First, an apology. Last week I wrote in this space a particularly scathing commentary on Al Davis' role in the Raiders organization. I wrote that opinion based on the news available to me: a great deal of it from Chris Mortensen at ESPN. After watching Al Davis today at one of the greatest press conferences in the history of sports, I am thoroughly convinced that not only was my initial understanding of the situation wrong but I also unfairly condemned an old man who today proved lucid, passionate and angry. Hard not to root for Davis, Tom Cable and Raiders after this kind of honesty on the public stage.
On to the rest of football...
Chicago @ Detroit
There's very little positive information leaking out of Detroit. The coach is defining "lame-duck" at press conferences, rookie Kevin Smith can't understand why he's being benched and radio stations are holding moronic fake funerals for Matt Millen. What do I think? I think the Bears better cover Calvin & Roy on Sunday.
As for the Beas, apparently Nick Roach has surpassed Jamar Williams on the depth chart while the rest of the depth chart struggles to stay on the field (according to Brad Biggs).
Right now, boys and girls, Kyle Orton is in the top ten in the NFL in touchdown passes and passing plays over twenty yards. Or as David Haugh puts it, "...the Bears appear to have the most stable quarterback situation of the NFC North teams moving forward and that cannot be overlooked or overemphasized in a division suddenly up for grabs."
Tennessee @ Baltimore
Have you ever heard of Stephen Tulloch? I hadn't. He's the new middle linebacker for the Titans, promoted over Ryan Fowler after the team's 3-3 start. This is why I love Jeff Fisher and think he's one of the best coaches in professional sports. The team hasn't lost. The defense is one of the best in the game. And he's not afraid to change his middle linebacker in an effort to get better.
Kansas City @ Carolina
Jason Whitlock is reserved in his criticism of the Kansas City Chiefs writing, "The Chiefs are not on the verge of a playoff push. They’re not the 2007, 0-3 New York Giants." No Jason, they're not. Nobody is. The Giants were 1-2 last season. That isn't even a hard fact to check.
Atlanta @ Green Bay
For too long it has seemed like the Bears have battled injuries at every conceivable position while the Packers walked through the raindrops with an ironman quarterback and invincible roster. Those days are done. I can't tell you how nice it felt to see LSU's barely-starter Matt Flynn throwing the ball into the ground for the Pack. It's not quite Henry Burris or Craig Krenzel but another shot to Aaron Rodgers' shoulder and it could be. (A boy can dream, can't he?)
The Packers defense is an even bigger issue. Cullen Jenkins is done for the year. A.J. Hawk might have a groin tear. Their secondary is running on fumes. This division is there for the taking.
Indianapolis @ Houston
Here's why both ESPN and Power Rankings are useless: (18) Bears. (17) Colts. That's just blatant disregard for the results of football games.
San Diego @ Miami
This what Ricky Williams had to say about the prospect of smoking weed on his bye week: "So there was definitely an urge...But I just thought about what I have to lose, and it was easy. The urge didn't last very long." I have smoked weed. Many times. Maybe I don't get it. This is worth losing millions of dollars over? It makes you want to eat cookies and go to sleep. You can't eat cookies and go to sleep without risking suspension from the NFL?
Seattle @ New York Giants
The Daily News reported that the NFL is considering action against Plaxico Burress for off-field issues. This is a damn good club but there's two players they can not afford to lose for any substantial period of time: Plax and Justin Tuck. And it is looking more and more like one loss in this division could be the difference between first and last place come December.
Washington @ Philadelphia
Admittedly I didn't watch the Redskins play in weeks two or three but there was not a more improved team over the first quarter of the season than Jim Zorn's bunch. They looked awful on opening night and like a Super Bowl contender Sunday. If they beat Philly, look out. They have St. Louis, Cleveland and Detroit on deck. Who had this team 7-1?
By the way, Eagles media members...you really blaming David Akers for the Bears loss? The real problem: the Eagles have scored a total of 18 points in the second-halves of games not played against the Rams.
