The Bears (2-1) rallied from a 13-0 first half deficit to defeat an injury-depleted Seahawks squad 25-19. Jay Cutler led the Bears on a 71-yard scoring drive late in the fourth quarter to put them ahead to stay. The Bears will face the 1-2 Detroit Lions next week.

Jay Cutler led the Bears to a fourth quarter comeback for the second consecutive week (AP Photo/John Froschauer).

Quarterback
Jay Cutler (21-27-247, 3 TD, 1 INT, 2/-1, 3 Fumbles) put together another sizzling performance. On the down side, he was flagged for an illegal block below the waist to negate a reverse to Devin Hester. Replays showed the block was clearly legal. His one interception was a pass too high and too hot for Johnny Knox to handle. The finger tip miss landed in a defender’s hands for a turnover. The fumbles had as much to do with him holding the ball too long as it did with the pass protection. He also had a fumbled exchange from center. Well, that’s enough picking nits. Cutler stared down a blitzing Deon Grant long enough to hit Greg Olsen for a 1-yard touchdown. Sure, he held the ball too long. But in doing so, he continuously reset his feet to avoid the rush, step up in the pocket, and buy himself time. With all that movement, it’s shocking that he was still able to complete 78 percent of his passes-although some of those passes were tough to catch. It was a gutsy performance in a loud environment. Cutler manually received plays from the sideline because he could not hear the helmet headset. Jay Cutler clearly doesn’t have favorite targets. He finds the open man and gets it there. GRADE: A-

Running Backs
Matt Forte (21/66, 6-40) played better, but still isn’t consistently hitting the hole with gusto. He left the game briefly to have his knee looked at and then returned. Early on he was not decisive. Fortunately, a fumble near the goal line was reviewed and overturned. He received a token handoff at the end of the half and fell over sideways. He played much better in the second half, delivering the blow and breaking into the second level. Forte continues to be a solid check down target and was a factor as a receiver. Garrett Wolfe (3/8) saw a series and was swarmed for a loss on a questionable third and short play. Adrian Peterson (2/12) made a nice cut to pick up 9 yards. He executed a key pass block on one of the touchdown passes. Fullback Jason McKie did a better job blocking, for both the run and pass. GRADE: C

Receivers
Devin Hester (5-76, TD) had an excellent game. He caught the go-ahead touchdown in the left seam. The defenders picked each other off and he raced 36 yards for the score. He also made a shoestring grab of an errant short pass from Cutler and turned it into a 9-yard reception. Hester made some excellent blocks as well. Earl Bennett (4-80, 2 Pt) made a great catch to convert a first half third down. He settled in along the right sideline to collect a 31-yarder on a play where Cutler was flushed out of the pocket. Bennett also caught the 2-point conversion in the left corner of the end zone. Greg Olsen (5-44, TD) had a strong game as a receiver, getting wide open to catch a touchdown. However, he couldn’t sustain his block long enough to prevent pressure on Cutler that resulted in a sack and forced fumble. Johnny Knox caught one pass, a 7-yard touchdown. He dove for the right pylon and just made it in for the score. Tight end Kellen Davis made a nice block on one of several screens that were run. GRADE: A-

Offensive Line
Not a lot of good to talk about here. They improved the yards per carry to 3.0. Eesh. Chris Williams had a mercurial game. He committed two false starts and allowed a sack that led to a forced fumble. He also jumped on that fumble to ensure the Bears maintained possession. Williams made an excellent block on a screen to Bennett, erasing a defender who had come in flat along the edge. Roberto Garza had a few decent blocks on straight ahead runs and even looked nimble getting around the corner to pull. Frank Omiyale and Olin Kreutz were consistently stymied at the point of attack on the run. Both of them were getting beaten into the backfield. Middle linebacker David Hawthorne collected 16 tackles. Orlando Pace was a non factor. Wasn’t this supposed to be game where they’d be able to run effectively? Something’s broken. GRADE: D

