Bears that Don't Dance
Today is Martin Luther King day, who may just have well been born five hundred years ago. Protest? Hell, we've got careers to attend to. Let's talk about the Bears, instead. Yesterday was their first playoff game in some time, which they lost to the Panthers, 29/21.
Report card:
| offense | B | got rolling after a while |
| offensive line | B- | too many hurries, but the run was fairly effective against a very good defense |
| running backs | C | downgraded for lack of blitz help |
| receivers | C | not enough there, lack of aggressiveness to ball, no speed |
| quarterback | B- | steadied but only less erratic. accurate middle range, less so short range. inexperience showed in two minute |
| defense | D | keeping score down in first half and last two stops in second only salvation from F. defense was highly overrated, as Packers (twice) and Steelers piled up big yards before this debacle |
| defensive line | C- | so-so against good running team. no pressure on quarterback |
| linebackers | D- | if it wasn't an eight or nine yard gain over the middle, it was an eight or nine yard gain on that flanker/wide pass with no outside backer in sight (revised to D- for Uhrlacher's all time highlights quality interception |
| defensive backs | D- | only Vasher prevents F-, Tilmon's efforts were historically you feel sorry for the guy wherever he ends up bad. the field was no help here, but phew! |
| special teams | F | perhaps the most critical aspect of the game, as punter was uncharacteristically awful, putting us behind the eight ball. each time the offense responded kickoffs were short and coverage was poor, negating momentum. |
| offensive coaching | B- | downgraded for lack of timely adjustment to middle blitzes, which harried first half efforts well into the second quarter |
| defensive coaching | F | Vasher on Smith (200+ yards) anyone? |
| head coach | C | can't help thinking that Grossman and defense should have played final regular season game, that we were in no position to coast. wasted a challenge that might have been used on the last NC TD, I thought the receiver didn't have control when he hit the ground on a very tight replay. team seemed sluggish and ill-prepared at onset. |
| Fox | B | upgraded for helping Charter kiss and make up with the evil right wingers at Sinclair Broadcasting (who own my local Fox affiliate) in time to add Fox to my hi-def tier in time for playoffs. hate the buzz, zip, swoosh stuff, but I'm probably just old. beneath the flashy graphics, Fox is MBA bottom line not enough help cheap and it shows |
| Joe Buck | A | knowledgeable enough to have input, smart enough to stay out of the way |
| Troy Aikman | F | didn't think it possible, but he's worse than Collinsworth! calling for balanced attack down 16/7 to an excellent run defense team, whereupon Grossman immediately catches fire and ignites offense. whereupon he says it won't continue to work. whereupon it does. whereupon after it worked three times in a row but not the fourth he declared himself right all along. what "got us there" was not being behind by two scores, nimrod! Collinsworth did his part on Saturday, though, remarking after numerous three and outs that "we're not in Chicago, after all". He keeps snarking the second biggest football market in the country, how smart is that? |
| outlook | B | will defense maintain speed, because it isn't big. big backs (Steelers, Sam Con) steamrolled it. receiver situation is not good, no speed. Grossman has guts, but is clumsy, will he last? continue bubble under until top flight receiver core. looked like a bona-fide NFL team out there, which is a big improvement. |
posted by sequoit @ 11:27 AM
1 Comments:
Oh, yeah, and Collinsworth went on and on about how no team had done this to the Bears defense. But the defense slipped to second behind Tampa Bay by giving up over 360 yards in four of the five meaningful games down the stretch.
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