Bears Buzz: Damned In The Dome

Dave Kaplan used 97 words to describe Jay Cutler's on-field performance in Sunday night's 21-14 loss against the Atlanta Falcons.  He used 110 words to describe Cutler's post-game performance.

Yep.  It's going to be one of those kinds of Mondays in Chicago.

There might be nothing that annoys me more than annoyed members of the press.  How many times have we as fans heard media members complain about how a player or coach responds poorly to a loss?  In my eyes that's a good thing. 

As a fan, don't you want your players to be as ticked as you are after a defeat?  I do.  It shows a sense of accountability -- that what they do on the field is more than just something that pays the bills and garners groupie love.  Growing up in Santa Claus, Ind., Cutler was raised a Bears fan.  After learning that Josh McDaniels wanted to bring in his secret lover former quarterback in New England, Cutler bitched and moaned until he became a Bear.

Just like John Elway bitched and moaned his way out of Baltimore.  Just like Eli Manning whined his way out of San Diego and into New York.  (Seriously, Eli, WTF where you thinking?  San Diego had sunny weather, pretty girls and a healthy LT.  All for the sake of marketability. Really?  I digress.)  From now on, I don't want to hear anyone from the Chicago media complain about a player's post-game presser unless they say something offensive, fraudulent, explicit or so-damn-funny it needs to be on YouTube immediately.

If it doesn't fall under those categories, I don't want to hear Chicago's finest bitch and moan about someone bitching and moaning.

Want something to bitch about?  How about the running game?  Better yet, how about the lack of a running game?

Where have you gone Matt Forte?  One fumble all of last season, then to have two in one red zone drive hurts.  The first fumble was a slap to the face.  A wake up call that Forte is not an impenetrable force.  A reminder his hands were not made of Stick-Em.  The second fumble.  Well, that was like a kick in the nuts.

This is where it would be great if the Bears had a better than average back-up running back.  If anything, the NFL is a copy cat league, so I'm trying to figure out why the Bears haven't put used the copy and paste method on this ideology.  Each of the NFC's first place teams have a dynamic duo of backfield.

Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor in Minnesota.  Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw in New York.  Reggie Bush, Mike Bell and Pierre Thomas in New Orleans.  Frank Gore and Glen Coffee in San Francisco.

The Bears have Forte and ... "The Other" Adrian Peterson?  Garrett Wolfe?  Those names haven't excited anyone outside of Georgia Southern or Northern Illinois University upon graduating and moving on to the NFL.  Chicago could have selected Coffee in the third round, but instead went with the guy whose claim to fame is jumping out of a swimming pool. 

The career expectancy of a running back is short.  Forte's shelf life is probably going to take a hit because all the hits he takes.  Maybe a fresh tailback gets into the end zone on that leap to cross the goal line.

Maybe a better offensive line gets a push.

Just a thought.

The Bears defense played well.  Not well enough.  That touchdown pass from Matt Ryan to Tony Gonzalez was too easy.  How hard is it to cover a team's most dangerous red zone target?  Hard enough where there wasn't a single Bears defender in the 770 or 404 area codes on the play.  And where was the red zone "D" on Michael Turner's touchdown scamper.

Northern Illinois University can still bite a fat one as far as I'm concerned.  (Still bitter about being put on that waiting list even though I really always wanted to go to SIU.  I'll tell that story one day.)

Anyone know whether or not Gaines Adams is going to make the transition to linebacker because that is where the Bears truly need help.

In the end, this TBDS Tweet said it all.

I think you get the picture.

Pigskin Pimpin: Salukis FTW! Edition

The Southern Illinois University football team had won 127 games from 1994-2008.  None of them were at the UNI Dome in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

In what is arguably the most bitter rivalry in the Gateway Missouri Valley Football Conference, the University of Northern Iowa had always gotten the better of Southern Illinois when the games were played indoors.  Panthers fans called it "Dome Magic."  Saluki fans called it (expletive deleted) ... among other things.

And as yours truly predicted on Friday, it all came to an end as the Salukis beat the Panthers 27-20 on Saturday at the little dome of horrors.

