Tough Times for Bears, Bulls Defense

November 25, 2013 @ admin → No Comments

Monday meanderings: As if Sunday wasn’t painful enough for some Chicago sports fans. Some of us viewed the the Bulls game on Comcast SportsNet as we waited for the Bears postgame show. I felt fairly defenseless. Which pretty much would describe the Bulls and Bears efforts.

Clippers dancer Brittany offers our readers a diversion for Sunday’s Bears and Bulls efforts.

* Well, the afternoon wasn’t totally defenseless. the Bulls did manage to hold the Los Angeles Clippers to fewer than 100 points. Sadly for the Bulls, that figure meant through three quarters.

* It’s not every day that a city’s NFL and NBA franchises play on the same day — with both teams losing. That said, it’s not every day that the NFL team will lose by 21 points (in this case 42-21 to the host St. Louis Rams) and that’s not the larger margin of defeat. The mathematical computation department at elliottharris.com has figured the Bulls’ 121-82 loss the Clippers is a 39-point deficit.

* It’s also not every day that you see a football team commit as many penalties as the opposing team has pass completions. The magic number Sunday: 10. If it’s any consolation to Bears fans (and the guess here it might be only to one person), 10 also was the number of receptions that Bears receiver Brandon Marshall had.

* Speaking of mathematical calculations, Bears running back Matt Forte had a 4.8 average per carry (16 for 77 yards). He had a long of 26 yards yards. Which means he averaged 3.4 on the 15 other rushing attempts. The Rams leading rusher, Cunningham, had 109 yards on 13 carries with a long of 27 yards and an 8.4 average. Take away his long run and his average was only 6.8. Which pretty much tells you all you need to know about the Bears’ rushing defense.

* One statistical area that the Bears dominated was time of possession. The Bears had the ball for 36:09 to the Rams’ 23:51. The Bears also ran 74 plays to the Rams’ 53. All of which speaks to the meaninglessness (that is a word, isn’t it?) of some statistics.

* The good news is the Bears’ next opponent is Minnesota. The Vikings are last in the NFC North. The bad news: The Vikings tied the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field on Sunday.

* Moving right along, if nothing else, Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau was able to keep the minutes down for his starters. The sole starter to play in the fourth quarter was Mike Dunleavy. Which meant second-year guard Marquis Teague and rookie Tony Snell had some significant playing time. Whatever the Bulls saw in Teague escapes the fans who believe the team was off the mark when it selected him in the 2012 draft. About as off the mark as Teague was in going 0-for-7 from the field Sunday.

* Bulls guard Derrick Rose will have surgery on to repair the meniscus in his right knee on Monday. Something says there is insufficient anethesia to have the procedure painless for fans feeling Rose’s — but mostly their own — agony.

* The good news for the Bulls is they play Utah in Salt Lake City on Monday. Good news being a relative term.

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Here is where to go for a daiy dose of non-gratuitous video (thanks to the extraordinary efforts of the editorial and video departments at elliottharris.com):