Here are my catalogued thoughts on quite possibly the strangest Bears football game of my lifetime.
- I am grouping Aromashodu’s touchdown drop, the Olsen/Forte fumbles, Danieal Manning’s dropped pick six and Jay Cutler’s wildly inappropriate interception into one category: Amateur Hour. These are the kinds of errors that could have easily cost the Bears a win and it is entirely on the players. Not on the coaches. Not on training camp. On the players. These guys are paid a lot of money to not make these kinds of mistakes.
- The Bears won yesterday despite the best efforts of their head coach. Lovie coached the entire second half as if his team was nursing a ten-point lead, instead of chasing a weaker side. Not kicking a field goal, and taking a lead, goes so far beyond ludicrous that it defies reason. The Lions had shown a complete inability to move the ball after Julius Peppers murdered Matthew Stafford. Lovie’s lucky that Calvin Johnson did not hold onto the ball or he’d be on the chopping block this morning. After one game.
- About the Calvin Johnson pass, Christ. Where is the safety? Why did Lovie go soft when the defense had been dominant all day? The Matt Ryan moment was replaying right in front of us and Lovie seemed to not notice.
- Brian Urlacher delivered the most inspiring defensive performance in many-a-moon, flying from sideline to sideline and truly igniting the crowd. I have been critical of his commitment in the past but it was right there, on the field, yesterday.
- Julius Peppers. One of those a week is all we need moving forward. Amazing to see an opponent double one of our defenders on every single play.
- Mike Martz called a masterpiece.
- Jay Cutler is a weird player. He actually becomes more accurate and smarter with the football when he’s been chased from the pocket. It’s when he sits in the pocket with time that he makes his big mistakes. The Aroma dropped TD and Forte TD passes were perfect.
- The offensive line is shaky right now but there’s definitely ability there. This group will be pretty good by mid-season. I was surprised to see the Bears moving the bulk of their running game over Lance Louis at right guard. They must have a lot of faith in that kid.
- The more I see Devin Hester play wide receiver, the less I wanna see Devin Hester play receiver. And I think the Bears should go get Vincent Jackson because Cutler needs big receivers.
- My patience with Greg Olsen is paper thin.
- How many times did the Bears punt in Lions territory? Jesus, that was game was frustrating.
- Welcome back, Matt Forte.
I’ll have more as the day goes on, I’m sure. I like being 1-0.
