DEFENSE:
For the second straight week the talk starts with NATHAN VASHER.
He had 2 int in the first quarter, bringing his total for the year to 6 (1 more than his team leading total last year) and putting him in a tie for the lead in the NFL with Bengals’ cornerback Deltha O’Neal. He has 11 interceptions in his first 26 NFL games.
The first picked off a pass intended for Ricky Proehl and he returned it 46 yrds to the Panthers’ 8 yrd line and setting up Ortons’s 3 yrd TD pass to Moose. Vasher’s second pick came off an almost identical play. This one was returned 22 yrds to the Panther’s 18-yrd line.
The Bears with the most interceptions in a season:
1. Mark Carrier 1990 10
2. Roosevelt Taylor 1963 9
3. Clyde Turner 1942 8
3. Johnny Lujack 1948 8
3. Richie Petitbon 1963 8
3. Vestee Jackson 1988 8
He imitated a hula dance to celebrate his second interception. At the rate he’s going he will be seeing the real thing at the end of the season.
But the real conversation is about the BEARS’ DEFENSIVE LINE
Adewale Ogunleye: 3 sacks (career high) That gives him 7 on the year, which leads the team with 1 more than Urlacher.
Alex Brown: 2 sacks (season high), 1 PD (almost an int), 2 forced fumbles. And he would’ve had a third sack but there was a holding called.
Alfonso Boone, Michael Haynes and Tommie Harris: 1 each.
That's a total of 8 sacks yesterday, five coming in the final quarter, 3 in the Panthers’ last possession. Carolina had allowed just 12 in its first nine games, 4 of those in the last 5 games.
Additionally (by unofficial count) Delhomme was pressured another nine times, and hit on at least seven other occasions.
Half of the Panthers dozen offensive possessions included at least 1 sack.
I believe it’s tied for the most in one game since they had nine in a 6-3 victory over the Raiders on Dec. 27, 1987 (Richard Dent 3-1/2, Steve McMichael 3, Dan Hampton 1-1/2, Dave Duerson 1). The Bears also had 8 sacks on Sept 8, 1991 in a 21-20 win against Tampa Bay)
The Bears had just 18 sacks on the season two years ago
These standout performances led to:
Jake Delhomme: 22 of 38 attempts for 235 yards, 0 TDs, 2 int and was sacked eight times.
Vasher’s two picks give Delhomme 12 on the year. One more than Kyle Orton.
The Panthers averaged only 3.8 yrds per snap had 4 three-and-outs and had only 13 first downs.
Fourteen of those passes went to Steve Smith who had 169 yrds, 71% of Carolina’s offense (The rest of the Panthers mustered only 69 offensive yrds.) But to quote the Sun-Times, “never have 169 yards been more meaningless�.
The Bears allowed just 55 rushing yrds on 16 carries, 29 of those came off the Panthers’ 11 attempts in the first half.
They allowed just 26 yrds of offense (on 11 plays) in the third quarter.
The Bears limited an opponent to less than 10 points for the sixth time.
Previously the Panthers had scored 30 pts in 3 straight games and hadn’t been held under 20 pts all season.
The Bears have given up only 9 TDs in 10 games. The 1985 Chicago Bears allowed 22 TDs in 16 regular season games.
In 22 trips into their red zone the Bears’ D has allowed only 4 TDs (an 81.8% red zone defense efficiency), 11 field goals, 4 take aways, 2 failed 4th down conversions and an aborted fake field goal. The 4 TDs came from Cincinnati (Week 3) Detroit (Week 8), and New Orleans (2) in Week 9.
OFFENSE:
Kyle Orton: 15 of 26 passes for 136 yards with 1 touchdown, 1 interception and a 68.8 passer rating.
The Bears' offensive line did not allow a sack for the second straight game. (Carolina’s defense had registered 19 sacks in its previous four games)
Justin Gage: 7 catches for 81 yrds (including a brilliant sideline catch) and he drew a pass interference penalty. His 7 catches were a career high and led the team.
