Huff on Sports: September 2014

As my dad and I watched Dan Carpenter's chip shot sail through the south endzone uprights to kill the 2014 Bears season before it even really began, I knew what was coming: a Bears team that lost at home to Buffalo was surely headed for embarrassment in the Bay Area before a tough matchup in primetime on the opposite coast in Week 3. We'd be limping home at 0-3 just in time for the hated Packers to put the proverbial nail in our coffin. I was sick.

Through 27 1/2 minutes in Santa Clara, the narrative held: the Bears had moved the ball a total of eight yards on their first six possessions en route to a 17-0 deficit that was about to turn into a laugher in the host's housewarming party. Then the narrative got flipped on its head. The Bears covered 80, 80, 3, and 42 yards on their remaining possessions while amassing four touchdowns prior to kneeling out a 28-20 win. The run continued over the first 16 minutes on the east coast as Ryan Mundy's pick-six, Ahmad Dixon's excellent recover of a muffed punt, a short 40-yard touchdown drive, and a 15-play, 79-yard field goal drive built a 17-3 lead that the Bears caressed for the next three quarters on their way to a 27-19 victory and a stunning 2-1 start to the campaign.

With the predicted narrative so squarely on its head, here are some takeaways from the Jets game and some general thoughts about the team.

1. Even in the NFL, players often miss what we would term "easy plays" because football is hard. With the Bears pinned back near their own endzone facing a third-and-long play, Jay Cutler decided to take a shot down the sideline to his favorite target, a hobbled Brandon Marshall. The ball was hit as it left his hand and it floated into the hands of Jets cornerback Antonio Allen...who embarrassingly dropped the easy interception around the Bears 35. The field position shift was minimal - Bears punter Patrick O'Donnell's punt was fair caught at the Chicago 44 and a terrible (correctly called) personal foul gave New York possession at the Chicago 29 - but the play stood out nonetheless. Similarly, on the Jets final drive of the game, quarterback Geno Smith threw a spiral directly to Bears linebacker Jon Bostic. Bostic couldn't handle the ball initially, but he managed to drop the ball right into his gut...where he also miraculously couldn't corral the ball despite being all alone in the middle of the field. The Jets drove into the redzone before stalling out (more on that in a bit). Had Bostic secured the interception, the Bears would have likely forced the Jets out of their timeouts, run down the clock, and gone up 11 with two minutes left after another Robbie Gould field goal, icing the game. Even if it should be easy, especially for professionals, catching the ball is sometimes still quite difficult.

2. Speaking of Bostic, he played his best game as a Bear. Bostic routinely overran plays last year as he filled in as the middle linebacker following D.J. Williams' season-ending pectoral injury. Bostic's athleticism was clear, but so was his rawness. Bostic made progress heading into his sophomore campaign, and Shea McClellin's hand injury suffered in practice last week created an opening for Bostic to upgrade from a sub package player to an every down linebacker. Bostic stayed on the field for nearly every play of the game, getting plenty of repetitions in the nickel defense as the complementary linebacker to Lance Briggs. He made plays in the running game, ran down a scrambling Smith a handful of times, and positioned himself well to seal the game. There's clearly more room for growth, but last night we got to see the player in whom Phil Emery invested a second-round draft pick. With Williams looking slow, Bostic's emergence is critical for the defense.

3. Many of the most significant calls by the officials went the Bears' way last night, although it's not as though every big call went for the visitors. The first big call - a 33-yard pass interference call on Jets corner Darrin Walls - gave the Bears a first-and-goal that they cashed in with Martellus Bennett's first score of the game. On the play, Alshon Jeffery beat Walls streaking down the right sideline but had to slow down to make an attempt at an underthrown Jay Cutler pass. On review, it was clear that Jeffery grabbed hold of Walls' arm with Walls initiating no contact with Alshon. Live, it was clear that Alshon had position on Walls and that Alshon's attempt to reach back to make a play on the ball was impeded by Walls' presence. Though it was a very poor call, it did reaffirm two largely universal truths: it pays to have position and it pays to have size on your side as the much larger Jeffery has the benefit of the doubt when it comes to his ability to reach back for a ball.

The second huge call was the officials ruling that Jay Cutler was down prior to fumbling after a hit by David Harris in the second quarter, a fumble that was scooped up after the whistle and returned for a touchdown by the Jets. Upon review, the ball clearly slipped out of Cutler's hands on his way to the ground although his hands remained within an inch or two of the ball all the way down. Live, it appeared as though his body slamming into the ground created the force that caused the ball to pop out. This was another poor call that helped the Bears immensely, although most avid football watchers would admit that it appeared as though the ground caused the fumble on first watch.

