Chicago Bears: 10 Things We Learned Against New York Giants
Fans will probably want to forget the Bears Sunday Night Football matchup against the Giants this past weekend. Needless to say it was a bloodbath so to speak, one that knocked out their starting quarterback for an unknown amount of time and left the team wondering what was wrong and how they can go about fixing it. Hopefully they will be able to turn things around in the meantime and get back to winning.
The following are 10 things that we learned about the Bears in their game against New York last Sunday night.
Offensive Line Shuffling Gets You Nowhere
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The Bears made a lot of changes on their offensive line Sunday night. It seemed whenever the Bears came in for a new offensive series, there was a new offensive lineman or a new one in another place. This shuffling does not allow the offensive line to gain any consistency or continuity and damages progress that is being made during a game. The Bears have to stick with the same group unless there is an injury.
Cutler May Have Gotten Concussed Earlier Than First Thought
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Cutler played a strange game after a little while, even before he sustained a concussion. He was holding onto the ball way too long, looked confused, and wasn’t close to being the same guy that we have seen in prior games. He also had a very dazed look on his face and at one point was walking towards the opponent's sideline instead of his own. Did the concussion happen much earlier in the game?
The Bears Can’t Run the Football
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Last week we felt that the Bears weren’t willing to run the football that much, opting to pass the ball instead. This week, it was proven that Chicago cannot run the ball effectively. They tried to run it on several occasions in this game, but either there wasn’t any room to run or the offensive line didn’t open up any holes to let them get through and make their way down the field.
If the Bears could have run the football in this game, it would have saved Cutler from many of the hits that he took and opened up the passing game much more for the Bears. They have to find a way to run the football.
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Peppers Is Very Impressive
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We all saw it. We saw him sack and strip quarterback Eli Manning. We saw him bat down a pass and we saw him get pressure on the quarterback as well as stop the run. What more can he do? He can get more sacks and that is something that will come soon, but already Peppers' presence is really helping out the defense.
The Receivers Are Doing Their Job
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It wasn’t that the receivers weren’t doing their job on Sunday; it’s just that their quarterback couldn’t get them the ball. Any time you watched the receivers get out into the open field, they were running good routes and often times they were wide open and could have easily gotten a first down or even broke loose and run for a touchdown. They just couldn’t get the ball because Cutler was under way too much pressure and didn’t have enough time to throw it to them.
The Coaching Staff “Over Adjusted”
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As we mentioned before, the line changes that the Bears had going on during the game just weren’t helping matters any. The coaching staff has done very well with making adjustments in the past (see the Dallas game) and for some reason, as soon as the first sack came, they started to panic and shuffle guys. Hopefully they won’t make these same mistakes again.
Brandon Manumaleuna Is a Bust
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The Bears paid a lot of money to bring Manumaleuna in as a blocking tight end, and so far he hasn’t done anything to prove that he’s worth the money that they paid him. He let defenders go right on by him on Sunday night and sack Cutler.
In one instance it appeared as if he stood aside to let the defender run by and put Cutler on the ground. This hasn’t been the only game where Manumaleuna has had problems blocking. Let’s just hope that he gets better or that the Bears find someone that can block better.
The Bears' Inactive List Shows Its Intentions
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If you look at the Bears' inactive list for the Giants game, you will see one very key name on it: Desmond Clark.
Clark was made inactive by the Bears just prior to the game on Sunday night, and what you gleaned from his inactivity was that the Bears didn’t plan to run the ball against the Giants.
Clark is a stout run blocker (and a decent enough pass blocker) and his value there would have really helped the team. It’s probably a safe bet that Clark won’t be inactive on game day again the rest of this season.
Bowman’s World
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Cornerback Zach Bowman didn’t start against the Giants, but got plenty of playing time. He caused the forced fumble on Ahmad Bradshaw that showed his value. Tim Jennings started in his place and proved that he’s not a bad player either. It goes to show that the Bears have a lot more depth at the cornerback position than they are given credit for.
The Linebackers March On
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There isn’t a harder working group on this team than the linebackers. Those guys have worked so hard to make sure that the Bears defense keeps opponents out of the end zone and from running the ball effectively.
Granted, they had some problems containing the run the other night, but they were on the field for a long time and something had to give. Thank the offense for the problems that the defense had against the Giants.
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