Forte, Bears Beat Bucs 24-18
Matt Forte ran for 145 yards and a touchdown and the Chicago Bears held on to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24-18 on Sunday in the fifth annual NFL regular-season game at Wembley Stadium.
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Matt Forte ran for 145 yards and a touchdown and the Chicago Bears held on to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24-18 on Sunday in the fifth annual NFL regular-season game at Wembley Stadium.
The Bears take a trip across the pond to merry old England and will have a go against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Here's what you need to know about this week's opponent.
Briggs says a rift is developing between the players and management.
Forte, who accounts for more than half of the Bears total offense, is still playing under his rookie contract, which is set to expire at the end of the 2011 season. Before the season, it was reported the Bears offered their running back a contract worth roughly $14 million guaranteed.
Devin Hester set the tone with a 48-yard touchdown catch and scored on a career-best 98-yard kickoff return before leaving with a chest injury, and the Chicago Bears routed the Minnesota Vikings 39-10 on Sunday.
Impersonating Jim Mora in writing doesn't do that classic quote any justice, but if you are one of those Bears fans that is still hoping for a second straight NFC North Division title this season — or even a spot in the NFC playoffs in general -- forget it.
The final score reads 24-13, but it might as well have been 240-13. As poor as the Lions played, nobody in the Chicagoland thought the Bears had a snowball's chance in pulling that one out after the Lions went up 21-10. The offensive line was outmatched, and almost the entire defense failed to show up Monday night. From there, the rest just fell into place.
As the Bears offense struggles to find its identity, CBS Sports football analyst Boomer Esiason thinks the Bears should just stick to what works.
Lovie Smith evaluates the regular season in four quarters, so let's evaluate Lovie's crew in the same fashion.
In Sunday's 34-29 win over the Panthers, that's exactly what they did. The Bears put together an explosive running attack that featured 222 yards and two touchdowns between Matt Forte and Marion Barber.
Wins are supposed to feel good. Other than the victory itself, Sunday felt like a cryptic clue to a treasure hunt. As each week goes along, you're stuck with the question: Who are these guys?
It doesn't get categorized as "pretty" but 2-2 looks much better a quarter of the way through the regular season than 1-3 would. The running game was much improved compared to the last two weeks, but there were still plenty of weak spots on both sides of the ball where the Bears need to improve.
This one was a must-must, a necessary condition for continuing one's emotional investment in a severely flawed Bears team, even if one may know better.
Despite the Bears' offense showing signs of life on the ground in Sunday's 34-29 win over the Panthers, it would be a stretch to say all 11 men on that side of the ball were clicking.
It's only Week 4, but don't get it twisted, this is a big game for the Bears. You don't want to have a three-game losing streak and you don't want to lose an NFC game at home.
Cutler said Wednesday that he was committed to the way offensive coordinator Mike Martz plans to run the Bears' offense.
Reports indicated there was a clash between Rivera and head coach Lovie Smith after the Bears Superbowl run in 2006. The two will meet again as the Panthers travel to Chicago on Sunday in a battle between two 1-2 teams.
The last two games have been interesting and have led to some interesting questions from you. Let's open up the mailbag and see what we can figure out.
After Lovie Smith and Mike Martz said all week that the Bears would be more balanced against the Packers, Cutler threw the ball 37 times and running back Matt Forte had just nine carries.
The reasons for the Bears' inefficiencies are many, and shared. But, really. Somebody get open.
The Chicago Bears' offense needs to regain its balance, for Jay Cutler's sake if nothing else.
After a 30-13 defeat at the hands of the New Orleans Saints, the Bears now sit at 1-1 before the Week 3 showdown at Soldier Field with Green Bay.
The balance, protection and production that the Bears saw last week vs. the Falcons was absent against the Saints. Gregg Williams and the New Orleans defense brought continuous pressure and it put the Bears on their heels.
Jay Cutler crouched down on his knees, his head resting on the turf with his hands on both sides of his helmet as if his ears were ringing. That was after a blindside hit from Saints safety Malcolm Jenkins that was only the beginning of his misery in a 30-13 loss to New Orleans on Sunday.
