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Review: Paramount Room
The Bears magical season came to an end Sunday evening as the Carolina Panthers beat the Bears 29-21 in front of a packed Soldier Field. There will be no trip to Seattle for the Bears next weekend and no trip to Detroit.
Steve Smith gave the Bears a preview of what to expect the rest of the game when he scored on a 58-yard touchdown reception within the first minute of the game. He ended up burning the Bears defense for 218 yards on 12 catches with two TDs and always seemed to make a big play just as the Bears started gaining momentum. The defense just couldn't contain the Panthers as they did in their Week 11 meeting. That game saw the Bears defense sack Carolina QB Jake Delhomme 8 times and pick him off twice while holding the Panthers to 238 yards of offense and just 3 points. Big difference from yesterday's game, that included just 1 sack and 1 interception while the Panthers burned the Bears for 434 yards and 29 points.
While the defense had trouble stopping the Panthers offense, the Bears offense actually played a halfway decent game -- at least according to expectations. Rex Grossman settled down after an ugly first couple possessions. He completed 17 of 41 passes for 192 yards with 1 TD and 1 interception. And the offense did score 21 points. But Chicagoist wants to know why they threw so much, when that clearly hadn't been their gameplan all season and Rex Grossman had all of 6 quarters of action under his belt this year. Thomas Jones ran the ball just 20 times.
While it's disappointing that the Bears season is over, it's also time to remember what expectations were for this team entering the resular season. Many were questioning whether they could reach 5-11, let alone the 11-5 mark they posed. Most figured that the Bears would be busy scouting Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart about now, not mouring a playoff loss.
This team looks like they're poised to be a force in the NFC for a couple years. Nearly their entire defense is locked up for next season, as are most of the key offensive players. Free agency and the draft can fill some minor holes and build depth. This team could be as close the Super Bowl as the 1984 Bears. Chicagoist doesn't think that we'll see a repeat of 2002 -- when the team crashed following 2001's surprising 13-3 season.
The biggest question in our mind is what to do about the QB situation in 2006. The Bears have a stable of quality running backs, a former Pro Bowl wide receiver and some young receivers ready to step up. But the QB situation remains the weakest link on this team. If they are entering a 2-3 window of competing for a Super Bowl with this squad, do they need to sign a free agent QB to get them over that hump? Chicagoist isn't sure Grossman's the guy yet. And by the time he develops, could it be too late?
Photos via Yahoo!News
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The Bears defense completely failed us yesterday. The secondary was smoked by Steve Smith while our front four was equally pummelled by the Panthers offensive line. I agree that we should have run the ball a bit more, but we still scored 21 points (compared to the 13 points we scored against Carolina when Kyle Orton "managed" the game). This loss is squarely on the shoulders of the defense.
I knew the Bears were going to lose this game the second they started jawing last Monday. How arrogant to think your defense is so stellar that Peanut Tillman can cover Steve Smith one-on-one.
The bottom line is that 21 points should have been enough at home against a so-so offense in Carolina, especially when they lost DeShaun Foster. The "coverage" they threw at Steve Smith was a joke. Possibly the best wide receiver in the NFL and the main cog of the Carolina offense, and the Bears put Tillman on him man-to-man. It would have been one thing if they changed their strategy when Smith started going off, but no — the Bears kept trotting out the same tepid coverage drive after drive. The upside is that most of the team should be back again next year, which in Chicago is always the best year.
I'm just curious how much Steve Smith paid the grounds crew at Soldier Field...I've played on parking lots with better grass than that. Every big play Smith had was b/c the defender fell on his ass...
"I've played on parking lots with better grass than that."
Zak, It's January 15th, bud.
Yeah, Steve Smith ripped the ball out of Peanut Tillman's hands in the second quarter because Tillman fell on his ass. The Bears only registered one sack because they kept falling on their collective ass. They played uninspired defense and didn't adjust to what the Panthers' offense was doing because they kept slipping on the turf.
Go listen to Mike North if you're gonna have your head that deep in the sand, Zak.
Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha
NFC North is REALLY REALLY BAAD! -
And you're STILL a big douche bag...
I'm not saying the defense wasn't terrible...but Smith's two touchdowns were when our defenders fell on their asses by losing their footing. Who the hell was that covering Smith on the second one anyway? It wasn't Peanut...
I was commenting the footing was shitty...not using that to explain the whole game. The d-line sucked, the secondary REALLY sucked. And Grossman had a creamy middle of the game surrounded by a first quarter and fourth quarter of pure suck. Ron Turner sucked for not giving the ball to Thomas Jones more. Lovie Smith and Ron Rivera dropped the ball by not swtiching up coverages on Smith. Brad Maynard punted like my Grandma. The special teams was fairly weak, giving up good returns and good field position for most of the game...that is when Maynard kicked it far enough to be returnable. THERE...that enough? Am I allowed to say that the offensive line wasn't too bad? They protected Grossman fairly well (1 sack against Carolina isn't too shabby) and they made pretty big holes for T. Jones on the rare occasion that he actually got the ball...
I wasn't writing the whole game off to bad footing...just commenting that Smith's two touchdowns were caused, at least partially, by bad footing. My head's not totally in the sand, ok?
Also, I'm gonna miss Ron Rivera, b/c I think he's going to St. Louis...and I dunno what to think about the future at the quarterback position...Grossman needs to play more than a quareter and a half of quality football a game to be worthy of his position.
There.
You are a turd sandwich....
That last comment was NOT posted by me...
Rather, I would likely attribute it to NFC IS REALLY REALLY BAD (AKA big douche bag), if I'm not mistaken...
Smith is a Taliban supporting asshole.
In all likelihood??????.