Week 1: Bears at Colts - 8:15 pm Eastern, NBC

[Outshined_One]

Two score game now.

 

It was an ugly half, but it worked.

[Cynosure]

Forte 100 Yds 14 Car

 

Not a bad first half for your first game ever?

[UMFan83]

And we get the ball to start the second half.

[minnesotacubsfan]

Needed about five more tics to take a shot. Damn!

 

Still, excellent half of football. Excellent.

 

the Bears have far exceeded my expectations today

 

 

awesome.

[Careless]

Did you expect Madden to be on the ball? The only reason he isn't as bad as Joe Morgan is that he actually talks about the game, not about random crap.

Back in 2001, Madden spent about 5 minutes of a game talking about the importance of a house's stoop. Stoops are good. they make the house. I loved the stoop. stoop stoop stoop.

[UMFan83]

To me, this is the best best possible outcome that we could have had in this half.

 

I am still not convinced we win the game my hopes have gone up, and this is really nice to see.

[rawaction]

Excellent. Kyle Orton is MUCH smarter than Rex Grossman. He played a very smart half. Turner called a great game with the exception of the 3rd down draw play on the first 3rd down after the Forte TD. Line is doing a decent job. Forte doesn't need a hole, just a crease.

[kujay]

I guess I should have seen it coming that the yapping heads on the halftime show would chalk this up to Peyton being rusty rather than the Bears playing solid defense.

[Guest]

Shame Olsen couldn't get out of bounds.

 

Hell of a half, the defense looks good. The OL is good enough (JSC is embarrassingly bad) and Forte has been amazing. Good vision and burst. Orton has made some great throws (peep the sig).

[kujay]

Two score game now.

 

It was an ugly half, but it worked.

 

Win or lose, I expect 16 ugly games from the Bears. It's just the way it's gonna be.

[Soul]

I love how Madden said "all of the NFL is sad over the loss of Brady."

 

 

I'm not one to wish injury on anyone, but.......WUT? Nobody's upset over Tom "I'm GQ and you aren't" Brady's injury except Patriot fans. Come on.

[Magnetic Curses]

keep feeding the rook, send him behind tait, tho.

[UK1679666180]

The Bears have done well, they need to keep a TE to chip Freeney more b/c he owns St. Clair tonight.

 

Orton hasn't made any mistakes and has about 50% accuracy on deep throws, which is better than I expected.

 

This lead should be bigger than what it is b/c of the flaws of bad refs, between flag FB for QBs and moreso blowing the whistle so soon, this game could/should be a wider lead.

 

When did that rule get established about a fumble being undecided after a scrum?

 

They ruled it a fumble and since they couldn't tell who came up with it, they decide to give to to Indy? What happened to letting them fight for it?

 

The league has is softer than it has ever been and that is saying something, with Brady gone now, I expect blows to the knee to be monitored more closely.

 

Manning is off tonight and the Bears need to capitalize. They still haven't hit him hard.

[Careless]

Shame Olsen couldn't get out of bounds.

 

Hell of a half, the defense looks good. The OL is good enough (JSC is embarrassingly bad) and Forte has been amazing. Good vision and burst. Orton has made some great throws (peep the sig).

I'm slightly optimistic about orton at this point. When he was qb a few years ago, he was the second least accurate passer we've had in decades. He's fixed (or greatly improved upon) his biggest flaw.

[minnesotacubsfan]

Two score game now.

 

It was an ugly half, but it worked.

 

Win or lose, I expect 16 ugly games from the Bears. It's just the way it's gonna be.

 

 

myth. there is no such thing as an "ugly win"

 

 

and so far, this has been fun...

[UK1679666180]

Forte has been great, this field surface is perfect for him.

[kujay]

Manning is off tonight and the Bears need to capitalize. They still haven't hit him hard.

 

He rarely gets hit by anyone, but I agree they need to get more pressure.

