Vikes Manhandle Bears
The Bears got beat by the Vikings pretty thoroughly tonight by a score of 34-14. The Bears started out well, scoring first on a 65-yard TD pass to Hester. But after blowing a first-and-goal at the one, the wheels came off fast. There's so much hate to go around, I don't know where to begin.
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How about John St. Clair? Jared Allen used him as a turnstyle all night. St. Clair has been "OK" this year, but he was abused like Guantanamo detainee tonight. I wouldn't bench him over this, but I might put a picture of Chris Williams in his locker.
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I probably shouldn't single out St. Clair. The entire line got absolutely manhandled. Kreutz, Beekman, Tait, Garza - rag dolls, all of them.
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Then there's Ron Turner. Um, Jason Davis? Three straight runs into the bellies of the Williams brothers? What were you thinking? It changed the game. He also couldn't seem to adjust to the Vikings nickel package either, making Greg Olsen a non-factor. Which leads me to my next point.
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Kyle Orton. While his wide receivers continued to suck to the tune of at least five mind-boggling drops -- (Davis, Lloyd, Hester, and Peterson, I'm looking at you) -- tonight wasn't Orton's finest moment. Two of those picks were just ugly, and he under/over threw several open guys. Was the foot a factor? Probably a little, so I won't rag on Kyle too much. He's still the best Bears QB since, uh, Jim Miller. <shakes head />
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Charles Tillman. I don't know what he was thinking on that 99-yard TD pass to Berrian. Probably something like this.
So were there any positives to take from tonight? Not really, but I wasn't too upset by the performance of the defense. Purple Jesus made some legitimately great runs that even the almighty '85 crew wouldn't have stopped. Sometimes great players make great plays. Chester Taylor, though? Good but not great. Gus Frerotte? Not even close to great. Nice to see some hard-hitting, though, and I have to give props to Urlacher, Briggs, and Tommie Harris. Urlacher and Harris have spent a lot of time in the doghouse this year, and I can't pin any blame on either one for tonight's loss.
Oh yeah, and Matt Forte. I feel like I praise this guy every week, yet every week I feel that I'm not giving him enough love. No, he's not Purple Jesus. But he's pretty damn good, and he's got a better than average chance to make the Pro Bowl this year. One of only two Bears to likely get any consideration (Briggs being the other.)
I'm just about out of words. One game out with four games left. Bear down.