Week 1 of the NFL Season

Colts at Bears

After watching the first game of the season against the Colts, all I can say is wow.

After a disappointing first quarter in which Jay Cutler completed only one of his 10 attempted passes and threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown, the Bears offense settled down and put on a display that I haven't as a Bears fan seen very much of, winning 41-21. They seemed downright unstoppable on some of their drives, moving the ball at will both in the air and on the ground. Brandon Marshall proved why we worked hard to get him as he kept plays alive when Cutler threw to him in duress. Scariest of all, the offense proved on one drive that they can run the ball with Forte, throw to a big target like Marshall and get the ball to a guy in Hester who's a threat to score whenever he's in space. If this offense continues improving and shows these results against playoff caliber teams, any defense is going to have a scary time covering all these offensive weapons.

While there were less questions about the defense coming into the season, it was good to see them perform at a high level. The defensive line consistently rushed the Colts offense with a four man line, which is important when you want to have a complete defense that doesn't need to take someone out of pass protection to put pressure on the quarterback. Julius Peppers as expected gave the offensive line of the Colts problems on every play, but I was most impressed with Henry Melton. He had a couple big plays, and I look forward to seeing him grow into the defensive player this coaching staff seems to think he can be. Tim Jennings had a great game, intercepting two passes and batting a third that was intercepted by another player. With number one cornerback Charles Tillman knocked out of the game, Jennings stepped up and gave Andrew Luck and the Colts offense headaches. This team's biggest perceived weakness on defense coming into this season was the play of its secondary, but you wouldn't think that watching this team's cornerbacks and safeties play this week.

There's still some questions this team is going to have to answer down the road. Their performance this week came against the team with the worst record in the league last year, and we may see a different team emerge when we play opponents that are favored to go the playoffs this year. At the same time, Brian Urlacher didn't finish the game because of his knee injury that has been problematic. I'm not saying that this team can't do well without Urlacher, but this team is going to badly want their best defensive player of the last decade out there every play. While the offensive line has been praised for their pass protection this week, there's still questions to be answered. They played better after the first quarter, but that was when the Colts' best defensive player, Dwight Freeney, was knocked out of the game. They're going to need to prove that they can pass protect against better teams. 

Regardless of the Colts' record last year, this is a league where the worst teams can beat the best teams in any given week, so it's good to see the Bears dominate a team they were expected to beat. They're going to have a real test Thursday night against the Packers in a division game they have to win. If they come out Thursday and win an away game against the team many think will win the division, they will have proved to a lot of doubters that this Bears team is for real.