So the psycho known as me watched the Bears-Seahawks game today for what I promise is the final time. That third quarter is tough to watch even when you know the outcome. Here are the things I saw that need to be corrected before Sunday.
REX GROSSMAN
He throws a beautiful vertical pass but I tracked six big situation throws on crossing and slant routes where he missed wide open receivers, including the two back-shoulder incompletes to Moose and Bernie B. Because of his inaccuracy, the Bears went to a short out and screen passing game late.
RON TURNER
He called a brilliant game but on the last Bears drive in regulation with plenty of time remaining, he called three throws. I am a firm believer that unless this team is down two scores, they should never abandon the run - especially in a game where Thomas Jones was possessed in the first half and Benson was brilliant in the second.
HUNTER HILLENMEYER
I understand he comes out in nickel packages. I just don't like it. He made three terrific plays Sunday, including in a man-to-man situation with Jerramy Stevens in the endzone where he saved a touchdown.
DESMOND CLARK
Turner's utilization of Rash Davis was a masterstroke but the more throws to the Des Dispenser, the more comfortable Rex became all season. I can only imagine the Saints will be protecting Fred Thomas with a safety all day - this should open up the middle of the field. The Bears have three viable targets at wideout...add in the tight end and we're talking about a dynamic offense.
KICKOFF COVERAGE
Pissed Off has been on this all week and he's been right. The Bears made one positive play with their coverage units the entire game. They let Nate Burleson run wild. Dante Wesley committed a stupid interference penalty (also made the one positive play). Give the Saints a bunch of 60 yards-for-a-touchdown situations and the Bears will be down double digits at the half.
#2 jeff said . . .How'd C Harris look?
How'd the d-line look to you? This guy thought they sucked:
http://www.footballoutsiders.com/2007/01/17/ramblings/every-play-counts/4843/
Like I said I watched the game live but my head was spinning too fast to analyze
January 18, 2007
#3 jeff said . . .chris harris wasn't very bad at all. the seahawks had nothing open twenty yards down the field. the defensive line needs to find a way to pressure up the middle of the field. too many times they allowed hasselbeck to step up and throw. the ends got around the hawk tackles but hass would step up and hit whoever he wanted. pressure up the middle is key with small quarterbacks - look what it does to grossman.
January 18, 2007
#4 jdawg said . . .i will say that chris harris goes to strip first, tackle second. that needs to stop.
January 18, 2007
#5 craig said . . .I wonder if they would consider Boone in there on first down in place of Tank. It sounds like Tank was getting pushed off the LOS on run downs. Of course some of SA's big runs came against the nickle.
It will be an interesting chess match.
January 18, 2007
#6 jeff said . . .i'd agree that Harris needs to do a little better job of wrapping up... but he did make a few key run stops on Sunday, if my memory serves me correctly (not that he didn't also miss a couple).
I'm sure it's been mentioned already, but I didn't see a whole lot of Urlacher. What your impression of his game after having seen the tape several times?
January 19, 2007
#7 jdawg said . . .great in coverage but completely schemed-against in the run game. what was interesting was that a lot of times holmgren had either mack strong or he'd move jerramy stevens over and they'd double team him with a guard. in the base defense, he was great. when they went nickel, he disappeared. i expect the saint in three wide all game long.
January 19, 2007
#8 Sanchez said . . .Then set my Hunter Hillermeyr free!
January 19, 2007
#9 Big Wally said . . .Know what I luv about The Hunter besides his football skils? The dumbass packers cut him only a few months after drafting him and we got him.
January 19, 2007
#10 District Selectman said . . .Check out this site.
http://www.nwherald.com/bears/January 19, 2007
#11 Pissed off said . . .Totally agree about Hunter. That guy is the unsung hero of the defense.
I expect our special teams to be a lot better on Sunday. They played an unusually poor game last week.
I got a bottle of Drambuie, so it's Rusty Nails until the Bears win.
January 19, 2007
#12 Pissed off said . . .I didnt think Chris Harris was too bad but without Mike Brown the secondary will look a bit more inept no question. I think we will be seeing more of Todd Johnson this game and that guy can lay a hit on someone, hopefully he will make receivers hear footsteps like Mike Brown does.
Hunter Hillenmeyer is an unsung hero, he's important to keep on this team and utilize correctly, being in the shadow of Briggs and Urlacher makes him seem not as important but real Bears fans know his value.
