As I sit down to write this, I can honestly say, I've never been more in a "yeah, but" mood after a 30-6 Bears win as I have been over the last 24 hours. Yeah, the Browns are that bad and yeah the Bears aren't much better than average.
Going to be kind of harsh again today, so be ready. It was ugly as hell from the get-go for the Bears who couldn't do much to keep guys off Jay Cutler. Josh Beekman moved in to start at left guard next to Orlando Pace and it has become official, Pace SUCKS! That left side got blown up every time and kept the Bears out of the end zone on four red zone trips in the game. Call me a cynic if you will, but I did watch that Vikings/Packers game later in the day and if the Bears want any chance at staying towards the top of the division, they need to fix some things.
The main area of concern is the offensive line. Not sure if it's all five guys, but the move that was made didn't change much. The worst part of it all is the ridiculous nature of Bears fans that, first, blame Jay Cutler for not knowing what to do with the ball, and second, blame Ron Turner. I mean, really people? Are we watching the same game, or because I get paid to watch football do I know that much more than the next guy? I listened to 670 AM WSCR for the little bit today and most were jumping all over both guys. Here's David Haugh's story in the Tribune today that talks about just that point. I was listening to the Sirius NFL Radio the other day and they were talking about the issue and made a point that sticks with me. Tim Ryan said if you can run the ball, you can protect your quarterback. Right now, the Bears can't do either. Matt Forte looks pedestrian at best and the rest of the offense sputters. Two of this team's four losses were because Cutler took things over in the final two minutes and it it wasn't for those, the only wins the team has is against the Lions and the Browns. Doesn't speak well for them, huh?
There might be some adjustments there and the key might be as simple as shifting to more 3-step drops and finding a way to get Forte the ball out of the backfield in the passing game. It might be an option I'd look into. Watching Jay Cutler tend to his tongue was telling after getting rocked because his O-line is downright awful says something for the toughness of the guy, but he can't hang on forever.
The one bright spot may have been the defense which forced five turnovers and finally started hawking the ball and showed its lowest points allowed total of the season. Then again, against the Browns, wasn't that expected? There were times they looked great and others where if they had been playing a "real" NFL team, they would have gotten destroyed. Wow, I could beat on this all day. At least the players know they have to get better and hopefully they are not content with the win.
At halftime of the game yesterday the Bears did do something awesome in honoring Walter Payton. The Payton family was on hand and it become official that a statue to "Sweetness" himself outside Soldier Field is going to be erected in the near future. The weekend was the 10-year anniversary of his death at the age of 45. You can go here to watch the video that was shown at Soldier Field.
I must say I was a little young to get a chance to see him in the prime of his career and appreciate it. I said this on the 25-year anniversary of him becoming the all-time leading NFL rusher that the more I read about him, the more he reminds me of Michael Jordan in terms of what he meant to the city, the sport and the team. As well as what he was able to do for the guys that played around him. The quotes they show in the video are amazing and could bring anyone to do their best. That's why I look to MJ. As a kid he showed me to never give up. Hard work will get you where you want to go in life. If someone says you can't do something, then that is the motivation you need to prove them wrong. Sweetness was that guy, too. Quiet, hardworking and blue collar. He missed one game his entire career and that was a coach's decision because he had a bum big toe. Yes, a big toe is the reason Sweetness missed his only NFL game. How ironic is that?
Now I know everyone and their brother watched the Packers/Vikings game yesterday for Favre, so I'm not going to get into that. Hat tip to Brett though!
I will point out this story I found today. It's from last week and it is from Gilbert Brown. Take a look and see what he says he'd do to Brett.
For some more great football video, we go to this great piece. Kids, be sure you know what color your team is wearing to avoid looking like this goon squad.
Now we have finally arrived at the Nussie Hunter portion of today's broadcast. Got a little bit of a curveball for you today. Well, sort of. You're going to see Miranda Lambert and go where did that come from? Well, I made my debut on FM radio this weekend calling a high school football game on a station that is usually a country station (Big thanks to the Shark for being a great play-by-play guy!). So after talking with my boy RJ about the blog today, I figured why not?
Quick story: I almost met Miranda Lambert a couple years ago. Another good dudebro of mine, Josh, also works radio and she came to the Dodge County Fair. His radio station was sponsoring her that night so he was there doing an interview. He called me before he was going to talk to her. "How quick can you get here?" Well, bad news was I was covering a high school baseball game at Miller Park so was not going to make it. LAME, I know. Well, he looked good in the picture he took with her. All I heard later from him was, "She smelt AMAZING!" Ha!
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