Friday, May 25th, 2012
The Chicago Bears in the 2009 regular season finished with a disappointing 7-9 record and missed the post season for the third straight season since their Super Bowl appearance in 2006.
The team opened with three wins in their first four games but endured a critical stretch of 6 losses in 7 games during mid season.
Head coach Lovie Smith survived the season and brings in Mike Martz as his offensive coordinator to help save his job.
Jay Cutler in his first season under center for the Bears struggled big time with 27 touchdown passes and 26 interceptions.
The club struggled with turnovers ending the year -6 in turnover differential finishing 23rd in the league.
Under Jay Cutler the Bears were terrible in the red zone scoring a touchdown just 47.1% of the time ranking 27th in the league.
The Bears gave Cutler no help on the ground ending the year 29th in rushing with only 93.3 yards per game an just 4.0 yards per carry.
Matt Forte struggled mightily for the Bears with just a 3.6 yards per carry average in 258 carries. The club signed former Minnesota Vikings back up Chester Taylor to help the run game.
With Mike Martz running the offense one would not expect many rushing plays.
Defensively the club ranked 17th in total defense allowing opponents an average of 337.8 yards per game. The club was 21st in the league in points allowed in 23.4 points per game.
The Bears drafted for defensive help with safety Major Wright from Texas taken in the third round and defensive end Corey Wooton from Northwestern in the fourth round. The Bears had no 1st or 2nd round draft picks this off-season.
The Odds:
Bodog sportsbook has set the 2010 season win total for the Chicago Bears at 8 wins with under favored at -120 odds with the over returning -110.
The Bears have been made 33-1 odds to win the 2010 Super Bowl.
The team has been set by Bodog at 16-1 to win the NFC Championship and +300 to win the NFC North division.
Sports betting at Bodog Sportsbook
Place your NFL sports wagers at Bodog with customer service that’s second to none!
2010 Chicago Bears Regular Season Schedule:
As a participant in the NFC North the Bears will play home and away to the Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers.
The Bears division in 2010 will play against the NFC East and AFC East.
Chicago’s NFC East opponents will be home games against the Washington Redskins and Philadelphia Eagles with road trips to the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants.
Their AFC East games will be home to the New England Patriots and New York Jets and on the road to the Miami Dolphins. The Bears game against the Buffalo Bills will be held on a neutral site in Toronto.
The team’s third place finish in the NFC North will schedule them against the two other third place finishers so that will bring a home game against the Seattle Seahawks and a road contest at the Carolina Panthers.
Chicago is featured in prime time on four occasions in 2010.
The squad will host the Green Bay Packers on Monday night football. They must travel in the three others games. They are at the New York Giants on Sunday night football, at the Minnesota Vikings on Monday night football and at the Miami Dolphins on a special edition Thursday night football on NFL Network.
If the Bears are to compete for a playoff spot they will need to be good late in the season as they finish with 4 brutally tough games.
In week 14 the club hosts New England then in week 15 they are at Minnesota. In week 16 the club hosts the New York Jets and they finish the regular season in a week 17 match at the Green Bay Packers.
Offense:
Jay Cutler had a forgettable initial season with the Bears completing 60.5% of his passes and having 1 more touchdown pass than interception. His strength is throwing the ball deep downfield with his strong arm. It should be interesting to see if he can adapt to Mike Martz’ system which relies on fast reads and releases. Dan LeFevour the standout from Central Michigan was drafted in the 6th round for insurance and grooming under Martz.
The Bears running back situation will feature Matt Forte as the starter with Chester Taylor pressing him for carries. Don’t expect many runs between the tackles as in Martz’ system his running backs catch the football out of the backfield. Forte may adapt well under the new offense has he contributed with 57 catches and a pretty good 8.3 yards per reception for his position. Taylor in 2009 with Minnesota had 44 catches with an 8.8 yards per catch average. If Cutler utilizes his backs early it would be a good transition for him.
