By Brent Warnken
The Bears were coming off a losing season, and there was little reason, when things got underway, to believe that 2008 would be a much better season than last year. However, the Bears surprised many football fans, and even themselves, in coming up with a 9-7 overall record. By the last game of the season they were just a win from getting to the playoffs. Although it didn’t happen for the Bears this year, there’s a real sense that there will be Chicago Bears tickets available for the playoffs next time.
According to the Sports Xchange, Bears coach Lovie Smith was overall impressed with the performance of Kyle orton, and the organization has made a commitment to the QB heading into the next season. Said Smith: “Going into the season, we had questions about our quarterback position. I think Kyle orton did a lot of good things during the course of the season — not enough to get to the playoffs, just like the rest of our football team. But I like the progress that Kyle made throughout the year. I was asked if Kyle was our quarterback — of course Kyle is our quarterback.”
Schedule Breakdown
The Bears were a fairly consistent team all year, long, winning games at home, losing to clearly better teams and beating the teams they should beat. The start of the year was auspicious as the beat one of the best teams in the NFL, the Indianapolis Colts, in their first game, one the road no less. Losses to Carolina and Tampa Bay followed, but considering how close the games were, it was a very good start for the Bears, who played a pretty brutal non-division schedule. Week 5’s 34-7 win over the Lions, and their 48-41 win over the Minnesota Vikings were the highlights of the first half of the year. They entered the bye week 4-3. The second half began with another win over the lowly Lions, but then they lot three of the next four, putting the Bears in one of their worst funks, at 6-6 (which is not a bad funk to have, considering). The Bears were helped by the fact that they had three home games in the end of the season, even though the quality of the three opponents was pretty high. The loss to Houston was all the more frustrating considering the tough teams they’d played previous to the last game of the season.
Stats Highlights
The Bears rushing defense, led by superstar Brian Urlacher, was one of the best in the league. The Bears allowed 1,496 yards rushing on the year, well above (or below, as it were) the curve in that respect. Not surprisingly, teams tried to throw against the Bears to avoid the linebackers. In fact the Bears were thrown against 622 times, the most in the NFL. Matt Forte, the rookie running back from Tulane, was brilliant. He gained 1238 yards on the year, with 12 touchdowns and a completely un-rookie-like 1 recorded fumble. Devin Hester couldn’t match his stats from last season, but still produced some solid special teams runs.
Stats Lowlights
Despite all of the love Coach Lovie Smith was handing out to Kyle orton, the main QB for the Bears was fairly average, ending with a passer rating of 79.6. This isn’t to say that with another year or so in the league orton can’t get better, but as far as the numbers go, the passing game left something to be desired. 18 touchdowns and 12 interceptions, in addition to a winning record, bodes will for orton, nonetheless. The secondary was worked hard, and sometimes fell short of expectations.
Possible Offseason Moves
The Bears might do well to draft a wide receiver with their first pick this offseason. Don’t get me wrong- there’s nothing wrong with Devin Hester. However, if Kyle orton is to be the future of the passing offense here, he needs an exciting, go-to receiver to push the offense in the right direction. Look for the Bears to draft heavy in the secondary in the later rounds of the draft. With those two areas addressed, the Bears ought to be a legitimate preseason favorite to win the NFC North next season.
Brent Warnken wrote this article in association with StubHub. If you are looking for Chicago Bears tickets, sports tickets, theatre tickets, concert tickets, or any other kinds of tickets, StubHub.com is one of the best places to find them.
