 | Noots? Notes: Game 2: 24-13 Loss to the Vikings2003-09-26
Although they surprised everyone to make a game of it, the Bears couldn?t do enough on offense to win, and couldn?t stop Minnesota from marching the ball down the field throughout the game. Let?s take a closer look at how the individual units performed.
OFFENSE
Quarterbacks
Kordell Stewart (13-21-137, TD 6/25) had better numbers than last week, but still did not have a good game. On the plus side, he threw a good ball for a touchdown to David Terrell for 14 yards, and hit Dez White on a great deep pass up the left side, where he made a nice play fake. A 25-yard scramble inside of the 2 minute warning before halftime kept a touchdown drive alive. That drive was easily the highlight for the offense on the day. The negatives far outweighed the positives, however. He threw behind his receivers, and quite frequently short-hopped passes in the middle range areas. He?s still throwing into double coverage, and staring down his receivers. At some point he?ll need to throw the ball out hot when he recognizes a blitz off the edge. At some point he might recognize a blitz off the edge. His ability as a field general must also be questioned, since the Bears had numerous penalties for delay of game, even after time outs were called. At the 2 minute point at the end of the game, he took a hit and twisted his neck as his head hit the considerable left buttock of Aaron Gibson. Stewart?s head lost this battle. Chris Chandler (1-2-8, Int) relieved him, and after converting a 3rd down, was intercepted. It was the first offensive turnover for the Bears. GRADE: D-
Running Backs
Anthony Thomas (10/53) took all the reps at halfback, other than in passing situations. Rabih Abdullah (1/2, 2-10) saw considerable action as a 3rd down back. Adrian Peterson did not see any snaps on offense. Thomas broke off a huge 34-yard run early in the game over right guard. He made some good cuts there, and had a run or two others that showed good power. Unfortunately, he didn?t really get enough carries to establish more on the ground. The Bears? offense and defense continue to compliment each other perfectly; one can?t get off the field while the other can?t stay on it. Stanley Pritchett (2-11) made a couple of good blocks and caught a few passes in the flat. On one of them, it looked like he would pick up a big gain but he couldn?t keep his balance to stay in bounds. Rabih Abdullah caught a couple passes as a third down back, and played well in his limited role. GRADE: C
Receivers
Dez White (3-67) caught a 49-yard bomb from Kordell Stewart. He almost dropped the ball, as it bobbled in his stomach, but he cradled the ball as he fell over it. Desmond Clark had a couple of key grabs. Clark (4-33) missed a block on a blitz that got Stewart sacked. David Terrell did a good job fighting for the ball on his 14-yard touchdown reception. He dropped a perfectly thrown slant pass on 3rd and short, ending a key drive late in the game. Marty Booker (2-10) was not a factor. There wasn?t much else to comment on from this group, as they were not given many opportunities). GRADE: C
Offensive Line
The patchwork offensive line did a much better job this week in both pass protection and run blocking. Other than a false start, newcomer Corbin Lacina had a strong game at right guard, and his block was the key that sprang Thomas? big run. Unfortunately, consecutive false starts by Lacina and Mike Gandy took the Bears from 3rd and 2 into 3rd and 12. Gandy had a tougher time, allowing a good deal of pressure from his side, in addition to 2 false starts. Olin Keutz allowed a sack on a tough pickup, but overall didn?t have a bad game. His shotgun snaps were much better. He and Stewart had a fumbled exchange early in the game. Steve Edwards held up well again at left guard, without any major mistakes. Chris Hovan was moved all over the place and wasn?t really much of a factor. Gibson wasn?t asked to do anything out of his skill range and he blocked strong at the point of attack. Overall, it wasn?t a bad job by this group at all, but there are still too many mental mistakes, not enough running lanes and not enough big plays. GRADE: D+
DEFENSE
Defensive Line
The Bears had a much better pass rush from their defensive line. Phillip Daniels made a huge play in the first half, sacking Culpepper and forcing a fumble when the Vikings were inside the Bear 10-yard line. Alex Brown (6 tackles, sack, FF) got a sack and forced a fumble that Culpepper got back. He also did a great job of reading a screen and forcing an incompletion. On another play, McKinnie grabbed him around the neck and threw him to the ground (no penalty). Keith Traylor, Alfonso Boone and Bryan Robinson did nothing to generate a rush, although Robinson did deflect a pass for one of the few 3rd downs Minnesota didn?t convert. None of the Bear linemen did well against the run, and outside of a huge tackle for a loss by Traylor at the end, the Vikings ran through the Bears? front line like soup through a goose. Even plays where the hole was plugged up the middle resulted in big gains, because the Viking runners ran with good vision and made one good cut behind the line and took to the edge. Michael Haynes played a bit but wasn?t much of a factor. GRADE: D
Linebackers
The statistics will show that Brian Urlacher (12 tackles, 2 sacks) had a mess of tackles, and picked up two sacks. However, he, Warrick Holdman, and Bryan Knight (5 tackles, FR) struggled. Warrick Holdman (11 tackles) got sucked in on a fake quarterback draw, allowing Kleinsasser to get free for a touchdown. He also whiffed on a sack of Daunte Culpepper. Time and again, Bear linebackers would get sucked into the middle of the field, and then the Viking running backs would bounce it outside for a big gain. Both Urlacher and Knight were picked up easily by Moe Williams (21/108, TD, 4-50) in blitz situations. Urlacher committed a facemask penalty on one of those plays, and it was the 15-yard variety. There were a ton of passes completed over the middle of the field that only went a few yards deep, yet still went for big gains. It was the big cutbacks and runs off tackle, as well as the chunks of yardage gained on the short passes that kept the very long drives alive, and finished off the Bears. GRADE: D
Secondary
Randy Moss (4-27) didn?t do much in the game. However, it can be argued that the way the Bears rolled coverage to him that took them out of being able to load up a safety against the run. Mike Brown allowed a 51-yard pass on the first play of the game. He redeemed himself later in the game by knocking away a pass intended for Randy Moss in the end zone. Jerry Azumah (8 tackles) was matched up with Moss quite a bit. He didn?t allow Moss to get much, and made some very sure tackles to ensure passes thrown short of the sticks didn?t go for first downs. Charles Tillman played well in nickel situations, and even matched up on Moss a few times without issue. R.W. McQuarters (8 tackles) had a quiet game, but that was a good thing. He was the closest to Kleinsasser on the touchdown at the end of the game. Mike Green (6 tackles) made a great tackle on a short hitch to Moss for a one-yard loss. There were also a number of plays where Culpepper either got sacked or scrambled out, where coverage was tight enough downfield that he had to run the ball. GRADE: B
Article by: Michael Nudo
Brought to you by: BearsTalk.com
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