First and foremost I have to say the NFL did a tremendous job in honoring the 10th anniversary of 9/11. Having the players join in holding the field size American flags at each stadium with area police, firemen and military was very cool to see. And, of course, having Jim Cornelison at Soldier Field to sing the national anthem was a given. Nobody brings it like Jim. He received quite a bit of national attention for his performance.
As for the Bears, I got the surprise I was hoping for. Call me a pessimist, but I expected a loss to Atlanta Sunday. The defense as a whole was excellent, and the offense showed vast improvement over 2010 already.
The key to the domination of the Falcons was the play of the Bears defensive line. Julius Peppers and Henry Melton were living in the backfield. Both had two sacks, and Melton had 7 QB hits. The Bears originally drafted Melton as a lighter weight defensive end. He put on over 30 pounds this offseason to get to 295 so the Bears could use him as a defensive tackle. He definitely did not lose any quickness. He looked like a young Tommie Harris before he started to break down. The key to the Cover-2 is getting pressure from the four defensive linemen. If they can get that kind of pressure all year they will be in good shape. We do have to keep in mind Atlanta had a few new faces on their offensive line though.
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Urlacher was his typical self. A nice athletic interception and a fumble recovery for a touchdown where he was in the right place at the right time. Sounds like luck, but he has a skill for being around the ball. The same goes for Charles Tillman. You better secure the ball around him because he is going to punch it loose as he did on Sunday.
Matt Forte showed exactly what he can do in the Mike Martz offense. He should really replace the "FORTE" name plate on the back of his jersey with "PAY ME" so as he is running down the field Bears management will be reminded as to how good he is. They had better get a contract done with him soon or too many more games like Sunday and his demands will only get higher, and rightfully so. He is the "special player" that Jerry Angelo likes to refer to.
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Cutler was good overall. Only a few times he held on to the ball too long. That is a bad habit he is getting better at. The offensive line gave him time for the most part. Rookie Gabe Carimi got beat a couple times by John Abraham for sacks, but Abraham is quite a pass rusher and challenge for the rookie in his first regular season game. Mike Martz's play calling was very good. A nice mix of deep passes, short passes and running plays. The screen passes and dump-offs to Forte are what will make this offense truly excel. He has the ability to play that Marshall Faulk role.
Looking ahead to week 2 the Bears will go down to New Orleans to face the Saints and their aerial attack. The most interesting matchup will be the Bears defensive tackles lining up against former teammate Olin Kreutz. Advantage: Bears (big time). Kreutz looked bad in his first game with the Saints. This game may vindicate the Bears management for letting him go. Since football games are won in the trenches I expect the Bears defensive line to get enough pressure on Saints QB Drew Brees to throw him off his game. The pessimist in me wants to say don't overreact to week 1, but I will take the Bears to go to New Orleans get the win.
Let me know what you think about the Bears week 1 win and any predictions for week 2.
