The Bears (4-3) used an opportunistic defense to defeat the Cleveland Browns 30-6 in front of their home crowd at Soldier Field. They rushed for 170 yards on the 10-year anniversary of all-time great Walter Payton’s passing.

Matt Forte and the Bears bounced back on Sunday (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast).

Quarterback
Jay Cutler (17-30-225, INT, 5/32) was sacked 4 times and repeatedly hit by an aggressive Browns’ defense. Some of the sacks were his fault. If the defense has an overloaded side, he needs to recognize the mismatch and get the ball out hot. But Cutler was also able to scramble for big chunks of yardage. He made a great throw to Johnny Knox up the right sideline for a 31-yard gain. His lone interception occurred after his pass over the middle was tipped into the air by a linebacker. Cutler took a real beating against the Browns but kept getting back up. There is no question about his toughness. GRADE: C+

Running Backs
Matt Forte (26/90 2 TDs, 2-31) rebounded a bit against the Browns’ defense. He had an early 20-yard reception over the middle where he made some good moves in the open field. His pass protection needs work. He was accountable for one of the sacks on Cutler. Early in the game, he was a bit too indecisive and dancing. He pulled it together later, and made a sweet cutback on his 10-yard touchdown run. Garrett Wolfe (5/53) broke off a 36-yard run around left end at the end of regulation. Jason McKie and Greg Olsen each played some fullback. Olsen made a nice grab up the right sideline after a play action fake. Olsen again allowed pressure on Cutler. GRADE: B

Receivers
Devin Hester (7-81) had a solid performance. He took a screen pass and raced 33 yards to be brought down just short of the goal line. Johnny Knox (3-44) had a 31-yard reception as well as a false start. Earl Bennett (2-29) had a couple of nice grabs with some good run-after-catch yardage. Greg Olsen (3-40) had 3 good catches including a 16-yard play action catch up the right sideline. Desmond Clark was held without a catch and was separated from the ball near the goal line. At least one of the sacks on Cutler was coverage related, meaning this group had a few struggles trying to get open. GRADE: C

Offensive Line
Run blocking wasn’t exactly spectacular, evidenced by an unsuccessful goal line stand. However, it was a vast improvement over previous weeks. Chris Williams committed a false start. Nose tackle Shaun Rogers (2 tackles) got the best of Olin Kreutz and Josh Beekman on a few occasions, but they did enough to slow him down and reduce his impact on the game. Although there were 4 sacks of Jay Cutler, the problems had less to do with the front 5 and more to do with breakdowns off tackle, where mismatches were not picked up by tight ends, backs and the quarterback. GRADE: C

Defensive Line
Tommie Harris (2 tackles) surprised even himself by getting to the quarterback. However, he forgot to wrap up and missed a sack. Alex Brown (4 tackles, sack, TFL) had a strong game, in spite of playing against tackle Joe Thomas. Adewale Ogunleye picked up a key fumble recovery. He also was poked in the eye by former Bear John St. Clair. Mark Anderson had a pressure that directly led to an interception and touchdown. Marcus Harrison and Anthony Adams played at tackle and neither was overly impressive. The Browns ran effectively up the middle in the second half. The pass pressure and run defense from the front four was average. GRADE: C+

Linebackers
Nick Roach (6 tackles, 2 FF) returned to the strong side and showed up in a big way. He stripped both Lewis and Massaquoi. Hunter Hillenmeyer returned to the middle. He also had six tackles and nearly had half of the sack Alex Brown collected. Lance Briggs only had 4 tackles. It was his quietest game of the year. With all the plays Roach was making, they didn’t need much more. Additionally, the Browns couldn’t complete any short passes because they were either dropped or poorly thrown. GRADE: A

Secondary
Safety Danieal Manning (6 tackles, INT, FF, FR, PD) had his best game of the year. He made a diving interception over the middle. Manning also recovered a fumble he forced on Steve Heiden. Al Afalava also played well. He deflected two passes and held the Browns’ wildcat plays in check. Charles Tillman (4 tackles, INT, PD, FR) returned an interception 21 yards for a touchdown. He and Zach Bowman were able to keep the Browns’ passing offense stuck in neutral for the entire game (7-20-85, 2 INTs). GRADE: A

Robbie Gould hit on all 3 of his field goals (37, 29, 32) and provided consistently good depth on his kickoffs, including a touchback on the opener. Brad Maynard put 3 of 5 kicks down inside the 20 but had one head-scratching 12-yard shank that set up the Browns’ only touchdown. Garrett Wolfe was illegally downfield on the punt preceding Maynard’s shank. Devin Hester returned a punt 70 yards for a touchdown but it was brought back because Rashied Davis was whistled for holding. It was a questionable call. Kickoff returns were unimpressive by Knox and Manning. However, coverage against speedster Josh Cribbs was excellent. He was held to just 22.8 yards per return (6/137). Craig Steltz made a great tackle on Cribbs at the 15-yard line. Steltz later left with an injury. Israel Idonije blocked an extra point to keep the Browns to 6 points. GRADE: B+

Run to pass ratio was very balanced. An excellent challenge was made and won on what would have been a sack and forced fumble (it was ruled an incomplete pass). The breakdowns in pass protection in some cases could have been part of coaching. Matt Forte could have used a breather earlier in the game. Red zone inefficiency is going to cost them ball games. They could have won this game by twice as much as they did. Credit should go to Lovie Smith for teaching his defense to force turnovers. Nobody can say the Browns didn’t try. They were actually much more physical than the Bears. The Bears took everything the Browns had and emerged victorious. GRADE: B

Noots’ Nut Crackers
Steltz on Cribbs
Rogers on Cutler

Nudo’s Kudos
Nick Roach
Danieal Manning
Matt Forte
Charles Tillman
Alex Brown
Devin Hester

Horns
Given the week off. Still tired from last week’s “game”

Posted: 11|2|09 at 2:29 am. Filed under: Game Summary.

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