The summer’s heat is now broiling
The mouthpieces fitted by boiling
Scent in the locker room is clean
So just what do I mean?

Should we be concerned if we would
And maybe we could
Experience a season smelling like old tuna?
Look, a rhyme with Brandon Manumaleuna

The season is beginning
Will the Bears be winning?
So many questions to ponder
As the Bears head yonder

To Bourbonnais and Bradley
I can make that drive gladly
For practices and golf courses
And maybe some words from my sources

So on with the queries
So many I could make a series
But I’ll spare you the many-parter
As it’s not in my charter

Can we trust in Mike Martz?
And the healing of Brian Urlacher’s parts?
Will Jay cut down on his picks?
Will the line save him from licks?

Was Forte a flash in the pan?
Can Taylor lend him a hand?
Will we force things to flow through Hester?
Can Lovie be more of a jester?

What are the other receivers to do?
Especially Devin Aromashodu
And what of Greg Olsen
Will he be pining and drinking a Molsen?

Come on, it shouldn’t be so hard
To find a guy who can play left guard
This line quandary is getting old
At least we still have Robbie Gould

We’ve seen a fixing of Kreutz
And nobody’s questioning his noots
Can he come back as a plus
And solidify a line Jay can trust?

At safety we need just two
The big question is just who
Peppers will rush from one end
But is Tommie’s knee on the mend?

Solidifying depth charts
While Martz is practicing dark arts
Patterns and route running
In the Bourbonnais heat they’ll be gunning

The annual pilgrimage is beckoning
Another middling Bears team I’m reckoning
In spite of all the eternal hopes
A season full of slippery slopes

But bring on this season and hope for the best
Win one at a time and don’t worry about the rest
Here’s to them keeping their health
While Mike Martz’s playbook is guarded with stealth

Here’s to a Superbowl run
Boy that would be fun
Like a mirage, they recently made it there
So let’s have a hope and a care

Noots

By
Michael Nudo

Peppers is a Bear

TE Brandon Manumaleuna:
This was the first signing of the day, and a critical one. When it was announced, I kept thinking about how I was going to have to type up his name correctly in future articles about the Bears. Maybe I can just use his initials BM in reference going forward. The very childish part of me quickly thought up a headline for Friday’s activities: “Bears Start off Busy Day with Healthy BM.” Yeah, that’s catchy. Well, it did lead to a day of very regular Bears activity.

This is not the sleek Ferrari tight end that is Greg Olsen. He’s not fast. He’s not tall. He’s not a great pass catching target. What the heck do we have here? This is a slightly undersized tackle given a jersey in the 80s. He’s a gas-guzzling Escalade who is built to carry a run game in his back seat and frequently eat up 260-lb. defensive ends for Sunday afternoon supper. Further, he’ll be able to line up next to the tackle and stay home on passing plays to help protect Jay Cutler. Far too many sacks were allowed last season by Greg Olsen. It remains to be seen what the impact will be on the tight end group. Olsen may be the odd man out or used as trade bait. Someone will be gone by the start of training camp, and it may even trickle down to fullback where Jason McKie’s effectiveness has steadily declined over the past two seasons.

DE Julius Peppers:
The gem of all free agents. The most physically gifted defensive end in the NFL. He could be even more productive than he has shown. And yet his productivity has not been much to scoff at when you see he’s averaging 10 sacks a season. He’s been such a dominating presence that he regularly commands a double team. This should make things better for those next to him on the line. However, is anybody they line up next to him good enough to take advantage of a one-on-one matchup?

The same Bears’ coaches are still around on defense. The last few years, they weren’t smart enough to play the corners tight when they blitzed, thus negating any pass rush they generated. So, is the money spent on Peppers going to get wasted against teams smart enough to run the short drops or provide the double teams on Peppers? He’s 30 years old. How much longer will he be dominant? Is he already on the down side of his career? Well, the other big option was former Packer Aaron Kampman, who would have come at a less hefty price. But is that money well-spent if he’s coming off a major injury? Hey, it’s not our money, and there is no salary cap. Bully for the Bears in identifying a key element for their defense and going out there and getting him.

RB Chester Taylor:
Taylor is a solid player. He’s well-rounded. Is a heck of a pass catcher and pass blocker. It’s hard to argue why he wouldn’t be on the field. It seems fair to assume he’s going to at least split time with Matt Forte. Further, there’s every possibility that he could be winning the starting position sooner than later—especially if Forte plays like he did last season. There is nothing not to like about this move. The investment was just right, unless they relegate him to under 10 touches per game. The Bears should finally have a two-pronged backfield attack. The big question here will be where the footballs go. Mike Martz is not known for running the ball twenty times per game, let alone thirty. Hmm…

Taylor’s impact on the rest of the backfield will be huge. There will be little room left for fringe players like Kahlil Bell, Adrian Peterson and Garrett Wolfe. It seems likely the Bears will cut bait with one or even two of them. Wolfe’s draft status, special teams excellence and occasional burst of speed make him a favorite to stick, but he he’s someone to wonder about from an injury standpoint.