Consider the following.  Southern has had six head coaches try and fail to beat UNI in its back yard since Rey Dempsey's squad did the trick in 1983 en route to the school's lone national title.  Ten different First Team All-Americans have suited up in the maroon and white.  None of them came home with a road win at Northern Iowa.  Southern has fielded 16 different 1,000-yard running backs.  But none had carried the Egyptian Hunting Dawgs to a road win in the terror dome.

That all became nothing more than a past nightmare as Deji Karim rushed for 125 yards and what turned out to be the game winning touchdown. The 1-yard score on 4th-and-Goal gave SIU a 20-13 lead with about five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.

On the Panthers' ensuing possession, cornerback Brandon Williams took back a pick six to put the game on ice.

And for good measure, former Saluki great Jerry Hairston Jr. scored the winning run for the New York Yankees after leading off the bottom of the 13th with a base hit.  I guess you could pencil in a 10-tackle day for Bart Scott against the Bills and a 100-yard rushing game for Brandon Jacobs against the Saints as a pair of former Dawgs will hit the gridiron later today.

And now, the rest of your Pigskin Pimpin' on a Sunday morning...

A great day for the alma mater was made better by a loss for a school I never even thought of attending.  Notre Dame.  Sure, the Fighting Irish made it close in the end, but the Southern Cal showed it was just a better team.  At least, enough of a better team to beat the Irish by seven points.

I know ND fans thought they'd pick up a win in this one.  Their beloved Fightin' Stereotypes had the home field advantage, an edge at the quarterback position and the motivation to get it done.  However, I'm not sure why this team was so confident.  Sure, it had beaten the University of Washington, a team that had beaten USC a few weeks ago.  But if there's one thing I know about the Trojans is that they don't let an early-season loss put them down.

USC is one of the few teams that seems to get better each as the season goes on.  I guess that's why they always have an argument to be in the national title hunt at the end of the year despite losing to a mediocre Pac-10 squad earlier in the year.

Some Irish fans are shocked with the loss.  Why?  The Trojans had already beaten a quality opponent on the road.  Granted that opponent was the uber-fraudulent Ohio State, but give the Buckeyes credit where it's due -- they never lose at home.

As for Notre Dame, they somehow find a way to lose big games.  Remember when they used to win big games?  Ah, the days of Lou Holtz and Ron Powlus must feel like ages ago for fans of the Fighting Irish.

Yeah, I enjoyed the fact that Ohio State lost to Purdue.  You can't fault the Buckeyes for falling on the road in the Big Ten?  I can.  Terrell Pryor ain't winnin' the Heisman.  Not this year.  Maybe not ever.  He's gone after his junior year -- you heard it here first.  Still, gotta love The Sweatervest.

As for Purdue, well, Purdue is bad.  Plain bad.  Drew Brees isn't running the show.  Neither is Kyle Orton.  Once upon a time, Joe Tiller offenses used to light up the scoreboard.  Now, it's the Boilermaker defense that spends most of the time getting lit up.

At least Purdue has Matt Painter (yet, another Saluki reference in tonight's blog) and basketball season in the not-too-distant future.

The Atlanta Falcons provide the Chicago Bears with their biggest test to date when the team's square off for a nationally televised game on NBC.  Here's hoping Chicago fares better tonight than the last time the team was under the national microscope.

The bad news is that Jay Cutler is one four-INT game away from being the worst quarterback evar! in Chicago Bears history.  That's just how Chicago sports fans are.  One week, you're the savior.  The next week, the only person more maligned than you is Satan.  Those are just the breaks.

However, the good news is that the Bears do have Jay Cutler, and that means if this game gets into a shootout -- like the Falcons' Week 5 match-up against a good 49ers team -- Chicago should be adequately prepared.

Cutler has 10 games under his belt in which he has thrown for at least 300 yards.  He also has a 447-yard throwing performance in his back pocket as well.  In his big games, he owns a 60 percent completion rate and an 18 career touchdowns against 13 interceptions.  Cutler is 5-5 in such games.  In the wins, Cutler owns a 4-1 TD-to-INT ratio (12 TDs, 4 INTs) and his teams have averaged 32.6 points per game with a 41-point game against the Oakland Raiders in Sept. 2008 being the high-water mark.  On the other hand, Cutler's teams have allowed an average of 35.6 points per game in the losses.

For the Stat Boy in all of us:  The Falcons are averaging 25.5 points per game in 2009.  The Bears average 26.2 points per game.  Cutler is 14-1 when his defense allows 20 points or less.

