Bear Down Baffa

Dark, luminous clouds, 60-mph winds, severe rain and a tornado warning caused a two-hour delay, a rarity in the NFL, and an even more rare event in Chicago in November.  But it turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Hallas’s squad.  We played about 10 mintes before the delay, during which time Baltimore ran out to a 10-0 lead.  Post delay, the Bears out-scored them 23-10.  I guess the nap McCown took during the delay helped.  And we go from destroying our entire season last week to moving back into a tie for first place at 6-4.  As Obama would say, “Yes We Can!”

Gould made it without a dry spot on the field – or in my pants

Since we played an AFC team, the game wasn’t on Fox, it was on CBS.  So I put CBS on at about 11 am to watch some pre-game talk, and apparently CBS was hijacked by the Weather Channel.  All the pre-game coverage was about the inevitable tornado coming to downtown that inevitably never came.  There was no coverage – and I mean absolutely NONE – given to the game itself.  Appartenly CBS doesn’t realize that other resources exist for weather communiqués, including the interwebs.  I received not one, but two severe weather alerts on my phone, and a severe weather alert blasted on my TV.  And during the 2-hour delay, CBS showed us 76 views of the doppler radar instead of another game, and drivel commentary from field side.  Apparently, CBS manages weather delays as well as Rob Ford manages Toronto.

The calm before the storm

McCown looked discombobulated on our first drive.  A fumbled snap, a look to throw a pass where there was no receiver, and a sack.  Baltimore ran for 47 yards on their first play, almost three times as long as any run they’d had all season.  They also walked down and ran one in, their first ground TD in 5 games.  But then the rain – and the delay – came.  And McCown’s nap.

The beginning of the storm – for Baltimore, at least

After the storm lifted, the Bears began their own tornado in the form of an NFL attack.  We got a sack and stopped them from scoring for the first time in the game on their third drive.  And after gaining 23 yards in the entire first quarter, we gained 20 on our first play, which led to a FG and our first points on our fourth drive.  Then David “Slappin’ Da” Bass got a pick-6 on Baltimore’s first play of the next drive, giving us 10 points in 12 seconds.  Fans quickly forgot about being soaked.

After the storm – when we unleashed the fury

We did give up another TD, but wouldn’t allow the Ravens to score again for 34 minutes, when they kicked a game-tying FG with 3 seconds left in the game.  We wound up out-scoring them 13-7 in the second quarter, what had been our early season nemesis but is now our Toronto crack dealer with a guilty conscience.  This included running a 1-minute drill to kick a FG as time expired in the first half.  Yep, Trestman can actually manage the clock.

Peppers tearing down BAL’s hopes of repeating

After a quiet third quarter in which we didn’t even throw a pass, we took our first lead with 10-and-a-half minutes left in regulation.  We scored a TD on an 11-play, 83-yard drive, the longest TD drive allowed by Baltimore all season.  And after letting the Ravens go 82 yards on a 15-play drive in the last five minutes, we held them to a FG to tie it as time expired after they had a first and goal at our 5.

As usual, Conte was as a day late on most plays –
* Note how clean he is compared to others

We did commit 13 penalties for 111 yards.  I think Zach Bowman had 3 of them, and we got called for jumping off-sides 3 times when it was clear to me that Baltimore’s #73 flinched.  He was flinching as much as a paranoid schizophrenic playing the old “two for flinching” game with an octopus.  But we limited them to 18 yards on 5 plays after they won the coin toss in OT.  And in stepped Josh “The Comeback Kid” McCown in OT.  He connected on a 43-yard bomb to Martellus “What You Wore For Halloween” Bennett, and Robbie “14-Carat” Gould hit the game-winner from 38 yards.

McCown to Cutler: “Hey Jay, you jjjeeeaaalllooouuusss?”

No Heart?!  I’m All Heart MotherF%&#er!
One of the biggest things I noticed on Facebook and Twitter messages was how the Bears showed heart in this win.  But in previous weeks, the opposite was said.  I don’t think we showed any more heart in this game than any other week.  If one or two plays go the other way, we lose this game and everyone would be saying the opposite.  So STFU already.

