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Prediction: I predicted the Bears would drop this week 1 game by 11 points. Playing the best team in the regular season last year, on the road, in week 1, was not a good match up for the Bears.
QB Play: Rex Grossman squared off against one of the top 3 defenses in the league yesterday. The match up was not promising for the Bears. Surprisingly, Rex has played worse. He finished completing just better than 50% passing, had 145 yards, did not have a TD and threw one INT. Not that it matters much, but as was detailed quite well by Troy Aikman, the INT was a miscommunication between Berrian and Grossman that involved Rex throwing to a spot while Bernard seemed to be jogging thinking there was no chance he would get the ball. A mistake by Berrian, according to Aikman, as Rex's pass was thrown perfectly to the front pylon of the end zone. Grossman also inexplicably dropped the ball while rolling away from a pass rush on one play. Grossman had a lot of positives in this game. He showed improved ability to look for his check downs, often dumping to Benson out of the backfield, while at the same time throwing downfield with accuracy when given time in the pocket to deliver a strike. Grossman averaged over 12 yards a completion in the game, trying to move the ball downfield. The biggest mistake he made all game was early on, when San Diego lined up in a clear blitz coming off the edge. Grossman did not see the blitzer and change the play, as he should have, instead dropping back and looking left, only to be destroyed from the right. How Rex hung onto the ball is baffling to me, but typically, he won't. This play would repeat itself later in the game and is not the fault of the pass protection. Rex needs to read blitz and know where his hot route is on that side, and then throw to the ball to the spot vacated by the blitzing player. Overall grade = C (fundamental flaws and slippery hands, but excellent throws when given time and nice check downs)...
RB Play: The Bears finished with a combined 80 yards on the ground against one of the toughest run defense in the league. Benson's inability to move the ball in the preseason continued into the regular season. He had a handful of decent runs that showcased an ability to run people over and pick up tough yardage. On the flipside, he also showed a lack of vision, often plowing into the line of scrimmage only to go nowhere, rather than trying to bounce the play to the outside. The bounce was there, as demonstrated by Adrian Peterson when he was in the game, leading to a 5.4 yard average per carry for AP. Neither was effective in short yardage, which is a problem for our O-line. The biggest problem with the running game, considering a stifled attack was partly expected against a tough Chargers run defense, was our fumbling issue. Both AP and Ced-Ben put the ball on the ground, leading to great field position for San Diego, and allowing the Chargers to capitalize with points against a tired Bears defense. The Bears (or any team) have zero chance to beat the Chargers in San Diego when turning the ball over on their side of the field four times. The Chargers will capitalize and you will lose. The Bears are evidence of that, being that they won 4-5 games the exact same way last year. The only positive here was Benson's ability to catch the ball out of the backfield and make some people miss. Overall Grade = F (Limited effectiveness was somewhat expected, but when combined with turnovers and an inability to pick up short yardage and keep drives alive, with minimal receptions, this is a failing grade)...
WR/TE Play: I'm not sure how you can complain too much about these guys outside of the clear miscommunication between Berrian and Grossman - which turned out to be a huge mistake, and will lower their grade. Berrian was clearly the target and is clearly the #1 receiver in this offense. He had a solid game against San Diego, averaging over 16 yards per catch, and rolling up 83 yards of total offense. Des Clark had a solid game, consistent with last year's performance, and Muhammad's catch and tackle breaking run was a true highlight. The receivers went over the middle and hung on to the ball despite taking some aggressive hits from the Chargers defense. Overall, our top 3 targets turned in a solid performance. Overall Grade = C+ (Good hands, tough grabs, nice runs after the catch, but inability to get in the end zone costs them)...
O-line Play: This was a mixed bag. We'll start with the good. The pass protection was very good after the early goin. Most of the sacks that the Chargers turned in were due to mistakes by Rex not reading his signs at the line of scrimmage and changing the play. For the most part, the line kept people off of Rex, giving him time in the pocket and allowing him to fire the ball downfield, on the money, and move the chains. They limited Merriman and company about as much as you can. The problem was their run blocking and again, this was the problem in the preseason that left the most concern. The Bears starting O-line struggled to move the ball on the ground against anyone they went against in the preseason and holes to run through are simply not being created. The aging Bears line is not moving people off the ball the way they did last year, leaving the backs the need to bounce the ball outside and try and turn the corner. Benson has shown an inability or lack of desire to do this, and consequently, the Bears running game has been non-existent because of it. Without establishing a running game, the play action pass is ineffective, and Grossman is left as a sitting duck to any team that wants to tee him up in passing situations. The vets up front have to start playing like vets and better show up against a weak KC front next week. Overall grade = C (Solid pass blocking, but very weak run blocking)...