Tampa Bay @ Denver
This has nothing to do with football. It has to do with Kevin Coster writing songs for the Tampa Bay Rays.
The Denver Post does a nice judge drawing the parallel between the Lane Kiffin situation and what Mike Shanahan went through in Oakland years ago. The one drastic difference is that Al Davis never went out of his way to publicly condemn Shanny the way he did Kiffin.
Buffalo @ Arizona
I want to believe in the Dick Jauron Buffalo Bills. But there's two major issues. (1) Dick Jauron. (2) They've struggled mightily with some pretty bad teams. They're 4-0 and Vegas as them as a Pick 'Em with a team that just allowed a million points to the Jets. So I looked for a difficult part of their schedule. Nope. It doesn't exist. This team is going to win at least ten games and be in the playoffs.
Cincinnati @ Dallas
Sportswriter Line of the Week from Gregg Easterbrook: "In other football news, Ryan Fitzpatrick of Harvard started at quarterback for Cincinnati. Ryan, didn't they teach you at Harvard not to get involved with the Cincinnati Bengals?" Cedric Benson did not go to Harvard.
Anf if you're a fan of any NFC team with playoff aspirations, root like hell for the Bengals. With the T.O. bubble finally ready to burst, a loss to a winless team is the dramatic premise for great theatre.
New England @ San Francisco
Nice piece on Mike Singletary's coaching career in the Boston Globe.
Pittsburgh @ Jacksonville
I honestly have no interest in this game. None. I do have interest in the fact that right now if you asked me to guess what twelve teams will be in the postseason, I'd be lost. Buffalo? Check. Tennessee? You convinced Indy and Jacksonville won't catch them? Denver, San Diego, Dallas, Washington...etc? See what I mean? The league has not been this wide-open in a decade.
Minnesota @ New Orleans
The Vikings will go to 1-4 on Monday night and the local press is already figuring out ways for the Vikes to salvage their season. If you want to know why the Vikings won't make the playoffs, read what Florio has to say over at ProFootballTalk. Brad Childress was and continues to be a terrible head coach.
I'll be monitoring Bears injuries throughout the next couple days and get word to you once I have it.
#2 Shady said . . .FIRST.
Christ, Jeff. Long enough?
Seriously, have you applied to write for a Chicago paper? Cause most if not all of us would rather read you.Nick Roach? WTF? Glad you brought it up. I was going to go on a rant about it. How the hell did he jump over Jamaar, who is suppose to be the future at linebacker??? Im baffled.
We CAN NOT take the Pussy cats lightly. See last year...
October 1, 2008
#3 NY Bears Fan said . . .Gotta love the 'Round the League Segment. Simply CHOCK FULL of NFL nuggets and tid bits. Good stuff as always Jeff.
October 1, 2008
#4 brian in sec 430 row 25 said . . .Jeff, I second @animals comment above. I found this blog back in 2006 and mostly have been an observer with more comments recently. I check the blog daily for your posts and they have been great lately. I guess this is my "support group" since I live in Rochester NY (grew up in IL) and everyone around here is a Giants or Bills fan. My wife doesn't quite understand my addiction, I haven't missed a play in four years since getting DirectTV. Keep up the great writing!
October 1, 2008
#5 To Jeff said . . .First of all, as always the comentary is better than ANYTHING I read in the papers or on line. Secondly, NY Bears fan....I work for constellation wine co (formally canandaigua wine co.) So I know what a lonely place rochester can be for a bear fan. Finally, I disagree about the Al Davis comments....I think Al davis is a snake and I would not be suprised if 95 percent of what that bag of bones said was a lie. I couldn't care less about the raiders but anyone who draws a conclusion from one Al Davis press conference is a sucker....I am sure kifin is no saint but working for Al Davis seems worse than working for mike mccasky.
At the game sunday night....electric! Eagles fans are the definition of miserable assholes, they chirpped all fucking game like they are the patriots or something. I felt compelled to remind them they have never won shit!!! Fucking loud mouth assholes, period.
