Chicago Bears: 10 Biggest Surprises of the 1st Half

The Chicago Bears are coming out of their bye week and preparing to take on the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night.  They are coming into the game with a record of 4-3. The Bears had their struggles during the first half of the season as they played three really difficult teams (New Orleans, Green Bay and Detroit) losing all of those games), and then won the games that everyone thought that they should. 

Can the Bears continue to make a run at the playoffs after getting all the way to the NFC Championship a year ago?

As there is with every team in the league, there have been a few surprises with the Bears this season.  I have identified 10 surprises with the team and have listed them out here.

Jay Cutler Is Better Than Than We Thought

There might be those out there that think that Cutler isn’t playing nearly as well as he should be, but he has actually been performing pretty nicely and is helping to lead the team to wins. Even in games where the Bears lost (especially against the Lions), he has been back there fighting hard and playing well. 

Cutler’s detractors need to take a step back and watch how he plays because, despite the fact the team has had their struggles on offense, he’s not playing that bad.

Matt Forte Is Super

Would anyone have thought that Matt Forte would be over 1,000 combined yards by the time the bye week rolled around? 

In what was thought to be a pass first offense again this year the Bears have been running the ball with authority and Forte is the one to give credit to for that. He’s been able to get the tough yards in the middle and the outside and has really turned into a complete back.

Roy Williams Isn’t Thriving in the Mike Martz Offense

Remember all of the people that said that with Roy Williams, a former player in the Mike Martz offense, in the lineup, the Bears were going to get the offense right?

Well that hasn’t been the case as the Bears are finding that Williams has problems (the problems indentified when he played with the Lions and the Cowboys such as catching the ball), and he really hasn’t been a factor. Perhaps he will pick things up over the next few weeks.

The Play of the Defensive Line

This has been somewhat surprising this year. In their first game, the defensive line played as well as they have in a while. After that, they started a downhill run that had caused them problems in the three games that they lost. 

They have had their moments, but everyone thought that this defensive line would be much better than it was. Granted, Julius Peppers has been hurt and isn’t at 100 percent, and Matt Toeaina is out making things somewhat of a struggle on the defense line.

Urlacher Is Playing Like a Young Man

Have you seen how Urlacher has been playing lately? He’s been playing like he’s a second- or third-year linebacker showing us that he is still very athletic and not showing any signs of aging. He has played like a man possessed and is really turning out the big plays for the Bears.

The Cornerbacks Are Holding Their Own

The yearly knock on the secondary is that the cornerbacks are weak and that they wouldn’t be able to hold their own against some of the better receivers who they will face on the schedule. Not including what the safeties have failed on, both Tim Jennings and Charles Tillman aren’t really doing that bad. It’s the safety position where there is some concern.

The Safety Position Is in a World of Hurt

The release of Chris Harris has signified that the Bears are having problems at the safety position. They had thought that they had fixed it by bringing in Brandon Merriweather, formerly of the New England Patriots, but he has problems not sticking to the game plan so he has been taken out. 

It looks like it’s going to be up to Chris Conte and Major Wright to hold down the Bears’ safety position for the rest of the season.

Johnny Knox Disappears

Has anyone seen Johnny Knox? He shows up every once in a while to catch a pass, but he hasn’t been used as much as he was last year. Perhaps it’s because the Bears have been struggling to get the ball out to their receivers or perhaps it’s because he’s not running the right routes or the timing is off. 

Either way, he isn’t having  the same impact this year as he did last year.

Roberto Garza Holding His Own at Center

The Bears let long-time center Olin Kreutz go in the preseason, and while many fans thought that the Bears didn’t have a good reason to do that or didn’t have a good backup plan, they tried Garza out at center (he was a former center), and the plan worked. Garza has been able to hold his own. He’s been making good line calls and keeping things together in the center of that line.

Martz Tries It Again

The Bears started the season much like they did last year by trying to pass the ball much more than they ran it. That plan was scrapped quicker than it was the previous year, and now the Bears are finding success with the running game.  As long as Forte can keep running and keep helping them move the ball, Martz’s offensive changes will work.

Maynard Who?

New punter Adam Podlesh has been looking pretty good this year and doesn’t make anyone think that letting go of Brad Maynard was a mistake. The Bears knew who they getting and trusted that the change would be good, and so far it’s been that way. 

Podlesh is getting good distance on his punts and is a nice directional punter. Hopefully he can continue being on the ball with the Bears and their special teams.