at a the Cleveland State University bar called Becky's last Thursday, for my fraternity's monthly alumni happy hour. I was pleased to discover that they had Christmas Ale on tap, which I would later find out was running me $18 per pitcher, times 3 pitchers. Whatever. I am drinking some fine seasonal beer, and one of the guys says, "Hey, that's Mike Trivisonno right there, like 5 feet away."

Trivisonno is the local Radio Idiot, who I have disparaged on here before a few times, as being part of the Browns problems. I am not sure what he was doing at Becky's, of all places, but he was hanging out with some uglo-Americans, who may or may not have been related to him. He's holding court, and talking about the Browns, and how the city is cursed, and blah blah blah. (I hate it when people say "blah blah blah" in a conversation, but for some strange reason I just felt the strong need to type it there, like my ex-wife possessed my body momentarily, or something. Deal with it.)

It seems the work of the Radio Idiot is never finished. He bloviates even off the clock. I wonder if Rush Limbaugh does too.... That was a little deeper than a Shallow Thought. Focus.

OK, here's the deal. There's no such thing as curses. There's only confusing hope for a plan (hat tip to Michael Lombardi). That's what they do here, in all sports - even the Cavs, to some extent. (Let's face it: the Shaq acqusition is all about hope.)

Randy Lerner, by all accounts, is an OK guy, and he wants to win. He doesn't know anything about football, and I don't think he particularly wants to, either. He's actually a soccer guy, and he owns Aston Villa. He needs somebody to establish and run a program for him. It can't be a Head Coach, because he's too hands-off for that kind of arrangement. (That works fine with appropriately engaged owners like Robert Kraft, Bud Adams, and Pat Bowlen.)

He needs a Bill Parcells-type situation, which is why he is reportedly pursuing Mike Holmgren. I think Holmgren is going to end up saying he'd rather coach than head a front office, but it's a good idea to try. Whoever ends up being the head honcho is going to fire Eric Mangini, and start over from scratch, again. This is increasingly clear. The trick is going to be hiring the right honcho, for the first time since they came back into the NFL in 1999.

Ron Wolf and Ernie Accorsi aren't going to want the job, but if I were Lerner, I'd put on a full-court press to get one of them to help me find the right honcho. A guy I would make a run at is Jimmy Johnson, but only as a team president, not a coach. You hire him, tell him he only has to work 30 hours a week, some of it from Florida, and let him hire a focused GM, (maybe Chris Polian, or Marty Hurney if he is let go at Carolina?) and let them decide what to do with the coaching staff. Then, the chain of command is clear: Owner, to President, to GM, to Head Coach.

As a side note, I expect Mangini to struggle to find future work in coaching. His credibility in the NFL is shot at this point, and what college is going to hire a guy like that? Can you see him talking a kid into coming to play at State U? Absolutely not.

6. So, I know you've been wondering what a guy like me does on a Friday night. My gameplan changes every week, like any good team's (except the Colts); and this past Friday, my friend Ashley was looking for somebody to go with her to a happy hour event at the Cleveland Museum of Art. It sounded like fun, so I emailed her, and we went.

I'd like to tell you that I am a really cultured, artsy guy, but the truth is that I'm not. I'm kind of a rugged football, business, and politics guy. Somewhat embarassingly, it was the first time I had gone to the Museum in 7 1/2 years of living in Cleveland. Ashley is really smart, though, and I figured correctly that I would learn some stuff from her.

There was a Paul Gauguin exhibit, which was included in the price of admission. I looked up Gauguin on the interwebz, and learned that he was a contemporary of Vincent Van Gogh. Van Gogh's brother Theo was actually Gauguin's agent, and he got them to work together in 1888. They spent 9 weeks together at Van Gogh's famous Yellow House in Arles, and they quarreled constantly, because they saw the right way to paint very differently. (At the CMA, there were several examples, side-by-side, where both men painted the same thing, and they looked extremely different.) Both men had bouts of depression and suicidal tendencies. When Gauguin fled the tense situation after Van Gogh threatened him with a razor blade, Van Gogh freaked out, and went to a brothel, where he famously cut part of his ear off. They never saw each other again.

When I saw the news that the Chiefs cut Larry Johnson on Monday, the thought of his relationship with Todd Haley made me think of Gauguin and Van Gogh. Haley is a talented coach, and Johnson is a talented player. Both men have reputations for being difficult, though, and many (including me) were skeptical about the pairing when Haley was hired. Johnson's actions, around callng out Haley on Twitter and using gay slurs, were stupid. Really, it's not too different from cutting your ear off, on the foolishness scale.

