Chicago Bears Madden ’11 Ratings
Earlier this week, EA released the ratings for the Chicago Bears in Madden 2011. Obviously as a Bear fan, I have some issues with some of the ratings as always, but we’ll leave that for another time. The Bears are a 77 overall, up 2 points from last year’s ranking. This ranks them 20th in the game. The game comes out on August 10th. Here are the individual player rankings.
Posted by pickel, on Jul 25, 2010 • Category: Bears, Featured• Tags: 2011, Bears, chicago, madden, rankings, roster • 2 Comments • Spread on Twitter
Bears Predictions 2010: Part III – The Defense
The first thing we have to mention here is that the Bears addressed their need for a more effective pass rush by signing a Defensive End who is unquestionably one of the most explosive defensive players in the NFL in Julius Peppers, a player who can easily finish the season with 14 sacks. Also, on any passing situation, the opponent will have to double team Peppers, which creates one on one matchups for the rest of the line and creates some favorable blitz matchups. Marc Anderson will start opposite Peppers at the other Defensive End position after the departures of Alex Brown and Adewale Ogunleye. Rounding out the defensive line we will see Tommie Harris, Anthony Adams, and Marcus Harrison rotating at the Defensive Tackle spots. Second year player Jarron Gilbert should see some more action this season also.
Brian Urlacher will return at Middle Linebacker this season after missing the majority of last season due to suffering a wrist injury in game 1. This is obviously an important return for the defense as Urlacher is a major leader on, as well as off the field. Lance Briggs will return to his position as weakside Linebacker and should be as good as ever. Filling the trio is expected to be Pisa Tinoisamoa, who is also returning from a season ending injury. If they stay healthy, this could be one of the best Linebacker trios in the NFL. The team also shows some depth at the Linebacker position as Hunter Hillenmeyer and Nick Roach have both been starters in the league before.
Charles Tillman and Zachary Bowman will start at Cornerback again this season. The Bears don’t have a lot of proven depth at this position so the health of these two is a priority. Chris Harris was recently resigned to the team and seems to be a lock for the Strong Safety spot. After a three year absence from the Bears, I am excited to have this hard hitter back at the safety position. However, the Free Safety spot is still open with several quality players trying to earn the starting job. Major Wright out of Florida was the Bears first draft pick this season and I’m sure they would love to see him at the starting position, but he has the likes of Danieal Manning, Josh Bullocks, and Al Afalava to compete with. I think it is likely that we will see Major Wright on the field at the beginning of game 1, though.
I won’t reveal my predictions for how well I believe the Bears will do this season just yet, but you can expect to find out a lot more in future articles as I go through the season game by game and make my predictions. Bear Down.
Posted by pickel, on Jul 25, 2010 • Category: Bears, Featured• Tags: 2010, Bears, Defense • No Comments • Spread on Twitter
Bears Predictions 2010: Part II – The Offense
As mentioned in the previous article, the Bears hired Mike Martz who will be a much better fit for Jay Cutler. It’s obvious Jay wants to put the ball in the air, and Martz’ offense should allow him to do that early and often. The Bears haven’t added any mentionable receivers to last year’s squad, but let’s hope some better chemistry has developed between Cutler and the returning receivers so we don’t wind up with the number of turnovers we saw last season.
The Bears did add a mentionable player to the running game though. Chester Taylor came to Chicago from the Vikings this offseason to take some of the load off of Matt Forte, who only rushed for 929 yards and 4 touchdowns last season after a 1,238 yard, 8 TD 2008. Taylor rushed for 338 yards and added another 389 yards receiving for the Viking in 2009. We also saw Khalil Bell make a few surprising plays late in the season and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a couple more this year. I look for him to be the #3 RB on the depth chart, though that call is a tough one to make, as the Bears have a number of Running Backs with some degree of talent.
The Bears seem happy with the corps of receivers that finished up last season, as they haven’t made any major acquisitions at the position. Devin Hester continues to make strides as a receiver but still has work to do to be truly valuable at the position. Johnny Knox showed excellent promise in 2009 and could be the breakout player on the team this year. Earl Bennet has a solid pair of hands that you can usually count on and he could also be poised for a breakout year in the Martz offensive system. We also got a look at Devin Aromashodu last season, showing us that he has good speed, hands, and the size necessary to be an effective outside weapon. We can expect Greg Olsen’s numbers to drop this season, as the Tight End isn’t used much in Martz’ system, probably what prompted the signing of Brandon Manumaleuna, who is more well-known for his blocking. Don’t write Olsen off though, he can be used effectively in a number of creative ways.
The offensive line simply must play better this year for the Bears to succeed. There were times last season when I felt like I could have seen the same result if they weren’t even on the field. We can expect Chris Williams to start at left tackle and Frank Omiyale to make the switch from left guard to right tackle. Bears’ staple Olin Kreutz will again handle the ball snapping duties, hoping to have a much better year after battling an Achilles injury for much of last season. Roberto Garza will be back at right guard this season, and word is that second year player Johan Asiata will be taking over the left guard position.
