Quick Game Comments: Bears at Eagles

Offense

1. The Eagles started the game playing seven in the box.  The Bears came out running effectively against it.  To their credit, it didn’t take the Eagles long to start dropping the safety into the box to try to stop the run after that.  The Bears kept running into it on first down anyway.  Its obvious that you have to make the Bears beat you in the air.  The fact that the Eagles didn’t do that in the second half was probably the difference in the game.
2. The Bears almost always ran on first down.  The Eagles weren’t bringing that eighth guy down on second down.  I wonder if they couldn’t have run more often on that down as well.
3. The Eagles were aggressive with a fair amount of blitzing on passing downs.  They seemed to be trying to pressure the inside of the Bears offensive line in particular.  The Bears are keeping lots of guys in to block.  Generally speaking they did a credible job.
4. Though I thought Cutler got pretty good protection, I also thought he had to do a good job of avoiding the rush, just as he has the last couple games.
5. The wild cat on second and 17 in the second quarter?  That’s your call?  Really?
6. You’d think the Eagles would start to look for the ball to go to Earl Bennett on third down.  He was getting open too easily, I thought.  You can bet the Lions noticed.
7. The Bears were completely discombobulated at the end of the second half.  Cutler in particular just seemed to come apart.  They have to handle that situation on the road better then that.
8. Who wants to bet Lovie Smith ran down the sideline to call timeout to tell Martz to call the run that eventually resulted in a touchdown at the end of the half.  Its probably not a coincidence that they came out running in the second half.

Defense

1. The Bears came out with eight in the box on first down and generally kept a lot of guys near the line of scrimmage for much of the game.  One of those guys (Lance Briggs?) was probably spying Michael Vick.
2. The ball was coming out quick on many of the Eagles most effective throws.  They run well after the catch.
3. Eventually the Bears started to get pressure on Vick.  I give him credit.  He hung in there well against the blitz.
4. It looked like the Bears were playing more than the usual amount of man coverage to me.
5. The Eagles ran very effectively on the Bears defense.  They were winning the line of scrimmage on those plays.  LeSean McCoy seems to be really shifty and I think he was getting some guys out of their gaps.  Delaying the handoffs and getting the Bears rushing Vick also worked well.
6. The Eagles also run the screen pass really well.  McCoy is devastating in space.  They also like little quick outs to their tight ends.  Apparently they like the matchup out there with them.
7. The Bears had their share of problems with tackling tonight.  But give them credit for dealing out some tough hits.

Miscellaneous

1. Jon Gruden, Ron Jaworski, and Mike Tirico did their usual nice job.
2. Major Wright interception was nice but the Bears also missed a couple that really should have been caught.  The Bears turnover for 6 points right before half was just a killer.  So was the Matt Forte fumble in the third quarter in Bear territory.  There won’t be a lot of days when this team gets away with that.
3. Twelve men in the huddle?  How does that happen?
4. I’m getting really tired of watching Roy Williams drop passes.  He isn’t the only offender but he’s the worst.  Good teams simply do not do this.
5. The Eagles chose to kick to Devin Hester on the opening kick off.  That was a surprise.  Generally they tried those high punts on him but they still kicked to him.
6. Before this game I couldn’t understand how the the Eagles lost 4 times.  They’ve got a wonderful roster with threats everywhere.  They have receivers that the Bears would love to have.  They have LeSean McCoy who is probably the best running back I’ve seen all year with the possible exception of Forte.  First, frankly, they don’t look well coached at times.  Second they make mistakes at critical times.  But by far the biggest problem is that they don’t execute.  Consider this:  the Bears practically gave that team 14 points and still won.  Bottom line, you can have a team full of individuals who are outstanding on their own.  But if they don’t perform to their potential and, in particular, if they don’t perform as a team, its all just wasted talent.

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