Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Da Bears: Validity of Legitimacy

Da Bears have validation, sort of. Their defense certainly proved that it can contain one of, if not the most explosive player in football in Michael Vick. And I couldn’t be happier about it. Vick was all anybody talked about on television and radio starting on the Monday Night game when he posted video game stats against the Redskins. The MNF crew refused to get off his genitals and it turned out to be just another Monday Night game that I had to turn off because of the excrement spewing from their suck-holes. Da Bears holding off Vick and his posse of speed made it that much sweeter, but I digress.

The Cover 2 base that Da Bears use works best when the line gets penetration into the backfield and that’s what took place pretty much the whole afternoon. The rotating tackles did a great job caving the pocket and making Vick feel uncomfortable, yet not flushing him out of the pocket where he can also be dangerous. Each of the starting four linemen had at least half a sack. Tommie Harris created the turning point in the game when he put a paw on Vick’s pass in the red zone, which was picked-off by yet another Harris, Chris Harris. On Da Bears’ ensuing drive after Harris tipped it to Harris and Harris returned it to the 37, they drove down the field methodically. Cutler hit Knox for a nice gain and then Bennett for a 30 yard gain to make it the third 30+ yard play in the first half. The drive ended when Cutler did a great job freezing the safety by looking to the left of the field and then firing the ball to Bennett on an out-route to the right for a six yard touchdown pass. Folks, that’s a 14-point swing! That’s a huge difference from looking at going down six with under two minutes left in the half to being up by eight going into the third quarter.

The defense continued to get pressure from the front four, which of course helped the secondary. They did a tremendous job tackling. There wasn’t much miss-tackling going on and not much yards after the catch either. The defense wasn’t exactly perfect, 26 points against is a clear indication of imperfection. In fact, on two separate occasions, Vick overthrew a wide-open Brent Celek. Of course he finally connected with Celek in the end zone when he threw it 30 yards downfield through a space the size of a sheet of paper on 4th and 9 between three Bears defenders. But it was too little too late by then.

I’m surprised I haven’t heard Lovie say “We get off the bus running,” in his Southern drawl since that’s basically what they did in the month of November. Their run-to-pass ratio greatly increased. And guess what else? They went from being the second-to-worst in converting third downs to being the third best in the month of November as well. OMFG! I never thought I’d see the day, but somebody must have put OC Mike Martz in a sleeper-hold and made him run the ball more and make less 7-step drop play calls. AND IT’S WORKING. Da Bears shred a very good Eagles defense. They even dominated the time of possession in the third quarter with a 10:05 drive that resulted in a Gould field goal. Granted, the Eagles’ best player on that side of the ball, Asante Samuel, was on the injured list as well as their other starting cornerback, but Da Bears got the job done nonetheless. That’s all you can really ask of them. Well I suppose you could ask them to not get Cutler sacked four times in the first half, but he was only sacked once in the second half, which is nice.

Da Bears have been using the greatest show on bad turf to their advantage. There were two obvious plays where the field benefited the home team: the Urlacher sack when he also punched the ball out of Vick’s hands, but was recovered by the Eagles’ Anthony Adams and the Knox touchdown when the cornerback lost his footing near the goal line that left Johnny wide open at the near corner of the endzone. I’m glad the turf has become an advantage for Da Bears, but I hope it doesn’t lend reason for a player injury. The turf has been bad for years yet the park district continues to allow it to be a venue for concerts and soccer games amongst other events. The high school Prep Bowl game was even played on that very field the day before. THE DAY BEFORE! Yet other parks in Chicago have artificial surfaces for flag football! WHAT?!? Look, I like the grass too, but there are other options besides the slop that they play on now.

The bottom line is, this is a bottom line business and Da Bears are atop the North Division in the NFC at 8-3. I never thought that they would be at this point, but they are. They have proven their legitimacy in this glob of parity known as the NFL. Do I still have my doubts about Da Bears? Certainly. Do they have a shot at making the playoffs and making a run to the Super Bowl? Of course, but winning that Super Bowl….I still think it’s improbable. Go Bears.

PREACH

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