Bears vs Lions Post Game Analysis

Bears win week 1 in a close game against the Lions 19 - 14. It was a tale of two halves. The first half the Bears moved the ball at will against the Detroit defense, Cutler had over 250 yards through the air in the first half and the running game was efficient for the limited action they saw. Still 4 turnovers held us to only 13 points on what should have been 21+ points.

The defense played very well the first half but had a soft series on the Lions second touchdown drive. The defense gave up no points in the second half and took full advantage of Matthew Stafford watching the game from the sideline.

The Bears offense was slowed down in the 2nd half. Their offensive line played awful, the running game was stuffed at the line of scrimmage every attempt, and the receivers could not get open and caused Cutler to hold the ball far too long in the second half. In the end we win the game because of two huge plays by Matt Forte and our defense played really well.

The Positives
- Brian Urlacher looked like this was 2007, the year off looks to have allowed his back to heal and he was fast an all over the field.
- Chester Taylor had some big first downs and made some big plays with the limited action he saw.
- Our entire defense played well, all three levels. The surprising thing is our secondary played really well, Calvin Johnson was shut down completely. They also caused 3 turnovers.
- First half passing game and Matt Forte. Forte with two huge plays to win the game for us. Cutler made a bad decision throwing a pick into triple coverage but was unstoppable in the first half.

The Negatives
- Our offensive line had a decent first half (by the standard I hold them to) and Jay helped them out by moving really well in the pocket but the second half was atrocious. Could not gain a yard at the 1 yard line in 4 attempts and allowed too much pressure on Jay in the second half.
- Our receivers did nothing in the second half, Jay was holding the ball for what seemed like an eternity in the second half because no one could get separation.
- Coaching decisions, not kicking the field goal and taking the lead when our defense had not allowed a first down in the second half at the that time. Martz's call on second down was awful as well on that series, should have quarterback sneaked it in on first down.
- Our running game, we did not run it much in the first half but we had respectable gains from the limited action in the first half. Second half was painful to watch as far as running the ball.
- Turnovers, no need to elaborate.

In the end we won the game, but this was a game we should have won by a lot more. Winning a game against the Lions in the last two minuets when they scored no points in the second half and had a backup quarterback playing the majority of the game... lets see how that works out against Dallas or Green Bay, it won't. Our offense needs to be more consistent, we need to take care of the ball, and our offensive line needs talent (I know this cannot be fixed at this point but this will be an ongoing problem the entire season).

good break down

obviously the bears need to take better care of the ball..however Cutler only had 1 pick today....so that could be a positive.....Forte looks better...especially in the open field racking up alot of yards....obviously cutler played well..and the Bears defense looked pretty rejuvenated...however will it stay like that for the rest of the season when injuries and other factors come into play?

The thing i'd be worried about is the fact that a receiver really hasnt stepped up...yes cutler did have a great day but alot of the yards were RB passes....a WR needs to step up and be a reliable target for cutler because Forte isnt going to get 100 yards receiving every game

Cant argue with anything here.

CODE_BLUE56 said:

Cutler only had 1 pick today....so that could be a positive

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Good point. Everyone who gets on his case about throwing picks needs to get over it. He is going to throw double digit picks this year and every year down the road, he is not a Drew Brees type player he is more like Brett Favre from 5 years ago. Cutler is a gunslinger who is going to take chances, some will payoff and others will not.

I don't care how many picks he throws this year I only care how many wins he can deliver.

Im on my way out the door but I just want to point out how great Brad Maynard played. He had Detroit pinned down for an entire half within their 10 yard line. I say he gets player of the game. Just my 2 cents.

even in his best year at denver,cutler had 18 picks

CODE_BLUE56 said:

good break down

obviously the bears need to take better care of the ball..however Cutler only had 1 pick today....so that could be a positive.....Forte looks better...especially in the open field racking up alot of yards....obviously cutler played well..and the Bears defense looked pretty rejuvenated...however will it stay like that for the rest of the season when injuries and other factors come into play?

The thing i'd be worried about is the fact that a receiver really hasnt stepped up...yes cutler did have a great day but alot of the yards were RB passes....a WR needs to step up and be a reliable target for cutler because Forte isnt going to get 100 yards receiving every game

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See the thing with the Bears defense is they have typically played well the first game under Lovie Smith

Last year they looked good against the Packers before blowing a late lead at the end on a long Rodgers TD pass

In 2008, they played quite well against the Colts winning 29-15

In 2007, they were winning 3-0 with 10 minutes or something like that in the 4th quarter before a Special Teams error gave San Diego great field position. SD went up 7-3, and eventually won 14-3 as the Bears offense did absolutely nothing.

And well 2006..they won 26-0 against the Packers..in route to a great season

2005 they lost 7-9 against the Redskins...but defense looked good..Bears offense was awful.