The third poor call went against Chicago, although it wasn't the fault of a live decision. Facing 4th-and-3 at their own 27 on the final drive, the Jets threw a 2 1/2 yard pass to tight end Jace Amaro. Bostic read the play beautifully, forced Amaro back to the ball, and dropped him immediately upon catching the ball, just shy of the 30-yard-line. Given that the drive began with a touchback, the line to gain was hardly at issue. Upon review, the ball hits the ground in Amaro's hands and appears to be just short of the 30. Much like Bostic's near-interception, a ruling that Amaro was short would have effectively iced the game. Instead, after a lengthy review, referee Jerome Borger determined that the play stood - it was not confirmed - and the Jets had life. This was clearly the least egregious error - it was a close play - but video reviews should be quite conclusive at this point and the combination of angles appeared to show Amaro short.

The fourth and final poor call went against the Bears as well. On the Jets' final drive, Smith threw the ball away on 2nd-and-9 at the Chicago 19 under pressure from Willie Young. However, the back judge called Bostic for defensive holding, giving New York a fresh set of downs from the 14 instead of a 3rd-and-long at the 19. While Bostic's hands were on the tight end, it was a level of contact that is almost never flagged, particularly with one minute left in a tight game. That call didn't end up hurting the Bears on the scoreboard although it certainly made the final red zone stand much tougher.

I could go through additional calls and non-calls - the block-in-the-back call on Christian Jones that negated a 28-yard Santonio Holmes punt return was iffy - but that's the nature of games. The officials participate too.

4. Things tend to even out over the course of a season. That notion was on full display on the Jets' final offensive play of the game. Smith lofted a ball to Jeremy Kerley in the back corner of the endzone. Kerley leaped to grab the ball, secured it, and was carried about three yards out of bounds as his feet landed with an assist to Bears safety Brock Vereen. To me, both live and on replay, the play was pass interference on Vereen, who never turned to find the ball and made plenty of contact with Kerley. In a way, it may have hurt Kerley that he caught the ball as the officials would have a hard time arguing that Vereen's actions prevented a catch even if they made it a bit more difficult.

But I'm more interested in the nearly immediate symmetry within the Bears season. Thinking back to the opener, Cutler had Holmes open streaking up the hash at the Buffalo 5 with 30 seconds left and the Bears down by 3. Jay threw a beautiful pass to Holmes who was held on his way and nearly tackled to the ground as he made his attempt at the ball. Almost unbelievably, no flag was thrown, the Bears settled for Gould's tying field goal, and lost in overtime. That contact was clearly much more aggressive than Vereen's was last night. If the officials are going to bury their flags at the end of the game, at least it has worked out both ways for the Bears already on the young season. Sorry Jon Bostic - not sure why you got flagged.

5. Kyle Fuller is a monster. Fuller was my favorite cornerback in this draft class, and his play through three weeks has made that feeling look prescient. He is physical enough and his positioning has been genuinely sound - a dreadful missed tackle on Greg Salas that led to 30 YAC yards notwithstanding - but the ball skills are what stands out. After ripping an interception from Michael Crabtree and staying out of Colin Kaepernick's vision to snag another last week, Fuller added another last night when he stuck with his man for nearly five seconds before leaping in front of him in the endzone to end a Jets' threat. Yes, he should have taken a knee for the touchback. But who really cares? As my gametime texting buddies said last night, "Little Peanut" is already emerging as the type of weapon that his predecessor was for a decade, including another Peanut Punch that very nearly secured another short field for the offense.

6. Unlike Fuller, the marquee addition on the defensive line has been an apparition. Despite securing a big-time commitment in free agency, end Jared Allen has found the sledding very difficult thus far. Allen finally broke through for two pressures late in the fourth quarter, but until that point D'Brickashaw Ferguson had completely eliminated the pass rusher despite almost exclusively being tasked with doing so on a one-on-one basis. To say that the Bears need more from Allen would be a massive understatement. From what I've seen, Allen is in real danger of losing snaps to Willie Young. When McClellin returns from his injury, I won't be surprised to see the Bears go with some 3-3-5 formations in passing situations with McClellin rushing in the mold of a 3-4 outside 'backer. Allen needs to earn his keep. His $12.5M salary for 2015 is fully guaranteed, so the Bears have him locked in for at least 29 more games. If he wants to see any of his unguaranteed cash in 2016, he needs to turn up the pressure in a big way.

