Right after the bye week, when the Bears were maybe one or two plays away from sliding into the "second division," as the old timers would say, Matt Forte caught fire.
It wasn't solely the fact that offensive line coach Mike Tice came up to Mike Martz and said the team should run the ball more, as Dan LeBatard noted on his show this week. If that were the only reason for the Bears' success in the second half of the season, Chester Taylor's face wouldn't be on the back of milk cartons. (Seriously, 2.4 yards per carry for your third-down back? Bring back Adrian Peterson the Lesser.)
It was a lot to do with Matt Forte.
The rookie from Tulane exploded out of nowhere in 2008, but was derailed by the previous season's workload in 2009. This year, Forte was struggling through the Bears' pass-heavy offense before the conversation between the Two Mikes Not Named Ditka.
The rest is history, albeit forgotten history. Forte averaged 107 all-purpose YPG after the bye and didn't have a game where he averaged less than three yards per carry after the loss to the Redskins. In contrast, he had five such games before the midseason break.
It'd be enough to say that Forte broke the thousand yards plateau in 80 fewer carries than his rookie season. But what's astounding to me is that after five rushing fumbles last year, he didn't have one in 2010. Not one fumble running the ball. Not one.
Somewhere, Adrian Peterson the Greater is reading that paragraph while burning a pair of Wrangler jeans.
So after a mediocre start trying to implement the "Greatest Show on Turf" at the Spaceship Formerly Named Soldier Field, the Bears realized they had a competent running back that could do more than catch the football. Success ensued. Reality was back in Chicago: the Bears were a running team again.
Yet if you listen to all the ESPN reports, expert analysis and newspaper predictions, the money matchup is Rodgers vs. Cutler. Jay Cutler has to go toe-to-toe and blow-for-blow with A-Rodg (I said it, Clark) for the Bears to have a chance at going to the Super Bowl.
Excuse me for one second. This is the same Jay Cutler no one could trust to hold onto a cinnamon roll about six weeks ago. The same Jay Cutler that's had baby fat since eighth grade. The same Jay Cutler that, as everybody and their mama loved to point out, won his first playoff game since high school last Sunday.
Now I don't give a flying cheesehead about the last fact, but I do care about the first two (moreso the second than the first). If you're not going to trust him with the keys the whole season, why put the onus on him at the ultimate crunch time?
As Sarah Palin has said to many a smart idea, no!
The Bears' success on offense lies with Matt Forte. Outside of the washout against New England, Forte posted good numbers in the second half and murked both the Jets' (19 carries, 113 yards) and Packers' (15-91) defenses in the final two weeks of the season. With Clay Matthews and Charles Woodson primarly blitzing the quarterback and Tramon Williams locking down the strong side wideout, it will be up to Forte to keep the Packers honest on defense.
The sports writers all forgot about Matt Forte this week. Let's hope the Packers did too.
As always, see you in the cheap seats tomorrow.
JS
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