Bears Receivers Bracing For Worst
Unless something bizarre happens on Thursday night against the Browns, I think the Bears are pretty set with their receiving corps and my final guess is that Brandon Rideau will be the odd man out.  I think the club keeps six on the roster.  Hester and Bennett are the starters.  Iglesias and Knox are the rookies.  Davis is the special teams ace.  Aromashodu has developed a clear rapport with Cutler.  That leaves Rideau, a player the Bears might be able to convince to re-join the club on the practice squad with promises of future playing time.  I reiterate my past point by saying that I’d cut Iglesias over Rideau.  But I don’t see it.

Playing Time Thursday Night
Good news: Zack Bowman and Danieal Manning are set to see some exhibition action against Cleveland – essential for half the starting defensive backfield.

Bad news: For some inane reason, Lovie Smith believes playing other starters is warranted.  If Jay Cutler or Matt Forte or Greg Olsen or Devin Hester or a linebacker or a defensive end or ANY STARTER leave the field with an injury under these – the most meaningless football circumstances possible – I will quit my career to launch a full-time letter writing campaign to get Smith fired.

Special thanks to BaM for inspiring this post.

Sometimes history stops translating.

While the rivalries between the Red Sox/Yankees, Ohio State/Michigan and Barcelona/Real Madrid seem to only grow stronger with the years, what has happened to the beloved riff between the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers? 

Last night, something occurred to me.  I hate the Vikings quarterback far more than Aaron Rodgers.  I hate Adrian Peterson in a way Ryan Grant could only hope to be hated.  If I had to rank the players I hate in the NFC North, we’d be well-into double digits before I reached a Packer.  (I think I already hate Percy Harvin more than Charles Woodson or Al Harris – the two Pack rats I despise.) 

Now maybe it’s because of the built-in Packers history of Brett Favre.  Maybe it’s because they’re the division champions.  But ask yourself this question: if you had to choose one team in the division, outside the Lions, to go 2-0 against and one to go 0-2 against, wouldn’t you choose to sweep the Vikings?  And is there any doubt in the world that the Packers would make the same choice, specifically because of #4?

Does that means a century’s rivalry has come and gone or is it simply on sabbatical until Favre hangs them up for good?  Whatever the answer may be, there’s an unavoidable conclusion for the 2009 season. 

Viking Week will mean a lot more than Packer Week.

(How about that for a sports writer-y pun?)

Vaughn McClure is reporting that the Chicago Bears will sign Rod Hood to a one-year deal.  McClure also reports in the article that Bowman and Tillman are expected to play against against the Browns in the preseason finale.

The Bears have had their most solid preseason in recent memory – looking sound at almost every position except cornerback.  Hood won’t fix the problem but he may help.

Peter King writes extensively about the Chicago Bears today.  Don’t get used to it because, starting next weekend, you’ll notice PK’s columns have an awful difficult time not rotating between Brett Favre and the New England Patriots.  The entire piece is worth reading but this is the most interesting passage:

“You have to be pretty happy with what you saw from your offense, and what you saw from Cutler, tonight,” I said to Ron Turner.

“Sure am,” he said.

A
couple of minutes before I talked to Turner from the Chicago locker
room, he had gone over to Cutler (15 of 21, 144 yards, one touchdown,
no interceptions, one 98-yard touchdown drive that sucked all the air
out of the stadium) and told him this, in paraphrase: What I learned
from you tonight is you’re not going to force the ball when we’ve got a
good play called downfield but it’s not open and you’ve got to take the
checkdown. You could have been tempted to say, ‘I gotta take more, I
gotta take a shot downfield,’ but you weren’t. and if you didn’t do it
tonight with all the emotion in this stadium, then you’re never gonna
do it.

“It’s funny,” said Turner. “But this was actually a
great thing for our team tonight. It was so unlike any preseason-game
atmosphere. You can’t manufacture the noise, the pressure, all the
attention on a young quarterback trying to get to know his team. It’s a
great learning experience to be backed up all night and then have to
take the ball 98 yards in that environment. You learn something about
him, he learns about his teammates. So we couldn’t have asked for a
better situation than tonight, because this will help us get ready for
the real adversity we’ll face in big games this year. In our first
preseason game, at Buffalo, we went three-and-out our first times with
the ball, and I think everyone started pressing. Not tonight.”