 

As for the fumble call, to go back to that, I don't understand something. The refs agree it was a fumble, but just because they couldn't figure out who ended up with it (when it looks, btw, like it was Wolfe from the start) they give it back to the fumbling team? How does that make sense? It's a 50/50 call at that point. Puzzling.

[CubColtPacer]

I guess I should have seen it coming that the yapping heads on the halftime show would chalk this up to Peyton being rusty rather than the Bears playing solid defense.

 

I can't really tell on that side of the ball. The Colts offense has definitely shot themselves in the foot several times tonight, but the Bears have also made some good defensive plays.

 

On the other side of the ball, I can tell you a little more definitively. The Bears offense is definitely better than reported. They played really well in the first half. They will never be a juggernaut, but they have weapons and can move the ball. That wasn't a Colts defense issue. The key is obviously turnovers for that offense, but they looked really good. Forte's ability to burst changes everything.

[Magnetic Curses]

i wish we would run more shotgun, because, well, orton's footwork scares me.

[Careless]

The Tommy Harris English muffins commercial is pretty amusing.

[Cynosure]

I hatttttteee halllllff timeeee

[Soul]

Manning is off tonight and the Bears need to capitalize. They still haven't hit him hard.

 

He rarely gets hit by anyone, but I agree they need to get more pressure.

 

As for the fumble call, to go back to that, I don't understand something. The refs agree it was a fumble, but just because they couldn't figure out who ended up with it (when it looks, btw, like it was Wolfe from the start) they give it back to the fumbling team? How does that make sense? It's a 50/50 call at that point. Puzzling.

 

They clearly didn't blow the whistle until well after the play, because I didn't hear a whistle and Michaels confirmed it didn't happen until afterwards. So someone knew who recovered the ball and then blew the whistle.

 

I really want to see them called to task on that one. There's no way they can explain their way out of it. They simply decided to give the Colts the ball back, in spite of the rules. It's outrageous. This should be an even bigger lead.

[Magnetic Curses]

Manning is off tonight and the Bears need to capitalize. They still haven't hit him hard.

 

He rarely gets hit by anyone, but I agree they need to get more pressure.

 

As for the fumble call, to go back to that, I don't understand something. The refs agree it was a fumble, but just because they couldn't figure out who ended up with it (when it looks, btw, like it was Wolfe from the start) they give it back to the fumbling team? How does that make sense? It's a 50/50 call at that point. Puzzling.

 

you have to rule those questionable plays fumbles and then review later, it's absolutely the only way fairness can prevail. they cannot blow questionable plays dead.

[kujay]

Manning is off tonight and the Bears need to capitalize. They still haven't hit him hard.

 

He rarely gets hit by anyone, but I agree they need to get more pressure.

 

As for the fumble call, to go back to that, I don't understand something. The refs agree it was a fumble, but just because they couldn't figure out who ended up with it (when it looks, btw, like it was Wolfe from the start) they give it back to the fumbling team? How does that make sense? It's a 50/50 call at that point. Puzzling.

 

They clearly didn't blow the whistle until well after the play, because I didn't hear a whistle and Michaels confirmed it didn't happen until afterwards. So someone knew who recovered the ball and then blew the whistle.

 

I really want to see them called to task on that one. There's no way they can explain their way out of it. They simply decided to give the Colts the ball back, in spite of the rules. It's outrageous. This should be an even bigger lead.

 

Absolutely. I mean, is it the rule that if you can't decide who got it, it goes back the fumbling team? If so, then so be it. But I find that hard to believe. Ah, screw it.

 

Second half time. Let's go Hester!

[rawaction]

I think you are gonna see a lot more Sanders in the box in the 2nd half. Gonna force the Bears away from the run and try to throw the ball downfield. I don't know what answer the Colts have for the TE 1 on 1 vs. an LB on the outer 1/3 though.

 

Offensively, I expect the Colts to look to Wayne in the slot a lot more. Him vs. Danieal even w/ safety help isn't a good matchup.