The Story
The Bears crossed the Northern border and defeated the hapless Bills in Toronto 22-19 on Sunday. Jay Cutler threw two touchdowns and the defense forced three turnovers while Chicago improved to 5-3 on the year with Minnesota coming to town next week.
Cutler, Offense Back On Track
Jay Cutler's two touchdowns didn't impress me as much as his 0 in the 'interceptions' column on the stat sheet. Since he has arrived in Chicago, Cutler has been as prone to interceptions as he has breathing. He did in fact fumble the ball on Sunday, but I would much rather see Cutler allow the ball to be swapped out of his hands than see him throw to the wrong colored jersey.
He competed less than 57% of his passes (17 for 30) but he made the plays when necessary and was credited for a passer rating of 101.4 in the win. He threw a dangerous dart into triple coverage that should've been picked off, but if "near-interceptions" was a statistic, I think we'd see many quarterbacks with worse numbers around the league, so I'm willing to let that one go.
But more importantly, the offense as a whole showed me many things that left me with a good feeling:
1) Late Deficits
It was great to see the offense be able to come back from a late deficit. When Chicago rallied back to take a 20-19 lead, there was only 6:41 left in the fourth. I've seen more than enough games come down to a late drive, and this team being able to convert some good throws into points can help them become a dangerous offense heading into the stretch months of the season.
2) Redzone/Third Downs
We've watched this team struggle in the last 20 yards of the field with Cutler's many interceptions and poor execution, but Chicago saw all three of its touchdowns come in the redzone while going 3 for 4 overall.
Third down has been one of the saddest statistics so far this year, as the Bears went through a strech in which they converted 3 tries out of 40 attempts. On Sunday, however, they managed to convert 7 of 12. By converting the majority of third down opportunities, the Bears allowed themselves to sustain their drives and force the Buffalo defense to stay on the field for extended periods of time.
3) Balanced Offense
Run the ball! Run the ball! Please, Mike Martz, run the ball!
Through the first seven games this year, Martz clearly favored the pass, which has made the job much easier for opposing defenses in crunch situations; it soon became common knowledge that Chicago would rely on Cutler's arm for every big time play needed. Offensive balance forces the defense to consider many more scenarios that the Bears can choose to execute.
On Sunday, we saw the effect of having a balanced offense. The run still didn't seem to be effective, but Chicago did end the game with 31 passes and 31 runs. That number is slightly misleading due to a few scrambles by Cutler, but balance was clearly intended nonetheless.
4) Offensive Line
The infamous Bears' O-line have allowed their quarterback to hit the turf more times this year than any other NFL team. But despite having more line changes than the Chicago Blackhawks, the Bears managed to hold the Bills' defense sackless until the fourth quarter, helped by the return of right guard Roberto Garza from injury. The greatest thing about this performance is that we can expect the same starting 5 next week, but unfortunately the Vikings' pass rush should be a little stronger than 0-8 Buffalo's.
5) Mixing Up The Play Call
Some of the greatest plays from Sunday's game came off of trick plays that were as unexpected to me as Buffalo's defense. Against Dallas in Week 2, Martz mixed in some interesting slants and screens that helped open up the defense. Sunday against Buffalo, Martz decided to use Buffalo as the test run for his new misdirections and shovel passes.
Okay, so misdirections have been used before, but the timing in which he decided to run it was brilliant. Chicago had well established the run but seemed to keep the ground game simple; no wildcat, no reverses, no draws. The misdirection run made the Buffalo defense shift to one side, and then Chicago penetrated from the opposite gap to gain big yardage.
I thought the shovel pass was executed brilliantly and also is perfect with this offense. Shovel passes are typically seen as a desperation move for a quarterback trying to avoid being sacked, but when implemented intentionally into an offensive gameplan they can act as a quick release play that can confuse a defense at the same time. This was especially seen with the Bears' two-point conversion when running back Matt Forte was barely touched on his way to the endzone after a shovel pass from Cutler.
Defense Continues to Thrive
The Bears' offense played well, but it was the defense that won them this game. Bears defensive end Israel Idonije returned to the country where he grew up and registered half a sack in the win, blocked a PAT and saw 7 quarterback hits between he and DE Julius Peppers combined.
The Bears, like they've shown nearly every game this year, know how to stop the run, as they allowed just 37 total yards from Buffalo in 16 attempts.
Chicago's defensive backfield struggled for much of the game, but the secondary showed up at crunch time, with cornerback Tim Jennings and safety Chris Harris making key interceptions to seal the victory late in the game. Jennings also had a team-leading 7 solo tackles as well.
Coaching
Mike Martz' gameplan, or perhaps Lovie Smith's gameplan, seemed to be a gem for this team on Sunday. When the team needed to convert on third down or they found themselves in the redzone, they seemed like they knew exactly what they wanted to do and, more importantly, they were able to execute it.
The greatest mark for this coaching staff to me, though, came with how detailed the Bears played this game. In their previous contest against Washington, Chicago turned the ball over 6 times, and this game just once. Many of the little things seemed to have been combed over with the bye week, and those are things that can be carried through every game and make for a better team as a whole.
Looking Ahead To Next Week
Next Sunday, Chicago welcomes Minnesota into Soldier Field for a Week 10 matchup that can very well determine whether Minny's season comes to a virtual close.
The Vikings managed to squeak out a 27-24 overtime win against Arizona last week, but they will be facing a much better team in Chicago, and this week they won't have the noise and temperature-controlled Metrodome to help them.
Vikings' quarterback Brett Favre threw for a career high 446 yards last week, but he has still thrown 13 interceptions this year, and he will be facing a Chicago defense that has 8 players with at least one interception half way through the season.
Factor in receivers Percy Harvin, Bernard Berrian and Visanthe Shiancoe, though, and Favre will have more than enough weapons through the air. And of course with RB Adrain Peterson in the backfield, Minnesota can pick and choose however they want on offense.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Vikings boast a top ten run defense and a line that is more than capable of getting to Jay Cutler.
The problem for this team is simply execution. They have all the weapons in the world, but execution is everything in sports. For this, the Bears have a great opportunity to beat up on Minnesota and run into a first place tie with Green Bay while the Pack enjoy their bye week.
*Preliminary Prediction: Vikings 20, Bears 27
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*My official predictions are release on Thursdays
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