Bears Have Set The Bar High and Must Keep It There...........

The Bears have set the bar high and must keep it there
BY NEIL HAYES nhayes@suntimes.com November 10, 2011 10:06PMUpdated: November 10, 2011 10:52PM


With each passing day, the Bears 30-24 victory on Monday night feels less like a big road win over a talented, desperate Philadelphia Eagles team and more like a turning point. The Bears would need to win the turnover battle. They would have to prevent game-breaking plays from DeSean Jackson and LeSean McCoy and make big plays on special teams to have a chance, or so said popular opinion heading into a game few thought the Bears would win.

Turns out, they didn’t need anything. The Bears were clearly the better team. They dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball against a team many expected to contend for a Super Bowl, which changes everything we know about these 2011 Bears moving forward. After a performance like that, there’s no turning back.

The NFL has become a week-to-week proposition with games decided by the smallest of margins. A team can’t always control whether they win or lose but they can control what plays are called, whether they maintain a balance between run and pass, how physical they are and how much effort they summon while playing a style of defense that requires maximum exertion.

The way the Bears played against the Eagles should serve as a blueprint for the rest of the season. Opponents will vary and game plans will change but the standard has been established. Now it’s up to coaches and -- more importantly -- players to make sure that standard is met each and every week.

Nobody should accept anything less.

That’s not to say that Jay Cutler won’t throw interceptions off his back foot. Matt Forte will fumble again, eventually. A defensive coordinator will come up with a scheme that will confuse offensive linemen. Brian Urlacher will have a bad day, Lance Briggs will miss tackles and safeties Major Wright and Chris Conte will get beat on occasion. But if they continue to play within the parameters established in the win over the Eagles they will be able to overcome individual failures. If they maintain the effort, physicality and style of play that overwhelmed a team many considered as talented as any in the NFL, they won’t have to worry about underachieving anymore.

Winning will become a byproduct of this latest version of Bears football. Even when they do lose it will be easier to accept because they will have played up to that standard. There should be no more debates about this team’s identity. They are a physical running team that relies on Matt Forte making decisive cuts behind pulling offensive linemen. They need to continue to adapt their running game to attack the weaknesses of that week’s opponent. They need to keep being creative with their protections so Cutler can consistently gouge defenses downfield.

Defensively, they must keep offenses off guard by mixing up coverages. Above all else, they must keep swarming to the ball as if their girdle pads were on fire. That’s the model. The worse thing that could happen to a team that suddenly seems capable of stringing together a substantial winning streak is it reverts back to what has failed miserably in the past. That’s not likely to happen. Once Martz reined in his offense during the bye week last year he remained mostly consistent with the new model.

If the offensive line continues to improve at its current rate, it’s even possible that Martz can begin attacking defenses more as he has done with other teams in the past. No need to get greedy, though. These Bears have proven they can be a handful despite their limitations.

After Sunday’s showdown with the Lions, the schedule turns favorable, which should allow the Bears to start distancing themselves from other potential playoff teams, although strength of schedule shouldn’t be as big of a factor. Not now.

The Bears shouldn’t measure themselves against opponents any longer. The standard has been set. Now it’s about making sure everybody measures up to that standard.

Now here's a feel good article for once and one that it's hard to disagree with.

Offensively the Bears have finally established their identity behind Forte's rushing and the passing on the move of Jay Cutler. We're moving the ball the way Chicago Bears teams have done it for decades. With a great ground attack featuring tough and nasty blocking and just enough passing mixed in to keep the other guy honest. We can all probably thank Jay Cutler for getting Mike Martz to finally see the light of day. Now all he needs to do is to keep him in that light.

Now that they're not being worn out from playing 40:00 minutes a game the defense is flying around like there is no tomorrow. They no longer have to conserve energy or only get a minute of two on the sidelines before they have to get back at it again as was the case earlier in the year.

I love the way Hayes puts it. The model has been built and it's a good one. With a little more experience by some of it's components it's good enough to beat any other team in the league. They just have to believe that and play like it. As Hayes says in his close. It's time the Bears set the standard for others to play up to when they play us. We don't need to play anyone else's game and we don't need to play second fiddle to anyone either. Ya' hear that cheesetown?

Bears prove this doubter wrong

But that was against Eagles; now they have to do it again when Lions visit

Dan McNeil 10:09 p.m. CST, November 10, 2011


The Bears aren't who I thought they were. I drastically underestimated both coaches and players. I feel shame.

Mock Earl Bennett's return from an injury and he becomes "Third Down Earl," not only the most reliable Bears pass receiver, decidedly the most stylish in the coolest orange shoes ever worn on a football field.

I suggested Jeremy Maclin and DeSean Jackson would have their way with Charles Tillman and Tim Jennings. It was the other way around. The Bears' coaches challenged their corners to play press coverages on the Eagles' speedy wideouts and they were rewarded for it.

There was no way the Bears, victimized repeatedly by big plays in road losses to the Saints and Lions, were going to shut down the NFL's best rushing attack. But LeSean McCoy only drew blood once on a 33-yard touchdown. Advantage went to Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs, both of whom played like 25-year-olds at Lincoln Financial Field.

It wasn't the first time I've seen a muddled picture in my Bears crystal ball. But more than in any of the 16 regular-season games the Bears have won since 2010, the victory provided evidence they are not a fraud.

