Chicago Bears: Up In Smoke...And Mirrors

It's been a rough month for Da Bears and their fans. Realistically, they were looking at a possible 11-5 season. Now, the best they can do is 8-8. They're not mathematically out of the playoffs as they still have a 2% chance, but it's over.

After the 38-14 loss to the Seahawks Sunday, I was surprised to see all of the "O boy, seasons over. Pack it up, go home, see you in 2012, on to the Bulls and Blackhawks" on social media networks. This is probably because I started packing it up after the loss to the Tyler Palko-led Chiefs. There's really no hope left after that, folks.

Should they have put themselves in position to win three of their last four games and make a playoff appearance with Forte and a rusty Cutler coming back, it would have been gravy for me. But with the declining play of the defense and that Hanie guy under center, as a realist, I packed it in weeks ago.

I guess most fan don't give up on their team until they're mathematically—or near mathmatically—eliminated, so if you want to blast me for my honesty regarding my Bears loyalty, you can find me on twitter or call the radio show on Mondays. Information is below, bring it. Or just leave your comments below, but I digress.

Da Bears were able to win seven of their first ten games with smoke and mirrors. I wrote in an earlier post that Jay Cutler makes his receivers better and he make the o-line LOOK better. The low-talent team that Jerry Angelo assembled has been EXPOSED with the injury to a single player. The injury came to the single most important position in sports, but you have to have better options than Caleb Hanie, Josh McCown and rookie Nathan Enderle.

Hey Jerry, the back up positions matter too. I know that's hard to believe since you struggle to grasp the concept that all of the starting positions actually matter.

This is why I've been pining for losing seasons from Da Bears for the last two season (see my posts on chicagosportsfix.blogspot.com). It's a BIG PICTURE dream. I want the McCaskey Crew to clean house. George McCaskey took over as the new Chairman on May 15th of this year. He's been quiet thus far, as well he should have been, but now is the time to take action, Georgie-boy.

It starts at the top. Team President Ted Phillips is a glorified accountant. He's made Da Bears organization a LOT of money during his tenure with Da Bears, which is a vital part of his job; however, in the NFL, bringing championships to the city is JUST as important as bringing bags of cash to the owners. George emphasized the importance of winning a Super Bowl for Chicago back in May. We'll see just how serious he was.

It starts with Phillips because he's the one who hired Angelo. Angelo, in turn, has not put together a team that can win the Super Bowl. Getting to the Super Bowl and WINNING the Super Bowl are two different things, people. And the window of chance to winning a championship is rapidly closing.

QB Jay Cutler will be a year older and he'll more than likely have to learn a new offense. A much less voluminous and dense playbook will be mailed to him this offseason since OC Mike Martz will be shown the door—much to his own volition. Articles were being written about the aging defense before this season started, so I expect more a groundswell there in 2012.

As much I like Lovie Smith as the head coach, if he has to be the undeserving casualty in that situation, then so be it. There are competent coaches in studios and press boxes every Sunday that have the ability to do the job just as well, if not better than Lovie.

This is a bottom line business.

The bottom line is winning the Super Bowl. The Phillips regime hasn't been able to get it done, so they ALL MUST GO.

Tune in to Chicago Sports Fix with Josh Catlow and me, Rob Zielinski, when we come back from break on Monday January 9th from 6 to 8pm only on Chicagoland Sports Radio. 

Share your thoughts with us by calling 312.564.7375 during show hours or email us at chicagosportsfix@gmail.com. 

Adam Oestmann, Managing Editor for Chicago Bears Huddle, will be joining us in the first hour. 

The Daily Herald's Barry Rozner, who also hosts WSCR 670-AM The Score's venerable baseball program Hit & Run, will be joining us any Monday now to TALK MORE HOCKEY! 

Follow me on Twitter: @robzielinski 

PREACH

Da Chicago Bears Were Sunday's Punch Line

What has 106 legs and can't beat the lowly Kansas City Chiefs? Da Chicago Bears.

Lame joke –I know –but so was the overall effort and execution from Da Bears on Sunday. Even with Caleb Hanie under center, it was THE last write-in win for the season –in my humble opinion –and they lost. They lost at Soldier Field to a team who had not scored a touchdown in their last 31 possessions , before scoring one on a "Hail Mary" to end the second half, led by Tyler "Every ball I throw has a hump" Palko.

To get to the other side.

Hanie had himself a day. A very BAD day. Again. It was hard, but he found a way to do it: Caleb Hanie regressed. Are you familiar with the term "O-for"? Well, Captain Caleb led his crew to a flawless 0-11 on third down conversions. That's a spotless 0% for the folks keeping track at home. By the numbers, Hanie was 11-24 for 133 pitiful yards, along with three picks for an abysmal 23.8 quarterback rating.

After you take a big Caleb, be sure to wipe your Hanie.

Okay, Hanie was truly only responsible for one of his three interceptions when he under-threw Johnny Knox on a deep pass. Granted, Knox didn't do him any favors by not becoming a defender on a pass he knew he wasn't going to catch, but what else do you expect from a guy who has trouble keeping his feet and is constantly rounding and breaking off his routes? As far as the other INT's go, one was on a –well it wasn't quite a "Hail Mary" so we'll call it a "Glory Be" –to end the game. The other was when Da Bears' "number one receiver" Roy Williams dropped a potential "big brown thing" touchdown pass that was bobbled by a few defenders before being snatched for a turnover.
Lovie on the Williams drop: “Next time he'll make that play.” Um, Lovie, it's too late for that. You shouldn't have let Martz convince Jerry Angelo that Williams should be on your team.

That's what she said.

The offensive line wasn't exactly stellar either. Hanie was consistently under duress. The combination of the pressure the o-line was allowing the Chiefs to bring and Hanie holding on to the ball too long while utilizing his only move in scrambling to his right was, well, a joke. Kansas City had 13 sacks on the season before coming in to Chicago. They left with 20. To top it off, a missed block possibly led to the injury of the only hope they had left on offense –Matt Forte.

Rectum?! Damn near killed him!

Forte has a sprained MCL and he'll be out for 2-6 weeks. A sprain is a tear for those of you who like to play doctor at home. I feel bad for Forte. I really do. There's not that many teams who like to hand out $17M guaranteed contracts to fifth-year running backs with knees troubles. That $14M guaranteed he passed on this year probably sounds pretty good right about now. He's been very professional in his desire for a contract extension from Da Bears and even a cynic like me can feel his pain. But he took that risk. I just hope it doesn't severely hurt his livelihood.

This, again, all falls on GM Jerry Angelo and the low talent level of Da Bears team that he has assembled. You take away TWO players on this offense and they can't even play with an injury-plagued Chiefs team. I know they were their two most talented players, but that's not an excuse to lose at home to Shane Falco, I mean, Tyler Palko.

I am serious, and don't call me Shirley!

But it does show us that Jay Cutler truly is a franchise quarterback and just how well he was playing before his thumb injury. He is phenomenal at alluding pressure by sliding or stepping up in the pocket. Do you have your notebook, Caleb? The Chiefs may have only had three sacks instead of the seven had Jay been the one escaping Mr. Houston –a bum who was on his way back to the Chiefs' practice squad before Sunday happened –and his three sacks. Cutler makes the receivers better and makes the o-line LOOK better.

So I've got that going for me, which is nice.

I was, again, foolishly expecting points from the special teams and/or defense. But Da Bears were out-Bear'd for a second week in a row. Devin Hester wasn't much of a factor. Has Dave Toub been telling him to actually catch the ball when he signals for a fair catch instead of letting it bounce and get downed inside the five and Devin has just been ignoring him? Probably. And the defense lost the turnover battle, again. (I'm starting to sound like Forrest Gump "And I went to see the Pres-i-dent of the U-nited States, a-Gain".)

Not only that, but before Palko lofted a pass to the end zone that fell into the arms of Dexter McCluster for their lone touchdown, that stout Bears defense allow him to conduct a 15 yard drive and score on the sixteenth. They gave up three third down conversions and a fourth down conversion on that possession. Tim Jennings dropped yet another interception that would have prevented the Chiefs' chance at a Hail Mary. (After every practice, the coaching staff needs to get out the JUGS machine and fire footballs at Jennings for 30 minutes to improve his hands. Then on the last one, hold his arms down for a free shot downstairs in the ol' engine room and let him know what it feels like to watch him give up take-aways every week.)

Everybody gets a clown nose.

THEN Palko drove down the field for another 15 plays, which led to a field goal in the third quarter. Ball game. Typical Bears defense as far as the bend but don't break goes, but it does them no good when they don't create enough turnovers. Keep in mind that this all happened AFTER Palko was yanked from the game by Todd Haley for Kyle "Neck-beard" Orton for his now infamous $2.5M snap.

Why the long face?

By the way, on the Hail Mary pass, sure it was a fluke for the Chiefs, but it was poor execution on the part of the Bears' defense too. Urlacher had the right idea by attempting to catch the ball at the highest point. But lurking behind him was Chris Conte who made a big no-no by swatting the ball back into the field of play. Knock it DOWN, not knock it back in, Chris. Then Craig Steltz was late on the play and didn't box-out McCluster. It was a stroke of luck, but Da Bears didn't have to stack the deck for them either.

The 10 points the Chiefs scored was the most points they've scored in five weeks. The three points Da Bears scored was the least amount of points they've scored in five weeks.

Bears fans, it's time to PANIC!

Orange ya glad I didn't say banana?

Tune in to Chicago Sports Fix with Josh Catlow and me, Rob Zielinski, this and every Monday from 6 to 8pm only on Chicagoland Sports Radio.

Share your thoughts with us by calling 312.564.7375 during show hours or email us at chicagosportsfix@gmail.com.

Adam Oestmann, Managing Editor for Chicago Bears Huddle, will be joining us in the first hour.
The Daily Herald's Barry Rozner, who also hosts WSCR 670-AM The Score's venerable baseball program Hit & Run, will be joining us any Monday now to TALK MORE HOCKEY!

Follow me on Twitter: @robzielinski

PREACH

Da Chicago Bears Got Out-Bear'd

Da Bears lost at the Black Hole on Sunday. They lost 25-20 to the Raiders mainly because the new starting quarterback Caleb Hanie was bad. His performance wasn't a complete abomination, but he was bad nonetheless. I heard this on the radio and in the office "I thought he did pretty good." That's because you don't know NFL football. He was bad.

