Bears Off to Fast Start

What an opening to the 2012 season!  It definitely looked a little dicey at first, but when we got settled in (an effort clearly expedited by the injury to Dwight Freeney) we looked downright dangerous.  It had a little bit of everything we have been waiting (and hoping) for.  Here are some of my quick feelings after the game:

There was great running by Matt Forte.  When we came out throwing and the O-line couldn't protect, we started handing the ball to 22.  The result?  We marched down the field, scored a touchdown and that seemed to settle the whole team down.

Speaking of that touchdown, we converted in the red zone.  We scored touchdowns where we used to kick field goals.  Michael Bush is a great acquisition.  Never mind the towering receivers.  That TD to Marshall was just too easy.

Brandon Marshall.  Beast.  In case anyone wasn't yet aware, Cutler LOVES throwing to this guy.  Doesn't matter whether or not he's covered.  That will get us in trouble at some point, but I believe it will work in our favor more often than not.  This guy is ridiculous.

The rookies.  Alshon Jeffery continues to impress.  On that TD pass, Cutler audibled to have Marshall occupy the safety to free up Jeffery on the post (don't even get me started on how great it is that Cutler can audible!!).  Evan Rodriguez had some nice blocks and continues to develop and Shea McClellin had some nice pressure.  I very much like that they aren't shy about moving McClellin to RDE at times (this used to be Peppers' call, he has the right to line up wherever on the line he wants... not sure if this is still the case).  I continue to like this rookie class more and more as time goes by.

As for the defense, I felt it was a good job overall.  I was fairly pleased with the amount of pressure we got from the D-Line (I stated during the preseason that I felt that Henry Melton would soon be talked about as one of Chicago's elite defenders.  This game made that look like a real possibility).  Awesome game by Tim Jennings.  Good game by Chris Conte.  Urlacher was pretty ineffective (to be expected) and I was happy to see him pulled early.

All in all, it was a great start to the 2012 season.  We're on a short week this week with the matchup in Green Bay looming, but I will have a breakdown of our personnel usage and playcalling in the next few days.