Bears Blitz

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

The winless Chicago Bears will host the Arizona Cardinals this Saturday night at Solider Field. 

The Cardinals are coming off of a 24-10 defeat at the hands of the Tennessee Titans while the Bears suffered another staggering loss, this one a 32-17 loss to the Oakland Raiders this past Saturday night.

Bears fans should be excited to know that the Cardinals have been having their problems this preseason, especially at the quarterback position and if the Bears can get a big enough lead early on in this one, they should be able to win.  Experts agree that Arizona quarterback Matt Leinart isn’t the answer and that the Cardinals may not have a solid starting quarterback on their roster this season.

At least for this game, that kind of news should thrill the Bears and their fans.  Perhaps they will be able to put some things together against the Cardinals.

Offensively

The Bears have had a lot of problems on their offensive line during the preseason, but hopes are high that they will be able to get things put together before the start of the season.  However, at least in this game, the Bears need to do the fundamental things well. 

First, they must protect their quarterback.  Jay Cutler was sacked five times in only a half of play last Saturday night.  That cannot happen again.

So, getting their quarterback protection working is one thing.  They must also ensure that their run blocking skills are continuing to develop and improve because the Bears are going to need to run the ball quite a bit more than many had figured going into the new season.

Cutler has to start establishing some rapport with his wide receivers, but that’s been hard due to the fact that he’s been sacked and chased around so much during the preseason. If he has the time to get the ball to his receivers, it will be interesting to see how well routes are run and how well catches are made in this new offense.  We haven’t had too many chances to watch this offense work thanks to the pass pressure that Cutler’s been getting.

It would be nice to see things working so that we had more hope for the regular season.
The running game will also get a bit of a workout in this game. It did finally spring to life a little bit in their game last Saturday and hopefully the Bears will be able to relive some of that success in this game.

Defensively

As mentioned, the Cardinals are in a state of flux at the quarterback position, so the time is right for the Bears to take advantage of this.  Working on pressuring the quarterback should be their first priority on defense since their scheme is based off of pass pressure.  This would be a good time for both defensive end Julius Peppers and defensive tackle Tommie Harris to really show their stuff.

The Bears will be without middle linebacker Brian Urlacher in this game, so look for them to use Hunter Hillenmeyer in there as the starter.  They will also have Pisa Tinoisamoa starting opposite Lance Briggs and it looks like Tinoisamoa has locked up that starting job (in a battle with Nick Roach who has surgery and won’t make it back until the first regular season game).  So let’s see how this unit plays without Urlacher and with Tinoisamoa in the starting lineup.

In the secondary, not much has changed since the first game of the preseason when both safeties Craig Steltz and Major Wright went out with injuries.  Chris Harris has played pretty well as have his counterparts, so what the Bears will do when looking at this game is evaluate the talent that they have at the safety position and see who they want to keep and who they may end up cutting.

The biggest thing the Bears need to be concerned about with their cornerbacks is to make sure that they stay healthy.  They will also want to see just how well the switch that both cornerbacks Charles Tillman and Zachary Bowman underwent during the offseason is going.  They will also want to evaluate those younger players at the position and see how they are coming along.

Special Teams

Special teams have been a big problem for the Bears so far this preseason.  Long snapping issues aside (a fluke needless to say) the coverage units have been allowing some big returns and have allowed punter Brad Maynard to have a punt blocked in each of their two games so far this preseason.

This is clearly uncharacteristic behavior from the Bears special teams.

One of the more important things that the Bears need to do on special teams is find those players that will be participating on those units during the season.  This will be an important evaluation period for special teams coach Dave Toub as he takes a look at players that could help the team (on special teams) this season and it could be the difference for some of these players either having a job or not.

Analysis

We all know the Bears have been struggling as of late, but remember it’s only the preseason.  This team is still learning the new offense that was brought here by new offensive coordinator Mike Martz and people who have learned his offenses before say it takes a long time to learn and you never really get it right away.

So needless to say things are going to be a little tight in Chicago until the Bears learn the offense and are able to execute.  Execution is difficult, however, when you don’t have enough time to throw the ball because you are constantly being chased by defensive linemen and linebackers. 

The Bears have to protect their quarterback.

The cover two defense will not work if there is no pass pressure on the opposing quarterback.  We saw some pressure on the Chargers in the first preseason game and a little (but not enough) against the Raiders, so hopefully the Bears will be able get some pressure against the Cardinals and prove that he has some greater value in the Bear’s defense.

One thing that we shouldn’t forget is that players are still being evaluated for positions although the starters are pretty much set heading into the season.  There are still backup roster spots up for grabs including one at running back as well as at wide receiver. 

The evaluation process will continue.

The State of the Cardinals

As was mentioned, the Cardinals are going through some changes at the quarterback position and it appears as if neither Leinart nor Derek Anderson are going to cut it at that position.  Both have struggled in the preseason and come into this game playing exactly the way the Bears want them to play.  Now, it’s time for the defense to take advantage of the Cardinals offense and tune up for the regular season.

On defense, Arizona is actually playing kind of well, but the Bears can still take advantage and play well.  They have to protect the quarterback (sounds like a broken record) in order for them to do anything on offense against the Cardinals.

Prediction

You would think that the coaching staff would have the team ready for this game especially since there is so much on the line for the Bears (and the coaching staff), so hopefully we see a good, hard-fought game.

Chicago 21 Arizona 13

NOTE: The Arizona Cardinals will start quarterback Derek Anderson, but still give Matt Leinart plenty of opportunities in this game.  

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