Da Bears were out-Bear'd. They lost the turnover battle. The lost it because they didn't create enough turnovers on defense. And because -- you guessed it -- Caleb Hanie was bad.

However, Hanie's being bad was a good kind of bad -- if at all possible --. He was bad due to his inexperience. Before Sunday, Hanie only had 14 snaps under his belt in regular season games. He was amped for his first regular season start. Too amped, like a six year old meeting The Wiggles AFTER a trip to the candy store. Being that amped leads to poor decision making. And that's what happened on Hanie's first two interceptions.

After a play fake, Hanie rolled to the right as he was flushed out of the pocket and instead of throwing the ball out of bounds while under pressure, he did the ONE thing you cannot do -- he forced the issue and threw the ball into coverage. That's inexperience at its best -- or would that be worst? But I digress.

As if Hanie's bad play needed any help being even more bad, he got bad help from an inexcusable play call. There was 35 seconds left in the first half, second and short on the Oakland 7, and OC Mike Martz decided he wanted to get cute and call a back-screen instead of shoving it down the Raiders' proverbial throat. This back-screen was the one Martz called in the season opener. You know, the one where Cutler couldn't complete the pass. But here Martz asked his inexperienced QB to make the same play. Aaron Curry remembered that play call too because the linebackers sniffed it out and switched before the snap! Granted, Hanie should have thrown the ball into the turf, but Martz still cannot learn from his mistakes and refuses to put his players in a position to succeed.

But at least it led to one of the coolest plays of the year with big Lance Louis rumbling 80 yards downfield to make a "horse collar" tackle and save a touchdown. Hustle baby. Good old fashioned huffin- and puffin' tacklin' then collapsin' and air suckin' HUSTLE.

By the way, Martz is reportedly interested in the Arizona State head coach vacancy. I'd happily miss a relative's wedding to drive him to the airport and help him unpack to make sure he stays out of Chicago. Who could replace him? Anybody without a throbbing ego, but Mike Tice is a good in-house option too.

Hanie's second half was better, not much better, but still better. It couldn't get much worse so let me wrap up Hanie's first half with this 7-15 for 72 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions for a QB rating of -- are you ready? 43.6.

Da Bears lost the special teams battle. Da Bears got out-Bear'd, again. Gould and Podlesh were good. Knox's kick-returns were good (he had enough chances). But Oakland's punt coverage along with Janikowski and Lechler were downright outstanding.

Dynamic Devin Hester became Humbled Hester after he returned two punts for a total of seven yards.
Janikowski went 6-6 in field goal attempts hitting them from 40, 47, 42, 19, 37, and 44. Recap: that's four FG good from 40 or beyond. Polish stud.

Lechler averaged 49.2 net yards per punt. He booted an 80 yard BOMB sending Hester into a Willie Mays style turn and sprint, only he didn't have a chance at catching the ball. It went into the end-zone for a touchback and he still netted 60 yards. Coolest. Punt. Ever. Lechler had himself a day pinning Da Bears back deep with directional punts, as well.

Da Bears average starting field position was their own 20. The Raiders average starting field position was their own 40. Just Da Bears being out-Bear'd. Tough to win a road game with an inexperienced QB like that.

The defense did a nice job holding Oakland to all those field goals given their average starting field position, especially when they held the Raiders to a FG when they started at the Chicago six yard line after the Martz/Hanie mishap.

Raiders RB Michael Bush has been shredding NFL defenses since McFadden went down with an injury, but not Sunday. He was held to a meager 69 yards on 24 touches. So that's a plus. He wouldn't be denied the goal line from three yards out or on fourth and one, though. Minuses.

Da Bears learned a few things about themselves along the way:

Conte still likes to take bad angles to the ball and uncontrollably over-run a play.
When Peppers is being neutralized with chip blocks and double teams, nobody else on the front four can step up -- where was that first half pass rush in the second half?

Meriwether CAN make a football play that doesn't involve launching himself as a human torpedo.

Tillman is NOT a pro-bowl cornerback.

Jennings is tough, but he's susceptible to the double-move.

Major Wright is progressing nicely as an NFL safety.

The Raiders had three third down conversions. They all came on that last 74 yard drive for a touchdown. The defense was good, but you have to play all 60 minutes to be great.

You can't win games as Da Bears if you keep getting out-Bear'd.

Tune in to Chicago Sports Fix with Josh Catlow and me, Rob Zielinski, this and every Monday from 6 to 8pm only on Chicagoland Sports Radio.

Share your thoughts with us by calling 312.564.7375 during show hours or email us at chicagosportsfix@gmail.com.

Adam Oestmann, Managing Editor for Chicago Bears Huddle, will be joining us in the first hour.

The Daily Herald's Barry Rozner, who also hosts WSCR 670-AMThe Score's venerable baseball program Hit & Run, will be joining us any Monday now to TALK MORE HOCKEY!

Follow me on Twitter: @robzielinski

PREACH

Strange Days Have Found The Chicago Bears

It turned out to be a bitter-sweet 31-20 victory for da Bears over the reeling San Diego Chargers on Sunday.

They added one to the win column, but franchise quarterback--and that's exactly what he played like in the second half--Jay Cutler has a fractured thumb and will undergo surgery on Wednesday.
It was a strange game all around. There was no pressure on Chargers' QB Philip Rivers, Matt Forte couldn't get the run game going, and the defense had a tough time for a while until they made a few key plays in the second half.

How's this for strange...it was Jay Cutler and--I'm going to regret saying this and soon, I bet--Mad Mike Martz who carried da Bears on Sunday. (Big-ups to Adam Podlesh the special teams who were able to flip the field and provide good field position after da Bears were losing that battle early). Cutler was so good that there were a few Roy Williams sightings--no that wasn't a typographical error. In the third quarter, Cutler hit Williams for 11, 12 and 11--all on consecutive plays. Apparently, Williams sold his soul to the devil for a pair of new hands after a few early drops. Uncouth.

Even Johnny Knox stopped playing like Johnny Knoxville. He was running good double-move routes, getting open and adjusting to the ball like, well, like an actual NFL wideout. Look for Knox to be more involved in the coming weeks. Bizarre.

After Charles Tillman pretty much had the game of his life shutting down Megatron, he had a bad game on Sunday. He was unable to contain Vincent Jackson, who went for seven receptions on nine targets for 165 yards and a tuddy. Considering V-Jax is a good receiver, he isn't elite like Calvin Johnson is, so it was exasperating to watch Peanut get burned time after time. Odd.

Tillman did, however, make an amazing play when he punched the ball away from the Bolts' RB Ryan Mathews that led to a 24 yard touchdown pass to Knox. Cutler made a ridiculous throw on the run and Knox made an absurd catch in the back of the endzone by making sure he had two feet in after a nice adjustment to the ball. Since Tillman came into the league he is the best at creating a turnover as he has recorded 27 forced fumbled in his career.

Besides just having an overall bad game, Tillman didn't get ANY help from the front four. Da Bears have been mixing it up in recent weeks and playing a lot more "press" and man-free coverage. Life is a lot easier on your cornerbacks when the opposing quarterback has large, angry men trying to make Rivers-shaped indentations in the turf. Seems like that effort just wasn't there since Red-butt Rivers was only hit once and wasn't sacked at all.

Paging Mr. Peppers and his staff, where are you? Silence. The d-line should have had a day against a depleted San Diego o-line. Instead, they turtled and left it up to the other seven to stop the Bolts. Curious.

I haven't mentioned Matt Forte yet--until now--because I didn't want to. Here's why...59 yards on 21 carries for an 2.8 average. Puke. Abnormal. And just plain bad, especially for a guy pining for more guaranteed money and who has already surpassed the average shelf life for a running back in the NFL.

Da Bears will have to go AT LEAST 3-3 in the remaining six games on their schedule to make the playoffs. This will have to happen with back up quarterback Caleb Hanie under center. They don't know what they have in Hanie yet. And Martz wanted no part of the Hanie-experiment as he had him demoted to third string QB in training camp behind Nathan Enderle. Hanie doesn't have Cutler's hair-trigger release or arm strength, but he is athletic and he likes to move out of the pocket.
The biggest concern for Hanie will be his recognition at the line of scrimmage and how well will he make his progressions once the receivers run their routes.

Cutler is out for at least five weeks, but don't fret. Da Bears are well-coached and unlike most teams, they can play well in all three phases of the game. They have an advantage on most teams when it comes to defense and they definitely have the special teams advantage against the soft-schedule teams remaining in the regular season and it's not crazy to think they can take four of the last six.

With those favorable match ups, consider this...Carson Palmer may have a slight edge over Hanie. But I'll take Caleb over Tyler Palko, Tim Tebow, Tavaris Jackson and Christian Ponder. The Packers may be 14-0 when da Bears face them, which could mean it's Matt Flynn time to not risk an Aaron Rodgers injury. I'll take Hanie there too. Again, here's why...

Hanie has been carrying a clipboard with da Bears for four years, which means he's been around the two years Martz has been in Chicago. He knows the offense. He prepares for every game as if he were going to start every week and he'll be watching tape even more closely because he actually IS starting for at least the next five weeks. And most of all, because Caleb wants this. He wants to shine in the spotlight. He wants to lead da Bears to the playoffs.

He wants to win.


Tune in to Chicago Sports Fix with Josh Catlow and me, Rob Zielinski, this and every Monday from 6 to 8pm only onChicagoland Sports Radio.

Share your thoughts with us by calling 312.564.7375 during show hours or email us at chicagosportsfix@gmail.com.

Adam Oestmann, Managing Editor for Chicago Bears Huddle, will be joining us in the first hour.

The Daily Herald's Barry Rozner, who also hosts WSCR 670-AMThe Score's venerable baseball program Hit & Run, will be joining us any Monday now to TALK MORE HOCKEY! Unfortunately, due to his schedule, we cannot get a definitive date. So you'll have to be listening to catch our interview with him.

Follow me on twitter @robzielinski.

PREACH

Da Bears Are Handing Out Humblin' Butt Whoopins

The Detroit Lions escalated from little brother, to puffy-chested little brother, to chirpy, to dirty before they fell and hit every step in their dissension down Da Bears' "humblin' [butt] whoopin" staircase.


