Bear Down Baffa

Finally.  FINALLY!  Once again, the Chicago Bears enjoy the sweet nectar of victory, and Sunday’s win against the 1-10 Rams couldn’t come too soon.  It’s our first W in 35 days, dating back to Nov. 1 when we beat 1-6 Cleveland, and only our second in 63 days, since our Oct. 4 win against 1-2 (now 2-10) Detroit.  But before we start setting off fireworks or throwing after parties, we checked our schedule, and there are no 1-win teams left on it.  So the prognosis remains slightly more promising than dismally pessimistic.

It may not have been pretty, but after being out-scored 111-57 in 4 straight losses, who the hell cares?  It ended up looking like a 2006-2008 Bears game – a lot of running, a lot of punting, good defense, and a win.  Whether it was planned or it was the result of an early lead on a cold day, the Bears barely threw the ball, choosing to inch yards out on the ground, and focus on field position and time of possession.  We wound up rushing for fewer yards than the Rams, and we lost field position and time of possession.  But for a moment, we were able to do what we weren’t able to do back then – air the ball out.  And that was the difference in this game. 

Cutler connected on two early bombs, 48 yards (Hester) and 71 yards (Bennett).  That’s exactly what he was brought in to do, what Rex and the Beard couldn’t do – stretch the field.  And that’s exactly what he did on Sunday.  Well, at least in the first quarter.  Despite Forte fumbling on our second play, the offense moved 175 yards on their first 3 drives, needing only 3 first downs to take a 10-0 lead 11 minutes in.  The Butler started 4 for 5 (one was dropped), averaging 40 yards on his first 3 completions – even though one went for only a yard.  And if you count a 35 yard pass interference call, he averaged 27.7 yards on his first 6 pass plays.

Luckily those 10 points were enough, because Cutler didn’t complete another pass in the first half.  We didn’t even get a first down on our 4 remaining drives, gaining only 14 yards on 12 plays, and looking resoundingly incompetent on a fake field goal attempt.  The second half wasn’t much different.  If you don’t count our 76 yard TD-drive in the third quarter (aided by two STL penalties), we only had 2 first downs and 32 total yards on 19 plays in the second half, as Cutler went 4 for 7 for a whopping 12 yards.

But the Briggs-less defense was able to keep the lead the offense got us.  You can’t score 1 point in the NFL, but we held the Rams to 9 points on 9 possessions in Bear territory.  And not only did we keep STL out of our end zone, we didn’t allow them inside our 10 yard line, and only allowed them inside our 20 once.  Even against a team that probably wouldn’t finish in the top 25 in the College BCS, you have to give it up for that performance, as it enabled us to edge STL in total yards.  And points.

The Cutler Supremacy
Despite the Butler’s big start, Urlacher’s least favorite QB was only 4 for 10 (40%) for 131 yds at half-time.  And after completing only 4 of his final 12 passes, he finished a meager 8 for 17 (47.1%) for 143 yds, 1 TD, and a 96.0 QBR.  But he didn’t throw an interception for the first time in 8 games, and only the third time this year.  And the only stat more important than that was getting his first win in 5 games.

Doubt-look
Here’s a look at the Wild Card with 4 games to play:

8-4 PHI (beat Bears)
*7-4 GB (beat Bears) *Play Monday night (if they win OR beat us next week, we’re done).
7-5 NYG
6-6 ATL (beat Bears)
5-7 CAR, SF (beat Bears) and SEA (lost to Bears)

Philly is virtually impossible to catch.  With a 3-game lead, tie-breaker in hand and only 4 to play, we’d have to win out and they’d have to lose out.  But we’re actually not mathematically eliminated yet from the other WC.  Bear in mind, we concede that whatever follows that phrase is typically irrelevant.

But…it…could…get…interesting…if – and only if – GB loses Monday night AND the following happen next week:  the Bears beat GB, PHI beats the Giants AND the Saints beat ATL (and it wouldn’t hurt if the Cards beat San Fran and the Pats beat Carolina).  IF all that happens, we’d be 1 game behind NY and GB, and tied with ATL, with 3 to play: @ BAL, MIN, @ DET.  Maybe MIN won’t have anything to play for by then.  But common sense says the Bears won’t either.

Bear Down, and look on the bright side – we can get Bears jerseys at a discount this holiday season!

© 2009

This entry was posted on Mon, Dec 7, 2009 at 8:50 am and is filed under l) 2009 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.