My Friends,

 

Guarantee this.

In what had to be the most dominating half of football played by the Bears in the new Soldier Field, our guys put an ass-whuppin’ on the so-called pride of Detroit and set up a battle for supremacy in the NFC North next Sunday on the fake turf of the Rollerdome. So much for the cries for Brian Griese. Rex is king.

With a career day of 20-27 for 289 yards and four touchdowns, Grossman has to get serious consideration for NFC Offensive Player of the Week honors. His three TD passes to John Gilmore and Desmond Clark equaled the total caught by tight ends for all of last year, with Clark now totaling ten grabs on the season. The tight end is no longer a myth. The next project for Ron Turner is to get Thomas Jones and Cedric Benson together in the backfield.

As for loud-mouthed wide receivers, the next time Roy Williams chooses to open his mouth and say something brilliant it should be to ask his coaches if taking a sack on 3rd and 20 is what passes for offensive improvement on the Detroit sideline after only coming up with four yards on 3rd and 30 in the previous series. When the Lions followed that up with a missed field goal you almost felt sorry for Rashied Davis and Danieal Manning, who aren’t getting much work returning kickoffs so far this year.

Speaking of kickoffs, how about that Robbie Gould? The statistic has become such a relic that the Bears don’t even list it in their media guide, but you’d have to combine all the Bears kickoffs of the last three seasons to equal the three touchbacks booted by Gould yesterday. It can’t hurt when the special teams don’t even give the dangerous Eddie Drummond a chance to return the ball. Brad Maynard did his part, too, allowing only one five-yard return while putting two of three punts inside the twenty. His 44.3 yard average wasn’t too shabby, either.

The defense was so relentless that there was a tangible feeling of disappointment whenever the Lions got a first down, and resentment when they scored. But that hasn’t happened often, and judging from the job the Vikings did yesterday in their home opener, it’s likely to continue. Minnesota’s only touchdown came on a fake field goal after the Panthers botched a spot pass on a punt return. I don’t think Lovie Smith would dare try anything that stupid.

For now, we’re left with the memory of the strains of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” blaring through the stadium loudspeakers as the fourth quarter wound down, looking forward to keeping Rex healthy and putting all three of the Bears division foes in the rear view mirror. So far the so-called experts have told us it’s only the packers, it’s only Detroit, and I’m sure we’ll be hearing it’s only the NFC North after next week’s game.

When will they learn?

LBF

9/18/2006