Why We Should Be Optimistic about the Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears won the 2010 NFC North Title and made it all the way to the NFC Championship game. If it wasn’t for Todd Collins, the Chicago Bears almost won the football game. There are a few Hall of Famers on this roster and some young players that developed last season.
Despite age creeping up on some of the older players, they still played at a high level last season. Brian Urlacher continues his Hall of Fame Career and Julius Peppers is a beast. Lance Briggs continues to be one of the the most underrated players in football. Devin Hester returned to his scary form as a returner. Matt Forte became one of the best running backs in football. While the offensive line wasn’t amazing, it got much better towards the end of the season. J’Marcus Webb and Chris Williams developed into solid NFL linemen. Mike Tice is one of the top offensive line coaches in football, and he has a year under his belt to better understand his talent.
Jay Cutler will enjoy having the same offensive coordinator for two years. Instead of learning a new system the last three years, he has the same coach. Mike Martz does know offense, and I think this will benefit Cutler and company. Rod Marinelli is a great coordinator as well and had his unit playing strong.
While the Chicago Bears will not creep up on anyone this season, there is talent on this roster.
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The 2010 Chicago Bears…Looking from the Rear View Mirror
The 2010 Chicago Bears won the NFC North and lost by seven points in the NFC Championship game to the Green Bay Packers. Anytime a team makes it’s division’s title game, it’s a good season. But how good was this team in relation to its success?
Throughout the season, no matter how well the Chicago Bears played, there were many doubters and critics of the team’s success. Trent Dilfer and Bill Cowher regularly hated on this team. And yet, the Chicago Bears kept winning.
Of course, after beating heavy favorites Dallas in week two, the Cowboys weren’t any good despite being a Super Bowl contender. When the Chicago Bears defeated the Philadelphia Eagles and shut down Michael Vick, it was the turf at Soldier Field. A win over the New York Jets was a fluke as well. Might I also remind you that the Chicago Bears defeated the Green Bay Packers in week three and damn near knocked them out of the playoffs. The championship game helped prove how incompetent Lovie Smith can be at times.
Now, I take nothing away from the Green Bay Packers, but if the Chicago Bears actually would have had a respectable backup quarterback, perhaps the Super Bowl would have been a different game. In baseball, there’s always the belief that the baseball finds your worst defender when you’d least like it to…so the same thing happened during the championship game. How could Lovie Smith and company not recognize how horrible Todd Collins was? Why in the world wasn’t this addressed? The baseball found Collins, and the Chicago Bears were left holding their private areas.
Brian Urlacher is a beast. He had one of his best seasons and almost won the championship game for the Chicago Bears. Julius Peppers struck fear in offenses. These two really helped the Chicago Bears become a strong defensive unit. Devin Hester scares every opponent. He’s potentialy a big-play whenever the ball is in his hands.
Jay Cutler had his good and not-so-good moments. He’s a talented quarterback that does make mistakes. Matt Forte established himself as a legitimate NFL halfback. Devin Hester scares every opponent. He’s potentialy a big-play whenever the ball is in his hands.
So looking back on this team, what do I think? I believe that every NFL team that’s successful has a little bit of luck (see Detroit game and Calvin Johnson), some talent, catching opponents at the right time and intangibles. The Chicago Bears were guilty of all-of-the-above. And yet, a few bounces here and there may have been the difference of a trip to the championship game or a high draft pick. It’s always been my belief that good teams create their own breaks, and the Chicago Bears are just that…a good football team.
I enjoyed this season. The Chicago Bears made the final four. With a few tweaks here and there, I do not see any reason why this team couldn’t do it again. But this is the NFL, and things can change very quickly.
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Grading the Chicago Bears…Tight Ends
For those of you that know me, you know I’m am not a card carrying member of the Greg Olsen Fan Club. In fact, while in Green Bay, Packers fans accused me of actually being too hard on him. Wow, even the enemy thinks I’m too rough.
But I’ve got my reasons for not thinking Olsen is very good. He runs poor routes, fails to get open, cannot block and drops/fumbles the football way too often. I know he’s had some solid games, but I can point to numerous occasions where he’s been a non-factor or even a minus.
