I woke up this morning with a nauseating sensation in my belly. I was hoping that it was from a dream and not reality, but a few little scans of the interweb and alas it is true. That smell is the Bears offense stinking it up the field in last night's Super Bowl. I haven't heard any of the so called (perhaps self proclaimed?) "experts" talking about the game yet, and I'm not sure I want to. Here is my breakdown from the game. Hopefully I won't sound as dumb as Mike North, but if I do, please don't tell me.
Special Teams: With the exception of Devin Hester's touchdown runback at the start of the game, the special teams play was abysmal giving Indy beautiful field position either via poor return blocking (4 kick returns for an average of almost 25 yards), or just fumbling the ball back to Indy. I give them a C. Hester's run saved that from being lower.
Defense: The defense started out the game pretty well. They picked the ball, forced a few fumbles, and had a pretty decent showing. It's hard to play your best, however, when your offense keeps you on the field with interceptions, 3 and outs, and fumbles. Indy had the ball for 38 minutes. That's enough to tire out any defense! Even with the terrible field position, they were still able to hold Indy to the low end of their wining score throughout the season. I give them a B-.
Offense: Egads. It's hard to win a game when you turn the ball over drive after drive. At one point in the game (3rd quarter, I think) I remember CBS putting up a stat that Indy had 63 offensive plays to the bears 23. The offense was only able to muster 10 points, 11 first downs, and 3/10 3rd down conversions. Rex still managed a 68.3 QB rating with 165 yds, 20/28 passing, 2 INT and 1 TD, but 1 of the two picks resulted in a touchdown near the end of the game that just knocked any hope of a win out of the water. I give them a D-.
Coaching: There were definitely some coaching issues during the game. Why not let Rex loose a little earlier to stretch out the defense? It would have helped the running game along a bit, at least early on. In the 3rd quarter, with the score 19-14, Bears have it on 2nd and 1 and the play called is a pass??!!? With the wet surface Rexy slipped 1 yards back bringing up 3rd and 12. What was Ron Turner thinking? Also, why, oh why, when you are down by 12 with 7 mins and 2 mins left in the game, do you not go out of bounds on passes and run the ball up the gut as time is ticking down? Clock management was definitely not a strong point of the Bears sideline during this game. I could go on, but I think I'll stop here before I do sound like Mike North. You guys get a big hairy F.
Party: I believe a good time was had by all, despite the loss. I didn't hear about any accidents so I am assuming everyone got home safely. Congrats to most of the teachers that were here last night as you get an extra day to recover due to the windchill factor in the Chicago area. Nobody yacked here, nothing (that I know of) got broken, and there don't seem to be any new stains in the carpet or the furniture. Based on that, I give all of the attendees an A.
At least I've learned one thing being a Chicago sports fan. Wait until next year.