Haley couldn't have Johnson play for him again, just as Gauguin couldn't return to Arles to work with Van Gogh. If you're betting on futures, take Haley's (like it would have been wise to take Gauguin.) Johnson is 30 and well-worn, old for a RB; Haley is 42, which is young for a Head Coach. Van Gogh died two years after the ear incident, while Gauguin had 13 more years, and a lot of productivity after that. Go with the guy who knew it was time to cut the cord, rather than the one who cut off his ear to spite his face.

7. Retired for John Elway.

8. The worst thing about November is the jewelry commercials during football games. (Well, I guess I should be glad not to see Chevy commercials with any Mellencamp songs.) I have found the answer, friends, if you're into man-cavery like me.

If you have Sunday Ticket with SuperFan, the setup works like this. Watch games on a muted TV (or two, if you can manage it, like I do). Watch the Red Zone channel on a laptop, with SuperConnect, and listen to the sound on the laptop, preferably over some decent speakers. Red Zone has no commercials, so when they come on TV, you can just ignore the visual stimulus, and listen to the sounds of what's going on on the laptop screen. I spent the whole day Sunday with this, so I got to see a lot of football, without hearing incessantly about how you're no kind of man if you don't go to Jared, the Galleria of Jewelry, and that every kiss begins with Kay. Damn, it's great to be single. (This is Ourrrrrrr Country!!!!!)

Have a good week, and let's get ready for a Broncos victory in Washington on Sunday. No hysterics are necessary, let's just take some comfort in the fairly safe assumption that our coaching staff is driving the players to learn from and improve on their mistakes. See you next Tuesday!

Notes, Scribbles, and Things Jotted Down: Cardinals Edition

Dane Noble — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:23:16 -0000

by Nam Y. Huh - AP

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The NFC playoff picture seems to be working itself into a pretty clear picture, and, although it could still happen, my prediction of a 12-4 season for the Chicago Bears looks unobtainable. And honestly, at this point, I'm not so sure that our coaching is to blame.

Our GM brought in three new offensive linemen, and none of them have helped. Can Ron Turner be to blame for our porous running game? He didn't make the FA signings.

On the other side of the ball, we do not have the personnel to run a Tampa-2/ Cover-2 defense. Our secondary is a liability,,, is Lovie to blame for our lack of talent on defense? We just don't have the personnel.

The only mystery for me is the DL/ Rod Marinelli situation. It seems like half of our roster is comprised of defensive linemen, and we still chose to trade our 2010 2nd round draft pick for another pass rusher. Add to that, we have a guy that is well-known around the league as being one of the best DL coaches in the NFL... you'd think that would be an area of strength for us.

We know our offense is failing because of our personnel at OL, we know our LB corp is thinned out and that our secondary is incredibly weak... but where's the front 4? Why have we seen over the last few weeks our DL get dominated in the passing and rushing games? What's up with Coach Marinelli?

- Rashied Davis is still doing a mighty fine job on STs. And undersized WR making great open-field tackles... gotta love it.

- Tommie, Tommie, Tommie. What happened to Tommie Harris? Is his career coming to a quick halt? We can expect him not to be wearing a Bears uniform next season... but will he even be in the NFL? Maybe not, unless the Bungles give him a shot.

- One of my notes simply said that Fitz > Tillman. But, that was early in the game. Now, I'll change that note to say that it is a shame when Charles Tillman is our best coverage cornerback.

- I have been wondering for 2 weeks if Hunter Hillenmeyer was really 100% healthy. Rib injuries take much longer than 2 weeks to heal from, and I smelled a rat when he came back so quickly.

- Jay Cutler's first possession of the game: he walks onto the field with his head down, looking at the ground.

- Devin Hester, Earl Bennett, and Greg Olsen have all developed great hands. I mentioned last week that Cutler puts them in positions where they have to make tough catches... well, they can. Exhibit "A": that catch early in Q1 down the sidelines when Hester was blanketed by the CB. Cutler saw the single-coverage, audibled into a fly route, and made a picture-perfect throw to Hester. And what a catch!

- Garrett Wolfe made an outstanding tackle on KO coverage.

