| You Are Now Entering The Twilight Zone |
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| Written by Ray Bricknell | ||||||||
| Monday, 20 October 2008 | ||||||||
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The Bears offense scored 34 points, the special teams scored 14 and none of it was with Hester as he was sidelined most of the game. Despite four interceptions, the defense gave up 439 yards and 41 points to a mediocre Vikings offense. Adrian Peterson, their Adrian Peterson, shredded the defense again for 120 yards and two touchdowns, although it was better than last years 227 yards and three TD's. Who are these guys and what happened to the Bears?
The Bears defense has been out to lunch most of the season, especially in the fourth quarter. It is unusual and unnerving for the defense to be this unreliable. No doubt age has something to do with it, but there is another factor, I believe, that has much more to do with what ails the 2008 defense and it is essentially the same thing that ailed the 2007 unit also. Bob Babich. The defense dropped from 5th overall in 2006 to 28th in 2007, and the only major change on the unit that year was Ron Rivera’s exit and Bob Babich’s entrance. The new Bears defense under the new coordinator is easily defeated and breaks under pressure especially late in the game. It's rigid and incapable of the necessary adjustments needed to finish a game. The new scheme seems to add a lot of pressure when things are going well and a lot of time is on the board but as soon as the pressure gets turned up the defense becomes a predictable group that can be picked apart by a decent coordinator. As soon as the clock starts ticking and the pressure is on to stop the opposition from staging a comeback, Babich falls into a cover two pit and doesn’t adjust regardless of what the opposing offense is doing. The defense has never looked this bad under Lovie Smith; maybe Lovie needs to reconsider his long time confidant or start teaching him a thing or two during games. Even if the Bears make it to the playoffs with 48 point games, a defense that ranks 28th again this year won't make it past the first round. Only registered users can write comments!
3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved." |
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