| 06 December 2009
Whether or not that will happen remains to be seen, though I think it's doubtful given the history of this cheap ownership.
The Bears didn't run the ball well until late in the game, and Cutler didn't throw the ball well throughout much of the game. The only way to look at this game is, simple thank god it's over and thank god we didn't lose.
Now if I were going to find some bright spots in the game, the receivers continue to play well when given the chance. Earl Bennett with a decent day, Devin Hester again with a decent day. Kevin Shaffer played better at RT than Williams did and I think Williams (at least initially) looked better than Pace has at LT. I'm going to cue up the tape and really focus hard on Williams to see how he looked at LT today. Williams performing well at LT is of the utmost importance for the Bears.
On defense Jamar Williams played very well in place of Lance Briggs. Williams finished the day with 18 tackles, and usually when the coaches pop in the tape those totals go up. Either way 18 tackles is impressive in and of itself, you'd like to see Williams get more time at the WILL spot, but my guess is Briggs will be back next week. Williams has always looked like a natural WILL 'backer where ever he's played whether it be college or now in his fourth season in the NFL. He is exactly what you want in the Cover-2 scheme for a WILL.
Knowing this and seeing how well he played today it makes me even more comfortable in my idea to possibly trade Lance Briggs. Not saying that Williams will be the consistent All-Pro Briggs is, nor do I believe he'll have 18 tackles week in and week out, but I feel he could be good enough as a starter to justify trading Briggs. If you can get good value for Briggs and you have someone who is good enough (not great enough) to be a starter in his spot then you can make that trade and get back maybe a second rounder that you lost.
Disappointment category was not seeing Jarron Gilbert getting into the game today after he received an increase in practice reps today and was talked about as being ready to go. Hopefully that changes and we can see Gilbert getting some real playing time with four games left in the season.
Forte did have a pretty atypical Matt Forte 2008 type of rushing day. Keep in mind that Forte only had three games in which he ran for over 100-yards in 2008. Today Forte racked up 91 yards on 24 carries with most of his yards coming late in the game. The increased work load had nothing to do with Urlacher's comments this week. The Rams have given up nearly 150-yards rushing on a week to week basis on the season. That's how you game plan and attack a team's weakness and running the football was a good call today.
Overall the feeling is the Bears did just enough to win today, it was an ugly win, a win nonetheless so credit for that.
Still there are too many signs that the Bears are a bad football team a really bad football team. The defense is weak in all aspects and a really good QB would pick this team apart. Nothing changes these simple facts, the Bears get beat up at the POA and good QBs torch the Bears for big numbers. Kyle Boller is an awful QB, just like Derek Anderson and Brady Quinn were in the Browns game.
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