Julius Peppers unhinged his jaw and swallowed Megatron whole. Peppers spent the rest of the afternoon making plays. This was a--we'll call it a "clean" clothes-line--across the shoulder pads of Calvin Johnson, who then proceeded to cough up the football at the 12:18 mark of the first quarter, and that set the tone for the rest of the day. Urlacher tried the ol' scoop-and-score, but he was caught by Pettigrew after 17 yards. Stiff jab to the chin.

Matt Forte punched the ball into the end zone on two runs from the 12. The first was from a spread shotgun look and he continued to show his excellent field vision on the touchdown run from the I-formation. Da Bears were in a "Tank" personnel (1 WR, 2 TE, 2RB) look on a Lead Open run. Lead-blocker Clutts broke to the right out of his stance and Forte immediate recognized the read that the defense got from Clutts and he cut back against the over-pursuit of the Lions' defense. Touchdown, punch to the gut.

Nate Burleson beat Tim Jennings, twice. But "Tiny" Tim didn't give up. Jennings caught Burleson from behind, punched the ball out of his arm, and recovered his own forced fumble. Another quick jab.

The Lions had two turnovers and two 15-yard penalties in the first 10 minutes of the game. It was like they were looking in the mirror and punching THEMSELVES.

The Detroit defense did play well--when they weren't playing dirty--ya know, ripping off helmets, leg-whipping and pile driving. Bears QB Jay Cutler threw for a mere 123 yards and was 9-20 on pass attempts. The offense was held to only 3-13 on third conversions and 4.9 yards per catch. And besides the touchdown and one 40 yard scamper, they held Forte in check with 64 yards on 18 attempts. That's a 3.6 yard average for those of you with your calculator out.

But that was the only phase working for the Lions. For some reason, Detroit's recently signed, off the couch--and more recently, released--punter Malone, kept kicking the ball to the greatest punt returner off all time in Devin Hester. Hester returned his first punt for 29 yards before he was knocked out of bounds by Malone. That wasn't the case on the next Hester return as he took it to the House on an 82 yard return. 1-2 combo lands cleanly.

Hester is the greatest for a few reasons. He is able to "set up" the punting team's coverage because he isn't afraid to run laterally and force the coverage to adjust their lanes. Hester runs East and West, which forces the coverage to break their discipline. This is when #23 strikes. Hester has elite field vision, as well. It's just harder to tell because Hester will make his cut before a seem has been created, but he knows it'll be there. And it always is. He's a step ahead of everybody at all times and that's all he need to plant that foot and get up field for the score.

FYI: In Hester's five NFL seasons, he has 2516 receiving yards, 2502 punt return yards and 3156 kickoff return yards.

Mike Martz gaff of the week: third down and a foot, the offense lines up in the power-I formation. Cutler fakes the handoff to Clutts and tosses it left to Forte, who is dropped for a loss and they're forced to punt. Why must I ask where is Marion Barber every frickin' week?

The only thing Da Bears couldn't stop was themselves. Coming into the game, the Lions only turned the ball over five times. Da Bears matched that and then some with six take-aways on Sunday. Body shot, body shot, upper-cut, down for the count.

The defense stuck with what worked last week. Cornerbacks Charles Tillman and Tim Jennings were asked to play off-man coverage in Cover 1 and Cover 3 schemes, especially earlier in the game. The Lions got away with a few one-step slant routes, so coach Mari-Lovie went to more "press" coverage. This allowed the CBs to re-route the Lions' wide receivers at the line of scrimmage and not allow them to get the inside position for the quick slants with room to run after the catch.

Don't underestimate the phenomenal job Tillman did in shutting down Megatron, the best receiver in the NFL. Megatron was targeted 17 times by QB Matthew "Insert relevant excuse or cry-baby nick name here" Stafford through the first three quarters and he only had six receptions.

Again, a lot of credit goes to the front four. They were getting to Stafford early and often. They made him incredibly uncomfortable in the pocket, which allowed the CBs to only stay on their men as long as they needed to. The front four influencedStafford's accuracy and timing and the secondary reaped the benefits all afternoon.

I can't say enough about Peppers. He was disruptive off the edge and even more so when he lined up at the 3-technique. He consistently got pressure from the interior of the line and collapsed the pocket. He had a key sack and dropped Stafford for an 11 yard loss after he dominated the guard, fought through existing traffic in the backfield and was still able to bring down Stafford to force a field goal.

It was a great defensive effort all around. In the three games Chris Conte and Major Wright started as the safety tandem, da Bears' defense has allowed only one touchdown pass. Yeah, I can't believe it either.

Charles Tillman said that "hitting is the equalizer." This rang true on Sunday. The defense was laying the wood all afternoon. The hit Briggs put on Megatron in the second half will forever be in my mind's highlight reel. And to make it clear, even though he was called for an illegal hit, it was a legit clock-cleaner.

Da Bears played with a sense of purpose and it showed. Big credit to all the players, especially on defense and special teams, which trickles down to coach Lovie and his staff.

Barring any major injuries to key players, Da Bears are primed for a deep playoff run. In Lovie We Trust-ie.


Tune in to Chicago Sports Fix with Josh Catlow and me, Rob Zielinski, this and every Monday from 6 to 8pm only onChicagoland Sports Radio.

Share your thoughts with us by calling 312.564.7375 during show hours or email us at chicagosportsfix@gmail.com.

Adam Oestmann, Managing Editor for Chicago Bears Huddle, will be joining us in the first hour.

The Daily Herald's Barry Rozner, who also hosts WSCR 670-AMThe Score's venerable baseball program Hit & Run, will be joining us any Monday now to TALK MORE HOCKEY! Unfortunately, due to his schedule, we cannot get a definitive date. So you'll have to be listening to catch our interview with him.

Follow me on twitter @robzielinski.

PREACH

Chicago Bears Detroit Lions Preview

This is a different Chicago Bears team that played the Lion in Detroit back in Week-5.


It was being said at the beginning of the season, but it's finally becoming true ... the offense is familiar with Martz' scheme.

The confusion at the line of scrimmage has been minimized. A big part of that is due to Martz' evolution as a play caller. Not only has he decreased pre-snap motions, but he is using more spread-action plays and utilizing Cutler's ability to throw on the run. We actually saw a designed roll-out play to the right against the Eagles on Monday night. The Lions also employ the Wide-9 technique. If Avril and Vanden Bosch start giving the o-line fits, look for more designed plays to move Cutler outside of the pocket to buy time and throw down the field.

Again, the Wide-9 technique is inclined to create running lanes, especially off-tackle. So, look for Matt Forte to have yet another big game on the ground running behind Clutts; however, Detroit does have more athletic defensive linemen who play with a mean streak--unlike "Cry-baby" Babin who ran to daddy Godell because he got BLOWED-UP consistently at the line of scrimmage Monday night.

Javhid Best has been ruled out because he's still dealing with lingering concussion symptoms. This is a big blow to the Detroit ground-game because Best has the ability to hit a home run every time he touches the ball. Da Bears learned that when he snapped off an 88 yard scamper back in Week-5. Back-up RB Maurice Morris is formidable, though. He's averaging 4.1 yards per carry on 31 attempts.

The true test will come against trying to shut down Calvin "Megatron" Johnson. Megatron dominated Da Bears' defense in their last meeting with five receptions for 130 yards and a touchdown. He's had hot hands all season. Johnson has scored in every week except one and he's on a four game streak of 100+ yards receiving.

CB Charles Tillman was outstanding last week, but I don't suspect coach Mari-Lovie will play much press or man coverage on Sunday. Megatron is much too physical and is a rear breed WR, unlike the gnats of Philadelphia. Look for Da Bears to change the game plan--as well they should--and get back to more of the Lovie-2 scheme. Da Bears defense will give the Lions different looks before the snap and then break off to their zones or land-marks.

Which leads us to take-aways. Detroit has the best turnover differential in the NFL with +13. The Detroit defense has taken the ball away from teams 18 times, but has only turned the ball over five times. Da Bears MUST win the turnover battle or they WILL lose this game.

Lions QB Matthew Stafford is deadly-accurate--when he has time in the pocket. Da Bears d-line needs to get consistent pressure on Stafford to make him uncomfortable and maybe bait him into throwing a few passes he'll wish he can have back.

Major Wright didn't have a particularly good game on Monday and he began to share time with Brandon "Head-shot" Merriwether. We'll see more of a time split this Sunday. This is Merriwether's chance to redeem himself after constantly doing the wrong thing in Lovie's scheme by free-lancing like an undisciplined high school hot-head.

Rookie safety Chris Conte still really hasn't been tested deep since he won the SP (starting position). I think that will change Sunday and Stafford will look to expose his inexperience.

WSCR's Bears beat reporter Zach Zaidman reported that Da Bears are more mad now after watching tape from Week-5 than they were after that game. They've recognized the silly mistakes they've made and they're itching at the chance to rectify the situation.

Da Bears have improved each week in the past month. They're not happy that their long time little brother in the Lions is all grown up. This game has playoff implications and I expect Da Bears to play the way a team would win a playoff game...by running the ball effectively, chewing the clock, and executing a few big plays.


Tune in to Chicago Sports Fix with Josh Catlow and me, Rob Zielinski, this and every Monday from 6 to 8pm only on Chicagoland Sports Radio.

Share your thoughts with us by calling 312.564.7375 during show hours or email us at chicagosportsfix@gmail.com.

Adam Oestmann, Managing Editor for Chicago Bears Huddle, will be joining us in the first hour.

The Daily Herald's Barry Rozner, who also hosts WSCR 670-AMThe Score's venerable baseball program Hit & Run, will be joining us any Monday now to TALK MORE HOCKEY! Unfortunately, due to his schedule, we cannot get a definitive date. So you'll have to be listening to catch our interview with him.

Follow me on twitter @robzielinski.

PREACH

Special Season for Special Bears?

I was expecting some team to emerge from the NFL Blob, but I never thought that it could possibly be Da Bears.


They're now 7-2 on Monday Night Football since Lovie Smith took over as their head coach in 2004. Are those just arbitrary numbers, or does Lovie know how to get his team ready for prime-time football?

