Bear Down Baffa

The Supa Bow called…they want their Bears back!  After starting 0-1 at home, we went on the road for two games in prime time against fiery defenses, and somehow we came home 2-1.  And this game was won defensively.  We stopped the Jets 5 times in the red zone, including their last: a fourth-and-five from our 9 in the final minute.  With this stellar performance, I think our new defense just popped its cherry.  But since they are so young, and we witnessed it, does that make us all accessories to child pornography?

Mundy “Pick-6’d the Shit-6” out of the Jets on Monday Night

Bad Start, Good Start
After an 11-yard QB scramble on their first play from scrimmage, Will “You Please Forgive Me for Hitting the QB Late Out of Bounds?” Sutton hit the QB late out of bounds, adding 15 yards.  To me, giving up 26 yards on the first play to Geno Smith, who threw 21 INT’s last year on 433 passes (which is ironically 1 pick every 21 attempts), is unforgivable.  But then Ryan “I Bet You’ll Know My Name This” Mundy picked him off on the next play, and returned it 46 yards for a TD just 32 seconds in, making it the earliest Pick-6 ever in MNF’s 697 game history.  It was his first career Pick-6, and it was his first Munday Night game as a Bear.  You do the math.

Since he set a record, he gets 2 photos from different angles

After the Jets punted on their next possession, we started on our 17, but wound up punting from our 11.  And for the second game in a row, we committed a penalty on a punt play that forced us to kick from deeper in our end zone.  But we wound up recovering the muffed catch, giving us a first down at the Jet 40.  It was the equivalent of a 49-yard gain.  And on our first play, the Jets committed a 33-yard Pass Interference penalty, giving us a first and goal at the Jet 7.  So we went 82 yards on two plays without the offense actually moving the ball.  Three plays later, we scored our second TD in less than five minutes.

Bennett: “Official Luxury TE of the Chicago Bears”

We never led by less than 4 the rest of the way, and we were up by at least a TD for three-quarters of the game.  And we held on with a defensive stand to win it.  While our offense put up 20 points against a tough unit, this game was won by our defense.  The D put up 7 of their own and allowed only 19, so they only asked the offense to score 13.  And though we were beaten on paper in a majority of the stats, we won the biggest stat of all: points on the scoreboard.

Allen, like his number, is always active despite his positioning

Offense
Cutler did lose a fumble, but he didn’t force throws and took his 4 sacks when he should have, so that was our only turnover.  He had a typically cool first half (12 of 23, 52.1%, 107 yards, 1 TD, 1 fumble, 79.4 QBR), but a solid second (11 of 15, 73%, 118 yards, 1 TD, 118 QBR).  He finished 23 of 38 (60.5%), 225 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT, 1 fumble, and a 94.7 QBR.  That doesn’t sound like “Premier QB” at first glance, but he did his job against a steady and off-putting attack of blitzes on what seemed like every play.  And most importantly, he did enough to seal the win.

Cutler had his work cut out for him

Matt “Apparently Sucking Is My New” Forte had just 33 yards on 13 carries – a meager 2.5 yard average.  As a team, we only ran for 60 total, and Cutler had our longest carry for 16 yards.  And we allowed 4 sacks.  But NY is built around defense, which is run by a guy who came out of Buddy Ryan’s wenus.  And we started two backups in Brian “De Palma” De La Puente and Michael “Ask Me How To Say Hi In Spanish?” Ola.  So overall, job well done.  Martellus “How Many TD’s You Had” Bennett had 2 TD’s, tying him with Brandon “We Are” Marshall for the team lead at 4.

Forte had his work cut out for him, too

Defense
Our run defense was absolutely stellar – at least for us.  We “limited” them to “just” 114 rushing yards, and the longest run of the day was “only” 17 yards.  But we gave up 21 first downs, 15 of which were through the air.  And we allowed the Jets young QB (who’s only thrown more TD’s than INT’s twice in 19 NFL games) to pass for 300 yards, including two plays over 40 yards.  And we let them score 5 times.

He’s no Cutler, but he didn’t have to face NY’s defense

But despite all that, we kept them out of the end zone save once, and they were just 1 for 6 in the red zone.  Their only TD drive was aided by a 15-yard “Disrespectfully Addressing An Official” penalty on Lamarr “I Think They Even Heard That Comment In” Houston, which gave the Jets a first down at our 24 instead of a third and five from our 39.  So even though we allowed 5.8 yards per play over 72 plays, we tightened up our back end when we needed to – like a dude in prison when night time comes.

Even Conte couldn’t blow this one, tho he did do a lot of “looking on”

And our D-line applied steady pressure, picking up 3 sacks.  Willie “Forever” Young got his fourth, Stephen “Onomato” Paea his second, and Ego “Don’t Put Your Hands Up In” Furgeson got his first.  In addition to Mundy’s INT, Kyle “Cashew” Fuller (in his first start for Peanut) got his third pick in two games, had 7 tackles and deflected 2 passes.  And Jon “Bomb” Bostic led us with 13 tackles and 2 passes deflected in his first start at SLB.

Bostic’s a beast – and he has yet to play his natural WLB

Special Teams
We recovered a fumble, which led to a TD and gave us our biggest lead of the game.  Robbie “Good As” Gould was 2 for 2 on FG’s with 3 PAT’s (9 points).  I guess he kept it in his pants 9 months ago, so we didn’t have to suffer from his selfishness this week.  But either we need some coaching on punts, or this new punter is taking all day to kick, because I find myself holding my breath every time we line up for punts now.  And I miss Sevin Hester like the dickens.

Gould didn’t fall for the old “Just wave high to him!” defense

Outlook
Detroit (sucks!) beat GB, and Minni lost, so we’re tied for first place with the Lions at 2-1.  They have a slight edge with one of their wins coming within the division, and they play next week in this same stadium.  But if we can beat GB at home next week, we would finish the first quarter of our season 3-1.  With our schedule, I think most people would be pleasantly surprised with that.  Personally, I’d be having tickle fights with myself if that were to happen.

Let’s hope there’s more of this in the tank for GB next week

Quotes to Note
Trestman:  “At the end of the game, they were 1 for 6 in the redzone, and certainly that was significant.  Our red zone defense really was excellent, we made them go the long hard way.  But we were able to make plays down there and hold them to 3 points.  And it was certainly significant, significant defense in the outcome of the game.”  Thanks for agreeing with me, coach.

Trestman on our piece-meal secondary:  “It’s a credit to the coaches…We went through this hole training camp saying we’re going to rotate guys around, that we had a plan, that we were going to work all these guys…And then (Ahmad “Rashad”) Dixon’s out there, and he’s been here about three days.  And he’s out there playing right at the ultimate moments of the game.  It’s just a credit to Mel (Tucker) and our staff.”  It is, and much improved from last year.  Thanks, Mr. Emery.

Yikes

“He Went To” Jared Allen: “Even though we got close towards the end, I thought we were in control most of the game.  We can’t have a penalty…we were going to put them in third and I think like nine, we gave them a penalty to extend the drive, and they get a TD from it.  We can’t do that…they caught us on a third down rush with a trap.  I think that was a big chunk of their rush yards.  But for the most part, we did a great job of shutting down the run on first and second down, and forcing the ball into Geno’s hand.  And really rushing him very effectively.”  I’ve liked this guy’s analysis every week so far.

Allen:  “This is a great win, especially going coast to coast.”  Giddey up!

Every time you eat a Peanut, an angel gets its wings

Supa Bow, Supa BEARS!

BEAR DOWN!

#BearsWinningWithDefense?

© 2014

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