OFFENSE
The Bears at the midway point of their season are one of the NFL’s best rushing teams, but not one of the league’s best offenses.
So far . . .
The nightmare collapse predicted after Rex Grossman’s preseason injury hasn’t happened primarily because Kyle Orton turned out not to be Chad II. The rookie quarterback has avoided mistakes and made occasional big plays to set up wins like the one Sunday against New Orleans.
Thomas Jones, Muhsin Muhammad and a veteran offensive line have played better than advertised despite defenses having little doubt as to the Bears’ intentions. Coordinator Ron Turner has guided the offense with tight reins and won with simplicity that has played to players’ strengths.
. . . now what?
The Bears are 1-3 against defenses ranked in the top 13 in fewest points per game, having lost to Cincinnati, Cleveland and Washington and defeated Baltimore. Still to come are Tampa Bay (4), Pittsburgh (5) and Atlanta (10). The offense survived New Orleans and Detroit without Mark Bradley’s receiving threat, but the question of a consistent alternative to Muhammad was there before the season and still is.
Orton has grown into the QB job behind the play of the offensive line, with help from Jones and Muhammad. If the Bears are going to make a trip to the playoffs meaningful, Orton will have to become more than the 30th-rated quarterback in the NFL. With Jones nicked up, Cedric Benson needs to prove worthy of the No. 4 pick of the draft for a team that has scored more than 20 points just twice and lost both times its defense has yielded 20 or more.
DEFENSE
How good is the Bears’ defense? The first half of the season finds it ranked No. 2 in points allowed (12.3) and No. 3 in yards given up (265) per game. But . . .
So far . . .
The Bears have been one of the NFL’s statistical giants despite not completely playing up to their own expectations. They have played only two of the top 20 scoring offenses this season–Cincinnati (11), Washington (18)–and lost to both.
Several players have turned in dominant performances, from middle linebacker Brian Urlacher to rookie safety Chris Harris to linebacker Hunter Hillenmeyer. The defense has three or more sacks in six of eight games but has not established itself as a true dominating pass-rushing unit despite working against second-tier quarterbacks. But the Bears have allowed only one opponent more than 285 net yards, and only two teams have topped 100 rushing yards.
. . . Now what?
The Bears will face Carolina, Atlanta and Pittsburgh, all top-10 scoring offenses, in the next six weeks. That stretch will reveal if the defense is as good as its gaudy stats suggest, or if the numbers are more a product of facing the likes of Aaron Brooks, Joey Harrington and Anthony Wright.
Defenses can win championships, and the Bears’ defense has occasionally played championship-caliber football. But there is another major step up to be taken against a second-half schedule that looks considerably more difficult than the first half. Green Bay’s Brett Favre has destroyed them, and wounded or not, they still see him twice, along with Michael Vick and likely Ben Roethlisberger.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Remember Doug Brien? Louie Aguiar?
So far . . .
Robbie Gould’s game-winning field goal against New Orleans was a boost to the entire team and a welcome step further away from the Brien experiment. Gould’s kickoffs have been exceptional, as has been the punting of Brad Maynard, which has become so automatically superb as to be easily overlooked even as he played through a painful calf injury.
Jerry Azumah’s kickoff returns have been average by his standards since his return from minor preseason hip surgery, and Bobby Wade has broken two big runbacks and made steady improvement in his overall punt returns.
Both coverage units have been strong. Kickoff defense ranks 13th and has allowed no return longer than 45 yards, while punt coverage is sixth at 5.1 yards per return, none longer than 15 yards.
. . . Now what?
Gould has converted 4 of 6 field-goal attempts, barely adequate, and has been good on only 1 of 3 from longer than 38 yards. Against an increasingly difficult schedule, field goals figure to play a bigger part than they have to this point. The offense may not be able to get Gould as close as it did against the Saints, meaning he must expand his range.
The tougher second half make Azumah’s kickoff and Wade’s punt returns exponentially more significant because of field-position advantages. The offense had three scoring drives of 50-plus yards at New Orleans and two at Detroit, but if special teams can give the Bears a short field on offense or force opponents to start in holes, much-needed momentum swings to the Bears.
