Putting the shutout in perspective

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For a game that garnered such gloom and doom from us at the beginning, it turned out pretty well. Yes, we have some issues with the offense that need to be addressed, but the defense was definitely back in form today.

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And that's another area that needed addressing that was a positive from this game.

And the 63 yards passing was the Bears lowest since ~1990 (I can't remember where I read it).

Sure, Clausen, but... damn. LOB!

Great stats, great perspective, but to my eyes, we are still a work in progress. The void of losing Dan and Ken Jr does seem to have some effect. I feel the intensity is lacking and scheme wise we have some holes lingering from where we left off from last year. Even though our fundamentals are getting better, I think just watching the coverage by Shem, Earl, they might not be completely healed. For instance the throw that went to Sherms side sometime at the game, normally he would track the ball and it would have been an interception. I am hoping they are all healthy.

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:shock:

Wait, so we don't suck? I'm confused... I'm getting mixed signals and it's overwhelming.

I've been really impressed with Kris Richard's management of the defense so far. I seriously can't recall a blitz where he immediately regretted calling it. He always seems to know the right time to blitz.

I don't know how much it matters, but I think the players love Richard more than his predecessors. I think he's a player's coach. I know it was a shutout today, but I thought it was telling when Richard got the Gatorade treatment at the end of the game by his players.

I hope he doesn't get hired away after just one year. But with the defense playing pretty well again, and Dan Quinn getting the Falcons out to a 3-0 start and looking like a coach of the year candidate, I think Richard's going to draw a LOT of interest this next offseason.

Doesn't surprise me that they like Richard a lot, wasn't too long ago he was playing DB here. So he's still a pretty youthful guy, probably connects with these guys with ease. Plus he's been in the building since Pete got here.

it was not like we were facing a powerhouse offense but any shut out in the NFL is impressive!

Seahawks are now up to #3 in total defense (286.3 yards per game) and #11 in scoring defense (20.3 points per game).

HomerJHawk":36p3oext said:

And the 63 yards passing was the Bears lowest since ~1990 (I can't remember where I read it).

Sure, Clausen, but... damn. LOB!

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Actually, Grossman threw for only 34 yards in a game vs the Vikings that the Bears strangely won Week 13 2006.

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/b ... 030chi.htm

I thought the fight went out of the bears when they as a team realized Fox was not really trying to win a game, but seemed more intent on just finishing a game.

It was a great game for the defense. But the Bears were without their top WR and starting QB. The game should have played out this way and it did. Another positive is that Michael Bennett didn't have any offside penalties this game. First time in a long time. Hope that trend continues.

kearly":g70crwpj said:

I've been really impressed with Kris Richard's management of the defense so far. I seriously can't recall a blitz where he immediately regretted calling it. He always seems to know the right time to blitz.

I don't know how much it matters, but I think the players love Richard more than his predecessors. I think he's a player's coach. I know it was a shutout today, but I thought it was telling when Richard got the Gatorade treatment at the end of the game by his players.

I hope he doesn't get hired away after just one year. But with the defense playing pretty well again, and Dan Quinn getting the Falcons out to a 3-0 start and looking like a coach of the year candidate, I think Richard's going to draw a LOT of interest this next offseason.

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Yea I totally agree on the blitzing; we're blitzing a lot more than Quinn did, yet we haven't paid for it yet.

That said, I do have a few issues.

I'm not happy that the Bears were running at will on us in the 1st half, especially when it's really the only option they had. We can say this issue was fixed, but it was more by us getting ahead by 2 scores and the Bears being forced to throw.

I'm not a guy that cares about yardage too much, on the offense or defense. Many times a team has more yards than their opponent, but still loses. That said, a shutout does a lot to lower your average. If we can hold Detroit to 14 points, we'll have an 18.75 ppg average. I'm not happy we gave up 34 to the Rams (and no one else in the league has), but we've fixed those issues with Kam coming back.

