Re: Week 6 - Chicago Bears at Atlanta Falcons, 7:20 PM NBC

[Soul]

I've always hated how often this team blitzes and teams pick it up like it's nothing.

[Guest]

I think I'd almost prefer that the Bears go with a 5th defensive back rather than go with Hillenmeyer or Roach in the middle. Maybe let Payne or Afalava play centerfield and have Graham, McBride or McLover play the other safety spot.

 

If we are getting hammered up the middle via the pass, maybe we need a speedier cover guy covering the middle than Roach or Hillenmeyer.

 

I'm glad that Tino will be back for the Altanta game, but I do still worry about how much Ryan will carve up our defense after watching Stafford this weekend.

[UMFan83]

I'm hoping the line had a revelation in the 2nd half. They managed to start getting pressure on Stafford with a 4 man rush that they weren't doing in the first half.

 

I think getting Hillenmeyer back will help a bit in the middle of the field. He's not a great pass defender, but Roach really wasn't doing much in protecting the middle of the field at all. The blitz has something to do with that, but having Urlacher out really gives teams license to go after us over the middle through the air. He really made that zone defense work in the middle.

 

Offense and ST are really going to bail out the D this year.

 

 

Thank you for pointing that out. All those people that are praising Roach (and he did do some nice things), have to realize we were getting absolutely killed on deep passes up the middle which most of the time is the MLB's responsibility in the Cover 2. In fact that was a big part of why they were able to move the ball so easily in the first half.

[Keener98]

Matt Ryan vs our pass defense scares the [expletive] out of me. We have to get pressure from the front 4 plain and simple.

 

I echo everybody else's thoughts about the blitzes, especially on 3rd and freaking long. They have been getting killed on 3rd downs because they are blitzing like crazy instead of just protecting the 1st down marker.

[Jon]

Idonije had his left knee scoped and his status is uncertain for the Atlanta game.

[YearofDaCubs]

Another thing is Olsen. He had another drop yesterday, and slipped and fell when I really think he shouldn't have.

Yeah, I'm starting to think that he isn't really that much better than AVG.

[Butterscup1679666578]

Another thing is Olsen. He had another drop yesterday, and slipped and fell when I really think he shouldn't have.

Yeah, I'm starting to think that he isn't really that much better than AVG.

 

He is.

[Vanilla Ice]

Go Falcons

[DivineBovine]

Johnny Knox Bandwgn! What a badass. 4.3 speed. Get the man the ball, he's already on my fantasy team.

[manbearcub]

Go Falcons

more like FAILcans

[Banedon]

Another thing is Olsen. He had another drop yesterday, and slipped and fell when I really think he shouldn't have.

Yeah, I'm starting to think that he isn't really that much better than AVG.

 

He is.

 

Yeah, he's had a bad start. I'm convinced he's still going to be a force at some point this season. Especially as the receivers start to get more respect from defenses.

[Soul]

This game is going to take so long to get here, the thread is going to drop to page 2.

[jersey cubs fan]

This game is going to take so long to get here, the thread is going to drop to page 2.

 

I bet it doesn't.

[Soul]

This game is going to take so long to get here, the thread is going to drop to page 2.

 

I bet it doesn't.

 

You'll keep it bumped now just to prove me wrong. :mrgreen:

[jersey cubs fan]

This game is going to take so long to get here, the thread is going to drop to page 2.

 

I bet it doesn't.

 

You'll keep it bumped now just to prove me wrong. :mrgreen:

 

I might. But even without that help the Bears are the only thing that matters now for most people who would be posting on this board the next couple weeks. The Blackhawks game might dip to page 2 before their next game, but not the Bears.

[biittner77]

This bye week comes at the perfect time for me as I'll be busy all weekend.

 

I thought that the Bears were pretty vulnerable up the middle last year even with Urlacher in there. Briggs may be a bad blitzer but Urlacher is equally horrible. It makes no sense to have Urlacher whose good at pass coverage blitzing and leaving the middle of the field open. Yet they didn't that seemingly on every 3rd and long.

 

I like the idea of playing more nickel coverage now that Urlacher is out.

[brinoch]

Yeah, I don't know what it is, but man the Bears are bad at blitzing. They seemingly run into the lineman on purpose, I guess hoping that this will create a free blitzer but it never seems to. I've always felt that on a blitz, unless you have an overload all the rushers should be shooting through gaps and forcing the linemen out of position, opening holes.

