The morning after..... (Bears vs. Broncos)

[TheWinman]

Ok, I have watched the game again. Thanks to Dvr's, you can watch a game in no time just watching snap to whistle on every play. That being said, not much has changed. This is a sane person's post even though many will consider it being biased based on the Bears being my team to root for.

Why did the Broncos come from behind in the 4th and win in OT. Sorry guys, Tebow is low on the list. I'm not interested in hooking the readers into a news story like the media.

1) Marion Barber going out of bounds on the first play after the two minute warning. Let's face it, one of the biggest bonehead blunders seen in some time. Bears win in regulation if he does this simple task. Even Tebow thanked God when this happened and other Denver players admitted that they would have lost the game if this did not happen.

2) Bears offense - inept offense. Martz and Lovie felt the best chance to hold a lead was to keep the ball out of Hanie's hands and just hand off. I really can understand that thinking, but it killed us.

3) Broncos defense - Hey, they did what they had to do by holding the Bears and they forced the fumble by Barber in OT.

4) Lack of calls by the refs in the 4th and OT. Don't believe me, watch the game again and focus on the Broncos OL. Also. watch Tebow's TD pass, he was the over the line of scrimmage. Broncos OL got away with holding on just about every Bronco pass play. No, this is way more than the usual amount of the ticky tack holding that is standard in a a NFL game. I originally thought the Bears defensive line was awful in pressuring Tebow late in in the game, that was not the case at all. Peppers was held on most plays late in the game. I don't why the officials put the whistles away, I will not buy into the stuff I'm hearing about the league and refs wanting Tebow time and helping make that happen. Yes, the NFL was very very very happy with Tebow time and the Broncos winning this, but I think the NFL would not do something like this.

5) Bears going to a cover 2/ sort of prevent defense late in the 4th quarter. I hate this type of defense, always have and always will. Is it that hard for any QB in the league who has 6-7 seconds to find the open man that the Bears left open in front of the safeties and behind the LB's? That is all Tebow did, that is all Tebow has basically done in the other come from behind wins. Awful QB's in the last 20+ years have been putting up numbers against prevent defenses time and time again.

6) Tebow - The guy found the open guy when the Bears were in prevent. He did not buckle after a bad 3 and half quarters of passing. He has a never give up mentality that almost anyone would benefit emulating. There are very few athletes that I would have my kids pay attention to and try and learn something from, but Tebow and his never give up mentality is one of them.
I was going to say "dismal 3 and half quarters", but Denver WR's dropped 2 passes on the numbers, dropped a catchable( not a gimme) pass near the sidelines and dropped a catchable bomb that was far from a gimme. It would have been a good catch.

6) Bears coaching - Bad play calling on both sides of the ball during the end of the 4tt quarter. Now there is a real argument to be made that the Bears had to play that style of defense late in the game because the defensive line was gassed. You can credit the Broncos offense and the mile high air in this being the case. Bottom line is that you have to suck it up and defense and find that extra effort. If Tebow was on defense he would find a way with determination to do this.

7)Prater - I'm not sure were to rank this. He made loooooonnng clutch kicks when needed, but dang that ball really carries in the mile high air. We saw the footage of him kicking a 70 yarder in practice with 3-4 yards to spare. Gould easily made a 57 yarder with much room to spare and he is a kicker were 52 yards is his normal max. I think the mile high air is worth about 10 yards.

Tebow did not win the game for Denver. The media will sure make it seem that way. I hear people saying that Tebow kept the Broncos in the game. How did he keep them in the game? By leading the offense to zero points in 56 minutes of play? The defense of the Broncos kept the team in the game. The Bears offense and play calling kept the Broncos in the game.

I have to mention a bad move by Urlacher. After the game he called Tebow a good running back. C'mon Brian, despite how I even minimized Tebow's role in this game, he did what he needed to do late in the game as a passer. Show some class Brian.