DA is the the standout WR IMO..although he should have made the catch on the deep pass into the endzone...the slant on 3rd and the 2pt conversion drops were well defended..but both catchable balls.

I was pissed they didn't sneak the ball on the 1 after the Briggs strip/sack..could have done it over and over, can't stop it 3/4 times..should have just kicked the damned fg on 4th.

I wanna see the Bears win, but that call was ridiculous.

...also, see sig..he sucks. Get rid of him.

Briggs is awesome. That is all.

Hell of a linebacker folks.

Matt360 said:

DA is the the standout WR IMO..although he should have made the catch on the deep pass into the endzone...the slant on 3rd and the 2pt conversion drops were well defended..but both catchable balls.

I was pissed they didn't sneak the ball on the 1 after the Briggs strip/sack..could have done it over and over, can't stop it 3/4 times..should have just kicked the damned fg on 4th.

I wanna see the Bears win, but that call was ridiculous.

...also, see sig..he sucks. Get rid of him.

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I agree that the call on the Johnson "TD" is due to a poorly written rule, but I also know that the league has been consistent on that rule for a while now. Those of us who remember Bernard Berrian's catch to beat Detroit in Detroit a few years back, only to have it snatched away by this same rule, are laughing right now that karma came back to bite the Lions in the ass. It was a bad rule then, as it's a bad rule now, but the universe tends to even things out eventually - we saw that today, and it got the Bears a win.:clap:

Edit: Rereading your post now, I think you intended to question Lovie's call of going for it on 4th down, not the Johnson endzone call - my bad. Anyway - it's still funny to watch the Lions benefit from a call like that on the Berrian play, than lose the game the same way a few years later.

If a player goes to the ground with the act of catching a pass.(Whether he is contacted or not) He must maintain the ball in the act of going to the ground. If he looses control of the ball and the ball touches the ground before he gets up, the pass in incomplete.

I think I'm missing another short phrase in there but it was more of the same and it's a legit rule, Last year it was used in games as well. It is what it should be.

I wouldn't get too amped up over the o-line play, because what we saw today is probably the best it's going to be all season, and Cutler still had to run for his life a lot more often than I would have hoped. Countless times the Bears had to run 2- and 3-route plays (2 wide outs off with the snap, one TE or back on a delayed route into the flats) (maximum) because they needed all the help they could get to keep Cutler from getting killed. It got to the point where Billick on the broadcast had to point out that the Bears are doing this so often because they are worried about the o-line facing the pass rush without any help.

Williams did alright against Vanden Bosch when he had Olsen/Manumaleuna come over to help, but one-on-one Vanden Bosch was routinely eating Williams' lunch and getting into the backfield. Garza and Louis were clearly having some trouble with their respective DT's all game long, and the only reason that didn't result in any more sacks than they racked up total (4 of them, by the way, but I'm sure Bears fans will forget this quickly) is because by the time Suh and Williams had beaten Garza and Louis, Cutler had already been flushed from the pocket by Vanden Bosch taking Chris Williams to school.

And the logical reason for Martz not calling for deeper pass routes throughout the game is because he quickly saw that Cutler wouldn't have the time to take a full drop and hit his man. And even if Cutler did have enough time, it was mostly because he was able to elude the pressure coming his way, but doing that would greatly change the angles from which Cutler was making the throws to his receivers, making the routes ineffective at best.

This kind of stuff worked against the Lions because, well, they are the Lions (and even then, they needed the benefit of a technicality to save them from being down 2 points (at least) with less than 30 seconds left), but only running two or three routes a play because you need to give your o-line help (and even then they struggled) will more than likely severely limit what this team is able to do offensively against the teams on their schedule with a better pass rush and defensive secondary than the lowly Lions.

Simply saying "this win wasn't pretty" is completely understating the issue. The fact of the matter is they almost (and, indeed, should have) lost to the Lions. At Home.

We're going to spend more time on this issue (as well as break down and discuss the game as a whole) tomorrow night, and we'd love to take calls and e-mails from Bears fans that have some thoughts (email us at 643Sports@gmail.com).

(re-posted from another thread, because I thought I originally was in the post-game analysis thread, so mods, do your thing in that other thread)

I think Martz is easing the O-Line in. He had 2 TE's blocking on many plays, and also rolled out Cutler to put less pressure on the line.

I think in a few weeks, we will see more 5 wide sets, leaving the O-Line by themselves. Martz just has to get the line comfortable first.

MRN said:

I think Martz is easing the O-Line in. He had 2 TE's blocking on many plays, and also rolled out Cutler to put less pressure on the line.

I think in a few weeks, we will see more 5 wide sets, leaving the O-Line by themselves. Martz just has to get the line comfortable first.

