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If you watched Sunday's Bears-Vikings game, you know — without a doubt — who the two most exciting players in the NFL are. The Bears have one of the guys on their roster, but the Vikings have the other, and he led Minnesota to a 34-31 victory.
Devin Hester started the scoring by returning a punt 89 yards for a touchdown — his third return TD of the season. Hester also scored the Bears' final points on an 81-yard TD reception to tie the score late in the game. So Hester certainly provides a lot of action.
But he wasn't the most impressive player on the field on Sunday. That honor went to the Vikings' Adrian Peterson (not to be confused with the Bears' Adrian Peterson), who ran all over the Bears defense. The rookie running back gained 224 yards on 20 carries and ran for touchdowns of 73 yards, 67 yards and 35 yards. Not to mention his kick returns, including a 53-yard return that set up the winning field goal as time expired. Peterson's 224 yards were the most ever against the Bears and the most ever by a Vikings player.
Cedric Benson, that's what a special running back looks like!
And where was the Bears defense on Sunday?
The supposed strength of this team once again proved to be a liability. For the third time in six games, they gave up at least 30 points. The Vikings offense has no wide receivers, and their QB has started only four games. Peterson is truly their only weapon, yet the Bears were unable to stop him.
The Bears now sit at the bottom of the NFC North at 2-4. Minnesota is 2-3, Detroit is 3-2, and the Packers are 5-1. We don't see anything that suggests the Bears will move up.
Photo by AP Photo/M. Spencer Green.
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Brian Griese can't throw the deep ball.
Griese can throw a ball?
Seems to me an 81 yard touchdown would qualify as a deep ball. Maybe I am wrong though.
We have one guy who can play football and the Vikings have one guy who can play. The difference, they get the ball to ther guy 30 times, and we get it to our guy 10 if we are lucky. The defense was thrashed, and looked exhausted early in the 2nd half.
FWIW Griese broke the alltime Bears record for passing yards in a single game with 381. He also has more career passing yards then any Bear QB in history, as a career backup. Pretty scary. Bear Down!
Griese is not the problem. The problem is Ron Turner. He's playing way too conservatively. I know Griese is not Tom Brady or Bret Favre but he's also not Rex Grossman. I think the last two weeks proved that he can go down field with some accuracy and come up with the big plays. Benson did well against the NFL's #1 run defense, that's something too. The offense also sustained drives so I'm not really sure why the D was so tired. It was just a really irritating game.
OK, the Griese comment was meant to mock those who argued he couldn't throw the deep ball—he clearly can.
Nobody has wanted to admit what is now abundantly clear: the defense is the problem. The offense can score. The special teams are mostly solid (save yesterday's final A Peterson return), but the defense has been exposed: it can't stop the run. Remember what happened to the Colts last year when they lost Fred Sanders? Even that offense couldn't outscore teams when their defense couldn't stop the run. The Bears have the same problem with the loss of Mike Brown.
Oh, and Adam Archuleta sucks. He hits hard, but he's so small he just bounces off guys. And he's slow as hell. Just ask Troy Williamson.
The defense clearly takes a step back whenever Mike Brown isn't healthy. We saw that last year and again this year. The additional injuries, especially in the secondary, have just killed this team. In addition to clear holes in the coverage to exploit, the guys playing on defense are also the ones playing on special teams. They just don't have the endurance to be on the field so much!
I don't get why they can't stop the run though. The Bears defense is built on speed. I know running backs are always going to be faster but still, I don't get it. Is it because Mike Brown is gone? I know there was a problem with the run last year after Brown, and then later Harris, went down. Is that what happened again? In addition to locking up Briggs in the off-season (hopefully) do we need to get a safety? Bob Babich supposedly wanted more blitzes, more sacks this year for the D. I haven't noticed if there's more this year than last year at this time, does anyone know?
I know the Bears lost a lot of special teams guys in the off-season so I guess that's the main problem?
Yes, as awesome as Mike Brown is, it is clearly time to find his replacement. His inability to last a season (or even a couple games) the last 4 years has been devastating to our defense. If we cant get Matt Ryan in the draft we must key on the best saftey.
Go Pack Go
I agree about Adam Archuleta. I was a huge fan of his, but did you see him attempt to tackle, only to get dragged down the field? I'm sad to say that I'm glad they benched him.
I misheard the radio. Apparently 381 is not the Bears record. Miller threw for 422 in 1999 against the Vikings. Sorry for spreading misinformaiton
I remember when Archuleta came out of college and was a freak at the combine. He'd been doing some obscure Russian workout regimen and people were just flabbergasted at some of the odd physical feats he could do. He was good for a few years with the Rams, but he's faded. He's one of those guys who outperforms his ability and gets by on sheer will and determination. I can understand why Lovie want a guy like that on the team. And at first I was happy we got him, but he just gets manhandled out there. He might have been a good complement to Mike Brown, but as the primary safety, he's just outmatched.