Week 4 In-Game Blog

Cedric Benson and Devin Hester both fumbled again??? Lucky for us they went out of bounds.

Griese looks decisive in his progressions, but Bernard Berrian is not doing B Griese any favors with two major dropped passes, both would have been for first downs.

Defense defense defense... So far, B McGowan is stepping up and it's a real good thing that T Harris decided to play today because he real good.

Garret Wolfe just got in the game, I have to think it has to do with C Benson coughing up the ball again... We'll see how many more times we will see Benson after this...

2Q ~ 7:00Min - Berrian has just caught two big passes this drive and he needs to keep that up through the rest of the game.

2Q ~ 5:18min - Another thing... the Bears are running a lot of shotgun today and Kreutz seems to be firing the ball back to the QB with authority.

With Wolfe in and carrying for the third time this drive, it seems to me that C Benson might not see the field again this half.

2Q 4:16 - Muhammad just caught a beautiful TD pass from Griese. He was given a perfect pocket to throw from and Griese just made a perfect pass.

2Q 4:11 - B Ayanbadejo is real good on coverage teams, which reminds me... Isn't Obefemi Ayanbadejo set to come back next week? I wornder if they will activate both fullbacks against GB...

2Q 2:15 - It seems that the Bears' defense is playing well today despite having most of the side of the ball being inactive.

2Q 2:00 - So, the first half grade on Griese is better than what I would have given any half to Grossman during the first three games... and if you know me, you know how much it pains me to admit that...

3Q - Too many ticky-tack penalties today, what's with the two offsides penalties on Alex Brown? Awful calls, they never call that penalty. Griese seems to have a pretty good rythym going with the offense and the defense seems to be holding strong.

4Q - just gave up a TD to Detroit... I was thinking that the challenge flag happy Martz has continued his ways with Detroit today.

4Q 12:08 - No one ever calls a neutral zone infraction penalty - ever. The Bears have been flagged 3 frigging times for it today. Ticky-tack... Way too many penalties, Lovie will not be happy with them this week in practice regardless of the outcome.

4Q :58 - If you are going to send up a jump ball in teh endzone you throw it to Moose Muhammed, not Berrian, hence why they had to kick the FG.

Final - Well, in the end, it came down to blocking and tackling. Specifically the vauted Offensive line was not blocking and the injury-riddled defense did not tackle well. Hard to hold your head up going into Green Bay with a 1-3 record .

- ST

Bears Week 3 Postgame Thoughts...

So, Slim Tim may have finally reached his limit with his support of Rex Grossman... But, I have to point out a couple of other things that I saw...

- The Bears really miss Mike Brown.
- John Tait is showing his age.
- Why don't the Bears run the ball. Run the ball, run the ball, run the ball. The only pass plays should be play action passes. Run the ball.
- On the Rex topic, how is it that Cedric Benson turns the ball over and he gets benched in the last two games, but Rex turns the ball over three times and he still plays. Is there no problem with Cedric's psyche that he can handle sitting and not getting back into the game after screwing up?
- The Bears are really gonna miss Mike Brown now that N Vasher, T Harris and L Briggs got hurt.
- Oh yeah, I almost forgot... RUN THE BALL!!!

- Slim Tim

Bears Postgame.

OK, my Bears thoughts...

This is probably their toughest game on the schedule, they aren't going to go 16-0 which means they have to lose a couple of games here or there, so just chalk this one up to their 15-1 season.

The bad taste in my mouth about the loss is all too familiar, though...
Defense works their collective tails off for 60 minutes and the offense just sputters. Benching the starting tailback for fumbling at a crucial time, and yes... Benson was benched. The Offensive Line seemed old and slow, huh, hard to believe because... they ARE old and slow. It all comes down to blocking and tackling. The defense did their part in tackling, but the blocking was just not there. No one would have been able to run through the non-existent holes in the offensive line.
And... Rex did alright considering, I mean the sacks that he had - no one would have been able to avoid - I am actually surpised that he did not fumble the ball... And, the turning point in the game was the fluke turnover on the punt return, your defense needs to rush back out onto the field right after stopping their offense...

Who would have thought that the Bears would be in sole possession of LAST place in the division (at any point in the season) - looking up and GB, DET and MIN.

The worst part of the weekend... the absolute worst part... and the one thing I feared most... was that Mike Brown is lost for the season - without much depth behind him.

So... next week we have KC in our home opener. KC is coming off a really bad loss to HOU and will be fighting mad. They do not want to start the season off at 0-2 just as much as the Bear do not want to start 0-2. The Bears will have their hands full again trying to stop Larry Johnson. So, looking forward... if the Bears Defense can match the performance turned in in week 1 against KC and the Bears offense can perform up to their level of talent, they have a real good chance of winning.

- Slim Tim

Hass and Ball fantastic catches.

Ball and Hass fantastic back-to-back catches.

Bears in the rankings September 1st....

So, here are the Bears preseason rankings..

Bears at Number 4 at ESPN's power rankings - In the past few years, Super Bowl losers generally haven't fared well the next season. But if Rex Grossman can find consistency in 2007, the Bears could have an easy time in the NFC.

Bears at Number 5 at CBS Sportsline - When you play the style of football they do, the margin for error is small. Everything will have to go right for the Bears to be back in the Super Bowl. That rarely happens.

Bears at Number 6 at FOX Sports - Not exactly the way you want to enter the playoffs. The Bears, going with their starters in the first half of Sunday night’s game with the Packers, lost 26-7 at home. Rex Grossman went 2-12 and threw three interceptions before being replaced by Brian Griese. His thoughts afterward? "I've been in this position before. I hate this. I hate it." Hmm ... so do the Bears fans, Rex.

- Slim Tim