Noots Posted November 24, 2008 Report Share Posted November 24, 2008 Noots’ Notes-Game 11: 27-3 Win over St. Louis By Michael Nudo The Chicago Bears (6-5) dominated the St. Louis Rams (2-9) with 5 sacks, 4 interceptions and over 200 rushing yards. They kept pace with the Vikings atop the NFC North, and will face them next Sunday night. A break out performance (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson). OFFENSE Quarterback Kyle Orton (18-29-139, TD) had a better game than last week, but still isn’t quite right. He moved around in the pocket better but struggled with his accuracy at times. He was sacked once, but it was more of him tripping as he got out from center. Orton’s prettiest pass was a 27-yard lob up the right sideline to Devin Hester against a Rams blitz. He set a Bears record for the most consecutive attempts without an interception. That said, he nearly was picked off on a pass he threw from his own end zone. GRADE: B- Running Backs Matt Forte (20/132, 2 TD, fumble, 2-14) had his best rushing performance of the season. Forte ripped off touchdown runs of 13 and 47 yards. He consistently was slipping tackles and finding holes to run through behind an offensive line that was nothing short of dominating. Forte lost a fumble in a tackle pile that was reviewed by the officials and upheld. Television replays only showed one view. The angle didn’t show anything that could be discerned. Adrian Peterson (5/35) gave Forte a breather and didn’t take the foot off the pedal. Peterson had a 16-yard gain and was consistently slamming the Rams backward. Fullback Jason McKie (3-16, TD fumble) caught a sweet play action pass in the left flat for a 6-yard touchdown. McKie lost a fumble deep in Rams territory and was also flagged for a false start. Garrett Wolfe (3/5) got in some carries at the end. Devin Hester was utilized in the Wildcat formation several times as well. Hester (2/32, 5-57) opened the game with a well-executed reverse for 20 yards. GRADE: A- Receivers Apart from Hester, Desmond Clark (5-40) was the main recipient of Orton’s passes. He shook a defender on a short pass and picked up 15 yards. Unfortunately, Clark left with an apparent knee injury in the second half. Tight end Greg Olsen nearly came up with a big catch up the sideline. Brandon Lloyd (1-3) and Rashied Davis (1-10) were not factors in the pass offense. Tight end Kellen Davis and Brandon Rideau dressed but did not make an impact. GRADE: C- Offensive Line Week after week, the left side of the line is considered a question mark by many of the media experts. People need to understand that linemen do not need to be 320 plus pounds to be effective. It should be recognized that the Bears are trading off some of the road-grating behemoths in size for mobile linemen that can block in space. Left tackle John St. Clair pulled to lead the counter on Forte’s 47-yard touchdown run over right guard. Left guard Josh Beekman led the way on Forte’s 13-yard touchdown as well as an 18-yard gain off right tackle. Center Olin Kreutz and Right guard Roberto Garza pulled on sweeps, powers and screens. Right tackle John Tait held up the point of attack to allow Forte’s runs both inside and outside. Chris Williams played left tackle at the end of the game. Dan Buenning played some center. This was an amazing performance against talented defensive linemen like La’Roi Glover, Adam Carriker, Chris Long and James Hall. Kyle Orton had plenty of time to pass. GRADE: A DEFENSE Defensive Line I remember these guys. Adewale Ogunleye (2 tackles, 2 sacks, 2 TFL) twisted back inside to sack Marc Bulger in the early going to knock him out of the game. That might have been the single biggest difference-making play. But he wasn’t finished. He also sacked Trent Green (16-30-219, 4 INT). Alex Brown had two tackles, a sack and two tackles for a loss. Both ends were consistently getting pressure. Even Mark Anderson had some pressure and made a play against a run outside of him. Dusty Dvoracek (2 tackles, 2 TFL) returned to form, bottling up numerous run attempts. Tommie Harris (4 tackles, 2 sacks, 2 TFL) had a more consistent effort, getting one of his two sacks on a play where he never gave up. Rookie Marcus Harrison (4 tackles, TFL) had a couple of nice tackles in run support for very short gains. Israel Idonije