Thread: Defense will have to carry Bears

Originally Posted by Boochee Man

They can, and gosh darn it they will!

Going to need it..and as we have seen many times( and should have been the last 2 weeks), the "D" can keep you in the game, and many W's if don't turn the ball over and even take the Fg's.. hopefully this realization happens over the bye week

Offensive struggles obscuring Bears' solid defense

By John Mullin
CSNChicago.com

The disastrous travails of Mike Martz, Jay Cutler and associates on offense has obscured perhaps the most significant development for the 2010 Bears outside of the quarterback position.

The Chicago defense is quietly playing at or in some cases above the level it achieved when the Bears went to Super Bowl XLI.

“Quietly” because the unit has not produced a sack total that it or the public expect from a top defense. Perhaps that becomes an indication of how solid the play through the rest of the defense has been.

No time to rest

Indeed, a measure of exactly how good this has been lies in third-down conversions. Not opponents’ conversions. Bears conversions.

The Chicago offense has converted just five of its last 53 third downs, which means that the defense was sent back onto the field after just three plays to rest and recover on the sideline.

And even three plays to rest have been far from a guarantee.

Cutler was tackled for a third-quarter safety by the Seattle Seahawks on the second play of a 46-second Chicago possession. The defense, which had just come off the field after holding the Seahawks to one first down and 12 yards on a possession starting at the Seattle 45, went back on the field after the Brad Maynard free kick and forced a Seattle three-and-out. Three-and-out’s on six of Seattle’s next seven possessions, as a matter of fact.

Against Washington, the Bears went in at halftime because the defense had scored once and held the Redskins to 10 points despite Cutler and the offense posting just one first down on their first six possessions, combined.

The only second-half points scored by Washington were on DeAngelo Hall’s interception return. The defense followed Cutler’s first-down first interception with a three-play stop of the Redskins.

Absent All-Pro

As notable perhaps is that the defense has done its deeds without one of its two top players in five-time Pro Bowl linebacker Lance Briggs for virtually two of the seven games played (vs. Seattle, vs. Washington).

The 114 points allowed by the Bears include 14 by returns: a TD punt return by Dallas and an interception return by Washington. Factoring those out, the defense is allowing 14.3 ppg.

The results of the 2010 defense are comparable to those of the 2006 defense that was good enough to get the Bears over the bumps provided by the occasional stumbles of Rex Grossman.

A growing concern should be that this defense may not be good enough to make up for Jay Cutler, but that is for another time. For now, the comparisons in key ranking categories:


.............. 2009 2010 2006
Yards/game 12 6 5
Rush yards/game 16 4 6
Pass yards/game 21 3T 2
Points/game 19 2 3
Interception % 11 11 5
Sacks/att 17 29 16
3rd down eff. 24 1 2

“As you look at something that’s positive from it, if you can do some of the things that we did in the game and still have an opportunity to win it, you’re still a good football team, which we are, but we have to play that way every week.”

So far, the defense of Smith and coordinator Rod Marinelli has.

Danny Mac-ing

Another fun visit with old pal Dan McNeil and sidekick Matt Spiegel on The Score’s “The Danny Mac Show” this morning. Spiegs is having issues with coaches giving an in-uniform Jay Cutler the day off from throwing but my thought on that, as well as giving veteran center Olin Kreutz the day off, is that there are so many things more serious, that one doesn’t particularly bother me.

In fact, thinking more about it, that may have been a subtle, tacit admission by coordinator Mike Martz that Cutler needs a break, if only for a day. Martz has been slow to criticize his pupil but if we notice, he didn’t give the receivers the day off, or the tight ends, or the offensive line. The guy who needed a blow was No. 6 and Martz elected to give him one.

The trouble with talking about the Bears’ offense is that it’s akin to being in a room full of piñatas. You can be blindfolded and just swing any old where and you’ll whack something. Pick a piñata, any piñata.

I really have no good answer for Mac’s query on why the Bears signed running back Chester Taylor. My first reaction was that the more mysterious signing was tight end Brandon Manumaleuna but Mac’s point is spot on; GM Jerry Angelo went right after a proven backup/No. 1A back in Taylor and Martz has used him so little that the Bears might as well have kept proven special teamer Adrian Peterson vs. the money they paid Taylor.

Angelo and money man Cliff Stein can be forgiven if they ask the coaches why the need for a versatile alternate for Matt Forte if the offense is going to do so little with it.

Always fun to check in with those guys. Danny and I go back a long time and I like that he truly does have a respect for and enjoyment of the game itself. He’s never an apologist (neither is Matt, for sure) and he’s played enough to understand how difficult it is to play the game. And enough to know when it’s not being well played.

Looking forward to next Thursday at 10.

Not bye-ing

Is there any chance we can correct the mistaken label hung by someone somewhere sometime, on this weekend? It is not a “bye” week. It is an off week.

A “bye” is when you advance in a competition without facing an opponent. It’s typically something you earn. The only bye week in the NFL is the first week of the playoffs when the two teams in each conference skip the wild-card round and wait in the divisional-playoff round for the winners of that first round.

This week may feel like a bye after what’s been done to the local gridders three of the past four weeks. It’s not. It’s an off week. That’s not to be confused with a week off, which is what some of the past several weeks felt like the Bears were taking.

It's not like there's not a precedence. 1963. Also, Briggs and Urlacher need to both be on the field. The magic isn't there if one of them is missing. I'm not saying the Bears win the last two games if Briggs plays the entire games, but the team does play better (O and D) when they both play. The Bears aren't a strong enough team to sustain injuries to their best players. When I say best I mean players who would be starters for the top teams in the league: Briggs, Urlacher, Peppers, etc.

Originally Posted by GeorgiaJeff

It's not like there's not a precedence. 1963. Also, Briggs and Urlacher need to both be on the field. The magic isn't there if one of them is missing. I'm not saying the Bears win the last two games if Briggs plays the entire games, but the team does play better (O and D) when they both play. The Bears aren't a strong enough team to sustain injuries to their best players. When I say best I mean players who would be starters for the top teams in the league: Briggs, Urlacher, Peppers, etc.

Agreed the seem to bring out the best in each other.

And just IMO, we just need to take what's given and martz needs to be more conservative , esp at end of games.. its OK to take a FG with our "D" and "ST".. if we had just run the ball( or taken a knee, even though never do that), we do win the seattle and redskin games,imo, because of teh sack and INT on third down's that never should have happened. Need to dail back a little and i'd rather have a 17-10 win.. then try and blow someone out and make it 30-10, but have an INT and lose 17-14

so in other words just a typical bears season lol I wonder if we will ever see a situation where the offense carries the defense or even better a balanced team

I don't think this defense is that great, playing some bad teams has offset the stats a bit. We still get tore up on 3rd down conversions and we make Mike Williams look like a probowler. I would say the Packers are the best offensive team along with the cowboys we have faced this year and both teams were not playing that good when we faced them. We have the tough part of the schedule comming up and I see the defense dropping down on the rankings when the season is over.

I think this is a playoff caliber dangerous defense the way they are playing. I dont see how you can find a negative with it. We are seeing surprise performances from Manning and Izzy as proof that the changes made are working.

Originally Posted by motownbear

so in other words just a typical bears season lol I wonder if we will ever see a situation where the offense carries the defense or even better a balanced team

Baby Steps.. not saying all game be conservative- saying in the 4th, recognize you don't need the "kill shot" sometimes and secure the "W".. not saying all game but be more aware situationally. And we had talked all off season that the "O" would be a big learning curve and probably alot better in game 12-16 than games 1-6