Bears Blitz

Published by Bryan Dietzler on October 27, 2010
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears

The Bears have reached their bye week and are one game away from being at the midpoint of the 2010 NFL season, and there is so much to talk about with this team.  From the start of preseason, no one would have thought that the Bears would have four wins by this point in the year.  No one would have thought that they would have defeated Dallas and the Green Bay Packers on their way to a three game winning streak. 

No one would have thought that running back Matt Forte would have busted out for all of those rushing yards against the Panthers.  Of course, no one would have thought that Devin Hester would have made such an impact on punt returns after doing basically nothing on them for two seasons.  Was this a team of destiny?  Was it shades of 2006 all over again?

Let’s take a look at the seven games that the Bears have played so far this season and see how they won those games that they won and how they lost those games that they lost and where they can go after their bye week this week.

Week 1 Vs. Detroit

This was the first game of the season, and it started out pretty rough for the Bears.  While they could move the ball well in between the 20s, they couldn’t seem to punch it into the end zone.  In the meantime, the Lions were able to get two scores on the ground, and it seemed as if the Bears would lose this game.

But luck was on the Bears side at home against the Lions.  They would manage to go up on Detroit in the final moments of the game, and then a controversial play happened.  Detroit wide receiver Calvin Johnson caught what appeared to be a game winning touchdown pass in the final moments of the game, but he failed to control the ball all the way down to the ground and the touchdown was no good. 

The Bears ended up winning that game 19-14.

Should the Bears have won that game?  Not the way that they were playing.  They had four turnovers in the game and seemed like they were doing whatever they could to lose it.  But when things got down, their defense scooped them up, held the Lions back and gave the offense an opportunity to win.  This game truly set the tone for the defense through the next few games.

Player of the Game: The player of the game in this one was running back Matt Forte.  Forte had a great game catching the ball and scored two touchdowns.

Week 2 at Dallas

No one gave the Bears a chance to win this game.  At that time, it appeared as if the Cowboys were as well put together as any team in the NFL, and despite the fact they lost the previous week, no one felt that Chicago would be able to win.  It was assured that Chicago would be 1-1 after this game.

The Bears buckled down, made some changes on the offensive line (after left tackle Chris Williams went out with an injury early in the game) and in the end beat the Cowboys.  Both the offense and defense played well, but the special teams gave up a punt return for a touchdown (for the first time that this writer can remember under head coach Lovie Smith and Dave Toub), and it looked like the prognosticators would be correct.  It appeared as if the Bears would lose their first game of the season.

The defense, once again, rose up to the task and kept the Cowboys at bay while the offense worked some magic and scored.  The Bears managed to move the ball down the field well despite the pass pressure and ended up winning this game 27-20.  It was a pleasant surprise for Bears fans.

Player of the Game: D.J. Moore gets this honor as he had two interceptions in the game and showed that he was well worth the effort to put him in at the nickel back position.  As it would turn out later on he would show his value again and could be one of the coaching staff’s better decisions during 2010.

Week 3 Vs. Green Bay

This was another game that no one gave the Bears a chance to win.  The Packers were thought to be one of the best teams in the NFL and had proven it (up to that time) with two consecutive victories.  With both teams coming in undefeated, this made for an interesting game and being on Monday night, it made things even better.  The Bears were clearly underdogs, and it looked as if they wouldn’t have a shot at beating the Packers.

The game was pretty close from start to finish, and it appeared as if there was no way that the Bears could win.  The Packers were completing passes all over the field but the Bears weren’t allowing them to reach the end zone that often so the score remained low.  As the game came to a close, the Bears were able to march down the field, aided by some penalties on behalf of the Packers and kick a game winning field goal.  The Packers would beat the Bears 20-17. 

This moved the Bears to 3-0 on the season and prepared them for their next battle in New York against the Giants.

Player of the Game: The player of the game in this game was Devin Hester.  After over two years of being without a return for a touchdown, Hester finally returned one in this game.  It appears to have given him a lot of confidence and has forced teams (later on in the schedule) to not kick towards him which has provided the Bears with some good field position.

Week 4 at New York Giants

The Bears hit the proverbial wall on Sunday Night Football against the Giants.  And that’s not all that got hit.  Quarterback Jay Cutler was sacked nine times in the game and went out at halftime with a concussion (which cost him the start in their next game against Carolina).  The offense couldn’t get anything going through the air or on the ground and the Bears could only score three points.

The defense did a much better job than a lot of people give them credit for even though they allowed the Giants to score 17 points.  With an offense that couldn’t move the football, the defense did everything it could to hold the Giants back.  What was most impressive was that the defense was able to keep the Giants to just three points in the first half.  At 3-0 heading into the half, the Bears were in a much better position than they should have been thanks to their defense.

Things would fall apart for them in the second half and Chicago would end up losing the game 17-3.  It brought this team and their fans back to earth and made many of us realize that the Bears had a lot of work to do before they could consider themselves to be a real contender.

Player of the Game: The entire defense had a hand in helping to keep the Bears in the game, but it was the offense that broke down and couldn’t do anything.  So the entire defense gets this honor for this game.

Week 5 at Carolina

Everyone figured that the Bears would easily knock off Carolina, and they were correct to an extent.  Second string (at the time) quarterback Todd Collins started this game, and his performance was something that no one wanted to see.  Collins threw four interceptions on the day and basically looked horrible.  The Bears decided to use third string quarterback Caleb Hanie and that helped improve things a little bit, but the passing game still looked like it was a disaster.

The Bears ended up winning the game 23-6. 

Player of the Game: What worked was the running game.  Running back Matt Forte rushed for over 200 yards in the game and had two touchdowns.  It gave everyone hope that the Bears running game could work and could be used in the future. 

Week 6 Vs. Seattle

The Seahawks came to town after their bye week, and everyone expected the Bears to win this game and gain some momentum heading into the rest of their schedule.  This was supposed to be an easy one right?  Not a chance.  The passing game was off once again and the pass protection was at its usual “best.”  The Bears didn’t try to get their running game going and that probably hurt them.  Overall, it was a bad effort on offense.

The defense had their problems as well, and they allowed over 100 yards on the ground and well over 200 yards passing.  The only bright spot in this game was that Hester returned another punt for a touchdown making it his second of the season and tying him for the all-time NFL record (with Brian Mitchell).  Chicago lost this game 23-20.

Player of the Game: Hester.  His second return of the season tied him for the all-time NFL lead and showed us that he was back and ready to help the team win (or at least attempt to win) games.

Week 7 Vs. Washington

The Redskins were a team that had problems on both sides of the ball and many felt wouldn’t be too much of a threat to the Bears.  As long as Chicago could protect Cutler and get their passing game going, the Bears should be able to win this game right?  Wrong.  They turned the ball over six times, including four interceptions and a fumble by Cutler.  It was a close game, but the offense made it seem as if they didn’t want to win.  They ended up losing this game 17-14. 

The loss sent them into the bye week with a lot of questions and really hurt them much more than anything in terms of their attitude and thinking.  Getting a win would have given them something positive to think about over the course of the bye week.  Now they have to dwell on the loss, and that won’t have a good effect on them at all.

Player of the Game: For the second game this season, Moore gets the honor for player of the game.  His interception return for a touchdown helped the Bears stay close as their offense just couldn’t score hardly any points in this game.

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