-
ESPN: "Bears make a mess of good football"
I feel like I witnessed a horrible train wreck last night. I sure expected our starters to look better than they did. It was a butt-ugly performance.
LINK to the article Bears make a mess of good football
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. --
Aside from the fact that Robbie Gould is in midseason form, we are left with only so many concrete conclusions to draw after three games of preseason football.
But if the third game is truly the most accurate indicator we have of how the regular season might look, Bears fans would be well-advised not to get too comfortable just yet. Jay Cutler calls it cleaning up, as in, "We're heading in the right direction. We just need to clean up a few things."
And it sounds reasonable enough to expect that the numerous miscues by the Bears quarterback in an uneven 20-17 victory over the Giants on Friday night will be corrected. That their third-down conversion rate will improve. That rookie Alshon Jeffery won't mishandle the pass that would have been a touchdown in the first quarter and make more catches like the one in the second, when he saved an interception deep in Bears territory on a tipped ball by Giants cornerback Michael Coe by snaring the ball on its way down.
"It's never as good as you think and never as bad as you think," said receiver Brandon Marshall. "So we'll watch film and learn from it and get better and hopefully have a great week of practice and be where we need to be come Sept. 9."
Marshall was one of the few sources of reassurance, making what only can be called a professional touchdown catch over and around a defender on a 21-yard pass from Cutler in the first quarter, the receiver's first of the preseason.
"That's why we brought him here," said Bears coach Lovie Smith. "To make those type of plays when he's covered." Charles Tillman is a playmaker as well, but as Smith put it, "everybody has a rough night sometimes," and you wouldn't expect him to commit a pass interference in the end zone like he did in the second quarter or to tackle the wrong guy like he did in the first. Nor would you expect the number of missed tackles and misplays on defense to permeate the regular season.
"Your third preseason game is important because you know you're going to play the guys a lot more and hopefully you get in a few more situations to prepare you for the season," Smith said. "But starting out in the first half, we didn't play as well as we needed to in all three phases."
Punter Ryan Quigley, playing in place of Adam Podlesh, who suffered a hip flexor last week and might not start the season, had his kick blocked deep in Bears territory and recovered at the 10-yard line. But Quigley looked good otherwise -- and not just in the bow tie he sported after the game, but the seven punts for an average of 37.4 yards, three inside the 20.
"I like seeing a guy with a great opportunity in front of him and he steps up to the plate," Smith said.
While it wasn't as if Cutler went untouched, the Bears' offensive line didn't allow a sack. And the hubbub over who would emerge as the starting left tackle appears to be all but over, as the prodding of J'Marcus Webb apparently caught his attention, though it's hard to tell with Webb. Asked if he feels like he won the starting job, he referenced the pregame meal.
"We have to look at the film," he said. "In addition to the chicken and the shrimp and the pasta, that really made it a good night."
But what of the running game's impression of indigestion?
With carries of 24 and 11 yards on the Bears' first possession of the second half, Matt Forte's final numbers looked normal for him at 10 carries for 39 yards and an average of 3.9 yards per carry. But it was far from where the Bears need to be in that department, and unless you can write it off by saying they were playing the Super Bowl champions, it is not entirely clear why.
"We're trying to figure that out," Smith said. "You have to give them some credit, too. They have a good front four, they have a good front seven and they played excellent defense. But you just have to stay committed to the run, which we'll do. Some days, you won't be able to rush for over 100 yards or 200 yards, but we'll keep pounding it."
With all the hope for the passing game, it would be painfully ironic if Forte and Michael Bush can't hold up their end of things.
"We've got to get the running game going, we've got to get Matt going," Cutler said. "We're not going to be a successful offense if we can't run the ball."
More glaring Friday was what Cutler referred to as "communication stuff."
"Everything was a little bit off in the passing game," Cutler said. "We missed stuff. We missed a touchdown with me and [Earl Bennett]. Stuff easily fixed but needs to be fixed in the next two weeks."
"We'll watch the film," echoed Marshall.
And, of course, "we'll clean it up."
Last edited by JustAnotherBearsFan99; 08-25-2012 at 08:55 AM.
Brian Urlacher
Thanks For The Memories
-
-
Food first. Then I'll worry about whether or not I am the starting LT. Vintage Webb
Originally Posted by
JustAnotherBearsFan99 
I feel like I witnessed a horrible train wreck last night. I sure expected our starters to look better than they did. It was a butt-ugly performance.
-
High Fives / Like - 1 BEAR DOWN!, 0 Dislikes
-
Junior Member
I wonder if CWill will go back to LG, now that WebbNation is our starting LT? Hmmmm, shrimp and pasta sounds....
-
Originally Posted by
bearsinhouston Food first. Then I'll worry about whether or not I am the starting LT. Vintage Webb
BIH,
It's been a long time since I can remember us looking as bad as we did last night. People will try to spin this game as a "win" for the Bears. But our starters against their starters (the only part of that game that meant anything) was horrific.
We didn't even LOOK like an NFL team. It was like an arena team trying to play an NFL team. We embarrassed ourselves.
And if people want to try and spin this any other way, well good for them. But they are delusional. The NY Giants last night, imposed their will on us. They did whatever they wanted, any time they wanted. And our guys just rolled over and let them have their way with us.
It made me want to go in the bathroom and vomit in the toilet.
I'm a VERY positive guy. Always seeing the glass half full. But watching our oline last night was a glass of stinking crap. Not too easy to swallow.
I am convinced the team can clean up everything bad that we saw last night - but not the oline. You can't make chicken salad out of chicken crap. And that oline is pure crap. Carimi is the only talent we have there.
