Two Down Two to Go

The Bears have done it again. They have managed to get their stuff together and beat a challenging football team in the New Orleans Saints. The Bears won in overtime with a Robbie Gould field goal to defeat the New Orleans Saints 27-24.

The Bears did a much better job on defending the rush and the pass this Thursday and we should expect to see more as they need to close the remaining two games for a chance to enter into the playoffs.


GO BEARS!!!

New Orleans Will be a Challenge

The Bears will face the New Orleans Saints this coming Thursday night. New Orleans is coming off a win of their own and they will be ready to give the Bears all that they got.

If you can recall New Orleans beat Atlanta, a team the Bears failed to defeat in the forth quarter, 29-25 last Sunday. New Orleans is first in offensive passing and first in offensive yardage in the league. This is a sure challenge for the Chicago Bears. The Bears must prepare against an opponent that will be no doubt much more difficult to defeat than Jacksonville. The Bears can beat them, but it is just a matter of preparation and consistency.

The Bears defense must put it together and tighten the way they defend the pass. The majority of New Orleans drives is propelled by its passing. The Bears have to do a better job of containing the pass if they want to end any possible scoring drives by New Orleans. They also have to keep doing what they are doing on defending the rush. New Orleans has some pretty good running backs in Pierre Thomas and Reggie Bush.

The Bears offense has to continue where they left off on Sunday. They have to continue to mix up the plays and be consistent. Last Sunday the Bears offense was consistent on scoring 20 points in the first half with 10 points in those first two quarters. However, in the second half it was a totally different story. The Bears only scored a three-point field goal for the entire second half. Luckily the Bears defense was able to contain Jacksonville to only a touchdown. This won't fly so well against tougher opponents. Tougher opponents like New Orleans will continue to strike and it is up the the Bears' offense to respond and remain consistent. They have to score the TD when they have the chance and not settle for the three-point field goal all the time. Playoff teams can't do this and this is exactly what the Bears must overcome in order to increase their chances at topping Minnesota for the NFC North division lead.

Prediction:

Watch for special teams. Devin Hester will have his chance for a TD kickoff return. The Bears will win this one 23-17.

GO BEARS!!!

One Down Three to Go

The Bears played a much better game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. They took control of the game with the first turnover and converted touchdown pass from Kyle Orton to Desmond Clark (Clark's first TD of the season). The Bears won 23-10.

The Bears defense did a terrific job against defending the run which was a big strength of Jacksonville. The Bears defense was able to contain Jacksonville's two solid running backs Jones Drew and Taylor to a combined 108 yards rushing. The total yards passing allowed by the Bears defense was much less this Sunday than last Sunday's game against Minnesota, but there is still room for improvement. The majority of the first downs completed by Jacksonville came by the pass. The Bears need to tighten up the pass if they expect to beat higher quality opponents such as the New Orleans Saints.-the team they will be facing Thursday night.

The Bears offense played much more like how I expected them to play. Orton was a little more calm and the plays that were called spread out Jacksonville's defense and allowed Orton to really mix up plays with less hesitation. Just as I suspected the Bears' offense connected early and more often to tight ends Desmond Clark and Greg Olsen. This and the Matt Forte's yardage opened opportunities for the wide receivers to gain some yardage and allow the offense to better manage the field.

The Bears have four days to work out their kinks and heal up because there are three games to go and we are going to need every single one of them. Minnesota won against Detroit 20-16 which still separates them a game from the NFC title. All the Bears can do is to keep winning.

GO BEARS!!!

We Got to Be Ready for Jacksonville

The Chicago Bears who are now 6-6 on the season have some catching up to do now that they are in second place in the NFC North. A good start to getting back on track is beating Jacksonville and carrying momentum against our division opponent Green Bay a week after this Sunday.

The Jacksonville Jaguars (4-8) are a tough team although their record doesn't show it. They have been having an off-year after entering into the postseason from last year. This just adds more opportunities for the Bears,

Jacksonville has two solid running backs and a mobile quarterback that always seem to give teams trouble. Their quarterback, David Garrard, runs when he has to and likes to sling the ball. What is more interesting is how he and Kyle Orton have very similar passer ratings. -Orton leads by 0.5 points. It is also pretty interesting how evenly ranked they are offensively and defensively in the league and yet their is a big record difference.

With that being said we Bears fans know that as of late the Chicago Bears have not been playing their best football and we are yet to see their best game, which hopefully will come starting with this game.

The Bears defense needs to be that Bears defense that made there presence felt the past couple years. Defensive coordinator, Bob Babich seems to enjoy pressuring the opposing quarterback on almost every play, but with that come the consequences of a more vulnerable backfield which of late has been exploited by the Bears' recent opponents. I say they should back off on blitzing the opponents quarterback and give the defensive lineman a chance to get their sac, especially now that Tommy Harris is coming back to full strength. The defense has to adjust and the safeties need time to react to throws in the backfield. Babich's aggressive play has done a lot better on defending the run, but their is a huge deficiency on defending the pass which has been the difference in every Bears' loss this season.

The Bears' offense has to get back to its original form. Brandon Lloyd needs to get active and catch all those great throws Orton threw up for him early in the season. Orton needs to get back to mixing plays with Desmond Clark and Greg Olsen needs to start catching the balls that are right in front of him. Devin Hester needs to keep distracting people and not think too much when returning kickoffs and just look for the open gaps. As for Kyle Orton he needs to clear his mind and learn from his mistakes that he made late in the game last Sunday. He should realize that he lost his focus and rushed throws that had no room for error.