The one thing about the Bears that’s going to be tough on passing downs is the checkdowns to Matt Forte.
If he gets in space, even a little bit of it, Cutler will find him when
he can’t throw it intermediate or deep. In this offense, especially if
Cutler stays disciplined and takes what the defense gives him, Forte
might catch 90 balls. He’ll be Roger Craig.  

I’m obsessed with the offense, primarily because there’s something to be obsessed with.  But upon second viewing of last night’s ballgame, there’s a lot to discuss on the other side of the ball.

1. Pisa Tinoisamoa and Kevin Payne will give the Bears better protection against tight ends and screen games than the club has had in a long time.  Both have a perfect mix of instinct and closing speed – essential for an element of the passing attack that usually comes right off the snap.  Most importantly, they are sure tacklers.

2.  The Bears don’t have a dominating edge rusher (see: Richard Dent) but they do have three solid defensive ends that give offensive tackles one hell of a hard time.  Football analysts are fond of saying that a good pass rush can compensate for a lack of ability on the third level.  With the Bears, the opposite might also be true.  If the secondary can keep tight coverage for an extra second or two, the three ends might see a dramatic increase in sack totals.

3. Tommie Harris played pretty well last night but I think the second best defensive tackle on the field was Matt Toeaina.  Not only disruptive in the middle, Big Toe bounced off blocks and jumped in on gang tackles down field.  Sometimes you can make an impact with pure hustle and I thought Matt did that last night. 

4. Al Afalava.  Practice hero?  Because he was invisible last night.

5. Tru McBride.  Awful?  He was far too visible last night.

6. Hey Nathan Vasher.  To quote the late, great Warren Zevon, “Hit somebody!”  Running up to where tackles are being made and raising your arms confusingly does not a starting cornerback make.

7. Bottom line is this: twenty-one-points.  If the defense holds opponents to twenty-one points or less each week, the Bears are winning double-digit games.

Three fake games and a month of practices and we’ve learned everything we’re going to learn about the Chicago Bears before the start of the regular season.  The running back, tight ends and linebackers are great.  The offensive and defensive lines are good.  The receivers are rapidly improving.  The special teams are the league’s best.  The secondary needs to get healthy.

But all of that fades in the glow of the guy under center.  Jay Cutler.  The Franchise.  Cutler is the kind of great quarterback that organizations can be built upon.  He elevates the play of the offensive line by scrambling from the pocket.  He makes the receivers better by fitting footballs into spaces they don’t seem to belong.  He allows the defense to rebound from mistakes by doing what no quarterback has ever done here: lighting up the scoreboard.

Listening to the Denver stadium boo Cutler with what Al Michaels described as the passion of a “spurned lover” should tell you all you need to know.  Those fans know who left the building.  Now – for the first time in all of our lifetimes – we have “the guy”.  You know the one, right?  You’ve seen him on highlight reels and hosting Super Bowl trophies.  You’ve seen him on magazine covers.  You’ve even seen him on the sideline at Soldier Field.  The other sideline.

Jay Cutler.  The guy.  The Franchise.  He played half a fake game tonight and his team knew it.  His coaches knew it.  The broadcasters couldn’t stop talking about it.  The Chicago Bears have had the guy at middle linebacker and running back.  They’ve had it up and down the line.  Now they’ve got it at the most important position in the sport.  They’ve got a great quarterback.  The oldest franchise in the sport has finally joined the modern league.      

Offense
1. Jay Cutler is a special talent and I hope that stadium realized tonight what their organization has given away for Kyle Orton and unknown college guys.  For the past decade, third and longs meant punts.  Not anymore.  I’m sticking with Cris Collinsworth and Mr. Cutler’s nickname is now Franchise.

2. Orlando Pace and Chris Williams started slowly but their play seemed to tighten up, specifically CW.  Cutler’s scrambling ability will cover a lot of that up.

3. Forte, Olsen, Clark, Bennett, Hester….pick which one you wanna be excited about.  I’m excited about all of them.

4. Absolutely loved the ability to pound the ball into the endzone with the interior run game.  That’s old school stuff right there.

