By Jim Coffman
I almost hopped in my car and drove down to Soldier Field to volunteer for cornerback duty for the Bears on Sunday. But I just can’t get out of my back-pedal like I used to. OK, OK, I can’t even get into my back-pedal. Fortunately, good old Zack Bowman, who moved up from no-string to third-string to first-string in the last week bounced back from what appeared to be a significant arm injury to finish off the 48-41 victory (you can’t really call it a triumph can you? I mean, 41 points against? We’re not calling it a conquest either) with the Bears’ fourth interception.
What’s that? You say you haven’t had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Bowman? Well, he’s a rookie free agent out of Nebraska who grew up in Anchorage, Alaska. At Barlett High School there he starred on the football and basketball teams. On the court he teamed with 2008 Final Four hero Mario Chalmers. The Bears’ web site (which contains all these fun little nuggets) spells his name two different ways (Zackary and Zachary). But it identifies his father as Zackary Bowman and that’s the clincher. In his first NFL game, Bowman put up six points to go with his pick and he now leads fellow former Cornhusker Mike Brown 1-0 in two categories on the season.
By the time he notched his interception, Bowman was practically an old pro. He was the gunner on the punt coverage team who not only recovered the muff that became the Bears’ third touchdown of the first half but also forced it when he pushed return man Charles Gordon into the bouncing ball. There was also the fact that Brad Maynard’s beautiful, booming punt turned over perfectly and bounced back away from the goal line just like they drew it up. But the guy whose actions were most pivotal during that whole sequence was probably former Oregon State standout Joey LaRocque. It was LaRocque, another rookie, who initially dove in and prevented Gordon from falling on the ball after it deflected off his arm. All in all, it was a huge day for first-year guys, what with Craig Steltz smothering Chris Kluwe’s pathetic attempt at a first-quarter punt after he dropped a perfect snap, and second-round running back Matt Forte doing all the things he does so well, and first-round pick Chris Williams . . . well, Williams was still on the bench recuperating from a back injury the Bears should have known he would suffer, but that’s neither here nor there. It was also an eventful day for all sorts of veterans.
So much to write about and only one little column . . .
* It is hard to imagine the Bears executing better on offense (they basically put a half a hundred on ’em . . . half a hundred!) despite still not running the ball very well. Silly stories in both dailies late last week argued it was a problem that the Bears were getting away from their “identity,” which is of course pounding away at defenses with power backs. But even if such an identity really exists (and it hasn’t since Mr. Payton was running amok in the 70s – and he didn’t win a championship until he hooked up with a competent thrower for a little while in the 80s, did he?), it is mostly because the team’s last long-term star at quarterback was Sid Luckman.
Maybe it is time for a new identity. After all, the one way to guarantee putrid performance is to insist on running the ball when your strengths and the opponents’ schemes favor passing. Now it did appear that for a short stretch there in the second half (when high-priced free agent defensive end Jared Allen almost earned this week’s paycheck of however many hundreds of thousands of dollars with a couple sacks and a forced fumble), the Bears paid a price (measured in increased pressure on the quarterback) for a lack of balance. But they scored 34 offensive points. It doesn’t matter if they’re running or passing. They are scoring. And don’t tell me they’re wearing out the defense by not possessing the ball more. The defense stunk from start to just before the finish (but those last two plays were pretty sweet huh?). Fatigue had nuthin’ to do with it.
Kyle Orton has proven himself capable of making it work with a series of wide receivers during the past month. How impressive was it that he kept going back to (Marty) Booker after one egregious drop of a potential touchdown pass and another off the fingertips that seemed at least reasonably catchable (but really wasn’t in part because Booker didn’t seem to pick up the ball until too late). Part of it was necessity, due to the fact that Devin Hester had joined Brandon Lloyd on the injured list and Rashied Davis wasn’t finding open space, but it was also a matter of Orton giving yet another guy a chance to show what he could do.
