Hats Off to Matt Spaeth and Other News.................

Matt Spaeth comes up big in a tight spot
by Mark Potash mpotash@suntimes.com November 7, 2011 11:12PM Updated: November 8, 2011 2:14AM


PHILADELPHIA — The tight end is primarily a blocker in Mike Martz’s offense, but he comes in handy as a receiver near the goal line.

The Bears scored on their opening possession against the Eagles on Monday night when Jay Cutler threw a five-yard touchdown pass to tight end Matt Spaeth . It was Spaeth’s second touchdown of the season, but his first since a one-yarder in the opener against the Falcons. He came into the game with three receptions for 15 yards. (Four catches and two of them are TD's and that doesn't count the one that Davis has. I keep saying that good things happen when we throw to our TE's so why can't Martz see that? They are a perfect solution for throwing to on 1st and goal. We should have one TD per game off of this)

The Bears went the traditional route inside the 5 for their second touchdown — Marion Barber scored on a two-yard run to give the Bears a 17-10 lead with 48 seconds left in the first half. The Bears came into the game with only five touchdowns inside the 10 this season. Only the Rams and Jaguars had fewer touchdowns inside the 10. (This has to change. Lovie should have them working on 1st and goal stuff every practice until it improves. This will cost us 3 point losses)

Return of Bennett

Wide receiver Earl Bennett made an immediate impact in his first game since suffering a chest bruise against the Saints in Week 2. On third-and-seven from the Eagles’ 31 — the Bears’ first third-down play of the game — Bennett caught a 14-yard pass for a first down. They scored five plays later.
Bennett was called for pushing off on Asante Samuel, negating an 11-yard gain on third-and-six in the second quarter. But on the next play, Cutler hit Bennett for a 26-yard gain, with Bennett bulling his way to 10 yards after the catch. (We've finally got our go to receiver back and it shows. Look at the 3rd down conversion rate in the Eagles game compared to the season to date. Bennett is a playmaker))

The Wright stuff

Like Bennett, safety Major Wright also atoned for a penalty with a big play. Wright was called for pass interference against tight end Brent Celek on a third-and-four play in the second quarter — a borderline call that drew a flag.

But four plays later, Wright intercepted a Michael Vick pass that had been deflected by line backer Lance Briggs. That led to Robbie Gould’s 51-yard field goal that gave the Bears a 10-0 lead. (He still needs to learn how to tackle better if he's gonna play SS)

Going the distance

The Bears’ 12-play, 79-yard drive to open the game was their seventh touchdown drive of 79 yards or longer this season. They had four drives of 79 yards or longer in the entire regular season last year.
Forte’s foible

Matt Forte fumbled trying to get first-down yardage on a third-and-seven play and rookie linebacker Brian Rolle recovered and returned it 22 yards for a touchdown that tied the game at 10 with 1:48 left in the first half. It was Forte’s first fumble this season (175 touches: 136 rushes, 39 receptions.)
Two missed opportunities put the Bears in the third-down: Cutler underthrew an open Devin Hester on a deep ball at the Eagles 35; and Dane Sanzenbacher dropped a short pass near the sideline. (That was the killer. Sanz catches that ball for a 1st down and the next play never even happens. It's one of those chain of events things. Just missed on the pass to Hester. It was underthrown and a tough catch but great receivers make tough catches like that. Sanz dropped a ball that was low but right in his hands. No excuse for that. Charge 1/2 that Eagles TD off Forte's fumble to him.)

Adams inactive

Lovie Smith has been full of surprises and Monday night was no exception: defensive tackle Anthony Adams was inactive.

Adams had lost his starting spot to Matt Toeaina to begin the season. Adams was the starter the past two games while Toeaina was out with a sprained knee, but he has been noticeably ineffective through the first seven games of the season. (Yeah not at all surprising. It's a wake up call for AA just like the one for Chris Harris. If his play doesn't pick up he'll be inactive a lot more. Toe is healthy again and Paea is coming on strong. I like the fact that we can combine him with Okoye. Those two are our best inside rush combo)

The return of Toeaina and the increased playing time given to rookie Stephen Paea were factors in the decision to make Adams inactive.

I've noticed both Spaeth's and Davis' run blocking improve since the beginning of the year and their pass blocking is far more efficient now that they're not blocking DE's one on one. I'm betting that was one of Martz's brilliant ideas. They just need to throw to them more in the red zone. How many teams are gonna be able to cover two 6'7" 270 lb TE's in the end zone with one Safety or LB? If the double them then somebody else is gonna be open. Martz needs to redesign his goaline offense.


I think you can couple the fact that we're scoring on longer drives and turning around the TOP battles we were losing early on with better pass blocking and the fact that RWill finally began to make some grabs. Now getting Bennett back means we've almost got a lock on third an long passes for first downs. Togther he and Cultler are very difficult to stop.

Not at all surprised about AA benching. His problems with gout may be the reason but he's less than half the player he was a year ago and there's no way you can keep Paea off the field. The guy is just a high motor monster.

Pretty sure it's a miracle that they actually had a play where the tight ends are involved, other than run/pass protection. Glad he made an impact when he had the ball thrown to him.