Peppers is Homecoming King as Bears Beat Panthers 23-6

The Bears kept the Carolina Panthers among the ranks of the winless teams with a 23-6 win on Sunday.  Julius Peppers was homecoming king in his return to Carolina, even getting an athletic interception along the way.

The Bears got off the bus running, just like the old days under former OC Ron Turner.  It was Lovie-ball at it’s finest in the first quarter in all phases of the game.  Danieal Manning returned the opening kickoff 62-yards and four plays later, Forte was in the end zone.

The Panthers marched right down the field on the Bears with their duo of DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart, but in true bend-don’t-break fashion, the Bears held them to a field goal.

Matt Forte knifed through the Panthers defense on the first play from scrimmage on the subsequent drive 68 yards to the house and it looked like this was going to be a shootout.  Defenses settled in and decided to stop the run and for the most part, the rest of the game was in the not-so capable hands of the quarterbacks.

The quarterback play in this game on both sides set offensive football back to the days of the T-formation.  Todd Collins, Caleb Hanie, Jimmy Clausen and Matt Moore combined to go 22/51 for 147 yards and 7 (yes SEVEN!) interceptions.  Todd Collins accounted for 4 of those interceptions all by his lonesome!  Who said he couldn’t fill in for Jay Cutler?  He has the interception thing down cold!  Watching him play quarterback was like watching a 3-hour dry heave.  Thankfully, they decided to give him the hook late in the 3rd quarter after his 4th INT.

My game ball goes to Matt Forte.  He helped resurrect the Bears running attack in a big way, tearing off touchdown runs of 18 and 68 yards en route to a 166 yard game.  Clearly his best effort of the year.  Is this the worst 4-1 team in the league?  Have you ever been so disappointed following a win?

I can only give the Bears defense partial credit for shutting down the Panthers; let’s not kid ourselves, they have a brutal offense.  I say, pick on someone your own size.  That said, I’ll give a big shoutout to Israel Idonije, who stepped up to take the defensive end spot opposite Julius Peppers with 3 sacks.

BEAR DOWN!!!

Through the month of October, my usual BEAR DOWN signoff will be in pink to raise awareness for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.