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.
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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.
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