I tend to think it's the latter as I'm thoroughly impressed with the way Da Bears were prepared to go into Philadelphia and beat the Eagles at The Linc.

They were disciplined in every facet of the game. Individuals did what was asked of them and they took care of their business. This was a staple win and it puts Da Bears in a great position for a playoff berth as they've beaten all three teams that they'll be up against for a Wild Card spot (Atlanta, Tampa and Philadelphia).

Da Bears opened the game by punching the Eagles square in the mouth. They did it with quick snaps at the line of scrimmage and by getting away from their familiar "window dressings" or pre-snap motions. It helped to neutralize the crowd noise and minimize their chances for any false starts.

The o-line came through in a BIG way. QB Jay Cutler had been sacked in 31 straight games but not on Monday night. This was the second time in 41 starts with Da Bears that Cutler wasn't sacked.

The Eagles defense didn't even record a QB Hit! Now that's stepping up in the clutch. We knew the o-line was improving at run blocking. They've been firing off the ball well for a few weeks now, but for Cutler to drop back 32 times and not be hit says a lot about the pass blocking improvement.

They took that Eagles "Wide 9,” chewed it up and spit it out. Sure, Cutler had to use his legs to escape pressure and elude those hits throughout the game, but overall it was a special effort from the men up front.

Cliché segue alert—speaking of special efforts—Jay Cutler's second half performance was the reason why GM Jerry Angelo traded two first round draft picks, a third round pick and Kyle "Neck Beard" Orton to obtain him. He was incredible.

One of my new favorite football plays occurred in the fourth quarter. Number 6 escaped pressure twice, fell down, got back up, alluded pressure from two more Eagles defensemen and tossed the rock to Barber for an eight-yard gain. Special.

The man was having fun and playing like he was in the school yard; except, he was being an NFL leader and drove his offense down the field in a world-class fashion multiple times.

Matt Forte's production was enormous. 133 yards on the ground with a 5.5 average per carry is—we’ll stay with the theme here—special. However, you can NOT fumble the ball twice. He knows that and I know he'll be more protective with the football.

And no, meatball Bearsss fans, he did not fumble on purpose. There was a lot of "Diz lousy Mark Forte guy's fumbling on purpose cuz he hasn’t got paid by dat Gary Angleman yet," among the twitterverse. He'll get paid sooner or later, but he won't be helping you to pay your bills, so relax der guy. Go grill another SAU-sage in da grach with the doors closed.

Earl "Safety Valve" Bennett gets the game ball offensively, though. He was targeted five times and he made five receptions for 95 yards and a touchdown. Every catch he made resulted in either a first down conversion or a touchdown. Special. He offers Cutler stability just by stepping onto the field. He's got great hands and knows how to run a route and find the soft area in zone defenses. Even the Philadelphia "Dream Team" couldn't stop this number three receiver.

Even Martz had a big night as he was able to show more flexibility in his play-calling. Forte carried the ball 24 times, and Barber was called on nine times. That often spells success for Bears Football.

I did have a couple of gripes, though—as always. Like empty sets on third and shorts when pounding the ball with Barber was working, the seven (corner) route to Kellen Davis on third and one and the Wildcat on third and long, which seemed like a sort of concession play call. I'm still waiting for the perfect game from Martz. I promise I won't hold my breath.

The Lovie-2 scheme often got lost in the shuffle. Coach Mari-Lovie devised a game plan for the explosive Philadelphia offense. They played a lot of "press" coverage along with Cover 1 to contain Michael Vick and his WMD. Cornerbacks Tillman and Jennings played with physicality and roughed up DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin all night.

So much so, that they put enough fear into them to alligator arm a few passes from Vick even when no one was around. They did a great job jamming them at the line of scrimmage and making good, hard tackles when they had the opportunity.

Tillman, in particular, played his best game as a Chicago Bear in a long time. And he didn't even have one of his patented strips for a fumble!

The pressure generated by the front four is what allowed Da Bears to be successful in their "man" coverage. They were consistently flushing Vick out of the pocket, which lowers his accuracy considerably. Vick has become a more polished pocket-passer (alliteration aside), but if he gets hurried almost constantly like he was, he won't be effective.

Lance Briggs and Brian Urlacher played like true Monsters of the Midway. Urlacher led all Bears with 11 tackles and he was great in pass coverage. Briggs recorded 5 tackles of his own and tipped the pass that Major Wright picked off. They consistently put themselves in Vick's passing lanes and they cleaned up almost everything that reached the second level.

The only part of the game that wasn't special was, oddly enough, the special teams. Hester and Knox combined for only 51 kick return yards on five attempts. Da Bears got luckily when they chose not to cover either of the gunners on a punt return and the Eagles' rookie punter was unable to complete a the easiest pass he'll ever attempt. I will, however, give props to Adam Podlesh for his good punts. The hang time was a major factor on the muffed Jackson punt that led to a Bears TD.

I had a feeling Da Bears might split their games against the Eagles and the Lions, who they play next week, but I didn't think the victory would come from beating the Eagles at The Linc. And now they have a shot at sweeping this two game set.

If they do that, it'll take key injuries for them to not reach the playoffs and make a run for the Super Bowl.

Tune in to Chicago Sports Fix with Josh Catlow and me, Rob Zielinski, this and every Monday from 6 to 8pm only on Chicagoland Sports Radio.

Share your thoughts with us by calling 312.564.7375 during show hours or email us at chicagosportsfix@gmail.com.

Adam Oestmann, Managing Editor for Chicago Bears Huddle, will be joining us in the first hour.

The Daily Herald's Barry Rozner, who also hosts WSCR 670-AM The Score's venerable baseball program Hit & Run, will be joining us any Monday now to TALK MORE HOCKEY! Unfortunately, due to his schedule, we cannot get a definitive date. So you'll have to be listening to catch our interview with him.

Follow me on twitter @robzielinski.

PREACH

Chicago Bears: Contender or Pretender?

"We'll know a lot more about our football team," head coach Lovie Smith said about the ensuing game between his Chicago Bears and the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night.


I think he’s right. We'll find out if Da Bears are in fact a legit contender to make the playoffs.

They will face a very talented Eagles team in probably the loudest outdoor stadium in the NFL. Lincoln Financial Field actually has metal flaps designed to bounce crowd noise back down and onto the field.

We all know how crazy Philly fans can get. I’m referring to the noise they can generate, not the throwing of snowballs at Santa Claus—amongst many other egregious acts.

This will be the first true road game for Da Bears since the "Detroit Debacle" back in Week-5. And being on Monday Night Football, Philly fans could be feeling extra SAUCE-y. I have a feeling we'll be hearing a lot of "False start, offense, number 73 … 74 … 67 … 60 … 87," and so on.

But I can’t actually believe that I'm fairly confident with Lance Louis starting at the right tackle position. Gabe Carimi is healthy enough to play, and he's the best RT on the team.

But, the o-line has something going. They're playing as a cohesive unit. It comes down to the old adage: “If it's not broke, don't fix it.” Granted, the o-line has been getting a lot of help from running backs and tight ends with chip-blocks, but they've been competent. They do have to be better, though.

The Eagles employ a Wide-9 technique with their defensive-ends. Wide-9 is just a new flashy term for a technique—NOT a defensive scheme—that has been around for at least two decades. National broadcasters like flashy terms—remember when "Tampa 2" and "Wildcat" were all the rage?

The Wide-9 just means that the DE's line up about a foot outside of the TE and tilt towards the quarterback in a sprinter's stance. Since there's typically only one TE, only one DE is truly in a 9-technique. This helps to utilize their speed and turn it into power as they get up-field.

The Wide-9—like any technique—is not perfect; it is very susceptible to counters, draws and traps, which Da Bears have executed well in recent weeks. Besides having a weak linebacker corps, the Wide-9 is a big reason the Eagles give up 118 yards rushing per game. Look for Matt Forte to continue to be effective and gain large chunks of yardage, especially on the ground. Unless Martz goes all, you know, Martzy.

Da Bears have steadily been improving their run defense. Some of that has to do with jumping out to a lead and making their opponent one-dimensional, but they're improving nonetheless. They'll have to be near perfect if they want to win on Monday night. LeSean McCoy is second in the NFL in rushing yards. He's also very good at catching the ball out of the backfield.

Of course, the Eagles still have that one guy … Vick, I believe his name is. He can be dynamic, but he has struggled against Lovie's defense. Da Bears have sacked Vick 15 times and forced him to fumble five times since Lovie has been at the helm.

Da Bears aren't a particularly good match-up for Vick. The Lovie-2 keeps 11 sets of eyes on Vick at all times. Vick tends to shred defenses that use man-coverage, which follows the receivers, and by time the secondary turns around, Vick is already right behind them. Having all eyes on Vick may hold him to, say, a six-yard rush instead of a 25-yard gain.

Yes, Da Bears did beat the Eagles last year. However, Jay Cutler had a career day with four touchdown passes. It was also a coming-out party for a few defensive linemen as they recorded four sacks. The same needs to happen Monday, because the Eagles' wide receivers are smart and explosive. They'll exploit the soft spots in the zone defense if Vick gets time, as he is becoming a more polished QB in the pocket.

This will be Chris Conte's first true test at safety and it's going to be strict pass or fail grading.

Da Bears need to be disciplined in all facets of the game and have contributions from all three phases in order to win in Philadelphia. If they do, then they'll be real contenders to make the playoffs. If not, they'll be pretenders, unable to separate themselves from the NFL blob.



Tune in to Chicago Sports Fix with Josh Catlow and me, Rob Zielinski, this and every Monday from 6 to 8pm only on Chicagoland Sports Radio.

Share your thoughts with us by calling 312.564.7375 during show hours or email us at chicagosportsfix@gmail.com.

Adam Oestmann, Managing Editor for Chicago Bears Huddle, will be joining us in the first hour.

The Daily Herald's Barry Rozner, who also hosts WSCR 670-AM The Score's venerable baseball program Hit & Run, will be joining us any Monday now to TALK MORE HOCKEY! Unfortunately, due to his schedule, we cannot get a definitive date. So you'll have to be listening to catch our interview with him.

Follow me on twitter @robzielinski.

PREACH

Please Don't Let Us Fall to 3-4!

What should have been a blow-out, became an "O dear Goodness, please don't let us fall to 3-4" game.