INJURY REPORT AND IMPLICATIONS
Arizona Cardinals (4-3) at Chicago Bears (4-3)
By
Michael Nudo

Anquan Boldin has been trying to recover from an ankle injury (AP Photo/Matt York).

BEARS OFFENSE vs. CARDINALS DEFENSE

Wide receiver Devin Hester shows up on the report with an ankle injury he suffered on a reception that took him just short of the goal line in last week’s game against the Browns. He’s expected to play Sunday. Hester has come on strong in the 3 games since the bye week. He has 21 catches for 265 yards and a touchdown in that span. If Hester is limited, punt return duties might fall to Earl Bennett. Further, backup wideout Devin Aromashodu might be active. Backup running back Adrian Peterson (knee) returned to special teams’ duties last week without a problem. He might be ready to contribute to the offense this week. Tight end Greg Olsen (ankle) is not expected to miss any time. The Bears are deep at tight end with Kellen Davis and Desmond Clark ready to take more reps.

Former Bear defensive tackle Bryan Robinson is a fixture in the middle of Arizona’s defense. He will have plenty of opportunities to trade paint with Bears’ center Olin Kreutz. Yes, the Cardinals also run the 3-4. Robinson is the smallest nose tackle the Bears have faced this year. Linebacker Gerald Hayes (back) is expected to be ready for Sunday, as is Darnell Dockett (ankle). Dockett’s role as a disruptive influence is similar to Tommie Harris on the Bears. Safety Antrel Rolle has been nursing a foot injury and is expected to play.

The Cardinals are 3-0 on the road, while the Bears are 3-0 at home. They’re only allowing 96.4 rushing yards per game, in spite of the Panthers putting up 270 yards on them a week ago. Expect the Bears to display the kind of patient, balanced offense they utilized against Cleveland. They minimized mistakes, moved the ball, and scored. Look for the Cardinals to check on whether or not the Bears have improved their blitz pickups since last week.

CARDINALS OFFENSE vs. BEARS DEFENSE

Standout wide receiver Anquan Boldin has a high ankle sprain. It’s a nagging injury that might prompt coach Ken Wisenhunt to sit him to allow it to heal. However, Boldin is one of the toughest players in the NFL. Steve Breaston has been a capable backup but has been nursing a sore knee. Their passing attack poses problems for secondaries across the NFL. It will be interesting to see how they attack the Bears, especially considering quarterback Kurt Warner’s familiarity with Lovie Smith’s defense from their time together in St. Louis.

Returning Hunter Hillenmeyer to the middle and Nick Roach to the strong side settled the Bears’ linebacking corps. Both have played extensively since Brian Urlacher and Pisa Tinoisamoa were injured at the beginning of the season. Defensive end Adewale Ogunleye has been playing through an ankle injury. He hasn’t had a strong game in several weeks. Alex Brown will draw former Bear Mike Gandy as his assignment on Sunday. Linebacker Lance Briggs and safety Danieal Manning have some minor aches and pains but are expected to be fully ready for Sunday.

Look for the Cardinals to test inexperienced cornerback Zack Bowman. Quarterback Kurt Warner has one of the great quick releases in football. The Bears must pressure him to keep the passes short. If they want to create sacks and turnovers, they’ll need to combine pressure with tight coverage. Can they do this against the physical receivers of Arizona?

The Bears came back to beat the Steelers in the home opener at a rain-soaked Soldier Field. Jay Cutler rebounded with an error-free performance and Robbie Gould drilled a 44-yard field goal in the closing minute. The defending champions let this slip away. Jeff Reed had two critical field goal misses. It was Cutler’s poise and Alex Brown’s dominance that ruled the day.

A Goulden Finish (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh).

Quarterback
Jay Cutler (27-38-236, 2 TD) played a tremendous game. His numbers don’t tell the whole story. He continually bought himself time against countless blitz packages. He showed much better patience with his receivers, and found the tight end and running backs with more regularity. Cutler drilled a 6-yard touchdown strike to tight end Kellen Davis in the right seam and also found rookie Johnny Knox from 7 yards out with two unblocked blitzers bearing down on him. He led the Bears on a 97-yard touchdown drive at the close of the first half to even the score at 7-7. There were only a few bad passes, and they weren’t the kind that lead to turnovers. The poorest of them was the pass too high for Knox on a 3rd and long. Overall, it was a brilliant performance. GRADE: A

Running Backs
Matt Forte (13/29, 5-33, fumble) did not have a good game. He was trying to look for things that weren’t there when he needed to hit the point of attack hard. Forte’s pass protection was also not up to his usual performance level. He fumbled a screen pass in the fourth quarter that could have ended the winning drive. Jason McKie was again a nonfactor, apart from a holding penalty. Adrian Peterson saw a few series of action, and ripped off a 15-yard run for the Bears’ lone rushing highlight. He dropped a swing pass but it was erased by a Steelers penalty. It’s time to sort out the running game. GRADE: D

