Not exactly. Christmas is a time of giving, and the Bears defense and Jay Cutler were particularly kind to the Jets in the 2nd quarter. Fortunately Cutler rebounded to take over the game in the second half and the defense did what it had to do in order to secure the Bears an impressive comeback win in an unexpectedly high-scoring contest. Onto the recap:
The Good
Matt Forte: Matt continued his terrific second half with 113 yards and a TD on 19 carries to go along with 4 catches and 56 yards through the air. Those people that scoffed at him fulfilling the Marshall Faulk role in the Martz offense before the year should probably look at his 1465 yards from scrimmage this year and reconsider.
Johnny Knox: He had some drops early on, but rebounded to kill the Jets in the third quarter and he finished with 4 catches, 92 yards, and 2 TDs.
Devin Hester: The Bears got Hester the ball on offense, kick returns, and punt returns, and it worked out well as he set them up with good field position all day and then had a huge TD grab on offense.
Chris Harris: He was one of the few defensive players to perform fairly well throughout, and his game-ending pick of Mark Sanchez was a masterful work of duping a quarterback into a turnover. It also gave him a career high five picks on the year. Great job of re-acquiring this guy.
The Bad:
The defensive line: They haven't been on this list much, but the Jets vaunted offensive front blew Peppers and Co. off of the ball all day long. This allowed Rico Mirerez enough time to throw for 269 yards and to compile an 84.3 rating, which is extremely distressing as I hate that overrated twerp.
Tim Jennings: He's played very well mostly since taking over for Zack Bowman, but he dropped at least one interception today and he bit badly on a playfake leaving Santonio Holmes wide open for the TD that tied the game at 31.
The second quarter: Cutler threw one mind-bogglingly stupid interception for a touchdown, the defense allowed a 10-0 lead to dissipate into a 21-10 deficit, and everything seemed lost. Fortunately Martz switched to the shotgun and allowed Cutler to get into a rhythm on the drive that made it 21-17 and the Bears showed up in the third quarter.
Somewhere in Between:
Jay Cutler: It's hard to say he had a bad game in a game where he threw 3 TDs and guided the offense to 38 points, but Cutler was mostly inaccurate and had trouble sustaining drives outside of the third quarter. His pick-six was abominably stupid and he double clutched before going down at the two-yard line on a play that should have been given up on well before the Jets ever got to him. I've been extremely pleased with Jay's performance during the second half, but he just can't make those mistakes. Oh well, his three TD passes were the god damn balls and everyone of you knows it. You rock, Jay. Congrats on being the first passer in Bears history with back to back 3000 yard seasons and back to back 20+ TD seasons.
That's all for now. Time to go to Green Bay, knock their asses out of the playoffs, and secure the bye. Go Bears.