October 1, 2008
#6 Knight of Ownage said . . .I have followed the blog since 'midway through '06 and post occasionally. I never miss you leads though - even if I have to catch up after being gone for awhile.
Your 9/11 piece brought a rather large lump to my throat.
Monday's "Season Saved" gave me the feeling I get when they play The Anthem before the game.
Lots of others too. Thank you so very much
There will always be those who for whatever reason want to disrupt us or take satisfaction in pissing us off. That's life. Their problem; not ours
Bear Down!!!!!
October 1, 2008
#7 wth said . . .The Lions, funerals...WTF.
Kick their whimpy asses!
Go Bears!October 1, 2008
#8 enderwiggin said . . .doesnt cinncinati already kind of suck...now they sign benson? hahaha
October 1, 2008
#9 zmac said . . .So, how will Tillman and Vasher do againt Johnson and Williams ? and whats this i hear about a vasher thumb/wrist injury? say it ain't so!
October 1, 2008
#10 Ronaldo said . . .1, animal: Rey Malaluga
October 1, 2008
#11 Rancid said . . .zmac, I hear you about the Forte and fantasy team from the last post. All I'm saying is: given how much we've already worked Forte 4 games into the season, how bad the Lions D is, and that anyone not named Benson could run up 100+ yards against them I think it may be a good game to limit Forte this game to give him a break before the Vikings game. It's not like NFL RBs have a long life-span or anything.
I want to see us win 2 games in a row. And do it convincingly.
October 1, 2008
#12 Phil from SATX said . . .I think forming an opinion of Al Davis is more work than it's worth. I guess I don't like football in general enough to go through all that. I have enough trouble finding time to post here.
As far as the Lions are concerned. Why not hold a funeral for the whole organization? They're not the worst team in the league this year, but they're the worst team in the league. A Giants fan friend of mine who pretty much only pays attention to the Giants actually responded with "they still have a team?" when I told him who we were playing this week.
If I had an ounce of pity in my body for the Bengals and all their legally troubled players, it's gone. It's one thing to draft assholes, it's entirely different to sign them as free agents. If you need a RB, sign Shaun Alexander
As far as Bears injuries go, I am not terrified yet. Lloyd is the tough one as he had become the #1 and looked great. We're used to Tommie and Peanut injuries. Tommie was replaced without any letdown in performance, with Idonije actually putting in a better game than we've seen from Tommie. I can deal with Graham too.
Mike Singeltary should've been offered our DC position when Ron#1 went bye bye. Now I see no way short of the Bears having a couple crap seasons that he will ever be a part of our organization, and if that's the case I don't want him.
October 1, 2008
#13 Phil from SATX said . . .We have not reached full flower yet on the possibilities of the running back tandem - which is why I'd be interested in at least using KJ a lot more in the upcoming game. Because these guys apparently pay attention to who starts, clearly you're not going to sit Matty entirely - he WILL get the start, and the majority of carries - but I sure wouldn't mind going to KJ early and often.
I like him a lot so far - but I also see that he's not the back TAO is (still pimping on my name) (look what happens when you anocrynize The Alpha and Omega - you get TAO - THAT'S pretty cool, huh? But he'd have to be The Tao - which also gives rise to The Way - another good one!)- we witnessed that during that one change of direction play when KJ got stopped going to his left and the Red Sea parted on the right - his feet got a little stuck in quicksand and thus allowed someone to get a shoestring tackle on him in what would have otherwise been a HUGE gain. Now "The Future is Now" would have hit that hole and likely scored his second long TD. [If you're going to call Matty The Future it would have to be The Future is Now - T-FIN I guess - still working on this]
Speaking of nicks for Matty, Jeff you lost me a bit on Game - until I realized I think you were using Game short for Ballgame. As in, that one put it in the books. Am I right in that? Ballgame! could be used as well.