Brandon Manumaleuna was brought in to be a bad-ass blocking tight end. He was given big money and expected to be an important part of protecting Jay Cutler and opening holes for Matt Forte. While he got better towards the end of the season, he didn’t exactly blow up opposing defenders the way we expected him to do so. He did catch some big passes during the season, but his primary responsibility was to block. Frankly, Manumaleuna didn’t live up to expectations. It was announced today he’s having a procedure done on his right knee. This could be an indication of why he wasn’t as good as expected.
Desmond Clark dropped a touchdown pass in week three against the Packers. From that point forward, he was banished to football Siberia. He became a non-factor the rest of the season and will be taking his talents elsewhere.
I think Kellen Davis may potentially be their best tight end. He got much more involved late in the season and has the size and speed to create match-up problems for opposing teams.
Overall, I give this unit a generous C-. I cannot ignore Olsen’s big games and Manumaleuna did block better in the second half. Davis had some huge catches as well. But, the negatives from this group just made it barely functional.
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Grading the Chicago Bears…Halfbacks
The Chicago Bears has always been a franchise built around the running game. From Red Grange to Walter Payton, there have been many excellent backs that have worn the navy blue and orange.
For those of you that are regulars on Bears Headquarters, you know I’m a huge fan of running the damn football. It is the whole key to being successful in the NFL. I know that you can point to the success of the Green Bay Packers this season, but James Starks gave the Green and Mold enough of a threat running the football to make Aaron Rodgers that much more dangerous.
Matt Forte had an excellent year. He combined for over 1,6oo yards total offense and got much better as the season moved along. He was very impressive both running and catching the football and cut down on the fumbles that plagued him last season. I think what’s even more impressive for Forte is that he did this behind an offensive line that was suspect for most of the season.
While I think Forte is an excellent player with the ball in his hands and running patterns, I wouldn’t call him a great blocker. In fact, calling him a below average blocker is a compliment. I understand his value to this team, but he has difficulty with blitz pick-up.
Chester Taylor was brought into Chicago to help relieve the load off of Forte. While Taylor is a good blocker and veteran presence, he didn’t have the kind of year the Chicago Bears were hoping for for the amount of money he was being paid. All indications are that the Chicago Bears are going to release Taylor soon, and based on the cap hit, it’s hard not to blame the organization. Taylor certainly didn’t fail from a lack of effort, it just wasn’t meant to be.
Garrett Wolfe and Khalil Bell round out the running backs on the roster. Wolfe was more of a special teams player thus rarely playing on offense and Bell was inactive most of the season.
Overall, I give the Chicago Bears running backs a solid B+. Forte’s production overshadows his lack of blocking and Taylor did have some moments.
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Grading the Chicago Bears…Quarterbacks
You mention the name Jay Cutler, and you’re sure to get one of several responses. In some ways, he’s like Notre Dame football. People either love or hate him but almost everyone has an opinion.
I’ll throw my hat into the ring…I like Cutler. He’s an extremely talented guy and certainly the best quarterback I’ve seen in my lifetime in the Chicago Bears uniform.
He also comes across as a spoiled brat. The whole Denver fiasco rubbed many fans the wrong way. While we later learned that Josh McDaniels was a tool, the whole process fell apart from the beginning.
While a member of the Chicago Bears, while his demeanor on the sidelines and hissy-fit moments are legendary, he certainly says the right things and despite taking a beating, never called out a teammate. I’m not even going to bother with the details surrounding the playoff game knee injury, but let’s just say that gave his enemies the opportunity to express frustration with Cutler. He was attacked pretty well by his haters.
Overall, I think Cutler had a good season. There were times he was great and others when he sucked. As we learned throughout the season, his best offensive weapon was Matt Forte. While his receivers could be spectacular, they weren’t consistently a help. His tight end buddy Greg Olsen really isn’t very good.
Cutler took a physical beating last season. His offensive line and the Mike Martz seven-step drops were an attempt to get him killed. However, as the season moved along, the line improved and Martz simplified the passing game.
Since this is an overall quarterback grade, I have to mention the cancer-to-my-eyes Todd Collins. He’s the worst quarterback I’ve ever seen in a Bears uniform and a disgrace to all mankind. Caleb Hanie played solidly in the championship game.
I give the Bears quarterbacks a B- for the year. It would have been a little lower except I took the offensive line and receiver issues into account. It would have been a little higher if Collins wasn’t here.
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