If you had told me the Minnesota Vikings would score 41 points and rack up over 400 yards of offense on my Bears, I would have thought twice about watching such a slaughter. Lucky for me I had no such prior information, so I tuned in to witness the shootout at Soldier Field. I’m glad I did, as the Bears hung on in a thrill-fest.
Defense was a rare sight on Sunday afternoon with each team moving the ball at will on their opponents. The Bears defense stood out with five turnovers, four of which came by way of Gus Frerotte interceptions. They sacked Frerotte twice, one coming off of a safety blitz by Kevin Payne and the other from Tommie Harris on Minnesota’s final drive. Outside of those positives, the Bears were awful on defense. They let the Viking wide receivers beat them time and again as well as allowing Adrian Peterson to rush for 121 yards thanks to a 54 yarder he broke for one of his two touchdowns. Besides his few awful throws, Frerotte was on target, racking up almost 300 yards passing to go with his two scores.
To be honest though, the Bears weren’t fielding their best team. Their top three corners were out of the game with injuries, so the passing game was obviously going to be a strong point of the Vikings’ attack. The Bears threw a few different looks and some new faces at the Vikings, bringing in rookie Craig Steltz for some three safety sets as well as corner Zack Bowman, who was elevated from the practice squad this week. Both made key special teams plays for the Bears, as Steltz blocked the Chris Kluwe punt that Garrett Wolfe returned for the touchdown. Then, after a Brad Maynard punt hit Vikings return man Charles Gordon in the back, Bowman covered the ball in the end zone for the Bears’ second special teams score. Bowman also sealed the game for Chicago with an interception of Frerotte as the Vikings needed a score with under a minute remaining. The Bears made plays when they needed to, but giving up 41 points at home is inexcusable. Lovie Smith can’t let this sloppy play continue.
On offense, almost everything clicked for Chicago. Taking away the special team scores and the touchdown that was set up at the 5 by a Payne interception return, Kyle Orton and the offense put up 31 points all on their lonesome. Orton has obliterated my prediction on 200 yard outings. He added another versus the Vikes, bringing his total to four on the season. He demonstrated outstanding poise in the pocket as well as a great instinct for calling audibles under center. He often changed the play at the line and put his offense in a better position to move the ball. While it’s only been seven games, Orton is vastly improved over the version we saw in ’05, who was unable to make the big play. This Kyle is finding his wide receivers and tight ends more frequently, and relying less on the check-downs to the running backs. Devin Hester (who left the game with a quad injury), Rashied Davis, and Greg Olsen have emerged as significant offensive threats, which is perfect for a young signal-caller like Orton. Olsen has especially proved worthy of a first-round selection, making up for his fumbles of a few games past. I’m not saying the quarterback situation in Chicago is completely settled, but it certainly looks better than it has in the past.
The only real issue on Sunday was the inability to run the ball. Matt Forte had another brutal outing, only rushing for 56 yards on 20 carries. Though in his defense, teams have been trying to take Forte out of the game since his first appearance, when he went for 100 yards. Now that Kyle has been making teams pay for trying to stop the run by passing all over them, Forte should begin to find breathing room. For the Bears to remain atop the NFC North, their running game must break through the proverbial wall as well as the wall of defenders. They have showed signs of creativity (as least for the Bears anyway) by using toss plays to get to the outside. Normally so devoted to running up the middle, it’s nice to see them try something different, even if they only do it three times a game.
Being a Chicago Bears fanatic, I’m not used to being on the winning side of a shoot-out. Heck, I’m not even used to seeing shoot-outs. This was an exciting and intense contest, but needing to score 48 points is not a good sign for this team. That won’t happen again this season, so the defense will need to step it up and earn their money. They haven’t so far. It’ll be interesting to see what happens to the defense and their coaching staff if they continue to cost the team wins. Though sitting at 4-3 and first place, the Bears won’t rush to judgment.