D-line Play: What do you want from these guys? The Bears got outstanding play from all three DE's. Ogunleye was putting on pressure all night, forcing early throws from Rivers and forcing him up in the pocket. He also rolled up his first sack of the year. Mark Anderson was seen smashing LaDainian Tomlinson's face on multiple occasions and got his first sack, too, and Alex Brown was all over the field, making tackles, disrupting the offense, and even blocking FG's. Our DE's are very impressive. Throw into that mix Israel Idonije knocking people unconscious on special teams and you've got a great mix here. Inside, Tommie Harris was the best player on the field. His explosion (slightly premature, but only in super slo-mo) through the line single handedly saved a TD. He picked up Rivers cadence and practically took a hand off on another play. He was fired up, penetrating and a force all game. Dvoracek was also a force. He was often in the backfield and forcing LT away from his desired hole, pushing him wide so a lightning fast defense could chase him down. At one point, LT had 9 carries for -2 yards. He finished with 25 yards on the ground on 17 carries (less than 1.5/carry). Even Darwin Walker was in there, meeting Mark Anderson a half second too late to share credit for that sack, pummeling Rivers to the ground. The trenches are in good hands, and we'll need them against Larry Johnson next week. Dvoracek will miss the game (maybe more, we shall see) as he appears to have a knee sprain. Initial indications are that it is not a tear, but further testing is needed. Overall Grade = A+ (For shutting down the best running back in the NFL, penetrating in the backfield against one of the premier O-lines in the League with 3 pro bowlers on it, and dropping LT and Rivers in the backfield on a regular basis).
LB Play: Hillenmeyer, Urlacher, and Briggs. Wow. One could argue that Urlacher was the quietest of the three yesterday. Hillenmeyer was awesome, leading the team in tackles with 9, knocking Gates out of bounds early on a great sideline tackle to force a fourth down, and playing fast and loose all over the field. His only slip up was on the LT pass to Gates for a TD, which found Hunter chasing from behind as Gates came from across the field and simply out ran him in man to man on a designed blitz that didn't get the passer in time (because he was sweeping right). Briggs was a monster, finishing with 8 tackles and making big hit after big hit on LT throughout the game. And Urlacher was his old self, often in perfect position. By the 4th quarter, you could see these guys were starting to wear down as the Bears offense could not give them a breather all game. And that wear and tear began to show. Overall Grade = A- (Due to outstanding play 95% of the game, but several key mistakes during that remaining 5%).
CB Play: Tillman and Vasher were awesome. For all the talk about the emergence of Vincent Jackson, the Bears shut him and Craig Davis down. They were able to hold them to a combined 43 receiving yards on the day. Even Manning Jr. played well in coverage. The question mark was the Bears decision to man McGowan up on Gates when Gates split out at WR. We'll get to that in the Safety discussion. Both Tillman and Vasher played outstanding football, displayed excellent zone coverage and solid man to man cover skills (including Tillman in the end zone against Jackson), and were outstanding in run defense. Vasher even notched a sack in a corner blitz coming untouched from the bottom of your screen and leveling Rivers. Overall Grade = A+ (For not giving up a WR TD, shutting down the Chargers receivers, coming away with a sack, and playing very well in run support)...
S Play: Here's where the secondary begins to fall apart a bit. Partly due to mistakes and partly due to game plan (which we'll get to later). Mike Brown was outstanding again. He was tough in run support and outstanding in coverage, picking off his 1st pass of the season. He will be missed. Brown likely tore his ACL and will probably miss the remainder of the season. Also, his injury likely spells the end of his career as a Chicago Bear, after missing significant parts of three of the last four seasons. Archuleta was an animal in run support and easily made his way into the backfield on a regular basis, a fundamental component in shutting down LT and forcing Rivers to get rid of the ball early. But in coverage, he was lost. Often, Archuleta was covering dead space as passes were completed on 3rd and longs over his head. He was beaten several times in the game and his coverage problems in Washington have clearly come with him to Chicago. The good news is that he wasn't brought here for his coverage skills, and the bad news is that fact is blatantly obvious. Then we get to Brandon McGowan. I'm not sure what the plan was here, but somehow, the Chargers got McGowan manned up on Gates when he was lined up as a wide receiver. This formation proved incredibly effective as McGowan was no match for Gates, often not checking him at the line and just watching Gates run right past him and using his body as a shield from McGowan to catch a big pass. This coverage set led to most of Gates' yardage in the game. Overall Grade = B- (For solid play out of Brown and great run support from Archuleta, but countered by poor performances from McGowan and Archuleta in coverage)...
