Ask the Experts: Midway Illustrated Talks Bears to Seahawk Addicts

In the second part of the series I take on questions from the bloggers over at Seahawk Addicts about our Chicago Bears.  It should be an interesting game this weekend as we find out if the Bears can get Matt Forte on track and get a good pass rush going against a Seahawks offense that has only allowed one sack to start the season.  Feel free to comment on the analysis or add in any questions of your own if you're reading this portion from Seahawk Addicts.

Jay Cutler is the Bears quarterback now, a substantial upgrade from Ol' Neckbeard Orton and Not-so-sexy Rexy. How do you game-plan against Cutler?

The best way to game-plan against Cutler is to blitz him a whole hell of a lot from all sorts of angles and with any number of looks.  Bump the receivers at the line as much as possible, do what ever you can to be physical with the receivers within reason and do it.  The Bears currently don't have one big receiver who can handle the bump and run very well.  If you throw off the timing of the receivers in the short passing game and attack Cutler with the blitz you'll pretty much be able to stop this offense. A double team on Greg Olsen is the way to go too.   Right now the offensive line has yet to prove itself in run blocking and until they do a simple eight man front should keep Forte in check. 

The Steelers weren't as aggressive with their blitzing as the Packers were, they also didn't bring a lot of different looks as the Packers did.  The Packers frustrated Cutler and the receivers and Olsen all night long, the Steelers played too much zone and Cutler picked them apart as a result.

After two games I'd give them a 6.5, Johnny Knox has been a solid addition with not only his speed, but he's able to use his speed to capitalize on getting open.   A lot of receivers are fast, but can't get open or make plays on the ball, Knox does all of these things and his speed is a distinct advantage given he ran one of the fastest 40-yard dash times at the NFL combine.  Through two games Knox is our number one receiver and is fifteenth in the NFL in production.  Combined with the threat of TE Greg Olsen and the continuing progression of Devin Hester, the Bears are a threat in the passing game.  Cutler has played the last six quarters of football, at a Pro-Bowl QB level and right now he is only getting better after he had three INTs in the opening half at Green Bay.   You could argue for a higher rating given just how good the receivers played against the Pittsburgh Steelers, but it's only two games worth of production, so I'll hold off on any more than average. 

The only other real additions were Orlando Pace and SAM 'backer Pisa Tiniosamoa via free agency.  Pace is aging and isn't play at the high level he once was, Tiniosamoa was injured on the first play of the first game against the Packers and hasn't been back since.  What we saw of him in hte pre-season says he should be an upgrade to the defense if  he comes back healthy. 

Losses would be John Tait and Mike Brown being the most notable losses.  Tait to retirement and Brown they cut after his annual injury problems.  Ironically a fair argument can be made that rookie Al Afalava plays at the same level of intensity and plays as well in run support as Mike Brown and that second year man Chris Williams is a younger more athletic upgrade over Tait. 

Arguably the biggest free agency acquisition may have been assistant head coach and D-Line coach Rod Marinelli from the Lions.  Some coaches in this league are better sergeants than they are generals and that is certainly the case with Marinelli as he is the back bone coach of this staff much like an NCO is the back bone of the Marines.  Marinelli has  improved the play of the defensive line already a level of effort and intensity that wasn't there last year is back.  Adewale Ogunleye had two sacks in the first game against the Packers, and not to be out done, Alex Brown had two sacks and four tackles for a loss in the game against the Steelers.  If the defensive line continues to get production from the front four the Bears will be in position to win a lot of football games this year. 

Finally someone other than the screw ball media types and some panicky Chicago Bears fans point out the fact that Matt Forte has faced some decent run defenses to start the season. 

I think the expectation level in Chicago is that Forte is going to be the next Adrian Peterson or is arguably better than Peterson.  Far from it, while Forte is good, Peterson is quietly redefining the position on his way to what could be a hall of fame career where he breaks a lot of records if he stays healthy. 

It's been a combination of good rush defense and teams keying on Forte until the Bears can prove they can win with other than Forte being productive on offense, and poor run blocking.  Frank Omiyale is a converted offensive tackle who the Bears paid a shit load of money up front to come in and convert to guard (a position he's never played) and be successful at developing at guard and then playing at a high level.  None of those things have happened as of yet. 

Forte is healthy and is still dangerous and if the Bears see something on tape in the 49ers game with how Frank Gore ran, then I suspect the Bears will try to get Forte on track this weekend, simply to shut every one up who is already pounding on the panic button.  If Omiyale's play doesn't step up as the season progresses then I easily see Forte's production from last year slipping based on the simple fact that he only average 3.9 yards per carry last year but was also in the top five in the league for most carries on the season. 

He'll get less carries based simply on the arrival of Cutler because the Bears finally have a QB they can trust to make plays they otherwise may have decided to be conservative on.  If I had to guess though this will likely be the weekend Forte goes for 100-yards given the game will be on fast field turf and against a defense that's not as strong as the Steelers. 

What I have seen from the defense to this point indicates they are better now than they have been the previous two seasons when they were pretty bad.  My guess on the defense is that they will finish somewhere in the middle of the pack production wise this year.  The pass defense will be improved but the run defense will fall out of the top five in the league without Urlacher around.  In my opinion Hunter Hillenmeyer is a major drop off from Brian Urlacher, like Grand Canyon cliff level drop off, not only because Urlacher is a Pro Bowl player, but because Hillenmeyer likely doesn't belong on an NFL roster.  If I were the Seahawks I would run directly at Hillenmeyer and Tommie Harris the whole game until they prove they can step up and make plays.  

I wouldn't be scared, but I would still respect the fact that there is a lot of talent left on this defense that can still play at a high level from a week to week basis. 

The Bears don't typically like to blitz a lot but they blitzed more than any other team in the NFL last year.  They typically want to get pressure from their front four and to this point have done that very well.  Adewale Ogunleye two sacks against Green Bay, Alex Brown two sacks against the Steelers.  The best  pure pass rusher on the team is probably Mark Anderson, but the most underrated player on the team that can often get into the backfield and cause problems is Alex Brown.  Brown was among the top-five players in the league last year when tackles for a loss were combined with sacks.  Brown I could argue is probably the best run defending defensive end in the league. 

The Bears though are not afraid to bring a safety or a corner on a blitz in any situation.  So they can be creative when blitzing just to keep offenses on their toes. 

The most overrated player on the Bears team right now is Tommie Harris.  Harris still gets respect around the league as a top notch defensive tackle, but he is only a shadow of  his former self.  Harris can still be productive and disruptive, but can't be counted on to be out there over the course of an entire game, much less an entire season.  If I were the Seahawks I'd single block Tommie Harris and double team one of the DEs, because the DEs to this point have proven to be a bigger threat than Harris has. 

Underrated would probably be sixth round draft pick, and first year safety Al Afalava who is a great tackler for a safety and is only beginning to get comfortable in the defense.  Afalava has stepped up and become an unexpected starter at a position of weakness and is helping to balance out the weakness with his play.  If Afalava runs through the rookie wall and continues to develop he may wind up in the Pro Bowl in the next three years.