Conte did his best to help the Ravens win, showing a lot of heart

Offense
We actually out-gained them (319–317) on fewer plays (75–59) and with less time of possession (36–31 minutes).  And in case you forgot, the Baltimore offense dominated on it’s Supa Bow run last year.  We did allow 2 sacks, and only scored 1 offensive TD, but we didn’t turn the ball over at all despite the inclement weather.  Matt “Running In The Mud Is My New” Forte had 125 yards on 23 touches, including a huge TD run where he ran over 4 guys and pulled ones helmet off with his shoe.  I don’t think Payton ever did that shizzle!

Forte loves the slop, loves it.  Eats it, eats it up.  Born to
slop.  His father was a mudder.  His mother was a mudder.

McCown finished the first half just 10 of 20 for 84 yards (4.2/attempt) and a 61.3 QBR.  But in the second half and OT, he was 9 of 11 (81.8%) for 123 yards (11.2/attempt), 1 TD and a 143.5 QBR.  This mofo now has a season QBR of exactly 100.0 with 5 TD’s and not a single turnover.  Can you say MVP?

Somebody might be wearing that winter cap for a while

Defense
We allowed 174 yards rushing, but it was raining and they ran 41 times.  And we limited them to 143 yards passing on 31 throws (4.6/attempt).  We got 3 sacks and 2 interceptions, and had that huge stop at the end of regulation, and another on the Raven’s first – and only – possession in OT.  And in his first start this season, Cheta “Cheese” Ozougwu got his first career sack.  And it was glorious!

Ozougwu doing his best Richard Dent impression
with the sack trifecta – back, booty and ball all in one

After allowing Flacco to throw 4 TD’s without a pick the last time we played him, we limited him to 17 of 31 (54.8%) for 162 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT’s, and a 53.4 QBR.  Julius “Blame It On The Rain” Peppers, who had only 18 tackles all season, came up with 11 tackles, and he doubled his season sack total with 2 sacks.  Jon “Bomb” Bostic and Bass got their first career picks, and Bass returned his for a pick-6, our first defensive score in over a month.

Bass shows Conte how Bears return picks – all the way to the house

Special Teams
Gould had 3 FG’s from an average of 35 yards, despite challenging weather conditions.  And after he hit the game winner, the debate was stirred up once again that he is one of the most accurate kickers in NFL history (86.2%).  He’s now 16 of 17 this year (94.1%).  Seven “I Don’t Work In The Rain” Hester had only 1 return for 28 yards.

Jesus shone his light on Gould, keeping it JUST inside the uprights

Click here to see Robbie Gould’s game-winning FG

Outlook
Both Detroit (sucks!) and Green Bay lost, so we’re back to being tied with the Lions at 6-4 and a game ahead of 5-5 GB.  In the Wild Card race, DAL and SF lost, so we’re tied for the second WC spot with SF and AZ behind 6-3 Carolina.  But don’t let the tie-breaker to Detroit (sucks!) concern you too much.  Cause after all, they suck.

Beer sales were cutoff during the 2-hr delay –
man am I glad I didn’t go to this game!

We’ve still got 6 games left to pass the Lions.  And now we have a QB that doesn’t turn the ball over, and whose QBR is 7th among QB’s who’ve thrown over 100 passes this year.  If you project McCown’s numbers (101 passes) for as many as the Lion’s Stafford has thrown (419), McCown’s on pace for the same amount of TD’s (21).  Stafford in ranked 10th in QBR, and has turned the ball over 10 times in 10 games.  McCown’s turnovers?  0.00.

McCown:  “Bring on Atlanta, bring on Dallas…”

Quotes to Note – Part I
McCown on the weather and the football:  “My dad always says that thing is oblong and bounces funny.”  Well MY dad would say, “If it was candy, you’d have no problem hanging onto it!”

McCown on the delay:  “When we heard how long it was gonna be, I kinda laid down a little while…and closed my eyes, and tried to think about the game, visualize the game a little bit, and kind of assess what happened during the first two series.”  Yeah, I’ll tell you what happened in those first two series – you guys sucked!

McCown even found time to mix it up with the Raven’s D

Joe Flacco:  “Every time you get the ball, it either was wet or had all kinds of mud on it…it was an issue for the timing stuff, getting a grip on it quick enough.”  Really, Joe?  Our QB didn’t seem to have those issues.  In fact, once the field was wet, he cold smoked you all day long.  And you’re making $19M more than he is this year!

