I don't know about anyone else, but I cannot wait for this weekend to get here. Tons of great college football on Saturday (Alabama/Penn St., Florida St./Oklahoma, Ohio St./Miami, Notre Dame/Michigan, to name a few great games), and then the start of the NFL Regular Season on Sunday. The season actually kicks off on Thursday with the Saints and Vikings, but for the rest of the league, Sunday is the big day. With that in mind, I will be taking a look at the matchup for our Chicago Bears in week 1, the Detroit Lions.
Detroit should be much improved. In fact, many ESPN analysts have picked the Lions to finish ahead of the Bears in the division this season. This game scares me for a couple of reasons: 1) The Lions have alot to prove this year. They are young in the skill positions, and their defense, which has been awful in recent years, should improve with the additions made to their D-line. 2) The Bears offensive line is practically non-existant. The Bears gave up 19 sacks in four preseason games, during which they went 0-4. The preseason record doesn't concern me much, but the 19 sacks does. The whole league has noticed that the Bears cannot protect their QB's consistently, and I am sure the Lions improved defense will plan on sending the house at Cutler come Sunday.
So, let's take a look at each team, and then I'll make predictions about the outcome of Sunday's game.
Offense:
QB: Some might argue that Matthew Stafford is a better QB than Jay Cutler. That may eventually be the case, but for right now I'll give a slight edge to Cutler. He has more experience, and has shown that he is capable of playing well, and carrying his team with big offensive performances. We haven't seen that from Stafford just yet, but it's coming soon. Hopefully not this Sunday though. Advantage: Bears (slightly).
RB: The Bears have Matt Forte and Chester Taylor. Forte has shown he has regained his burst from his rookie season, and having a more than capable alternative in Chester Taylor should help the Bears reduce Forte's workload. They both looked pretty good during the preseason, and I was especially impressed with Taylor in the games I watched. The Lions have Kevin Smith, who ran pretty well last year, as well as rookie Jahvid Best. Best could quietly be a great player. He's fast, quick through the hole, and has great vision. The Lions have the two back tandem that most NFL teams are employing nowadays, and that will make their offense much more difficult to stop. Advantage: Even.
WR/TE: I think the Lions have the better receiving corps. Calvin Johnson is a beast. He's fast, he's tall, he has a great vertical leap to catch high passes and fades to the corner of the endzone, and he is difficult to tackle for any one DB. The Lions also picked up Nate Burleson, and have two great tight ends in Brandon Pettigrew and Tony Scheffler. They should be able to stretch the field, and have enough depth and skill to throw short over the middle with their TE's and RB's. The Bears receivers aren't as bad as everyone thinks, they just don't have that go to guy. Johnny Knox still looks like he'll be a good receiver, as he can stretch the field with his speed, and he makes tough catches as well. Devin Hester won't be a number one receiver, but in the Martz system could be used well in the slot. Devin Aromashodu is the X-factor here. If he can become a consistent big play receiver like he did in the last 4 games of last season, then the Bears receiving corps all of a sudden looks great. They still have Greg Olsen, Desmond Clark and Brandon Manumaleuna at tight end, but tight ends are used mainly for blocking in the Martz system. Advantage: Lions.
O-Line: I have to go with the Lions here. The Bears have just been too inconsistent. The Lions have Jeff Backus, Rob Sims, Dominic Raiola, Stephen Peterman, and Gosder Cherilus on their starting line. They certainly won't be the best line in the league by any stretch, but if they can block consistently, they will be alright. The Bears O-line (if you can call it that) consists of Chris Williams, Frank Omiyale, Olin Kreutz, Lance Louis and Roberto Garza. They have been terrible from the opening snap of the preseason, and better figure things out quick, or Jay Cutler's life expectancy will go down by several years this season. Advantage: Lions.
Defense:
D-Line: The Lions have improved their D-line this season with the signing of Right End Kyle Vanden Bosch and drafting Ndamukong Suh at Defensive Tackle. Suh could be tough for the Bears to stop, and both of our tackles have been brutal, so I would expect a big game on Sunday from Vanden Bosch. The Bears should have an improved D-line with the signing of Julius Peppers and a healthy Tommie Harris, but so far they haven't really shown the improvement during preseason. Advantage: Even (Although we might see the Lions take the advantage on Sunday if the Bears O-line can't figure it out).
Line Backers: The Bears have way better linebackers than the Lions. Urlacher should be back healthy, eventhough he sat out the last two preseason games with a minor calf injury. Lance Briggs should be able to play this week, and Nick Roach is set to come back as well. Our backups have played substantial minutes, and played well too, so if any of the starters need to sit, Hillenmeyer, Tinoisamoa and Brian Iwuh should fill in well. The Lions have Julian Peterson, who has a high motor and good football IQ, but their other starters (Zach Follett and DeAndre Levy, shouldn't scare many teams. Advantage: Bears.
Secondary: This could be interesting to watch. The Bears have had a revolving door at the Safety position. Their starters for Sunday should be Chris Harris at Strong Safety, and rookie Major Wright at Free Safety. The Cornerbacks have not had a good preseason. Charles Tillman is getting old, and Zack Bowman makes too many mistakes in zone coverage situations. He also isn't the best cover man in man to man situations either, but the Bears don't have anyone better than him, so he gets the start. The Lions don't have anybody the Bears should game plan for in their secondary either. The cornerbacks are Chris Houston and Jonathan Wade, and the safeties are CC Brown and Louis Delmas. Delmas is a serviceable DB, but the rest I don't know too much about. I know the Lions have had enormous problems stopping the pass in the past few years. While I would expect that to improve, I don't think it will be because of their secondary. Advantage: Even (they are both equally mediocre to me).
Special Teams: The Bears have the better kicker in Robbie Gould (the Lions have Jason Hanson). Gould has been the most accurate kicker in the league under 50 yards since the Bears signed him, and last year he did finally make a couple of field goals over 50 yards, so that monkey is off his back. The Bears should have the better return men too (Devin Hester, Johnny Knox, Danieal Manning). The Lions have Nate Burleson returning punts and Aaron Brown and Derrick Williams returning kicks. The Bears kickoff/punt coverage teams have been very good since Lovie has been head coach, and hopefully that will continue this season. Advantage: Bears.
Prediction: I still think this game is a toss up. In order for the Bears to move the ball and score offensively, they need their line to be alot better than it has been. If the line plays well, which I think they are due for at least an ok game, then the Bears probably win this game. My prediction: Bears win 27-21. I think Cutler will have a good game (250 yards, 2 touchdowns, less than 2 interceptions), and the rest of the team will do well enough to win the home opener.
I could be very wrong, but I think the Bears will play well in the season opener. If they lose to the Lions at home to open the season, they should start looking for replacement head coaches immediately (Bill Cowher, anyone?). That said, even bad football is better than no football. Glad to see Bears football is back. I will probably be doing weekly game previews for each Bears game, so feel free to comment, and leave your own predictions.
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