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What stood out about the Bears' on Sunday is the pass protection.
Something positive.
LINK to the article Bears' O-line holds up against blitz Cardinals' pass rush went nowhere against Tice's conservative protection 
Bears tackle Gabe Carimi (72) blocks Arizona Cardinals inside linebacker Paris Lenon (51) in the first quarter Sunday at University of Phoenix Stadium. (Brian Cassella/Tribune Photo /December 24, 2012)
Dan PompeiOn the NFLDecember 25, 2012
On Monday, what stood out about the Bears' performance on Sunday is the pass protection held up both in terms of recognition and execution against an aggressive, accomplished blitzing team.
Arizona defensive coordinator Ray Horton sent more than four rushers after Jay Cutler on 52 percent of Cutler's 29 dropbacks, and 73 percent of the third down dropbacks.
They never sacked him on a blitz. The only time Cutler was sacked was on a four-man rush, and Cutler could have and should have thrown the ball away on that play.
Bears offensive coordinator Mike Tice played it very conservatively, giving his rag-tag offensive line plenty of help from tight ends and backs.
The Bears tried to block five or more rushers with six or seven blockers 80 percent of the time. On the three snaps in which they went with five-man protections against the blitz, the offensive linemen held up fine.
The biggest pass play of the day came on a Cardinals blitz. On third and 8 in the second quarter, the Cardinals sent five linebackers and two linemen against a five-man protection, as the Bears were in empty. An unhurried Cutler got off a 30-yard completion to Brandon Marshall to the Arizona 4.
The Cardinals did not make it simple for the Bears, attacking with a variety of pass rushers and from a multitude of angles and gaps. The Cardinals blitzed six players through the course of the game, with linebackers Paris Lenon (nine blitzes) and Daryl Washington (seven blitzes) leading the way.
But nothing they did seemed to surprise the Bears or give them problems.
Here is what else we learned upon further review.
Grading key: Grades are between 0 and 10 with 0 being complete failure and 10 being perfect.
Offensive linemen
Grade: 7
This was probably the most impressive performance of the year from the offensive line, given the circumstances. It was far from perfect, but it was better than anyone had a right to expect it to be.
Each of the offensive linemen had their mistakes. James Brown got away with the worst one when the left guard lunged at Dan Williams from the Bears 1 and missed. Armando Allen barely got out of the end zone to avoid a safety before Williams hog tied him.
Defensive linemen
Grade: 8
The Bears defensive line had a big day, as it should have against an overmatched offensive line and two quarterbacks whose heads clearly were swimming.
The Cardinals made the mistake of trusting seventh-round rookie Nate Potter alone with Julius Peppers for much of the game, and they paid the price.
Peppers was dominant with three sacks (on one of them Ryan Lindley collapsed into the fetal position when Peppers got near him), a strip and three quarterback hits. He helped force Charles Tillman's pick-six by getting a hand on Lindley in the end zone, rushing his throw.
Peppers was rushing outside and turning the corner beautifully. One of his best plays was sniffing out a screen and following LaRod Stephens-Howling almost to the numbers on the opposite side of the field to make a tackle for a loss of three.
Copyright © 2012 Chicago Tribune Company, LLC
Last edited by JustAnotherBearsFan99; 12-25-2012 at 12:09 AM.
Brian Urlacher
Thanks For The Memories
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Junior Member
Not impressed that the Oline plays well against bad teams.
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High Fives / Like - 2 BEAR DOWN!, 0 Dislikes
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And, in all honesty, the reason Cutler is better protected is that we have max protect where our skill weapons are having to be blockers.
This hurts Forte's production as a receiver. TE's (if they COULD catch) are mostly blockers now. With the necessity for everyone to help the oline, it hurts our overall offense. Teams can load up on Marshall and that's the end of our passing attack. The oline can't open many holes for our RB's, so unless Forte can make yardage on his own around the ends, we can't run effectively.
It is WHY our offense is so bad. When you think about it, there's not much "play calling wise" that Tice can call to overcome this. Pass or run - we're screwed.
Brian Urlacher
Thanks For The Memories
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High Fives / Like - 1 BEAR DOWN!, 0 Dislikes
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The only thing I seen good about the O line was there were a few more holes for our RBs. But again this wasn't a great Defensive team either.
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I find it ironic that the line actually seems better being a makeshift than all of Tice's machinations.
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Restore the roar!
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Originally Posted by
KenMasters 
Not impressed that the Oline plays well against bad teams.
Yeah and the phrase, "Too little, too late" also come to mind. Despite that Cutler is still so unsure of their ability to actually get the job done he had one of his worst games passing and his mechanics looked like shit again. The best he looked was right before the half when he stopped thinking too much and we gave AZ. no time to think or adjust either. That's Jay Cutler at his best and yet they've spent and entire year ignoring that.
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Honey Badger Don't Care. Honey Badger Don't Give a Shit.
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Originally Posted by
soulman Yeah and the phrase, "Too little, too late" also come to mind. Despite that Cutler is still so unsure of their ability to actually get the job done he had one of his worst games passing and his mechanics looked like shit again. The best he looked was right before the half when he stopped thinking too much and we gave AZ. no time to think or adjust either. That's Jay Cutler at his best and yet they've spent and entire year ignoring that.
Agree. I alluded to this is another post today, and believe Cutler is at his best working out of the no-huddle. It simplifies the offense, and allows him to get into a rhythm, and audible more effectively, out of fewer sets. I'm not sure going completely no-huddle is the answer, but using it more often I believe will better suit him.
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Junior Member
We max protect against a poor team and we looked "fine". Oh boy Superbowl here we come 
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Junior Member
Originally Posted by
mdbearz We max protect against a poor team and we looked "fine". Oh boy Superbowl here we come
to be fair the cardinals do have the 3rd ranked passing defense in the NFL and are top 10 in sacks...they're terrible at everything else, but this wasn't a meaningless victory for the pass protection...
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Arizona is a poor team, but that's mainly because a gawd awful offense. Even though Seattle hung 58 on them, their defense isn't half-bad, and, in fact, lead the NFC in sacks. Pts/game they're middle of the pack in the conference, but what do you expect when the Offense can't stay on the field. So kudos to Tice for max-protecting and our O for executing. We still couldn't score but did perform the blocking schemes for the game well. Now if we can only figure out how to block and score at the same time, then we'll be on to something.
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