Coming into Thursday night’s game, Bears fans had a lot of concerns about their team. Here’s how the Bears answered their critics.
CONCERN: The running game has been abysmal, at best.
ANSWER: Matt Forte looked best when he was catching the ball, not running it (he rushed 20 times for 41 yards). His biggest runs of the night came after perfectly designed screen passes. And at one point, he couldn’t punch it into the end zone from inside the five-yard line.
CONCERN: The offensive line is being manhandled.
ANSWER: Forte ran past his blockers on more than one occasion before he even reached the line of scrimmage. For the uninitiated, that’s not good. Jay Cutler was rushed, hurried and knocked down quite a few times as well.
CONCERN: Red zone production has been pathetic.
ANSWER: Forte couldn’t run it in, Cutler couldn’t throw it in. He even threw two picks in the red zone, something that has happened a few other times this season.
CONCERN: The defense is porous, particularly the secondary.
ANSWER: The defense wasn’t a weak link in this game. It answered Vernon Davis’ putdowns with a solid effort, limiting the 49ers to just a field goal and a touchdown. Davis, who said he though the 49ers could handle the Bears D, also was a non-factor.
CONCERN: The offensive play-calling is second-rate.
ANSWER: It was nice to see the screen passes to Forte, and when the offense was working early, tight end Greg Olsen was involved. Still, too many runs up the gut (when has that worked this season?) and too many third-and-long calls resulted in the team staring at a fourth down.
CONCERN: Jay Cutler is inconsistent.
ANSWER: Cutler was consistent Thursday — consistently bad. He threw five interceptions, threw several passes off-target and seemed out-of-sync most of the night. He looked best when hooking up with Olsen and with Forte on those screens. And when he could have won the game, he threw his fifth interception — second in the red zone — as time expired.