I too don't understand the Nick Roach over Jamar deal - but I'm back to the point where I'm trusting these guys on defensive position evaluation.
Agree with Rancid on Davis, although his presser sounded sickening. There was absolutely no reason in the world to discuss whether or not you were going to pay him. I immediately harkened back to the Jeff instant classic
He's cover-me-with-a-blanket-cuz-it's-cold old.
But I don't worry about the Raiders - in fact my standard position is I hope that all crappy franchises remain crappy franchises because it makes our path easier. So when Lions finally fire Matt Millen, it's a negative to me. When Tarvaris Jackson loses his job, it's a negative. If they force Al Davis to give up his ownership, that's a negative. Still amazed that they were in a Super Bowl not that long ago.
I save Round the League for when I have time, but it's always worth the wait. Thanks Jeff!
Matty's first book: The Tao of Running
October 1, 2008
#14 Viva said . . .The Lions are the new Buccaneers.
October 1, 2008
#15 Luke said . . .About a two/three weeks ago it was Cedric Benson went to Detroit to work-out for the Lions.
About a week later Matt Millen was fired.
Do you think Cedric Benson was the straw that broke Millen's back?
How fucking funny is that? I'm pissing myself!!!!
October 1, 2008
#16 Decatur Staleys # 7 said . . .I have to say, I think Al Davis is just as crazy as I thought he was when I woke up yesterday. Who knows what's really going on in Oakland. I did hear old Al saying that Lane was gonna bring in his dad to run the Raider's D. Well, good thing Al Davis IS crazy. That might've been exactly what the Raiders needed for a D that looks all too good on paper for the kind of games they're having. Monte Kiffin would beef those bastards up quick. And I've been saying for awhile that I like Lane Kiffin. I think one day he will be a good if not great NFL coach. It's just too bad he took up his first opportunity with the craziest owner in all of sports. Eh, one day he'll probably be on another team in that division and kick Davis' Raiders ass all the time like Mike Shanahan likes to do.
October 1, 2008
#17 Urlacher FTW said . . .If anybody cares Mark Bradley signed with the Chiefs,An Charles Tillman is listed as Questionable for Sunday
October 1, 2008
#18 Joseph said . . .I think KO is really going to shine this weekend, he is quietly becoming... above average, in fact quite good. I didn't really think about it until I read this on the bears site from Larry: "Over the last two weeks, Orton’s five TD passes are second in the NFL only to the Jets’ Brett Favre, who has nine." Wow. So let's get this straight:
1. This is his first season being named QB from the beginning.
2. He was given two new receivers to throw to, a new RB to hand off and throw to, and two new lineman to protect him.
3. He has had to face 3 top ten defenses in 4 weeks.
Now I am not saying he is fantastic yet, I am saying there sure is a lot of hope for him to be fantastic. He has progressively gone from managing the game, to throwing more TDs in the last 2 weeks than anyone the NFL save Brett Favre. He looked better against the Eagles than the pro-bowl QBs they faced before him. In all 4 games he has outplayed the QB on the other side of the ball, WTF do you want from him, this is a team that is built on ST and Defense, while pounding away on Offense with a stud RB. I agree, that second half was pretty rotten, and against TB they sputtered quite a bit; but the fact is he is putting enough points on the board to put this team in position to win every football game. He is definately a big enough threat to prevent teams from stacking the box solely against the run; that is all we really need. I've seen people on here wish for McMahon back, and really 85 SuperBowl Shufflin' Jim put up 15 TD vs 11 INT that year with a QB rating of 80 and a completion% of 56; so really hes on pace to do as well or better in his first true season as the starter.Man I really wanted Benson to go to Detroit; now I won't get to see Lance Briggs tee off on him twice a year. Oh well.