7. The aforementioned Young really looks like a steal. I know that the Bears planned to use Young as a starter before stumbling into Allen later on in free agency. Young looks like someone who wants an everydown job, and with Allen struggling and Lamarr Houston playing well, Young's pass rushing acumen could lead to an increase in his snap count. I expected to see some 4-2-5 formations this year in passing situations with Houston sliding inside with Stephen Paea or Will Sutton, leaving Allen and Young on the outside. Perhaps that will come.

8. Perhaps my biggest pet peeve as a sports fan is the segment of fans who latch on to one player who makes a notably bad play and never forgets it. This applies in all sports at all levels. It has been particularly true of many Bears fans with safety Chris Conte. Conte was superb in his first two years, flying around the field as he broke up passes and made big hits. Injuries have slowed him with some regularity, but the wheels really came off in the second half last year. The decimated defensive line would have made any safety look poor, but Conte's open-field tackling skills evaporated and he took a few poor routes. Still, the vitriol that has poured his way after ignoring Randall Cobb on the season-crushing play versus Green Bay last December ignores his body of work and skills. Conte has been the best member of the secondary this year through 2 1/2 games. It's clear that he has played through significant shoulder pain, and I won't be surprised to see him back in the lineup after a week or two. Conte is tough, smart, and fast. His sliding interception of EJ Manuel against Buffalo enabled the Bears to tie the game late in the third quarter. He took a lot of flack for getting pushed aside by Fred Jackson on Jackson's big run in overtime, but Conte was making the smart play that fans should want their players to make, recognizing that the odds of Carpenter hitting on a 30-yard field goal are exceptionally high making a Jackson fumble the Bears' last real chance. His Superman pick of Kaepernick against the 49ers stopped the bleeding in the second quarter as the game was about to get out of hand.

This isn't defending Conte because he is largely defenseless; this is defending him because, despite his imperfections, he is a good player who brings a lot to the table and is incredibly important to the team's success.

8. Speaking of defenseless players, the "hit on a defenseless receiver" penalty on Danny McCray was just horrendous. McCray lowered his body and hit a hunched over Kerley in the chest as Kerley dove into the endzone on the Jets' lone touchdown in the second quarter. Kerley clearly felt the hit and was shaken up a bit from it. McCray got his body low to avoid Kerley's head, yet he was flagged anyway. What is McCray supposed to do? As far as I can tell, he really only has two options: (1) go after Kerley's knees, or (2) lay off of a receiver heading into the endzone with the ball entirely. Option 2 is a really poor choice. Option 1 ends careers. I get that the NFL is scared of debilitating injuries, but that flag doesn't seem to help matters to me.

9. While we're talking about the safeties, welcome to the NFL, Ahamd Dixon! Dixon is sure to remember last night. He recovered a muffed punt that set up the Bears' first offensive touchdown and dropped Kerley for no gain on a second quarter punt return with a huge hit. As if that wasn't enough, Dixon found himself on the field with the defense as a rash of injuries knocked out the players ahead of him. I'm sure I'd need to see the film to know how Dixon fared on the defensive side, but as a guy who found himself on the Vikings practice squad to start the season, big plays on real snaps in primetime sure looks like an upgrade.

10. There hasn't been a lot of discussion about the Bears offensive line through three games and that's an overwhelmingly positive idea. Aaron Kromer's background as a line coach is shining through as the group has been largely able to keep Cutler upright. The pressure did finally get to him last night, but the Jets' front seven is about as tough as they come and the unit held up for the most part. Even with reserves Michael Ola and Brian de la Puente playing 2 1/2 games apiece thus far, the unit has looked good, save for a few whiffs from Jermon Bushrod. Overall, it's a real strength after being a complete disaster as recently as 2012.

11. I told my brother before the game that it would be about Geno Smith. There's just something about games where it seems like one team should do one thing because they do it well and the other team stops it poorly. The Jets run well and the Bears can't stop it. The Jets grabbed 114 yards on 26 carries - good for a very healthy 4.4 yards per rush - but they had Smith throw it 43 times. The fact that Smith threw so much wasn't a surprise to me: it just seems that what we expect rarely actually comes to pass. What made it bizarre was that the Jets largely did this to themselves. Trailing 14-0 but with 55 minutes left, the Jets called six passes and four runs on their first extended offensive possession, including a slow-developing pass call from the Chicago 15 that led to Ego Ferguson's first career sack and killed New York's chances for a touchdown. Trailing 17-3 with 44 minutes left, the Jets called five passes and two runs on another field goal drive. They never fully committed to running the ball despite their excellent rushing attack and the Bears constantly struggling rush defense. I'm still surprised that the Jets put the game in Smith's hands, not the Bears.

