A Few Game Comments

[tshanno]

http://bearingthenews.com/?p=337

 

Game Comments: Bears Vs. Packers, January 2, 2011

Posted on January 3, 2011 by Tom Shannon

 

 

Defense

 

• The Bears defense came out with all of the starters and they apparently came to play. For the most part they played fast and down hill.

• The defense came out mixing it up and blitzing early. They did less blitzing as the game wore on.

• The Bear defense had a bit of a problem when the Packer offense played their 22 personnel (2 backs, 2 wide receivers). They couldn’t stop the run out of this formation without an eighth guy in the box but they also didn’t like leaving their corners in single high man coverage. Rogers was trying to audible into a favorable play depending upon what the safety did. The Bears played a lot of it situationally depending upon whether the Packers were likely to need to pass but the intermediate downs and distances were a problem.

• The Bears had a hard time getting to Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rogers in the first quarter, even when they were blitzing. They did better as the game progressed.

• The Bears pass coverage was pretty good. Rogers was continually escaping pressure only to find that no one was open.

• The Bears defense did well today but the team was also fortunate in that Rogers and the Packer offense had an off day. Rogers occasionally struggled with accuracy and the receivers were continually dropping balls.

• I thought generally speaking the Bear defense played with a lot more discipline this game. To my eye they weren’t often caught out of their gaps.

• He wasn’t getting great protection but I am surprised that the Packers didn’t take more shots down field.

• Danieal Manning bit on an inside route on the long pass that set up the Packer touchdown in the fourth quarter. That was tough to swallow.

 

 

Offense

 

• The Bears offense came out running and they were also mixing it up well.

• The Packers played a defense with two down linemen much of the time. They did a lot of pre snap shifting trying to confuse the Bear defense and, like the Bear defense, they weren’t afraid to blitz. Their defense was effective.

• The Bears offensive line did a poor job of protecting quarterback Jay Cutler. The Packers did a good job of confusing them.

• Related to that, the Bears did a terrible job of handling the Packer blitz. The Packers aggressively covered the Bears wide receivers as they made their adjustments and the Bears simply had no answer. The Bears may have missed Earl Bennett a great deal more than most of us realized they would this game. In his absence, the Bears tried to use Greg Olsen more in these situations, especially late.

• The Bears did have good success running against that two man line for big chunks of yards.

• B.J. Raji had a great game. He was especially effective off of the Packer line stunts.

• The Packers did a good job of shutting down Johnny Knox by being very physical with him. Indeed, the Packers seemed to be getting away with being a bit too physical at times.

• Indeed, related to that, the Bears receivers had a very difficult time getting away from the aggressive, tight man coverage that the Packers specialize in.

 

Miscellaneous

 

• Joe Buck and Troy Aikman did a good job today. In fact, Aikman mentioned most of the points I made above during the broadcast. The only pick I have is that they didn’t mention when Matt Forte went over 100 yards.

• Brad Biggs tweet of the game: ”Jay Cutler yelling at Chester Taylor as he leaves field. Does he know Taylor fights teammates?”

• Someone better talk to the Bears about getting some proper spikes. I’m tiered of seeing them slip to the ground on footing that the other team seems to be handling well.

• Some of the Bear drops were tough to take – there were certainly too many. But if you are a Packer fan you are going crazy with the poor performance by your wide receivers in this respect.

• There were too many penalties on both sides.

• Nice job by D.J. Moore stripping the ball fromDonald Driver in the first quarter.

• Cutler threw a terrible interception in the third quarter in the end zone. He was off balance and threw it short. What’s worse, the Bears were in field goal position in a tight game. I know that to some extent you have to accept these things from Cutler but that just shouldn’t ever happen.

• Brad Maynard and Packer punter Tim Masthay did an excellent job today.

• The Devin Hester we saw today looked a lot like the one from last year. Masthay did a good job of pinning him against the sideline. The error of letting the Packers punt bounce at the twelve to be downed at the three in the fourth quarter came at a critical time.

• I’m not too sure about the Lovie Smith decision to go for it on fourth down on the Packer 40 yard line up by only 3 points. I know that it worked out with Charles Tillman intercepting the ball on the following Packer possession. Never the less I think playing field position continued offensive patience was called for in that situation.

