Beer, Cheese And Excuses

I don't see what's the big deal.  We all expected the team with the explosive passing game and aggressive, opportunistic defense to be leading the NFC North by week three right?  Ok, so very few thought it would be the Bears, and of course the big key is it is only week three, but it is has only taken three weeks for the Bears to knock off two preseason favorites, Dallas and Green Bay.

After the Bears resourceful win over Green Bay Monday many Packers fans were digging in to the excuse bag.   The Bears didn't win the game, the bumbling, fumbling Pack gave the game away.  Bumble and fumble?  They did.  Give the game away?  Not a chance.

Green Bay committed 18 penalties, including a holding call that took a touchdown off the board and negated interceptions with a pass interference call and a roughing the passer penalty.  They also turned the ball over twice, dropped an interception and wasted a time out on a bad challenge late in the fourth quarter.  Clearly not a clean performance, but a lot of the Packers mistakes were a result of Chicago's aggressive play.  Six of the Packers penalties committed by their offensive line came against the lineman lined up against Bears end Julius Peppers.  Peppers routinely whipped and intimidated tackles Mark Tauscher and Chad Clifton.  The two wiped out interceptions were the clear result of rules infractions by Green Bay.  The first throw was influenced short by a vicious helmet to helmet hit by linebacker Frank Zombo on Bears quarterback Jay Cutler.  On the second Packers safety Morgan Burnett prevented Bears receiver Earl Bennett from being able to work his way back to an under thrown pass, leaving the intercepting Nick Collins uncontested.  Burnett did a nice job of turning his head to the throw, but was running through Bennett and not playing the ball.  Don't believe me?  Ask the three officials that threw flags on the play.  The only real self inflicted wounds were Collins inexplicable slamming of Bears running back Matt Forte to the ground after the whistle had blown resulting in an unnecessary roughness penalty and Packers coach Mike McCarthy challenging a clear fumble recovery by Bears cornerback Tim Jennings costing the Packers a valuable second half time out.

As far as the two turnovers go, both were forced by the big paw of Bears star linebacker Brian Urlacher.  Speaking of plays made by the Bears, did they not block a field goal?  And did they not produce three long kick returns, including one for a touchdown?  And did Cutler not throw a touchdown to tight end Greg Olson?  And did Johnny Knox not have 94 yards receiving?  Or were those more Packers making more mistakes?  A lot was made of Green Bay's total yardage advantage of 379 to 276, but you have remember that one of the Bears offensive possessions was Devin Hester's 62 yard lighting bolt to the house.  The Bears held their own with Green Bay on offense and defense and took the game on special teams.

Let's not forget the sloppy Packers didn't have the market cornered on mistakes either.   So for fun we'll play "Packer logic" and blame mistakes.  Since the Bears missed a field goal, threw an interception in the red zone, dropped an interception, committed a roughing the passer penalty on a Packers touchdown drive, failed to score on fourth and goal from the half yard line, followed up Jennings fumble recovery with a crucial holding call on center Olin Kreutz and wasted a second half time out and final challenge on Lovie Smith's ill advised challenge of a phantom touchdown pass to Bennett, then the Packers should consider themselves lucky the Bears let them stay with in three scores.

In my preview of this game I said both teams were trying to make a statement.  The Bears wanted to show they could beat good teams and the Packers wanted to show the Bears who was in charge.  Well the Bears showed at least for now they intend on being a factor and as far as the Packers go, is it really surprising how they lost?  To a certain extent the Packers are who we thought they were, a penalty plagued unit with a shoddy offensive line.  So if you want to crown their ass, then crown their ass, but we will never forget the way the Bears thrilled the nation with their five wide, no backs formation.

The Holy War

Growing up a Bears fan in southern Wisconsin during the Brett Favre reign did something to me.  It broke something.  It made me not like you.  From 1994-1998 the Packers beat the Bears ten times in a row.  I was subjected to emotional abuse from friends, neighbors and loved ones.  I was subjected to this.  Then Lovie Smith came to town and started making everything OK.  The Bears started beating the Pack, big wins like Christmas day 2005 to clinch the NFC North, a 26-0 beat down at Lambeau to kick off the Super Bowl XLI run and a late December 35-7 shellacking at Soldier Field in 2007 to keep the Packers from attaining home field advantage in the playoffs.   Favre stopped throwing touchdown passes to Robert Brooks and Antonio Freeman and started throwing them to Nathan Vasher, Lance Briggs and Brian Urlacher.  Things were good.  But a new pain in the ass has emerged at quarterback for the hated Packers, a man who in any other colors would be a favorite of mine, a man who has swung the momentum of The Rivalry in the wrong direction.  This f'ing guy.  Aaron Rodgers.  Rodgers has led Green Bay to win three of the last four meetings with Chicago and would have had them all if not for the long arm of Alex Brown.
Well folks, its time for the 180th installment of the greatest rivalry in sports (of which the Bears hold a 91-82-6 advantage, including the only playoff match up victory).