and Anthony Adams saw action but weren’t major factors. It was a great day for the line. Five sacks and they held St. Louis to 14 rushing yards on 19 carries. GRADE: A+ Linebackers I remember these guys. Lance Briggs (4 tackles, TFL, 2 INT, 3 PD) and Brian Urlacher (4 tackles, 2 TFL, INT, 3 PD) fed off each other’s play like a pack of wild dogs. Urlacher and Briggs were consistently getting into the Rams’ passing lanes. They each deflected a pass that resulted in their counterpart picking up an interception. Nick Roach (5 tackles, TFL) finally showed his great speed tracking a run play down from the backside and registering a tackle for a loss. The linebackers had an excellent game, in spite of a few minor missed tackles (one each for Urlacher and Briggs). Linebackers were utilized in numerous blitz packages. Although they didn’t get sacks, they helped open the way for the line to get single blocking. GRADE: A Secondary I remember these guys. Charles Tillman made an outstanding interception on a deep ball up the right sideline. He showed great control in getting both feet down in bounds. Tillman, Nathan Vasher and Corey Graham finally were put in position to play tight coverage underneath. Vasher was beaten for a 38-yard gain up the left sideline by Tory Holt (4-84) and later left the game, appearing to re-injure his surgically repaired thumb. Safety Mike Brown (3 tackles, PD) had an early tackle for a loss and then things went downhill from there. He failed to come up with an interception on a pass that hit him in the hands. Then he was beaten over the middle by tight end Daniel Fells for 26 yards. He was held out of the second half with a leg injury. Craig Steltz replaced him. Kevin Payne (6 tackles) was much better at wrapping up than in previous weeks. Overall, the secondary played just well enough to make life difficult for Rams quarterbacks. They had a miserable time completing only 19 of 36 passes and were 3 of 13 in third down conversions. GRADE: B Special Teams Robbie Gould connected on both of his field goal attempts (43, 38). His kickoff depth was excellent. Kickoff coverage wasn’t so hot. The Bears allowed a 75-yard return that went just left of center. Adrian Peterson missed a tackle there but in all fairness was coming from his lane on the other side of the field. Danieal Manning could not disengage from his man on the play side. Garrett Wolfe chased it down to prevent what might have been the Rams’ only touchdown. Brad Maynard had a better day punting. He had only one head-scratching returnable 39-yarder. Danieal Manning got the Bears off on the right foot by returning the opening kickoff 50 yards. Devin Hester had 4 punt returns for 26 yards. Two of those returns began with him running away from the defense. Corey Graham made a heads up play to prevent a pass on a punt fake. Anthony Adams was a factor in the middle of the Bears’ kickoff return wedge. GRADE: B- Coaching Ron Turner’s offense showed a few good wrinkles. The opening reverse to Hester and the Wildcat formation were excellent. More impressive were the number of running plays and finally mixing in some carries for Peterson and Wolfe to keep Forte fresh. The icing on the cake was the way he showed great imagination in running the ball from the shotgun and mixing in runs that attacked the entire field and took advantage of the offensive line’s true strength. Bob Babich’s defense pulled off their best performance of the year. The pass rush was fixed. The secondary played tough. Urlacher and Briggs were making plays. It was downright infectious. Dave Toub’s special teams came up with a key play to prevent a fake punt. Overall, it was complete domination against a team they should have beaten handily. But the Bears’ defense has played so poorly over the last month, nothing should be taken for granted. GRADE: A Noots’ Nut Crackers Adewale Ogunleye on Marc Bulger Nudo’s Kudos Matt Forte The entire starting offense line The entire starting defensive line Brian Urlacher Lance Briggs Horns None Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Hochuli 3:16 Posted November 24, 2008 Report Share Posted November 24, 2008 Forte was great today. I'd love to see the Wildcat even more on Sunday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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