It was fun, but it’s only one. And Rex has yet to get ‘er done.
In a home-opener I thought we’d dominate against a mediocre Kansas City team, we got out ahead, held on and grinded out a win. There are still some issues we have to work out. But considering it was only our second game, and we lost our first one, I’ll take it. Our offense looked a little better, though not as much as we’d have thought considering the strength of SD’s defense last week. But once again our defense showed up with some big plays. Oh, and a special teams TD and good field position (172 yards on 7 returns) didn’t hurt either.
What can you say about Devin Hester? He’s like Gale Sayers out there, running around the field like everyone else is moving in slow motion. He’s like Midas – whenever he touches the ball, it turns to gold. No, platinum. Whoever the guy is that turns things to platinum, that’s who he’s like. I still have trouble understanding what he’s saying, but there’s no mistaking his play. I propose we start calling him “Six.”
Other than Hester’s sterling performance and another stellar defensive showing – both of which we’ve come to expect – I think the story of the game is Cedric Benson. Having just surpassed the 250 carry mark for his young career, he ran with much more composure than last week, patiently waiting for his holes to open, and hitting them with some power. 24 carries and 101 yards – now those are stats I want to see out of my starting running back. And his longest run was only 13 yards, so it wasn’t like those numbers are skewed by one or two big plays. He gutted out every inch of his 4.2 yard average. As I’ve said, I just hope he can carry the load for 19 games.
Even backup tackle John St. Clair got in on the action. Making like the Fridge, he hauled ass (all 315 lbs of it) into the end zone on a 2 yard play action pass. He then went on to lead the team in “man’s” during his post game interview, scoring a record 20 in under a minute and a half. He either began or ended just about every sentence fragment and independent clause with the word man, and I think he even used it as a verb a couple times. This guy dropped more “man’s” than a paratrooper transport pilot in WWII.
Punter Brad Maynard missed the first game of his career, spanning 161 games. By my math, that’s about a decade’s worth of consecutive starts. But to be fair, he lines up 10 yards behind the line of scrimmage, half the time he’s on the field the ball is in the air, and when he has the ball there’s a rule against touching him. So how big of an accomplishment is that, really?
I thought I read the lips of Chief QB Damon Huard when he was taken out due to injury towards the end of the game. With a dazed and exhausted look, he said, “My forward vision sucks.” With a helmet limiting his peripheral vision, and the Bears coming at him from all directions, I imagine that made for a tough day.
And Tommie Harris, whose return is obviously impacting the veracity of our run defense this year, was quoted as saying, “That’s what I do – I stop the run.” I think he also stop the pass, and if I were a betting man, I’d be all in that he likes to dump guys on their (bleep).
© 2007
Bear Down Baffa 
Mon, Sep 17, 2007 at 5:24 am |
Laffy,another good blog on our ‘good but getting better, we’ll be back in the Supa Bow’ team. I did want to mention that Adrian Peterson looked really good on short passes out of the backfield and that seeing Urlacher jumping up in Huard’s face and humping it like a dog was as close to orgasmic as I’ve been about a football game in awhile. I agree on Hester’s nickname but until it catches on I’m going to call him Mubbles. Oh, and can you tell Berrian he’d better get his head out of his ass and go after passes that aren’t on his hands or I’ll make fun of the fact that his name is Bernard?
Thanks,
Razy
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Mon, Sep 17, 2007 at 10:02 am |
BEAR has a few weeknesses, namely:
* picking up the blitz. With a shaky and mistake prone QB, why wouldn’t you bring the lightning war on Grossman?
* Give Gman credit, he didn’t fumble that I saw (missed the first half of first quarter waiting on the Ohio shootout which never seemed to end), but he made up for that by overthrowing a screen pass that resulted in an interception–that can’t happen. That’s indicative of other, deeper problems. Kind of like the kid who still wets the bed in high school. You know that kid has more problems than just the yellow mattress. And so does Rex. At what point do you say, we just don’t want a bed-wetter quarterbacking our team?
* I noticed a dropoff with MBrown being out, probably more from a depth perspective than anything else. Manning is solid, but now you try to minimize the snaps with the 3rd and 4th safeties because you’re less comfortable with them. This can lead to tiredness down the stretch. And I saw a depleted Chiefs offense move the ball late in the game, the intereception in the endzone notwithstanding.