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Cutler was immediately hit and had the ball knocked out on a 2 route play. If our offensive line can protect Cutler with 3 players helping I see no reason why Martz or anyone would instill anymore trust or responsibility to the offensive line than they already have. On top of not being able to pass block our run blocking looked as bad as it did last year, and that is saying a lot.

There is no secret to why they are bad, they don't have talent. Two years ago Jerry Angelo decided that he would hire Rod Marinelli to coach the defensive line to help fix our atrocious pass rush. Last year it was just as bad as it was in 2008 so he finally decided to get the talent and signed Peppers this off season.

This year he is making the same mistake, he hired Mike Tice thinking the offensive line issues could be coached out and added no talent to the line. It is not going to work and I hope him repeating mistakes finally lands him into the back of the unemployment line.

Fiasco said:

Cutler was immediately hit and had the ball knocked out on a 2 route play. If our offensive line can protect Cutler with 3 players helping I see no reason why Martz or anyone would instill anymore trust or responsibility to the offensive line than they already have. On top of not being able to pass block our run blocking looked as bad as it did last year, and that is saying a lot.

There is no secret to why they are bad, they don't have talent. Two years ago Jerry Angelo decided that he would hire Rod Marinelli to coach the defensive line to help fix our atrocious pass rush. Last year it was just as bad as it was in 2008 so he finally decided to get the talent and signed Peppers this off season.

This year he is making the same mistake, he hired Mike Tice thinking the offensive line issues could be coached out and added no talent to the line. It is not going to work and I hope him repeating mistakes finally lands him into the back of the unemployment line.

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That wasn't a line issue, Yes a blitz with a two man route and time for the drop.. then Cutler stands in the pocket because the WR's aren't open for too long. That's on Cutler and the 2 WRs not getting out more than the blockers protecting him for over 4 seconds.

What exact talent was he to add that people were calling for? Sign a tackle, he did that the year before now has a year of experience and wasn't bad in the game. Draft? So a draft pick the year before wasn't an improvement because it wasn't a popular named player because he is someone like Herman Johnson who is took big to even play guard anyway so he is worthless... So much ignoring of reason.

ClydeLee said:

That wasn't a line issue, Yes a blitz with a two man route and time for the drop.. then Cutler stands in the pocket because the WR's aren't open for too long. That's on Cutler and the 2 WRs not getting out more than the blockers protecting him for over 4 seconds.

What exact talent was he to add that people were calling for? Sign a tackle, he did that the year before now has a year of experience and wasn't bad in the game. Draft? So a draft pick the year before wasn't an improvement because it wasn't a popular named player because he is someone like Herman Johnson who is took big to even play guard anyway so he is worthless... So much ignoring of reason.

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1.) Please don't tell me you're talking about Frank Omiyale when you refer to that signed tackle. He sucks, plain and simple. And today he had the same issues as Williams did on the left side (barely tolerable with help, getting destroyed without it), but at least Williams can say he had to block Vanden Bosch. I'm so sick of the defenders of these for-shit offensive linemen. Just stop it already, they blow, it's that simple.

2.) Chris Williams isn't an improvement because he's bad, that's why. He has short arms for a tackle and thus has trouble defending more athletic ends. People have been saying this for a long time (mainly me), and now what do the mouth-breathers have to say in the face of well-deserved criticism leveled at him? "Derrr, you just don't like him because he wasn't well-known." Give me a break.

3.) Learn to formulate your thoughts using even passable English. Jesus Christ this whole time I've had to guess who the hell you're talking about. What is that last part even supposed to mean?

I've still got hope for Williams...

I want Shaffer to play a bit next week, tho.

Lefty I fully agree, people need to stop defending the offensive line. The Lions have a pretty good defensive line but they are still fairly pedestrian. What do you think our offensive line will look like against Jared Allen, Ray Edwards, and the Williams twins? Dallas and Green Bay both dial up lots of pressure, lets see how you you will defend the offensive line after Demarcus Ware and Clay Matthews have a field day hitting Cutler these next two weeks because both those guys are miles better than Vanden Bosch.

I hope I am wrong and will gladly eat some humble pie if we can improve but I see no reason to think it will get any better on the offensive line.

Fiasco said:

Lefty I fully agree, people need to stop defending the offensive line. The Lions have a pretty good defensive line but they are still fairly pedestrian. What do you think our offensive line will look like against Jared Allen, Ray Edwards, and the Williams twins? Dallas and Green Bay both dial up lots of pressure, lets see how you you will defend the offensive line after Demarcus Ware and Clay Matthews have a field day hitting Cutler these next two weeks because both those guys are miles better than Vanden Bosch.

I hope I am wrong and will gladly eat some humble pie if we can improve but I see no reason to think it will get any better on the offensive line.

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Suh is soooo legit, tho.