Throughout the season, many, including myself occasionally, have doubted the Chicago Bears. Some were worried that the Bears would melt under the spotlight on Sunday afternoon in the NFC Divisional Playoff game, as the Bears sometimes do have a tendency to crumble on the big stage. Doubts were put to rest, though, as the Bears took an early lead on their first offensive drive and never looked back in a game that was not as close as the score may suggest.
I was very impressed with Jay Cutler and the offense. Cutler completed a bomb to Greg Olsen to give the Bears an early 7-0 lead, and the offense shined all game with Cutler completing some big plays, including two running TDs for Cutler. Forte also impressed me. He didn't have too many breakout runs, but also rarely was stopped for no gain. He consistantly got 5-7 yards per carry. The lone concern I had was with a questionable play call toward the end in which the Bears used the Wildcat formation. I advise Mike Martz to stay away from that.
On defense, the Bears were unbeatable. Despite allowing 24 points, the Bears shut out Seattle in the first half, and most of the Seahawks' points came late in the game. That was my big concern with the Bears' defense today. They must play sixty minutes of football. Although it didn't hurt in the long run, they have to be careful not to get too comfotable. When they do that they start to allow points late in the game and that is why it was an eleven point victory instead of a thirty-five point victory. Despit this concern, I saw a lot of positives. Good rushing defense as usual, but also suprisingly good pass defense. They were very good at knocking down passes and held Seattle to no points in the first two quarters.
The special teams was satisfactory. Hester had no returns, but he and Manning gave the Bears good field position. Robbie Gould didn't see much action, but Brad Maynard had a couple of nice punts pinning Seattle deep in their own territory. One question mark was an onside kick toward the end of the game. The Bears did recover Seattle's kick, but it hit off a Bear and was nearly jumped on by Seattle, when Roach barely recovered the kick. Not too much of an opinion on the special team today, though.
The Bears will host division-foe and arch-rival Green Bay next Sunday in a much anticipated game that is sure to be hyped and analyzed this week. This game couldn't have been scripted better. The two teams split the regular season and both had exciting Divisional Game victories. I will have a lot of coverage of this exciting game to see who goes to Dallas for the Super Bowl. Go Bears!
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