The Green Bay Packers, steeped in the great passing tradition of Bart Starr and Favre, bring their latest aerial edition to Soldier Field to face a franchise notorious for their legendary runners like Gayle Sayers and Walter Payton, the Chicago Bears, and their.....top of the line passing attack?  That's right, these aren't your grandfather's Bears, these aren't even my father's Bears.  With the infusion of offensive coordinator Mike Martz and quarterback Jay Cutler, the Bears now boast one of the league's top passing attacks.  Granted it's been only two games but early results speak for themselves as Cutler has put up 649 passing yards, five touchdowns to just one interception, leads the NFL with a 121.2 passer rating and was most impressive picking apart a highly touted Cowboys team in Dallas.  The Packers defense will pose a special new challenge to the Bears, with NFL sack leader Clay Matthews and defending NFL Defensive Player Of The Year Charles Woodson leading a terrorizing 3-4 grouping.  After a rocky start and the loss of starting left tackle Chris Williams the Bears adjusted and eventually handled the Cowboys 3-4 defense, but Packers defensive coordinator Dom Capers takes confusion to another level with the inclusion of a specialized mutation of one defensive lineman, five linebackers and five defensive backs, or psycho defense.  The Bears offensive line came into the season as the team's biggest question mark and has definitely had their issues, but by the second half of the Dallas game Martz had schemed around and line coach Mike Tice had coach the unit up to the point that the Bears were able to start using play action and deep drops again.  Recognizing where the defensive pressure is coming from and addressing it properly will be key in giving Cutler the time he needs to attack a Packers secondary thinned out by injuries to Al Harris and Atari Bigby.

The Bears certainly are the new kids on the block throwing the ball, but Rodgers is building on two consecutive seasons with a passer rating of better than 93 and threw a most impressive 30 touchdowns to just seven interceptions last season.  Getting to Rodgers with be key for the Bears who have registered just two sacks this season despite the addition of big time pass rushing free agent Julius Peppers.  That's not to say the Bears defense has played poorly, rejuvenated by the healthy return of Urlacher they've actually been quite stout forcing six turnovers and allowing just 58 rushing yards.  The Packers offensive concerns also revolve around a suspect offensive line that is a little banged up with left tackle Chad Clifton and left guard Darren College both missing practice time this week.  How they, or their reserves, hold up against the Bears aggressive front seven will dictate how Rodgers will operate against a secondary that can be victimized through the air and is missing top draft pick Major Wright.

You may have noticed I'm four paragraphs in and I've yet to address the running backs.  It's not that won't impact the game, it's just that the Packers best runner, Ryan Grant is out for the season and Chicago's Matt Forte has over twice as many receiving yards as rushing yards and all three of his touchdowns through the air.    Both teams feature talented receiving corps, the Packers have the more polished group led NFL elites Greg Jennings and Donald Driver.  The emerging Bears try to kill with speed behind burners Devin Hester, Devin Aromashodu and Johnny Knox, but the real fun will be in watching how each team deals with the others tight ends (uh, so to speak).  The Packers 6'5" Jermichael Finley is coming off a 104 yard receiving effort against Buffalo, but will face two of the league's better all around linebackers in Urlacher and Briggs.  Chicago's speedy Greg Olson also performed well in his last game completing a 39 yard touchdown catch and run.  Safe to say both team's safeties will have their hands full.

For years the Bears have had some of the league's best special teams units, sending three different players to the Pro Bowl since 2007 with Hester and Brendon Ayanbadejo each making the team twice in that span.  Kicker Robbie Gould is off to another great start, but the usually solid punter Brad Maynard and kick coverage units have been shaky.  The Bears kick return game hasn't been up to its usual par either, but with Knox, Hester and Danieal Manning all with career return touchdowns, they are always a threat.  Green Bay made dealing with Chicago's special teams a top priority last season and were not burned by the units.  They are also experiencing a surge in kick returns behind Jordy Nelson's 31 yards a return average and are getting production early from kicker Mason Crosby.

The Packers enter the game a deserved favorite.  They made the playoff last season, the Bears didn't.  They swept the Bears last season.  It's up to the Bears to prove last week's win in Dallas wasn't a fluke and they can play at the same level as the Packers.  I think this is a more important game for the Bears, because, well, I think it would be easier for Green Bay to make up a game in the standings.  Both teams want to make a statement, there is an underlying sentiment that with the Viking at 0-2 that the Packers are already two games up on the division, the upstart Bears need to prove that is not the case by knocking off a Super Bowl caliber team.  Green Bay needs to show they are in control of the division by pounding the Bears.  It's going to come down to who can protect their star quarterback better and who takes better care of the ball.  Not exactly ground breaking analysis, I know, but it is a more glaring key in this game than most.  Hopefully the Soldier Field crowd noise will give the Bears a split second edge against the Packers beat up offensive line.  Hopefully Rodgers is left with a life time of Peppers and Charles Tillman related nightmares.

