Chicago Bears Report Card: Grading Each Unit vs. the Tampa Bay Bucs

After giving up 14 points in the fourth quarter, the Bears defense came up big when it mattered most as nickelback DJ Moore stepped up with a game ending interception to seal the Bears 24-18 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Entering the fourth quarter with a 21-5 lead, the Bears offense stalled and the defense allowed two touchdowns, allowing the Bucs to make a game of it and leading to last second drama for the fans attending in London.

But the Bears stood tall in the face of adversity and came away with a win and moving to 4-3 on the season, one game closer to the Lions (5-2), who lost to the Falcons this week and keeping pace with the Packers (7-0) after their close win over the Vikings.

Today we'll break the team down into individual units and assign grades based on the units' overall performances.

So, without further ado, let's jump into grading each unit vs/ the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Offensive Line

The line was protected again this week.  Between Forte's outside rushing and Martz's play calling, the line was given the opportunity to succeed.

And they did have relative success.  Cutler was under pressure quite a bit, but took "just" two sacks.  For the Bears offensive line, that is a victory.

The unit continued to block well on outside runs and continued to struggle in run-blocking between the tackles.  

On Forte's 31-yard touchdown run that capped off the Bears' second offensive series, RT Lance Louis did a fine job sealing off the outside edge while C Roberto Garza and RG Chris Spencer pulled to lead the way and spring Forte into the secondary.  It was a perfect example of how well this line blocks outside runs.

However, the interior blocking led to a rough day between the tackles for Forte.  Consistently stopped inside though out the game, Forte was unable to make much of anything happen with inside running because holes were only available for defensive linemen.  

A mixed-bag showing from the Matadors of the Midway this week.  Grade: C

Defensive Line

Pressure on the quarterback, especially in the fourth quarter, would have went a long way towards stalling the Buccaneers momentum and their attempted comeback.

Unfortunately, that pressure just wasn't there.  Henry Melton got through once in a while as did Israel Idonije.  A clearly injured Julius Peppers tried to do what he could and did more than most would have done in his situation.  Amobi Okoye provided the Bears' with their one sack and not much else.

The Bears need to find ways to get pressure from their front four.  The lack of pressure nearly cost the Bears the game, forcing the secondary to cover far too long far too often.  It was that secondary that came through for the line.

Where they failed in the pass rush, the defensive line dominated against the run.  The Bears held the Bucs to 30 yards and a 2.7 yard per carry average on 11 rushing attempts.  It didn't hurt that the Bucs lost their second running back early in the game, leaving them with their third string running back as the lone option.

Regardless, the Bears did a fine job defending the run and a large part of that was the line being in their gaps.

Grade: D+

Receiving Corps

The receiving corps stepped up today and got separation from receivers, giving Cutler viable targets and providing forcing the defense to play honest football against Matt Forte.

Stepping up his game this week and providing the physical play the receiving corps has needed was Roy Williams.  Williams hauled in 4 passes for 59 yards and a touchdown.  While those may not be staggering numbers, they were physical receptions that beat bump and run and press coverages.  Cutler needed that target.  

Williams continued to struggle with drops, but if he continues to show up and physically dominate corners, he could turn around what has so far looked to be a lackluster free agent signing.

Hester and Knox both continued to progress and both put up solid games.  Hester took over the lead among receivers in receptions, adding four to his total, along with 46 yards.  Knox added three receptions and 53 yards.

Rookie sensation Dane Sanzenbacher had two receptions and 13 yards to his totals and the undrafted free agent continues to show that he belongs.

The entire group performed admirably.  Grade: B+

Tight Ends

Not a whole lot to report on the tight ends in the passing game.  Often kept in to help protect Cutler, the group recorded no catches on the day.  But the offensive line benefited from their aid in the blocking scheme.

The tight ends also made an impact on outside runs, clearing lanes and blocking into the linebacking corps for Forte and Barber.  As blockers, the tight ends had a fantastic day, and that is an often overlooked aspect of the performance of the tight end group.

Grade: B+

Linebacking Corps

The Bears' linebackers stepped up this week in a big way.  Besides being a heavy part of controlling the running assault, they stepped up in coverage in a big way.  They held Kellen Winslow to 25 yards receiving on four receptions and Urlacher and Briggs each recorded an interception.

Though the offense failed to capitalize on either interception, they still impacted the game, keeping the ball out of Josh Freeman's hands and stalling drives.

The linebacking corps played well all the way around.  Grade: A

Running Backs

What can you say about Matt Forte other than...."Pay the man!"

Forte continues to be the driving force behind the Bears offense.  He added 183 total yards to his league-leading yards from scrimmage total, along with a rushing touchdown.  Forte provided 46.3 percent of the Bears' total offense against the Buccaneers.

Marion Barber continues to show that he was likely the best addition via free agency to this team in 2011, playing the powerful compliment to Matt Forte and adding six runs for 39 yards and a touchdown.

Meanwhile, Tyler Clutts again showed that the bears made a wise decision in signing the young fullback, as Clutts leads the way for Forte and Barber.  On Forte's previously mentioned 32-yard touchdown run, the final block that opened the end zone for Forte was thrown by Clutts.  Tyler also contributed two catches for 17 yards.

You cannot ask for more than what the bears are getting weekly from their running  backs.  Grade: A+

Secondary

The defensive line didn't do the secondary any favors against Tampa Bay.  But the secondary came through in the clutch several times.

Though they had to cover for longer than you would want your corners and safeties to have too,  the Bears' secondary unit did an admirable job.

Charles Tillman had a good, physical night and kept Chris Williams in check for the better part of the night.  Tim Jennings had a bit tougher night, but still did a pretty decent job, given the task.

The Bears' safeties did well.  Chris Harris was third in tackles and did an OK job in coverage, for the most part.  He did drop an interception and was beaten by Brisco for one of the Bucs touchdowns.  And Chris Conte made an impact play stripping an interception at the goal line in the first quarter.  While the Bears gave up a safety on the next play, Conte prevented a touchdown on the play, which immediately followed a Cutler thrown interception.

DJ Moore continues to prove his worth, putting the game away in the last minute with an interception to seal the win.  At the time, the Bucs had all the momentum and were driving for a game winning score.  But Moore had other thoughts, and created the Bears' fourth turnover to end the dramatic comeback attempt by Freeman and the Buccaneers.

The secondary gave up both of freeman's touchdowns, but came up with the big plays that saved the game.

Grade: A-

Quarterback

Hidden behind the successes of his receivers, his running backs and his defense is the poor outing of Jay Cutler.

It came in a win so it won't get the press it would in a loss, but Cutler did not continue his streak of good games against the Bucs.  He completed just 17 of 32 passes for 226 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions.  One of his interceptions was on a tipped pass, but he was responsible for the other.  It was a bad decision.

Jay was saved from a couple of other bad decisions that could very easily have been interceptions, including an early pass to the flats that Ronde Barber dropped and another in the second quarter than Devin Hester prevented by returning to his cornerback roots.  And those weren't the only poor choices that Cutler got lucky on.

While Cutler was under some pressure, there wasn't nearly enough to justify the number of poor choices he made against Tampa.

Jay did make some good throws, including his TD pass to Williams. But in the end, it just wasn't a good day for Cutler, and the 60.2 quarterback rating Cutler had for this game is just another indicator of that fact.  Grade: D+

Those are your grades for each unit's Week 7 performance. Now it's your turn, ladies and gentlemen.  Step up to the soapbox below and tell us what you think of the game or our grades.