FanNation - The Republic of Sport

waituntilnextyearfan said 07/13, 06:20 PM
Grossman was pretty awful in the SB but he had a lot of help in that department. Starting with their defense, the Bears were out played in every aspect of the game with exception of a missed extra point by Vinetieri and Hester???s opening TD. Here are some stats to prove the defense was at fault as well.

Defense:

191 yards rushing against
24 1st downs given up
1 blown coverage by Chris Harris on third and long (went for TD to Wayne).
Numerous missed tackles by their best defenders-I mean how many times can a dump pass work for 9-10 yards? Ron Rivera and Lovie Smith were extremely conservative with their game plan and play calling, never really trying to mix it up on Manning (big mistake). Early on when they did blitz Manning they caused him to throw the ball away and created a turnover (INT). They relied on the COVER 2 and played not to lose the game.

I'll talk about the offense and coaching in my next two arguments. Please be fair and wait until I post them. Thank you.

waituntilnextyearfan said 07/13, 06:45 PM
Why exactly did you take this TD then? Everyone is so unrealistic and unfair when evaluating Grossman. The fact remains the defense couldn't get off the field. Anyways, here's my next argument on why the running game failed miserably and didn't help Grossman at all.

Now for the offense:

They only ended up with 3 rushing 1st downs in the entire game. Their offensive line have to share in some of the blame for that horrible stat. Benson getting hurt didn???t help at all. They lost their punishing back that would???ve helped in wearing down the Colts undersized defense in the bad conditions. It would???ve been perfect for his style of running. In essence, this caused Ron Turner and the offense to alter their game plan dramatically. Thus, Grossman was thrusted into the spotlight once again. What ensued was downright ugly. Turner???s desire to pass the ball down the field and the Bears inability to run the ball put the young QB in a very bad spot.

waituntilnextyearfan said 07/13, 07:31 PM
OK does anybody else notice a trend? One person is following the title of this TD and other decided just to argue a completely different topic, connected only by the same game. Please people start voting based on who is arguing what the bold print says at the top not whether or not Rex was the main reason. Of course he was but not the only! Here's my last point-

Coaching:

While Tony Dungy stuck to his game plan of taking what the Bears defense gave his offense, Rivera and the defense made no adjustments at all. They continued to be conservative and elected not to blitz Manning. I say if you re going to lose, go down fighting!!! All those passes underneath made me want to vomit. Manning didn t need to do anything different, just pass to his RBs and hand-off on a delay or draw. Lovie Smith seemed to be frozen in time, like a deer stuck in the headlights while his fast, athletic defense was mired in the muck.

As you can see the whole Bears team (exception Hester) had a p*ss poor game and were unable to make anything work on offense or create pressure on Manning.