106 Comments

Across The Middle with Andrew Dannehy

| October 14th, 2015

• The Bears have two wins because they have a good coach and a good quarterback. You were told that they would win some games for that reason, I know you were because I’m the one who told you. (Pats self on back).

• Through five games in 2014, Matt Forte had 118 touches. Through five games in 2015, he has 120. I don’t know when we should start worrying about over-usage, but he looks damn good right now. He isn’t the only one getting the ball a lot, the Bears backup running backs have combined for 26 touches after totaling 42 last year. Fox wasn’t kidding when he said he wanted to run the ball, the Bears are 12th in attempts after finishing 30th last year.

• Coming into the game, there was a debate about which team had the better quarterback. That debate is dead. You saw on Sunday why turnovers aren’t the end all, be all when it comes to quarterback play. The guy still has to be able to make plays. Smith can’t. Cutler can.

• That said, this formula isn’t sustainable. There isn’t a quarterback in the league who doesn’t need help and — while Jay can make chicken salad out of chicken shit as well as anyone — the other shoe is bound to drop. He’s either going to get hurt again because of how much he has had to run around or you’re going to get the inevitable four-interception game because he has to force throws into tight spots. When that happens, the anti-Cutler crowd will be back and the last two weeks will have never happened in their mind.

• This week’s game makes me nervous. The Lions are bad, but not as bad as their record or as bad as they’re perceived to be. They’re not just hungry for a win, they’re starving and they’re always tough to beat at home. Add in the fact that the Bears just might be a little too high and it isn’t hard to see how this could go poorly for the Bears.

This Still Doesn’t Make Sense

After the game, Pernell McPhee indicated that he’s capable of blocking field goals at will, or when he feels disrespected. So why didn’t he save us all a heart attack and block the potential game-winning field goal? McPhee said that he felt disrespected by Kansas City running at him three plays in a row in the third quarter, so he felt he had to make a play. That play was a blocked field goal. Did he not feel the need to make a play when the game was on the line? At what point do we question his desire to win? OK, I’ll shut up now. The dude is a beast.

Player of the Week

Jay Cutler. After Cutler threw the game-winning touchdown pass, notorious Cutler hater John Lynch referred to him as the Bears “best player.” That was the 23rd game-winning drive Cutler has led and the 16th game-winning touchdown pass he has thrown. How improbable was it? Consider this: An Aaron Rodgers-led team has never won a game in which they’ve trailed by 10 or more in the second half. The Bears trailed by 11 with 3:05 left in the game.

Goat of the Week

The chicken or the egg. Andy Reid of Alex Smith.Tough call, but Smith is Kansas City’s quarterback only because Reid wants him to be, so Reid wins…or loses, I guess. They had to try a 66-yard field goal to win the game because they knew their quarterback couldn’t — or wouldn’t — heave it that far, or anywhere near it. Smith’s refusal to try to make plays down field hurts everyone around him, especially the play caller. But when the play caller chose him as his quarterback, you can’t really feel bad for him, can you?

Bold Prediction for Week 6

The Lions are going to try to pick on Kyle Fuller, but he’s going to make them play with a big interception.

Tagged: , , , , , ,