Jeff I wanted to get your thoughts on this, if Lloyd is hurt (meaning out for a few weeks or even to the point where any play could be his last for a while) why not start suiting up another young wideout, Earl Bennett in paticular or bring up Rideau, he was great on specials in Preseason. The thing is we suit up Garret Wolfe, who while I like the Cinderella story 5'8" 180 lb guy in the NFL and he is good on specials; we seem fine at RB, we hardly play our 2nd string much less getting to 3rd or 4th. It would seem like a good idea to have the depth at wideout and not dress Wolfe for a while. Also if it was Bennett and we had to spell Hester on punts.. it makes me shiver every time Vash goes back to field a punt and get hit.
October 1, 2008
#19 mikebdot said . . .I have this funny feeling that Benson is gonna turn out to be a decent running back!
Don't get me wrong the guy is a mope...but from what I saw in pre-season he looked like he was in good shape! He trimmed down back to his college weight and I was kinda looking forward to seeing what the "new" Benson can do!
The problem is the guy has no heart! If your teamates don't respect you then what makes you think they will bust their ass trying to block for you?
Look at Forte...he has virtually the same O-line and they are springing blocks left and right for this kid!
But don't be surprised tho if Benson does well on the Bungles.
October 1, 2008
#20 BRIANsong said . . .Joseph: Actually, no, the offensive line is not "springing blocks left and right for this kid". His ypc is 3.8. Which is great and all, but that 50 yard carry that just happened to be the perfect play call and Bob Sanders taking a piss poor angle will certainly pad that a little.
There have been very few plays where the hole has been big enough to gain a mere 10 yards. We don't have enough runs with 8+ yards. Those are the types of runs that keep chains moving. We had a couple the first few games, but last week was absolutely terrible. When we play the Vikings we will be in trouble. Yes, I said it. Their interior line has constantly dominated ours, even in '06 when we hardly beat them, twice. In fact, the past four meetings: 51, 83, 83, and 32 yards rushing. That is fucking pathetic.
October 1, 2008
#21 Phil from SATX said . . .But mikeb, that's the best rush defense in football (Vikes) and the best this year (Eagles). Unfair to judge the team on their play only against the best.
The Bears rush game is not there yet by any means but certainly the line has improved greatly.
October 1, 2008
#22 sean said . . .Benson has no lack of talent, he just didn't show it. What surprises me is that he is back, because I didn't think he would play again - didn't think he wanted to.
I wouldn't be surprised at all if he does very well - but I'll certainly be pissed! Give us our $13.8MM back if you weren't trying over here, d-bag!
Urlacher, loved your take on Kyle. Very well argued, and I agree. We can't underestimate what that was like for him to face those D's, with our trying-very-hard-but-still-bottom-half line.
And we can't expect perfection out of him - he's going to look bad at times, and do bad stuff. It did look pretty bad in the second half, and some of that was his fault, but not all of it. I am feeling very good right now about Kyle Orton. Pretty soon there's going to be a whole bunch of us pulling into KOA - Kyle Orton's Army!
Any new info on the status of our hurt players?
October 1, 2008
#23 Joseph said . . .I've never been a Brandon Loyd supporter over the years, but now he's on my team and I gotta root for him. Is it possible the reason Orton struggled in the second half is because he didn't have his go to receiver. I've also heard that Jim Johnson's adjustments may have had something to do with it. Hass is on the practice squad again. We might get a look at Bennett this weekend if they give Loyd Sunday off to rehab.
October 1, 2008
#24 Shady said . . .Mikebdot, I'm not only talking about the running game...what about the screen passes? The 50 yard carry to me looked like the blocking is what got him to the second level and into the endzone!
If we can get consistant with the passing game Forte's ypc will go up significantly!
October 1, 2008
#25 Chitillidie said . . .Two in a row!
Two in a row!
Let's go Bears!
Two in a row!
October 2, 2008
#26 mikebdot said . . .The play I remember most, was when Kyle started in the shotgun, came up to the line and changed the play, took the snap from under center and threw it right over the blitzing LBs heads on the left side to set up a great screen. I think it's safe to say he's the only QB on the roster that makes that check (and probably that throw).
