Bears 2010 - Week 12 Recap/Grades: SOARING HIGH - by Anil P.

If you were not a believer before, you must be now. Include myself on that list of fans that jumped on to the bandwagon that this is a legitimate team in the NFC. Most fans saw the defense play well the entire year but still had reservations about it's ability against a top tier team. Sure the Bears beat the Packers in Week 3 but after that it was likes of Carolina and Buffalo. Offensively this team has been up and down with riding on the shoulders of its franchise QB. Some questioned whether the Orton and multiple 1st round picks for Cutler/Knox trade was a good one. Cutler simply shined and the Bears scored the most points all year. The Eagles were a true litmus test of where the Bears stand and after eleven games they are the #2 seed in the NFC currently and in sole possession of the NFC North.

Jay Cutler had the best game of his career on Sunday afternoon. The 146.2 QB rating was the highest he's ever posted. JayCut completed 67% of his passes and threw for four touchdowns with only twenty-one pass attempts which is the lowest on the season in a complete game. Make no mistake about the trade for the franchise QB. As good as Kyle Orton has been playing, he's not making that first touchdown pass to Earl Bennett where it was threaded between the safety and cornerback. He's not making the second touchdown pass to Earl Bennett on and in and out off of his back foot. He's not making a 9-yard run on a busted play like Cutler did in the 1st Quarter. Sunday was the Cutler Bears fans were hoping for when the trade went down on in April of 2009. Validation for a QB, Coordinator and a 8-3 playoff bound team has just occurred.

NOTES:

Tony Siragusa is...

Useless. I'm not a big college anything fan but I do appreciate Erin Andrews.

Vick looked...

Good

Like a video game with his spin move on Chris Harris to go from a sack to a 3-yard gain

Elusive as he evaded multiple sacks with his athletic ability

Like the MVP with the last three Eagles drives resulting in FG, FG and TD to get within five points

Julius Peppers is a bad man...

Key sack on third down forced a field goal. His constant pressure by him and the whole defensive line was felt. Fantastic signing Angelo.

Field is torn up

Easily the worst field in the NFL. Even Siragusa and Moose Johnston talked about the field conditions. Moose spoke to a unheralded fact about a Dallas game back in his playing days and how changing the spikes on the cleats led to a difference in ability on the field. I don't recall seeing many Bears players having an issue with the mud and sand but plenty of Eagles defenders were slipping including Joselio Hansen on the Knox touchdown.

Jeff George or Brett Favre?

Comparisons to George have been talked about but Cutler is one win away from his first winning season and has a realistic chance to prove himself in the playoffs. The left handed shovel pass was very Favreish.

O-line improves but still sucks

Forte had two big runs but otherwise his YPC is only 2.3 and four sacks on Cutler were breakdowns either physically, technically or mentally. Omiyale had his worst game of the season as he let up two sacks to Trent Cole.

Grades

QB

Cutler had the best games of his career. Very few shaky throws and he made plays with his feet. This is what Bears fans were waiting for. #6 completed 14 of his 21 passes for 247 yards with a gaudy 11.8 Y/A. Most importantly the threw four touchdowns with zero interceptions. Overall Grade: A

RB

Forte carried the load here with 117 yards on the ground. Two big plays stand out with the 61 and 28 yard runs respectively. He also chipped in two receptions for 22 yards. Forte's big run in the first forced the Eagles to respect the running attack for the entire game. Chester is nowhere to be found in production as of late with -3 yards on the day. Overall Grade: A

WR

This unit did well as a ton of yards were earned after the catch. Knox and Bennett both had big plays after a curl route. One of which for Bennett made him flex right after...the most emotion seen out of the man from Vandy. In the start of the third quarter, Hester contributed 80 yards of that three play touchdown drive. 46 yards on the return and a 34 yard reception on a school yard play with Cutler. This unit totaled 210 yards in the air on ten receptions with three touchdowns. Overall Grade: A

TE

Martz had the tight ends protecting for most of the game. Both Manumaleuna and Olsen were held back to help out the offensive line. Olsen had one reception which was the athletic touchdown pass in the third quarter. Manumaleuna's lone reception looked more like a offensive lineman making a play. Still, six points was created by this unit regardless of its lack of statistics. Overall Grade: B

