I watched a football game in a bar yesterday. I was sitting with a sasquatch and riding a unicorn while I plucked the leaves off my four-leaf clover collection. The football game was supposed to be played between the Chicago Bears and Tampa Bay Bucs. The football game was supposed to be a battle of which-quarterback-can-make-the-fewest-mistakes.
Instead there was Tim Rattay and Rex Grossman replaying the Thrilla in Manilla, going blow-for-blow as Rattay eradicated what looked like a surefire blowout. Tim Rattay you say?? Tim fucking Rattay. Hell, I was almost rooting for him. The Bears are injured at safety, I know, but I'm not sure lining up without them is answer. Ron Rivera took the blame after the game and he should have. With a big lead, the Bears went blitz happy and paid the big play price. 31-31? These two teams? The over/under was like 6.
But man...how about that Rex Grossman? Every time we throw him into an early retirement, he responds. We boo'd him in the preseason and he won NFC Offensive Player of the Month for September. We call for Brian Griese and Grossman rallies off back-to-back 100+ quarterback ratings. What we are seeing is what the calmest among us have said all along...a young guy learning on the job.
Chalk that one up to the Chicago Bears offense. When this defense is healthy (no more Hester at corner please), they'll be fine. If the offense can score like this and prove they can win football games, they'll get a chance to win a pretty big one in February.
#2 Pissed Off said . . .All I am focusing on and hopefully all the Bears are focusing on is getting healthy and the Detroit Lions. Thats it. We should beat them but as we know, that doesn't mean we will.
I realize we won this past game but still, OT at home versus the Bucs??? I take no game for granted
December 18, 2006
#3 Adam from Pittsburgh said . . .Dont forget we lost to the 1-6 Dolphins at home and almost lost to the Arizona Cardinals too. I havent taken a game for granted since the Fins kicked our ass. That was the game that makes me leery of every opponent we play.
December 18, 2006
#4 jonathan said . . .I said it once, I'll say it again.
A win is a win.
It is what it is.Everyone needs to get healthy.
When Vash and Todd get back it should ease the problems in the secondary.The blitzes late in the game were a bad idea.
There's nothing wrong with dropping back and playing some coverage.
Just don't give up the big play.December 18, 2006
#5 jeff said . . .I love these Bears. No one was going to say it, but the phrase that came to my mind after this week's game was "returning the favor". After having our defense and special teams bail us out of several games, it was nice to pay one back.
Is this the most balanced, complete team in the game? This nice fawning article over at ESPN would have you think so (though technically they limit it to just the NFC, but whatever, a fun read regardless):
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?columnist=dalton_dean&id=2700758
Certainly our D needs to step up for the playoffs, but it does feel good to know that our offense can win games like they did at the start of the season.
December 18, 2006
#6 Chip Wesley said . . .it was a fun sunday for some reason, too. as they were blowing the lead i kept thinking, "same old bears" but i sorta knew they wouldn't lose.
December 18, 2006
#7 Phil from SATX said . . .This was an actual exchange yesterday during the game.
ME: "Wait, Tim Rattay is with Tampa Bay now?"
MY BUDDY: "Who's Tim Rattay?"
At least the D pretty much contained them throughout the overtime period. Although for a while there with the onslaught of constant 3 and outs between the two, I was starting to think it would be a tie.
December 18, 2006
#8 Bud Selig said . . .I can't say I agree at all with the overwhelming media bashing of the Bears' performance yesterday. I thought it was a scrappy win that showed a resilient team. Hear me out - remember it took the Bucs until the 3rd quarter to mount a touchdown drive. I think we would all agree the defense played great before that, that alone no small feat given all the absences. Bucs were then gifted with the next TD by Hester's fumble. Grossman (the real story of the game, and an overwhelmingly positive one) mounted a stirring and wholly competent drive to put the Bears back up by 2 TDs. Again, that alone was worth a lot of positive vibe for the team. A few bad plays later, the score was tied. Atrocious safety play did it, but let's not forget that the supposedly horrid Bucs have Joey Galloway and Ike Hilliard, neither of them slouches, and obviously Rattay has an arm - those were some beautiful passes. So within about three plays we give up the two longest passes all season, without Vasher and Todd, so what? It happens - and I don't think it will happen when we get (sorta) full strength in the playoffs. It's not like other teams can laugh at us for almost blowing the game - Saints lose to Washington? Jags lose to Titans without any Vince Young? Seattle lose to 49'ers? And that's just this week! Colts go down, Patriots go down, nearly every good team this year has either lost or played poorly against bad teams. Any win is a good one, and this one was important because it marked the second good performance in a row for G-Rex - again, the most important thing about the game. Also, by the way, Rattay had those 2 or 3 good plays in him, then the D shut him down again, and once again stole the ball back when they needed to! No other defense can do that!
