Joniak's Journal: Bears Must Protect Jay Cutler Against Vikings
By Jeff Joniak--
(CBS) The Bears are are 2-4 and coming off their by week as the take on the Minnesota Vikings at noon on Sunday at Soldier Field. Here are my thoughts heading into the game.
First impression
Protecting Jay Cutler is one of the big keys against the Vikings. Minnesota is tied for the third-most knockdowns, with 42 in six games. The New York Jets and Denver are first and second on that list. The Vikings like to blitz and did repeatedly in battering Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford last week. Overall, the Vikings have 10 sacks in blitz passing situations, one of only five teams with double-digit sacks on the blitz. Former UCLA linebackers Eric Kendricks and Anthony Barr have been excellent and will crash the A-gap on either side of Bears center Hroniss Grasu, hoping to cause blocking assignment confusion.
Second thought
More than likely, every NFL player will have a health or injury scare at some point in his career. Bears cornerback Tracy Porter had his in the 2012 preseason playing for the Denver Broncos. He missed a game because of a seizure.
"Let me start off by saying yes, it did scare me," Porter said. "To be honest, I don't know where it came from because I had been fine my whole life. I had never had that occur. It was one day in training camp, just sitting in meetings. The coach is going over practice, and I'm starting to feel a little weird."
Porter couldn't respond. He couldn't move. The seizure happened only once and never again. Doctors said they couldn't find what might have triggered it, which Porter said was both good and bad. It was a freak occurrence.
"Very scary," Porter said. "I'm thankful that I'm still here and thankful that nothing has happened since then."
Porter said he doesn't think about it anymore, unless he has to play in Denver, where the seizure happened.
Third degree
Taking the ball away must be one of the prominent goals for the Bears defense over the final 10 weeks of the season. With interceptions only by linebackers Pernell McPhee and rookie Jonathan Anderson, the Bears are one of just two teams without an interception from the secondary.
Anderson is a rookie linebacker from TCU who was good in a nickel role against the Lions, with the interception, arguably a second one that was overturned after a review and a sack taken away by a defensive penalty.
"The guy that we thought he reminded us (of) was (Denver linebacker) Brandon Marshall," Bears defensive line coach Jay Rodgers said. "Brandon was a guy who we could not block in practice as an offense, and in 2013 our offense was pretty darn good. He got his chance, and he ended up being arguably our best special teams player throughout the postseason that year and has gone on to play well."
The Jaguars have two interceptions by linebackers, just like the Bears. Minnesota only has one of its four by a member of the secondary, and that came from Harrison Smith at free safety. Interestingly, four ex-Bears have interceptions this season: Zach Bowman with Miami, Corey Graham with Buffalo, Chris Conte with Tampa Bay and Trumaine McBride with the New York Giants. The Bears defense and special teams unit has forced only five fumbles, recovering four, one by Sam Acho.
The defense has to create more takeaway opportunities and when given the chance, make the play.
Fourth-and-short
Here's something I learned during our interview with special teams coordinator Jeff Rodgers on Monday night during the Bears coaches show on WBBM: He was a former center for Drew Brees at Westlake High School in Austin, Texas.
"Drew was actually my younger brother's backup (quarterback)," Rodgers said. "Little bro blew his knee out, and Drew took over and the rest was kind of history. I was charged with protecting Drew for a year. I had zero fumbled snaps in my high school career. I'm pretty proud of that stat, and I won't be snapping the ball anytime soon, so I think that will stay intact."
Bears defensive line coach Jay Rodgers is Jeff's older brother and the one who was replaced by Brees, who was also a ranked tennis player. Westlake also produced Rams quarterback Nick Foles.
Jeff Joniak is the play-by-play announcer for the Bears broadcasts on WBBM Newsradio 780. Follow him on Twitter @JeffJoniak.
