| 02 September 2009
Lots of hype surrounding this game and the crowd in Denver did it's best not to disappoint. I've never been to Mile High Stadium but I hear it's one of the most rowdy places to play football in the NFL. Plus people who have been there say that this game was like a rivalry game in December with the playoffs on the line. I suppose the Raiders may be the Broncos' most hated rival, so essentially the Bears were treated as such by the crowd.
In a way this game was very important to the Bears and Jay Cutler even though it was only a pre-season game. To that end it was a very hostile crowd that was in obvious mid-season form, it was nationally televised. Lastly it was the most important pre-season game because it was the game the starters were in on the most. So the best way to evaluate the starters and prepare them for week one is to get play them for more than a half in game three of the pre-season.
The Bears starters did just that and played well and up to expectations for the most part, and here is the film review to back it up.
The Broncos win the coin toss and elect to receive the kickoff, and starting out on offense.
Bears on defense first drive
The first play is a run that gets blown up right away. Tommie Harris gets great lateral movement down the line of scrimmage but instantly becomes a non-factor because he gets cut blocked on the play. The Broncos play this style consistently especially with big time DTs they face. This has been Denver's style for years. Cut block your man at the knees a lot more than any other team in the league.
Unfortunately for the Broncos Anthony Adams and Adewale Ogunleye both execute great containment moves. They both hold their ground well and separate from their blocks. The RB makes a quick juke outside where O-Gun sheds the block and easily makes the tackle for a loss. Great run defense by the Bears on this play, and it precisely shows why they are so good as a unit against the run. Add to it there was a holding call on the play which put them back another 10-yards.
Brian Urlacher was even good at the point of attack on this play, shedding the block of a lineman and putting himself in position to make a tackle had it been necessary.
From the shot gun Orton completes a short pass to the RB that goes for a pretty good gain. It's a well designed play in that one of the receivers runs a near pick move on the weak side LB immediately after the RB makes the catch. Tommie Harris double teamed on this play, not much of a pass rush from the rest of the line here. As a note getting pressure on the QB when in the shot gun is tough to do, especially if you don't get pressure up the middle and in his throwing lanes.
Another slight screen type of play from the Broncos that would have gained a first down were it not for the ineligible man down field call.
Good pass rush that flushes Orton out of the pocket he completes a quick underneath pass Bears tackle it immediately. Harris slowed by another double team block.
Another pass from the Broncos Orton with a wild throw that's nearly picked up off the ground by Urlacher. Harris slowed again by another initial double team. Pass rush was almost there from Adams' and O-Guns side of things. Pass rush was slow with Orton out of the shot gun and making his first throw on his first read.
Fourth Down
Bears on offense
The Bears start on their own 11-yard line and Jay Cutler is met with the biggest and loudest round of boos I have heard in all my years of watching NFL football. The crowd is deafening and they add to the volume by stomping which causes the camera to shake.
A little slip screen to Hester that is pretty well read by the Broncos. It's to the left side where Orlando Pace occupies ground, and Pace it is obvious can't get down field in a hurry anymore. The thought of a Chris Williams at LT and a Kevin Shaffer or Frank Omiyale at the RT spot right now seems more comforting than the old and big lumbering Pace. It is a gain of four on the play, but it just seems like it could have been better executed for more yards.
The next play is a run up the middle right at the strength of the Broncos' five man 3-4 defensive front. I say strength because they ran it at the NT. He is double teamed on the play and Pace gets a pretty good block and the Bears get good yards off of the Kreutz Omiyale double team. Just short of a first down on the play.
Third and one is a bad play call, the Bears should have easily punched it forward with a run for the first down. Cutler is frustrated but upon further review you can see why he's frustrated. Desmond Clark gets mugged coming off the line of scrimmage and is the victim of at least illegal contact throughout the entire scope of his route. Should have been a flag here and he nearly makes the catch anyway. Bears with a three and out to start.
Bears on defense for the second time
Broncos come with four WRs on first down with Orton in the shot gun. Orton makes one step and a throw, Bears with decent blitz call here, no real pressure because of the one step and fire call on the route. Good coverage here but it's a bad throw by Orton.
Out of the shot gun Orton flips a pitch to Buckhalter who has a lead pull block from the guard. Urlacher would have been there to make the tackle with his speed, but the guard cut blocks him once again. It's a good strategy of blocking to get yards and make up for a slow guard who may otherwise struggle getting to the second level. He can simply dive at the LB instead of having to literally square up and make a real block. Trumaine McBride missed the initial tackle so the play could have been stopped quicker. Tommie Harris nearly illegally chop blocked on the play as he was arguably still engaged as he was laterally pursuing down the line and then cut yet again by the guard. Kevin Payne with the tackle on the play.
It's almost sickening how much the Broncos cut block instead of squaring up man on man helmet on helmet. It's within the rules and it works well for them, but to me it's simply a chicken shit way to block.
Urlacher with a hell of a play on the next run that keeps the runner from getting the first down. He pursues and hits strongly at the point of attack on the guard and gets off the block and makes a below the waste tackle. He gets what appears to be a little help from Tiniosamoa, but the play is all Urlacher. So far Urlacher has made plays and pursuit that make him look like the Urlacher of old. He's even sticking his head into the blockers to make pays and is showing a better level of confidence attacking the ball carrier. I'll keep an eye on him a lot more as the game wears on, but nothing but props for Urlacher and his desire to make a play, even in the pre-season.
Oh and by the way, Tommie Harris is cut block again.
