Chip Shots: Breakdown: Bears Shut My Neighbors Up

Chip Shots
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I'm Chip Ramsey a career broadcaster who has been a sports radio program director in Milwaukee and Nashville. I've covered everything from high school and college sports (including the SEC, Big Ten, MVC and OVC) to Major League Baseball, The NFL and the NHL. I have a few things to say, and when I want to say them, I say them here.

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Chip Shots: Breakdown: Bears Shut My Neighbors Up

Breakdown: Bears Shut My Neighbors Up

Finally, the Bears looked like a football team last night. Maybe not a very good one, but much better than the group of stiffs who got taken apart by the Lions the week earlier.

Let's compare our game points to how the Bears actually did.

Run The Damn Ball---Cedric Benson needs to show the world why he was a number one pick. Tonight. On TV. Against the Packers. NOW. Cedric Benson is terrible. He had maybe one good run last night and that was on the touchdown. He fools no one, does not have breakaway speed and gets wrapped up easily. If you are going to control the clock, you have to control the ball. Lovie Smith should be worried about this area. Adrian Peterson looked okay on third downs, Garrett Wolfe looked like he was there for the Pop Warner Game. Grade C-

Don't Pressure Favre---Forget the fancy blitzes or the heavy pressure, Favre always seems to get away from it. The best way to get to him is cover his receivers and force him to expose himself on the run. And, if his receivers are covered, he tends to force something which usually leads to a Packers turnover. Yup, he forced a ball to Brian Urlacher which set up a Bears touchdown. He also avoided pressure all night. There was one play late in the game where Adewale Ogunleye almost had him, but couldn't catch him. Overall though, the Bears used the backers in coverage and watched the passing game. Grade B+

Let Them Run---The Packers running game is as bad as the Bears. Let them run, none of their backs is a game breaker. Instead, dare Favre to pass. I almost ate these words in the first quarter, but the Bears tightened the noose significantly in the second half.Grade B

Turn Turnovers Into Points---Strip them, hack them, pick them. Then take advantage of them and ram the rock home. Bingo. Key stat of the game was the four turnovers the Bears had against the Packers. Peanut Tillman, your table is ready. Grade A

Don't Just Defend Driver---The Pack has other weapons, especially James Jones and Bubba Franks. Watch them too. Lee looked good until he couldn't hold on to the football. Bubba got involved a little bit. Driver was quiet during the game. Considering in the first half, Danieal Manning and Brandon McGowan couldn't catch a cold, the Bears secondary tightened up when they had to and made the big plays. Truth is, they have a lot of work to do and really should learn how to tackle. Grade B-

Separate----

Greg Olsen was impressive if not underused. Desmond Clark left Nick Collins with his pants around his ankles for the winning touchdown. Other than that, Moose was horrible and Bernard Barrien was injured. Mark Bradley was also quiet. No running game, no breakaway receivers. Thank God for turnovers. Grade C-

Hold On Tight To Your Balls---Memo to Bernard Barrien: I don't give a damn if you put crazy glue on your gloves, you need to catch everything thrown to you tonight. Other than a Griese interception off a tipped pass, the Bears protected the ball well last night. Even Devin Hester had no issues. Grade A.

Other notes:

I don't know if Packer head coach Mike McCarthy had been drinking at a tailgate all day or he was over tired or something, but if I were a Packer fan, I'd be screaming for his head this morning. You have arguably one of the greatest quarterbacks ever and you play not to lose the entire second half? And the clock management at the end of the first half when your team could have made it 20-7 at halftime? Mike, thanks. We Bear fans appreciate it.

Did you notice how ineffective the Packer offensive line was once Scott Wells left the game?

You could tell in the second half that Favre was getting frustrated by his receivers being covered and his running game being smothered. Not my problem, Hillbilly.

Brian Urlacher made a guest appearance in the second half. Something tells me he came out of the locker room with one of Lovie's shoes hanging out of his backside.

Lance Briggs quietly had another great game last night.

The Brian Griese pick was disturbing because it came right after the Packers got a 15 yard face mask penalty.

Memo to Al Michaels: The linebacker who made the pick is BRADY (not Nick) Poppinga. If we wanted to hear an announcer mess up names, we'd listen to Dick Stockton.

NBC's pregame coverage blows. What exactly do Jerome Bettis and Tiki Barber do, anyway? Costas and Collinsworth would be fine.

Brian Griese plays football like an accountant. He's quiet and just manages the game. You also realize that he will do nothing spectacular on offense. It almost makes you miss Rex. I said almost.