O-Line

This unit played better and created a few holes when needed. Still some mental breakdowns by Webb and Garza led to easy sacks on Cutler. Omiyale was owned by Trent Cole as he allowed two sacks on speed rushes and bad techniques. Omiyale was also whistled for a false start. The Chicago Bears lead the NFL in false starts. On the ground in the fourth quarter when the Bears needed to run out the clock, the line was only able to help the running game attain three yards and that doesn't include the two yards lost on Cutler's kneel downs. Overall Grade: C

D-Line

Quite simple the MVP of the game is the whole unit. Vick was never comfortable in the pocket with constant pressure from all involved. Peppers, Adams, Toeainia, Idonijie, Harris and Melton all stood out and made plays. Melton and Idonije each had half a sack in the first drive on a stunt play between the two. Melton drove up in the gap and took on both the guard and tackle while Idonije ran right around the backside. The Harris to Harris connection took place in the 2nd quarter with the Eagles driving. Tommie drove right up the gut and got a paw on the ball for a PD which landed in Chris's hands. This led to a Bennett TD and was a 14 point swing in favor for the Bears. Peppers is earning every penny this year. His sack in the third quarter was the easiest all year as he came in unblocked. His constant motor and tripping up Vick to end a drive displayed how he does not take a play off. Adams and Toeainia each had a sack as well. Overall Grade: A

LB

This unit is usually the most dependable and they had a good but not great game. Urlacher stood out for his pass deflection in the endzone but on the next play the touchdown pass to Maclin in the 2nd quarter was thrown right by him as well. The forth quarter touchdown to Celek was good coverage by #54 but still was on his watch. The safeties were playing back for most of the game leaving the LB's to take care of the run. McCoy had 53 yards on only 10 carries but that's a hefty 5.3 average. Overall Grade: B

DB

Safeties stayed out of the box for majority of the game to take away the deep threat. In the 2nd quarter on after the third Chicago touchdown they were playing 30 yards back the whole game. Harris led this group with two pass deflections and one interception. Major Wright led in tackles with four and Manning had some interesting routes to fill gaps. I still like #38 sitting on the bench and returning kickoffs here and there versus being the free safety for this squad. Not much work for the cornerbacks this game as most of the Eagles plays were down the middle. With that said, there was still 333 yards allowed in the air with two passing touchdowns. Overall Grade: B

Special Teams

Both Gould and Maynard did well here with Robbie hitting his lone FG from 23 yards and Brad averaging 43.6 on five punts. The return game was great with Manning and Hester each having a return of 44 and 46 respectively. However, some flags were thrown on the returns negating one by both Manning and Hester and also on coverage as well. Coverage was also just poor with allowing DeSean Jackson a 36 yard return early in the game. Overall Grade: B

Coaching

Lovie is now 4-0 after the bye week and the mantra of balance is holding still. Martz essentially could do no wrong this game with zero turnovers from the offense as they didn't put the defense in a bad position. The ability to make big plays down the field and still go to the running game speaks to the maturation of the players on the field for the Martz offense. What really stands out is the ten minute, seventeen play drive in the third quarter. While it only resulted in a field goal it still took plenty of clock off. It was apparently needed as the Eagles scored on the next three possessions. Defensively this unit was impressive for three quarters. Once it had it's lead, it went back into a strict Cover-2 defense to just kill clock and hold the lead. Vick did adapt and start throwing a lot of underneath routes and dump offs to get yards. Still the defense was huge in the first half and made the lone turnover in the game which was the turning point. Overall Grade: A

The NFC North Leading Chicago Bears are 8-3 and head to Detroit on Sunday. If you are going to be a playoff team you need to beat the teams that are struggling. The last time the Bears had a big win was in Week 3. Week 4 was against the Giants and the Bears crapped out and lost their QB for a game and half. Complete focus and execution was had Sunday and hopefully this consistency that was born out of the bye week continues. Nothing will be easy for this 2010 team as all away games are divisional opponents and both home games are against the Jets and Patriots who are both playoff bound. Still this past weekend proved to me that the Bears are a legit contender in the NFC and a team on the rise. Bear Down!