Bernard Berrian

er Taylor (the last year of the Tice regime) was just as productive as Tarvaris Jackson throwing to Bernard Berrian and giving to Adrian Peterson.  Essentially, what I'm trying to say is that Childress has come nowhere near delivering the "kick-ass" offense he promised a few seasons ago.  Sure, the defense has been incredible, but Chilly lucked out in that regard (and was likely helped by the presence of Mike Tomlin, now Head Coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers), as the Wilfs had just doled out the money to Pat Williams, Antoine Winfield, and Darren Sharper, while Kevin Williams was becoming a major inside force.

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1 INT.  Adrian Peterson rushed for 103 yards on 21 carries.  Both Bobby Wade (98 yds) and Bernard Berrian (81 yards) turned in impressive performances.  Jackson's INT was also the only Vikings turnover lost in the contest.

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nch would have meant seven points for Chicago.  From that point (well, actually, from the time Bernard Berrian started off at one goal line and ended up at the other with ball in hand), the Vikings completely dominated the game.  True, "dominated" is a relative word in Vikingland (as the Bears did get to within three points early in the third quarter), but the offense stepped up when needed with big runs from Peterson and only one glaring Frerotte mistake.  As usual, the defense also dominated the opposing players, limiting Orton to 153 passing yards and three picks, Forte to 96 on the ground (hey, it's under 100!), and seeing Jared "The Beast" Allen take Orton to the turf three times.

Continue reading "Vikings 34, Bears 14: Doing What Needed To Be Done"

On the very next play, Gus Frerotte found ex-Bear Bernard Berrian on the sideline behind broken Charles Tillman coverage for a 99-yard touchdown pass. Minnesota went up 10-7 and proceeded to humiliate the “Mediocre of the Midway” for the rest of the night. 

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If you had told me the Minnesota Vikings would score 41 points and rack up over 400 yards of offense on my Bears, I would have thought twice about watching such a slaughter. Lucky for me I had no such prior information, so I tuned in to witness the shootout at Soldier Field. I’m glad I did, as the Bears hung on in a thrill-fest.

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could have converted and moved the chains), decided not to throw, and tried to weave the ball into Bernard Berrian, just too tight of a fit (resulting in an incompletion).  On the play, Frerotte also looked to have space to run for the necessary one yard, but his complete lack of mobility prevented him from doing so.

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any easier against Minnesota, as the Bears’ top three cornerbacks are all fighting injuries. Bernard Berrian, having fled to the Vikings for more money, is coming off of two straight 100 yard receiving performances. He is without question the Vikings’ top playmaker at wide-out, and like Atlanta, the talent drop-off after their number one is significant. The Bears can’t be stubborn this week regarding Berrian, as Gus Frerotte has show the ability to find him downfield, often in key situations. He and Berrian will surely look to duplicate Matt Ryan and Roddy White’s tremendous success of last week. Double teams should be coming Berrian’s way in bunches. With that in mind, the Bears first focus will still be on running back Adrian Peterson. Early last season the Bears gave up the most rushing yards in franchise history to Peterson, getting gashed for 224 yards and three touchdowns in one game. The defense will be looking to take Peterson out of the flow early, but they’ll need help in the form of turnovers which leads to successful offensive possessions. They’ll also need a better effort from defensive tackle Tommie Harris, whose production is at a career low. Stopping Peterson will rely on his penetration in the middle of the Minnesota offensive line. If he has a poor showing, so will the Bears’ defense.

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Vikings lack one key component of that system: the ability to complete short passes.  Leaving Bernard Berrian out of the equation for the moment, the Vikings' other receivers (Bobby Wade, Aundrae Allison, and Robert Ferguson) are just not good enough to consistently get open and make the play required of them.  Allison is too inexperienced and penalty-prone, while Fergie and Wade are too old).  So, what ends up happening is that opposing defenses even leave the short-yardage receivers in loose coverage, instead choosing to stop-up Peterson, a strategy that has been quite successful in rendering the Purple impotent with the ball.  The end result is Peterson getting stuffed, and the receivers dropping enough passes (or just plain not getting open) to set up third and long situations, which a West Coast offense is not equipped to convert, as the defense can finally play a little looser knowing that a pass is almost surely coming.

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nts with 4:33 remaining in the third quarter and at their own 14 yard line, Frerotte found receiver Bernard Berrian on the left side and Berrian turned on the jets, running 86 yards for the score (exactly what we are paying him to do).  The Vikes elected to kick the extra point (I decision I didn't take too much offense with, as so often missed two-point conversions come back to haunt teams) and thus cut the deficit to 10-9.

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Brian Griese was traded back to his old team today for an undisclosed 2009 draft pick. We all knew this was coming, especially since he was due a $300,000 roster bonus tomorrow and wouldn’t have stayed on the roster even if he hadn’t been traded. This is comforting news for Angelo, who got something, anything, for Greesee rather than just giving him the ol’ das boot. I don’t really understand what the Bucs were thinking. Take a gander at their current QB roster for ‘08:

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So the prodigal son has returned without ever having left. Lance Briggs agreed to a six-year contract with the Bears today worth about $36 million with $13 million in guaranteed bonuses. After all the fuss and drama of last season, it’s good to see Briggs finally get the huge contract he deserves. Briggs played like a possessed man in ’07, ranking second on the team in tackles with 140, including ten tackles-for-loss. He also added two sacks, two forced fumbles, and a fumble recovery. If you watched any game last year, you know this guy was always leaving it all on the field every game, holding down the weak side position and providing a great complement to Urlacher. And now that he’s coming back, we can be certain Lovie will keep Urlacher in the middle instead of experimenting with him on the weak side (He’s also incredibly smart. Remember when he crashed his Lamborghini on the Edens at 4 AM the night before practice and inexplicably left the scene? I mean, come oooonnnnn, talk about intangibles). More importantly, with a healthy Harris and Dvoracek holding down the interior of the D-Line, Urlacher and Briggs will be able to move more effectively throughout the second level instead of constantly having to inch up and provide run support. Come to think of it, this should come as no surprise. Briggs had stated a desire to remain in Chicago towards the end of the season, and the front office is famous for its loyalty and inclination to re-sign players rather than explore options through free agency. You had Tillman and Vasher re-signed during the regular season and now Briggs, in addition to Grossman, Orton, Clark, and Brown over the past few weeks. Clearly, they’re viewing consistency as the best course of direction for the immediate future and I think it will serve us well (That is, except with Benson, who as one enlightened colleague notes should just be flat-out dropped, like a bad habit).

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