Why? Because Jay Cutler's uniform stayed clean. On the road, where the Bears have looked so lost against good pass-rushing teams, the Bears rendered Jason Babin, Cullen Jenkins and Trent Cole non-factors.

Cutler wasn't sacked. There was only one pre-snap penalty. And a tip of the cap to Cutler and offensive coordinator Mike Martz for using quick counts early and often, moving Cutler out of the pocket and taking shorter drops.

I can buy into high expectations when an offensive line plays as well as the Bears' did Monday. But now they have to do again against the same front seven that made them look silly — forcing nine false starts and many tough throws and collecting three sacks — in Week 5 at Ford Field.

If Team Tice plays with similar composure against "The Silver Crush," the bar gets raised even higher. A victory pulls the Bears even with Detroit at 6-3 and the Lions have two dates with the unbeaten Packers. The Bears have four straight against the AFC Worst, all of which are winnable.

It's a week-to-week NFL now more than ever. The Steelers made the Patriots — including Tom Brady — look mortal two weeks ago, then failed to close on the Ravens' enigmatic Joe Flacco and lost at home.

The Giants struggled at home against the Dolphins, then won visiting the Patriots. The Saints remain a mystery. The Packers' pass defense is going to get the defending champions beaten at least once.

Get that stack of Bears' victories to four Sunday against the Lions and they then have to be regarded among the contenders. I didn't think they had it in them.

But if Kyle Vanden Bosch, Cliff Avril and Ndamukong Suh take turns sitting on Cutler's head Sunday, the Bears go back to being nothing more than doubt-worthy.

Dan McNeil hosts the "McNeil and Spiegel Show" weekdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on WSCR-AM 670.

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Another "mea culpa" from one of the nine doubters who picked against them on Monday night. Well at least some of these guys will admit when they were wrong.

McNeil hits the nail on the head though. We're at the corner now and this Sunday is where we can turn it for good. We owe the Lions a beat down for that embarassment a few weeks ago and a win brings up even at 6-3 as we begin the second half of the season. After that their schedule gets tougher whereas our has up against a weak AFC West where all four of those games should be winnable if we play like we did on Monday night.

No doubt this is a key game. It's still part two of the make or break portion of our schedule. Get through Sunday with a win and the NFCN momentum swing away from them and towards us. Win and keep that momentum going and it's not all that impossible to challenge the Packers for an NFC title.

Like Neil Hayes said, we've set the bar high and now we have to keep clearing it week after week until our next matchup with the Packers. I would think at the worst we come into that game after going 4-2 over the next 6 weeks which would put us at 9-5 going into that game and we finish either 10-6 or 11-5 depending on that game. But there's a chance we can win all 6 games coming into that one and we stand almost toe to toe with the Packers at 11-3 already having clinched a playoff spot.

So this is where this team and it's coaches have the opportunity to make believers out of everyone including the aholes at ESPN and wouldn't we all love to see them have to admit their mistakes too.

I don't think Trent Dildo will ever be made a believer in the Bears. That guy habitually dogs the team. The others are more fickle, particularly Keyshawn Johnson, but Dildo will never be made a believer in the team.

Soul, you are preaching to the choir. I would not be at all shocked for us to be undefeated during the second half of the season entering the Packers game on Christmas. That game is going to be something else. The Packers are going to lose at least two games this season. I think there's a chance that they lose on Thanksgiving against a Lions team who haven't won a game on that day on the calender in like seven or eight years. The Lions are going to be ripe for an upset, and Megatron is going going to give that Packer secondary serious trouble.

For the Bears, the key is as we've said in numerous threads beforehand: to maintain offensive balance, and to keep the intensity up on defense. This team is bound and determined to make the playoffs, to validate itself as a legitimate contender, and valid Lovie Smith as one of the game's truly great coaches in preparing the team for success. This team is a lot better than last season's squad that made it all the way to the NFC Championship Game because of the offensive line. We went back to the formula that worked last year when we bulldozed our way to an 11-5 record and now have an added facet to the game that gives the offense more flexibility in play-calling. It's time to whip the Lions and to not overlook any opponent as all teams in this league are dangerous.

Who cares what the only QB ever to be released by his team following a Super Bowl win thinks anyway. The only thing smaller than his mind is his dick and he's got little marbles for balls to go with it.
:clueless:


Can you tell I don't like the guy. :rofl2:

Soul, I figured that you were compensating for a small set of appendages on your body ;)

J/K. You know I have to give you hell for nearly everything you say just because you are more than likely to return the favor in kind.

I just want to see continued T.O.P on our side. Rolling Jay out, using the FB and TE, Bennett coming back. It's hard to gauge how much more the O line can improve but I'd say if the run game continues like it has and sacks per game are more than halved it should be a wildcard team at 10-6.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by short faced bear

I just want to see continued T.O.P on our side. Rolling Jay out, using the FB and TE, Bennett coming back. It's hard to gauge how much more the O line can improve but I'd say if the run game continues like it has and sacks per game are more than halved it should be a wildcard team at 10-6.

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I think we could go 7-1 the rest of the way, shorty. The only game that I'm afraid of is the Packer game, and even then, I think we have a shot to pull the upset in Lambeau. The Packers are going to lose at least two games this year because of their shitty defense. They may have Raji and Matthews in their front seven, but that secondary has been getting mauled by teams.