- While we looked like we might be able to generate some pressure on Kurt Warner early in the game, turns out, not really. Soft coverage on the WRs + zero pass rush = duplication of the Cincy game.

- Arizona's OL absolutely dominated Marinelli's DL. Passing plays, rushing plays... didn't matter. An inside source said that the Card's OL even formed a wall in front of the Bears showers after the game, and the DL couldn't bust through then either. They went home without showering.

- Johnny Knox was one cut away from daylight on the KOR following Arizona's second TD. But, he was going too fast to make that final cut.

- We finally saw Cutler looking downfield for our WRs more this week, especially to Hester. On a related note, kudos to the OL. While they still broke down and sucked a large part of the game, there were spurts where they did a good job of protecting the QB. Kudos guys.

- My OL grades: Chris Williams: B, Roberto Garza: B-, Olin Kreutz: C, Josh Beekman/ Frank Omiyale: D, Orlando Pace: C-

- 3rd and 16, 1st quarter. Earl Bennett runs a deep post, right into the lap of the safety. Had he turned that deep post into a skinny post, things would have happened. I know it's his first year on the field, but he's gotta be more aware. Against zone defenses, you have to find the soft spots... not run straight to a defender.

- My prediction of turnovers, penalties, and QB sacks for both teams did not some true. Well, Cutler did get nailed, and the Bears did have too many penalties. But I was thinking it would go both ways.

- As of the 10 minute mark in the second quarter, Matt Forte had exactly one rush.

- Question: If it's 3rd and 5 for Arizona, why are our DBs 12 yards off the WRs? I mean, I trust Lovie Smith, and I know he is having to play defense with some bad talent... but 12 yards off the WRs? Of course they converted a first down. And eventually scored a TD.

- Oh, speaking of converting... 3rd and 10, Arizona ball. Easy pitch and catch on a 12 yard curl route. 5 plays later, TD. Too easy, too soft.

- Kevin Payne plays hard, and hits hard. Good to see a bit of fire from someone on defense.

- Alex Brown fights hard. Even in the 4th quarter when we are getting schooled. Keep on fighting big guy.

- Injuries: Yikes. And now we have another game in three days. Friggin great. You know what though? We will beat San Francisco.

Angelo's Drafting Prowess Not Seen On Offensive Line

Dane Noble — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:14:44 -0000

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After thinking this morning about the three not-so-savvy free agent OL acquisitions (Orlando Pace, Frank Omiyale, and Kevin Shaffer) Jerry Angelo brought to Chicago this past offseason, I started wondering about how he has addressed the OL through the draft.

Angelo is, of course, known as a "build through the draft" GM, and many will agree that, in building a team, it all starts in the trenches with the big guys. Lucky for me, I didn't have to do too much research, because Bob LeGere of the Daily Herald covered the topic today.

Since 2003, Jerry Angelo has drafted 8 offensive linemen out of 81 total picks through that span. Not a very high percentage, but then LeGere shows us where those 8 picks have been:

Year	Player	Round	Total picks
2009	Lance Louis	7	9
2008	C. Williams	1	7
2008	C. Adams	7	7
2008	Kirk Barton	7	7
2007	J. Beekman	4	9
2007	Aaron Brandt	7	9
2006	Tyler Reed	6	7
2005	None	N/A	6
2004	None	N/A	8
2003	B. Anderson	7	12

Besides Chris Williams in 2008, only one lineman has been drafted higher than the 6th round (Josh Beekman). And as you can see, in two of those years, we didn't select any. Not exactly building the foundation via the draft like he is known for, is it?

LeGere does go on to make sure we remember that Angelo has had success in the draft...

That's not to condemn Angelo's drafting record. The team's topfive receivers- Devin Hester, Earl Bennett, Matt Forte, Johnny Knox, and Greg Olsen- are all Angelo draft picks.

So are six of the top seven tacklers: Lance Briggs, Danieal Manning, Al Afalava, Charles Tillman, Zack Bowman, Alex Brown, Tommie Harris, and Marcus Harrison.

It also hasn't been long since Angelo was ranked the #8 General Manager in all of professional sports by Forbes, and third best in the NFL. But, the fact remains that Angelo has not addressed the OL in the draft, and the most recent free agent pick ups have not been worth the time.

It would seem to me that, if he was so "fixated" on getting the QB position right, he would also be fixated on protecting him. You can bet that Jay Cutler is already in someone's ears, telling the organization that this is not going to cut it.

