Chicago Bears: Week 16

Opponent: Arizona Cardinals
Location: Away
Outcome: Win
Record: 9-6 (2-3)

11-4 (5-0) Green Bay Packers
9-6 (3-2) Minnesota Vikings
4-11 (0-5) Detroit Lions

Charleen and I were out of town this past weekend, and I completely forgot about writing this post after the Bears game on Sunday. I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and is looking forward to having a safe and happy New Year.

This week, the Bears looked a bit more like they did at the beginning of the season, and I had a fun time hanging out at a bar with friends in the Chicago area.

Offense
I thought the running game looked pretty good this week. Unfortunately Matt Forte injured his ankle, but with the playoffs on the line, I'm sure he'll do everything he can to be back this week. I thought Armando Allen and Kahlil Bell did a good job of stepping up. Jay didn't have an amazing day, but he didn't have a bad day either. He was only 12/26 for 146 yards with 1 touchdown, but he also only was sacked once and didn't throw any interceptions. Also interesting to note was that Devin Hester was not on the field for offense. He returned 1 kickoff for 40 yards and 3 punts. Brandon Marshall didn't have the best day either only catching 6 balls on 14 targets, but he did have one of the best corner backs (not better than ours of course) in the league on him like glue. Overall I though it was a decent performance after the last few weeks and against a tough defense. They'll have to step it up this week though.

Defense
I will grant you that Arizona is one of the worst offenses of the league, but the Bears D was playing like it was at the beginning of the year again. Maybe they just needed an easier opponent to get back in the groove.  Whatever it was, I'll take it. They had 2 returns for touchdowns. One of them was "Peanut" Tillman. He's had 3 interceptions this year and all of them have been taken back for TDs. The Arizona running game was made nonexistant, and that led to us getting a few more takeaways. Lets hope that the D can stay this dominant against an explosive Detroit offense this coming week.

Special Teams
Hesters 40 yard kickoff return was probably the highlight for special teams this week. We had a couple of dropped returns or accidentally touched returns. One that bounced off of D.J. Moore resulted in a turnover. They're going to really have to pick it up this week as well.

Up next are the Detroit Lions in Detroit. Don't let their 4-11 record fool you. This is going to be a hard fought game. With a win this week coupled with a Minnesota loss to the Packers, the Bears can make the playoffs. I know a lot of fans who would rather the Bears lose to see Lovie Smith booted out, but that's just not how I roll. Go Bears!