rant about the bears game

Below is a rant about the super bowl and the bears who didn't even show up. It is a combined work by Ross Jakobson and myself. Both of us were very disapointed in the performace of the bears and felt a need to vent.

The final score, Colts 29, Bears 17, does not give enough credit to the complete domination of Indianapolis on both sides of the football. Surprisingly, it was the smaller and quicker lines of the Colts which dominated the line of scrimmage against a team who made a name for themselves by being the more physical team. In two 1st quarter plays, Devin Hester’s opening kickoff return for a TD, and Thomas Jones’ 50+ yd run, the Bears almost equaled their offensive production for the rest of the game. Rex Grossman made crucial mistakes at the wrong time but the blame should not fall squarely on his shoulders. Desmond Clark dropped a ball on 4th and 9, which should’ve been caught even if it was in garbage time. All game long, Mathis and Freeney got pressure from the ends. John Tait looked like a mere shadow of how he played during the regular season. The Bears’ offensive coordinator didn’t do Grossman any favors. On 2nd and 1, they call a pass play after motioning Thomas Jones out wide as a receiver. Why a team who has depended all season on their running game would choose to pass on 2nd and 1 beats me. Never mind that Grossman slipped and tripped on his own, the play call was not right for the situation. Grossman’s second pick was a product of not only his own badly thrown pass, but the offensive coordinator calling a deep pass when the Colts were dropping 8 defenders into zone coverage. Why the Bears did not take a shot downfield early in the game against a suspect Colts secondary (which has worked all season long, check the Seattle regular season game for evidence), just confuses me. Weather played a factor, no doubt, but it was even for both teams. The fumble by Grossman as well as the fumble by the Colts’ Fletcher was as much a product of the weather as by a good defensive play. Benson’s injury isn’t even close to a valid excuse for why the Bears couldn’t run the ball. The Colts continued to shut down the run as they have been doing throughout the entire playoffs and Thomas Jones was better suited to exploit a Colts’ front four which tends to over pursue and get up field quickly. With the exception of the 1st quarter drive containing Thomas Jones’ long run, the Bears did not have an offensive series that a) chewed up time and allowed their defense to rest and b) helped win the field position battle let alone eating up yardage. I don’t even want to know what Grossman was thinking when he decided to lob up a pass near the sideline and subsequently intercepted and returned for a TD. But as much as the offense failed to get in rhythm, the defense has just as much blame to shoulder. In order for the Bears to have won, they had to force turnovers, and to some extent they did. An early interception, a lucky fumble recovery forced by Charles Tillman (and the rain) and a great play by Alex Brown to force a fumble on a Manning-Addai exchange kept the Bears in the game but the offense failed to capitalize. Again it came down to who dominated the line of scrimmage and the Bears did not get any pressure on Manning whether it was with a four-man rush or a blitz package. Manning was sacked only once, which came late in the game when the game had already been decided. Tank Johnson and Ian Scott generated no inside pressure and didn’t allow Urlacher or Briggs to flow free from side to side. Too many times did Jeff Saturday and other Colts’ offensive linemen get up into the second level and block Chicago LB’s. Tommie Harris’ presence was sorely missed and their performance showed that the Bears defense wasn’t the same dominating force after he and Mike Brown were injured. Even with the defensive line getting almost no pressure on Manning, missed tackle after missed tackle allowed Addai and Rhodes to get 7,8,9 yards per rush or reception. Peyton Manning wasn’t spectacular but he didn’t need to be. Ron Rivera decided that Manning was not going to beat him deep (Reggie Wayne’s TD catch was a blown coverage by the safety) and so Manning took everything he had underneath. Rhodes and Addai combined for 250 yards of offense and neither of them ran a route 5 yards past the line of scrimmage. Wayne, Harrison and Clark were held mostly in check, mostly because the safeties consistently played 25 yards off the line of scrimmage. Even if it is Peyton Manning at QB, as a defense, you have to make him try and beat you with the big plays and not allow him to continuously throw dump off patterns to his running backs which go for 8 yard gains. All the statistics are telling of a game in which the score should’ve been more like 38-10. Offensive yards, turnovers, time of possession, plays run and 1st downs were all almost 2:1 in favor of the Colts. Take away two big plays and you have an offense which failed to generate a drive over 50 yards. Anyway you stretch it, the Bears were dominated and the Colts deserved a title.