First of all, when you get the opening possession on the 40 yard line on an illegal procedure because they were trying to stay away from your explosive kick returner, you have to get points on the board. Da Bears couldn't even move the chains!

Lovie and company got lucky again when it came to the personnel --or lack there of-- for the Bucs. (By the way, why didn't Lovie decline an illegal shift to make it second and six instead of third and one? It's much easier to get one yard on one down. Just another bad in-game decision by Coach Smuggie, I mean, Lovie , I suppose). Starting DT McCoy was on the inactive list, which was big is slowing their pass rush. RB Blount was inactive as well and that was good since Bears have had trouble with physical running backs in the past. Then, the Wembley Stadium Turf Monster gobbled up back-up running back Graham. This left them with third stringer Lumpkin, who gained a whopping 15 yards on the ground.

Later, the Turf Monster came back for seconds and thirds when he devoured a Tampa Bay linebacker and a safety too. More on that further down...

If there was an NFL video game, Zielinski '11 --named after me, of course-- Matt Forte's vision would be a 99 and his patience would be a 98. Forte is having a Pro Bowl type season. He's the first player since 2004 to have over 1,000 yards from the line of scrimmage through the first seven weeks of the season. Sure, he's got some good moves in the open field, but his performance is predicated on vision and patience.

On Forte's rushing touchdown, Martz called his long-time favorite running play, the "Stretch G". The offense gave the Bucs and double tight-end look and pulled the front-side guard --in this case it was Chris Spencer-- Matt Spaeth did a nice job sealing the edge and Spencer kicked out his assignment, all while Forte waited for the play to develop. A crease was created and Forte exploded through it. He's like the Bobby Fischer of football. He sees six or seven moves ahead of him and he makes the opponent look foolish in the open-field. So foolish, in fact, that he caused two Bucs to violently collide with each other before he took his 32 yard scamper to The House.

Roy Williams even made a few impact plays, one being a nice down field block on that Forte touchdown. Another being his patented dropped pass. But he did make a big-boy catch on his first TD on the year. He was able to avoid a jam at the line of scrimmage and not have to re-route his pattern. Cutler got the ball out of his hands quickly, but it was a rather poor pass. Williams was able to adjust his body to the ball and beat his man for the score. I'm surprised that he acted like he's been in the end-zone before --albeit with a different team in back in 2010-- but we didn't even get the Texas "Hook 'em" fingers. This coming from a guy who will give us the first-down mechanic when Da Bears trail by double-digits late in the fourth quarter.

The o-line was solid. The backs were great. The receivers were dependable. The offensive coordinator was back to being himself, unfortunately.

Da Bears were up 21-5 with 10:32 left in the third quarter, but Martz called 17 passes to just 11 runs in the second half. I don't care if the Turf Monster ate up the Bucs' linebacker and safety, you don't try to exploit that with passing when the game pretty much in hand. Cutler already threw a pick because of a high pass to a RB, which is a big no-no since they typically don't have the same skills to go up and catch the ball as a wide receiver does. Especially, when the intended receiver in that case was Marion Barber.

Da Bears had first and goal inside the five yard line and Martz called three straight passes. One was almost intercepted and Cutler was dropped by Ronde Barber like he knew the play and protection scheme on the third. Luckily, Clown Talib was called for a personal-foul and Da Bears were granted a fresh set of downs. Somebody must have told Martz to run the damn ball, so he did, three straight times to the right side. Even though, since they were beyond the five yard line from the sack, one pass could have been in order off of a play-fake.

Chris Conte wasn't challenged much in his first start. He saw a little more action this past Sunday. From the Cover 1, playing the single-high safety, Conte made a good read and drove downhill on the skinny post pattern and stripped the ball away from Mike Williams. Big play from the rook in his second consecutive start. (Props).

Brian Urlacher solidified his spot in Canton. He was on the fence --for me anyway-- but his tackles for a loss are piling up and he's a top-tier linebacker when it comes to pass defense and his third interception on the season was evidence of that.

The Bucs and Bears gave the fans in the UK a lot to watch and discuss. At one point they saw an interception, interception, safety. Good stuff. Even better stuff, was when a fan ran about 150 yards on the field, shirtless, and even gave a Buccaneer a high-five.
Da Bears are 4-3. Again, they are near the top of the NFL blob and they've kept their hopes alive for another playoff appearance.

With their up-coming schedule, it's not completely out of the question to make a run for a wild card spot. But they have to be more consistent on all fronts, especially against elite teams, if they want to go deep into the playoffs again.


Tune in to the Chicago Sports Fix radio show with Josh Catlow and me, Rob Zielinski, this and every Monday from 6 to 8pm only on http://www.chicagolandsportsradio.com/
Share your thoughts with us by calling 312.564.7375 during show hours or email us at chicagosportsfix@gmail.com
Adam Oestmann, Managing Editor for Chicago Bears Huddle, will be joining us in the first hour!
The Daily Herald's Barry Rozner, who also hosts WSCR 670-AM The Score's venerable baseball program Hit & Run, will be joining us any Monday now to TALK MORE HOCKEY! Unfortunately, due to his schedule, we cannot get a definitive date. So you'll have to be listening to catch our interview with him.

PREACH

At Least We Don't Live In Minnesota

We didn't learn much about Da Bears collectively on Sunday Night Football.

They are a mediocre team near the top of the NFL blob, but well below the cream of the class (thank you, Dan Hampton). Da Bears beat a bad Vikings team 39-10, at home, against a QB who seemed to have a birthday with every Minnesota possession. But they did what they had to do, they beat a bad team convincingly.

QB Jay Cutler has been very critical of the offensive game plan in recent weeks and took a handful of shots, subtle as they were, but shots nonetheless, at Mike Martz' game planning. He was even caught with an in-game play calling disagreement with his now infamous "Tell Martz [BLEEP] him," as he broke from the huddle on a 3rd and 7. However, after the game Sunday night, he was praising the game plan which involved getting the ball out of his hands quicker, max protections, and chip-blocks from running-backs and tight-ends.

When he's upright and not busy making Cutler-shaped indents in the turf, Jay is an outstanding quarterback. He started picking apart the Minnesota Cover 3 early with the Hi-Lo crossing routes because he had time. The 48 yard touchdown pass to Hester on their third play from scrimmage was more like an afterthought. The deep post route was just supposed to draw the cornerback and safety up-field to clear a space for a shorter route, but since Cutler had time he was able to connect with Hester, even with the safety playing deep! Field position between the forties is a place to take a shot down-field and I'm sure that was in the back of Cutler's mind as he walked to the line. Good time = good Cutler.

Da Bears got a lot of help early from the Vikings with dropped passes, a failed run game with a premier running back, shanked punts, a fair catch at thier own five and pooched kickoffs. All in the first quarter. All bad. It makes you wish they could play the Vikings at Soldier Field every week.

The O-line took care of business all game though. It was the fifth lineup in six games. Frank "Revolving Door" Omiyale got the hook and Lance Louis slid in at right tackle next to Chris Spencer and his broken hand. They got the job done. I hope Forte bought them lunch this week because whether he was running up the gut or off the edge, he had a hole to hit.

Jared Allen hit the trifecta on his sack, strip and recovery, but that one was on Cutler as he held on to the ball too long and it was just a hustle play by Allen. Otherwise, you didn't hear his name much during the broadcast. We did see his frustration building early in the game though, as he was talking with a lot of animation on the sideline. There's not many hogs to be tied when you're being slowed down by a sophomore left tackle with the help from chipping backs and tight ends.

Devin Hester was being Devin Hester in the return game. I said "Ut oh" as soon as I saw the crease. Hester hit it and he was gone. We're watching a Hall of Famer, folks. Enjoy it as much as possible because he'll be one of the few bright spots at the end of this season.

On defense, Stephen Paea had himself a nice game recording his first sack that turned out to be a safety (do the safety dance, you can dance if you want to...I'll stop). It was the charter franchise's 52nd safety to take the all-time NFL lead. Julius Peppers notched two sacks of his own -- on a bum knee, no less! Peanut Tillman led all Bears with 11 tackles and the newest safety tandem didn't give up the big play. Sure, Chris Conte was 22 yards deep and back-peddling as the ball was being snapped, but he did what was asked of him.

Some fans were up in arms about the benching of both Merriweather and Harris. They may be a little more talented and defintely more experienced, but if you don't play the Lovie-2 the way he installed this defense and play the positions the way he wants it played, you'll find yourself spectating from between the thirties. Or in Chris Harris' experience, sulking in street clothes and requesting a trade the next day like an immature clown.

Da Bears are still a low-talent team. They're flawed and they'll be exposed in weeks to come. We've seen them get destroyed and we'll see it again.

But at least we don't live in Minnesota.


Tune in to the Chicago Sports Fix radio show with Josh Catlow and me, Rob Zielinski, this and every Monday from 6 to 8pm only on http://www.chicagolandsportsradio.com/

Share your thoughts with us by calling 312.564.7375 during show hours or email us at chicagosportsfix@gmail.com

Adam Oestmann, Managing Editor for Chicago Bears Huddle, will be joining us in the first hour!

The Daily Herald's Barry Rozner, who also hosts WSCR 670-AM The Score's venerable baseball program Hit & Run, will be joining us any Monday now to TALK MORE HOCKEY! Unfortunately, due to his schedule, we cannot get a definitive date. So you'll have to be listening to catch our interview with him.

PREACH

Bottom-Line Business

And business is not good. Da Bears' season is over.

Last year's luck has run out. No more third string quarterbacks. No more not having players on the injury list.

Yes, Da Bears have played some good teams with potent offenses; however, Da Bears themselves were supposed to be a good team with an elite defense. That means you win some and you lose some, NOT lose every game to every team that has a decent offense. They've beaten an okay Atlanta team at home who is terrible on the road and they slipped past a bad Carolina team with a rookie QB under-center.

The bottom-line is Da Bears aren't very good. (Bold statement, I know). They're not even good. You can't be considered good when the offense is consistently wetting themselves at the line of scrimmage, nor when the defense doesn't play their gaps correctly.