Larry Meyer, senior writer at the Bears official site, sat down for his weekly meeting with Angelo today, and Mayer asked Angelo about scouting for talent:

LM: During the season, how actively do you look to sign players to your 53-man roster that are on other teams’ practice squads or are street free agents?

JA: Very actively. I think we’ve got a very good track record of doing that. We are looking for players all the time that fit what we do to create more competition at positions. To me, we do that as well as anybody. We are always actively looking at bringing players on board. But you can’t do it as a revolving door. If you bring a player in, it’s because you saw something—what he did in college or in the NFL. When you bring him in, there’s got to be a plan for him. These aren’t auditions. We want to bring them in, and further their development. So there has to be a plan. We just don’t pick guys up randomly, bring them in for a couple weeks and then send then down the road. We don’t operate that way. It’s not about collecting talent, it’s about finding players that fit what we do and feel we can win with.

I'm not saying that I don't trust Angelo, but it just doesn't feel very good to get a QB like Cutler, only to have not addressed his protection through the draft or free agency very effectively.

NightLink: Bears Looking For Closers

wiltfongjr — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 21:30:18 -0000

More photos » by Nam Y. Huh - AP

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Brad Biggs of the Sun Times has a nice piece about the Bears looking to improve at closing out games. With this being Atlanta week (who will ever forget the final 11 seconds last year?) it seems like a perfect time to discuss the Bears second half game-planning, and their ability to close out on their opponents.

Here's the link to the Biggs article, right here. Last year many fans called into question the inability of Lovie Smith and his staff to close out games from an X's and O's standpoint. Were they failing at the halftime adjustments?

They squandered double-digit second-half leads in two of the first three weeks in losses to Carolina and Tampa Bay, and they went to Houston in the season finale knowing a victory would put them in the postseason. The Bears led the Texans 10-0 before crumbling.

The most stunning of all was the Week 6 meltdown with 11 seconds to play at Atlanta. The Bears had rallied for a one-point lead on a 17-yard pass from Kyle Orton to Rashied Davis in the Georgia Dome against the upstart Falcons. A bad Robbie Gould squib kick, a bad defensive call combined with poor execution and a 48-yard Jason Elam field goal later, they left stunned losers 22-20.

On thing that surprised me was Smith's overall record when leading after 3 quarters, the last couple years not so good, but before that, stellar.

The Bears were 26-1 under Smith in his first three seasons when they led after the third quarter. Since 2007, they are 12-6, including the lead they squandered at Green Bay to open the season.

When protecting a lead late, much of the onus falls on a good pass rush, something the Bears lacked the last two years, but this season...

With 14 sacks through the first four games, they're at half their total from 2008 and on pace for 56, the most since the Bears had 70 in the 15-game season of 1987. It's far easier to rush the passer with a lead late in the game, and the improved play by ends Alex Brownand Adewale Ogunleye has been encouraging.

In case you missed it, last week on chicagobears.com, Larry Mayer wrote about the Bears offense doing some self evaluation, and this interesting stat caught my eye.

Although the Bears have been outscored 31-7 in the first quarter, they've outscored their opponents 68-27 in the second half.

I know the Packer game slipped through the cracks, but so far I've been impressed with some of the 2nd half adjustments by the coaching staff.

I think it's just a matter of time before the Bears start to find some early momentum. Last year they seemed to get points on so many opening drives, but this year the offense has so many new parts so I'm not surprised by the slow starts. They'll get it rolling soon enough.

Week 3 Preview: Bears (1-1) @ Seahawks (1-1)

SackMan — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 04:36:17 -0000

More photos » by Ben Margot - AP

2 months ago: Seattle Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck (8) reacts after being hit by San Francisco 49ers linebacker Patrick Willis in the second quarter of an NFL football game in San Francisco, Sunday, Sept. 20, 2009. Hasselbeck injured his ribs on the play. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

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There's been many smiling faces in Chicago this week, after the Bears big win against the Super Bowl champs. But, now... it's time to turn the page to Seattle, as the Bears head out west this Sunday for a 3:05 CT start on FOX.