Defensive Line
It’s not an excuse. The referees were not calling holding. I saw Ogunleye and Idonije get held twice each. There is no excuse for the shoddy tackling. Ogunleye had a couple of pressures and came up with a critical fumble recovery for a turnover. Alex Brown and Mark Anderson were not able to generate much of a pass rush against third-stringer Brandon Frye. Anderson (2 tackles, sack, TFL) actually made a few plays against the run. He chased Seneca Wallace out of bounds for a sack. Anthony Adams (4 tackles, sack, PD) was active. He sacked Wallace (26-44-261, TD, INT) by pulling him to the ground by his facemask for a penalty. Tommie Harris looked to be getting off the ball better this week, although he wasn’t very productive. GRADE: C

Linebackers
Lance Briggs (7 tackles, sack, INT, 2 TFL) was a beast. He was all over the field, and delivered some crushing hits. He made a spectacular diving interception. Hunter Hillenmeyer (5 tackles, TFL) left the game with a rib injury. He strung out a pitch around end to prevent a third down conversion. Nick Roach (7 tackles, TFL, PD) slid over from the strong side to play the middle after Hillenmeyer was out. Roach played the middle well. He had a pressure that led to a Lance Briggs interception and was decent in coverage. On the downside, he committed a facemask penalty on the same series as Adams, and didn’t wrap up well on Julius Jones (19/98, 3-38, TD), who ping-ponged through the Bears’ defense all afternoon. Jamar Williams then stepped in on the strong side and got to Wallace on a blitz for a hit. GRADE: B-

Secondary
Charles Tillman (5 tackles, PD, FF) went for a strip instead of tackling Julius Jones, allowing a 39-yard touchdown up the sideline. He made up for it later, forcing a fumble and breaking up a pass. On the other side, Zach Bowman led the team with 8 tackles. He came close to an interception in the first half. He did a decent job of keeping everything in front of him. Safety Danieal Manning had 7 tackles without any serious blunders. Al Afalava came close to a leaping interception to break up a pass. Kevin Payne deflected a pass at the line. T.J. Houshmandzadeh was held to 4 catches for just 35 yards. I wonder what he was doing the other 5 percent of the time. The poor tackling cost this group as well. GRADE: B-

Robbie Gould was short and left on what would have been a career-long 53-yard field goal. He connected on a 37-yard field goal later. His kickoffs were all of good depth. Kickoff coverage was shoddy, allowing the Seahawks a gaudy 28.5-yard average on 4 returns. Punter Brad Maynard put 2 of his 4 punts down inside the 20-yard line, including a 66-yarder (thanks to a fortuitous bounce). Punt coverage was excellent. Rashied Davis stood out in coverage. Johnny Knox (4-134) did an excellent job returning kickoffs, including a 53-yarder. This was especially important, because Olindo Mare was consistently kicking the ball 8 yards deep into the end zone. Devin Hester had one punt return for 9 yards). For the second consecutive week, the Bears’ opponent missed two field goals. GRADE: B

Delayed handoffs to the weakside. Take advantage of the quick defensive front and cut it back. Julius Jones did this all day and they couldn’t adjust it. How many third and longs are going to get converted because there is a gaping hole in the middle of the coverage? They don’t practice tackling very much…and it shows. I blame the coaches for a lot of those missed tackles. A third and one carry for Wolfe? He should be the last guy to give the ball to in that situation. Better run to pass ratio this week. Excellent challenge on the Forte fumble. As upsetting as some of it was, it was a great job to come back from a 13 point hole on the road. GRADE: C

Noots’ Nut Crackers
Curry on Forte
Briggs on Jones
Peterson on Burleson
Roach on Carlson

Nudo’s Kudos
Cutler
Briggs
Roach
Hester
Knox

Horns
Kreutz
Omiyale

Posted: 09|28|09 at 2:47 am. Filed under: Game Summary.

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