bukie

Uh, no. I understand what he's spazzing about, and he's still being ridiculous.

Those were both the second-half sacks. Overall, the line played better in the second half (Webb penalties notwithstanding). The sack-fumble was caused at least partially by pressure, though, too.

Ryan lost the one for a TD. Turner lost the one that Tillman punched out. Hester dropped a punt that he promptly picked up and advanced. Cutler dropped one as he rolled out and he fell on it. Hester dropped one that he fell on near the 25. There was no Falcons nearby for any of the last 3 I mentioned. The Falcon that caused Cutler's fumble was pretty near that one, but on the ground and not really in position to recover it. The Hester reception drop (where he bumped his own lineman) was just stupid, and if anything hurt the Bears on that play because it would've gone for more.

THE BREAKS JUST KEEP COMING! Teams just randomly start dropping the football when they play the Bears. How can one team get so damn lucky? Are you purposely being obtuse here, or do you really not understand the difference between causing fumbles and recovering fumbles? Fumble recovery percentage last year: http://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/fumble-recovery-pct

There's a difference between forcing fumbles and recovering fumbles. One is predictable, the other is not (on a grand scale). The difference in recovery % between a forced fumble and a muff/drop is lower than the statistical noise associated with fumble recovery. Nobody is saying the Bears got lucky to win, just that the fumbles worked out fortunately for them yesterday. Here were the 5 fumbles: - Hester fumbled after his first completion on the second play of the game (ran into his own lineman), but it came right back to him. Score was 0-0 at the time. - Turner fumble at the end of the first quarter. Good strip by Tillman, Bears ended up with it at the bottom of the pile. Score was 10-3 at the time. - Hester's muffed punt return where fortunately nobody was around. Bad muff in a fortunate situation. Score was 10-3 at the time. - Ryan's "set the ball on the ground" fumble early in the third returned for the TD. Score was 23-6 (and then 30-6) at the time. - Cutler's sack-fumble in the fourth that bounced right back to him. Score was 30-12 at the time. In each situation, it's not necessarily that the fumble's weren't forced by the D, it's just that actually recovering the fumbles took some fortune, whether it was the situation or the bounce. The Bears are regularly quite effective at causing fumbles, but their recovery rate is right in line with the rest of the league. That often means they recover more fumbles than their opponents as a result of the high volume of fumbles caused. However, their rate isn't any better than anyone else's, and a 100% recovery rate was a bit fortunate, considering the circumstances for each fumble. By the Hester muff, the Bears had basically seized control of the game and forced the Falcons to be one-dimensional, and the D shut down Atlanta's passing game completely after that point.

The only real advantage Kruetz gives the Saints this week is similar to how helpful it is to know exactly where a dam will be leaking.

That's Bill Barnwell. He is technically right that the Bears were fortunate to recover all 5 of the fumbles in the game and as a result force the Falcons offense to become one-dimensional. You mean like the way the Falcons were fortunate that Cutler's batted ball went directly into the hands of the Falcons defense, creating their one and only touchdown of the day? The defense created the fumbles in the first place. It's not surprising that the group who creates the fumble ends up recovering said fumble. I'll bet the recovery rate isn't a blanket 50/50 chance. The Bears defense played outstanding and set the stage for a victory. Excuses for why they won aren't necessary. Forcing fumbles isn't random, recovering them is. The chance for recovering each individual fumble isn't 50/50, but the chance of recovering any one fumble is pretty close to that. And the Bears aren't particularly adept at recovering fumbles (actually, they were way below 50% recovery last year).

That's Bill Barnwell. He is technically right that the Bears were fortunate to recover all 5 of the fumbles in the game and as a result force the Falcons offense to become one-dimensional.

If the front four gets as much pressure as they did yesterday, the pass defense should be awesome. If anything, the run D was a little concerning yesterday, but fortunately Atlanta had to basically abandon the run by the middle of the 3rd quarter.

The biggest thing that gives me cause for concern from yesterday's game is that basically every fumble bounce went the Bears way, recovering all 5 fumbles in the game. If the turnover margin was a little more even, the game was likely a lot more even (although the D did shore up a lot after the first quarter).

So...that escalated in a hurry.

It's a United Center thing, mostly. The fans do that at all the Blackhawks games.

I've never actually seen Bryan LaHair, so I'm just assuming it's a Pujols stage name and he's seeing how things will work out next year.

Weirdest stat of the day: With his stellar passing day, Kerry Collins passed Johnny Unitas and Joe Montana for 10th on the career passing yards list.

So, this week there were only two divisions without any intra-divisional games. The NFC North may go 4-0, and the NFC South may go 0-4 (though Carolina leads at Arizona).

I can't believe Illinois didn't even get any votes after that historic (for them) shellacking. (not really)

Well, it wasn't 31-10, but hey, good enough.

The O-line has been about as bad as the D-line has been good.

That counts as a turnover.

At this point, going with nobody there may be an improvement. At least then Jay knows the DE will be in his face right away and it won't be a holding penalty.

Bears D, today's leading fantasy scorer.

The D has given up all of 2 FGs so far. They've outscored Atlanta's offense on their own.

The biggest thing that concerns me about Roy Williams is his penchant for drops. Nothing else really matters much in the grand scheme.

I don't want to say I called it, but...

The Vikings haven't started in San Diego yet...