Chicago Bears, Season Recap

The Bears ended this season with an 11-5 record and made the playoffs after a couple years drought. It was an exciting season for me, it seemed like i got to watch and listen to a lot more games than usual. As a whole, i thought this season was a big success for the Bears.

My list of best games of the regular season:

1. Week 3 vs the Green Bay Packers.
Bears won 20-17. Devin Hester returned his first return of the year for a TD. It was the start of a record breaking season for him. The Bears played this one tough against a heavily favored Packers team.

The game was tied in the end and the Packers had the ball. Urlacher caused a fumble recovered by the Bears and the winning field goal was kicked. Great game. My favorite this year.

2. Week 11 at the Miami Dolphins.
Bears won 16-0. This was the Bears 3rd straight win after their bye week and they were really getting into a groove.

The Bears defense shut out the Dolphins. Only the 2nd time the past 40 years that the Dolphins have been shut out at home. This was a perfect game to see the Bears play. I don't need high scores for the Bears, just low scores for the other team.


3. Week 12 vs the Philadelphia Eagles.
Bears won 31-26. The Eagles were a hot team at this point and hardly anyone expected the Bears to stop Vick and the Eagles. The Eagles had been rolling over teams for the past couple weeks and it was expected they would do this to the Bears as well. Still in week 12 the Bears were getting hardly any respect as a top team in the league. Oh well, the Bears did stop Vick and the Eagles. The Bears handed the Eagles their first loss of the season with Vick starting. They also got the first interception on Vick all season. Best of all, Vick is 0-4 vs the Bears all-time.

The Bears played great all around to get this win. Proving to a few more that they are one of the top teams.



Some Bears stats and stuff from the Season:


Bears total season score: 332 ...... 20.8 ppg
Opponent total season score: 286 ...... 17.9 ppg

Week 1 vs Lions. Win 19-14. Record 1-0
Week 2 at Cowboys. Win 27-20. 2-0
Week 3 vs Packers. Win 20-17. 3-0
Week 4 at Giants. Loss 3-17. 3-1
Week 5 at Panthers. Win 23-6. 4-1
Week 6 vs Seahawks. Loss 20-23. 4-2
Week 7 vs Redskins. Loss 14-17. 4-3
Week 9 at Bills. Win 22-19. 5-3
Week 10 vs Vikings. Win 27-13. 6-3
Week 11 at Dolphins. Win 16-0. 7-3
Week 12 vs Eagles. Win 31-26. 8-3
Week 13 at Lions. Win 24-20. 9-3
Week 14 vs Patriots. Loss 7-36. 9-4
Week 15 at Vikings. Win 40-14. 10-4
Week 16 vs Jets. Win 38-34. 11-4
Week 17 at Packers. Loss 3-10. 11-5

Wild-card Round: Jan 8, 9
NFC:
1-Falcons: Bye
2-Chicago Bears: Bye
3-Eagles vs 6-Packers. Packers win 21-16
4-Seahawks vs 5-Saints. Seahawks 41-36

AFC:
1-Patriots: Bye
2-Steelers: Bye
3-Colts vs 6-Jets. Jets win 17-6
4-Chiefs vs 5-Ravens. Ravens win 30-7
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Divisional Round: Jan 15, 16
NFC:
1-Falcons vs Packers. Packers win 48-21
2-Chicago Bears vs Seahawks. Win 35-24

AFC:
1-Patriots vs Jets. Jets win 28-21
2-Steelers vs Ravens. Steelers win 31-24
-----------------------------------------

Conference Championships: Jan 23
NFC:
Chicago Bears vs Green Bay Packers
Bears lose 14-21
AFC:
Pittsburgh Steelers vs New York Jets
Steelers win 24-19
-----------------------------------------

Super Bowl 45: Feb 6
Green Bay Packers vs Pittsburgh Steelers
Packers win 31-25




Devin Hester breaks the all-time punt and kickoff return record. 14 returns for a touchdown.

Here's a video of all 14 of Hester's returns. His last 3 came this year and he now holds the NFL record.


Playoff Run:
The Bears made a return to the playoffs this year and held the #2 seed in the NFC. With a first round bye, they then hosted the Seattle Seahawks who upset the Saints. The Bears had lost their regular season meeting with Seattle, but this game in the playoffs was nothing like that. Bears dominated.
Next came the NFC championship game. The Green Bay Packers came back to town for this battle. The Packers were playing like everyone thought they should during the season.... really good. The Bears could have knocked the Packers out of the playoffs with the final game of the regular season but couldn't get that game. Lost 3-10. The NFC championship game was a bit similar. I won't recap the whole thing. Check out my recap here if you want some more of that.

I did want to talk a bit about Cutler though. He took a lot of crap from everyone, players included for sitting out most of the second half with an injury. Look, you know i've had my doubts about Cutler and my dislikes of his play at times, but i'm not going to go after the guy for not going back in. I wasn't there and i'm not him. Also i've seen interviews and read stuff from Bears players and coaches who say otherwise. Lovie Smith said that he and other coaches kept Cutler from going back in when he wanted to. Basically what i'm sayin is that i'm not going all against Cutler for this one game. No he really didn't play all that well, but that's just what happens sometimes. He doesn't always have great games, some games kinda suck. I don't know whether he could come back in so i'm not going to worry about it a ton. He didn't play so good and he does have a lot to improve on during his NFL career. I hope he does improve. But he's the quarterback of my team the Bears. Give him a little credit for what he did do this year. Led the Bears to the NFC Championship and looked much better than he did last year. If he improves that much next year, he should actually be one of the better QBs in the league.

I was proud of the Bears in this game against the Packers. I thought Hanie came in and did a great job in Cutler's absense. He could be a decent quarterback with some experience. He showed a lot of promise. I would have liked a Bears super bowl appearance and win, but i see this season as a big ol success. Thanks to the Bears for a great season. Gots to love the Bears, hope they do even better next year.

If you're still reading, you're an idiot.