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.


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