What kind of team are the Bears going to be?

The main question coming out of Sunday's victory in Seattle is what kind of team are the Bears? Are they the kind of team that plays up to and down to the competition? Are they a team that will dominate teams once they can put together two good halves? Are they a team that is 4 gimme field goals away from 0-3? To me it looks like they will be a team that plays to the competition, although we should be closer to an answer next week versus the Lions. It's clear that this team can win close games, but it would be nice to dominate once.

• 3rd down. One of the biggest problems in the first half and most of the game was the Bend, but not break defense. Too many times the Bears let the Seahawks off the hook on 3rd downs and 3rd down and long. The Julius Jones TD comes to mind. However, the Bears did stop them when it counted. Just look at Olindo Mare's line 4-6 FGs. 6 FG attempts?
• Receivers. I said this last week, but it seems clear that Bears management was correct in the face of widespread calls for a free agent wideout. Devin Hester picked up a few passes off the turf and caught the game winning TD. Earl Bennett somehow hung on to a Cutler fastball that was somehow threaded through 2 defenders.
• Running game. This is another question. Are the Bears going to be a running team? Sunday should have been a breakout party, but we will have to wait until next week to see. There was some improvement in the 2nd half, but 85 yards is disappointing versus a team that is giving up an average of 139 yards a game. The Lions are giving up 111 yards a game going into next week. The running game needs to get going for the Bears to become higher tier team. I don't know if we can rely on a 4th quarter drive every game.
• Cutler. Or maybe we can. The main difference with Cutler is the confidence he gives even to the fans. Last year, if we had the ball in the same situation as the 1st 3 weeks, with a chance to win, I would have felt the impending doom. I call it Cubs syndrome. With Cutler, I felt confident we would convert a 3rd down, complete a pass, or somehow make a play.
• Linebackers. Good thing LB was our deepest position. It has shown on the field with Lance Briggs playing Pro Bowl solid defense, Nick Roach running all over the place and pushing Julius Jones to end the Seahawks last possession.
• Kickers. At some point the opponent's kicker will convert those kicks. Next up Jason Hanson.
• Daily Herald. There was a good quote by Mike Imrem in the Herald. http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=324644

"It's a road game," Bears quarterback Jay Cutler said. "It's hard to go on the road and beat somebody."
Hard? Heck, for the Bears it was like they were trying to pass a kidney stone before they finally squeezed out a 25-19 victory at Qwest Field

Thoughts on the rest

• Reports of the demise of the Patriots were exaggerated. Many TV analysts picked the Atlanta over the Patriots. Although its clear the Patriots are not the same team that went without a loss, they still are very highly rated team.
• Jets again. Well the Jets beat another team that was highly touted before the season started. They've made me a believer.
• The other side of the coin. What happened to the Titans? I was strongly on the Jeff Fisher bandwagon before the 0-3 start. They've lost some to close games to Pittsburgh 10-13, Houston 31-34, and now the Jets 17-24. I'll be more concerned if they lose to Jacksonville, but it doesn't get any easier with Indy and New England on the schedule after that.
• 86 yards total offense. Really Tampa? 86 yards?

Ludacris and Glenn Beck?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/20/weekinreview/20segal.html

Lovie's Fav Five?
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-24-haugh-sep24,0,1718620.column

Sydney?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/23/AR2009092300448.html?hpid=artslot

Bears steel one

Let's face it as good of a win as this was it wouldn't have happened without two Reed FG misses. On the other hand, getting a W and staying with the defending champions is a lot better than 0-2.

Notes on the game:

• Bears running game: Non-existent. 44 yards? Forte: 13 carries for 29 yards? I'll give them a pass this week against a strong Steelers D, but we need to see the run at some point this season. Aren't the Bears a running team?
• Stopping the run: For the second straight week the Bears have held tough against the run. GB: 76 yards, Pit 105 yards. The Steelers started to run the ball well near the end of the game, but the Bears D stuffed them on a number of plays.
• Lovie's calls: A big difference on D, at least to me, is the play calling. Since Lovie took over the play calling the Bears seem a lot more effective on defense balancing coverage with selective blitzing.
• 1st quarter: The 1st quarter was awful. It look as though the Steelers were going to rollover the Bears on both sides of the ball. Luckily, I left the TV on and was surprised.
• 2 FG missed: I don't know if we can rely on 2 missed field goals every week.
• 3rd Down: Another difference this year with Cutler seems to be the offense's ability to pick up the 1st down on 3rd down. 7 for 14 yesterday is not bad. It always seemed like the offense was able to convert a crucial 3rd down.
• Special teams: Robbie Gould was solid as usual, but some of the coverage on punts needs to be improved. Maybe I'm just spoiled with good coverage, but it seemed that the punt returner got free a couple times. Although nice fumble to end the game.
• Faith in Management: It seems that Bears were justified in having faith in their wide receiving corp despite widespread criticism. So far I think Hester, Knox, Olson, Davis and Bennett have looked very good.
• Hanging around: It ain't too bad to hang around the defending Superbowl champs for the whole game.
• Week 3 preview: Bears @ Sea (1-1). Bears 21-10. Bears finally get a running game semi-going with Forte running for 80 yds and a TD. The Bears D for the most part shuts down Seattle bending a little at times.