Week 2 Recap

The Seahawks are coming off a 23-10 road loss to division rival San Francisco. It was a brutal day for Seattle, as a depleted defense gave up 256 rushing yards to the 49ers, including a 207 yard effort by Frank Gore. Adding "injury to insult," QB Matt Hasselbeck left the game just before the half with a cracked rib, and backup LT Sean Locklear, filling in for the injured All-Pro Walter Jones, also left the game with an injured ankle. Seattle's star LB, Lofa Tatupu, exited in the 1st QTR with a hamstring injury. Backup QB Seneca Wallace, threw a TD and an INT in relief of Hasselbeck, however the Seahawks got shut out in the second half.

The Bears thrilled the crowd with a stunning 17-14 last second victory in their home opener over the Steelers in the rain. Robbie Gould sealed the deal with a 44 yard FG with 15 seconds left. QB Jay Cutler had a near perfect day against the vaunted Pittsburgh defense... completing 71% of his passes with 2 TDs and zero INTs and a 104.7 QB rating (and nobody cared what kind of face he made at the post-game press conference). The Bears defense held Big Ben in check, but the new look LB unit (minus Brian Urlacher and Pisa Tinoisamoa) did allow 105 yards on the ground to a Steelers team that has struggled to run the ball. The game served as a coming out party for rookie WR Johhny Knox, who was targeted 9 times by Cutler and led the Bears with 6 catches for 70 yards and a game tying TD. The Bears were aided by two missed FGs by Steelers K Jeff Reed. However, had Reed made both kicks, Jay Cutler still would've had the ball on a final possession with an opportunity to win the game

Quick Numbers:

256: The total number of rushing yards allowed by the Seahawks in last week's loss to the 49ers.
2: The number of injured LTs (Sean Locklear & Walter Jones), injured starting LBs (Lofa Tatupa & Leroy Hill), and injured starting CBs (Marcus Trufant & Josh Wilson) for the Seahawks.
104.7: Jay Cutler's QB rating last week vs the Steelers.
2.2: Matt Forte's average yards per carry so far in 2009.

Key Injuries:

SEA LB Lofa Tatupu (hamstring) Q
SEA WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh (back) P
SEA QB Matt Hasselbeck (ribs) Q
SEA CB Marcus Trufant (back) O
SEA CB Josh Wilson (ankle) O
SEA LB Leroy Hill (groin) O
SEA LT Walter Jones (knee) P
SEA LT Sean Locklear (ankle) P

CHI LB Brian Urlacher (wrist) IR
CHI LB Pisa Tinoisamoa (knee) Q
CHI TE Desmond Clark (ribs) Q
CHI DE Alex Brown (ankle) Q

When the Seahawks have the ball.
With the injuries to Hasselbeck and LTs Jones and Locklear, the outlook sure doesn't look promising for the Seattle passing game... especially if backup QB Seneca Wallace starts in place of Hasselbeck. Look for the Seahawks to play a conservative field position battle and keep the ball on the ground to avoid turnovers. RBs Julius Jones and Edgerrin James should challenge the Bears "B team" of LBs on early downs, and big TE John Carlson could be the key to third down conversions. TJ Houshmandzadeh is on a mission to prove Bears GM Jerry Angelo wrong for not wanting to sign him in the offseason... it'll be hard to prove if the Bears pass rush continues it's early season trend of putting heat on opposing QBs. However, the ankle injury to Bears starting RDE Alex Brown could neutralize the injuries to the Seahawks LTs.

The key matchup: LB Lance Briggs vs the Seahawks running game
Expecting a heavy dose of the run game (to either protect the injured Hasselbeck, or minimize the less capable Wallace), Lance Briggs will have to step up and do most of the dirty work himself.

The X factor on offense for the Seahawks: RB Justin Forsett
The second year scat back from California got very heavily involved in the offense last week with 5 carries for 35 yards, and 6 catches for 57 yards. If Wallace starts in place of Hasselbeck, expect Forsett to be an easy bail out option when the primary targets are covered.

When the Bears have the ball.
Seattle is normally a very tough and loud place to play as a visiting team... but the Bears offense could feast against a banged up Seahawk defense. The Bears have yet to establish a productive run game in the first two weeks of the season, partially because of matchups. They faced a new 3-4 Packers D on opening night, and didn't have any fresh game film to study from. Then, of course they followed that by facing the always tough Steelers 3-4 run D. An injured Seattle LB unit could be just the cure for the Bears running woes. However, look for the Bears to do the unexpected and "get off the bus passing" downfield with play action in the first series... to set up the run. They'll want to create an early opportunity to run against 7 man fronts instead of 8, by spreading the field vertically... which could make for some big gains by Matt Forte and build confidence in their run game.

