Sep 7, 2014; Chicago, IL, USA; A general shot of Soldier Field during the national anthem prior to the first quarter between the Chicago Bears and the Buffalo Bills. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports
It started so well. The rebuilt Bears defense forced the Bills into an early 3-and-out. The Bears offense got off to a fast start, marching down the field behind a Cutler to Jeffery 44-yard bomb to set up a short Martellus Bennett TD catch. Then the wheels started to fall off. The Bills took the subsequent possession and marched down the field for a 9-play, 71 yard drive capped off by an EJ Manuel TD run.
After the Bears and Bills traded punts, the Bears were moving the ball well when Brandon Marshall coughed up a fumble. The Bills cashed in with a 50-yard Dan Carpenter field goal. On the next series, the Bears were moving along well again when Cutler and Martellus Bennett got crossed up and Cutler’s pass into traffic was picked off by former Bear Corey Graham. The Bills cashed in again with a short TD pass to C.J. Spiller.
The offense just needs to settle down and keep things simple. The Bears got cute on their second drive, with a failed flea flicker and a one-hop wide receiver screen to Josh Morgan. That’s when the offense seemed to get out of sync. A big concern for the Bears as two of their interior offensive linemen were injured in the first half. Matt Slausen left the game with what looked like a knee injury and late in the half starting center Roberto Garza left with an injury. Not sure about the status of either for the second half, but the Bears are out of reserve offensive linemen, as Michael Ola and Brian de la Puente have both been pressed into action.
For the defense, it’s been a rough outing. Willie Young has been the best Bears defender by far. He had a sack and a nice tackle for loss. Otherwise, no one has stood out in a positive way. Lance Briggs looked slow and the rush defense got gashed for several big plays.
Here are some halftime stats:
Jay Cutler: 14/18 for 160 with 1 TD and 1 INT
Matt Forte: 6 carries for 38 yards; 3 catches for 33 yards
Alshon Jeffery: 4 catches for 62 yards
Brandon Marshall: 4 catches for 35 yards and a fumble
Martellus Bennett: 3 catches for 31 yards and a TD
Let’s hope the Bears can rally for their first come-from-behind of the season or the 2014 campaign will be off to a really rough start with a tough trip to open the new San Francisco 49ers stadium on Sunday Night Football next week.