FREE Saturday OPINION SELECTION
CHICAGO -1½ FIRST HALF over San Francisco
Lovie Smith makes his Chicago head coaching debut Saturday night, as the new Bears head man and his team host San Francisco. Smith began his initial season on a strong note, as the Bears defeated St. Louis, 13-10 in overtime. Chicago will face a Niners team that dropped a 33-30 decision in its first preseason contest, against Oakland this past Saturday.
As expected, Bears QB Rex Grossman saw only limited action in the preseason lid-lifter but was sharp. He yielded to backups Jonathan Quinn and Craig Krenzel, both of whom played decently. Running back Thomas Jones had 7 carries for 53 yards and 3 receptions against the Rams. Adrian Peterson also had a strong game on the ground, averaging more than 5 yards a rush on 10 carries.
The 49ers will once again be without projected starting quarterback Tim Rattay, who has been sidelined with arm and groin problems. In Rattay's absence, quarterback Ken Dorsey will once again get the start, and will be succeeded by Brandon Doman and Cody Pickett. RB Kevan Barlow should begin to see increased carries beginning with this week. In addition to Rattay, the Niners will be without fullback Fred Beasley and first-round draft pick and wide receiver Rashaun Woods.
Bears’ QB Grossman and the starters should end up playing into the second quarter, as well. Normally, the second exhibition game also would offer the team's second-string quarterback an opportunity to quell any doubts about his readiness. But the Bears' backup, Jonathan Quinn, will play only part of the second quarter after Grossman leaves and give way to rookie Craig Krenzel at the beginning of the second half. This means the Bears biggest advantage will be in the first half. We look for them to get off to a solid start offensively behind Grossman who has looked very good in camp. ''We've made a lot of progress,'' Smith said. ''Going in we had a young quarterback that had really never played. We really feel good about where he is. Our offensive line is starting to take shape. The last couple days we think our defensive line has really picked up the tempo.â€
There’s little doubt that Lovie wants to have a successful debut in Chicago and build some confidence for this young team. With the Bears mostly finished installing their own schemes, they turned to preparing for Saturday's preseason game against the San Francisco 49ers at Soldier Field in one of their final workouts. A big edge that a coach can gain vs. an opponent is to gameplan. Most coaches don’t do this for a preseason game, but if a coach is studying films of an opponent’s schemes and plans plays to attack those specific schemes, he is playing to win. Chicago’s offense and defense got looks from the scout teams during the final practice on Wednesday morning. It's earlier in the preseason than most teams begin focusing on their opponent, but with the new staff in place, an extra dry run will help the coaches and players prepare for weekly game plans during the season. Look for Chicago to have a solid first 2 quarters of play as they take a lead of 3+ points into the locker room at the break.