Bear Down Baffa

Andrew Luck (’12), check.  Sam Bradford (’10), check.  Matthew Stafford (’09), check.  And you can add Cam Newton (’11) to the list of four consecutive #1 overall draft picks the Bears have beaten this year.  Combine that with undrafted Tony Romo (’05) and #10 overall pick Blaine Gabbert (’10), we’ve beaten almost $45M in QB’s.  And the season isn’t even halfway over yet.  Granted, we were out-played for three quarters by the Carolina Steve Smiths while Cutler looked like a rookie late-rounder himself.  But the Bears eventually made like an old constipated guy who gave up trying to go all day at the office, but then had minor success after arriving in his domicile, and “squeaked one out at home.”

The Bears sideline erupted after a rare comeback win

I can’t remember the last time the Bears won on a FG with time expiring.  And it didn’t even seem a plausible event for a Bears team that fell behind Sunday for only the third time all season, and trailed for the first time since the GB game six weeks ago.  But we found ourselves in a 19-7 hole more than halfway through the fourth quarter, and trailed in this game for almost 42 minutes – almost as long as we had trailed anyone all season combined (47 minutes).  But it luckily turned out to be an eery “recipe” for a win.

The Bears spent almost the whole game chasing Carolina

Tim “I Got Steve Smith” Jennings had a tough assignment, and a tough day.  But even though Jennings lost most of the battles (Smith had 7 catches for a game-high 118 yards), he won the war when he got his second pick of the game – and the first pick-6 of his 92-game career.  And it couldn’t have come at a better time, as it gave the Bears 13 points in an 8-second span – and the lead with 6 and a half minutes to play.

Jennings is the 4th  Bears defensive player to score this year

But we fell behind again with two and a half minutes remaining.  And after missing a FG for the second week in a row for the first time in almost two years, Robbie “I’m No Longer As Good As” Gould got a shot at a web redemption.  And he hit the game-winner from 41 yards on a windy day as time ran out.

Gould almost had to settle for silver on Sunday

Offense (Add ¼ Cup Cooked)
Cutler was out-played during the first three quarters by Newton, who was struggling with a sophomore slump so badly that he publicly offered up a suggestion box to the press for help last week.  Cutler was intercepted on his second pass of the game, and he fumbled twice in the first half, turning the ball over as many times (3) in one half as he had in our previous four games combined.

The Butler had a case of “turnover-itis”

Cutler started 3-8 for 29 yards and an 8.9 QBR.  In the first half, he completed fewer passes (4) than times he was sacked (6), while we were 0-3 on third downs versus Carolina’s 5-11.  We were out-gained 226 yards to 49, and 5.0 yards per play to 2.0.  And while Carolina had 174 net passing yards at the half, we were stuck at -15 (we threw for 40 yards but were sacked for 55).  Our lone highlight in the first half was 64 yards rushing and a Forte (70 yards on 15 carries, a 4.7 average) TD.

Forte was one of only a few players who held onto the ball in the first half

But the Butler picked up his pooper-scooper and got his shit together late, finally passing Newton up in QBR with less than 7 minutes left.  Starting with our last drive of the third quarter, Cutler went 14 for his last 16 (87.5%) for 141 yards (8.8/ attempt), throwing for 9 first downs and a TD, and putting up 10 points.  In all, he had his third most completions this season while throwing his third fewest passes.  He finished 19-28 (68%) for 186 yards, 6.6/att, 1 INT, 1 TD and an 83.3 QBR.  Newton was 20-39 (51%) for 314 yards, 8.1/att, 2 INT’s, 0 TD’s and a 57.0 QBR.

Cutler lightened the mood in the huddle by asking Marshall to pull his finger

The line clamped down late as well.  After giving up 6 sacks in the first half, we gave up none in the second.  Brandon “Boyd” Marshall had a game-high 9 receptions for 98 yards, and Kellen “Winslow” Davis decided to forego his typical drop or two before catching his first (and only) pass for a critical TD in the fourth quarter.  But both of our offensive TD’s came on drives that started in Carolina territory.  So there’s still a lot of work to be done offensively.

