The Chicago Bears are back on the right
track after defeating the St. Louis Rams 42-
27 on Monday Night Football. Some of the
vagueness about the team’s true colors has
been cleared up as maligned quarterback
Rex Grossman and the coaching staff
showed what they can really do after several
shaky outings.
Things started out right for the Bears as
Grossman did the previously unthinkable –
he scrambled for positive yardage when the
pressure was on instead of throwing the
football up for grabs as he’s been doing
recently. After that the team rallied around
him and the offense started to click like it
did early in the season.
Grossman connected with his wide
receivers, tight end and running backs,
something he hadn’t done in several weeks
and something people wondered if he would
ever do again.
Muhsin Muhammad had three catches
for 50 yards and a touchdown and Bernard
Berrian caught three balls for 62 yards and
a touchdown as well. Running backs Adrian
Peterson and Thomas Jones also contributed
to the Bears passing success with key
receptions of over 20 yards.
The star of this game, however, was kick
returner Devin Hester who scored two
touchdowns on returns. The first was a 94-
yarder in the second quarter and the second
was a 96-yard return in the fourth. Hester
now has six returns on the season – an NFL
record, and he’s just a rookie.
The rushing game was pretty good in
this game as well. Thomas Jones rushed for
76 yards on 11 carries for an outstanding
6.9 yards-per carry average. Cedric Benson
also ran well and had 64 yards in 16
attempts. Their play took a lot of pressure
off of Grossman who completed 13 of 23
passes for 200 yards and two touchdowns.
Most importantly he didn’t throw any
interceptions and remained relatively cool
under pressure from the Rams pass rush.
Defensively the Bears could have done
a lot better. The absence of Tommie Harris
was felt early but Mark Anderson stepped
up with two sacks. The linebackers were
solid but not as spectacular as they’ve been
in recent weeks and Rams quarterback
Mark Bulger and his talented receivers did
burn the secondary for 356 yards.
The
coaching and play calling was also better
in this game than it has been in the past few
weeks.
They didn’t go for the long air strikes
that had proven so costly and they let the
receivers do there thing by running for
yardage after the catch. They made several
nice calls for short passes that turned into
long gains and they kept pounding the ball
with Benson and Jones.
Hopefully they’ll
stick to this winning formula in future
outings.
Up next for the Bears are the last place
Tampa Bay Bucs (3-10) at Soldier Field.
The Bucs have been woeful this year and
unless the bears have a complete meltdown
they should win with ease. The Bears are
playing for home field advantage in the
playoffs and will probably pour it on as they
tune up for the post season.
Todd Thomas is a freelance writer for
NLCN and other publications. To comment
on this article visit our weblog at:
www.nlcn.org. |
Friday, March 19, 2010 
