Belichick: Bears' record 'really speaks for itself'
Belichick: Bears' record 'really speaks for itself'
December 7, 2010 3:12 PM | 30 Comments
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Patriots coach Bill Belichick leaves the field Monday after a 45-3 rout of the Jets. (Getty)
By Brad Biggs
The New England Patriots didn't spend much time reveling in the aftermath of their 45-3 thrashing of the New York Jets on Monday night.
It's on to the Bears and Week 14 for the Patriots, and that mood was reflected in a conference call the team held Tuesday involving coach Bill Belichick, director of player personnel Nick Caserio and quarterbacks coach Bill O'Brien.
Belichick called the victory, which moved the Patriots (10-2) into sole possession of first place in the AFC East, the "most complete game of the year, closest to playing 60 minutes." And he talked at good length about the Bears, who the Patriots have not faced since 2006. The Patriots did some advance work, like all NFL teams do, to prepare for the short week.
"Chicago's been really impressive," Belichick said. "They really do everything pretty well: offensively, defensively, special teams. They have a great returner, (Devin Hester), Robbie Gould, a great kicker. Defensively, they really do well on third down. They haven't allowed many points, have a lot of negative plays in the running game (and) cause a lot of fumbles. They definitely thrive on turnovers.
"I think, offensively, (Jay) Cutler is playing as well as I've seen him play. He's done a great job with (Mike) Martz's offense. He's really carrying a lot of the offense on his shoulders, along with their receivers. Certainly (Matt) Forte and (Chester) Taylor do a good job in the backfield. (Greg) Olsen and all the receivers -- (Earl) Bennett, (Johnny) Knox, Hester -- are a good group with a really good quarterback. Cutler's made a lot of plays running as well as throwing, so he's very dangerous in and out of the pocket, throwing or running. So, I think the Bears' record really speaks for itself: 9-3."
Interestingly, many expected the Patriots to be a team that was a front-runner to acquire defensive end Julius Peppers in free agency. The Bears made a strong play at the start -- sending Lovie Smith to Charlotte, N.C., to recruit him -- and if the Patriots made it far in the process, it hasn't been reported.
"I think Julius is like any other free agent that was out there," Caserio said when asked how close the Patriots came to acquiring Peppers. "There were a pool of players in the market; he was one of the players at the particular position. We evaluate him just like we do a lot of other players as far as how detailed and how involved we were in the discussions. That's something that we keep between ourselves and the player and the representatives, whomever they may be. Julius is a good football player, there's no question about it.
"He's been productive for Chicago this season. Not only him, but they have a pretty formidable front four. They play a lot of guys whether it's (Israel) Idonije, (Matt) Toeaina, Anthony Adams, and Marcus Harrison. There are a lot of guys in that front four that pose problems. Then you go to the second level with two of the better linebackers at their respective positions in (Lance) Briggs and (Brian) Urlacher. Julius is a good player, he's been a productive player in this league for a long time and that's continued. We'll certainly have to account for him along with some other folks next Sunday."
O'Brien talked about Peppers and the linebackers and noted it's a much different defense than what they faced from the Jets, a team they know well.
"Their secondary has been playing really well," O'Brien said. "We've just got to grind it out today and into the night and figure out how we want to attack them on first and second down and present it to the players tomorrow and then kind of go from there. At this point, they're going to be a big challenge for us. Again, like we say every week, the road makes it a little bit tougher, playing on the road. Looks like it's going to be a very tough place to play, so it's going to be a huge challenge for us."
