Week 4 - Chicago Bears vs. Detroit Lions, 12 PM FOX

[UMFan83]

Does anyone know how Chris Williams is doing so far? I don't hear his name a lot, so I guess that's a good thing, but I also don't hear any praise his way. I know he's still young and most OT need time to develop, but this guy was the 14th pick of the draft, and most people think of him as an afterthought. I'd expect because of his draft status people would constantly be talking about how he's doing, but I don't see it.

[bukie]

Does anyone know how Chris Williams is doing so far? I don't hear his name a lot, so I guess that's a good thing, but I also don't hear any praise his way. I know he's still young and most OT need time to develop, but this guy was the 14th pick of the draft, and most people think of him as an afterthought. I'd expect because of his draft status people would constantly be talking about how he's doing, but I don't see it.

It's difficult to discern how well he's doing because the left side of the line collapses so quickly so often. I suppose it's a good thing that usually the right side lasts longer than the left.

[Guest]

Does anyone know how Chris Williams is doing so far? I don't hear his name a lot, so I guess that's a good thing, but I also don't hear any praise his way. I know he's still young and most OT need time to develop, but this guy was the 14th pick of the draft, and most people think of him as an afterthought. I'd expect because of his draft status people would constantly be talking about how he's doing, but I don't see it.

 

I think Williams has been the best OL this season. He's lived up to the hype in pass blocking.

[ELCABALLO45]

Probably the worst 4-0 team I've seen.

 

Well, that settles it

[CDBears1259]

Does anyone know how Chris Williams is doing so far? I don't hear his name a lot, so I guess that's a good thing, but I also don't hear any praise his way. I know he's still young and most OT need time to develop, but this guy was the 14th pick of the draft, and most people think of him as an afterthought. I'd expect because of his draft status people would constantly be talking about how he's doing, but I don't see it.

 

I think Williams has been the best OL this season. He's lived up to the hype in pass blocking.

Seems to be doing fine so far. I kind of look at the OL the same way I do Refs, anytime you don't hear their names being called out they must be doing a good job.

 

Oh and I hope he continues to represent my old high school well. Hate to see him spoil the good name and game I worked so hard to help establish. :grin:

[UMFan83]

Yeah the left side has been awful. The sad thing is there are no indications that Beekman might get a chance to take over for Frank O. And Pace.....boy if it wasn't for Bradley, Pace might be one of the biggest FA disappointments I've ever experienced. I expected a lot more from him. He did seem to have a quieter game today although there were still a decent amount of issues on the left side of the line.

[Banedon]

It's so fun to watch the highlights of those Forte runs. It's clear he still has the ability....I just don't think the run blocking is very good for the most part. His TD run especially is great...the move he puts on the defender is crazy.

[Soul]

The TD run was great. He puts moves on, but he's doing it while moving downfield. Exactly what I want to see.

[David]

It's so fun to watch the highlights of those Forte runs. It's clear he still has the ability....I just don't think the run blocking is very good for the most part. His TD run especially is great...the move he puts on the defender is crazy.

 

 

Well, FWIW, he's only averaging .1 ypc less than last year at this point... big plays are part of that just like the short ones are. I've never understood why people try to pull out the big plays and say he's only averaging 3 yards or whatever outside of the big ones (or whatever - not saying you're doing that but just putting it out there). My point being that the run game wasn't all that good last year and his overall production this year so far as a runner isn't that far off what he was last year.

 

 

He's solid, not great, at running the ball. The fact that he's solid at so many facets of the game is where his value really lies.

 

 

And yea, if our line was better at run blocking his numbers would obviously be better.

[Soul]

He's solid, not great, at running the ball. The fact that he's solid at so many facets of the game is where his value really lies.

 

I'm on board with that.

[soapy]

i still don't understand why he's getting so few carries. i understand pulling him late, but he had what...six carries in the first half?

[Soul]

i still don't understand why he's getting so few carries. i understand pulling him late, but he had what...six carries in the first half?

