Fans of the bears look at the final score of 51-20 bears, and say the game was a rout and the Titans had no chance. Instead of just looking at results, I prefer to look at how the result came about. I think the reason why is always extremely important, because if you know the reason why, you have a much better understanding of what happened and a chance to make changes in the future. Of course NFL coaches and players will never realize these reasons why, but it is still important to point this out.
Before getting to specifics, let me point out that before every game since the 2007 season, I have stated that teams that play the bears have to protect the ball since the bears try to strip it. I have also said that you have to be very conscious of protecting the ball when Charles Tillman is around the play, as he tries to strip it all the time and is very effective at this. So, players have to focus on this. Did the Titans watch a bear gamefilm from the last 5 years? Not only have I been saying this for 5 years, but others are also saying it. Here are two postgame comments. Laurence Holmes of The Score (Chicago talk-radio), who is the bears beat writer, said something to the effect that teams will have to figure out that Tillman will try to strip the ball, implying it’s ridiculous they don’t plan for this. Doug Buffone, a former bear player and sports-radio announcer, said “You would think your opponent would start to understand this.” It’s been obvious to anyone who has watched a bear game over the last 5 years that Tillman does this, but players continue to not protect the ball adequately.
So, now let’s get to the details to see why the game ended up being a rout and why it didn’t have to be. As I have pointed out, the bears start slowly, so getting an early lead on them can be very effective in setting the tone of the game, keeping them frustrated, and possibly changing their gameplan.
1. After the opening kickoff, the Titans threw on first down. Of course the receiver was wide open and for a big gain. As he was running with the ball after a 23-yard gain, he let Tillman strip it and the bears recovered at the Titan 46. Not protecting the ball could have cost the Titans a TD and early 7-0 lead, because if they were willing to continue to throw on first down, they probably would have scored.
2. On their second possession, the Titans passed on first down for 9 yards, then ran on second down for no gain, then ran on third down for no gain. They were trying to run against the number-one rushing defense in the league, and as I always point out, the bears can stop the run and can’t stop the pass. This running resulted in a punt, instead of a potential early score.
3. The Titans dropped an interception, again preventing a potential score. As I pointed out, the bears start slowly, so it’s important to get an early lead.
4. On their third possession, the Titans passed on first down and got a first down on a second-down run, but the play was called back for an illegal formation. Another unforced errror and gift that stopped a drive and potential score. The Titans then had another illegal formation penalty on the next play! Unforced error/gift. This backed them up, and when they punted, the punt was blocked and the bears got a TD on the play. So, instead of potentially being up by a few scores with the bear offense doing nothing, the Titans were down 7-0. The Titans then got a safety, again because the bear offense was doing nothing, so the score was 7-2 bears.
5. Game after game has turned on punts to Devin Hester, and as I’ve always pointed out, it is idiotic to punt to him and this changes the momentum. This especially holds true in games where the bear offense is doing nothing, because you put yourself at risk of a big play. As I stated, the bears have won many games over the years due to opponents punting to Hester. What does Tennessee do? They punt to Hester, he returns it 44 yards to the Titan 8, and the bears get a TD to go up 14-2. This completely turned the game around.
6. Since the momentum had shifted greatly after the return and TD, Hasselbeck threw the ball right to Urlacher, who returned it for a TD and a 21-2 lead.
7. On Tennessee’s next possession, they let Tillman punch the ball out again, and the fumble was recovered at the Tennessee 16. This led to a bear TD.
So, after one quarter, it was 28-2 and the game was basically over. The bears had 4 TDs in less than half a quarter even though the bear offense had gone nowhere. They scored on drives of 8 and 16 yards due to gifts, and the other two TDs were due to gifts as a result of bad strategy. I think it’s obvious that the Titan strategy and lack of protecting the ball resulted in an insurmountable lead for the bears in the first quarter, when the Titans could have had the lead instead had they protected the ball and not punted to Hester. This is my point when I tell people that you can’t look at the final result and say the other team had no chance. You have to look at how the final result was arrived at. The Titans gave the bears a big lead by what they did and prevented themselves from scoring by what they did. Oh, and by the way, Tillman forced two more fumbles during the game, and one of them was returned to the Tennessee 2, resulting in a bear TD. The Titans fumbled another time at the bear 20, stopping another scoring drive.
In addition, I have already pointed out that a blatant hold by J’Marcus Webb that was not called gave the bears last week’s game. In this game, the bears had some big plays that were successful only because blatant Webb holds were not called. He tries to block the right defensive end, the end quickly gets around him and has a path to the QB, and Webb grabs him around the neck or upper chest. It’s blatant, in the open field and not hidden by the line, and close to the QB, all of which makes it very easy for a referee to see. I would ask the readers of this post to watch for this next game and see how often he blatantly holds with no call. These non-calls also led to scores, again helping give the appearance of a rout.
Please note these comments from Bud Adams, Titans owner, after the game:
“In my 50 years of owning an NFL franchise, I am at a loss to recall a regular season home game that was such a disappointment for myself, and the fans of the Titans,” Adams, 89, told The Tennessean. “We were grossly out-coached and out-played from start to finish today. At this time, all aspects of the organization will be closely evaluated, including front office, coaches, and players over the next seven games. If performance and competitiveness does not improve, I will look at all alternatives to get back to having the Titans become a playoff and championship football team.”
Notice the first part of the comment: “We were grossly out-coached.” That led to a lot of the “out-played” part. I’m glad that someone else noticed that the terrible coaching led to so much of this.
I started to read this and wanted to sincerely give Larry’s message a chance, but when I got to the line where on the first play of the game, the Tenn. receiver “LET” Tillman strip the ball………..I said “That’s it, I had enough of this baloney”.
Nobody let’s Tillman strip the ball, they just can’t stop him from doing it unless they catch the ball and fall down without trying to gain more yardage!
One more thing………….scroll down to see Larry’s headlines for all the Bear games so far……….and what do you see: “Every team or coach that they played ‘GAVE THE GAME’ to the Bears! I guess the Bears should be 0-8 right now according to Larry’s logic!
This is a classic example of what i would call Irresponsible Journalism. Your piece starts out with an obvious Bias against the Bears and does not objectively give credit for the incredible defensive performance put on by the Division Leading Bears. Your Bias labors to find fault with every detail of a game that the Bears were Truly in command of. I understand that you don’t like the Team but at least have the decency and credibility to accurately report a good performance instead of only trying to find negativity and turning a blind eye to all the great things the Bears did to win this game.
Shame on you !!!
Edmund for President!