Around the NFL

• Jest to Jets: Shutting down two of the best offenses two weeks in a row (Hou 24-7, NE 16-9). Headlines today even have national reporters doubting the Brady's ability after coming back from injury. The Jets have not allowed a offensive TD yet against Tom Brady, Randy Moss, and Andre Johnson.
• 49ers: 2-0 victories against two division rivals (Ari 20-16 and Sea 23-10) have the Niners in a strong spot to start the season. The question is how will the do outside the division. Next week is Minnesota.
• Cedric Benson looked good for the Bengals. A week after 76 yards on 21 carries and a TD against Denver, he has a monster game (141 yards on 29 carries) against the same Packers defense that the Bears struggled against (86 rushing yards). A comparison in for the first two weeks looks like this: Forte: 84 yards rushing, 33 yards receiving and no TDs Benson: 217 yards rushing, 32 yards receiving and 1 TD.

Tuesday Morning Quarterbacking

Bears v. Packers game notes:

• Green Bay should be a contending team this year.
• With the Steelers next week the Bears can easily start out 0-2, but the season will be far from over.
  
• Tales of the second coming of Rex Grossman are greatly exaggerated. The Bears offensive while non-existent in the first half began to click in the second half. Remember the offense looked very shaky against the Bills in the preseason opener, but looked impressive versus the Giants in the next week. Although it was Rexy when you throw an interception to end the game.
  
• The Bears Defense with the exception of the Jennings TD looked very impressive versus one of the better offenses in the NFC. The big losses in this game were the injuries.
• Linebacker is where the Bears have the greatest depth. While nobody can replace an Urlacher, Hillenmeyer, Roach, and Williams are quality replacements.
  
• Pat Mannelly makes mistakes once every decade.
• 4 Sacks and one safety is not bad day for a D.
  
• Brad Maynard averaged nearly 50 yards in 4 punts.
• Devin Hester (4 catches for 90 yards and a TD) and Earl Bennett (7 catches fo 66 yards) both established themselves as respectible receivers.
• It did hurt to lose one that was that close, to a division rival, to the Packers, when we didn't play our best
  

MJ mania

So Jordan gets inducted into the Hall tomorrow, but if you haven't looked yet there's a lot of coverage going on.

Comcast is going to run 23 hours of MJ (even if some of it looks like it will be repeated or incorporated into its normal schedule).

I've mentioned it before but Bulls.com along with Sam Smith have commemorating the event with articles about Jordan and the team for each year he played and includes interviews with former teams and Bulls personnel.

Also, the Bulls have a ton of video (some of it taken from old NBA VHS tapes with the classic Frontline style narration) of Jordan. Look under team highlights.

Also the Tribune has almost a mini-book posted online.

I would strongly encourage you to check these out. It brings back a lot of memories.

Random Thought of the Day

Why is it that when it comes to rules especially NFL rules everyone seems to be a constitutional scholar? You ask to name a famous Supreme Court case they will draw a blank. You ask them about the tuck rule and they cite Patriots v. Raiders. Everyone knows that replays have clear, controvertible evidence or that the reciever must have both feet inbounds with complete control of the ball. However it may still be counted as a catch if the receiver is pushed out. Just an observation.

Time Capsule missing... http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=318467

A must see... http://www.nba.com/bulls/video/2009/04/14/nba_jordan_20090407_top10.nba/index.html

Another cool video
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-talk-budweiser-chicago-adsep03,0,6015861.story

Muhammad Ali Irish? I didn't know. http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=318119

To exercise more you should drink more...http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/chi-talk-drinking-and-exercisesep01,0,5057050.column Well not really but it is interesting.

But recession can be good for our health according to the Canadian Medical Association Journal. http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=recession-just-what-the-doctor-orde-09-09-01