Tillman thanks Cutler for bailing his ass out.
I swear, one of these days I'll be an objective blogger, one who can actually write analysis when I'm all ANGER'd up after a loss, rather than just write after wins. But not today. Today it's time to break down the game through the rosy eyes of victory-
Good-
Jay Cutler- Jay was as good this week as he was awful last week, and that's saying something. Ever since half time of last Sunday he's put it together and managed to get this team in gear despite the complete lack of a run game. Today he had just one pass that was ill-advised, and fortunately the defender was too far away to make a play. The important thing is that he kept his head and stayed in the pocket this week, and only rolled out on called bootlegs. He set his feet on nearly every throw and the results (71 % comp., 104.7 rating) were good. He overcame at least 6 dropped passes by my count and never got rattled. I'll just go ahead and assume that we won't be seeing last week's first half Cutler for a long time, if ever again.
Johnny Knox- I said before the season that the Aromashadu/Rashied Davis argument would be a moot point once Knox was ready to move into the slot. I didn't realize that would be so soon. After two games he leads the team with a 152 receiving yards. He's a dangerous match up in the slot. He brings Devin Hester's speed against the defense's third best cornerback, and that's going to play in the Bears favor on nearly every play. Once team's start paying more attention to him that's only going to lead to more opportunities for Bennett, Olsen, and Hester. This receiving corps might be alright, Morrissey, given that Cutler's averaging 256.6 ypg and the Hester/Bennett/Knox trio are averaging 175 of those yards. Granted, there's plenty of room for improvement, considering the drops and the mistakes that led to a few Cutler interceptions last week, but the long term potential here should make everyone happy.
Offensive Line (pass blocking)- The offensive line did a much better job giving Cutler time to throw this week, and he was only sacked once, and that was after a scramble.
Defensive Line- I'll give them more of a B- this week than the A they managed last week, but after they allowed Roethlisberger a decade to throw during the first half they improved in the second, racking up 2 sacks and a couple TFL's in the second half.
The defense as a whole put in a great effort, although Tillman struggled to cover Holmes all day.
Bad-
Offensive Line (run blocking)- Forte hasn't had a god damn inch of day light in either game. Part of this I blame on Ron Turner for his continued insistence on trying to beat a 3-4 defense to the outside, as well as his delayed handoffs. Hopefully this team will match up better against the 4-3 of the Seahawks next week, and Forte can finally make the offense two dimensional. If the play action pass can become a factor this offense will be scary.
Charles Tillman- Outside of one easy interception that came off of an Alex Brown hit on Roethlisberger he was frequently beat by Holmes.
And I'll leave it at that, since I'm soaking up the happy. I fully expect Rick Morrissey to come out praising Cutler's leadership and abilities, since he tore him to pieces earlier this week. Nevermind. I confused Rick with someone with integrity or actual ability.
Go Bears.
