| Christopher Reina. 8th September, 2008 - 11:53 pm
 The Bears pulled off a compelling upset at Lucas Oil Stadium in Week One's Sunday night match-up, and although there is promise in many parts of Lovie Smith's club, the optimism must be guarded.
They won 29-13, but only had a +3.1 'Crucials Counter' which is a statistic I use to measure how well a team controls the conventional aspects of the game.
1. Matt Forte's debut
Like Chris Johnson and Felix Jones earlier in the day, Matt Forte's 50-yard run for a touchdown showcased that he is will be an extremely productive rookie running back. He finished the day with 123 yards in 23 carries (5.3 yards per attempt).
But Forte averaged 3.18 yards per carry in his other 22 carries.
"I'm glad we won, but I'm not going to go crazy over it," Forte told the Chicago Tribune following the game.
His 61 game FIC score trailed only Michael Turner (113), Reggie Bush (81), Frank Gore (71), Willie Parker (67,) and Johnson (62) among Saturday's rushers.
Forte is already a huge upgrade over Cedric Benson, who averaged 3.4 yards per carry in 2007.
The way Chicago established the run through Forte made life easier for Kyle Orton, and they went on to complete 10-for-16 on third down chances, which was the second best percentage on Sunday. During 2007, the Bears were a horrible 29th in third down situations, completing on just 34% of their opportunities.
Forte alone was 3-for-3 on 3rd and short situations.
2. Vintage 2006 performance by the defense
The Bears' defense set the tone early by crowding the line of scrimmage and taking Joseph Addai out of the game. He was limited to a FIC score of 17 (12 carries for 44 yards).
They played with more energy and aggression than they showed last year, and it also helped that they were completely healthy, something that completely decimated them in 2007.
“That’s kind of our mantra: attack,” Dusty Dvoracek told ChicagoBears.com. “We wanted to establish a new line of scrimmage, and that was one of the keys to winning. Stopping the run and then getting heat on Peyton, that’s what we focused on all week in practice and came out here and did it.”
3. Kyle Orton at quarterback
Orton didn't win the game for the Bears, but he certainly didn't lose it for them, either. He completed 61.9% of his passes and more importantly didn't throw an interception.
But his 83.4 QB rating looks a lot better this week because of the plays made by the defense and Matt Forte than it will on a week where Nathan Vasher is burned by Greg Jennings. The fumbled snap, the fumble in the pocket and passes that fell in and out of Colts' defenders will prove more costly on another Sunday, and it is extremely unlikely he makes any big plays to offset those mistakes. |
