I'm ready to talk about it. The Bears lost to the Packers in the NFC Championship game. Jay Cutler was injured (seriously, he was, and the criticism of him is absurd). The coaching was not phenomenal (really Lovie, punting from the Packers 31 yard line down 14? That 11 yard punt was extremely helpful). But I'm over it. Really, I am (it helps that there are practically no Packers fans in Indy; I imagine they are insufferable to be around). So what will I remember about the 2010 Bears?
The Good
My buddy Tom and I were looking over the Bears' schedule back in August. And frankly, there were not many wins to be found. I may have actually said, "Best case scenario for the Bears, they win 8 games" (I did actually say that). Thus, by winning the division and making the playoffs, the Bears were playing with the house's money. Making the NFC Championship game, well if you had told me the Bears would be playing, at home, last Sunday, I would have said, "In a charity game?"
Brian Urlacher bounced back. Urlacher was lost for the '09 season in Week 1 with a wrist injury. He has struggled to shed blocks for years. People said he was was done (I may have said that). But against the Packers in the NFC Championship game, Urlacher was great. He had a huge sack to force the Packers out of field goal range in the first half. He had an interception in the red zone that, but for an amazing individual effort by Aaron Rodgers would have been a touchdown (the fiance, who loves Urlacher, was furious at him for not running Rodgers over, but I digress). I don't know how many years Urlacher has left (I just realized he was a rookie when I was a Senior in high school), but seeing him flash his old self this year was great.
Julius Peppers made the defense 10x better. Peppers is a pass rushing monster. I have talked about Peppers before, but it bears repeating here. Peppers is a nightmare for any left tackle in the league. And he is athletic enough to make ridiculous defensive plays (see Peppers' absurd interception against the Panthers). Julius Peppers as a Bear for the next several years makes me extremely optimistic about the Bears' defense going forward.
Devin Hester. There is not much more exciting than seeing a punt sail into the air with Hester waiting patiently for a chance to weave some magic. Jeff Joniak put it best when, in 2007, Hester returned his second punt return for a touchdown against the Rams, "Devin Hester, you are ridiculous!" Or maybe Tony Dungy said it best before the Super Bowl the same year, "Devin Hester is a weapon, he is a nuclear weapon. So you are never quite comfortable when your enemy has a nuclear weapon... He can score from anywhere on the field at any time, and that is not a good feeling." Well, Devin Hester is back. And he makes the Bears so much more dangerous when he is returning punts.
The Bad
The wide receivers. Johnny Knox is fast. So is Devin Hester. But somehow neither of them are effective at getting separation. The Bears need to upgrade the wide receiver position badly. When you invest an entire draft in a rocket armed quarterback, shouldn't you give him a decent wide receiver? I like Knox, I like Hester, but neither of them are a number 1, or even a number 2 wide receiver in the NFL.
The offensive line. Jay Cutler was sacked 1000000000000000 times this year. Literally. Cutler was sacked that many times. They got better as the season progressed and were fantastic against the Seahawks in the Divisional Round. But the Bears need to protect Cutler. And to do that, the offensive line needs to improve. Whether through the draft or free agency, the Bears' line needs to get better.
So at the end of the day, this was a great season for the Bears. The Bears need to have a strong draft next year to inject some youth into an aging defense and need to add playmakers on the offensive line and at the wide receiver position. But that's something to worry about in 2011. Until then, a tip of my imaginary cap to the 2010 Chicago Bears. A memorable team, a memorable year. One hell of a ride.
Jay Cutler was injured, but in the rush to pick sides, the dialogue on this issue has been pretty stupid. Boers and Bernstein yell anybody down that questions the situation. People that question his physical toughness are stupid because he got knocked around the field all year and tried to play with a sprained MCL, but people who say he couldn't play aren't facing reality. He did play with the injury (not well, but he took snaps and threw the ball). Ultimately, I believe the Bears coaching and training staff made the decision that Cutler couldn't effectively play through the injury.
ReplyDeleteBut, the really concerning thing looking forward is that Cutler was horrible before he was injured. The Bears have to upgrade the O-line - is Kreutz coming back? Is Tommie Harris coming back? How do the Bears upgrade at WR? How many more years does the Bears defensive core have left? Why are the Bears going to extend Lovie?
I agree that this was a great season for the Bears, but way it ended just made me feel sick to my stomach and made me question how this team won 11 games. But the NFL is a league full of incomplete (bad) teams that find a winning combination. The question is if Bears will remember the winning combination next year.
Sorry, I needed to get some things off my chest. Do I win the prize for longest Hobbserver comment ever?
First off, this is my first ever comment to the hobbserver! Dickey, I was actually re-reading some of our Bears email banter from this offseason at work last week. Good times.
ReplyDeleteAgree on all Cutler toughness thoughts mentioned above by you and Chris. He was injured, coaches pulled him after 1st series of 3rd quarter due to injury/ineffectiveness. The end.
The game: I was actually at the game Sunday and DVRed the TV feed (FYI, awesome experience except for the result). Based on watching the game twice, the 3 biggest problems I had about the first half were: 1) Defense got owned, 2) Uninventive (is that a word?) offensive game plan, and 3) Coaching decisions. Cutler had a bad game, but in reality, he wasn't put in a good position to succeed. The Packers came out throwing and used the pass to setup the run, which worked incredibly well as they gashed our D both ways. The Bears tried to run early, which was ineffective and left us with many 2nd/3rd and long situations. Have to give the checkmark to McCarthy for winning that coaching battle. 14-0 lead hard to overcome against a good team with outstanding D. Also, too many penalties at bad times.
Offseason: I would approach the draft with the "best player available" outside of QB for every pick. The Bears are thin at all positions and can use help everywhere. This makes me nauseous. I agree with OL help, but also think we should try to draft the long-term replacement for Urlacher sometime in rounds 1-3 (you can either sit him or use him at OLB next season). This defense is getting older and needs some youth at core positions. Bears need to have a quality draft this year because the window of opportunity for "this team" is closing fast.
Why do I have the sinking feeling that Lovie will get a 3-year extension followed by the Bears going 7-9 or 6-10 in 2011?