Bears-Bills: Pre-season Recap

Nick Shepkowski by Columnist Written on August 16, 2009
ORCHARD PARK, NY - AUGUST 15:  Jay Cutler #6 of the Chicago Bears huddles with teammates against the Buffalo Bills on  August 15, 2009 at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park, New York.  (Photo by Rick Stewart/Getty Images) (Photo by Rick Stewart/Getty Images)

For all of your Bears needs visit: Love Your Smith

It wasn't the prettiest quarter any of us have ever seen, but we have finally seen Jay Cutler take a snap as a member of the Chicago Bears on an actual game field.

His numbers were far from great, as he went 5-of-10 for 64 yards and one interception. The pick was ugly as Cutler threw off his back foot on a pass headed towards Devin Hester, who happened to be double-covered.

The two Cutler highlights of the night occurred on passes to Hester and Desmond Clark. Cutler had a Hester 20-yard stop route timed perfectly and hit Hester with a pass in the chest right between the 2 and the 3 on his jersey, spot-on toss.

On the Clark reception, we saw Cutler hit the tight end 20 yards downfield in stride. A year ago, that pass is one that is caught by Clark but chances are he needs to make an adjustment to do so and is unable to pick up those valuable YAC's.

Its obvious to me that Devin Hester doesn't quite have this receiver thing down the way Bears fans would like him to have it down just yet.
He gave up on a few plays tonight that weren't dead. When he did so and was out of position on others, this left Jay Cutler obviously upset at times.
It was one game, don't take a whole lot from it. Cutler didn't have perhaps his two biggest weapons tonight as both Matt Forte and Greg Olsen sat out for precautionary reasons.
He was far from great, but don't let that worry you one bit, we were still able to see some of his flashes of glory.

Other thoughts to note:

I was very impressed with the way Corey Graham showed up tonight. He was able to pick up a sack early on when he blitzed, also made a few open-field tackles that prevented first downs.

Nathan Vasher, man I have liked him for years as a Chicago Bear but that's a something right there, a something in a bad way.

Multiple times he was burned and out of position, I really hope whatever is wrong there gets fixed quickly because the secondary needs all the help it can get, especially from one of its highest paid veterans.

Ron Turner is said to be in love with Garrett Wolfe, it sounds more and more like Wolfe is safe to be a Bear this regular season while the same can't be said for Adrian Peterson.

Peterson picked up 27 yards on seven carries tonight, I honestly feel he would help the Bears in more situations in 2009 than Garrett Wolfe will, I doubt we will get to see this claim come true.

I liked what I saw from Al Afalava this evening at the free safety position. For the most part he kept himself in position to make a play and showed the necessary speed to compete at the NFL level. Time will tell if he will hold up but I thought he had a solid debut for the Bears.

Johnny Knox is quick as hell, his kick return tonight further proved that. If Manning and Hester are to be worn out from playing the majority of downs on defense and offense respectably, Knox has as much of a case as anyone at this point to fill the void.

Finally, I was sad to see the Bears face the Bills without Terrell Owens. I was really hoping to see these defensive backs against an elite receiver, not just Lee Evans.

It wasn't a miserable showing by any means and you can't take a whole heck of a lot from preseason like many think you can but the good news is the Bears escaped western New York healthy and can now prepare for the New York Giants, who come in next Saturday.

Vote Now! - Author Poll

How worried are you with Jay Cutler after his 5/10, 1 Int. debut?

  • Very
  • Somewhat
  • Kinda but not really
  • None at all
vote to see results
Results - Author Poll

How worried are you with Jay Cutler after his 5/10, 1 Int. debut?

  • Very

    11.6%
  • Somewhat

    14.0%
  • Kinda but not really

    30.2%
  • None at all

    44.2%
  • Total votes: 43
(0)
...
Share This  
Crop_45x45
or to post this comment

11 Comments

There are no comments yet. Get the conversation started by leaving the first comment

Loading more comments...
posted just now
  • Loading...
  • Nobody has liked this comment yet
Cancel

This comment and all replies have been deleted This comment has been deleted Undo delete

1,134
reads

11
comments

written on August 16, 2009 Game Recap

The best Bears newsletter on the web

Subscribe Now

We will never share your email address


CBS Sports Official Partner
Certain photos copyright © 2009 by Getty Images.
Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Getty Images is strictly prohibited.