Chicago Bears' End of Season Review

Offense

The season started with signs of promise, but after the injury to Kyle Orton, the offense seemed to stop improving. I attribute this to more than just Orton but also the offensive line who looked tires in the last month of the season and the defense not getting stops when necessary.

In the NFL today, it seems that to succeed you need at least two backs (Titans, Giants, Falcons, Panthers, etc.) and the Bears do not have a complement to Matt Forte. They tried to sign Kevin Jones but nothing really came of it. So Forte took a lot of punishment in his first year.

QB: A tale of two quarterbacks; Kyle with good ankle and Kyle with bad ankle. Orton never got back into the rhythm of the offense again and hurt that hurt the Bears in the end as they could not sustain drives or even score field goals. Orton’s turn from clipboard holder to starter had a lot of fans excited but with lackluster performances in the final three games I wonder if Orton’s the answer for next year. If he is our starter in 2009 then he needs to work on his range down the field and looking of the defensive backs so they can’t jump routes.

RB: Eclipsed by Michael Turner of the Falcons, Matt Forte ended the season as the Bears' No. 1 source of offense. His between-the-tackles running and receiving out of the backfield would be impressive for a veteran. Here’s hoping he can stay healthy and that the Bears find another running back to compliment this impressive young man.

TE: Des Clark and Greg Olsen both have the ability to cause headaches for opposing defenses. Problem is, this past year, they were the only consistent weapons in the Bears' receiving corps, which earned them special attention on the field and limited their playmaking ability down the stretch.

WR: The only bright spot for this group was the development of Devin Hester. Other than that, injuries and dropped passes plagued the Bears' wideouts all season. The Bears need a tall, physical wide receiver to complement Devin Hester’s speed and playmaking ability.

OL: This group played well to start the season, but towards the end, they looked tired and got little push for runs and weren’t able to protect a wobbly Kyle Orton as much as necessary. As the year dragged on the running lanes for Forte got smaller as they got pushed around more and more. First round pick Chris Williams will hopefully have a full training camp in 2009 and the Bears will continue to get younger at the O-Line through the draft and maybe free agency.

Defense

Inconsistent. That’s the only thing that can be said about their performance this year. Something needs to happen to get them playing hard again because week after week mediocre performances loomed and the only thing that was said by the likes of Tommie Harris, Brian Urlacher, and Lance Briggs is, “We can play better.”

They never did.

DT: Tommie Harris never got started. He had a few glimpses of greatness but all in all he didn’t perform. Dusty Dvoracek played well and was a big part in stopping the run for the Bears. Marcus Harrison and Israel Idonije were held in check most of the season as the Bears never did generate a pass rush.

            DE: Alex Brown came on strong at the end of the season but other than                       that no one else could sustain a strong performance. Mark Anderson has                      had two offseasons in a row following his breakout rookie year and Adawale                 Ogunleye was ineffective. 

LB: With Urlacher aging his place becomes the middle of the field which leaves Lance Briggs to stay in the box. That system is fine and the Bears were at least good at stopping the run. However, the lack of pressure up front made it near impossible for the linebackers and defensive backs to cover all the holes in the coverage allowing long completions down the field. Nick Roach was a pleasant surprise filling in for Hunter Hillenmeyer.

     CB: Tillman and Vasher couldn’t stay healthy long enough to make a difference     in the passing game. Add to that the fact that opposing passers had all day to       sit in the pocket and look for holes and it makes for a disappointing season. 

S: The entire secondary is subject to the conditions of a pass rush. If there is a pass rush then the secondary has a chance to perform well and limit completions. If there isn’t a pass rush then they have to cover longer which allows the holes in the zone to be exploited. Unfortunately the latter happened 80% of the time. Kevin Payne made nice progress as a run stopper but the Bears need a hard hitting safety to play the deep middle of the field. Mike Brown used to fill that void but I feel in an effort to avoid injury he played more conservatively than usual.

Special Teams

The fact that Devin Hester didn’t return a kick for a touchdown doesn’t bother me. In fact the only phase of the game that played well all season is the special teams.

          K: Robbie Gould played another solid season. The only knock on him I could                 find is his placement of the onside kick in the Texans game. Other than that                 he’s proven accurate and clutch. 

P: Brad Maynard continues to be an elite punter in the NFL. He pinned offenses back inside the 20 when we needed it most. His performance down the stretch was Pro Bowl worthy, too bad the selection process was over by then.

KC: The loss of Garrett Wolfe hurt slightly. Wolfe is important as we need someone to fill the void left by Brendan Ayanbadejo. All in all the kick coverage was okay but could improve by showing great discipline for staying in your lane to prevent cut backs.

            KR: Teams kicked away from Hester for the entire time he was receiving kicks            which means that he’s still effective in that department. The lack of a return                touchdown for Hester shows less that he’s lost a step and shows more that he’s            making improvements at the receiver aspect of his game. Which is a good thing.          Daniel Manning had a costly fumble in the season finale but did a great job when          he took over kickoff returns.

The Bears' season started off with no one expecting much from them, then after a few games they showed that they may be capable of returning to NFC Championship form. More disheartening than poor play is inconsistent play.

As it shows you what results could be had only to disappoint time and time again. The only way I can be optimistic about the Bears next year is if they make changes in the coaching staff and start making some of the starters, particularly on the defensive and offensive lines, fear for their starting jobs and create competition with draft picks and free agents.

To put it plainly, a fire needs to get lit under this team as they seem to have forgotten that it takes hard work to win. Lovie Smith and Jerry Angelo can solve this with a few key shakeups at Defensive Coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

But I don’t want to end on a downer as the year did show the promise of potential offensive weapons like Devin Hester, Matt Forte, and Greg Olsen. The defense showed its strength at stopping the run and special teams was superb as has been the case the last three years.

The pieces are there, now you have all offseason to put them together.