Bears Fall to Bills 23-20 in Overtime in Season Opener
Mandatory Credit: Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports
There weren’t many bright spots on the defense, but I’ll try to find a couple. Willie Young has a sack and looked like a solid offseason pickup. Chris Conte had a momentum changing interception, but he more than made up for it with poor tackling including getting a piggyback ride from Fred Jackson to set up the game-winning field goal in overtime. Jared Allen and Lamarr Houston must have thought that this was still a preseason game, because I barely noticed them. Lance Briggs and Peanut Tillman looked a step slow and definitely showed their age.
Live Feed
Da Windy City
The Bills picked up nearly 200 yards rushing on the day, so the run defense looks to be in mid-2013 form. The Bears’ leading tacklers were Ryan Mundy and Chris Conte. When your safeties are the leading tacklers, that’s a really bad sign for your defensive line and linebackers. I’ll have to look at the tape to see what to make of Shea McClellin and Jon Bostic’s games, but my first glance they didn’t distinguish themselves well. I thought Jeremiah Ratliff looked solid but not certainly not spectacular.
I’ll say this and I often do; it’s never as good as you think and it’s never as bad as you think. The Bears face a couple of tough tests on the road in prime time the next couple of weeks, as they go coast to coast to San Francisco next Sunday night before heading to New York to face the Jets on Monday Night Football. Neither of those games looks particularly easy, especially after the opening game performance.
What do you think? Are you ready to jump off the bandwagon? What do the Bears need to do to re-group?