By Carlos Nazario
The Bears line must be better for the Bears to repeat last season’s success
The Chicago Bears opened up the 2011-2012 season with a just-as-expected sloppy 10-3 victory over the Buffalo Bills.
Quarterback Jay Cutler only played one series, completed his only pass for no gain, scrambled for 10 yards, and got sacked. When asked about Cutler, Coach Lovie Smith said “We know what Jay can do. We just wanted him to go through the pre-game warm-up, get a few plays under his belt and then give way to the rest of the guys.” He added that he wanted to see backup Caleb Hanie (3-7, 32 yards, 4 yard TD run) and rookie Nathan Enderle (7-10, 110 yards 1 INT).
The Bears win was spurred by the running game and the defense. They rushed for 164 yards, with newcomer Marion Barber getting 45 yards on 7 carries. Khalil Bell, who figures to be one of the players on the bubble, looked to change that status by rushing for a game high 73 yards on 13 attempts and added 2 receptions for 46 yards.
The Bears defense held the Bills to 190 total yards, and allowed them to cross the 50 yard line only twice in ten possessions. The deepest the Bills got was the 26 yard line, when they got their only score, a Rian Lindell 44 yard field goal. Amobi Okoye had the two Bears sacks and Mike Holmes intercepted a pass for the only takeaway.
The only shaky part of the Bears game was once again the offensive line. The line had mixed results. They allowed 9 sacks, but they did open holes big enough for the Bears’ runners to pick up big chunks of yards. To be honest, some of the sacks allowed were coverage sacks in which Hanie and Enderle held on to the ball too long, but there was constant pressure from a defensive line that was pretty weak last season.
In describing the offensive line, Smith said “Too much pressure on the quarterback. We have to tighten that up a little bit. But besides that, offensively I think we accomplished about what we wanted to do the first game. We have so far to go, but at least we can start teaching from this point with great video to work from.”
The Bills took a 3-0 lead with 2:00 remaining in the first quarter when Johnny Knox took a kickoff and returned it 70 yards. The Bears were unable to score, however, as Hanie was sacked on consecutive plays. When the Bears got the ball back, however, Barber had runs of 11, 12, and 11 yards, which set up Hanie’s four yard touchdown run.
Cutler seemed to like his new weapon. “He’s a tough runner. I think we brought him in just for that reason. He adds a different dimension to that backfield, so it’s going to be nice for us.”
Bell set up Gould’s field goal with a 27 yard run, and a 19 yard reception.
“That has been how he’s played when he’s gotten an opportunity,” Smith said of Bell. “He is a bruising-type runner. He’s got good hands, good moves in the open field. He’s been a good football player for us. There was a reason why he was on our team, our 53-man roster last year. He can do some things and he took advantage of an opportunity tonight.” Perhaps he kept that bubble from popping for at least a couple of weeks.
The Bears return to practice Monday afternoon in preparation for next Monday’s road game against the New York Giants. The last time the Bears took a trip to New York, the Giants recorded nine sacks in the first half. Let’s hope this next trip yields something different from the offensive line.
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