The key matchup: WRs Johnny Knox and Devin Hester vs the Seahawks depleted CBs
We've seen Knox and Hester get behind All-Pro Charles Woodson, and we've seen Knox find holes in the Steelers defense. Now, the the two burners will get the opportunity to test a wounded Seattle secondary, who only have 3 healthy CBs. Cutler is already smelling blood.

The X Factor on offense for the Bears: TE Greg Olsen
Jay Cutler's new BFF has been shut down for the most part in the first two weeks, as defensive coordinators schemed to make someone else beat them. However, the Seahawks are so banged up on defense, that it should be quite difficult for them to remove Olsen from the equation.

Side notes from the NFC North:

Earlier in the pre-season, I warned that the Vikings days of dominant run D was coming to an end. Pat Williams, the key to their stout run D, turns 37 years old on October 24th... and so far this season, my prediction looks on target. Through two games, the Vikings are allowing 4.0 YPC and 109 YPG, to the woeful Browns and Lions. Small sample size, yes... but, it's the Browns (#32 in total offense) and Lions (#30 in total offense) we're talkin about here. That's a problem for Minnesota, especially with Frank Gore coming into town after a 207 yard performance.

Speaking of problems, the Packers offensive line has allowed a whopping 10 sacks and 19 QB hits in the first two games... including a 5 sack performance by Bengals DE Antwan Odom last week. If that's not bad enough, starting LT Chad Clifton is expected to miss the next two games with an ankle injury as the Pack go on the road for the first time this year to St. Louis and Minnesota.

The overall #1 pick of the draft, Matthew Stafford, is off to a horrendous start for the Lions, with 1 TD to 5 INTs and a QB rating of 40.5 in the first two games. I'll keep tabs on Stafford all season, as I eventually try to draw a comparison to Troy Aikman, who started every game for the 1-15 Cowboys in 1989, after also being the #1 pick in the draft.

The Play Of The Game: Cutler to Olsen for 29 yds

wiltfongjr — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 16:00:29 -0000

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What was the big play in the Bears game? The Knox leaping TD catch (why did he leap?), the two missed FG's by Steeler kicker Jeff Reed, the game winner by Robbie Gould? Maybe one of the two sacks by Alex Brown, or his pressure on Ben Roethlisberger that led to the interception by Charles Tillman?

For my money it was none of these. If I was pressed to pick a play of the game it was a play during the Knox TD catch drive. The playaction pass to Greg Olsen by Jay Cutler for 29 yards. It was a great and a well executed play call. Kudos to Ron Turner... that doesn't happen to often...

It was first and ten after the Bears converted a third down pass to Devin Hester. They were near midfield and it was a perfect time for a play action pass. Up to that point the Bears running game wasn't anything special, but they kept with it enough to keep the Steeler D honest. The Bears were doing a real good job with the short quick passing game, so the Steelers had that to think about as well. Throwing deep over the middle at that time was probably down on the list of things Pittsburgh was looking for.

During the game CBS Color man Phil Simms remarked that the usual route for Bears tight ends on that particular play was a drag across the middle, and by Greg Olsen taking it vertical it was sure to have surprised the Steelers. Simms said it was an unusual, but well designed play. One other aspect of the play was Olsen knowing he'd get creamed after the catch, yet hanging on.

After getting knocked silly earlier in the game down the left sideline by Tyrone Carter, Olsen showed the kind of toughness us Bears fans respect by holding onto that ball. He knew Carter was again barreling down in him, but he secured the reception on the way to the ground.

The play itself started with Olsen coming in motion right to left and settling in the slot on the left side. Hester (right) and Earl Bennett (left) were lined up split wide, and Kellen Davis was on the right side of the line as a TE. Matt Forte was the lone running back. Hester and Bennett both ran deep out routes, just deep enough for the safeties to have to respect them running a fly route, thus holding them from the middle long enough for Olsen to find an opening. The fake to Forte held the linebackers momentarily to allow Olsen to get behind them. Cutler actually made the pass before he had his feet set, yet he still threw a strike. He made a confident throw, Olsen showed good concentration in holding on to the catch, and the Bears pass protection gave Cutler plenty of time to find his receiver.

Why Are The Bears Considered An Elite Defensive Team?

