Big Win for Bears over Philly
Whew!!! Thanks to an impressive goal line stand, the Bears held on and beat the Eagles 24-20 at Soldier Field tonight. This season is turning into the bizarro of a typical Bears season. Play well at noon, play like crap in prime time. This year they're 2-0 on NBC and 0-2 on FOX. Here's some quick observations...
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Kyle Orton and the passing game looked pretty damn good in the first half. They came out with the no huddle, and three strikes later they were up seven-zip. Orton was spreading the ball around as Olsen, Booker, Hester and Lloyd all got in on the action. Sharp throws, smart decisions. Really, Orton looked about as well as he could look with three TDs and minimal mistakes. Then, there was halftime.
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I don't know what happened, but it looked like Bad Rex had Orton's jersey on in the second half. Fumbles, stupid picks, no sustained drives...Kyle's second half rating was a bluto-esque 0.0. If that's not Grossman, I don't know what is. But just like 2006, thankfully the defense saved the day.
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Oh, and Forte. HUGE run at the end of the game. His final stat line wasn't that impressive at first blush, but he did end up with 85 all purpose yards. Not bad considering the line was playing olé with the tough Philly defense. (Which, I should point out, is a credit to Orton for surviving. I mean, Philly absolutely battered Roethlisberger and Pittsburgh last week and held them without a TD. Orton led them to three. I'm just saying.)
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As for the defense, they weren't perfect but they obviously came up big when it counted. Alex Brown and Lance Briggs were probably the players of the game, but the "horse trailer" selection of the entire unit was a pretty astute choice. Urlacher, Hillenmeyer, Idonije, Mike Brown, Payne, Dvoracek....everybody contributed. Everybody made plays. Nobody made a stupid penalty.
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The Eagles clearly missed Brian Westbrook. Would a healthy Westbrook have made a difference? Probably, but I'm not complaining. Desean Jackson is a pretty amazing (but raw) talent on Philly as well. Once he figures things out, he'll be an elite receiver in this league.
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A couple of potentially big injuries in this one. Both Tillman and Lloyd left for good with injuries. If Tillman misses extended time, its pretty clear that Corey Graham and Trumaine McBride are next in line. With Lloyd, the choices aren't so obvious. Hester still isn't close to a legit number one receiver. He did have a nice TD tonight, though he dropped a sure one as well. Booker looked good on his TD, but again he's old. With Bradley gone, I think Brandon Rideau might get a promotion from the practice squad this week.
That's pretty much it. One thing I'd like to say is all this "we should be 4-0" talk (from everybody outside of Lovie) is kind of annoying. The Bears are deservedly 2-2. It's not exactly good but its not that bad. Actually, they're tied for first. The chance to go 9-7 or 10-6 is still alive. I'm just happy the season isn't over before the Cubs season. Till next time...
BEAR DOWN