I ‘m still not entirely sure I have come back down to my feet after what went down in Arizona Monday night. I'm not really sure I understand it either.
What the Chicago Bears did was play arguably the worst game of the NFL season so far, at least offensively, giving a good three-hour impression of the Oakland Raiders. They were down 23-3 with five seconds left in the third quarter and still failed to score an offensive touchdown the rest of the game.
The Bears won 24-23.
A recap of one of the craziest games in NFL history is probably not necessary. If you don't know what happened on Monday Night Football this week then I'm sorry, curling season should start soon.
There are a lot of observations to be taken from the Bears-Cardinals game, however.
Hopefully the premature outbreak of 16-0 talk for the Bears is over. Week five was not even over and Joe Theisman had ""Da Bears"" breaking all kinds of records defensively and going undefeated.
First off, no defense will ever be as good as the 1985 Chicago Bears so just shut up about it already. Second, the statistics say the 2006 Bears defense isn't even the best in the NFL. The Denver Broncos have given up the least amount of points and have played better teams. Now I have to say the Bears are more athletic and honestly wouldn't have given up 23 points to the Cardinals if Rex ""No, He's Not the Next Brett Favre"" Grossman didn't hand the ball to Arizona at his own 30-yard line every drive. The battle for the best NFL defense is at least a respectable competition now.
Next, just because the Bears offense looked like the Temple Owls Monday night doesn't mean the first five weeks were a fluke. Grossman had an awful preseason and was able to turn it around. The Bears bye week will allow the former Gator to regroup and the Bears' passing game should be fine. The Cardinals' defense was surprisingly effective Monday, simply providing a wake-up call for Ron Turner's offense.
The real problem for the Bears is their running game. Thomas Jones has done absolutely nothing this season and quite frankly I'm surprised Cedric Benson wasn't given a chance to try and win the game Monday night. But this is the reason the Bears won't go 16-0. They can't run the ball, and that is certainly a problem for a team that hasn't had a quarterback in two decades.
On the other side of the field is a team who many are saying won't be able to rebound after their second heartbreaking defeat in as many weeks. Some are saying the Arizona Cardinals entire franchise won't be able to rebound.
Let's just slow down for a second. Did Matt Leinart not become the only quarterback to do anything against a defense these same critics are calling the best ever? Leinart has shown in two weeks that he will be able to have a solid career in the NFL. A career good enough to turn around a franchise. Devastating losses happen, maybe not on this magnitude, but the Cardinals know they should be 4-2 and not 1-5. They probably are done for this year, but it really wouldn't surprise me if they finished 7-9. Either way, the Cardinals are not far away.
In the meantime, one thing is sure: The Bears are for real, and the Packers are awful. Get over it.
—Yeah, yeah. Send the ""Favre is God"" mail to hoge@dailycardinal.com. He's not though.
