BEARS GAME 1 RECAP

Sorry this post is coming so late this week, but I've been swamped this whole week. Anyways, I just wanted to quickly review the great Bears win that came in week 1 vs the Colts...

Let me start off by posting this video of Brian Urlacher talking to Andrea Kramer after the game, because Urlacher's answer goes hand in hand with the way that they played during the game...



Now let me get something else off my chest real quick about this Bears win. There are a ton of people out there that are discrediting this Bears win because "Manning was rusty"...Are you kidding me? Let me ask you guys something, since when did people start caring about other team's injuries in the NFL? Did anyone care about the fact that we were missing two of our best defensive players in Harris and Brown when we lost to the Colts in the Super Bowl? Did anyone seem to care when we were missing over half of our defense last year, and teams were beating us? Hell no!!! This is the NFL, and the reality is, injuries happen. I know it sucks, but all our teams have been in that same situation in the past, and we all know how it feels. But to discredit another team that played great and dominated the game, just makes me upset. The Bears deserve props because they went into hostile territory and dominated both sides of the ball vs the Colts, because they played like "they expected to win" like Urlacher said, and because they went out on the field and executed their game plan to a T. So give the BEARS THEIR DUE!!! Ok phew, since that is off my chest, let me talk really quickly about the game itself.

First let me start off by saying something I haven't said in a long, long time. Lovie, Babich Patch Kid, and Ron Turner put together a great game plan for this game. On the offensive side of the ball, we finally "got off the bus running". We stuck with our ground game, and it paid dividends in the long run. It also helped setup the play action later in the game. That was great to see, because if this team wants to be successful this year, we are going to need to pound the ball on the ground. The defensive game plan was also itself masterful. The Bears confused Manning with an array of blitzes during the game. Usually the words Manning and confused are never uttered in the same sentence, but they were after this game. As Ogunleye said "Today you could see how confused Peyton was. He didn't know what the hell was going on." It was great to see Lovie and Babich finally unleash our defense, because as we saw last week, it can be lethal when used properly. Overall the game plan on both ends of the ball was great, so hopefully we can see more of the same going forward this season.

Here are some other things I loved about this game...

The Offensive Line played great - They opened up some great holes for Forte and Kevin Jones, and kept Orton off his as$ for the entire game. They also limited their usual dumb penalties a lot of us fans had gotten sick of seeing from last year, and that was huge. Overall they played great and a lot better than most people expected, so let's see how they do this week vs a more physical Carolina team.

FORTE!!! - Rookie was amazing in this game, totalling a 141 yards rushing and receiving, and scoring a touchdown. And his TD run was the game breaking play of the game. On that run, Forte juked the Colts defense, and outran Bob Sanders on his way to his first NFL TD. Forte also showed that he could take a big NFL hit, by taking a huge hit from Sanders and coming right back into the game during their next offensive series. Also, I don't know if anyone knows this, but Forte had a better Bears debut than former Bears greats such as Walter Payton and Gale Sayers. He has a long way to go before being mentioned in the same breath as those RB's, but let's hope this kid can keep on doing what he is doing. He was amazing in his first game, that's for sure!

Orton makes a great debut as starter - Orton definitely played a great game in this one. He made great throws all game long, and showed great accuracy by hitting a bunch of different WR's all throughout the game. He also did not commit any turnovers, which was one of the biggest reasons the Bears won the game. Orton also was as cool as a cucumber back there at QB. The game started off with a botched exchange between him and Kreutz, but that didn't seem to phase him at all throughout the game. Orton also didn't seem to get flustered at all, and that was great to see. Another thing I noticed was that Orton audibled a ton of plays during this game. That was significant because we rarely saw Wrexy do that when he was at the helm. It just shows how much Orton has matured and how well prepared he really was for this game. Orton will be tested a lot more in this upcoming game and throughout the season, so hopefully he can play well and shut up all the naysayers.

The Defense reminds us all of the '06 season - Everyone played great in this one, and the D looked like their old selves by creating havoc, playing fast, causing turnovers, picking up safeties, and scoring Touchdowns!!! That pretty much sums up the defense's performance for the entire game, so what more can you say. It was also great to see Dusty D and Mike Brown play great and stay healthy. Both are great guys and great players, and personal favorites of mine. The D now just needs to make sure they are not satisfied with this performance, and they need to keep this same type of intensity and play up for the entire season.

That's about it for my recap from Week 1, so check back tomorrow for my The Bears Will Win... post which will be up tomorrow morning before the game. Last week's post must have been read by the Bears themselves, because they came through with pretty much everything on that list to get the W. Gnite, and GO BEARS!!!

I leave you with Forte's game changing TD run...