Blitzburgh — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 09:57:57 -0000

It's interesting how teams in professional sports - and in the National Football League in particular - get branded in certain ways. Often times these labels stick with teams years longer than they perhaps should. The Pittsburgh Steelers, for example, are still thought of as a smash-mouth, physical running team even though they haven't fared well on the ground for most of the past 20 games or so. Another example is how the Chicago Bears are still thought of as an elite, physical defense because of some of their success earlier this decade. The Bears aren't really an elite defense anymore in my opinion and haven't been for two years running.

Let's take a closer look.

The last time the Bears defense was outstanding was in 2006, the year they lost to the Indianapolis Colts in the Super Bowl. The year before in 2005, Chicago was lights out on defense and rode their opportunistic ball hawking defense all the way to the #2 seed in the NFC and a home playoff game at Soldier Field that they would lose to the Carolina Panthers. Let's start though with the 2006 defense though. Here are some of their numbers from that year - the season they made it all the way to the Super Bowl before falling to the Colts (league rank in parentheses).

2006

Yards/G: 294.1 (5th)
Points: 15.9 (3rd)
Rushing Yards/G: 99.38 (6th)
Passing Yards: 194.7 (11th)
Turnovers: 44 (1st)
Sacks: 40 (8th)
DVOA: 2nd (Pass Defense = 1st; Rush = 6th)
Top Ten Tackle Leaders: Lance Briggs, Brian Urlacher, Charles Tillman, Danieal Manning, Ricky Manning, Chris Harris, Alex Brown, Hunter Hillenmeyer, Adewale Ugonleye, Nathan Vashar

The Bears were also good in 2005, but let's face it - four years ago means very little in the salary cap era of the NFL. I know us Steelers fans don't necessarily think of our team in 2005 as particularly similar to the squad we're watching in 2009. Anyway, the Bears were outstanding in 2005 on defense and combined with their solid play on that side of the ball in 2006, they earned the reputation as being one of the more physical and punishing defenses in the league.

Miscellaneous: The Bears started the 2006 season much like the 2008 Steelers did on defense. They were outstanding, holding their first 10 opponents under 300 yards. They pitched two shutouts in those first ten games and averaged only 12 points per game on defense while jumping out to a 9-1 record to start the year. They had three guys force at least four fumbles that year and eight defenders with two or more interceptions. By contrast, the Steelers only had one guy force more than four fumbles last year - Defensive Player of the Year James Harrison with seven. They also only had four players notch multiple picks. If you look at their roster from that year, you'll also notice that all of their top defenders were in their prime physical years - age 25-29 - with a number of other young key contributors like Tommie Harris being worked in during the early years of their career.

Let's see how they've fared the last two years though to see if they're deserving of still being thought of as one of the league's better units.

2007

Yards/G: 354.6 (28th)
Points: 21.75 (16th)
Rushing Yards/G: 122.9 (24th)
Passing Yards: 231.7 (27th)
Turnovers: 33 (8th)
Sacks: 41 (6th)
DVOA: 8th (Pass = 14th; Rush = 4th)
Top Ten Tackle Leaders: Brian Urlacher, Lance Briggs, Danieal Manning, Charles Tillman, Hunter Hillenmeyer, Brandon McGowan, Adewale Ugonleye, Adam Archuleta, Alex Brown, Ricky Manning

Miscellaneous: This is the year we really start to see the Bears defense decline. Chicago only held their opponent to under 300 yards of total offense on four occasions that season - once against the hapless Raiders and another against the rebuilding Chiefs running a Herm Edwards offense. They gave up 30+ points four times and likely would have finished even worse than 7-9 had they not sacked the quarterback and forced as many turnovers as they did. Adewale Ugonleye was particularly productive at 30 years of age for Chicago. He forced 6 fumbles, recovered three more, and had 9 sacks - tops on the squad that year. Ugonleye is now 32 years of age and not as explosive at the point of attack as he once was despite making his first Pro Bowl appearance last year (he should have made it the year before, not last season). It's also worth noting that 2007 was the first year of Bob Babich regime at defensive coordinator. I'm not sure of why, but former coordinator Ron Rivera was not retained by Lovie Smith following Chicago's run to the Super Bowl in 2006. Rivera had previously been in charge of the Bears defense since 2004 and had improved dramatically during his tenure there. Babich meanwhile got his first NFL gig with the Rams in 2003 when he was named their linebackers coach. Before being promoted to defensive coordinator prior to the 2007 season, Babich had never been a defensive coordinator at any level and had held only one job higher than a linebackers coach in his entire career - the head coaching gig at North Dakota State. Coaching matters - we know that having been blessed to watch Dick LeBeau for so many years. I don't think Babich is up to snuff and I'm frankly shocked he wasn't canned after last season.