The Bears can get this sorted out. I know they can. Before they started on a losing spell you could just see that they were on the brink of becoming the dominant team that we remember in 2007.

Predictions:
The must win this game. They have no room for a loss because it is win the next four games or stay home. This is the mentality they should have. Minnesota is in first place and we can't rely on them to lose instead the Bears should focus on winning the games that are left. Bears will win. Bears 27 Jacksonville 17.

GO BEARS!!!

Little Things Made Big Difference in Minnesota Win

The little things that the Bears have been trying to fix all season finally caught up to them in Sunday's game against the Minnesota Vikings. The Bears' defense gave up 200 yards running and 178 yards passing in a loss to Minnesota 14-34.

The inconsistency of the Bears' defense yet again is still vulnerable to attack. The Bears were unable to shut down the passing game which kept a lot of Minnesota's drives going. However, it was the running that ultimately brought down the damage. At first the Bears defense did an excellent job of containing Minnesota's running back Adrian Peterson, but as Peterson got more carries he was able to put together some big runs that spread out the Bears defense and left it open for wide receivers to pick up large gains.

The game all started down-hill once the Bears offense failed to convert on forth down at Minnesota's one-yard line for a touchdown. Right after the failed conversion Gus Frerotte threw a pass to Bernard Barrian for a 99-yard touchdown run. From there on things just started to get out of hand.

The Bears offense was just a little off their game. The Bears offense combined for a total of 331 yards compared to Minnesota's 556 yards. A lot of Orton's passes were "catchable" for the receivers he threw them to but were dropped- a lot of times just bobbled off their fingertips. Many of these dropped passes were crucial to keeping the Bears' drives alive and giving some time to create some flow to the game. I have to admit, however, that after Orton threw his first interception some time in the second half we knew that the game was over. The offensive lineman throughout the game was hassled by the defensive lineman of Minnesota. Orton was constantly being pressured which led to his three interceptions and 17 Minnesota points.

No matter what the Bears have to bounce back and adjust. The Bears defense has to play consistent, Orton has to react when being pressured, and wide receivers have to make plays when they are called upon. Let's get ready for Jacksonville.

GO BEARS!!!

Bears Cut Losing Streak, Win Big Over Rams

The Bears played like they should have played last week and there are still signs of hope. They defeated the St. Louis Rams 27-3 with the defense fulfilling their assignments on defending the rush and pass.

The Bears' defense allowed a net of 14 yards rushing and 193 yards passing. They also got through the offensive line, handed 5 sacs in the game and created 4 turnovers. Now the only question is can they play like this against Minnesota this coming Sunday. We are just going to have to wait and see.

The Bears' offense played very well. They took some chances in the beginning of the game with the hand reversal to Devin Hester which then set up a quick touchdown and put the pressure on St. Louis to react. Kyle Orton is getting better, but as you can probably tell he is still limping out of the huddle. You have to give him credit for his conservative plays. He knew his limits and made short quick throws to his wide receivers. He was calm and cool and managed the offense very well. He is very fortunate that when he plays Minnesota he will be a lot more healthy and motile against a defense that is a lot more physical and effective on getting to the quarterback.

The Bears are going to have their hands full this Sunday for sure. They are 6-5 on the season and they are going to be facing a 6-5 hungry Minnesota team in their home stadium. No doubt it is going to be a run to the finish for the NFC North playoff spot. The Bears defeated a team they should beat this Sunday and they should defeat the teams in their division starting this coming Sunday. They have the skill. All we can do is see if they have the drive to seal up the division with 5 games remaining in the regular season.

GO BEARS!!!

Bears Can't Mess This One Up

The Bears just can't mess this game up this Sunday when they verse the Saint Louis Rams who are 2-8 in the season.

In the two wins that the Rams have managed to generate they have raised a lot of eyebrows. They defeated the Washington Redskins and the Dallas Cowboys, both who are favorites as playoff contenders. However, besides those two wins their losses have been pretty gruesome. St. Louis is towards the bottom of every offensive and defensive category in the league. The Bears need to take advantage of this.

In order for the Bears to win they really have to get back to basics. The Bears have been playing great rush defense but lately they have been lackadaisical on defending the pass. This is why the Bears are on a two game losing streak. The pass defense has been absolutely horrible and has made up the huge differences in the game.

The defense also has to get to the quarterback. Last Sunday the Bears were unable to get to the quarterback and create any type of pressure and intimidation to the offensive line. With this being said the quarterback of the Rams, Mark Bulger, is a much better QB than the guy we faced last Sunday. He likes to throw the long ball and he is pretty good at it. The key to this game is to contain Mark Bulger's passes to only a few yards at best. It seems to me that every time the Bears seem to play a team who has a quarterback that is either at the same playing level as their starting QB or higher, they seem to have problems on both sides of the ball. This is something that must be changed.

As for the offense they really need to mix up the plays like how they were doing before their losing streak. They need to take more chances and spread the field. Right now their plays are too easy to predict. Orton should be a lot healthier than he was in the last game so we should expect the Kyle Orton that manages the ball and breaks down the opposing team's defense.

Prediction:

Bears will win this one. Bears 38 St. Louis 28. Also look out for Devin Hester. He has had some good opportunities to go all the way for some kick returns. There is a good chance that he can break through his slump and get on a roll. St. Louis' special teams is not so hot.

GO BEARS!!!