Bears look fine

Two things to take away from the game:

1) The Bears look fine. All of the items that were going to be possible issues seem to be resolved. The offensive line looked pretty solid after a shaky start. Kevin Riley looked pretty solid after a shaky start. The receivers look great, and Jahvid Best - what can you say. And defense was great as well.

2) The Bears look shaky. There are four areas on the team that an injury could hurt us. We lost one of those four last night, as Spencer Ladner (tight end) went down. I don't know the full extent, but with the fullback and the tight end depth issue, that could be a problem. We now have three tight ends for the season. Not enough. (For those not paying attention, the other two issues were Kevin Riley and Jahvid Best staying healthy, and having our fullbacks play well).

Speaking of fullbacks, it was nice to see Holley step up. He played a great game. At one point, I screamed to a friend - it looks like the niners from the 80's - dump off to Roger Craig. That is exactly what the Tedford game should be about. Five guys ready to take the ball on every play. Kevin having the presence of mind to see it. Look at Aaron Rogers - he is the example in the NFL today, and Riley a few times later in the game, as he got more comfortable, looked the part (and no, I was not really comparing him to Joe Montana - yet).

Let's face it - it was a great game. I can't decide whether to buy my ticket to LA for January 1 or 7. But, that being said, there were a few things that the Bears have to work on.

1) Making sure that they can defend the middle screen. Man, that tight end slipping over really chaps my hide when he is getting 10 yards on a crappy middle screen. Figure that one out, already.

2) Riley need to settle down before the second quarter. i know that it is hard when after the first quarter he only played 3 minutes. Maybe we should ask Best to slow it down a bit so the offense can get some more work. But he settled in, and by the end of the game he seemed to really have it together.

3) When you bring in a guy liike Mansion to play the ENTIRE 4th quarter - give him a shot to throw the ball more than once. We have Eastern Washington - which - going against all woofing gods around - I think the Bears take. And Big. But play your second string guy a bit more that one quarter. We have two tough games at Oregon and USC coming up soon after. Get over your conservative nature and let the guy throw a pick if that is what we need to get him some time in the saddle. We were up by a lot of points.

All in all, a good day and a good way to start the season. And, Jahvid Best. Wow.

GO BEARS!!