By Jim Coffman
I hate previews. No one knows anything about the future NFL games that matter. That’s why pre-game picks so frequently make the pickers look bad (this season started with virtually everyone picking the Colts to beat the Bears and off we went). All we can do is try to honestly assess what happened last game and so far in a given season. So much preview stuff – trying to project what specific units will do against that week’s opposition, noting who’s hot and who’s not, playing up contrived sub-plots, is just oh so lame.
But the Bears’ trouncing of the truly putrid Rams barely mattered. Of course they beat St. Louis – star running back Steven Jackson was out, Adewale Ogunleye mowed down starting quarterback Marc Bulger in the first series (on an actual stunt – nice coaching Bob Babich! You hang in there!) and knocked him out of the game. The offensive line is a shambles, the defense stinks and on and on and on. It was so obvious this was going to happen; just about everyone picked the game correctly (at least without factoring in the spread). So you can’t help but quickly move on to “Will the changes the Bears unveiled against the Rams work at the Vikings next Sunday evening?” But anyone who tries to “break it all down” in front of the Monsters’ next game is either disingenuous or flat out lying. People will pretend to know what’s going to happen, and they will do so in all matter of media, and when it turns out they were completely wrong on Sunday, they’ll just reload and fire away again starting the next day.
Here’s the best news for the Bears, the news that has the best shot at mattering – the Viking game will be played indoors on turf. The Bears have played their best games by far this season in domes (in Detroit and St. Louis) on plastic grass. Those settings favor speed and the Bears have enough of that. While we’re at it, how quickly can we put artificial turf in Soldier Field?
It may have been a forgettable game but there were plenty memorable moments:
* I’d like to apologize to Matt Forte for saying he “isn’t special” last week. He’s gosh-darned special. As the ever-improving analyst Brian Baldinger noted early on Sunday, he’s touched the ball as much as anyone in the NFL this season. He was his usual, reliable, tough-to-take-down self. And on that long touchdown run, the usually straight-ahead Forte tossed in not just a shimmy but also a shake to break free in the secondary.
* Why was there only one replay of Forte’s fumble? That is perhaps the biggest problem with the replay rule – that there are different numbers of cameras at different games. At the highest profile contests there are always multiple angles. In St. Louis on Sunday, anything from an end zone or the other side of the field might well have shown Forte’s knee on the ground before the ball popped out, but apparently there was only one camera focused on this particular play. I wonder if Lovie was hoping another view of the fumble would just appear when he threw his wishful challenge flag. And a challenge should never be wishful. There was only one replay and soon the Bears had one less timeout.
* Hey Fox TV. Put Dick Stockton out of our misery already would you? Come on. He misses so much stuff, is easily confused, so rarely adds anything of substance (“And the kick is good . . . No good!”).
* The Bears may have romped but Kyle Orton is still far from sharp. Enough said . . .
* The Bears caught a break when the Rams won the toss. It seems like the Monsters have been on a run of winning the toss of late and whenever they have, they have deferred. That essentially meant they would receive in the second half and put their defense on the field to start the game. But the defense is not this team’s strongest suit. It is the offense. And sure enough, after Danieal Manning’s great kickoff return, the Bears rolled right into the end zone to gain some early momentum. A little effective pass rush on St. Louis’ first series and the Bears were on their way.
* The Bears finally busted out the Wildcat formation that Arkansas popularized in the college ranks last season with two future first-round draft pick running backs in their backfield. Direct snaps to Darren McFadden were followed either by fakes or by handoffs to teammate Felix Jones. The Dolphins brought it to the pro ranks this fall and running back Ronnie Brown has made it work down there. In the first half, the Bears lined up with Devin Hester behind center and Forte right next to him. Let’s see plenty more where than came from during the next month, eh Bears?
* Highlights from the Rams include linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa, who has to be a candidate for most syllables in a single name in the history of the NFL. The Rams also lead the world in wide receivers with numbers in the teens, starting with #17 Donnie Avery and including several others.
* Rough day for the refs: not once but twice the Bears started first half plays a second after the play clock ran out and neither time were they flagged. Bring on the Vikings.
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Jim Coffman brings you the city’s best weekend sports roundup every Monday because he loves you. You can write to him personally! Please include a real name if you would like your comments to be considered for publication.
Posted on November 24, 2008