Wounded Bears Play Broncos Competitive To The End

WAUKEGAN, Illinois -- The Bears missed opportunities in the red zone, left Broncos players wide open, but still played competitive for all four quarters.

John Fox’s old team came into Soldier Field with the number one ranked defense in the NFL and with the Bears missing three of their starters on offense, the home team only got in the end zone once.  

The competitive Bears scored a touchdown on the last drive of the game and were a two-point conversion away from sending the game into overtime, but were stopped short of the end zone.

Despite questionable play calling, like going for it on fourth down instead of taking a field goal, a bad interception by Jay Cutler, or blowing assignments in pass coverage; the Bears had the game in their hands.

For you Bears fans who gave up on the season after seeing the Bears lose another close game, don’t give up so soon. The Bears still competed with the number one ranked defense without three starters on offense, running back Matt Forte, and receivers Alshon Jeffrey and Eddie Royal.

The Bears have shown each week that they are one tough team to take down. Who knows how the game would have turned out having Forte, Jeffrey, or Royal. 

Even with a lack of weapons the Bears still got in the red zone five times, settling for three field goals and the one touchdown.

There are some positives that came out of the loss today. The main one being that the Bears didn’t commit a penalty. All the credit goes to the coaches on that one. How many times have Bears drives come to a stop for an unnecessary penalty? The answer to that question is too many. To see the Bears not commit a holding penalty or have a false start against the best defense is the NFL is definitely a bright spot.

Another positive was that the Bears sacked Broncos quarterback Brock Osweiler five times. The Bears were able to get in the young quarterbacks face and force him to make inaccurate throws.

So before you hang up the towel, lets see what the Bears can do, when healthy, against the Packers on Thanksgiving night.

It should be another close game. 

 (credit to gettyimages.com)

Week 9 - Bears vs Chargers game breakdown

Bears vs Chargers, keys to the game

IOWA CITY, Iowa – The Bears (2-5) will hit the road to play their first game under the lights on Monday Night Football against the Chargers (2-6). Both teams are struggling right now and will both come out desperate to get their third victory. Here are the keys to the game.

Offense: This week the Bears need to come out hot. That means coming out to start the game passing and not being afraid to take a shot down field. Last week against the Vikings, the Bears wasted almost an entire half of football by being tentative and settling for the short passing again, when they should have thrown the intermediate to long balls. So offensive coordinator Adam Gase has to call an aggressive game, to help keep up with the Chargers high powered offense.

This means that Gase will have to get rookie running back Jeremy Langford involved early in the game. This will be Langford’s first start and with any rookie the first thing you want to do is instill some confidence in him.

Langford is capable of carrying the load in the running game with starting running back Matt Forte being sidelined with an MCL sprain. But it will be interesting to see how Langford responds in the passing game, after last week’s critical drop in the fourth quarter against the Vikings.

The next step in coming out aggressive against the Chargers is getting tight end Martellus Bennett and wide receiver Alshon Jeffrey a hefty amount of plays. Both are huge play makers for the Bears and will be critical if the Bears want to get their third victory.

Bennett has been pretty quite in terms of catches the past few weeks, but the Chargers give up big plays tight ends and Bennett should have a big day.

With Jeffrey back in the starting offense, the Bears have looked his way to make big time plays. Jeffrey will be going against the Chargers corners, who’s heights are 5ft 9’’ in Brandon Flowers and 5ft 10’’ in Jason Verrett, so look for quarterback Jay Cutler to utilize all of Jeffrey’s 6ft 3’’ frame against the smaller corners.

Defense: The Bears defense will have a big challenge on their hands with trying to stop the leagues leading passer in Philip Rivers. Rivers though will be without his leading receiver, Kennan Allen who suffered a kidney injury in last weeks’ loss to the Ravens.

The defense will have to apply pressure throughout the entire game. The Chargers have had injuries on the offensive line and without Allen, this is a perfect opportunity for the Bears defense to get in Rivers’ face and disrupt his rhythm with his receivers. Rivers also has a tendency to hold the ball for a longer time for routes to develop downfield and because of this he has been sacked 19 times on the season. So if the Bears secondary can hold up, this should give the pass rushers some opportunities to sack Rivers and hopefully create turnovers.

Cornerback Kyle Fuller got his first interception of the season last week against the Vikings. Hopefully this gave the former first round pick some confidence and something he can build off for the rest of the season. If the Bears can create a turnover on the Chargers high powered offense, that has a -6 turnover ratio, this will be a huge positive for the Bears defense.

Another thing to watch for is how the Bears safeties play. Rookie free safety Adrian Amos is emerging as a consistent player for the Bears but it’s the strong safety position that has been struggling. In both loses to the Vikings and the Lions, the strong safety has given up a big play late in the fourth quarter or overtime, that eventually lead to the gaming winning score. So watch to see how veteran Antrel Rolle or rookie Harold Jones-Quartey, play their strong safety position.

Special Teams: After yet another disappointing outing from the special teams unit, with giving up a punt return for a touchdown and missing a field goal against the Vikings, the special teams unit needs to stay disciplined.

The Chargers are ranked dead last in the NFL with only one return yard on punts. So the Bears can’t let their guard down eventhough the Chargers haven’t had much success and with the Bears unit struggling all season, the Chargers could be looking to finally have some positives in the return game.

Final Thoughts: If the game is close like it has been the past two week, lets see if the Bears can finish strong and get the win. The Bears have showed competitiveness all season but now its time to see if the Bears have that killer instinct. If the Bears can show that killer instinct hopefully it can carry over throughout the season.

Bears get the win 31-28.

 (http://espn.go.com/watchespn/index/_/id/1069741/san-diego-chargers-vs-chicago-bears-device-restrictions-apply)

Week 8 - Vikings vs Bears, game breakdown