The Chicago Bears offense shows outstanding potential at this point and should thrive with Jay Cutler and Mike Martz at the helm. I don’t want to get ahead of myself but with such a great mixture of young talent and veteran leadership we could be seeing the beginning of something special in Chicago.
Posted by pickel, on Jul 23, 2010 • Category: Bears, Featured • 2 Comments • Spread on Twitter
Bears Predictions for 2010 Part 1
After acquiring Jay Cutler prior to the 2009 season, the Bears and most of their fans had high hopes to begin the year, but it didn’t quite work out the way many of us hoped that it would. A non-existant offensive line, a lack of high quality receiving and a league worst 26 interceptions are no indicator of a division contender. Pair that with a defense that lost their leader early in the season and didn’t quite live up to expectations and you can see why the Bears ended up at 7-9 last season.
With hopes of improving the offense the Bears opted to hire Mike Martz as Offensive Coordinator in favor of Ron Turner, a decision I think all Bear fans can agree with. The team also promoted former Defensive Line coach Rod Marinelli to Defensive Coordinator, relieving Lovie Smith of his defensive play-calling duties. With the Packers and Vikings also vying to top the NFC North, the Bears will have a tough road ahead of them this season, but Chicago believes it has a team that can compete in what is quickly becoming one of the toughest divisions in the NFL. My next two articles will give you an idea of what the Bears are expected to look like when they take the field on September 12.
Posted by pickel, on Jul 23, 2010 • Category: Bears, Featured• Tags: 2010, Bears, Cutler, Jay, julius, peppers, predictions • 1 Comment • Spread on Twitter
Looking ahead to football season
Now with the LeBron, Bosh and Wade circus through and Chicago striking out on all three, many of the cities sports fans (especially on the north side) are relying on speculation about the upcoming football season to pique their interests. Due to the evolution of a pass-happy NFL, Chicago’s hopes still lay heavily on the shoulders of one of the most polarizing figures in Bear history, Jay Cutler. Being in such a pessimistic sports town, I am happy to tell you that this is the year that Bear fans will finally get behind last off season’s Christmas present from Santa Claus, Indiana.
There are many reasons why Cutler will make drastic improvements over last season’s consistently inconsistent performances. Because football begins and ends at the line of scrimmage, thats where this examination begins. Chicago’s offensive line will be much better than last season, in which they were ranked 19th in the league (on NFL.com ratings that incorporates rushing, passing and sacks among other figures). There is a great mix of veterans, headed up by Roberto Garza, Kevin Shaffer and Olin Kruetz, and youth, in Josh Beekman and Chris Williams, that should be beginning to learn the the nuances of the game. This is potentially the best group of linemen since 2005, especially because all these players are great run blockers that can also protect the pocket. At the very least, they will produce a formidable run offense that should take the pressure off of the passing game. At the very best, they are a group of unheralded heroes that have blocked for almost 15 1,000 yard backs cumulatively. If this unit can stay healthy, they should improve both the air and ground games that never completely lived up to expectations last year.
Secondly, The Greatest Show on Turf has made a stop in Chicago. The cerebral system made famous by Mike Martz’ 1999 Rams, will certainly produce more than Ron Turner’s perplexing play calling and game planning. It certainly seems that Martz has all the pieces in place to do his best impression of his Rams team that appeared in 3 Super bowls while under his wing. In his system The offense relies on getting all five receivers out into patterns that stretched the field, setting up defensive backs with route technique, and the quarterback throwing to a spot on time where the receiver could make the catch and turn up field. At least two of the five receivers would run a deep in, skinny post, comeback, speed out, or shallow cross pattern. There are the receivers who can open up the field in Devin Hester and Johnny Knox, and also possession guys in Devin Aromshudo, Earl Bennett and some intriguing rookie prospects. There is the dual threat back in Matt Forte, who has been compared to Marshall Faulk, and will do his best impression of the Hall of Famer next season. And of course there is the the gun slinging Quarterback in Cutler who can throw the football out of the stadium.
Finally and maybe most importantly, Cutler is buying into the system. This is what he said during a recent press conference after an OTA, reported on in ESPN Chicago:
“I love it,” Cutler said of Martz’s system, which encourages the quarterback to throw to spots where receivers should be. “There’s a lot to like about it. The ball’s in the air. We’re doing some great stuff in the run game. It’s personnel-based so we’re trying to get guys open, trying to find spaces for them, trying to find match ups.”
Cutler Continued by saying:
“You still having to picture the play in your head when you’re walking to the line, but I think as far as me, and I think Caleb [Hanie] would say the same thing, I think we’re seeing things really well. We’re going out there and instead of thinking where guys are going to be, we’re seeing the defense and reacting. We’ve got to get everyone on the same page.”
Believe me, I am not implying that the Bears will go 17-0 and remake the Superbowl Shuffle. In fact, I think they will have a difficult time making the playoffs in a stacked NFC North division. But if the Bears do falter this season, it will not be because of poor Quarterback play.
Posted by duncan, on Jul 22, 2010 • Category: Bears, Featured• Tags: 2010, Bears, chicago, Cutler, Jay, Season • No Comments • Spread on Twitter