more late night (4-0) bearsing -- end of the first quarter edition/QB

start booking your hotel in miami because the chicago bears are undoubtedly headed there. WE NEED A NICKNAME FOR THE DEFENSE!! how does this compare to 1985?

these are prevalent thoughts amongst the consciousness of many chicagoans after the beloved took out last year's NFC super bowl representative, the seattle seahawks, in a triumphant 37-6 type fashion. while i'm definitely enamored with this impressive start to the season, being cursed with an analytical mind causes me to continually rack my brain trying to make sense of it all as we enter the second "quarter" of the season, according to lovie smith's method of viewing the yearly NFL schedule.

first and foremost, allow me to get in a few words about seattle: i'm not especially big on the mighty seahawks, even last year when they rode shaun alexander's career year to a super bowl berth. matt hasselbeck will always bring up a memory of his ill-fated proclamation after a coin toss in a playoff game with green bay two years ago: "we want the ball, and we're going to win" -- seattle's defense is solid but definitely not spectacular. it's good enough to complement a good offense and make them a formidable opponent to just about everyone when they're operating at full steam ahead, however i never exactly had the morbid fear of an amazing defense in my head at any point. nor does the bulk of their offense exactly terrify me. shaun alexander, when healthy, has the ability to be one of the top 3 running backs in the league. last year he topped priest holmes' still young record of 27 touchdowns in a season by amassing 28 of his own, therefore with that kind of dominance matt hasselbeck was able to operate with a passing game that benefitted from being the secondary concern of opposing gameplans.

with alexander out, the seattle koolaid factory churned out stories about the awesomeness of their newfound 4 wide receiver formations, to which backup running back maurice morris was well suited for with his smallishly quick running game. nevermind the fact that he was a NFL backup runningback for a reason, coming off of a week where hasselbeck threw for 5 TDs against r-dub mack-quarters and the reknown new york giants secondary the seahawks were geared to unleash a fearsome aerial attack against the vaunted bears defense, therefore the quicker/smaller/better-catchy-er mo morris was a better fit to come out and dismantle the bears.

their four receivers? darrell jackson (who at the time was technically the #1 fantasy football wideout, however this proved to be a fluke as his inconsistency showed up and fulfilled his MO), viking alum nate burleson, ageless wonder ex-bear bobby engram, and the new kid in town 2003-04's very own super bowl MVP deion branch who was only two weeks into the new system. none of these receivers really put the fear of god in anyone, especially hte middle two, therefore it would be up to hasselbeck to rise up and make them look great by systematically dismantling the bears defense... but a problem arose: their WR-happy formations left the o-line alone to tackle the bears d-line, which was problematic sans steve hutchinson, as the bears front four were able to apply constant pressure to hasselbeck and cause him to run and chuck for his life, resulting in a sub-50% completion rate with 2 interceptions. maurice morris finished with something like 35 rushing yards on 10-15 carries. their offense sputtered on national television.

and the vaunted seahawks defense was carved up by wonder bear rex grossman, who continued his impressive season by adding in another ~250 yards and 2 TDs, bringing him up to approximately 1070 yards and 8 TD / 3 INT on the season.

after falling behind 3-0, the bears manhandled seattle to the tune of 37-3 in a game where they systematically dominated the seahawks, thus giving them a "big win" that endeared them to many of the national pundits who had them penciled in as an automatic one-and-done or even second place finisher to the vikings.

with that said, here's my take on the sections of the bears throughout this first "quarter"

- quarterback - rex grossman has stepped in and realized a good deal of the potential that us "rex guys" had believed he always had, however was unable to show thanks to a series of freakish injuries to his legs over the last two seasons. while many were weary of rex's lack of gametime experience, something like 7 or 8 starts in three seasons prior to this one, there was one aspect of his situation that was never mentionedby any of the national experts: rex wasn't on vacation during the last three years whilst he was injured, he was with the team doing all he could to pick up as much as he could about the game and ron turner's system from week to week. he'd go over film, gameplans, walkthroughs, basically the whole nine yards short of actually going out and playing every week. rex seems to have a solid head on his shoulders, so while he wasn't in the ideal situation of learning on the job, he did have a lot of time to study the game up close and pick up on things that a true rookie or 2nd year quarterback might not have known. obviously all of that knowledge doesnt mean anything if he can't apply it on the field, but since he's come back and stepped up and lead an offense to the mark of approximately 29 points per game through the first four games of the season, suffice to say that he probably did gain some important knowledge/perspective whilst injured throughout the last few seasons.

rex still has a propensity to make stupid mistakes, such as desperation heaves off of the back foot under pressure that lead to interceptions returned for touchdowns, or even forced throws leading to interceptions in the other end-zone, however these are the growing pains that come with the territory... and if this is going to be the downside that comes with the obvious upside, we'll take it. the only team that really threw a wrench into rex's 2006 parade of dominance was the vikings, who had an impressive gameplan which featured a consistnet up the gut pass rush extraordinnaire that took advantage of one of rex's inherent weaknesses, his lack of height (6' even), by clogging up the middle of the field they could limit his view downfield some and cause him to have to either bail out or make questionable throws. still though, i have confidence in both rex and offensive coordinator ron turner to figure out ways to circumvent these sitations in the future.

as it stands, rex looks to be arguably the most exciting quarterback in town since the days of the legendary sid luckman, who i know nothing about. rex zips the ball down the field, having the ability to make just about every throw possible with a consistent quality about it. his play has elevated the games of muhsin muhammad, bernard berrian, desmond clark, and newcomer rashied davis to the point where the wide receiver position is no longer seen as a crisis as it was in preseason, moreover as a weapon that can legitimately go out and make gamebreaking plays.

so knock on wood say your prayers and take your vitamins that the injury bug doesnt get to rex this year, although it is very reassuring to know that should something happen there is a solid veteran quarterback in brian griese waiting in the wings. no more of the jonathan quinn craig krenzel chad hutchinson or even kyle orton experience. the bears have both quality and depth at the quarterback position, which leads one to believe that they stand poised to make a run at the super bowl even if their #1 quarterback has issues.

next subject for the post you'll prolly read sooner than this: running backs