AZ,
I agree, we were playing with a Guard as a Center (or 3rd String Center), a converted Guard at RT, a backup LT, and backup Guards. So our entire Offensive Line was in new positions from where they were in preseason with multiple backups starting. We were missing Matt Forte who had accounted for over 1/3 of our offense, haven't had White all year and was missing Royal again. To me that was much worse than the O-Line woes of SD and missing Allen.
In regards to the game, the O-Line played decent enough to only allow one sack. The penalties were what killed us, but the TV never showed what Long did to get the penalty. The good part is we won with them playing like that, so if we get Grasu back and Ducasse can sit on his Duc-ass, we will be better next game (and will need to with the STL D-Line).
WR - Alshon was clearly over-hyped because you can tell by his reactions after the drops. On the Pick-6, there was a lot of contact at the top of the route, and he was actually stumbling backwards when the ball was thrown. A bad throw by Cutler, but without contact, Alshon easily makes a play on the ball. After that he just said throw me the damn ball and started to make plays. I like that mentality from him. Every other WR was non-existent, which is fine until they start rolling coverages.
TE - Probably the best all-around game for this group. They were everywhere, in the backfield, in the slot, on the outside, blocking, and making crazy catches. Miller's catch was Biletnikoff-esque, and one of the best catches all year. I love how it takes 3 dudes to take Bennett down.
RB - Langford had 4 yards per carry with a make shift line, and had a ridiculous catch himself. He has played numerous positions and can't just see the potential oozing from him. If he keeps this up, this will be Forte's last year as a Bear. Carey looked solid as well. What I liked about both of those guys is they rarely went down on first contact (a lot of spin moves), and almost always fell forward.
Cutler - The INT is on him, but like you said, there was contact at the top of the route which moved Alshon off his spot. 345 yards, 67.5% with a few drops, 2 TDs, and an INT is a really good game. INTs are going to happen, but the only play I didn't like is the fumble on the only sack. He needs to practice having his arm hit and how to stick the ball in his gut. Otherwise, he orchestrated some huge drives (80, 93, 80), and was incredibly solid under pressure and in the 4th (again). Lastly, the game could've gotten away easily after the Pick-6 and 13 point deficit, but Cutler didn't seem flustered at all (he wasn't throwing tablets - ala Rodgers, or fighting on the sidelines).
DLine - Solid and stepped up when we needed them to. Houston came up big and redeemed himself after the penalty with 2 huge sacks when we needed pressure. The D-Line had a couple of batted balls (Sutton for sure) and only allowed Gordon 2.8 yards per carry. The Chargers only had 2 runs longer than 10 yards (10 and 15).
LBs - It is funny that you mention Anderson, he led the team with 11 solo tackles and next closest was Jones with 5. Sure there were a couple of cross up plays, but that will come with more playing time. I know on the Woodhead pass they got picked by Gates on the crossing route. On the Gates long pass, it looks like he was expecting short pass in the flats and didn't follow Gates. Definitely a blown assignment, but again, it is a good learning point to build on. Otherwise, I was totally impressed with the gap discipline on running plays. We rarely lost gap control and there was always an LB or Amos in there to make a play on the ball carrier. Overall a decent game from another young group in the middle. I would like to have seen more from McPhee and Acho.
CBs - Porter had a forced fumble and a huge pass defended on that last SD drive. Callahan wasn't get blown away and Fuller continues to make tackles. This group doesn't have much talent, so I would say this was a great game based on the talent level.
S - Amos is legit and getting him a partner will be one of the top priorities in the offseason. Rolle is there for leadership and was not a liability from what I saw. Yeah, you know Woodhead is feeling that hit today.
Special Teams - Gould was off, hopefully that is his only bad game of the year, because we can't afford to leave points of the board. Other than those missed kicks, a decent day covering kicks and Mariani actually had some positive returns. Also, I believe we didn't have any penalties on Special Teams, which helped keep field position.
Coaching - All around great game plan. I believe the game was not as close as the score indicates. Defense only allowed 13 points on the road. Offense scored 22 with 2 missed FG's. Pick-6 killed another potential scoring drive, and Long's penalty took us out of FG range on another drive. So that is a 15 point swing and makes it potentially an 18 point win. Over 33 minutes of possession, 58/42 Pass/Run split, 9/15 on 3rd Downs, only 6 penalties.
This team is very hard to read this year. The last 5 games have all been decided by 3 pts or less and we can be 5-3 just as easily as we can be 0-8. After seeing GB struggling of late, how Denver looked against IND, I think we can be competitive in every remaining game (though we will probably only win 3 or 4 of them).
Good team win, hopefully we can use this as a building block and string together a couple of wins.