Martellus Bennett on the conditions:  “It was pretty bad out there.  Uhm, you know, I never played in anything like that in my life.  I figured out why they call it the windy city today.  The crazy thing was the wind was hitting from all directions, so you couldn’t like turn your back to it.”  Actually, Mr. Bennett, it’s called the windy city because of how the political gossip traves through the air like the wind.  Welcome to Chicago, dummy.

Uhm, I think these 2 need to get a room – even Wright can’t believe it

Quotes to Note – Part II: Spotlight on Rookie Jon Bostic
Here are 5 post game responses from Jon Bostic, listed in order, word-for-word, to questions from Comcast’s Jim Miller and Dan Jiggets.  Seriously, people, I couldn’t make this shit up!

1. On the field conditions:  “Yeah, definitely (you know), uh (you know), this is (you know) new conditions (you know) we haven’t been able to play on.  Uh (you know), some of the (you know) veteran guys that (you know) played on (you know) conditions like this but (you know) me being as a rookie, I haven’t played on (you know) any field (you know) as anything like that (you know).  But that’s something (you know) everybody says (you know) over time you got to learn to play on (you know) cause those are (you know) conditions we can definitely use to our advantage.”
– That’s 16 “you know’s.”  But wait, it gets better.

2. On whether he was surprised Flacco threw the ball on his pick play:  “Uhm, not really (you know).  That’s something, uhm (you know), he’s a good QB (you know), that’s how they throw those balls and they gonna try to throw it (you know) at the back of your head and (you know) and put (you know) let their guy try to go make a play on it.  So, (you know) the defensive line (you know) they did their part today (you know) making (you know) a lot of those windows (you know) a lot harder to throw to (you know) by putting pressure on them, making them step up in the pocket.  So (you know) really (you know) being able to (you know) rely on them (you know) helped us all game on the back end.”
– That’s another 16 “you know’s.”  You gotta give it up for his consistency.

Bo-stic knows, you know, picks

3. On his development and Briggs coaching him up:  “Yeah (you know), he definitely has (you know).  Uh, since the day I been here (you know), since I got drafted (you know), he shot me a text (you know) right off the bat (you know) he said (you know) he’s glad for me (you know) to be here in Chicago.  And (you know) since I been here (you know), I’ve been (you know) picking his brains (you know), trying to find out (you know) ways I can get better (you know), and really just learn more about this defense (you know).  He knows (you know) this defense inside and out, so being able to really (you know) just kinda rely on him and James and DJ, uh, it’s been big for me (you know) really (you know).  It’s kinda helping my transition (you know) to the NFL be a lot easier.”
– That was 20.  20 “you know’s!”  He’s raising his own bar.

4. When asked if the game has slowed down for him:  “Yeah, it’s definitely, uh (you know), starting to slow down for me.  Uhm (you know), but it’s really just (you know) getting out there, getting comfortable (you know) is my main thing (you know).  (You know) when I get out there (you know) early in games (you know), I (you know) tend to think too much and uh (you know) try to (you know) do too much instead of (you know) just (you know) doing the things that we do in practice (you know).  All these plays that (you know) I’m going against in the game, ah (you know), the pass concepts (you know), the different runs that they give us is the same thing I’m seeing in practice (you know) from our offense.  So, it’s really just (you know) just learning to (you know) relax from the get-go and (you know) being able to just doing my job.”
– 21 “you knows?!”  How far can he go?

#87 looks like he REALLY wanted that ball

5. On the passion of the defense (not to be confused with the passion of the Christ) after the delay:  “(You know) yeah, that’s (you know) something (you know) we said (you know) (you know) since we first got here.  (You know), we’ve got to (you know) play with passion (you know), we got to play with effort (you know) just (you know) have the hirings (?) around the field (you know) cause that definitely helps us and (you know) when (you know) when David Bass (you know) made that pick and (you know) took it back for six (you know), that was something that really kinda turned that ball game around for us, uh (you know) and got the crowd back into the game (you know), got us going again.  (You know), but really (you know), during that intermission (you know) nothing changed (you know), we just said, uh, (you know) we gotta make sure everybody’s doing their job.”
– Holy shit!  This is no joke, he actually beat his own record by 1, getting 22 “you know’s” into his last answer!  This guy is going to, you know, be something special for us.  And he’s going to, you know, give Jay “I Once Put Up 57 ‘You Know’s’ In A 6-Minute Interview” Cutler a run for his money:

Supa Bow, Supa BEARS!

BEAR DOWN!

#YouKnow

© 2013

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