NFC North Update: Bears Shock the World

Let us take things back to August.

It's preseason. Green Bay pulls the worst trade in history. Detroit has it's annual "something to prove" headlines. And the only question in Minnesota is, how exactly they'll go about dominating the North this year.

Chicago? They're not even in the conversation. They're a 4-12 team this year apparently. Orton doesn't have what it takes to lead a team. Matt Forte? Well, he won't do anything behind this porous o-line. The defense? A shadow of the 2006 juggernaut it once was.

Fast forward to opening weekend. Analysts across the continent unanimously pick Detroit to win, Chicago to lose, and generally split between the Monday Night Special: GB vs. MN.

Fast forward to Monday. The Lion's lost to Matt Ryan's Falcons. Green Bay commences the post-Favre era with a win.

But the story of the NFC North, is how the Chicago Bears shocked sports, shocked football, shocked everyone...

Except me. For three reasons.

Reason One:

I said it in '05, I said it last year, I said it this year. Rex Grossman is NOT the right quarterback for this team. It's not because he isn't necessarily talented, or that he doesn't have potential. He makes bad decisions. Decisions that lose football games.

Don't believe me? Tell me, when's the last time the Chicago lost a game without turning the ball over? In fact, when's the last time the Bears didn't turn the ball over?

Kyle Orton isn't Tony Romo. He isn't Tom Brady. He probably never will be.

But he doesn't turn the ball over. The Bears didn't lose games last year because they couldn't defend, it was because their offense couldn't stay on the field. It was because they couldn't keep teams out of the end zone when they started inside the 30 three or four times a game.

We don't need a pro bowler. We need a winning quarterback. That's the only stat where Orton has excelled.

Reason Two:

Did you see it? The Bears actually had a run game! An effective run game! They found a guy in the second round who can (get this) make people miss!

I'm not going to pretend that I foresaw a 100 yard game in his rookie debut, but when Matt Forte ran for a buck 25, again, I was not surprised.

Any Chicago team that has ever won anything in this league has been able to run the ball. 2006 was a success thanks largely to Thomas Jones. The year '85 had "Sweetness." The teams of old had players like Grange and Sayers.

Is Matt Forte the next Adrian Peterson? Too early to tell. But if he can keep things up he has rookie of the year on lock down, as well as a spot in the playoffs.

Reason Three:

The Bears defense is still something to be feared. Some will say that the Colt's line was incomplete last night. I wonder if they noticed that when Chicago got to Manning it was on the outside...

Thanks to Orton's astounding stat of ZERO turnovers, the defense was allowed to settle in and do it's job. Sure they had holes in the coverage. Sure Peyton exploited it. But when crunch time came, which is within the 20 yard line on either side of the field, the Bears tightened up (like they had in the past) and forced turnovers and field goals.

This wasn't a fluke win. This wasn't a week one relapse. This was a Chicago team with "something to prove." They held on to the ball, moved up the field with the run game, and played ferocious D.

And they were the most fun to watch out of the teams in the North.