Moose: 6 catches, 49 yrds. But he was thrown to 13 times and had 3 drops including a very catchable ball in the end zone that would’ve put the Bears up 14-0 (they settled for a field goal)
Thomas Jones: 87 yrds on 25 carries. With sore ribs against a good run D
Adrian Peterson: 4 carries, 37 yrds (including a 19 yrd run)
They combined for 124 rushing yrds against the #2 ranked run D that was giving up an average of (around) 80 yrds per game.
SPECIAL TEAMS:
Robbie Gould: 2 for 2. That’s the third time in the last four games that he has made 2, which lifts him to 9-for-13 (69.2 percent) for the season.
Poor punt coverage led to 3 touchbacks for Carolina. There was the opportunity to down all three of those punts in the 5-yrd line. Maynard was so frustrated he threw his helmet twice.
BEARS MENTIONING:
The Bears have scored 71 points off turnovers this year and allowed 36.
For all the talk last week about how great the Panthers are and how Chicago was just benefiting from an easy schedule its worth noting that Carolina is 6-14 under coach John Fox in games against opponents with winning records.
The wind at Soldier Field came in at a light 7 mph, a full 40 mph weaker than at last week’s game.
“Nothing Could be Finah Than “D� vs Carolina� – Sun-Times headline. One of the greatest headlines of all time.
John Kasay, the Panthers’ field goal kicker who missed 1, made 1 has been with the team since their expansion season in 1992. I know this cause I read half of The Carolina Panthers: The First Season of the Most Successful Expansion Team in NFL History by Joe Menzer. Don’t ever read this book.
#2 Reverend Dave said . . .Five most underrated performances from Sunday's game:
5. Justin Gage - made a series of terrific catches for first downs.
4. Kyle Orton - this is a major stepping-stone win for Kyle. He should have had two touchdown passes, had Muhammad not dropped the second ball.
3. Chris Harris - the diving knockdown of the Ricky Proehl-intended pass in the endzone was nothing short of brilliant.
2. Brian Urlacher - not for nothing, but can the Dwight Freeney for defensive player of the year talk stop now. Urlacher seems to be everywhere at all times.
1. Fred Miller - with a jaw plated shut, he kept the broadcasters from saying Julius Peppers' name a single time the entire game.November 21, 2005
#3 Mike D. said . . .I am in 100% agreement with Jeff's assesment of the those 5 players. And just to add to that, and correct an oversite in my inital post: In addition to his two interceptions, Vasher also had three tackles, two passes defensed and a forced fumble.
November 21, 2005
#4 Max said . . .This defense reminds me of the '84 Bears. NOT '85, but '84-- a young "D" that began to get great before our very eyes.
Remember those two games in '84--first when they knocked poor old Archie Manning--playing in one of his last games for Minnesota-- all over Soldier Field, then the next week when they beat up Marc Wilson, and then longtime Raider backup QB David Humm, and Tom Flores nearly inserted Ray Guy at QB until Guy managed to disappear from the sidelines, prompting Wilson's return, where his butt-kicking resumed? Watching Delhomme get pummeled yesterday reminded me of that.
Hopefully, this is just the start of something much, much greater.
November 21, 2005
#5 jeff said . . .Sportscenter has been comparing this years D with the '85 D. I agree with Mike on this one, they are still a little young, and the 85 team put up some insane numbers in the second half of the season. We are going to need an effort like that to make it through a pretty tough schedule from here on out. I don't care what you say about the Packers and how they are playing this year, they are still the Packers, and you know they are going to play hard in both games against us and Farve has been the Bear killer. Tampa is on the rise, Atlanta still has Michael Vick and, in my opinion, the most under-rated running back in the league in Warrick Dunn, Pittsburg will have Big Ben back by the time we go into there, and the vikes. . . well ok, I can't make a case for them, but everyone else. . . So, I am just going to be a nervous wreck before every game, probably from here on out. but its ok. . . itll be good
November 22, 2005
And I will say what I said before the season started:
I wanted 8-8 this year and the development of a quarterback. Division next year. Contention the year after that.
We've skipped two years. That's Lovie.
November 22, 2005
Here at DaBearsBlog, you are free to kill us or the Bears as you so wish. You are not free, however, to be an asshole. So if you spew racism or ill-meaning foul language (cursing about football is just fine) or anything of that ilk, your comments ain't gonna last long, jerk.