What I Predicted:
Week 4: vs. Detroit (FOX) Jay Cutler will explode in his first of two monster games against the Lions in 2009. Once the Bears get out to a big lead in the first half, Forte will carry it home with a 120+ yard effort. Stafford may be the answer in Detroit but not this week. Bears roll 34 – 10.
What Happened: Bears 48, Lions 24
Here, as usual, perception and reality are quite different. My prediction was right in many ways, Forte finished with 121 yards just as I said and the margin of victory (24) was right on as well. What I did not account for was the woeful bears pass defense, Calvin Johnson is a supreme talent and he proved that once again on the first play of the game going for 45 yards before Bears fans could get in their seats.
This game had all the makings of a shootout as both teams traded touchdowns three times in the first half. Jay Cutler continued to gain the respect of his veteran teammates as he dove head first into the end zone and was spun around ala John Elway for the bears first score, these types of gritty plays will keep pretty boy stereotype of Jay in the background and bring his hunger to win in the forefront.
The score at halftime was 21-21; many NFL coaches say that the teams that make the right halftime adjustments will win most of the time, the Bears made those adjustments last week. Johnny Knox made a big statement to open the second half by returning the kickoff 102 yards to pay dirt and the Bears never looked back.
One of the adjustments that Lovie Smith made at the half was putting Charles Tillman on Calvin Johnson, the result was just 3 catches for 14 years in the second half for Johnson.
Matt Forte did rush for a season high 121 yards but this is misleading on paper, two rushes accounted for 98 of those yards. The rest of his day was as follows; 10 rush, 23 yards. Hopefully this offensive line continues to gel and Forte can take some pressure off Jay and the receivers.
The special teams crews were outstanding on Sunday, Brad Maynard had 4 punts inside the 20, Robbie Gould was perfect and four players (Bennett, Hester, Wolfe, Knox) had returns of 24 yards or more. Dave Toub is now unquestionably the best special teams coach in the NFL and has all phases of that group playing on an elite level.
Scoring 48 points on any NFL team is an accomplishment and you cant help but feel good about where this team stands at 3-1 going into a bye week. I will leave you with the thoughts I had on this bye week when I did my season preview, pretty dead on if I say so myself. Bear Down!
Week 5: Bye Good time for the Bears to reflect on their 3-1 start going into a tough Primetime match-up against the Falcons.
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