Chicago’s receivers will feature Earl Bennett and Devin Hester as the #1 and #2 options with Johnny Knox and Rahied Davis the #3 and #4. Hester is the deep threat in this lineup and he contributed with 57 catches three touchdowns and a 13.3 yards per catch average. Knox also has speed and can excel in this system with many receiver in the Bears patterns. Greg Olson is the teams tight end and he led the club with 60 catches a season ago. Mike Martz’ doesn’t feature tight ends in his system as they are used more in pass protection so it should be interesting to see how the team will utilize his skills. Tight end Brandon Manumaleuna was signed as a free agent from San Diego for his pass blocking skills.
The offensive line shapes up with Olin Kreutz at center with Roberto Garza and Frank Omiyale at the guards. The tackles are Kevin Shaffer and Chris Williams. The Bears allowed 35 sacks a season ago. This offensive line will be greatly tested here as Martz’ system required deep drops from his quarterback. The team really lacks depth behind their starters on the line. The Bears had only 5 draft picks in 2010 and had to settle for offensive tackle J’Marcus Webb from West Texas A&M in the 7th round to provide needed depth to this unit.
Earn a 20% Signup Bonus at Bookmaker!
Defense:
The Bears made a lot of noise during the off season by signing pass rusher Julius Peppers from Carolina. He has averaged 10 sacks a season over his 8 year playing career.
The team runs a 4-3 defense that will shape up with Tommie Harris and Anthony Adams the inside tackles with Mark Anderson and Julius Peppers on the outside. The Bears had 35 sacks in 2009 ranking 13th in the league and Peppers added to the mix will move this number up. Defensive end Corey Wooton was drafted in the fourth round for depth. The team was 23rd against the run allowing 126.4 yards per game and a 4.3 yards per carry against average.
The linebackers for the Bears will line up with Brian Urlacher in the middle with pro bowler Lance Briggs and Hunter Hillenmeyer on the outside. The 11 year veteran Urlacher missed 15 games last season The 8 year veteran Briggs made plays last season as he contributed with 118 tackles and 2 ½ sacks in 2009. Veteran Pisa Tinoisamoa returns from his knee injury and will vie for Hillenmeyer’s spot as starter.
The Bears secondary lines up with Charles Tillman and Zach Bowman at the corners with Kevin Payne and Al Afalava at the safeties. The Bears were 13th against the pass by allowing 211.4 yards per game. At only 13 interceptions in 2009 they ranked 13th. Major Wright was drafted in the third round out of Florida as safety and will compete for Al Afalava’s spot at free safety.
And now to my Selection:
The coaching meetings should be rather interesting and it would be very nice to be a fly on the wall for these as offensive coordinator Mike Martz, head coach Lovie Smith and defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli debate the direction of this team.
These coaches are well familiar with one another outside of Chicago. Smith was Martz’ defensive coordinator when he coached the Rams and Martz was the offensive coordinator for Marinelli when he was the head coach of the pitiful Detroit Lions.
Remember it was Marinelli who fired Martz as his offensive coordinator when he chose to retain his son in law who at the time just finished an awful season as the Lions defensive coordinator as the team was simply atrocious defensively.
Many felt that Martz got a bum rap from Marinelli as the Lions were at least somewhat respectable on offense. These three together could spell disaster for the Bears if not properly managed.
The management style of Lovie Smith will come in play here and his experience working with Mike Martz in St Louis is a plus. With Smith on the hot seat I expect the coach to take a more hands on approach with the defense. He understands with Martz as his offensive coordinator he needs starters behind starters so he will work the depth.
Martz wont have to worry about coaching meetings where defensive coaches complain about a lack of a run game. They all know their jobs as defensive coaches is to rotate players and to develop starters behind starters to make this all work. Lovie Smith will have Mike Martz’ back.
Martz will preach patience with his quarterback right from the beginning. Cutler will work the short passing game with his backs and this will ensure a smooth transition for the entire season as he settles into a Mike Martz system. The Bears get to at least 9 wins in 2010 with the future bright for this team.
Selection: Play Over 8 wins in 2009 Regular Season.
Tags: brian urlacher, chester taylor, chicago bears, devin hester, football, football betting, football odds, football picks, free picks, jay cutler, julius peppers, matt forte, nfl, nfl betting, nfl football, nfl free picks, nfl odds, nfl picks, nfl season win projections, online gambling, pro football, sports betting, super bowl odds
