Ask Windy City Gridiron

that I’m not sure there’s a single X-factor. I mean, we added Pep, got back a healthy Urlacher, Marinelli’s the DC, Tice is the O-Line coach…

But if I’m boiling it down to a single point, it’s gotta be Martz’s ability to adjust to the personnel he has to work with. It’s no secret the Bears don’t have the O-Line to run Martz’s scheme as he would like it run. He’s running the ball a lot more, which is helping keep the pressure off Jay and keep opposing offenses off the field (I think against PHI Vick and the offense saw the field all of two minutes in the third quarter, if that). The Bears are undefeated since the bye, and even though the level of competition hasn’t been, say, top of the line, I don’t think it’s coincidence that since around that time it’s been about 50-50 run/pass.

It’s basically “We may not run well, but we’ll run to make you play it,” which is something we didn’t have when the Giants treated Jay like a tackling dummy.

The renewed defense.
The refreshed defense, (spearheaded by Julius Peppers, see my response below), has allowed the team to be successful even while the new offense goes through growing pains, which leads us to…

The new new offense
While the offense is new, ever since the bye week we’ve been seeing the new new offense. This is the weird, balanced Mike Martz offense that no one has ever seen for this kind of stretch before. It’s allowing the Bears to establish some sort of run game, which makes the play action and bootlegs more effective. And those bootlegs are run by…

Jay Cutler settled the hell down.
He’s gotten back to moving around better, and has stopped forcing all the things that made him Rex Cutler last year, and during the Washington game. The offense is settling in around him, and he looks more comfortable every week. If he keeps improving as he goes, this offense should be very good next year.

is a big scary man who does big scary things.

I literally cannot say enough about the impact that man has had on this football team. Without him, there’s no way this defense plays at the levels it does. Look no further than the first GB game, when they were so scared of him they decided that holding call after holding call were better than getting Rodgers sacked.

But it’s not just that…he’s had such an impact on the other guys on the defensive line, that you can credit him for a lot of their ability to develop. Idonije, Melton, and Toeaina have all stepped up big, and are getting better each week.

It’s no secret that the Bears defense is predicated on pressure from the front four. Now that Peppers has helped provide that, it gives Briggs and Urlacher the ability to roam underneath and get up on the run quickly, or drop back in coverage and take away lanes. It even makes what is a largely average to below average secondary look much, much better.

plays both sides equally well. There’s not a ton of flipflopping, but they’ll throw him places if they think they can get the advantage. The other thing to note is that Israel Idonije, who plays on the opposite side, has really stepped into his game lately. He’s got seven sacks on the year, and really benefits from the extra attention that Peppers usually receives.

With regards to the interior line, I’m hoping that will be where our big surpise that catches you off guard is. I mentioned elsewhere that Toeaina and Melton are playing a lot better, as they’ve improved fairly quickly throughout the season. If Peppers and Idonije can keep the outsides contained, I think they can disrupt Brady a little bit and hopefully get him out of that comfort zone that scares me so much. (Your pocket creation and his pocket protection scare me!)

Offensively, you should probably get to know Greg Olsen, who’s our big target/TE, and Earl Bennett and Johnny Knox. Bennett had his first 100-yard game against Detroit last week, so he’s been coming on strong lately. Not the fastest, not the tallest, but catches anything thrown in his general direction; much developed from sitting out his rookie year. Knox is a burner who’s a little raw on routes but makes plenty of plays.

O-Line… Yes. That is all.

Seriously, the line is not great at all in pass protection. J’Marcus Webb, our 7th round rook, is our RT starter. He’s a good run-blocker but is an absolute traffic cone in pass protection. Chris Williams is learning the LG position, and is improving, but gets driven back on occasion. And Olin Kreutz and Roberto Garza, both very good players earlier in their careers, are on the old side and playing like it.

has really stepped up as Jay’s favorite receiver over the past few weeks. Additionally, Olsen is always a threat because he’s hard to cover, unless you put the right protection on him. He’s a tight end that’s more like a WR, and when he gets into it, the Bears tend to win.