• The officiating in this game was generally poor. On the Bears side, the missed pass interference on Knox and the bogus roughing the passer call on Julius Peppers comes to mind. Certainly a good argument could be made that the ball hit the ground on Tillman’s interception.

• This was a generally sloppy game but well-worthwhile. Though many would question the wisdom of doing it, the Bears were well-rewarded by playing this game all the way like it counted. The Packers exposed a number of offensive weaknesses, most notably the reappearance of the offensive line problems, the problems that the Bear receivers had getting away from the Packers coverage, the problems handling Greg Jennings on deep routes against cornerback Tim Jennings as the safeties were late getting over the top, and the problems handling the blitz. The Bears will now have two weeks to work on correcting those issues.

 

[Daventry]

http://bearingthenews.com/?p=337

 

Game Comments: Bears Vs. Packers, January 2, 2011

Posted on January 3, 2011 by Tom Shannon

 

 

Defense

 

• The Bears defense came out with all of the starters and they apparently came to play. For the most part they played fast and down hill.

• The defense came out mixing it up and blitzing early. They did less blitzing as the game wore on.

• The Bear defense had a bit of a problem when the Packer offense played their 22 personnel (2 backs, 2 wide receivers). They couldn’t stop the run out of this formation without an eighth guy in the box but they also didn’t like leaving their corners in single high man coverage. Rogers was trying to audible into a favorable play depending upon what the safety did. The Bears played a lot of it situationally depending upon whether the Packers were likely to need to pass but the intermediate downs and distances were a problem.

• The Bears had a hard time getting to Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rogers in the first quarter, even when they were blitzing. They did better as the game progressed.

• The Bears pass coverage was pretty good. Rogers was continually escaping pressure only to find that no one was open.

• The Bears defense did well today but the team was also fortunate in that Rogers and the Packer offense had an off day. Rogers occasionally struggled with accuracy and the receivers were continually dropping balls.

• I thought generally speaking the Bear defense played with a lot more discipline this game. To my eye they weren’t often caught out of their gaps.

• He wasn’t getting great protection but I am surprised that the Packers didn’t take more shots down field.

• Danieal Manning bit on an inside route on the long pass that set up the Packer touchdown in the fourth quarter. That was tough to swallow.

 

 

Offense

 

• The Bears offense came out running and they were also mixing it up well.

• The Packers played a defense with two down linemen much of the time. They did a lot of pre snap shifting trying to confuse the Bear defense and, like the Bear defense, they weren’t afraid to blitz. Their defense was effective.

• The Bears offensive line did a poor job of protecting quarterback Jay Cutler. The Packers did a good job of confusing them.

• Related to that, the Bears did a terrible job of handling the Packer blitz. The Packers aggressively covered the Bears wide receivers as they made their adjustments and the Bears simply had no answer. The Bears may have missed Earl Bennett a great deal more than most of us realized they would this game. In his absence, the Bears tried to use Greg Olsen more in these situations, especially late.

• The Bears did have good success running against that two man line for big chunks of yards.

• B.J. Raji had a great game. He was especially effective off of the Packer line stunts.

• The Packers did a good job of shutting down Johnny Knox by being very physical with him. Indeed, the Packers seemed to be getting away with being a bit too physical at times.

• Indeed, related to that, the Bears receivers had a very difficult time getting away from the aggressive, tight man coverage that the Packers specialize in.

 

Miscellaneous

 

• Joe Buck and Troy Aikman did a good job today. In fact, Aikman mentioned most of the points I made above during the broadcast. The only pick I have is that they didn’t mention when Matt Forte went over 100 yards.

• Brad Biggs tweet of the game: ”Jay Cutler yelling at Chester Taylor as he leaves field. Does he know Taylor fights teammates?”

• Someone better talk to the Bears about getting some proper spikes. I’m tiered of seeing them slip to the ground on footing that the other team seems to be handling well.

• Some of the Bear drops were tough to take – there were certainly too many. But if you are a Packer fan you are going crazy with the poor performance by your wide receivers in this respect.

• There were too many penalties on both sides.

• Nice job by D.J. Moore stripping the ball fromDonald Driver in the first quarter.

• Cutler threw a terrible interception in the third quarter in the end zone. He was off balance and threw it short. What’s worse, the Bears were in field goal position in a tight game. I know that to some extent you have to accept these things from Cutler but that just shouldn’t ever happen.