Receivers
Rookie Johnny Knox (6-70, TD) was a favorite target of Jay Cutler. Knox made several great leaping catches to snatch the ball out of the air, one of them to pick up a key third down conversion. Tight end Kellen Davis stepped in for the injured Desmond Clark and responded with 5 catches for 38 yards and a touchdown. He also had a drop. Davis held on to a bullet between two defenders at the end of the first half for a touchdown. Devin Hester (4-21) had a quiet day, but picked up a critical first down over the middle at the end of the game. Tight end Greg Olsen (3-41) took a beating. He was separated from the ball by safety Tyrone Carter on a deep pass along the sideline. Olsen also had an early third down drop. But he redeemed himself by jumping on Forte’s fumble in the fourth quarter. Earl Bennett had two catches for 22 yards, including a 15-yard screen. GRADE: B-

Offensive Line
Each member of the Bears’ offensive line should take turns buying Jay Cutler a dinner each day of the week. He was only sacked once, but was under a great deal of pressure. The one sack allowed was when James Harrison pushed past Orlando Pace and forced Cutler up into another defender. Pace made a nice block on several of many screens that were called. Confusion reigned in blocking assignments for first-year tackle Chris Williams. On one play, he had two defenders in front of him, and they went inside and outside of him and he chose to block neither of them. Left guard Frank Omiyale pulled to seal off a linebacker on Peterson’s 15-yarder off right tackle. But he was mostly a nonfactor as a run blocker and committed a false start. Garza had one as well. Olin Kreutz had his hands full with another massive nose tackle (Casey Hampton). 2.4 yards per carry is unacceptable. GRADE: D

Defensive Line
Alex Brown (4 tackles, 2 sacks, 2 TFL) was the most dominant player on the Bears’ defense. Not showing up in the impressive stat line is the pressure he put on Ben Roethlisberger (23-35-221, TD, INT, 3/6, TD) that led to a Charles Tillman interception. Brown left late in the contest with an apparent ankle or foot injury. The Steelers used traps and cutbacks to negate Adewale Ogunleye’s aggressiveness. Tackle Tommie Harris was consistently the last person off the ball. He came up with a key tackle for loss in the fourth quarter. Mark Anderson committed the bonehead play of the game—unnecessary roughness to set up Pittsburgh’s second half touchdown. They had decent pressure on the elusive Roethlisberger, but the run defense could have been better (22/105, TD). GRADE: B

Linebackers
With Brian Urlacher out for the season, Lance Briggs was named a captain of the defense this week. He responded with another strong performance, leading the team with 8 tackles, a pressure, a tackle for a loss, and several big hits. Hunter Hillenmeyer had an up and down performance in the middle for Urlacher. He made a key pass deflection over the middle of the field to break up a play. On Rashard Mendenhall’s 39-yard run, Hillenmeyer was tackled to the ground by his head. That should have been a penalty. Nick Roach started on the strong side for Pisa Tinoisamoa. He had a tackle for a loss on a pitch in the early going. Jamar Williams saw some action as well. GRADE: C

Secondary
Danieal Manning (8 tackles) started at free safety. In spite of his great speed, he allowed tight end Matt Spaeth to get open running across the back of the end zone for a touchdown. His tackling was not as sure as it could have been. On Roethlisberger’s touchdown run, he fell to the ground under the tackle instead of taking it head on. Al Afalava (4 tackles) started on the strong side and was quiet at best. He did have a good stop on a short pass to Heath Miller on a 2nd and goal play. Kevin Payne saw sub package duty, and took several bad angles to the ball. Cornerbacks Charles Tillman (5 tackles, INT) and Zack Bowman (6 tackles) did well to keep the Steelers from getting the big play. Bowman cost the Bears some field position when he committed a penalty on Tillman’s interception return. GRADE: B

Robbie Gould connected on the game-winning 44-yard field goal with just 15 seconds remaining. He had good hang time on his kickoffs. Brad Maynard had a second straight good punting performance. Coverage on both kickoffs and punts was solid. Jamar Williams and Rashied Davis combined to force a fumble on the kickoff after Gould’s field goal, and Craig Steltz recovered it. Johnny Knox returned kickoffs and had a nice return called back because of a penalty on Al Afalava. Devin Hester had two short punt returns. He let one go that was downed at the 3-yard line that he might have been able to return. GRADE: B

Ron Turner needs to get the running game off of life support. This is the second week in a row where the only dedication to the run is a shotgun draw to Forte on third and forever. How is it that opposing offenses find gaping holes in the middle of the Bears’ zone coverage on third and long? Is it that obvious? Is the coverage that bad? Coaches need to take responsibility here. Pittsburgh overloads one side so the blitz has to have an unblocked man. Why can’t the Bears do that? Instead, the Bears always load up the middle, the offensive line seals to the middle, and it’s all picked up. They did do a better job of including some line stunts. If this is all Tommie Harris has to give, the coaches need to get him out of there. He’s hurting the team. Overall, they had to do more than a few things right to beat the defending champion Pittsburgh Steelers. GRADE: C+

Noots’ Nut Crackers
Carter on Olsen (twice)
Roach on Logan
Harrison on Hester

Nudo’s Kudos
Cutler
Brown
Knox
K. Davis
Tillman
Gould

Horns
Forte
Anderson
Harris