Quick Game Comments: Seahawks at Bears

Offense

1. The Seahawks opened with seven in the box against run personnel. They did that a lot for most of the game.
2. The Bears came out running Marion Barber into the line. Kahlil Bell followed on about the third series and then Barber was noticeably more effective after that. I’m wondering if the one-two-punch of two different types of runners didn’t making them both more effective (a la Cedric Benson and Thomas Jones in the Super Bowl year)
3. Nice point from color man Tim Ryan about about how the blocking for Bell (largely zone) differs from the blocking for Barber (mostly man).
4. I’m starting to wonder if we aren’t finding out why Jay Cutler wasn’t targeting Johnny Knox more. He’s a small receiver who spent a lot of time on the ground early (again) before leaving injured.
5. Speaking of that, terrible looking injury to Knox. Scared the heck out of me.
6. Caleb Hanie looked more accurate. I also liked what Hanie showed in terms of his mobility. He really bought a lot of time with it and to my eye, threw more accurately on the run.
7. On a related note, nice half time adjustment by Seattle as they did what they could to keep Hanie from moving to his right. Its apparently that part of beating the Bears with Hanie is keeping him in the pocket.
8. To my eye, Mike Martz did a good job of sticking with the run until the Bears fell too far behind and were forced to pass. Of course the game was over then anyway. There’s no way the Bears offensive line can protect under those conditions without max protect. There’s not enough talent for it.
9. I still think Martz could do more with the play calling to help out against the rush with more delayed handoffs/draw plays or screen passes. Admittedly the few times they’ve runit, the Bears haven’t shown that they can run the screen very well since Hanie took over so that could be a big part of it.
10. I thought the pass protection for Hanie was for the most part pretty miserable. Rushing yardage was occasionally hard to come by despite the fact that the Seahawks often weren’t stacking the box. Not a good game for the offensive line.
11. Having said that, I was watching Lance Louis and he looked dominant at times in pass protection. Despite his flaws as a right tackle, I really do like his aggressiveness.
12. Lest all of the blame fall on the offensive line, the other positions didn’t coever themselves in glory either. Some miserable blocking by the running backs.
13. I thought Ryan was totally unfair to Martz when he started whaling on his scheme late in the game. There are plenty of teams who expect the receiver and the quarterback to adjust to the blitz at the line without audibles. I understand that not everyone is going to agree with that scheme. But it is legitimate and its not too much to ask for an offense to execute it.
14. If Martz has a major fault its late in games when they’re behind that they call too many slowly developing plays, sending half the team out too many men on routes instead of using them for protection. Some teams can do that. The Bears with that offensive line can’t. They have to max protect under those conditions.
15. Josh McCown threw his interception with authority.

Defense

1. Unlike the Seahawks, the Bears come out with eight in the box against run personnel. They obviously identified Marshawn Lynch as the major threat. On the other hand they probaly remember how Tarvaris Jackson threw when he was with the Vikings.
2. Nice stand on first and goal from the one yard line in the first quarter. Of course, it was ruined by a special teams penalty.
3. It looked to me like the Bears were having a hard time getting pressure a good part of the time with their front four. It allowed Seattle to dissect their zone defensive coverages and move the ball. Blitzes were more effective.
4. Its time to just say it. Julius Peppers just plain gets held on almost every play. Otherwise he just never get blocked at all.
5. Jackson has a bad habit of holding the ball too long. He probably needed to be occasionally reminded by coaches to let go. The clock in his head isn’t any better with the Seahawks than it was with the Vikings.
6. Having said that, Jackson does look more accurate than I’ve seen him in the past.
7. The Bears are getting thin at safety without Major Wright and now Chris Conte.
8. Long completion to Benjamin Obomanu in the third quarter led to a Seattle touchdown. It looked like Tim Jennings just totally blew the single coverage as Steltz was moving into the box and he had no safety help. I thought that Seattle tried to go at Jennings in the second half whenever they saw single safety.
9. This brings up another point. I thought the Seahawks had too many big plays this game. Many of them came on Marshawn Lynch runs that went 15 or 20 yards. Those can’t happen.
10. Nice game for Stephen Paea who ended up penetrating into the offensive backfield quite a bit.
11. I’m tired of watching the Bears blow coverages at important times in ball games as teh Seahawks threw their touchdown to Michael Robinson to make it 31-14.
12. The Bears defense looked tired in the second half of this game and there was no excuse for it. The time of possession was practically even when the Seahawks scored that touchdown.

Miscellaneous

1. Ryan and Chris Myers did a good job. I’ve always liked Ryan. He does a good job of pointing out things I wouldn’t otherwise see.
2. Ryan strongly implied that the Bears got out coached today. I saw nothing to indicate that he wasn’t right.
3. Devin Hester looked indecisive most of the game taking returns. The Seattle kicking game stood out in limiting him. On a potentially related note, The Bears sent Earl Bennett out to return a Seattle punt near the end of the first half. The Bears probably thought Bennett had the more sure hands in that situation.
4. Robbie Gould spent most of the game knocking kickoffs out of the end zone.
5. Even one drop was too many in this game but I didn’t think the Bears receiers were too bad in this area otherwise.
6. Unbelievable penalty on the Seahawks 22 yard field goal try in the firs quarter from Corey Graham. The Seahawks turned it into a touchdown.
7. It looked to me like the official in the defensive backfield was letting both sides get away with a lot in coverage.
8. Johnny Knox began early with a nice fumble of Caleb Hanie’s first decent pass to set the Seahawks up for their first score. Hanie’s poor decision to throw to Kellen Davis down the seam leading to an interception in the end zone in the first half hurt badly. On the other hand, Caleb Hanie was right on target to Red Bryant for his pick six in the third quarter. Couldn’t have been more accurate. The interceptions by Brandon Browner Richard Sherman were icing on the cake.
9. What a play by Peppers, knocking the ball out of Jackson’s hand for a Idonije recovery for a touchdown near the end of the first quarter. Bad job by Jackson holding the ball too long in the end zone.
10. Its no revelation to say that turnovers are what killed the Bears today when they couldn’t afford any errors. It was tough to watch this team literally throw contests away the last four games after watching them play so well for more than a year before that. The Bears met adversity in the form of a number of major injuries and went out with a whimper. But that’s what teams that don’t have what it takes do.

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