Bears second preseason: Good signs, lets not get crazy

By Edward Kensik  |   Saturday, August 29, 2009  |  Comments( 0 )

Chicago Bears
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By Edward Kensik

In this day-and-age of immediate determinations, many are looking at the Bears-Giants game on Saturday as great things to come.
But like the Bills game where fans were mainly down, you can not go crazy over a 17-3 victory over the Giants.
After the Bills game, those who said that Jay Cutler is one of the most over-hyped player were gaining converts. But the rollercoaster feelings about Cutler were now on top of the tracks with the hope that they continue to get higher.
Cutler was 8-for-13 for 121 yards, one touchdown and more importantly no interceptions. The quarterback rating was 117.8
Yes, Cutler did show his skills that make him one of the up-and-coming quarterback talents, but the Giants were without several defensive starters including Antonio Pierce.
Despite the missing defensive players, Cutler will show that he is not that over-hyped quarterback that many complain about. And is far better then anything the Bears have had in several years.
It might even show what could have happened if the Bears had won a coin flip in 1971 when the Steelers took Terry Bradshaw with the first pick in the draft. While Bradshaw was not your thrower, he was very good quarterback for the times when running the ball ruled the roost.
One of the major bright spots that came out of the Giants game were the wide receivers. It appears that the Bears will not have to go out and grab a veteran wide out on the waiver wire or even Marvin Harrison, who it appears is retired.
Fifteen different players caught a pass and that could be the case throughout the season with Cutler. While both running back Matt Forte and tight end Greg Olsen were not in the lineup against the Bills, they were there against the Giants and showed that they are pivotal pieces for the Bears offensive attack. Forte and Olsen had a catch each on Saturday night.
Devin Hester, Earl Bennett and Brandon Rideau made a pair of catches. Bennett continued to see his stock raise as being the other starter next to Hester. Both high draft picks, Johnny Knox and Juaquin Iglesias, also had a catch each are expected to be on the team when the regular season starts. This leaves about one or two wide receivers including Rideau who will make the team. The Broncos game on Sunday night should be pivotal for Rideau, Devin Aromashodu and Rashied Davis as one of the final wide receivers.
Along with Olsen, Desmond Clark might be one of Cutler’s favorite targets and caught the lone touchdown pass against the Giants, a short one-yard throw.
While the Bears defense had trouble bringing Brandon Jacobs down, Forte showed why he is one of the best running backs in the NFL. Forte had nine carries for 58 yards including a touchdown and a 32-yard run.
The Bears continue to say that they want Forte to get less touches this year and are banking on Kevin Jones, but Jones still continues to not show much. He had eight carries for only 25 yards against the Giants. The team should look at the waiver wire to get somebody solid to backup Forte. Garrett Wolfe appears to be the third running back especially with his prowess on special teams.
The offensive line continues to give Cutler plenty of time to throw and appears to be a solid unit even with three new starters on the line.
The defensive line continued to improve under the coaching of Rod Marinelli and gave all the Giants quarterbacks fits with five sacks. Eli Manning was sacked twice. The Bears got sacks from Josh Bullocks, Adewale Ogunleye, Alex Brown, Marcus Harrison and Dustin Dvoracek. The last name on the his list, four-year nose tackle, Dvoracek ,though left the game and it appears that he will be either out for a long period of time or for the entire season. While Dvoracek, the long durable Bear, was not expected to start, his loss though will hurt the team’s depth.
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