Also, Devin Hester is still a threat. He’s on returns again, so his offensive snaps are lower, but he’s still just as dangerous when he gets the ball with a little bit of space, or he just flat runs past a guy.

The strength has consistently been the LB corps. Urlacher has the speed to cover the short pass, then run back with the deep zone. Briggs has been a beast since he’s been here, and Pisa Tinoisamoa is a very good third linebacker. The D-Line is important to the scheme; without the pressure the line puts on the QB, our secondary can be surgically incinerated.

Our biggest complaint would be yours as well; when we have a lead in the fourth, it always seems to be used as a cushion when we go into a prevent.

Usually teams move up and down the field on us by short dink-dunk passes like slants. Our defense is usually hard to run on and doesn’t give up the big play.

Personnel-wise, if Brady maintains his composure against line pressure, our secondary is not a great unit. Danieal Manning has come into his own at safety, and Chris Harris is good at hitting but lacks a bit in coverage. Our CBs as a whole aren’t great, but Tim Jennings and DJ Moore have their moments, and Charles Tillman is Charles Tillman.

One, our offense is uglier than a 2 AM “last call” last ditch hookup without Jay Cutler at quarterback and that it might be a really really good idea to keep Jay in one piece.

Two, the team just doesn’t have the parts to run the offense as he wants. Oftentimes, Jay got sacked four steps into a seven step drop.

Early in the season, there was a huge imbalance in the plays called (We’re talking Andy Reid levels here, if not more). So when we faced a team with an actual good set of defensive lineman (especially when they’re fast), it just overwhelmed the line which was, I think, on its fourth or fifth combination of parts, because the line could just tee off on Jay.

That’s why you’re seeing a forced balance of the offense. By running more, even if we don’t run it well, by forcing the other team to play the run it holds the pass rush at bay, giving Jay more time to either make a play with his feet or with his arm. I don’t think it’s necessarily anything to do with the weather; it’s about keeping the quarterback alive. What does help is that for a few games we’ve been able to keep the same line going and they’re gelling better, at least as far as run blocking goes. Pass blocking, well, I stand by my traffic cone statement.

His hands as well, to a lesser extent. He’s got size and he’s got speed, but unfortunately, that’s about it. He got into Martz’s doghouse early for an inability to pick up the offense quickly.

Rarely, well, you get the 2-play, 90+ yard “drive” the Lions put together. But mostly dominating-to-very-good. It’s a squad that held Philly to 13 points through 3 quarters and held Buffalo to 16 points, plus shut out Miami and destroyed Carolina like they should.

If you’re looking for the best way to attack the Bears’ defense, don’t stop doing what you’re doing. As I said, Danieal Manning and Chris Harris are doing fine back at safety and Major Wright is being sprinkled in here and there, but our corners are the best way to attack us. Tillman’s a serviceable guy, though his biggest asset is stripping the ball away, and not necessarily coverage. Tim Jennings, Zack Bowman and DJ Moore, the nickel back, are playing passably well, though I have my doubts with the WR corps of the Pats.

Urlacher’s back healthy this year, and Briggs is his usual self (slight ankle injury). No Pisa Tinoisamoa for another couple weeks though, and Nick Roach is iffy (and needless to say, Hunter Hillenmeyer is on IR from his concussion issues and may retire), so expect to see some Rod Wilson/Brian Iwuh if we maintain a 4-3 for any length of time. Wilson and Iwuh are both good/decent special teamers, though I’d prefer if I never saw them step foot on the field during an actual defensive series. Iwuh’s not horrible per se, he’s got a sack and a forced fumble this year, but I still would rather see him ride pine.

I think what we’re seeing more with Jay is a less risky passing game. He has more time because he’s taking a shorter drop and when he’s pressured, instead of blindly chucking, he’s making the play with his feet, either running for the first or buying time to make a checkdown. The yardage might not be pretty, but he’s being more effective.