As far as pass-catchers in general go, the one guy who has been a constant all season has been Greg Olsen (did Forte catch a pass Sunday other than that one early screen?). And it wasn’t a coincidence that Olsen started the scoring with his second touchdown of the year, piled up a half-dozen catches in between, and ended it with a big catch and run right before the huge first down that forced the Vikings into truly desperate straits during their last possession. Olsen can get open and Orton can get him the ball. Fellow tight end Desmond Clark had his moment in the sun in the second half, running a couple exquisite routes right in a row, the second of which (when combined with a typically perfect Orton pass) sprung him to the goal line. Unfortunately, Clark can’t seem to finish plays in the end zone the last month-plus. If he’s not being knocked off quick-hitting routes that require a little more strength than he seems capable of mustering (against Philadelphia and Tampa Bay), he’s fumbling the football just before reaching the goal line. Fortunately his teammate was Rashieedy (Davis) on the spot to give the Bears a 41-31 lead.
* That field goal at the end of the first half was huge. To have gone into halftime tied after not just one but two tremendously lucky special teams touchdowns, well, that might have pushed the Vikings confidence level into the danger zone. A couple other things: watching Kluwe’s terrible play on the first punt snap reminded me yet again of how fortunate we are to watch Pat Mannelly toss perfect long snap after perfect long snap to Mr. Maynard, who never misses them. Speaking of Maynard, good call not having him squib that punt with a little over a minute remaining, Lovie!
* I once again had a chance to take in large amounts of Sunday’s game on the radio as well as the screen, and while squawk box stalwarts Jeff Joniak and Tom Thayer were very good on some things, they were weak on others. Joniak had the worst call of the year on Adrian Peterson’s goal-line run at the end of the Vikings’ first possession, proclaiming “He’s not going to get in!” before being forced to back-pedal (and his back-pedal isn’t any good either) and note that, whoops, Peterson did advance the ball into the end zone with some room to spare. And Thayer described Corey Graham’s interception as primarily a great play by Graham. On the TV side, analyst Tim Ryan correctly pointed out that the pick was almost completely the result of a terrible pass by Gus Frerrote.
* The chaos at the corners explained away some of the Bears’ defensive deficiencies, but not nearly enough of them. The Vikings scored five touchdowns and two field goals despite benefiting from only one Bears turnover. The worst play of the day was that long Peterson touchdown run. Replays showed how Lance Briggs not only took the wrong angle toward the Vikings’ backfield on that one, he also partially cut off Brian Urlacher in the process. Third linebacker Hunter Hillenmeyer dove and missed a tackle, strong safety Kevin Payne over-pursued, and free safety Mike Brown couldn’t make up any ground in the last 20 yards before pay dirt.
* The last few years of Tommie Harris’s career wouldn’t even fit into a movie. It would have to be a mini-series. Hopefully the awesome one-handed sack on the third-to-last play is the start of a happy stretch, if not a happy ending.
* At some point this season, Mike Brown is going to break up a pass. Heck, maybe he’ll even record an interception. But I’m not sure I can take another game’s worth of his arriving a beat (or more) behind the ball on pass after pass. He came up and made a few solid plays in run support on Sunday, but he just can’t seem to make a decisive play in coverage any more.
And finally . . .
Just a thought or two about the Denis Savard firing. You can’t pretend to be a competent organ-i-zation when you’re firing a coach four games into a season. If there was even a small chance this was going to happen, the firing needed to go down way back in the off-season, when a new coach would at least have had a chance to organize things the way he wanted them in training camp and on into the season. The Hawks may have enough talent to make this a successful (simply qualifying for the playoffs will be enough after not doing so 11 times in the past 12 years) season despite this ridiculousness. But they won’t improve as much as they should have because the brass either wasn’t decisive enough early enough (I don’t think so) or it didn’t give Savard the chance he deserved after the team improved by leaps and bounds under his leadership last year (I do think so).
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Jim Coffman brings you the city’s best weekend sports roundup every Monday. It’s always a pleasure, isn’t it? You can write to him personally! Please include a real name if you would like your comments to be considered for publication.
Posted on October 20, 2008