Bear Down Baffa

September 11, 2011 was a special day in Chicago – and not just because the Bears became the front runner to win the Super Bowl.  Sunday’s game marked the 10-year anniversary of an historic event – one that has changed the lives of so many.  You may remember the Bears lost their first game of the 2001 season on Sunday, 9/9/01.  Two days later, two planes hit the twin towers, and the NFL postponed the next week’s games until 9/23.  And it was after the Bear’s victory over the Vikes in that first game back that I changed the world by writing my first official Bears article and emailing it to a lucky few of my closest Bear friends.

Ooooh, Pretty Colors!

The Bears went on to win 6 in a row, including 2 in a row in OT, so I continued sending emails after each game so as not to gooch the streak.  The Bears won every non-Packer game the rest of the way, finishing 13-3, as I kept writing.  That miraculous season created the impetus for publishing my first book, entitled “A Resurgence of Beauty: The Story of the Bears Unbelievable 2001 Season…As Told by a Super Fan…” (limited copies remain for this collector’s item).  And I’ve been writing ever since.

Number 1 on NY Times Best Seller List for 16 Minutes 

So in keeping with the remembrance of such a momentous event, I’d like to take a moment and pay tribute to myself for keeping it real, taking it to the next level, giving praise to Jesus (through whom all good things come), and sharing my Bears insights with you – our blog’s dedicated readers.  Do you remember where you were when you read my first post?  But I’d also like to pay it forward and thank the Bears for paying tribute to me by bringing home a dominating winner to start the 2011 season.

How Cool – Everyone Brought the Same Size Flags to the Game

It’s games like this where you wish you could put some points into an account and save them for next week.  The Bears were firing on ALL cylinders, winning all 3 phases against last year’s number 1 NFC seed – a team with 2 more wins than anyone else in the conference.  They dominated the Falcons like 9/11 coverage dominated the airwaves this past weekend.  And they put themselves atop the power rankings as the best team in the universe.

Peppers Rips Off Ryan’s Helmet as Ryan Tries to Kiss His Own Ass Good-bye

Phaseology
Offensively, we moved the ball with ease, scoring on 5 of our first 7 drives, and gaining over 50 yards on 2 separate plays.  In the first half, we went 5 for 10 on 3rd down (that’ll move the chains!), and gained 225 yards for an average of over 6 yards per play.  Cutler made one bad play the whole game, throwing an INT that was returned for a TD.  But before that play, his QBR was 131, and he finished with a 107.8, going 22 of 32 for 312 yards and 2 TD’s.  He was even seen smiling on the field – not on the sidelines, on the field!

Looks Like the Butler’s Knee is Fine – White Boy Can Jump! 

Defensively, we had 5 sacks, 3 turnovers (which led to 14 points) and controlled the line.  While we did allow 110 rushing yards, almost half of that came on one play.  We only allowed 2 FG’s, with ATL’s lone TD coming on a pick-6 in the 4th quarter.  And Urlacher was everywhere, with 10 tackles, an INT and a fumble return for a TD.  When asked to break down the pick play, he said to laughter in the press room, “It was crazy – he threw it and I caught it.”

Urlacher Picking up a Peppers-Caused Fumble and Scoring

And on special teams, we won each battle.  ATL’s average starting field position was inside their 20, and they never started in Bear territory, while the Bears averaged starting on our 27.  We averaged 8 more yards per return and 8 more per punt.  And our kicker had twice as many points as theirs (12-6).

There’s No Place Like Home

Coolest New Guy Name
Our sixth WR, undrafted Ohio State rookie speedster, Dane Sanzenbacher.

Talk About Putting Things Into Perspective

Outlook
The Bears are running like a well-oiled machine.  And they made a huge opening day statement: “Bring on Atlanta, Bring on Dallas.”  We might as well just have the Super Bowl next week – the Bears versus the AFC All-Pro Team.  I’d take the Bears by “tree.”

Super Bowl, Super BEARS!

© 2011

This entry was posted on Mon, Sep 12, 2011 at 7:08 pm and is filed under j) 2011 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.