Special Teams Play: Robbie Gould hit a 27 yard FG. That was a chip shot and I'm not going to award many bonus points for that. He did struggle on kickoffs, pretty much never putting the Chargers into the end zone on either of his kicks. Our coverage units were outstanding, often dropping the Chargers return men quickly and in a heap. Maynard struggled in my opinion. In a game of field position, Maynard didn't get off any big kicks that would've moved the Bears out of danger, which he may be called on to do often this year. He averaged a mere 37 yards per punt on 6 attempts. In the return game, Hester had one nice return the only time he touched the ball, but too often fair caught punts when there was plenty of room for him to make someone miss and make something happen. Hester failed to become a game breaker in a game that sorely needed one and he had plenty of opportunity to do so. Manning averaged 20 yards a return and was fairly ineffective returning kicks on his two attempts. As for the fumble on punt return, I don't hold anyone to blame for that. Those kind of plays will happen and its not a guy's fault who is doing his job and blocking for Hester, to know that a punt may have gone 15 yards off the punter's foot and could hit him on the bounce. He was doing his job and doing it well at the time. Overall Grade = C- (For unimpressive kickoffs, ineffective punting to control field position, and Hester's poor decisions to not return any of a half dozen punts)...
Coaching/Game plan: On Defense, Babich and Lovie get top marks. The Defense proved to be one of the top 3 in the league again this year, shutting down LT for 95% of the game, forcing the Chargers high powered offense (#1 in the league last year) to be greatly ineffective, including in a couple situations when turnovers backed the Bears into a tough corner (thank you, Tommie Harris). Babich's aggressive blitz packages and new looks (lining all D-lineman and LB's on the line until the snap to confuse the blocking schemes) was genius and worked to perfection, appearing to be a spin on the Patriots scheme. His only mistake was manning McGowan up on Gates. Whether by design or accident, it was not a mistake that they fixed all game and Gates torched us. It took a trick play to get that offense moving at all and I cannot remember the last time LT was held under 1.5 a carry with 15+ carries. They forced a turnover and spent the day in the Chargers backfield. As for Ron Turner, not sure what was going on. Sure, he had a tough draw with the Chargers Defense, and less to work with as far as the Bear's offensive weapons vs. their defensive weapons, but the game plan was confusing, to say the least. The inability to run the ball is fundamental in nature and has to come back to the game plan. Benson put up solid numbers last year, so to blame this on him as a bad running back doesn't make sense. At least not yet. We saw him put up big numbers last year in a reserve roll, so to be completely ineffective running behind the same line points to another issue here. Turner needs to fix it and fix it fast. Unlike some people, I'm not ready to make wholesale personnel changes, but it might not be a bad idea to see the Bears spread the defense out here. Where was Rex in the shotgun we heard about? Let's see some four wide with Berrian, Muhammad, Hester, Davis, Olsen, Davis, and Clark moving around in different formations to spread them out. That should prevent teams from stacking the box against us, allow Rex to make quick throws based on timing routes, and open up the running game by basically matching up our O-line on their D-line/LB's. We were too predictable and too vanilla. Overall Grade = C (For an outstanding defensive strategy vs. a poor offensive game plan)...
Overall: The Bears entered the season with the toughest game on their schedule in Week 1. Anyone who says it wasn't is an idiot. They just played the best team in the League's regular season last year, a team that went 14-2 in the regular season, had the NFL's MVP, the runner up Defensive MVP, 11 Pro Bowlers, the League's best offense, and a top 3 defense. That same team returned this year with a QB who had another year under his belt. And to top it all off, we had to face that team on the other side of the country on their home field. Many felt we would lose this game and for many different reasons. I was one of them. I admit, I would've liked to see us run the ball better, but I was happy to see Rex play relatively mistake free and not force his throws into coverage. I liked seeing our improved pass protection on offense and thoroughly enjoyed watching our defense play up to and exceed everyone's expectations for them. The Bears are a very solid football team, but they do have some issues to work out if they are going to become elite on a League wide level. The schedule sets up well for them to do just that. The Bears will take on a bad Chiefs team at home next week. Then they get a tough match up against an impressive Cowboys team in week 3 that will match the best Defense in the league against an offense that looked pretty good last night, while seeing the Bears offense playing against a banged up defense for the Cowboys that just lost another key player in Jason Ferguson for the season with a torn bicep. Then we make our NFC North run with the Lions and Packers on the road, followed by the Vikings at home. I see the Bears coming out of that group of games with a potential 5-1 record and on top of the NFC before they head into a showdown with the Eagles at Philadelphia. If the Eagles play like they did against the Pack, the Bears should win that game in Philly, too (to take nothing away from the Pack). Then its the Lions and Raiders. Overall, the Bears should wind up 7-2 at this point if they split the Cowboys/Eagles games, and among the elite teams in the League. There will be many tests this year and we got a good measuring stick of where we are and where we need to improve. We need to do that against KC before Dallas comes calling in Chicago for a Sunday Night match up.
On to week 2, which I will be predicting as a Bears win...
QB: C
RB: F
WR/TE: C+
O-line: C
Game plan: F
Offense: D+
D-line: A+
LB: A-
CB: A+
S: B-
Game plan: A
Defense: A
Special Teams: C-
Overall: C+ (For great defense, poor offense, and ineffective special teams.)
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