There was lot to like in Bears beating of Eagles

Though there still were weak areas, they won with toughness and solid coaching

November 08, 2011|Dan Pompei | On the NFL

Let's hold off on doing cartwheels and backflips down the hallway over what happened Monday night in Philadelphia.

The Bears really didn't shove it down the Eagles' throats.

Don't forget the Eagles' punter underthrew a fourth quarter pass that could have been a touchdown. Or that the Eagles committed three backbreaking penalties. Or that they had a receiver slip and fall one yard shy of a first down on a last ditch fourth down play late in the game.

But a couple of aspects of the game were highly encouraging for the Bears.

The first is the physical game they played. They won the battle on both lines of scrimmage. They punished Eagles defenders in the run game. They lit up Eagles receivers with hits you could hear down the street at the Wells Fargo Center.

The other encouraging aspect is this probably was the Bears' best coached game of the year.

Rod Marinelli changed up the defensive game plan, using more man-to-man and single high safety than usual. Mike Martz continued to give his passing game a chance by helping the offensive line.

Jay Cutler was not sacked, and what's more he didn't even get knocked down on a play in which a penalty was not called.

This is partly because the coaching staff smartly has lowered their expectations for the passing game. On Cutler's 32 passes, the Bears used a five-man protection with no help from tight ends or backs only three times.

And on one of those plays, they scored the game-winning touchdown.

So while cartwheels and backflips would be overreacting, a somersault or two seems to be an appropriate reaction.

Here is what else we learned upon further review.


Offensive line

Grade: 7.5

The line now is stringing together good games. As a result, we saw something we haven't seen yet this year — confidence. That manifested itself in Eagles defenders on the backs all over the field.

In particular, RT Lance Louis played violently and aggressively. You could say he played like a man who is intent on keeping his job.

Louis still struggled a little bit with footwork and balance in pass protection, but it wasn't for lack of effort. He matched the intensity of madman Jason Babin and kept him in check the whole game.

The Bears gave J'Marcus Webb the most help against Eagles end Trent Cole, but Webb played at a pretty high level even when he had no help.

Guards Chris Williams and Chris Spencer had some nice pulls in the run game, which was most effective off tackle. Both players cleared the path for Matt Forte on his 25-yard first quarter run, picking off the middle linebacker and strong safety.

Tight ends

Grade: 7.5

They were asked to do a lot in pass protection, and both Kellen Davis and Matt Spaeth made strong contributions. Both also were pretty good sealing the edge in the run game.

Spaeth had a holding penalty, but he also scored on a 5-yard touchdown.

Running backs

Grade: 7.5

Forte, Marion Barber and Tyler Clutts all get high marks for their contributions to the pass protection, which were frequent.

Forte made something from nothing a few times. He showed exceptional vision and used his blockers well to avoid defenders. On one first quarter play that was designed to go right, Forte didn't like what he saw so he cut back across the formation to his left. He evaded Cole and made it a 14 yard gain.

His two fumbles would have lost some games.

Barber gave the Bears a nice physical changeup. He was effective in short yardage situations and on seven of nine plays he was in during a third quarter scoring drive after Forte had fumbled on the previous possession.


Grade: 7.5

Lots of really nice throws from Cutler. Good decision making for the most part, too.

He was avoiding pressure, making the right read and getting the ball out. At times, the Bears coaches called for a moving pocket, which plays to Cutler's strengths. Other times, he moved himself.

The game-winning touchdown pass to Earl Bennett was right on the money.

Not every pass was perfect though.

He underthrew Devin Hester on a second quarter bomb attempt that should have been a touchdown but instead was an incompletion. He threw another pass that cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha came close to intercepting. And he missed two third down passes late in the game that could have come back to haunt the Bears.

Wide receivers

Grade: 4.5

Earl Bennett gave the Bears a dimension that had been missing. In Bennett's return to the field, he led the wide receivers in playing time and was in on 74 percent of the snaps.

Despite being covered by the highly regarded Asomugha most of the game, Bennett ran crisp routes, created separation, caught every ball thrown to him and didn't go down easily.

Unfortunately, the other receivers did not follow his lead. Johnny Knox, Devin Hester and Dane Sanzenbacher all but disappeared.

Roy Williams dropped Cutler's best throw of the night, a third quarter play that should have been at least a 55-yard gain.