Pass rush doesn't seem quite there yet for some reason. Don't ask my why, but not as dominant as I'd hoped.

Sherman seems a bit off from last year. One of the Bears WRs got by him deep and Clausen just missed the throw. I'm not saying he's terrible, or even average but something doesn't seem quite as dominant. I'm hoping the team gets over all the distractions.

If we hold the Bears to 12 points like the Donks just did, then I'll be satisfied that our D is well on it's way back and on track.

MD5eahawks":2hel5jaz said:

HomerJHawk":2hel5jaz said:

And the 63 yards passing was the Bears lowest since ~1990 (I can't remember where I read it).

Sure, Clausen, but... damn. LOB!

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Actually, Grossman threw for only 34 yards in a game vs the Vikings that the Bears strangely won Week 13 2006.

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/b ... 030chi.htm

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Thanks for the correction.

I was happy with the defensive effort as well for the most part, a shut out against any NFL opponent is impressive indeed, but I'm curious to know what Forte's average was. Seems like he was ripping off 4, 5 yards every carry. This has been done to us by Cunningham in STL, and Starks in GB as well in the first two weeks, in which neither team has a top tier O line, and now by Chicago, who's line is subpar.. Would like to see the D line play the run a little better moving forward.. I guess I'm just not seeing that attacking ball hawking defense I've been accustomed to over the last 3 years? Really liking what I'm seeing from Hill, seems like the run defense got better with him in there. Now with the injury to Mebane, we're going to need him to play like that week in and week out.

My only real disappointment in the game was not being able to punch in a TD at the end of the first half after the Bears gave up that ridiculous long play to Kearse.

The slow starts are still a concern.

The defense appeared like the team to be flat.....I felt fatigued without realizing how much of a distraction Kam created and the team played like it, minus the new guys (Graham, Rawls, Clark, Lockett....)....the punt return seemed to spark things and helped set the table for an uneven performance.

I am a little concerned that this team is missing one more impact player on offense and on defense that needs to prove something.....I don't think it will be PRichardson and the team seems to be searching for Matthews to be a weapon and perhaps hoping the Marsh and Clark can become reliable pieces as pass rushers, right now, Clark is the real deal, he should have gotten the strip-sack and recovery late, but refs had the mercy rule it appeared.

I don't see roles for PRichardson or Simon going forward with a healthy roster, but part of football is your depth will be tested, so we'll see what happens down the road.

Seahawk Sailor":166piah5 said:

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:shock:

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THAT is perspective!

This was not just a win. To view it as though it were the same as any other expected win is to ignore an historic defensive performance:

The only team in the last 35 seasons to punt on every possession in a game!

And I don't care that The Bears were not at full strength, it's not as though that has never happened in the last 35 years in the NFL.

Our Offense was good enough.

Our Special Teams were very special.

Our defense was EPIC!

Recognize.

My only disappointment so far is that we're now 3 games in without a single interception, tied for dead last (obviously) in the league alongside Washington and NO. Alongside that we're also dead last in passes defensed, although granted we're also tied for last alongside the Bears in pass attempts faced (among teams that have played 3 games). It's good that we're not facing all that many attempts - but we've also allowed 12 passing plays of 20+ yards (albeit, I think all of those were in the first two games) in just 77 attempts.
Hopefully we clean that up and the next few games look more like the last game, but I don't want to take too much stock into the shutout since it was against Clausen, and Forte still seemed to be able to run all over us for a while despite us knowing that there was almost 0 risk of Clausen burning us.

Still, shutouts don't come along easy in the NFL, there were just 6 last year and 3 the year before (of which 1 was by us), so credit where credit is due.

themunn":xrclglha said:

My only disappointment so far is that we're now 3 games in without a single interception, tied for dead last (obviously) in the league alongside Washington and NO.

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This was our first game with our full LOB intact and the Bears had like 5 pass attempts yesterday. I expect the interceptions to start coming.