It was the ugliest 1st quarter that I've seen from Da Bears in a long time on Monday night. Four false start penalties is unacceptable for one game, let alone one quarter! Absolutely pathetic. They knew it was going to be tough to hear the cadence from Cutler inside Ford Field, just like down in DREW Orleans LouBREESiana, but four false starts is indefensible. I would have let ONE slide, but that's you're only pass. The Lions were TRYING to let them march down the field, but Da Bears weren't having it.

Kellen Davis had three of the first four false starts. Bench him already! Penalties are playbook assassinators. It's not like he has played flawlessly the weeks prior. Lovie needed to pull him to the side after his second infraction and say "You're sitting the rest of this game out and you'll sit out the coming weeks if you don't get to a sergeon and have him perform an emergency remove head from rectumotomy" --or something along those lines. Although, Lovie and Martz should schedule their own operations, as well.

Martz doesn't learn from his mistakes. On 3rd and short, he opted to go with an empty set and Cutler got sacked. Why? Maybe Marion Barber isn't listed on Martz' roster sheet. Luckily, Avril was called for a face mask and Da Bears got a fresh set of downs. Well, maybe luckily was a bad word choice in hindsight as the most embarrassing possession of the game ensued. On 3rd and short, Martz called a hand-off to Forte. Mike, his name is Marion Barber. USE HIM.

Next, they had to call a timeout because they had the wrong personnel on the field or they couldn't be decisive --a recurring theme this season-- or the radio in Cutler's helmet may have been malfunctioning as Kellen Davis alluded to Wednesday night on WSCR. Whatever the excuse, another timeout had to be burned.

Then, instead of taking the points on the road to take an early lead and quiet the crowd, Lovie got cute and decided to go for it on 4th and short. Martz got half of the play-call right by handing the ball off, but he handed it to Forte. Again, because Barber is an apparition to Martz, even though somehow Barber was miraculously on the field before they had to burn that timeout. Maybe it really was his ghost in the backfield. On top of all that, Lovie challenged the spot, and lost. What new?

Seven minute drive. No points. No more timeouts. No more challenges for the rest of the half.

The right tackle's name doesn't deserve to be mentioned because he doesn't deserve to play in the NFL. Yet, he was a starter on the team Jerry Angelo has assembled. I hear he's a great guy, but the bottom-line is personality doesn't win you football games.

Jay Cutler was outstanding. He was constantly under the gun and he made play after play. He used his feet to escape pressure and his accuracy was nearly impeccable. With that said...

It's time to fire Mike Martz. He's not signed for next year and he rejected a contract extension. It doesn't matter if he's still here right now. Getting a new offensive coordinator gets you closer to a Super Bowl. If Angelo has any brains or guts -- it's hard to tell if he does these days-- Martz will be fired on the flight home from London so the new OC will have the bye week to install his offense.

Defensively, saying that they played poorly would be an understatement. It was the birth-child of a debacle/fiasco romp.

Lovie's Cover 2 wasn't the problem. X's and O's aren't to blame here --we'll get to the blame-game later-- the reason the defense got abused was the sheer lack of discipline.

Calvin "Megatron" Johnson scored on a 73 yard BOMB because he got a free-release off the line, QB Matthew Stafford had all day in the pocket and Gimp Harris, I mean, Chris Harris played the stem of Megatron's pattern and got beat deep. Why Tillman let Johnson get a free-release is a mystery. On the previous Detroit possession, Tillman had good outside technique and was jamming him at the line. He just got lazy on 3rd and long, I suppose.

Urlacher bit on a fake trap, abandoning his zone for a split second and left a lane open for a Pettigrew touchdown. Briggs was worried about somebody else's gap when Best made one cut at the second level and was gone for a historic Lions touchdown. Detroit's longest TD run since 1950 came against your Chicago Bears. Puke. Play on your landmarks, make your reads and make the play. Easier said than done, apparently.

It's time to play The Blame Game. Jerry Angelo blamed the coaching staff for miscues, then Lovie blamed Martz for the play-calling. The bottom-line is nobody in the organization is holding themselves accountable.

It's sad. It's pitiful. It's so Bears.


Tune in to the Chicago Sports Fix radio show with Josh Catlow and and me, Rob Zielinski, this and every Monday from 6 to 8pm only on http://www.chicagolandsportsradio.com/

Share your thoughts with us by calling 312.564.7375 during show hours or email us at chicagosportsfix@gmail.com

Adam Oestmann, Managing Editor for Chicago Bears Huddle, will be joining us in the first hour!

The Daily Herald's Barry Rozner, who also hosts WSCR 670-AM The Score's venerable baseball program Hit & Run, will be joining us any Monday now to TALK MORE HOCKEY! Unfortunately, due to his schedule, we cannot get a definitive date. So you'll have to be listening to catch our interview with him.

PREACH

Oxymoron: Frustrating Win

Or at least I THINK that qualifies as an oxymoron. But I digress.

Da Bears were fortunate to win Sunday against the Carolina Panthers. They had a favorable match-up in facing a rookie quarterback, under a rookie head-coach, with a depleted defense, at home. Not a very convincing 34-29 victory.

Matt Forte had himself a day. A career day. He had 25 carries for 205 yards (I know, I can't believe OC Mike Martz even called 25 running plays--31 altogether--or that the first nine plays from scrimmage were run-plays, either). Forte finds himself in elite company with Walter Payton and Gale Sayers as the only Bear to rush for over 200 yards in a single game.

It seems as though Martz had his hand smacked by Lovie's yard-stick after calling 11 and nine run-plays the two weeks prior, respectively. Or maybe o-line coach Mike Tice had a hand in the offensive play-calling. Or maybe, just maybe, Martz actually put his players in a position to succeed this past week.

It's not about balance and chances, but rather HOW you run the ball. It makes a world of difference when you call plays that allow your o-linemen to fire off the ball and that give your ball-carrier a lead-blocker so as to isolate the linebacker, allowing Forte to make one cut and go. Run downhill between the tackles, then open it up and run off-tackle, then open it up further with sweeps. Forte has the ability to gain the corner and then get up-field. It's not the sexiest style of football, but it still feels good winning individual battles and marching down the field. That's what you have to do against an injury-plagued defense. That's what I mean by putting your players in a position to succeed.

With that said, Da Bears won't be able to do that against better defenses. They can't continue to depend on Forte like that every game. Through the first four weeks, Forte accounts for 51.5% of the offense. Just to give you some perspective, accounting for 30% would be a heck of a lot. That's why GM Jerry Angelo should give him a fair contract extension as soon as possible; no Forte, no wins. But that's another post for another time.

Martz had his miscues, though. On third and goal from the four-yard line he called a QB draw. This, after Forte and Barber got them down there on lead-strong and lead-weak rushes. I wish they had a bruising down-hill runner to pick up that tough yardage, don't you, Marion Barber? It's as if University of Miami boosters pay Martz bounties every time Cutler gets destroyed (Offensive genius? I fear not). Even Cutler said that they should put that play on the shelf for a while. Later on, on third and one, Martz called a fake QB sneak/swing pass to Forte, which fooled NOBODY. Luckily, they picked up the first on fourth down with ... um, MARION BARBER.

Then, the collective, pathetic and inexcusable indecisiveness between Lovie and Martz caused Cutler to call a timeout on fourth down. Cutler even mouthed the words "That's embarrassing" on camera. And I concur. I don't even know what there was to think about. You're up a point with less than seven minutes left in a game in which you're lucky to be leading in the first place. Take the field goal and the four-point lead and force rookie QB Cam Newton to drive down the field for a touchdown! (Nice to see that confidence in your defense, Lovie.)

Finally, with just over five minutes remaining, Da Bears DID stop Newton and got the ball back...only, after a 20 yard-run and a 4 yard-run by Forte, Martz dialed up two passing plays which forced them to punt instead of eating clock with successful run-plays. The Panthers KNEW you were going to run and they STILL couldn't stop it, but let's try passing it because your ego won't allow you to chew clock on the ground.

Big picture: Jay Cutler is getting worse. His QB-rating Sunday was just below 48. His internal clock has sped up. He made that admission this past Wednesday. It was evident on Sunday when he felt the non-existent pressure all game, especially on the INT he threw as he rushed his throw and let the ball sail on him. That's the price you pay as a front-office when you don't give your QB the personnel around him necessary to succeed, and in an offensive scheme made to get your QB dominated in the back-field.

The O-line is off the hook ... for this week. Lance "Turn-Style" Louis actually stepped in and stepped up when his name was called to fill in for RG Chris Spencer, who was temporarily sidelined with a hand injury. He then slid over to RT and did a nice job when Frank "Revolving-Door" Omiyale (or "False-Start Frank," if you perfer) was benched at halftime. Louis' performance may have supplanted the job from Omiyale until Gabe Carimi comes back, which unfortunately for Lance, may be this Monday night in Detroit. So, for now, he's Lance "I Can't Let You In" Louis (somehow I feel like that nickname won't stick).

On the other side of the ball, Da Bears gave up 29 points induced by 17 plays of 15 yards or more and 12 of 20 yards or more. I understand the bend, but the break is unacceptable. As always, it starts in the trenches. Cam Newtown dropped back to pass 46 times; he was sacked ZERO times. They didn't even record a Quarterback Hit! Again, unacceptable and downright pathetic. You're not helping your secondary if you're not being disruptive in the back-field and pressuring the opposing quarterback. And help they need.

I can't remember a worse game for Bears' safeties under the Lovie regime than the Wright/Merriwether tandem on the field Sunday. I don't remember how or when, but apparently Major Wright recorded six tackles. It was probably when Carolina WR Steve Smith was busy torching him and Brandon Merriwether for 181 yards. I can see why Patriots' coach Bill Belichick didn't want Merriwether on his already reeling secondary.

Merriweather free-lances way too much in a Cover 2 scheme which requires discipline. He is the very definition of a head-hunter. He actually presses his fists to his chest and leads with the crown of his helmet instead of getting his head across the ball-carrier, wrapping him up and taking him down. Toughness is consistently making textbook tackles in the open-field and breaking up passes in coverage, NOT timing and teeing-off on a defenseless receiver. I'm sure he has already received his FedEx letter with dollar signs indicating just how much will be donated to United Way out of his pay-check.