January 19, 2007
#13 Pissed off said . . .One more thing......I noticed that N.O. turnover ratio is -4 (22nd in NFL) and the Bears' is +8(4th in NFL). This bascially says that the Saints offense is so good it overcomes the turnovers it has. How is a team with a -4 turnover ratio have as good a record as the Saints do? This pretty much means that if the Saints play relatively mistake free football, or have less turnovers than we do on Sunday, they have a great chance to win. I wish I wouldnt have seen this stat, now I'm a bit more worried. Great....less sleep now tonight and tomorrow.
January 19, 2007
#14 Phil from SATX said . . .How about the Pro Bowl when Kreutz will be snapping the ball to Brees....I wonder how that's gonna go.
January 19, 2007
#15 Phil from SATX said . . .jdawg, very insightful article and quite disturbing - all should read. PO'd, I'm a real Bear fan who has had trouble understanding Hillenmeyer's worth in the past, not based on anything but lack of recognition during games - just don't see him that much - but evidently he's doing something. I'm reading a lot of support for him and also saw him make some great plays in the Hawks game.
My question for the board is, I agree with most that stopping, or better said, containing Deuce may be the #1 key for the game. That said, isn't it possible that Deuce can have a Alexander type game and Bears still win? Alexander had 108 yards and we won, and he's very similar to Deuce - but maybe better. Here's some stats: Throughout the season we've faced 5 teams in the top half of rushing and we beat 4 of them, despite weathering over-100 yard games from their rushers in each game. Details: 49ers were 6th in league in rushing, Gore had 111. Giants were 7th, Barber had 141. Seahawks were 14th, Alexander had 108, Vikings were 16th, in the second game Fason and Taylor combined for 174. All wins. The only game we lost to the top half rushers was NE, and we held them well under 100, so they didn't beat us with the rush. Given this, maybe the game plan is don't let Bush beat you with big game-changing plays, knowing that Deuce will move the chains some and likely get some scores on you but the scoring will be limited? I'm pretty confident about our corners against their receivers.
On another topic, must-read David Haugh article today about Grossman. The more I learn about this guy the more I am impressed with his mental make-up. I think Rex is extremely mentally tough and that bodes well for us, for this game and the future. I loved his comments on how he reacted from his bad games - it was all about letting the team, coaches and organization down, not about outside scrutiny. I believe him, and I think Lovie and crew has put together a team that is very much "team first" which is a winning formula. Rex will lead us (back) to the promised land!
January 19, 2007
#16 Pissed off said . . .One more thing from that article on Rex - loved the picture I got of Lovie in how supportive and positive he's been to Rex and what a great atmosphere that is to work in. But I think we know now that Lovie is much more than a mindless "facts be-damned" cheerleader, even though he was painted as such during the Rex down time. While he's being positive with Grossman, Griese was getting more snaps, which was all Grossman needed to see to know he had to pick up his game, or else. I can tell you from being down here in Cowboys country, having a sour coach has got to get old real quick for these guys. Upbeat, positive and confident is the way to go - and in the end, when we are all celebrating our Super Bowl win, Jeff can write a tribute to Lovie and how he may have been the only coach that could have managed the ups and downs of Rex this year without changing course.
January 19, 2007
#17 mikebdot said . . .I've said it before....Lovie has been so patient with Rex, overpaitent by most team standards that I bet just about every other team in the league would have benched Rex by some point in the season. Lovie stuck with it and now we're winning.
January 19, 2007
PO'd: I have another take on the turnover ratio. The -4 is deceptive in that they hardly do either give or take away the ball. It was 19 - 23 (take/give). I mean, yeah, 23 is great, but 19 is 2nd worst in the league. If we both play a clean game I agree it's hit or miss, but if they turn the ball over and we don't, I don't think we're going to have problems on Sunday.
They lost the turnover battle against Green Bay (barely won that game 34-27), Carolina (LOST that game 21-18), Baltimore (LOST 35-22), Pitt (LOST 38-31), Cinci (LOST 31-16), Wash (LOST 16-10), Carolina (LOST 31-21). (those games combined accounted for about 19 of their turnovers [going off memory, I think it went 3,1,5,3,4,1,2])
In fact, all 6 of their losses were games in which they lost the turnover battle...they went 1-6 when losing the TO battle.
It also means that in their 10 wins they had 7 turnovers total (3 in the GB game).
The -4 is there because Brees had bad games too, but when you throw screens to Reggie Bush and he scores TDs from 60 yards away, it sort of makes your QB rating go up, huh? :)
January 19, 2007
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