2009 Pre-season Game 1 - Bears @ Bills

If you want to try to feel better about what you saw Saturday....read this... otherwise, dont waste your time...its a long one...and I dont need any guff from anyone. You've been warned....read at your risk...I dont want any comments about length.

So here goes...heres my analysis...

Well,

At points, that was tough to watch...but Im not concerned...ever the Bear optimist.

I dont know about you folks, but I didnt need to see a goddamn thing from the offense in the first pre-season game...

It didnt matter to me if they sucked balls or were lightning in a bottle. All I cared about is Cutler leaving the game healthy...which he did. They dont need to prove anything to me. By regular season, they will be a better offense than we have ever seen from a Bear unit....in my lifetime...that I can remember.

He had some good looks, and some bad ones.... neither really mean anything. Even if he threw nothing but perfect balls, I wouldnt have cared....its simply too early...and the players are just getting their heart rates up...this is about getting gametime experience before the real deal. And certainly, someone like Cutler, doesnt care about being perfect out there....hes just ironing out the kinks. Also...remember...we were sitting out our best player - Forte - which means...they can pretty much assume Cutler is going to throw every play......not hard to key in on a QB when you know hes throwing....and any other option he may have is likely to fall down at the line of scrimmage. (Jones still needs to show me more).

For me it was the defense I wanted to check out....primarily to check out our depth...which I was actually fairly impressed with.

Mind you - I'm primarily talking about the starting line-ups in this e-mail...just a note before I get too far...

I thought they looked good. How could i think so, you ask? What game was I watching? How, when Edwards had the completion percentage that he had...and with the non-starters looking inconsistent as well, can you possibly say such a thing?

Well, you have to remember something. This was the Bears first game. This was the Bills second. Edwards and his starting offense had a couple quarters of working with eachother in a real game situation to pull from, and I personally believe that they took advantage of a lack of cohesion yet to be obtained by the bears starting defense. There is a huge difference between meeting a defense that hasnt played real time yet this year...and playing one with a game under their belt already...
And Edwards having those minutes with his offense...not to mention a week of practices to work on some kinks that were discovered in that first game (ie. problems with the no huddle offense, ect.)...adds to the advantage. Even with that advantage...which to me, is very significant....I still saw some good things...things that I was looking for. Like the d-line.

I thought it looked improved...thats all I wanted to see. There was definitely some decent pressure...and by the time we get to regular season, I have no doubt it will look better. I loved how everyone was flying to the ball. Thats huge. I saw an aggressive defense that had yet to be in gametime situations, all at the same time....they probably practice as units most of the time...so it will take a couple pre-season games to put it all together. I saw a lot of depth...and a lot of special talent that will no doubt result in gamechanging plays come regular season. The defense looked hungry...but were missing cues and messing up some of the little things.........these things will be ironed out.

The defense resembled an older, more stingy, bear defense....if you remember back to like the 2005 pre-season defense....there are some similarities...especially in overall tenacity and 'bigness' of the defense. They were hitting hard...and playing shit out...and getting places fast....even if they should have technically already been there. Thats a mental thing. Physically, they look good....certainly better than I thought. Mentally...they have some stuff to go over and to get ironed out.....but that is to be expected, i would argue.

If you are like me, and never thought for a second that the offense was an issue...this was a good game. The offense did not need to prove shit. And they didnt disprove anything about themselves from this game, as far as I'm concerned. Its preseason. I promise you, we will look 10 times better come regular season. Look at orton's first game. Poor guys personal nightmare... I guarantee, by the time reg season comes along, he will be playing with much more confidence...and be looking much better (I hope...poor guy). I think we can expect the same kind of exponential improvement from Cutler and OUR offense, as the preseason goes on...and certainly by the time we get to GB...we NEED to get it together by then. Starting the season against GB is not an advantage for us in this case. We need to make sure that our offense is ready to go and that they are synching...cause I predict that game will be a shootout....a rivalry shootout at that. We will need Cutler to play well. If he doesnt...forget about it. 0-1.

Give Cutler time...

Hell, compare Edwards first preseason game stats to his second game...I believe Cutler will enjoy the same type of improvement.

Edwards first game - 3 throws for 34 yards and an interception
Edwards second game - 10 of 10 for 79 - no interceptions

Thats a huge difference in performance.....

Cutlers first game - 5 for 10 with 64 yards and an interception
-- That would mean that next game - we can expect something like this from Cutler: 10 of 15 for 109 yards - no interceptions. Total lack of scientificness...but seriously...its a good point. Theres an expected cumulitive growth throughout the preseason.

In any event...I'm not sweating. Next weekend, you will see there is no reason to worry...its just working the kinks.

Although..... Green Bay taking such a chunk out of the Browns early pre-season, makes me a little weary that we face them first. I think we will be ready at that point tho. Its the Browns...what else do you need to know? Not a good team

.....although...an argument to that would be --- its the Bills....

hmmm....

again - Bills game 2 vs Bears game 1....I'd say that accounts for more than 7 points.....

They only won by 7.


Thoughts? Comments? Tell me I dont have a point here.



DLP