The bottom line is that this defensive scheme cannot function with shaky coverage and a lack of pressure from the front-four. When they don't get pressure from the front-four, they're forced to blitz which means less players in their coverage zones, less eyes on the QB, and TROUBLE. Furthermore, they can never seem to get home and sack the QB. This has to be the worst blitzing defense in the NFL; they ALWAYS get picked up at the line of scrimmage. Even furthermore, I guess, they blitz on predictable downs, as twice on Sunday they got caught blitzing on screen-plays which went for big chunks of yardage.

Congratulations to Devin Hester on his record-breaking punt return touchdown and his triple somersault. Marion Barber's 340 degreeback-flip? Not so much.

A win is a win, is a win. However, if they play like that this coming Monday night at Ford Field, they'll be 2-3 on the year.


Tune in to the Chicago Sports Fix radio show with Josh Catlowand and me, Rob Zielinski, this and every Monday from 6 to 8pm only on http://www.chicagolandsportsradio.com/

Share your thoughts with us by calling 312.564.7375 during show hours or email us at chicagosportsfix@gmail.com

Adam Oestmann, Managing Editor for Chicago Bears Huddle, will be joining us in the first hour!

The Daily Herald's Barry Rozner, who also hosts WSCR 670-AM The Score's venerable baseball program Hit & Run, will be joining us any Monday now to TALK MORE HOCKEY! Unfortunately, due to his schedule, we cannot get a definitive date. So you'll have to be listening to catch our interview with him.


PREACH

Adios, Guillen

The Ozzie Guillen era is over in Chicago.

And not a moment too soon. Maybe a moment too late, if anything.

Former White Sox Manager and self-proclaimed "Face of the Franchise" Ozzie Guillen was granted his request to be released from his contract by Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf. It gets a little complicated as the actual transaction was a trade.

The White Sox received right-handed pitcher Jhan Marinez and infielder Osvaldo Martinez for Ozzie and right-hander Ricardo Andres.

I will miss Ozzie both as a fan and a broadcaster because he has no filter. It was refreshing in a city where other coaches and managers beat around the proverbial bush and answer every question with every sports cliche in the book. Terms like "we'll get it cleaned up" and "we'll continue to battle" are uttered on a regular basis, right Lovie?

Ozzie was always more than willing to tell it like it is during his time with the White Sox.

I will NOT miss Ozzie because he has no filter. (No, that's not a typographical error).

While Ozzie did tell it like it was and named names when things didn't go as he planned, he also often went into inappropriate topics at inappropriate times. Like say, his whining, I mean, pining for a contract extension late in the 2011 season. Especially when he was already under contract for the 2012 season. Even more so, because the White Sox have only made one postseason appearance since their World Series title in 2005. And when they did make it to the postseason, they won the AL Central Title in regular season game 163 and then got bounced out in the Divisional Series (that's the first round of the playoffs for those of you keeping score at home).

Ozzie wasn't particularly successful in the second half of his seasons as the White Sox' skipper. He only had two seasons where his squads were over .500 in the second half. From 2004 to 2011 they went 37-41, 42-34, 33-41, 33-43, 35-33, 34-40, 39-36, 35-35 respectively. That's not exactly a recipe for success when you're trying to win a pennant.

Baseball, like any business, is a bottom-line business. Why would Jerry Reinsdorf give you an undeserving contract extension?

In early September, Ozzie accused his players of quitting.

I wonder if he remembered that as he shut his eyes tight, puffed his chubby cheeks, and stomped his way down to Miami after he quit on his bowl-cloob and organization.


Tune in to the Chicago Sports Fix radio show with Josh Catlow and me, Rob Zielinski this and every Monday from 6 to 8pm only on http://www.chicagolandsportsradio.com/

Share your thoughts with us by calling 312.564.7375 during show hours or email us at chicagosportsfix@gmail.com

Managing Editor for Chicago Bears Huddle on ChicagoNow.com will be joining us in the first hour.

The Daily Herald's Barry Rozner, who also hosts WSCR 670-AM The Score's venerable baseball program Hit & Run, will be joining us any Monday now to TALK MORE HOCKEY! Unfortunately, due to his schedule, we cannot get a definitive date. So you'll have to be listening to catch our interview with him.

PREACH

Welcome to DREW Orleans, LouBREESiana

First of all, I know that I was just giving credit where it was due to Mike Martz last week, but that's ALL over with after the Week 2 performance. I'll have more on that below.

Da Bears traveled down to DREW Orleans, LouBREESiana where they literally got stepped on (QB Jay Cutler got stepped on or kicked in the throat) and lost 30-13.

In one of the loudest stadiums on the planet, Cutler, with a hoarse voice, struggled to call the cadence at the line of scrimmage. It was the Saints' home-opener and the venue was a factor. Unfortunately, this was the least of Cutler's problems.

Week 1's play-calling balance, protection, and production was non-existent against the New Orleans Saints. Martz called 52 passing plays to 11 rushes (that's nearly a 5:1 ratio for those of you doing the math at home). And although they only trailed by six to end the first half, Martz called 29 passing-plays to just TWO run-plays in the second half.

That is inexcusable.

I understand that football is a finite game and that if you're trailing, you'll revert to more passing plays to gain more yardage and save some clock. But good God man, run the damn ball. It'll probably make the 3rd downs more managable. It will also give the defense something else to consider. Defenses TRY to make offenses one dimensional and predictable. Martz gets off the bus and voluntarily makes Da Bears one dimensional.

Everybody knows the Saints' Defensive Coordinator Gregg Williams likes to gamble and bring pressure.  Cutler was sacked six times for a loss of 58 yards all in the second half. Although he wasn't sacked in the first half, Cutler was pressured and hit several times (which made him uneasy in the pocket, if one was actually created).

The pressure on Cutler became the turning point of the game. Da Bears were trailing 16-13 when Kellen "Revolving-Door" Davis let Turk McBride destroy Cutler on a sack-and-strip. This gave Breesus Christ and the Saints offense aspicious field-position, which led to a four-yard touchdown pass to Robert Meachum to take a 23-13 lead.

Trailing by 10 points down in DREW Orleans LousBREESiana means GAME OVER in Cajun.

Da Bears ran 35 plays in the second half (including punts). 21 of those plays resulted in either a turnover, negative yardage, no gain, or an incomplete pass. EMBARRASSING.

All of the blame doesn't fall on Mad-Martz and his offense though. The defense didn't play paricularly well on Sunday either.

Da Bears have five safties that seemingly don't understand the Cover 2 defense. They were in the perfect defense to avert the 79 yard touchdown pass from Breesus Christ to Devery Henderson, but Major Wright was late getting off of his landmark and allowed Henderson to get behind him. YOU CANNOT GET BEAT DEEP! You have a 20-yard cushion, so you can't let anybody get behind you. It's that simple.

Julius Peppers.

I think that was the first time his name has been said or written since Week 1 because he sure wasn't mentioned in Week 2. He was consistently getting dominated, IN ONE-ON-ONE SITUATIONS!

Everybody thought Brian Urlacher was going to have the game of his life after his 51 year-old mother passed away suddenly last Monday. It was tragic. So were his three tackles.

Hank Melton recorded seven hits on Matt Ryan in Week 1. He's not even listed in the defensive boxscore on chicagobears.com.

It was a bad day for General Manager Jerry Angelo. The team's weaknesses were glaring on Sunday, especially on the offensive side of the ball. Da Bears have a terribly low talent-level with the exception of a handful of players.

The front office has put Da Bears in this position. This is why I've been pining for losing seasons, so that the McCaskey Crew has no choice but to wipe the slate clean, starting from the top on down. (See previous posts for a reference). I'm pining for the day that a news release states that Ted Phillips and Jerry Angelo are no longer a part of the Chicago Bears' organization.

Earlier this week, Jerry Angelo said in reference to the offensive line being a top-priority in the offseason “We did everything you could possibly do to that position. Nobody did more than the Chicago Bears."

WHAT?! Okay, you drafted Gabe Carimi in the first round, but then you traded up in the draft to get Stephen Paea (he was healthy and not even on the active roster on Sunday). You signed a rather inexperienced Center who is now playing Guard because the Director of Player Personnel Tim Ruskell told you to do so. You didn't sign a journeyman offensive lineman to fill in as your rookie and sophomore book-ends develop. And you can't even use the salary-cap as an excuse since you're millions below the cap limit.

For Jerry Angelo to say that and insult the fans' intelligence is indefensible and pathetic.

Kind of like the team's performance in Week 2. You know, the one in which he has assembled.


Tune in to the Chicago Sports Fix radio show with Josh Catlow and me, Rob Zielinski this and every Monday evening from 6 to 8pm only on http://www.chicagolandsportsradio.com/

Chicagonow.com Bears blogger Adam Oestmann will be joining us in the first hour, you don't want to miss this man's insight! Share your thoughts with us by calling 312-564-7375 during show hours or email chicagosportsfix@gmail.com

 

PREACH

X Martz the Spot

I've been very critical of Da Bears' Offensive Coordinator Mike Martz. And rightfully so. But this past Sunday, Martz called a game like his job is on the line at the end of the season. (That's because it is).

I know that he had almost eight months to game plan for the Falcons, but I'm giving him credit because he seemed to have used that time wisely. Atlanta uses a lot of Cover 3 on defense along with some Cover 1, as opposed to Da Bears who use Cover 2 as a base defense. In a Cover 3, the defense deploys THREE defensive backs to COVER a deep third of the field; ergo, Cover 3. Martz attacked Atlanta's Cover 3 defense with an OVS (outside vertical stretch). The OVS is a three-level route concept with a fade (9), corner (7), and a man in the flat. The fade is a deep route, the flat is a short route no deeper than 15 yards, and the corner is in between as far as route-depth goes, which runs outside of the numbers. This forces the deep backs, usually a safety, to make a choice on which route to jump. But here's the kicker, no matter which of the deeper routes they choose to defend, the other will be open. It's a pick your poison situation.

That's why we saw Roy Williams and Johnny Knox make wide-open receptions during Sunday's contest. It was nice play-calling on Martz' part, along with the proper route-depth and execution by the receivers. Of course, a lot had to do with QB Jay Cutler who was able to spread the ball around and complete passes to eight different receivers. Cutler completed 22 passes on 32 attempts for 312 passing yards and 2 touchdowns. Cutler's offseason work to improve his footwork and throwing mechanics made a difference. He can be better though, in hitting his receivers in stride to extend the play with more YAC (yards after the catch).

