Impressed with Lovie Smith
Don't be fooled by Rex Grossman's less-than-stellar numbers: 11-23, 166 yards, TD, INT. The Bears' defense played much as they did in the Pittsburgh game; sloppy tackling thorughout, and the defensive line was unable to get consistent pressure on Favre, so the Packers were therefore able to catch the secondary out of position throughout the game.
Unlike the Pittsburgh game, though, this time the offense was able to bail them out. And we saw the difference between the Lovie Smith Bears and the Dick Jauron Bears; these Bears, with Grossman at the helm, are unafraid to test the defense instead of playing safe. My favorite play call of the game was in the third quarter, with about four minutes remaining. The Bears had a fourth and one at the Packers 28. Grossman dropped back and fired an absolutely perfect throw to Muhsin Muhammad in the end zone. Muhammad dropped it, but it was a great, unexpected call, and the right one, considering the difficulties the Bears have had converting on short yardage all year.
Things to take away from this game:
1) Muhammad drops a lot of balls. He obviously has a world of talent, because he's open all the time, but man, does he ever drop a lot of balls.
2) That returned punt by the Packers was almost solely Brad Maynard's fault. What a terrible punt, so bad that it took at least three Bears out of the play.
3) I don't want to hear about how Grossman is better than Orton because he's a veteran and Orton's a rookie. Let's not forget that Orton has more game experience than Grossman does. Grossman is just better; he was better in college and he's still better now. And no, Bill Maas, Orton was NOT getting better as the season went along. If anything, he looked more tentative and overwhelmed with every game, and least over the last 4 weeks or so (after not seeing a Bears game for the first 10 weeks, I've seen 4 of the last 5, and part of the fifth).
4) Grossman's decision making can still be questionable, though, as you would expect from a guy who has not played for a year and a half. Even though the Bears have clinched the first round bye, Grossman needs to play against Minnesota next week. He's still working to get into form.
Muhammad's Pass Catching
Muhammad drops a lot of balls
Muhammad has made some incredible catches this year in high traffic. But you're right. He drops balls. Muhammad needs to be a star for the Bears' offense to be really good.
re: Muhammad
Muhammad has made some incredible catches this year in high traffic.
No doubt, but if you're good enough to make it to the NFL in the first place, you're capable of making highlight catches.
The reason I find him so frustrating is that I think that what separates the great receivers from the average ones is the ability to get open when the defense is focusing on you. Muhammad absolutely has that ability. That's so rare, and so much harder to do than simply catching the ball. There's no limit to what he can accomplish if he could just hold on.
In defense of the defense
While the Bears' defense did give up some yards, they still only gave up what should have been 16 points (the 17 Green Bay scored, minus the 7 on the punt return, plus the six on the two missed field goals), while playing without three starters (Mike Brown, Ian Scott, and Hunter Hillenmeyer). Plus, they scored a touchdown. That's still very good.
re: defense
You're right - I wasn't meaning to criticize the defense so much as point out that they probably wouldn't have won this game if the offense wasn't so much better than it was against Pittsburgh.
The sloppy tackling is aggravating, though. I'll let that stand as criticism. But you're right, overall they played pretty well.