Shepkowski: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of Bears/Falcons
By Nick Shepkowski-
(WSCR) A 30-12 win in Week 1 -- in a game the Bears entered as a three-point home underdog -- means there was a lot of good shown at Soldier Field on Sunday afternoon. A look now at who really stuck out and a couple of things that still need work.
The Good
Brian Urlacher: This just in... No. 54 is good. His first half interception stopped an Atlanta drive that could have given the Falcons the lead and he also scored after Julius Peppers forced a Matt Ryan fumble in the third quarter. Piling on the praise, Urlacher led the Bears with 10 tackles and gets my game ball.
Henry Melton/Front Four: Perhaps he's benefiting from Peppers playing on the same line but Henry Melton played at a level we haven't seen from a Bears defensive tackle since Tommie Harris' Pro Bowl days. Melton wound up with two sacks while Amobi Okoye picked up a sack of his own. Needless to say, Julius Peppers was his normal self with a pair of sacks. If the cover-2 defensive scheme is to work, production from the front four is a must (understatement of the century).
Matt Forte: The now fourth-year Bears running back averaged 4.3 yards per carry but for the second year in a row picked up many yards after the catch to find the endzone on opening day. Forte was responsible for 158 total yards on 21 touches. His value to this offense can't be overstated and he can't be re-signed soon enough.
Jay Cutler: I hesitated to include him because Cutler had multiple things he could have improved Sunday but 312 passing yards and two TD's speaks for itself. His pocket precense has seemed to improve, specifically him stepping up in the pocket under pressure from the ends.
Third Down Conversions: The final line reads 6-for-16 in third down conversions but while it was still a contest Sunday the Bears converted six of their first 11 third downs (54.5%). Not bad for a team that finished 2010 at 27th in the NFL, converting just 32.8% of their third downs.
The Bad
I'll start this part by admiting I'm reaching a bit on a few of these but that's what you get when you blowout the defending number one seed in the NFC in Week 1...
Red Zone Offense: No, the Bears are nowhere near "Notre Dame Bad" inside the 20 but just one touchdown on three redzone trips leaves a significant amount of points on the field. If this keeps up it will cost them at some point. Props to Robbie Gould for coming through on all three of his field goal attempts after a somewhat shaky pre-season.
Major Wright: You saw Brandon Meriweather get more reps as the game went on. That's not by mistake as Wright will be out of a job soon. Out of position often Sunday, very surprised Atlanta didn't try to target his area a bit more.
The Ugly
Offensive Tackles: Both J'Marcus Webb and Gabe Carimi looked all the part of young offensive tackles in the NFL. Both were responsible for Cutler being pressured most of the afternoon and neither offered much help in the running game. The Falcons do have quality defensive ends in Lawrence Sidbury and John Abraham but these two were beat all afternoon and easily had the weakest showing of anyone.
Obviously the Bears played very well Sunday with the offense looking very explosive against a solid team. The defense also played great as it didn't allow a touchdown. Its hard to find anything outside of the young offensive tackles that played too poorly, a good sign for Bears fans.