* Finally, any idiot that holds or blocks in the back while Hester has the ball in his hands should not play anymore. Seriously, they are a liability to that play–we’d be better off with 10 instead of 11. He doesn’t need blocks period, let alone illegal ones.
Packers a little better than expectations and tough schedule: 9-7 this year and barely make the playoffs.
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Mon, Sep 17, 2007 at 12:44 pm |
Mubbles/Six is the most exciting player in the NFL right now. The Bears need to get him the ball on offense though because opponents would have to be an idiot to kick to him.
To do that, Grossman had better wake up and start reading defenses better or his pea-brain will be concussed in the next couple weeks; or is Mr. Throw-off-my-back-foot-even-though-everyone-says-not-to already operating with a concussion? There is NO WAY this guy got a 29 on the Wonderlic. I give him a 16 tops.
Al and John are going to crucify him on Sunday night unless he gets the ball to Mubbles at least 6 times. Mubbles will make Grossman look like Joe Montana.
Oh, and let Moose roam the secondary looking for more hapless defensive backs to tatoo.
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Mon, Sep 17, 2007 at 12:56 pm |
Comparing Devin Hester to Gayle Sayers is an insult to Devin Hester.
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Mon, Sep 17, 2007 at 1:40 pm |
Wow, bashing Gayle Sayers…. Hester’s got a little ways to go yet to be as good as Sayers. Not to say I wasn’t jumping up on the couch with my XLI emblazoned Hester Jersey on Sunday!
But most notably Grossman started to try and force things again. In the first half he was making great reads, checking down, finding those guys underneath…Second half he chucking the ball into double and triple coverage and throws a mind boggling INT on a SCREEN PLAY! I’ve been a staunch G-Man defender, but I may have crossed into skepticism on Sunday…. OH yeah and out O-line may just be The Grumpy Old Men….They looked like they would rather be ice fishing than picking up a blitz…
Anyway, like the blog laffy…
GO BEARS!
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Wed, Sep 19, 2007 at 11:45 am |
How is it possible that you gained skepticism on Grossman after THIS game? Maybe you missed the second half of last season?
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Mon, Nov 12, 2007 at 9:40 pm |
Stanimal,
Let me first say its about damn time you started your own Blog. Your passion for Da Bears is eclipsed only by your affinity for large women with low self esteem. I will be looking for that blog in the near future.
As a recently minted bears fan ( i pledged my allegience following the 5-11 season, so no bandwagon jumping here) I hope to add some relatively unbiased observations. After week two, here are a few:
1) Devin Hester is better than morning wood.
2) How ’bout sending Urlacher on a few more blitzs
3) Cedric Benson didn’t look impressive but still gained 100yds. I am a fan.
4) Fred Miller has 12 yrs in this league and looks like it. Pretty sure he was wearing adult diapers on Sunday
5) I defended Grossman after week one. He needs Johnny Cochran to defend him after Sunday. Too bad Johnny is dead.
6) Speaking of Johnny C, how bout the Juice! hilarious stuff
7) Thank God the Bears play in the NFC.
8) Is it too late to test Favre for HGH?
9) I signed St. Clair to my fantasy team. Hoping he sees a few more touches.
10) I think a healthy Olsen will help Grossman a great deal. That said, I still believe the Cubs have a shot at a world series title this year as well.
11) Garrett Wolfe will suprise people before the year is over, if Rex can ever get him the ball.
Btw, nice pic Stan. It reminds me of that AIDs Awareness Ad I always see on the EL.
Go Bears
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Mon, Nov 12, 2007 at 11:42 pm |
Rashaan,
Thanks for reading, and thanks again for taking me to the Viking game. It’s just too bad the Bears ripped my heart out and part of me died that day. Good game, though.
I just found your comment. It got trapped in a spam protection mechanism run by the site (it’s also kept out a ton of Viagra postings, let me tell you). But I was just snooping around and I finally found the page where they list all blocked comments. Yours was at the very bottom of a ton since you wrote it back in Week 2, so I was lucky to find it. It helps explain what you were talking about when you mentioned your “top ten list” at the Viking game (when I had no idea what you were talking about). And since it’s such a great addition to the blog, I had to bump it up to get it top billing. Nice work – I’m sure your wife helped with some grammatical guidance. After all, an English degree from BU is worth millions in cash, and billions in brilliance.
Bear down, buddy! Glad to have you on board the Bearwagon!
bdb editor
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Sat, Jun 14, 2025 at 11:38 pm |
I’m glad to see Cedric Benson performing well.
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