Nas wrote:
Irish Boy wrote:
Tall Midget wrote:
Why? This doesn't look good for the Bears.
The defense is headed towards another season of suck, and I've never been that impressed by Forte or Olsen. Cutler will throw some TDs, but he's going to be running for his life pretty frequently if the offensive line doesn't regain its quickness off the ball. This is depressing....talk me off the ledge, IB.
Maybe I was watching a different game, but the pass protection was pretty decent. Run-blocking was the problem, especially on the inside, but the pass protection was OK for the amount of blitzing GB was doing. The offense left 11 points in the red zone, and they handed the Packers their first TD. The defense something like 225 yards of total offense, 50 of which was on the one unfortunate play; GB isn't a great rushing team, but they really couldn't do anything. Some of those things are going to regress, especially on defense, in absence or Urlacher, but you just played a game where the QB threw three INTs, including a functional pick-6, on the road against one of the better teams in the NFC and you were leading with a minute and a half to play. And, as Tillman and Bowman get healthier and can play full games (assuming they stay healthy, which might be a big assumption) the defensive backfield will improve.
The things that were bad tend to be high-variance, fluky types of things (turnover, red-zone production), and the things they did well are more significant over time.
IB you and I were watching the same game. I know Cutler was bad and Vasher gave up the big play but there is a lot to be optimistic about. The defense played great just like I though they would. They did this against a Packers offense that shredded every defense they played against in the preseason. They were aggressive and kept the Packers off balance all game even though they played most of the game with 30% of there starters on the sidelines because of injuries. In 1 game we all saw why a change needed to be made at D-coordinator. I expect the defense to be good even without Urlacher and I don't expect the offense to play terrible the rest of the season. They will gel by Week 4 and we will start to see some really exciting football.
I really think it's an exaggeration to say that the
entire defense played great. In reality, much of the defense's success was a product of Ogunleye's ability to dominate Green Bay's right tackle. Ogunleye pressured Rodgers all night, and that's what caused him to panic and miss his receivers, who were open on quite a few potentially big plays. The problem, though, is that Ogunleye's dominance was an anomaly--he's not going to have another game like that for the rest of the season. But the inability of the rest of the defensive line to pressure Rodgers was not an anomaly. They appear to be the same group of inept pass rushers they've always been and were invisible for most of the game. Given this scenario, it appears the Bears will again have to rely on a steady diet of blitzes to augment the pass rush. And that, as we already know, is a recipe for disaster.
As for the improved defensive coordination, I agree that some of the Bears blitzes, in particular, were much more thoughtfully conceived and more sharply executed than in the past. But some of their schemes are so obvious and ineffective that they will eventually get killed on them if they keep running them.
On offense, I remain concerned about the offensive line's lack of explosiveness off the snap--and the fact that Forte didn't appear to be running with any ferocity or urgency. He's more effective as a receiver than he is as a ball carrier.
_________________
Antonio Gramsci wrote:
The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear.
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