That's right. A close shoot out. How else would you explain the Bears 48-41 victory today over the Vikings? I haven't had this much fun watching a Bears game in years. Unlike MJ I wasn't having flashbacks of the 1995 Wanny/Turner Bears. That could be because I can't remember yesterday, let alone a Bears season over 10 years ago. This team doesn't remind me at all of that 1995 offensive juggernaut. For starters, I think Orton is better than Erik Kramer ever was, and our defense isn't as bad this year. Then again, I'd have to check the stats. Huh. I guess the 95 Bears defense finished 19th at the end of that season. This year's team is sitting at 16th in total defense. Maybe MJ is on to something...
Don't get me wrong, the 2008 Bears defense stinks like French cheese. There is nothing special about our D this year. We gave up over 40 points today to the Gus Ferotte led Vikings. That is nothing to be proud of. We should ask Ferotte which Bears defense is better, the one he saw back in his Redskins days or the Brian Urlacher led team that makes Adrian Peterson look like he should be wearing the #34. I swear AP gets another endorsement deal every time he plays the Bears. He's great. No doubt. But you get the feeling his hall of fame tape is going to consist of nothing but Bears highlights. AP had 22 carries for 121 yards and 2 touchdowns. His longest run was for 54 yards in which he proceeded to make Mike Brown look like a fool. Other than that, we kept him in check.
It goes without saying that the Cover-2 defense doesn't seem to work when you can't rush the quarterback. I guess I shouldn't get greedy. The Bears did sack Ferotte twice. That's 2 more sacks than we have seen in the previous 2 games. It concerns me a great deal that we can't get to the quarterback more often. Is it because Babich isn't being as aggressive as he was last year with his play calling? Is it because Tommie Harris has mental problems? Maybe we need to send Urlacher after the quarterback every so often to keep quarterbacks honest? I'm not sure what the solution is, but I do know that I was getting nervous watching the Vikings stampede down the field with 4 minutes left in this game. The only bright spot I saw on defense, scratch that, the only consistent play I saw today came from Alex Brown. He was terrific today.
I shouldn't complain about the defense too much. They did end up with 4 picks thanks to Corey Graham and Trumaine McBride. Both were filling in for Peanut and Vasher. I was worried that former Bear Bernard Berrian, who I am on record as saying was not worth all that cash, would pound us. He had 81 yards and a touchdown. His replacement, the much older and cheaper Marty Booker had 79 yards on 3 catches and a touchdown. He should have had 3 touchdowns, but he is an old dude and his hands aren't as good as we remember them being. He dropped 2 DARTS from Kyle Orton today. I'm going to cut Marty a break tonight because after he made his first catch, which wasn't in the end zone, he looked around astonished. It seemed as if he was saying, "Thank God. I finally caught a pass". I appreciate the frustration and more specifically, the acknowledgment of his struggles. Booker is all class and I'm happy to report he tore up the Vikings secondary on his touchdown pass. It was a brilliant maneuver that split the safety and got him out in the open. It was like watching the 25 year old version of Marty Booker burn right down the field for a score.
This was a good win. There were some down moments that I'll cover in depth tomorrow (yes, I will be back tomorrow. I've got my shit together again) like Matt Forte's lack of carries, the inability of Ron Turner to find his tight ends, and why we always sit on 3 point leads. But for now, I'm like that fat dude at McDonalds who just realized that apple pies are 2 for $1 - elated!
BEAR DOWN