5. Wonderful two-minute drill.  No reason to play any of the starters on offense in the second half.

Defense
1. Payne and Pisa are the real deal.

2. Any time that Nathan Vasher and Tru McBride are on the field, the other team is a post pattern away from scoring six points.  That’s how bad these two guys are.

3. Seriously, Rod Marinelli?  Are you really this good at coaching defensive linemen?  How is that possible?  These guys look ten years younger to a man.

4. If I’m Lovie Smith, I shut down Tommie Harris for the next two weeks.  He needs all the rest he can get on that knee.  I’m very critical of Harris but I respect the man’s guts.

Special Teams 
1. Awesome.

2. Rashied Davis tackled on specials like he knows he needs to tackle on specials to make the roster.  If that’s really the case, he’s making the roster.

Quick points.

1, Orlando Pace is going to struggle against the speedy pass rushers.  I wonder if his pride will allow him to move to the right side at some point this season.

2. Tru McBride is pretty awful.  At everything.

3. Cutler is very good. 

4. So is Matt Forte.

5. I’d like to see the Bears get some other wide receivers involved.  We know Hester, Olsen and Clark are going to be there.  Throw a couple to D.A. and Rideau.

Very unexciting first quarter. 

8:00 PM
Over/under on incorrect team assessments from the broadcasting team.  7.5.

8:01
Hahaha.  Can you imagine going to a preseason game and whining about losing a player?  Denver, man, get over it. Your coach tried to get Matt Cassell behind Jay’s back.  (Nice job by Michaels bringing that up.)

8:03
“Shakespeare would never have written a play about a preseason football game.  But had he, this would have been the game.”
Ladies and gentlemen, I think we’ve all just heard the most inane comment ever made in the history of athletic broadcasting.

8:07
Head coaches shouldn’t be that young.  McDaniels is like 12.

FIRST DRIVE – DEFENSE
1. Great play on first down by Ogunleye.  Good push up front.
2. Tru McBride is not a starting cornerback.
3. Tommie Harris was not part of the Super Bowl run, Collinsworth.  He played 12 games that year.  He is given way more credit than he deserves. 
4. Orton stinks.

OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT FROM JEFF HUGHES:
Liveblogging is boring as shit.  I’ll be back at the end of the game.

6:00 PM EST
Game begins in two hours.  I’ll be here throughout all four, torturous quarters.  Let’s get a couple good offensive possessions and defensive holds and get out of Denver without a major injury.

6:22
Re-watching Season 6 of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” to pass the next hour and a half.  I’m kinda nervous about a fake game.  Does this mean I’ve officially lost my fucking mind?

6:31
Larry David’s contribution to the television comedy is on par with some of the great artistic achievements in this country’s history.  That might sound like an exaggeration but he’s responsible for what I think are the two funniest shows of all-time.

6:43
I think the Bears need to call some low-risk, precision passes early in the first quarter.  I can imagine a scenario where Jay Cutler wants to heave the ball fifty yards down the field as a football middle finger to the Mile High fans.  A little play-action to Greg Olsen maybe?

7:03
I’d like an interception tonight.  From anybody.

7:10
Scratch that, I’d like an interception from Nathan Vasher.

7:17
I just finished a large iced coffee and am about to open a pint of coffee ice cream.

7:20
I guess this is how the whole Twitter thing works.  You just list all the things in your head.  I’ve been doing it for an hour and I’m already bored with my own brain.

7:30
Half hour till football.  And exactly two weeks till we kick off the real season.

7:42
Thinking about the Broncos fan thing.  Don’t any of them realize that there is a serious organizational issue happening with that club?  Does anyone think they’ve made a single sound decision since the end of the 2008 season?

7:50
Ten minutes till kickoff.  Coffee ice cream doesn’t taste at all like coffee but it is equally delicious.  I’m beginning to wonder if I don’t love the word “coffee” so much that it impairs my ability to soundly judge food products using the word.  I’m also from Jersey and we’re often asked to pronounce “coffee” for people because it beautifully discloses our accent.

7:53
Coffee made itself a thing, didn’t it?  “What are you doing?  Wanna grab a cup of coffee?”  Why coffee?  Why not lemonade?  Tea has never established that kind of cultural presence in the country.