So let's quit moaning, don't buy into all the media bashing, and get ready for some NFC pretender to get shocked in the playoffs when they finally realize, wow, I guess the Bears are a lot better than we all thought.
December 18, 2006
#9 Onside Kicks said . . .I was hoping for a tie.
December 18, 2006
#10 Still said . . .haha, we almost saw a tie. And Phil, I agree with everything you said. The Bears won when a lot of other teams were upset by bad teams. The defense got sleepy after going up by 21, and they let Tampa Bay sneak up on them. If the Bears would have lost, it would be a different story. But they won, and clinched home field throughout, with defensive starters out. Not too shabby.
December 18, 2006
#11 Onside Kicks said . . .A Zen koan for Robbie (to get him out of his funk):
Two kickers were arguing about the flag atop the goal post waving in the wind.
One said, "The flag moves."
The other said, "The wind moves."
They argued back and forth but could not agree.
Lovey, the master, said: "Gentlemen! It is not the flag that moves. It is not the wind that moves. It is your mind that moves."I thought this one was appropriate for a kicker.
December 18, 2006
#12 Jerry said . . .STILL, very insightful
December 18, 2006
#13 David Stefanini said . . .#3 "nothing wrong with dropping back and playing some coverage. Just don't give up the big play"
Are you shittin' me?
Prevent defense only works when you are 15 touchdowns ahead and there is 30 seconds left in the 4th quarter and you have the ball. Beyond that, it has never, ever worked, ever!!!
Please don't even wish that upon us, just play how we played to get there. I know we are hurt but 'prevent?', let us not go down that road.
'Just don't give up the big play.'??? How many non-big-play passes does it take to beat the shit out of someone? Oh, a short pass is not big; then define big, is it 1 or 10 or 20 or 12 or 80 yards, what? Come on, be real. 'Dropping back' is prevent defense by a PC name, be careful what you want for our Bears (I appreciate you are a fan and we are on the same side). I for one never find 'prevent defense' acceptable, not only because it admits your weakness as a team (defense, offense and special teams) but it does not and will never work. As a matter of fact......no, I should not go there.
Been gone awhile but tried to keep up.
God damnit do I love our Bears and we need to come at them hard, fast, and vicious.
December 19, 2006
#14 Adam from Pittsburgh said . . .I love the blog that you have. I was wondering if you would link my blog to yours and in return I would do the same for your blog. If you want to, my site name is American Legends and the URL is:
www.americanlegends.blogspot.com
If you want to do this just go to my blog and in one of the comments just write your blog name and the URL and I will add it to my site.
Thanks,
DavidDecember 19, 2006
#15 Jerry said . . .Jerry,
I'm not saying prevent.
Prevent has been a joke and continues to be a joke.Cover underneath for sure.
But they knew Tampa was going to pass.
I'd rather play it safe than calling feast or famine blitzes close to the end of the game.Anyway,
Gutsy win by the Bears.
I think the Bears have won games every way you can possibly win them this year. I like their chances.
I need Directv.
December 19, 2006
#16 asia said . . .Adam,
I need DirectTV also. We never get the Bears on Time Warner cable here. It is a challenge to go out to the bar at 10 AM to catch the 1 PM game because of the time difference. But a strong 'Bloody Mary' early followed by a few 'Fat Tires' always works.
We are there my friend and goddamnit GO BEARS.
December 19, 2006
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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.