There might be one or two, but every quarterback has a bad throw or two.

I hate doing that…

…

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA— (cough)

Well, we’ve had this thing recently where the coaches pick one guy to redshirt every year, so we usually don’t get much rookie or young player impact. Last year’s redshirt WR, Juaquin Iglesias, was cut this year. That being said, this year is an exception.

Knox and Bennett are in their second and third years, and both are looking very solid. Henry Melton is getting some good pressure on the line, and of course you know about Traffic Cone Webb. Major Wright is still getting mixed into game action, but when he’s in he’s looked solid. Danieal Manning has recovered nicely from his case of DMS (being shuttled around positions meaninglessly preventing development) and while he might not fit your criteria, he’s playing a nice safety right now. DJ Moore is playing decent nickelback. Zack Bowman came on strong last year and took the starting CB job, but lost it to Tim Jennings during the GB game. Chris Williams looks like at this point he’s a tackle washout (jury still out), but he might make himself a living at guard.

with an overall differential of +3, for 11th in the league. Overall, the Bears are fourth in turnovers gained; 5th in interceptions, 7th in fumbles forced, 8th in fumbles recovered..

Last week’s game against Detroit was only the second game this year with no takeaways, but we’ve only had two in the last three games.

As a whole, we aren’t sure ourselves.

At least as far as I’m concerned, because of the circumstances surrounding him (bad O-Line, three schemes in three years, that kinda thing), we really can’t know for sure what we have in Jay until things settle down. I mean sure, we can see he’s being more careful with the ball, he’s using his mobility to stay alive in the pocket and scramble, but we didn’t trade for him to be a glorified Trent Dilfer (there’s nothing wrong with that at all, don’t get me wrong; whatever wins the game at the end). We got him to be a franchise guy, someone who can fuel an offense, a big play threat; the guy that can make the offense go and win games. But it’s hard for him to do this from his back and while he’s learning one of the more complicated, if not most complicated, offensive scheme in football.

He’s as physically gifted as any QB in the game, but then you look at his INT totals, some of the stinkers he puts up, and it scares you. But there’s bad like Rex Grossman and bad like Hall of Famer Dan Fouts, who only became a HOFer after he got stabilized in a system.

So I know it sounds like excuse-making and cop-outs, but at least from my end, judgment is reserved for now.

He’s got a strong, powerful arm that can make all the throws, he’s got mobility to escape some of the pressure that gets through and can make enough plays, he’s tall enough to see over the line (if you ever saw Rex Grossman play, well, that’s why this is a big deal), and he went to Vandy, so one can assume he has the intelligence to pick up a playbook, even the full Martzfence, and make smart decisions when given an opportunity. Just because he has extreme “punch-me!” face doesn’t mean he doesn’t have the tools to be a franchise NFL quarterback.

And he has decent speed. He’s gifted.. now his awareness and football intelligence are what are a bit iffy at times.

make fun of the way they look.

he’s pretty quick, has good upper body strength. and he’s really not as ‘chinny’ as you say. i mean no more than matt stafford. seriously. he’s intelligent, and i think with some time and growth with his receivers, he’ll improve his decision making and confidence in his receivers… because really, from my perspective, that’s most of the problems with his decision making is expecting one thing, but getting another… a few times he’s been burnt when he tried forcing it, but the majority of mistakes with him as a bear was an absolute breakdown in communication between him and his receivers this year. that and deangelo hall fiasco (which I personally admire him for, even though many others would be like, god! he’s a fool!)

and SJS isn’t telling the whole truth. He’s pretty darn attractive.

Like his jaw wasn’t even there.

I do hope we meet again in Dallas but we’ll see.. lot of tough games left for both teams. Hopefully the Pats put up a good game against the Packers though with Rodgers possibly out, it’s looking pretty rough for the Pack.