Davis used his hands – and his head – on this TD catch

Defense (Add ¼ Teaspoon Whipped)
Our defense showed signs of mortality by playing its worst game of the year.  We were out-gained by almost 100% (416-210) and almost a yard and a half per play (5.4 – 4.0).  Part of the problem was that Carolina had the ball almost 50% more than we did (36.5 minutes to 23.5) and ran 24 more plays than we did.  But we kept them out of the end zone, save once, and that was after we fumbled on our own 16.

McClellin tried to make this tackle without actually touching him

For the first three quarters, the Bears got beat like they stole something.  We gave up a 62-yard pass to Brandon LaFell, who had 80 yards in the first half alone, while Steve Smith had 50 – each individually more than the Bears first half total.  Five of Carolina’s six scoring drives started in their own territory, and four of them started from their own 20 or worse.  We did get 2 picks (Jennings had both), but we lost the turnover battle 3-2, and we only had 2 sacks.  And the Panthers didn’t go 3-and-out until the fourth quarter.

Jennings was ice, ice baby, 2 cold (2 cold)

Special Teams (Add a Dash of Luck)
Carolina tried squibbing almost every kickoff, giving us great field position throughout the game (that we never took advantage of).  7 players (none of whom was named Devin “Where’s the End Zone Again?” Hester) had uneventful kick returns.  And Hester had only 2 punt returns for 11 total yards.  But in trying to punt away from him in the fourth quarter, the Panthers executed a 6 yard punt (fail!), giving us the ball at their 38.  And that led to our first offensive TD in almost three quarters.  And though the Panthers had 5 FG’s, none of them were game winners at the buzzer.

Ebony and ivory, winning Sunday’s comeback players of the game in perfect harmony

Outlook (Serve With Chilled Champagne and a Lombardi Trophy)
We’ve won 5 in a row, have the second best record in the NFC, and are tied for the second best record in the NFL.  And at 6-1, we’re already 2 wins away from matching last year’s win count.  GB won and Minni lost, so we have a game and a half lead on both of them (5-3).

With our weak offense, last-minute celebrations may become SOP

We face another team with a losing record when we go to 3-5 Tenn next week to close out the first half – and the weak part of our schedule.  But we have our work cut out for us in the second half, as the only team we face with a losing record the rest of the way is Detroit (in Detroit).  But I bet those teams are all looking at the Bears on their schedule and considering us their biggest challenge of the season.

With our remaining schedule, it’s going to get harder before it gets easier

Quotes to Note
Lovie on shitty performance:  “We didn’t play well.  I didn’t get the team ready to play for whatever reason.”  Really, you only play 16 days a year and you didn’t have the team ready to play?  AND you don’t know why?!

Lovie on what’s next:  “We’re just gonna go back to the practice field, look at video.  There’s a lot of things that we won’t like.  We’ll just start correcting them from there.”  You do that, Lovie.  And you should probably also start updating your resume.

Coach Rivera tried to angrily french kiss players to get them going

Cutler on shitty performance:  “I don’t think they really took anything away from us, I think we just didn’t execute…Things were there, I was missing throws, dropped balls, we didn’t protect very well.  You go down the line and there was mistake after mistake…Second half of the fourth quarter (laughs), 8 minutes of the game, we played well.  Other than that, we didn’t play real well.”

Cutler on being booed at the half:  “I’d boo us too.  I told those guys it was a boo-worthy performance, if you will [and you will].  It was pathetic offensively what we put out there…Luckily enough we got out of there with a win.  But the first half is nothing to be proud of.”

On behalf of our staff and their extended families, Happy (first place) Halloween!

SUPER BOWL, SUPER BEARS!

© 2012

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