NEWS: Titans Beatable, but Bears Not Playling like the Team

[G08]

By Bob LeGere | Daily Herald Columnist

Published: 11/5/200 12:17 AM


The Tennessee Titans are undefeated, but they can be beaten - but probably not by the Bears the way they've been playing.

Jeff Fisher's overachieving squad is 8-0 but needed overtime Sunday to defeat the 4-4 Green Bay Packers at home.

A month ago the Titans barely escaped Baltimore with a 13-10 victory, their only game in the first half of the season against a better-than-.500 team.

The combined record of Tennessee's opponents heading into Sunday's game at Soldier Field? 25-40.

Make no mistake, this year's Titans are not last year's New England Patriots, who dominated almost every team on their regular-season schedule.

The Titans rank 29th in passing yards and 24th in average gain per pass, and they are vulnerable on special teams, where they are 31st in opponents' kickoff-return average and 25th in opponents' punt-return average.

If Devin Hester is ever going to bust out of his seasonlong slump, this should be the week.

The Titans are a better team since Kerry Collins replaced Vince Young at quarterback, but the 35-year-old, 14-year veteran is no better than average, and he has not thrown a TD pass in a month.

Collins' 72.9 passer rating is nowhere near Kyle Orton's 90.8, and he never will be confused with Tony Romo when it comes to avoiding sacks. In eight of the nine seasons in which he has played more than 10 games, Collins has been sacked at least 24 times.

But this season the Titans' offensive line has done an exceptional job of protecting its immobile quarterback, allowing just 4 sacks (2 came Sunday against the Packers).

The problem for the Bears is that they have rarely demonstrated an ability to bring a consistent pass rush. Not one Bear has more than 3 sacks; as a team, they're 27th.

The Bears like to think they can rush the passer, but the sad truth is they usually can't. They failed to sack Atlanta rookie Matt Ryan or Tampa Bay's unathletic Brian Griese on a combined 97 passes.

The only time the Bears got consistent pressure was in the first Detroit game, and that was because they jumped ahead 17-0 by halftime and led 31-0 in the third quarter, forcing the Lions to abandon the run game and allowing the Bears to tee off and get 4 sacks.

Adewale Ogunleye, supposedly the Bears' best pass rusher, had 11/2 sacks in that game but has been blanked in the other seven.

Team leader Alex Brown has 3 sacks, but none in the last three games. Tackle Tommie Harris, dormant most of the season, has a sack in each of the last two games for his season total.

The other side of the ball is a different story.

The Titans are not the kind of team quarterback Rex Grossman wants to be facing in his 2008 starting debut. Tennessee is No. 1 in scoring defense, No. 2 in average gain per pass play, No. 3 in interceptions, No. 9 in sacks and No. 10 in rushing yards.

The Bears would love to build on the strong ground attack they mounted against the Lions, but that means controlling massive defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth, who may be the league's defensive MVP so far.

Facing a similarly formidable interior defense against Minnesota in Week 7, the Bears managed 53 yards on 22 carries. If they can't run a lot more effectively Sunday, the Bears won't be the team to hand the Titans their first loss.

rlegere@dailyherald.com

[DaDitka]

The Titans are not the kind of team quarterback Rex Grossman wants to be facing in his 2008 starting debut. Tennessee is No. 1 in scoring defense, No. 2 in average gain per pass play, No. 3 in interceptions, No. 9 in sacks and No. 10 in rushing yards.

Big deal....... (Oh Sh*t)

I guess we'll find out if this o-line is a good as the media would have us beleive.