 

Commitment to the run is giving way to "oh crap our line sucks." So they throw?

[David]

There's nothing wrong with being pass first when you have Jay Cutler at QB. In fact, you're doing yourself a disservice if you're not.

 

 

That said, have to get better at using the pass to set up the run.

[Guest]

I have to admit that I didn't understand the desire to throw when we were already up 41-24. It's run the clock time and we were throwing on every down. Someone could get hurt.

 

Is it possible Marinelli wanted to stick it to his old team and asked Lovie to run up the score? The last 2 drives sure seemed like Chicago was more interested in putting up more points rather than eating up the clock.

[jersey cubs fan]

I have to admit that I didn't understand the desire to throw when we were already up 41-24. It's run the clock time and we were throwing on every down. Someone could get hurt.

 

Is it possible Marinelli wanted to stick it to his old team and asked Lovie to run up the score? The last 2 drives sure seemed like Chicago was more interested in putting up more points rather than eating up the clock.

 

I think it has more to do with the fact that if the other team is expecting the run, the Bears aren't good enough to do it successfully. They can't just run, run, run and get a first down. Their passing game is better, and they should use it.

 

People can get hurt running the ball as well.

[biittner77]

Getting back to Kyle Orton, I caught a little of the game and the first TD pass should have been a pick six. It literally went through the defender's hands.

[jersey cubs fan]

Getting back to Kyle Orton, I caught a little of the game and the first TD pass should have been a pick six. It literally went through the defender's hands.

 

My feeling on Orton remains the same when he was with the Bears. He was fine, if he had a quality defense, good receivers and line. But the bears line and receivers weren't good enough for Orton to succeed enough in Chicago. Cutler is good enough to succeed with what they have.

[Mark Priors Calves]

How many [expletive] times did Thom Brennaman harp on how few yards per carry Matt Forte had outside of his two big runs? I can't stand that guy and yesterday he was even more insufferable than usual. I actually enjoyed Billick's analysis, at least as far as NFL announcers go.

[Soul]

How many [expletive] times did Thom Brennaman harp on how few yards per carry Matt Forte had outside of his two big runs? I can't stand that guy and yesterday he was even more insufferable than usual. I actually enjoyed Billick's analysis, at least as far as NFL announcers go.

 

At times it was simply horrible. I felt like Brennaman was lost. He seemed totally out of his element.

 

Clearly not the A team.

[Tyrant]

It literally went through the defender's hands.

 

Ouch!

[bukie]

An interesting observation on the defensive effort Sunday:

 

How in the world did the Bears settle on a defensive game plan that featured eight men near the line of scrimmage and mostly single coverage against Detroit receiver Calvin Johnson? And how did that single-cover man turn out to be Zack Bowman? We didn’t really get a good answer on that Sunday, but the Bears did acknowledge their mistake after Johnson tallied 119 receiving yards in the first half. Starting in the third quarter, Chicago matched Charles Tillman against Johnson and switched back to their Cover 2 scheme. Their concern about the Lions’ running game proved unnecessary; tailback Kevin Smith managed only 30 yards on 19 carries.

[JonJayCutler]

I have to admit that I didn't understand the desire to throw when we were already up 41-24. It's run the clock time and we were throwing on every down. Someone could get hurt.

 

Is it possible Marinelli wanted to stick it to his old team and asked Lovie to run up the score? The last 2 drives sure seemed like Chicago was more interested in putting up more points rather than eating up the clock.

 

Perhaps Cutler wanted to pad his stats a bit. I think he barely had 100 yards when the 4th quarter started.

[wekse]

haha, awesome

 

http://fansided.com/2009/10/05/bears-ballboy-outruns-entire-lions-team-video/

[Soul]

Bears team speed, and also Bears *sideline ball boy* team speed is apparently faster than the Lions.

[bukie]

My favorite pic from week 4:

 

http://static.nfl.com/static/content/catch_all/nfl_image/canon_wk_4_2009_04.jpg