[biittner77]

Yeah, I don't know what it is, but man the Bears are bad at blitzing. They seemingly run into the lineman on purpose, I guess hoping that this will create a free blitzer but it never seems to. I've always felt that on a blitz, unless you have an overload all the rushers should be shooting through gaps and forcing the linemen out of position, opening holes.

 

How is it that we all see this and the Bear's coaching staff doesn't?

[UMFan83]

ESPN's power rankings are up for this week. The Bears remain at 14, the lowest of the 3-1 teams and behind a couple of 2-1 teams (Atlanta, Philly) and a 2-2 team (GB).

 

They started the season 11th, and then after their loss to the Packers they dropped 4 spots to 15. Then after their win over Pittsburgh they went up 1 to 14th and have stayed that way over their last 2 wins, albeit over mediocre teams. Strangely enough, the Vikings jumped 3 spots after a win against the Lions earlier in the year, despite a much smaller margin of victory.

Edited October 6, 2009 by UMFan83

[brinoch]

Yeah, I don't know what it is, but man the Bears are bad at blitzing. They seemingly run into the lineman on purpose, I guess hoping that this will create a free blitzer but it never seems to. I've always felt that on a blitz, unless you have an overload all the rushers should be shooting through gaps and forcing the linemen out of position, opening holes.

 

How is it that we all see this and the Bear's coaching staff doesn't?

 

I really don't know. It doesn't make a lot of sense.

[Banedon]

ESPN's power rankings are up for this week. The Bears remain at 14, the lowest of the 3-1 teams and behind a couple of 2-1 teams (Atlanta, Philly) and a 2-2 team (GB).

 

They started the season 11th, and then after their loss to the Packers they dropped 4 spots to 15. Then after their win over Pittsburgh they went up 1 to 14th and have stayed that way over their last 2 wins, albeit over mediocre teams. Strangely enough, the Vikings jumped 3 spots after a win against the Lions earlier in the year, despite a much smaller margin of victory.

 

 

Deadlocked: We broke one tie this week. Green Bay prevailed over Chicago for the 13th spot based on head-to-head results in Week 1.

[David]

The Niners also moved up after beating up on a terrible team.

[Soul]

ESPN's power rankings are up for this week. The Bears remain at 14, the lowest of the 3-1 teams and behind a couple of 2-1 teams (Atlanta, Philly) and a 2-2 team (GB).

 

They started the season 11th, and then after their loss to the Packers they dropped 4 spots to 15. Then after their win over Pittsburgh they went up 1 to 14th and have stayed that way over their last 2 wins, albeit over mediocre teams. Strangely enough, the Vikings jumped 3 spots after a win against the Lions earlier in the year, despite a much smaller margin of victory.

 

 

Deadlocked: We broke one tie this week. Green Bay prevailed over Chicago for the 13th spot based on head-to-head results in Week 1.

 

Good. I hope they rank us 32nd and start to ridicule all Bear players publicly.

[Mark Priors Calves]

Part of the Bears' inept blitzing is their tendency to lineup the linebackers right at the line of scrimmage when they blitz (and other times to represent a blitz). Linebackers, in general, have one big advantage over offensive linemen and its their speed. This speed advantage is nullified by their lack of gaining of a full head of speed they could get by blitzing from their normal 3-5 yard linebacker depth.

 

They also seem to only have straight ahead blitz packages, I'd prefer to see blitz packages on obvious passing downs to have linebackers scraping off the defensive tackles to cause penetration to the QB.

[rawaction]

Yeah, the blitzing is bad. The LBs crowd the line. Either they both blitz or they both don't. The OL either blocks the guy in front of them or they don't. The back picks up the extra guy or if nobody comes, goes out on a route. It's not that hard to figure out. I do like the nickel, corner and safety blitzes, even though those aren't all that creative either. What I would like to see is more zone blitzing, especially with Anderson at DE and/or Idonije at DT. They are athletic enough to be factors dropping back in coverage with more speed coming off the edge.

 

The 2nd half this week, the pressure the DL has been getting all year, and the fact the Bears are playing the Falcons SHOULD mean that we see far less of the dull blitzes. With All-Pro talent at WR, TE, and QB; the Bears are less likely to leave their defenders 1-on-1.

 

This is going to be the toughest test for the D all year. Strong OL. Good QB. Good run game. Size and speed at WR. Tough matchup at TE. GB and Pitt had questionable OL and run games when the Bears faced them. Seattle didn't have a good TE or as good of a QB. Detroit only had the WR. And a QB that played pretty well.