I think Berrian will be able to get deep against the Colts defense as long as the Bears are running the ball well. All signs point to Thomas Jones and Cedric Benson having a good game thus setting up the play action bomb. As soon as the Colts safeties creep up a bit to deal with the run, it will be home run time. Bernard Berrian has already caught 10 passes for 190 yards and 2 TD catches in the two playoff games. Berrian is simply too fast for the Colts cornerbacks and unless the safeties can stay back and help the Colts corners, Berrian will get deep and it will be up to Rex Grossman to hit him. That is the one thing Grossman is good at…..throwing the deep ball.

Rex Grossman hasn’t played great in the playoffs, but, he’s making the big throws at the right time and that’s why the Bears are in the Super Bowl. He has completed 32 of 64 passes (50%) for 426 yards with 2 TD passes and only 1 interception for a QB Rating of 75.4 in the post season. That rating is 8.6 better than what Peyton Manning has done in his 3 playoff games. If the Bears establish their ground game with Thomas Jones and Cedric Benson, I think Grossman will play better than Peyton Manning this week and the Bears will be World Champions.

Most draft experts (myself included) wondered why the Bears were using all their picks on defense. But what do I know as the Bears had a pretty good draft that helped them get to the Super Bowl this season. Here’s a breakdown:

2nd round pick SS Danieal Manning had a great rookie season. He played in all 16 games and made 67 tackles, had 2 interceptions, defensed 5 passes, forced 4 fumbles and recovered a fumble. He also returned 1 kick-off for 20 yards. Manning will be in the Bears plans for a long, long time.

The Bears other 2nd round pick was Devin Hester. Hester played in 16 games and only made 9 tackles. But, his big contribution to the Bears was returning kicks. He returned 20 kickoffs for 528 yards (26.4 avg) with 2 TD returns. He also returned 47 punts for 600 yards (12.8 avg) with 3 TD returns. He also returned a missed field goal 108 yards against the Giants for a TD! Hester is the biggest game changer on special teams to enter the NFL in a long time.

3rd round pick DT Dusty Dvoracek didn’t play a down for the Bears this season.

4th round pick OLB Jamar Williams played in only 3 games and made 2 tackles and defensed a pass.

5th round pick DE Mark Anderson was an absolute steal for the Bears at this point in the draft. He played in all 16 games and made 28 tackles, had 12 sacks, defensed two passes, forced 4 fumbles and recovered a fumble. He will be a good player for a long time for the Bears.

The 6th round was a waste for the Bears as they selected fullback J. D. Runnels who played in two games and did nothing and OG Tyler Reed who never saw the field.

The Bears are three-deep at running back! Thomas Jones ran for over 1,200 yards this season which is the second season in a row he’s done that for the Bears. Jones started all 16 games and carried the ball 296 times for 1,210 yards (4.1 ypc) with 6 TD runs. He also caught 36 passes for 154 yards (4.3 avg). For his career, Jones has played in 100 games (63 starts) and he’s carried the ball 1,349 times for 5,384 yards (4.0 ypc) with 34 TD runs. He also has caught 215 passes for 1,376 yards (6.4 avg), but he’s never caught a TD pass in the regular season in his career.

Last year’s first round pick Cedric Benson also had a solid season. He played in 15 games and carried the ball 157 times for 647 yards (4.1 ypc) with 6 TD runs. He also caught 8 passes for 54 yards (6.8 avg). For his career, Benson has played in 24 games (1 start) and he’s carried the ball 224 times for 919 yards (4.1 ypc) with 6 TD runs. He also has caught 9 passes for 57 yards (6.3 avg).

Adrian Peterson could probably start for some teams, but on the Bears he’s basically just a special teams player. He played in all 16 games this season and carried the ball 10 times for 41 yards (4.1 ypc) with 2 TD runs. He also caught 6 passes for 88 yards (14.7 avg). For his career, Peterson has carried the ball 133 times for 622 yards (4.7 ypc) with 5 TD runs. He also has caught 19 passes for 189 yards (9.9 avg).

Fullback Jason McKie did a good job of blocking for the Bears this season. He played in 15 games this season and carried the ball 8 times for 18 yards (2.3 ypc). He also caught 25 passes for 162 yards (6.5 avg). For his career, McKie has carried the ball 12 times for 41 yards (3.4 ypc). He also has caught 43 passes for 254 yards (5.9 avg) with 2 TD catches.

A transplanted but die-hard Bears fan in Seattle (also my father) made this cake for a NFC Championship Game party yesterday. Thought it was pretty cool!

Read more and see the cake at the link below:

Soldier Field Cake

http://mattonmarketing.blogspot.com/2007/01/long-tail-and-stadium-cakes.html