I'm beginning to BELIEVE in the Bears. I was always skeptical about the Lovie Smith regime, but their impressive wins against the NY Giants, Seattle Seahawks, and San Francisco 49ers has injected a shot of confidence in this team. Sure, the Arizona and Miami games were ugly, but the team showed how it can come back against the former team. The Bears have shown their weakness and their strengths, with the latter overshadowing the former.
Chicago Bears Weaknesses:
- Rex Grossman: Will the impressive one show up, or will the rookie-esque player give Chicago fans more headaches.
- Rush Defense: We saw Tiki Barber gain 8 yards per carry on Sunday. The 49ers also put up formidable numbers against the Bears rush defense. This needs to be fixed.
- Jones vs Benson: Which one of these guys can truly produce for the Bears?
- Bernard Berrian: Will he be healthy-enough to be a factor against the Jets and Patriots?
Strengths:
- Rex Grossman: If he comes to a game prepared, expect many TD passes. He can be very brilliant!
- Defense: Eli Manning had a difficult time passing the ball in the second half, thanks to the defense.
- Brian Urlacher: The face of the team, and the guy who makes the defensive plays happen.
- Safety Mike Brown: He's a key defensive player. Hopefully he'll be healthy soon.
- Defensive Line, Tommie Harris: Getting sacks like a motherfucker!
- Devin Hester and Special Teams: 108 yd return TD, forced turnovers, need I say more?
Despite these strengths, I'm not ready to begin calling a Superbowl trip for the Bears. We'll have to see if they beat the Jets (which I think will get slaughtered by the Bears) and the Pats. If the Bears win these last two games of the road trip, I'll officially be on board the bandwagon. If they split the games, I'll most likely jump aboard soon after. The NFC is grossly inferior to the AFC, so these games are important. I hold the Bears to be favorites in the NFC, but many questions remain. Let's just say I'm very close to BELIEVING!
GO BEARS!
3 comments:
Hey man that was a pretty kick ass article, thanks for contributing. Think you summed it up fairly well there.
Like I said last week I was convinced the Miami game brought this team back down to earth, and this needed to happen, and it seemed like perfect timing. A loss to the Giants would have given them ground in the NFC standings and a direct win for a tiebreaker, I think it would be a whole new platform if this happened at the beginning of a three game road trip.
Knowing our weaknesses is our best strength. Its no coincedence the run defense has dropped off after we lost Mike Brown, this actually happened in a past season before with a injury to this safety. Between Jones and Benson it can be said weve underutilized Benson but he has had some issues with blocking. The ground game hasn't quite been what it was as this has always been a run first town, but Jones is no slouch, 150 yds against the Giants the other night. Rex, well, his inexperience is a huge factor, we just have to trust that he works hard at his mistakes. I think the game at NY showed he can rebound.
That being said, I didn't pick the Bears to go to the Super Bowl at the start of the year. At this point I don't know what will happen in the second half of the season. There are some tough teams out there. All I can do is cheer them on each week.
By the way, I think its totally feasible to be a Bears fan and not jump on the Super Bowl band wagon, shows you're watching the games. We're not a perfect team, but doesn't we won't make it, and doesn't mean we're not real fans if we don't say Super Bowl or bust. I mean, did you see how many people jumped off and tried to distance themselves after the Miami loss? But I guess thats how bandwagons work.
Exactly! You can get a perfect example of the on-and-off bandwagon jumping by listening to 670 AM the Score. Mike North is one of the few guys on there who think the way we do.
Keep up the good work, and I'll continue to contribute whenever I can.
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