While the Offensive-line wasn't particularly impressive from an individual standpoint, they were decent as a unit. They were able to allow Cutler the time to make his seven-step drops and for the receivers the get their proper route-depth to get their timing down respectively and execute the plays called. The offense was effective, but giving up five sacks is still unacceptable. They need to work on that as an entire unit as two of the five sacks were Cutler's fault for holding on to the ball too long.

The play-calling was nearly impeccable. Martz also did a nice job calling run plays and screens early at Atlanta's defensive-ends to try to neutralize them as they were aggressively trying to get up-field and reach the QB. Matt Forte has amazing vision. With a few blocks and a Weatherspoon mistackle, Forte sprung for a for a 56 yard touchdown on a screen-pass.

In early 3rd down situations against the Cover 1, Martz used motion to create a bunch formation, which will allow at least one of the receivers to get a free-release off of the line of scrimmage. He often uses a lot of pre-snap motion to create a lot of moving parts or "window-dressing" to confuse the defense, create a mismatch, and make it tough for the secondary to get a good read. All this, in turn, will help beat most defenses, particularly the Cover 1.

Martz also kept it simple in knowing that you if just get the ball to your play-maker in space, good things can happen. This is what occurred when he called a missile screen, or bubble screen for Devin Hester. Hester is crazy-good in the open-field, especially when he gets blocks down-field like he did when he brought the ball down to the 1 yard-line. My only gripe is that has to FINISH the play. Even though they didn't have a camera angle with indisputable evidence, I'm sure he did, in fact, cross the goal-line with the ball. But make it a no-brainer, jump, dive, do something! I bet if he was still receiving bounties from the University of Miami he would've made sure the ball was clearly across the goal-line.

And finally, the play-designs on a few that Martz called, were simply brilliant. It turned out to be just an incompletion, but the play where Cutler rolled right and sold the play to the defense perfectly and over-threw a WIDE WIDE WIDE-OPEN Kellen Davis, was just masterful. I'm anxious to see what else he has in that voluminous playbook.

The offense made three red-zone appearances in the first half and only accumulated nine points. The incompletion was one result of that, but that's WAY too many points being left on the field.

That can't happen, especially on the road in New Orleans.

Tune in to the Chicago Sports Fix radio show with Josh Catlow and me, Rob Zielinski this and every Monday evening from 6 to 8pm only on http://www.chicagolandsportsradio.com/

Chicagonow.com Bears blogger Adam Oestmann will be joining us in the first hour, you don't want to miss this man's insight! Share your thoughts with us by calling 312-564-7375 during show hours or email chicagosportsfix@gmail.com

PREACH

Playing Catch Up

It's more of a theme than a title.

I went to Las Vegas. My bank account is trying to catch up.

I got married. My brain is trying to catch up.

The White Sox are nine frickin' games back. They'll never catch up.

The Tigers made a statement against the White Sox last weekend and it went "This is our damn division, now get out of Comerica and don't make up pimp-crack you again". The Sox needed to take 2 of 3 at the very least and they got swept. It's September 8th and the magic number is 13. This season is OVA! O, wait, I wrote that blog FIVE WEEKS AGO! Bold, I know.

Fanboy Cubs owner Tom Rickett's signed VP of Player Personnel Oneri Fleita to a four year extension weeks after he said the future General Manager will be able to choose his own guy for that position. The truth is trying to catch up with the Fanboy's lies and supreme foolishness.

And when did Mike Quade turn into what you get when Yoda fornicates with his sister and you scrap the bottom of the genetics barrel looking to throw some chromosomes together to make a deformed and asinine human? But I digress.

Since Lovie Smith took over as the Bears head coach, they're 13-36 when they trail a the half. The Falcons are 26-6 when they lead at the half under head coach Mike Smith. I hope Da Bears aren't trying to play catch up in the second half.

Next week's post will be much more intense and filled with X's and O's from Da Bears game, I swear.

I'm proud to announce that this very blog is a finalist in the Chicago's Most Valuable Blog Contest. Thanks for all of your support and I should have the contest results by next week. Friday is the last day to vote. http://chicago.blogger.cbslocal.com/most-valuable-blogger/blog/938-chicago-sports-fix/

My ego's trying to catch up.

The Chicago Sports Fix radio show is moving to MONDAYS. Same time from 6 to 8pm on the same station at http://www.chicagolandsportsradio.com/ with the same damn hosts Josh Catlow and me, Rob Zielinski.

Share your thoughts with us by calling 312-564-7375 during show hours or email chicagosportsfix@gmail.com

If you miss hearing my voice, you can listen to me do color commentary for the Brother Rice High School game on highschoolcube.com Friday evening at 7:30.

PREACH

On a 2 week vacation folks, 1 week down. New post coming a week after thursday. Broke even in vegas, didn't have to hit the atm once! That's a win in my book

Bears Lose in Victory Over the Bills

Da Bears won a meaningless pre-season game against the Buffalo Bills Saturday 10-3, but they lost the ability to protect the quarterback (if they ever had it in the first place).

We all know that there was a truncated off-season. We know that the newcomers on the offensive side of the ball didn't have enough time to learn Mad Martz's voluminous playbook. But for Bears' quarterbacks to get sacked nine times is inexcusable.

It wasn't ALL against the Bears' first-team O-line, but they were responsible for four of the nine sacks. Inexcusable nonetheless. On the downs he did play, QB Jay Cutler was running for his life. I'm sure most Bears fans are already predisposed to that anyway.

I'm praying that that won't be the starting five O-linemen come Week 1 against the Atlanta Falcons. Hell, I hope that it won't be the starting five come Monday when Da Bears take on the NY Giants. You remember what happened the last time Da Bears played the Giants, right? I know, I'm trying to forget that ever happened myself.

Tight-end turned incompetent Right Guard Lance "Turnstyle" Louis, as he's becoming to be known, said that he played "Below-average" Saturday night. (I smell a snarky understatement comment coming on). But it's not HIS fault people gave him a job.

Let's see, where does the blame land? Well, it begins with General Manager Jerry Angelo who had an opportunity to sign big mamma jamma Willie Colon, who can play either tackle or guard. But Colon decided to re-up with the Steelers because he got a 5/yr $29M deal with a team that actually has a shot at winning the Super Bowl. Swiiiinng and a miss. (It's not like Angelo has a ton of cap-space to make that sort of deal or anything). Then it trickles down to O-linemen coach Mike Tice, then Lovie Smith, then Martz because I like to blame Martz for a lot of things.

"Turnstyle" became ill during Wednesday's practice, so Tice took that opportunity to move up 2nd-string center Chris Spencer to take the 1st-team reps and move current starting center Roberto Garza back to his comfort-zone at Right Guard. (Garza didn't look particularly good at center Saturday).

I really wish they would switch the tackles and move Carimi to the left to protect Cutler's blindside and move J'marcus Webb back to the right. It's not a dream-team O-line, but you play with the cards Angelo deals you, unfortunately. But for some reason, the coaches are set on having Webb being the LT.

You don't hold a full-house in your hands and only show the pair.

Then again, nobody in the Bears organization is playing with a full deck.

Tune in to the Chicago Sports Fix radio show Friday with Josh Catlow and me, Rob Zielinski from 6 to 8pm only on http://www.chicagolandsportsradio.com/ 

Share your thoughts with us by calling 312-564-7375 during show hours or email chicagosportsfix@gmail.com

PREACH

Aroun' Town in August

Two weeks ago I wrote "Martz seemingly has all the control when it comes to deciding whom should be on the roster when it concerns the offensive side of the ball". Some readers wanted to know why. Well, that's what I was wondering. Da Bears will never give us a straight answer. The truth is, I don't think THEY know why their putting all of their offensive eggs into the Mad Martz basket. My best guess is that they trust the fact that with the personnel he has been pining for, along with the growth of the wide-outs and the overall familiarity with his system, that the offense SHOULD be more successful this season. Now the question is, just how successful will it be?

Zach Zaidman, beat reporter for WSCR, believes that even with Martz getting the toys he wants to play with, he will still call a more balanced game to start the season as he did after the bye-week last season when it comes to run to pass play ratio. Good guess, but WRONG. They don't call him Mad Martz for nuttin'. His throbbing ego won't allow him to call a balanced game. He's got his Bible, er, playbook, and visions of X's executing the drawings that are in his Bible. Unless he's told to peel his convoluted system back and to run between the tackles more often, footballs will be filling the air. That is, if Cutler is allowed the time to reach the seventh step on his seven-step drop.

Last week I wrote that the White Sox' season is OVA! Then they went 6-1 on their recent road trip after sweeping the reeling Minnesota Twins (for the first time since 2004) at Target Field and took three of four against the worst team in the AL in the Baltimore Orioles. Key words in that sentence are reeling and worst. Let's say God comes down from heaven, touches Adam Dunn's bat and actually makes him productive to help the White Sox win the AL Central (let's face it, it would take that sort of miracle for them to do so). They obviously don't stand a chance in the postseason against the likes of the Bawstun Red Sawks or the Nu Yawk Yankees aka Los Jankees as evidenced by their last homestand.

Side note: Mark Buehrle has worked at least six innings in his last eight starts and now has at least ten wins in every single season of the eleven years he has been a starter. Praise be to Mark.

I did, in fact, make an emotional detachment from the White Sox. But I still have a minor investment, enough to where I'll tune into a game whenever possible; however, I refuse to go against my better judgement and latch on to false hopes that they'll win the World Series in 2011. Bold, I know.

The Cubs have won three series in a row and fans are back in the stands. Hopefully this doesn't make Ricketts stupid and contemplate bringing back Hendry and Quade. Okay, that's enough of the otherwise irrelevant Cubs.

Tune in to the Chicago Sports Fix radio show with Josh Catlow and me Rob Zielinski this and every Friday evening from 6 to 8pm (although that may change in mid-September to Monday nights) only on http://www.chicagolandsportsradio.com/ 

Chicagonow.com Bears blogger Adam Oestmann will be joining us at the top of the show, you don't want to miss this man's insight! Share your thoughts with us by calling 312-564-7375 during show hours or email chicagosportsfix@gmail.com

PREACH