Bear Down Baffa

We started a QB (Kyle “Unsheared Neck-Beard Sportin” Orton) with only 18 NFL starts, a rookie RB making his NFL debut (Matt Forte “Cent”), a defensive tackle playing only his second NFL game (his first two seasons, and first game, ended in injury – Dusty Dvoracek), we were on the road, against a QB making his 161st straight regular-season start, a team breaking in a new stadium, that hasn’t started worse than 7-0 since ’04, and that beat us in the Supa Bow just 19 months ago. 

Oh, and we were 9½ point underdogs.  And just when I started to accept the fact that we may not be a good team this year, we go out and score more than double what Indy scored in a shellacking to go 1-0, winning our 3rd straight behind the blazing gun of Kyle “Offense Teleportin” Orton.  And to top even that – not a single player was injured (not even Mike Brown, Dusty Dvoracek or Marc Columbo). 

Now I don’t know if the Bears are really as good as they looked Sunday night, or if Indy was just that rusty; maybe it was both.  But beating Indy this handily – up and down the field in virtually all aspects of the game – is a statement.  Is it, “I am lion, hear me roar in numbers too big too ignore?”  Probably not.  But it is definitely big enough to be in the top three statements blogged around the American football world.  Imagine the looks on the faces of the people who didn’t watch Sunday when they read about the AFC trifecta in the paper on the toilet Monday morning – New England lost Brady, and San Diego and the Colts both lost.  I bet they couldn’t wipe fast enough to get up and put SportsCenter on.

So does this triumph of triumphs make up for a Supa Bow loss?  No, not exactly.  There’s probably nothing short of winning another SB that would Dr. Feelgood that pain.  But seeing the defense dominate (big and bold) an offensive juggernaut does bring back some familiar mental triggers.  And it does say that we can play with what we’ve got on the roster.  We may just have ourselves a football team, folks.

First, somehow our Offensive Line was solid.  That probably surprised me the most.  But then this new RB Matt Forte shows up – and he looks different than any RB we’ve had in ages.  He can cut, get up field, and when he hits holes, he comes out on the other side still on his feet.  He’s everything Cedric “I Cry for my Momma When I Get Arrested and Maced” Benson is not, and that can’t be anything but good.  Forte ran for 100 yards in the first half of his first NFL game (123 on 23 carries) – more than any Bear ever – scoring on a 50-yarder in which he out-ran everyone.  I’m not saying that makes him the best RB ever, or even the best RB on our team, but answer this question – is there a single Bear fan on the planet who is thinking Forte ISN’T good after Sunday night?  I’d bet a frolic in the Minneapolis airport the answer is no.

And what can you say about Kyle “Legend Thwartin” Orton, who looked more composed than Super Hero Peyton Manning.  Kyle “Outlet Shortin” Orton has now outplayed two of the best QB’s of this generation in his last 3 games (the other being Favreh, the former Packer, last year in week 16). And even though Manning completed 30 passes, Kyle “Coverage Sortin” Orton beat him in completion % (13-21 61.9% to 30-49 61.2%), and passer rating (83.4 to 81.8) despite not throwing a TD.  And don’t look now, but Kyle “Kickin Butt and Reportin” Orton is now 13-6 as a starter.  That’s a .684 winning %, or the virtual equivalent of an 11-5 season.  And that’s exactly what we would need if Kyle “Forte Escortin” Orton went 10-6 and then 3-0 in the playoffs en route to another Supa Bow Championship.  Now I’m not saying we’ll do that (I stand by my 3-13 prediction only because I couldn’t take another season of under-performance), but if we stay healthy and play like we did Sunday night, don’t be surprised if we do.

On a side note, here is a link to a Sun Times article by Mike Mulligan called (wait for it): Call ’em “baffling” Bears.

For the first time in almost a year I can say this without feeling like I need a shower afterwards:

Super Bowl, Super Bears!

© 2008

This entry was posted on Mon, Sep 8, 2008 at 10:49 pm and is filed under m) 2008 Posts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.