Anyone ready for a shootout in the Georgia Dome tonight?

Bears Buzz: Can Bears Fly By Falcons?

Bears Buzz is the new segment which provides insight, analysis and below-the-belt shots at Chicago's opponents throughout the year. After a bye week, the Chicago Bears march into Atlanta to take on the Falcons.

 

Da Bears roll into Atlanta for a prime-time match-up on NBC against the 3-1 Falcons.  The Bears' biggest challenge will be trying to slow down the incomparable Mike Vick, who John Madden famously said is good because he knows how to use his hands and feet at the same time.

Wait.  What?  You say Mike Vick is an Eagle, not a Falcon.  Sorry.  I got my birds mixed up.  Let's try this again.

There was plenty to smile about after the Chicago Bears' 48-24 dismantling of the Detroit Lions in Week 4.  Then the bye week came.  And at 3-1, the Bears will face a challenge the team has yet to face this season.


A well-rounded football team.

Had you told me in 2004 that Northern Illinois grad Michael Turner would be one of the NFL's best running backs in 2009, I would have laughed at you and besmirched the name of Huskie football.  By now, I would have thought Turner would have been running a gas station somewhere just outside of DeKalb, Ill., but instead, "The Burner" has made quite a name for himself in Atlanta.

Last season, Turner justified a contract as hefty as his belly with a career year as he rushed for 1,699 yards and 17 touchdown runs.  There's an old saying in Chicago that talks about the Bears coming off the bus running.  You can say the same about the Falcons and the tandem of Turner and Jerrious Norwood.

For the Bears to win this game, the Brian Urlacher-less defense must not allow the Falcons' bus drive to open the doors.  If anything, maybe Lance Briggs can slash the tires or something.

The problem with that ideology is it will force Matt Ryan to drop back, wind up and heave it down the field.  Last year, that would not have been much of a problem because the solution to stopping the Atlanta's aerial assault was rolling the DBs over to Roddy White's side of the field.  That solution is no longer viable because tight end Tony Gonzalez lurks in the middle of the field.

Gonzalez is second on the team in receiving yards and has a pair of reception touchdowns so far this season.  He is the security blanket Ryan did not have as a rookie.  It's the fall back plan the Bears currently do not have an answer for on defense.  Do you stick him man-to-man with Lance Briggs or do you leave Briggs to lock his eyes on what is happening with Turner and the rest of the Falcons' backfield.

Unlike last season when Bob Babich's defense looked dazed and confused, the Monsters are actually living up to their namesake under Lovie Smith.  The defense has only allowed 19.5 points per game and has forced two turnovers in each of the three victories.

Conversely, the Atlanta defense has forced 9 turnovers in the team's four games this season, spearheaded by four takeaways in the season opener against usually sure-handed Miami and three more against a disciplined 49ers squad.

The Bears have only turned it over twice since the Opening Night debacle at Green Bay.  Since then, Jay Cutler has thrown 7 touchdowns against only 1 interception.

Football is the most simple of all the professional sports, for success can be found in a three-step formula.

• Run the ball
• Stop the run
• Pressure the quarterback
  

Last season, Forte garnered 110 total yards from scrimmage and scored two touchdowns against the Falcons.  It's the kind of performance the Bears could use again in the Georgia Dome.  Forte rushed for 121 yards against the Lions last week, but with a patch-work offensive line, even you can rush for 100 yards.  So, while offensive coordinator Ron Turner looks to fire up Forte, the Bears "D" will look to stump the talented Mr. Turner.

The Bears have allowed only an average of 93.5 yards per game on the ground.  In that time they've faced a bevy of talented running backs such as Ryan Grant, Willie Parker, Rashad Mendenhall and Kevin Smith.

But before giving Chicago the edge, take the following into consideration.

The Steelers were without star safety Troy Polumalu.  The Seahawks were without quarterback Matt Hasselback.  The Lions were without Barry Sanders.  (They're the Lions -- they just plain suck.  Who else did you want me to say?  Herman Moore?  Scott Mitchell?  Wayne Fontes?)  It was a good thing to see the Bears took advantage of the short-handed bunch and pick up three wins after falling apart in Week 1.

Hopefully, this prime time affair ends with less tears and more cheers (and beers) for Chicago's finest.