Official Prediction:  Bears 34, Packers 27.  Ok, ok, I know it is a homer pick, but come on, how could you ever love a team with Jim McMahon?  Not even Porky Pig was as big a ham.

Amateur Restaurant Reviews (Vol. I & II)

I dined at a couple local restaurants this past week and here's my take on how things went.

Vol. I:  Brickhouse BBQ

Cuisine: Bar-B-Que

Appetizers:  $7-$10

Entrées:  $10-$20

Portions:  Generous

Drinks:  There was a fairly expansive selections of tap beers (New Glarus, Lake Louie, Central Waters, Tyranena, Lakefront, Furthermore, etc.), but they offered only one variety of most brands.  I enjoyed a 312 Urban Wheat from Goose Island as well as a Bitter Woman IPA from Tyranena.


Food:  The food seemed formulated and lacked the soul of real smokehouse BBQ.  The menu features classic BBQ fare such as ribs, pork, chicken and brisket (oddly the brisket was served only on the sandwich menu).  There were also fish, burger and salad options.  Side were also traditional, potatoes, cole slaw, beans collard greens and the like, but the menu was clearly missing fried okra.  I had the pulled pork with sides of cole slaw, baked beans and hushpuppies with banana coconut cream pie for dessert.  The pork was decent, but didn't have that melt in your mouth quality of real slow roasted pork shoulder.  The BBQ sauce was a joke, they brought out three little saucers containing a vinegar based sauce, a tomato based sauce and a mustard based sauce.  I actually preferred the mustard sauce, but they were all pedestrian.  Any BBQ joint worth its salt has a signature sauce.  The sides were weak too, the hushpuppies were dry, the "creamy" cole slaw wasn't and the beans were, for some reason, incredibly spicy.  The dessert was also misguided, relying to heavily on sugar for taste and contained unsliced banana quarters, that were almost frozen. 

Rating:  Slightly above poor



Vol. II:  New Seoul Korean Restaurant

Cuisine:  Korean

Entrées:  $4-$22

Portions:  Generous

Drinks:  Soft drinks, bottled beer, wine

Food:  New Seoul features a great collection of soups, bokum and bulgogi.  I had the spicy pork bokum, miso soup and green tea.  The miso soup was warm, rich and tangy, but pretty standard.  The bokum was amazing.  Tender pork and a zesty collection of onions in a spicy red pepper sauce mixed with steamed rice made for heaven on a plate.  Also served as complementary sides were kimchi, daikon radish and cold crinkle cut potato slices in a sweet syrup, all of which were delicious.

Rating:  Highly recommended

Grant Recinded

Well cheese doodles, how are you feeling this morning?  Yesterday news was handed down the Green Bay Packers starting half back Ryan Grant would be lost for the 2010 NFL season.  So what does this mean for a team poised to make a run at a return to glory?  Doom?  Probably not.  Nothing?  Definitely not.

What makes the Green Bay offense so deadly is their multiple wide receiver sets allowing star quarterback Aaron Rodgers to victimize the opposition's reserve secondary players.  That doesn't mean a strong rushing attack isn't important and Grant was certainly strong, rushing for over 1,200 yard in both of the past two seasons.  Having a dangerous ground game adds another dimension to the high powered Packer offense, keeping opposing defenses from loading up against the pass, particularly teams with a strong pass rush that can take advantage of the Packers suspect offensive line.  Green Bay has an explosive back up in Brandon Jackson, but he has never attempted more than 75 rushes in any of his four seasons.  Jackson's 175 career carries are 107 fewer than Grant had last season alone, so whether or not he can pick up the slack remains to be seen.  Of bigger concern is what would happen if Jackson were to also suffer a serious injury.  The Packers current roster offers two fullbacks, Korey Hall and Quinn Johnson, as well as half backs John Kuhn and the recently added Dimitri Nance.  The quartet boasts a total of 20 NFL carries, all by Kuhn.

For the time being Green Bay is still a playoff worthy team with an explosive offense and opportunistic defense anchored by rising star Clay Matthews and 2009 NFL Defensive Player Of The Year Charles Woodson, but team depth has taken a serious blow.  A lot of an NFL season is surviving injuries and losing a key weapon in the first week of the season sets the Packers back in the race for NFC dominance with the Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints.

Is there anybody out there?

Welcome to Abraham's House Of Foolishness!  I've been writing a sports blog for over three years, focusing on American sports leagues on another site, that has more or less alienated its blogging core.  My search for a new platform has led me here and with this new platform comes new horizons.  While sports is still my passion and will be the bread and butter of this blog, I will also share my thoughts on food, beer, family and life in general as well.  Enjoy!