Brian Urlacher
Thanks For The Memories
-
I try to stay even keel and stay objective it's the pre-season but the most frustrating thing to see is the decisions/indecisions made:
-You take your best LG and tell him he will be "competing" for the LT job when in all actuality it's just a prod and not a real competition for LT. You then sit probably your best lineman to the swing position. How is that?
-You pick up a guy (Rachal) who was known as a run blocking mauler (who hasn't shown it yet) and is KNOWN for sub-par pass blocking and you PUT HIM next to the worst ranked LT in the league in hopes of what? Better pass blocking? How did the side improve by doing that?
-You have a RG Louis who plays much better at RT. Also a RG (Spencer) forced in at LG which is yet another flip-flop and not as effective at his THIRD position either.
-Finally of course you have Carimi a LT who if it were a real competition could probably no be any worse at LT than the above. I would think he's just cutting his teeth at RT being mostly a rook and injured but if the LT and Jay's blind side is valued I think you would at least entertain the idea of trying him out at LT.
I hope the line gels, I hope I am wrong. But I see no logic, progression, rhyme/reason or plan other than positional merry-go-round at some positions and just stubbornness bordering on hubris at others. If using castoffs, experiments, scheme, and flip-flopping worked I think everyone would be doing it in a copycat league. They are not.
Martz was a "genius" too and I failed to see his vision as well.
Arguing on the internet is like winning the special olympics, even if you win your still messed up.
Restore the roar!
-
High Fives / Like - 3 BEAR DOWN!, 0 Dislikes
-
All good points.
You know what I get tired of though? I get tired of us always "rationalizing" crap oline play each year as _______________ just fill in the blank:
1) It's just pre-season.
2) They will gel.
3) You just wait, it will get better
4) You don't REALLY need a good oline.
4) Tice will "coach 'em up" don't worry.
And then you get the inevitable: Just wait until NEXT year. Yes. Next year the oline will be better. I can see another 3rd place NFC-N coming (I can smell it.....and it doesn't smell good).
And we'll all be sayin' "next year"...just wait until "next year" and THEN we'll fix that oline problem. We are really a pathetic bunch (I'm a Cubs fan too.....).
Brian Urlacher
Thanks For The Memories
-
You can just tell Matt misses CWill pulling in front of him off the edge. Chris is a good LG with a chance to be VERY good, and both the guys getting #1 reps there right now let in more access to backside than Jenna Jameson. Time to move him back there.
-
High Fives / Like - 2 BEAR DOWN!, 0 Dislikes
-
Whatever happened to the saying that if your complacent in improving your talent base you will get left behind? Don't know if I've ever heard a assistant coach say "no I'm good-don't need anyone this draft" ESP when your sub par! I'm all for a experiment here and there but 2 seventh rounders, 2 castoffs, 1 UDFA, your best lineman on the pine? Really? It's probable that one can pan out and improve greatly-that I wouldn't bet against. What are the odds more than one will? Pretty improbable otherwise it would be a much copied formula.
Arguing on the internet is like winning the special olympics, even if you win your still messed up.
Restore the roar!
-
High Fives / Like - 2 BEAR DOWN!, 0 Dislikes
-
Originally Posted by
lklrlolnlilklsox You can just tell Matt misses CWill pulling in front of him off the edge. Chris is a good LG with a chance to be VERY good, and both the guys getting #1 reps there right now let in more access to backside than Jenna Jameson. Time to move him back there.
Talk is(Hub Arkush...I know but the guy has been around and does have contacts) that CWill could get cut; and I just don't get it, he was by far our best G last year, and he is heads and tails better then at LG then Spencer or Rachal.
-
Originally Posted by
JustAnotherBearsFan99 All good points.
You know what I get tired of though? I get tired of us always "rationalizing" crap oline play each year as _______________ just fill in the blank:
1) It's just pre-season.
2) They will gel.
3) You just wait, it will get better
4) You don't REALLY need a good oline.
4) Tice will "coach 'em up" don't worry.
And then you get the inevitable: Just wait until NEXT year. Yes. Next year the oline will be better. I can see another 3rd place NFC-N coming (I can smell it.....and it doesn't smell good).
And we'll all be sayin' "next year"...just wait until "next year" and THEN we'll fix that oline problem. We are really a pathetic bunch (I'm a Cubs fan too.....).
Man, I'm a New York Yankees fan, and right now, I'm not happy with the way the team is playing despite the fact they are currently sitting in first place in the AL East and have the best record in the American League. I demand perfection out of my teams, sometimes to a fault, and I absolutely hate to lose at any sport of which my team is a contestant.
When I was in Scholars' Bowl (Academic Quiz Bowl) back in high school, my first two years with the team were awful. We usually got trounced in every match we played, and the coach, God bless her, didn't try to make things better by stacking the varsity team with the best players. By my senior year, however, I managed to convince the coach (who also happened to be my junior year AP English teacher) to stack the teams with the best talent and to start building up a junior varsity club. It worked. The team had its first winning year in several years, and it sparked a virtual renaissance of winning teams for the next several years, including the year that I coached the team to its first tournament championship at Cookeville High School out in Middle Tennessee in the fall of 2002, until the program was cancelled a couple of years ago by a teacher who didn't give a shit about what it meant to the school to have it at least represented on PBS for at least one game.
Winning is important, and as I once wrote down on my Facebook, it's what builds moral fiber. Everything that a person does should be done so he or she can put himself in position to win at whatever it is that he is doing. If you don't do this, than you're a spineless guppy. I have no respect for people who don't try to win with some degree of consistency, and it really seems like sometimes that the Bears have, through the course of the past twenty-something years, not tried very hard to build up a winning foundation for their franchise.
-
High Fives / Like - 1 BEAR DOWN!, 0 Dislikes
LinkBack URL
About LinkBacks
Reply With Quote