• Brad Maynard and Packer punter Tim Masthay did an excellent job today.

• The Devin Hester we saw today looked a lot like the one from last year. Masthay did a good job of pinning him against the sideline. The error of letting the Packers punt bounce at the twelve to be downed at the three in the fourth quarter came at a critical time.

• I’m not too sure about the Lovie Smith decision to go for it on fourth down on the Packer 40 yard line up by only 3 points. I know that it worked out with Charles Tillman intercepting the ball on the following Packer possession. Never the less I think playing field position continued offensive patience was called for in that situation.

• The officiating in this game was generally poor. On the Bears side, the missed pass interference on Knox and the bogus roughing the passer call on Julius Peppers comes to mind. Certainly a good argument could be made that the ball hit the ground on Tillman’s interception.

• This was a generally sloppy game but well-worthwhile. Though many would question the wisdom of doing it, the Bears were well-rewarded by playing this game all the way like it counted. The Packers exposed a number of offensive weaknesses, most notably the reappearance of the offensive line problems, the problems that the Bear receivers had getting away from the Packers coverage, the problems handling Greg Jennings on deep routes against cornerback Tim Jennings as the safeties were late getting over the top, and the problems handling the blitz. The Bears will now have two weeks to work on correcting those issues.

 

 

Insightful and well-thought out comments, thanks!

[Bears4Ever_34]

Not to single out yourself but why do people keep making multiple comment threads after every game? Again, I'm not blaming it on you but why can't we just have a single "Post Game" thread for people to post there thoughts on? Right now there are 3 threads all with the same common theme.

[tshanno]

Not to single out yourself but why do people keep making multiple comment threads after every game? Again, I'm not blaming it on you but why can't we just have a single "Post Game" thread for people to post there thoughts on? Right now there are 3 threads all with the same common theme.

 

Point well taken. I will try to seek out another thread next time rather than starting one of my own.

 

Thanks for the compliment, DaventryBearsFan.

 

Tom S.

[Daventry]

Not to single out yourself but why do people keep making multiple comment threads after every game? Again, I'm not blaming it on you but why can't we just have a single "Post Game" thread for people to post there thoughts on? Right now there are 3 threads all with the same common theme.

 

 

I can't see how it hurts to have people make their own threads, particularly as there are some members who I am much more interested in reading than others...

[Alaskan Grizzly]

Agreed Daventry. Tom S. is similar to Noots in that he has pretty insightful information and DIFFEERNT perspectives which is good to see. I have also gone to the link Tom has put on his posts and makes for a good read. I think it helps, especially at this time of year, to be able to analyze how the team is performing and what and how they need to fix what ills them. Besides, I have been told on numerous occasions that this is the place for each of us Bears fans to post our thoughts...drivel or not.

 

Thank you Tom S. and Noots for your professional commentary.

[azbearsfan]

Agreed Daventry. Tom S. is similar to Noots in that he has pretty insightful information and DIFFEERNT perspectives which is good to see. I have also gone to the link Tom has put on his posts and makes for a good read. I think it helps, especially at this time of year, to be able to analyze how the team is performing and what and how they need to fix what ills them. Besides, I have been told on numerous occasions that this is the place for each of us Bears fans to post our thoughts...drivel or not.

 

Thank you Tom S. and Noots for your professional commentary.

 

 

Agreed. I clicked the link and Mr Shannon has a very nice little site. I especially like the that he summarizes info from many spots in one place. Good reading.

 

I will have to make this a regular read, just like Noots.

 

 

I also agree with who cares about multiple threads on postgame reaction. If people dont want to read them then dont.

[CrackerDog]

Hey Tom, I'd prefer you post a new thread. Your thoughts are often worthy of special consideration and I don't have to work to find them hidden in another thread if you just toss them out there in a new one. And I'm lazy!

[BearsFan1974]

Agreed. I clicked the link and Mr Shannon has a very nice little site. I especially like the that he summarizes info from many spots in one place. Good reading.

 

I will have to make this a regular read, just like Noots.

 

 

I also agree with who cares about multiple threads on postgame reaction. If people dont want to read them then dont.

Totally agree. If you don't like the thread, don't read it. If you do read it, appreciate it and don't ride the poster...It's not like were getting link to the Pau Gasol trade from 3 years ago or link to throwback jerseys that have been out for 3 months.