12. There were a pair of really big misses offensively that stood out. First, Martellus Bennett had a gimme touchdown early in the second quarter that bounced off of his hands. Bennett beat Dawan Landry and Cutler threw him a beautiful ball that Bennett just missed. Cutler would miss an open Alshon Jeffery on a slant later in the drive that led to a field goal. 21-3 sure would have been better than 17-3. Bennett is too good to make that kind of drop.

The other big miss was by Matt Forte. Although the drive ended on the next play with Bennett's second touchdown after a miscommunication in the New York secondary, Forte should have scored the play before. With the Bears facing 2nd-and-18 at the Jets' 20, Kromer astutely called a screen to Forte into the teeth of a massive Jets blitz. The play worked to perfection and the only four players on the left half of the field were Forte, Ola, a Bears receiver, and Jets DB Antonio Allen. With Ola in front of him, Forte made a completely unnecessary cut to try to get past Allen instead of following his massive guard for an easy score. Forte, like Bennett, is far too good to give away that kind of scoring chance. Kudos to Allen, but he shouldn't have had the chance.

13. The other move I didn't like: Marc Trestman not challenging D.J. Williams' sideline fumble recovery. After a short pass to David Nelson, Kyle Fuller punched the ball out and the ball rested near the sideline as three Bears made a play on it. Williams ran over from the middle of the field and appeared to be the player who secured possession. While he was right next to the sideline, Williams' legs and feet appeared to be elevated off the ground while his torso and midsection were on the ground with the ball. If that's true, he had possession in play and it would have been Bears ball. Instead, 51 yards and 7 plays later, the Jets had their lone touchdown of the game as the laugher had turned into a tight 17-13 affair. I thought it was worth a challenge; perhaps there was a camera angle that disagreed.

14. Patrick O'Donnell. Yes, his first punt was nearly blocked in the Bears' endzone. Yes, I expect teams to come after him heavily after the 49ers got one last week too.

And yes, I love watching a guy with a big leg impact the game. O'Donnell's punts were absolutely spectacular. A punt-by-punt look at his day:

Punt 1: 48 yards, muffed, no return, Dixon close enough to recover for Bears
Punt 2: 41 yards, no return
Punt 3: 44 yards, fair catch
Punt 4: 34 yards, fair catch (punted from own endzone and did an end-over-end punt, clearly by call)
Punt 5: 45 yards, 10-yard return

O'Donnell's day is a lesson in the problems of traditional football statistics. Of his five punts, none were inside the Jets' 20. Instead, a quintet of big net punts - net average of 40.4 yards - helped the Bears defense after the offense left O'Donnell punting from a precarious spot. That kind of field position swing is important, as is limiting or even negating the other team's return game.

O'Donnell also has an important job as Robbie Gould's holder. Gould's kicks haven't flown as true this year. Hopefully he's progressing in that area.

15. Finally, a sobering reminder that the schedule is not our friend. After road contests against the perennially strong 49ers and the tough Jets, the Bears return home to face the dreaded Packers as one-point underdogs. Green Bay finds themselves at an early crossroads as a loss would mean a two-game deficit in the division as well as an 0-2 divisional record early in the year. Nobody wants to play a desperate opponent, particularly when said opponent is a talented team led by an MVP candidate.

Unfortunately, the schedule flips to October and it doesn't get any easier. The month begins with a southeast swing to Carolina and Atlanta, two extremely difficult road contests in which the Bears figure to be underdogs. They come home for a breather against the troubled Dolphins (as Buffalo reminds us, there are no gimmes) before heading to Foxborough to face the Patriots. The bye week mercifully arrives, but coming out of it, the Bears find a visit to Lambeau in primetime. Although Chicago figures to be favored at home against Miami, it is overwhelmingly likely that the Bears will be underdogs in seven of their first nine games on the year. If they can find a way to squeeze four or even five wins out of that stretch, they will be very well positioned to make a run as all seven of their remaining games are eminently winnable with trips to Detroit and Minnesota and home dates against Tampa Bay, Detroit, Minnesota, Dallas, and New Orleans on a mid-December Monday night.

2014 still has a chance to be special thanks to some really solid play and a bit of good fortune through three weeks. It's still hard to believe how the Bears got here, but 2-1 is 2-1.

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