Now Cedric gets to play against the Steelers and the Ravens twice a year...I hope James Harrison and Ray Lewis give him a warm welcome to the AFC North.
Considering this schedule, 2-2 looks pretty good. And w/Aaron Rodgers and the Pack's defense dropping like flies, the Vikings offense looking putrid (haven't broken 20 points in 4 games), and the Lions....well...they are actually worse than the Raiders...I really like our chances of winning this division. Getting past the Giants or Cowboys in the postseason is my only real worry at this point. AFC seeming...not so scary these days. And I like it.
BEARS!
October 2, 2008
#27 mikebdot said . . .Joseph: All I'm saying is that "blocking people left and right" is a bit of exaggeration. Having a decent pass game will prevent the other team from putting 8 in the box, but, to me, I give way more credit to Forte for gaining yards regardless of whether or not defenders are in the backfield, or are simply not blocked by the pulling center...
October 2, 2008
#28 Shady said . . .Check this out:
Indy: 4 rushes for no gain, rest were positive gains
Carolina: 2 rushes for a loss (-2 and -1) and a few no gains
Tampa: 1 rush for a loss of 3, 1 for no gain
Philly: -1, -1, -3, 2 no gains
That is really amazing. 5 rushes out of 92 for a loss of yards.
Compared to last year, Benson had 2 for a loss and 5 no gains against san diego. Shoot, even in a game he got 100 yards rushing against KC, he had 5 rushes for a loss (-2,-2,-1,-2,-1). No big losses or anything, it's just something I noticed. If we had a better fullback those 1/2/3 yard gains would be huge plays. Likewise, if we ran out of singleback, Forte is the type of runner that could pull that off. Remember a few years ago when the singleback formation was all the rage with us for some reason? Whoever was back there couldn't pull it off. This kid could.
By the way everyone, Kyle Orton has a completion % of very near 60%. That is how you run an offense that relies on the short pass to move chains.
Just a hypothetical, but if it turns out Orton is "the guy", what the fuck were they thinking putting in Grossman at the end of '05 and why did they keep the playbook so limited even 10+ games into his rookie year? Just sayin', cuz it's fun.
October 2, 2008
#29 Rancid said . . .mikeb.,
Forte is the type of player that will get you that extra yard with his quickness and strength... our last RB gave us nothing close to this kind of effort and reliability.
If you remember last Sunday's big first down run by Forte, the Bears were in a spread, single back formation. Matty picked up a big block by Garza and Kruetz (who are holding up fairly well along with St. Clair by the way) and Forte was able to do the rest as jeff previously described. You also mentioned if we had a good fullback those 1 or two yd runs would turn into big gains, but I don't think you can make that assumption. I agree McKie hasn't looked his best this year and the Bears may need to look at other options, perhaps even within their own organization.
Chicago keeps so many RBs in their backfield because of the need for blocking help, but when they spread out the offense, it prevents the defense from stacking the box and gives your RB an opportunity to make people miss. Of course the front 5 need to win the battle of the trenches in order to spring the RB through the gap. It's a pretty vulnerable position for the QB as well.
As far as Kyle Orton's statistics are concerned, they're about where you'd expect them to be. What the statistics don't show however, is the lack of consistent football from half to half. Granted, with the offense that is assembled for him, consistency is not as easy as it sounds.
October 2, 2008
#30 Rancid said . . .mikeb. Love that data on rushes for loss. It's about as close as we can get to a statistic for guts. Those 1 yard losses become no gains and the no gains become a yard or two. All based on his determination. That changes games. We haven't had a warrior back like this in a while. I've spent too many games being proud of the defense and worrying about the offense. I'm not saying the offense is fixed and dynamic, but I'm saying there's a guy there who plays like warrior. That gets me excited.
October 2, 2008
There's a yahoo fantasy football article out now entitled "Cedric Benson, in his heart he was always a Bengal" I tried posting the link but the blog won't let me. Funny stuff.
October 2, 2008
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.