Bears back on offense
Starting from their own two-yard line with a hand off to Forte. A good blocking play by everyone against the five man front gets Forte some yards. Breathing room here is quite nice and it's good to see the Bears attack the 3-4 defense.
The next play is the pass play where Cutler is almost sacked in the end zone. Dummervil blows past Pace without much effort. He beats him with an easy speed rush off the edge and Pace has no answer for it. On the very next play Chris Williams gets beaten on a stunt play to his inside. He sets himself to block the outside rusher who twists back in and the inside rusher does a quick stunt to Williams' inside shoulder and beats him. This is a rookie mistake and can easily be corrected in the film session. Scary to see? Yes, but an easily correctable mistake, no worries here.
Another three and out by the Bears with a scary punt from your own end-zone.
Bears on defense
Go figure, the first play Tommie Harris isn't cut block on he gets great lateral pursuit down the line and makes a tackle that's just ahead of the line of scrimmage. The credit for the tackle may be given to O-Gun here, but Tommie should get credit for every bit of the tackle as well. O-Gun slowed Buckhalter's momentum, but Harris is the one who takes him down. Good pursuit here to make this play. These are the simple plays that Tommie Harris can make and show he is still effective. Dominant? Perhaps not, good and at times effective and still with an ability to make others around him productive I could argue yes.
Max pass protection by the Broncos here, Bears in a zone, Orton finds the soft spot on the zone and makes a good throw for the first down. Nearly every player on the Bears' line was double teamed on this play or was occupied by two blockers at one point. Trumaine McBride with a missed tackle on Eddie Royal, the completion was good enough for the first down, but Royal gets good YAC because of McBride's missed tackle. Tiniosamoa with really fast pursuit down the field to make the tackle from behind. Good effort by Pisa here.
Next play is a run out of the shot gun with a lot of double team blocks at the point of attack. Urlacher attacks the point well, and the rest of the D-Line just makes a mismosh of shit out of the play. Everything is clogged up well gap and hole wise so the back side pursuit gets there to make the tackle.
Broncos out of the shot gun, no back an obvious pass situation. Broncos try to get cute underneath and Tiniosamoa makes his second consecutive tackle. A solid tackle against Royal that keeps him from getting a first down. Good open field tackle here good defense by the Bears. Tommie Harris again double teamed and the quick stunt that he and Alex Brown run, gets almost enough pressure on Orton, but Orton makes the quick read and throw.
Orton with a quick fade into the end zone which is well covered on third and four. Yes the ball is overthrown by Orton but the coverage was there regardless and had the ball been in position a play on the ball would have been made. McBride on the coverage on this play here, he played aggressively towards the back corner of the end zone and used the side line as his back up. He trusted his awareness of where the OOB line was and where he needed to be to make a play. Good defense by McBride here, even though it looks like he was twisted around on the play you can see where he made the right judgment on the play.
Bears hold on defense forcing a field goal, good red zone defense here by the Bears.
Bears on offense
Cutler with some slight play action motion from a three man WR set, hits Forte out of the back field. Pass protection was great on this play, it looked like Cutler's first read was to the left to the far outside WR, but he was very lax in getting into his route, he seemed to be jogging. Not sure who the WR was he was to far to get a good view on.
Forte again against the five man two ILB set of the 3-4 defense, Bears with a two TE set that decimates the Broncos' front and Forte gets good yards. Gain of seven on the run and a first down. Olsen lines up like a FB goes in motion into the slot and Cutler nails him for a first down. This is why I love the versatility of the twin TE set with Olsen and Clark.
Garza struggles on his run block here and Forte is hit after a gain of only two. It was an interesting drive move to the inside and Garza just looked off balance on the play. Chris Williams was stood up pretty good too on this play, which the Broncos seemed to hold up well on.
Hester is left open off the line (CB blitz) and Cutler hits him quickly, Hester slips on the grass loses his balance and is just short of a first down. It was a dead giveaway by the CB that he was going to blitz, all his focus was on Cutler rather than the receiver. The realization by Hester and the communication by Cutler and Hester makes this play possible as the completion is there. Makes you wonder how many YAC Hester would have had, had he not slipped so easily.
Love the very next play with the Bears lining up on third and one here as if they're going all out run to get the first down. Play action and a roll out by Cutler is superb and Desmond Clark is wide open for a big gain simply because no one expected a roll out followed by the TE being open. It's a real positive sign that Ron Turner is so eager to include both Clark and Olsen in his passing attack. If Clark slows down over the coming couple of years, I am all in favor of the Bears finding a replacement who is up to his level whether it's a young TE in the draft or a free agent. I'll have more of my thought on the two TE set later in another blog.
Half back pass that Forte just throws away. Silly looking play but whatever it's the pre-season. A run by Forte gets blown up it looks like Omiyale missed a block, I can't honestly tell though because they came back so slow from the replay of Forte throwing the ball away. Curious call on the half back pass, pre-season, but don't make this type of silly call in the regular season when you need to score.
Only a three man rush on the third and nine call, the Broncos get pressure again from Orlando Pace's side. Not exactly comfortable with Pace getting beat by a speed rusher so easily in this game. Not only was Pace unable to get ahold of Dummervil, he had a scrape block for help and was still unable to slow him from getting a shot on Cutler. We shall see though as things go on this season. None of what I have seen in this game looks promising from Pace's side of the field. I hope the Rams didn't know something the Bears didn't, that would not be good for the offense especially in this division and with the home opener against Pittsburgh.
Robbie Gould field goal is good Bears tie it at three.
Nearly the second quarter as the Bears will be back on defense.
Second quarter and likely more to come later today...
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