Bears game wrap up
I was out of town this weekend, but thanks to the miracle of Tivo, I was able to watch the game Sunday evening (and in 2:30 as well). It’s never the same to see a game on TV as it is in person because so much of what is really happening is off screen, but I feel I can give a reasonable analysis of the Bears performance and the outlook for the future.
First, the most important thing we learned is that Ayoob is going to be just fine as a QB. Some try to suggest he had a slow start, but going 0-3 on your first 3 throws is not unprecedented and two of the throws were pretty respectible but dropped by the WR’s. The interception was just bad luck on a bad bounce (on an admittedly underthrown ball). 17 for 27 and 4 touchdowns (and just the one interception) is pretty good. In fact, in my opinion, he looked even better than those numbers. He had great mobility in the pocket, escaping a number of would be sacks, and made good decisions.
Next, the running game looks to be a lot like last year, Marshawn Lynch or no Marshawn Lynch. Nobody can debate that Lynch is a great RB in the making, but I was pretty impressed with the running games of both Forsett and O’Keith. As with last year, the strong offensive line only gets stronger as the game rolls on, opening up big running lanes for our backs. This was a key to last years success because it allowed us to control the game when we were ahead and to force the opposing defense to give up big plays in their attempts to stop us from pounding our way back into the game when we were behind. I think this will be a key to success again this year and I’m very optimistic about it after Saturday’s performance. I mean, we were just trying to grind out the clock and ended up running it in for a couple more touchdowns.
As well, the run defense of the Bears looks VERY strong. Everyone was worried that they’d be the weakness of the defense this year, but after the last two games of giving up about 75 yards each game, I think they’re going to be more than OK. In fact, I’m more worried about our supposedly stout secondary than I am about the run defense. As much as they’re pretty good 90% of the time, that other 10% they seem to give up some pretty big plays.
So, with all of that positive news (minus the shakiness in the defensive secondary), what’s the outlook? Longterm it is hard to tell, but I can assure you the next few weeks look pretty good. Any team that has trouble against Rutgers and takes a while to get rolling against San Jose St. (both at home I might add) is going to be just about as good as Washington… yeah that team we just laid the wood to. So next week at home should be a victory against the TKO’ed (as in fighting poorly) Illini. The following week we’re on the road against New Mexico (it appears we can’t field two football teams in this state) State. That should be a bloodbath of epic proportions. They’re 0-2 right now losing to UTEP and getting spanked by an unranked and supposedly mediocre Colorado. Finally, three weeks from now we’ve got Arizona at home who’s loss to Utah was pretty weak and their victory over Northern Arizona was nothing special. Again, this team is probably not much better than Washington.
But the big question mark for the future is: Just how bad is Washington? Everyone knows that Washington is picked towards the bottom of the Pac-10 this year, but are they just ordinary Pac-10 bad or are they extrodinarily bad? If they’re just ordinarily bad, then the outlook looks good. Every Pac-10 team is strong enough that when you blow them out, it’s a positive sign. However, a couple times in a decade, you get an extrodinarily bad team, one that blowing them out doesn’t mean much.
That is what could make Saturday’s victory less convincing than it seems.