Pompei: Observations From Bears-49ers
By Dan Pompei--
(CBS) Just when you thought the Bears couldn't get any worse, along came the 49ers to restore perspective to Chicago. It could be worse for the Bears, much worse. Right, Chip Kelly?
Here are my observations from Chicago's 26-6 win at Soldier Field on Sunday.
1. The Bears continue to get contributions from young players, and young players continue to show growth. What more could you want from this season?
2. The poor effort of the 49ers reflected well on John Fox and the Bears and their coaching staff. The Bears have never looked like they don't care.
3. Nice job by offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains to seize control of the game by shifting momentum with an aggressive two-minute drive at the end of the first half.
4. And nice job by Loggains to keep feeding rookie running back Jordan Howard, who rushed for 117 yards and three touchdowns on 32 carries.
5. The defensive gameplan by Vic Fangio was brilliant. He completely exposed Colin Kaepernick despite having an undermanned unit.
6. Give Matt Barkley credit for this: He hangs in the pocket and takes the hit.
7. Barkley has been at his best in two-minute situations the last two weeks. Give me a quarterback who's at his best in two-minute situations consistently, and I can win my fair share of games.
8. This tells you something about where the quarterback bar is set in Chicago -- Barkley has a 65.8 passer rating in two starts. He has one career victory against a team that is 1-11. And Bears fans are giddy.
9. Let's see what Barkley can do against the Lions on the road, against Packers and Redskins at home and the Vikings on the road. Each of those will be more legitimate measures than the pathetic 49ers.
10. If defensive lineman Akiem Hicks had played every game the way he did Sunday, he could book his trip to the Pro Bowl now.
11. You have to love the resiliency of receiver Josh Bellamy. But it's a good thing he can play special teams.
12. Judging from the poor offensive execution, especially early, you would've thought the game was being played in the blizzard of '67.
13. A number of people with satellite dishes lost their signals and couldn't watch the game. I hope they had the decency to thank their service providers.
14. If the thermometer read about 40 degrees higher, that could have been the fourth game of the preseason.
Dan Pompei has been covering the NFL since 1985 and is a regular contributor to 670 The Score and a host on 670's Bears pregame show. He writes for Bleacher Report and theathletic.com. You can follow him on Twitter @Dan Pompei.