2008

Yards/G: 334.6 (21st)
Points: 21.8 (16th)
Rushing Yards/G: 93.5 (5th)
Passing Yards: 241.1 (30th)
Turnovers: 32 (2nd)
Sacks: 28 (23rd)
DVOA: 7th (Pass = 10th; Rush = 5th)
Top Ten Tackle Leaders: Lance Briggs, Charles Tillman, Brian Urlacher, Kenny Payne, Corey Graham, Mike Brown, Adewale Ugonleye, Alex Brown, Tommie Harris, Nick Roach

Miscellaneous: The Bears really didn't have more than one or two impressive showings on defense last year. If you look at their schedule from 2008, you'll notice they only held their opponent under 10 points on two ocassions. One of them was against the lowly Lions. The other against the equally sad St. Louis Rams. They also played fairly well against the Carolina Panthers in Week 2 and against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 14. Those four games constitute the only contests that they were able to hold their opponents under 300 yards of total offense. By contrast, the Pittsburgh Steelers only surrendered more than 300 yards just once in 2008 and only 6 times in 2007, four of which came in the final four weeks of the season after injuries had more than taken their toll on Pittsburgh's defense. Chicago also gave up 27 or more points five times last year, including 41 to Minnesota in Week 7 at Soldier Field. Finally, Chicago was able to remain competitive last year due to the fact that they still forced a healthy number of turnovers. In fact, they forced at least one turnover in every game last year. That's fairly impressive. It's worth nothing though that nine of their 32 turnovers - or roughly 28 percent - came in two of their 16 games. They actually lost both games. In other words, I see a team that was extraordinarily vulnerable against the pass manage to pad their turnover stats and consequently hang tough in a number of close games despite not having a very dominating defense whatsoever. The fact that they registered the 23rd fewest sacks despite seeing more passing attempts than any other defense also speaks volumes about their inability to control games with their defense like they once could.

Finally, I mentioned earlier that the Bears defense was largely in the peak window on the defensive side of the ball in 2006. By 2008, the Bears roster on defense featured three starters over the age of 30. Perhaps more importantly though - because after all, the Steelers defense has its fair share of veterans - the Bears no longer were receiving such substantial contributions from their younger defensive players as they had in years past. IN 2007, the Bears drafted Greg Olson - a tight end out of Miami - in the first round and Dan Bazuin - a defensive end from Central Michigan in the 2nd. Bazuin never made it on to the field for the Bears. The Bears 3rd and 4th Round picks were also on the offensive side of the ball.

The next year, the Bears drafted an offensive tackle in the first round, yet another running back in the second, a wide receiver with their first 3rd round pick before finally selecting Marcus Harrison with their other 3rd round selection. Harrison looked pretty good last year but the bottom line is that's not much attention paid to the defense for several years in a row. In an attempt to shore up their defense after several years of not retooling its personnel, Chicago finally paid more attention to that side of the ball in this past April's Drat. Five of the Bears first seven picks were on defense. Smart move if you ask me, particularly because they seem to have a running back for the future in Matt Forte, a quarterback in Jay Cutler and an above average offensive line that gave up a respectable number of sacks last year (29) considering how bad their quarterback play was, not to mention how often they had to throw the ball due to the poor play from the defense.

Though they lost, for a game the Bears defense looked good this past Sunday night. They stymied Aaron Rodgers and the Packers offense for most of the evening. Green Bay had just 224 yards of offense, 72 of which came on their final drive of the game. Though I think Pittsburgh will have a few opportunities to run the ball after softening the Bears defense through the air, I'd still say I'm not holding my breath hoping that the running game will somehow materialize this Sunday, even though I'm no believer in Chicago's defense generally speaking. The Bears limited Green Bay's rushing game to just 76 yards on 22 carries. They should be just fine against the run even without Urlacher.

That's enough for now and I apologize for the lack of any real coherency with that post but I wanted to try to take a little bit closer look at the Bears defense the past several years to see really if they're as worthy of the frequent praise they get for their play on defense. My take? They've neither been terrible nor great, but in the past two years, I'd put them closer to poor if not for an opportunistic defense that has a knack for turning the ball over.