When the Arizona Cardinals travel north the windy city of Chicago to face the Bears it'll be an interesting match of two similar teams. Both squads are 4-3 this season and are 3-2 in their past five games. The Bears haven't lost at home (3-0) while the Red Birds haven't lost on the road (3-0). The points for (CHI-159, ARI-157) and points against (CHI-150, ARI-143) are eerily similar. Needless to say both teams are sitting somewhere around mediocrity and are hoping to keep themselves in the race for the NFC post season. Here's a look at some of things the Bears are talking about this week:
- Jay Cutler's history in November and December: As the NFL heads into the second half of the season, the weather will start getting cold and rainy, and things can become challenging for a lot of teams. With that said, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at how Jay Cutler has fared in the months of November and December during his career.
- A Detailed Breakdown of the Bears' Offense: Here's an interesting exert...."On running back carries, the Bears went left 18 times for 107 yards, an average of 5.9 per run. Take away Garrett Wolfe's 36-yard run to the left at the end of the game if you wish, and they still averaged 4.2. On 13 running back carries to the right, the Bears had 36 yards, an average of 2.8."
- Chicago's Pass Protection: More often that not when you see a QB get sacked fans quickly jump to the conclusion that one of the offensive lineman blew an assignment. While that may be true, it's not always the fault of the specific lineman that was beat on the sack. Seeing as how I'm not privy to the actual O-Line meeting for the Bears at Halas Hall, I'll just make my educated guess on some of the things going on with their pass protection.
- Bears' Offense Too Complicated: Offensive coordinator Ron Turner said he's ready to start paring back the playbook with the Bears clearly struggling seven games into the Jay Cutler era. At this point, following Sunday's 30-6 victory over the Cleveland Browns at Soldier Field, it's fair to say the Bears aren't doing much of anything very well with the possible exception that Cutler is doing a decent job of getting the ball to Devin Hester on a regular basis.
With that out of the way, here's a look some interesting Bears' stats through the first seven games.
- The Bears are 0-3 when Cutler throws for 250 yards or more and 4-0 when he does not.
- In the Bears' three losses Cutler has thrown nine interceptions and in their four wins he's thrown just two picks.
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Matt Forte has averaged 54.7 total yards in their three losses and 107.3 total yards in their four wins.
- Forte has only crossed the goal line three times this season but none of them have come in a losing effort.
- Devin Hester, the team leading WR not returner, averages 91.3 yards in the team's losses but just 45 yards in the team's victories.
- The Bears are 1-3 against teams with a winning record and their four victories have come against opponents with a combined record of 9-20.