The Bears didn’t seem to have a legit #1 WR coming into this season but Johnny Knox has eased those worries.  Knox has played in 11 games for the Bears so far this year and he has caught 40 passes for 740 yards (18.5 avg) with 2 TD grabs.  He has also returned 7 kickoffs for 171 yards (24.4 avg) so far this year.  Knox was a fifth round pick out of tiny Abilene Christian by the Bears in the 2009 NFL Draft.  Knox has now played in 26 games in his first two years with the Bears and he has caught 85 passes for 1,267 yards (14.9 avg) with 7 TD grabs.  He also has returned 39 kickoffs for 1,098 yards (28.2 avg) with 1 TD return so far for the Bears.  It looks like the Bears have gotten themselves a true draft steal in Johnny Knox.

The Bears were pegged as a third place team in the NFC North coming into this year by most experts.  Most experts thought that Jay Cutler was going to have a big year but that the Bears wouldn’t be able to keep the other teams from putting up points.  Well, Mike Martz’ offense hasn’t been flying too high (95.0 yards rushing, 202.3 yards passing per game) while the defense is stepping up especially against the run (82.3 yards rushing, 3.5 yards per carry).  I will give a lot of credit for the Bears’ 6-3 record to Lovie Smith who in somehow waving his magic wand and getting positive results on the scoreboard.  The Bears are now 58-47 under 52-year old Lovie Smith during the regular season in his 7 years in charge.

There were whispers before training camp that 32-year old inside linebacker Brian Urlacher might be rusty after only playing in 1 game in 2009 in which he finished with 3 tackles due to wrist surgery.  Nothing could be further from the truth as Urlacher is not only healthy but he’s trying to make up for lost time.  Urlacher has played in all 9 games for the Bears so far this year and he has 62 tackles, 1.5 sacks, 8 tackles for a loss, 6 passes defensed, 1 interception, 1 forced fumble and 3 fumble recoveries.  Urlacher is one of the main reasons why the Bears are so stubborn against the run as they are only allowing 82.3 yards rushing and 3.5 yards per carry.  Tonight will be a big test for Urlacher and the Bears’ D as they are going up against Ronnie Brown & Ricky Williams of the Dolphins.

If you were making a bet on who would lead the Bears in sacks I bet you would have taken Julius Peppers.  Up to this point in the year you would be losing that bet as he only has 2 sacks.  If you placed a bet on the other DE of the Bears (Isreal Idonije) you would be winning that bet right now.  Idonije has played in 8 games for the Bears so far this year and he has 25 tackles, 2 passes defensed, 5 sacks and 2 forced fumbles.  The sacks and forced fumbles are already both career highs for Idonije while his career high in tackles is 28 so he should eclipse that number this year.  Idonije has now played in 94 games in his career (7 years) with the Bears and he has 148 tackles, 14 passes defensed, 13 sacks and 3 forced fumbles.  The Bears need him to keep up the good work.

Matt Forte had his breakout game last weekend against the Panthers when the Bears needed him the most.  He carried the ball 22 times for 166 yards (7.5 ypc) with 2 TD runs including a 68-yard bolt for six points.  The most impressive thing about last week’s performance was that the Bears had no air support for Forte.  Forte has now carried the ball 72 times for 300 yards (4.2 ypc) with 2 TD runs and he has also caught 18 passes for 231 yards (12.8 avg) with 3 TD grabs.  Forte now has 531 of the Bears’ 1,528 yards on offense meaning that he’s accounting for 34.8% of the offense!

Brian Urlacher only played in 1 game for the Bears last year in which he made 3 tackles before breaking his wrist.  Many thought that Urlacher would have lost a step by missing a year as he is not getting any younger.  But, Urlacher is back with a vengeance so far this year.  He has played in 3 games for the Bears this year and he has 25 tackles, 5 tackles for a loss, 1 sack, 1 pass defensed, 1 forced fumble and 1 fumble recovery.  His forced fumble last night was recovered by CB Tim Jennings which set the Bears up with great field position.  Jay Cutler then drove the team down the field for the game winning FG over the hated Packers.  Urlacher is a big reason why the Bears are only allowing 39.7 yards rushing per game so far and only 2.1 yards per carry.  The Bears hope that Urlacher can stay healthy the rest of the year because he is back.

27-year old QB Jay Cutler looks like he really likes Mike Martz’ new offense.  In his first two games of the year for the Bears, Cutler has completed 44 of 64 passes (68.8%) for 649 yards passing with 5 TD passes and 1 INT (121.2 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 10 times for 25 yards (2.5 ypc) so far this year.  This is the Jay Cutler the Bears thought they were getting from the Broncos instead of the version of him that showed up in 2009.  Cutler played in 16 games for the Bears last year and he completed 336 of 555 passes (60.5%) for 3,666 yards with 27 TD passes and 26 INTs (76.8 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 40 times for 173 yards (4.3 ypc) with 1 TD run last year.  The offense will only succeed for the Bears if Cutler stays on his game like he is right now.

Whispers were all over the place during the off-season that Chester Taylor was going to take touches away from Matt Forte but that wasn’t the case in the season opener against the Lions last week.  Forte carried the ball 17 times for 50 yards (2.9 ypc) and he also caught 7 passes for 151 yards (21.6 avg) with 2 TD grabs.  So overall he had 24 touches that went for 201 total yards of offense (8.4 yards per touch).  Taylor still got in on the action but Forte will likely remain the focus of the offense as long as he continues to play at a high level.

Devin Hester’s injury opened the door for 25-year old Devin Aromashodu who in his first six games with the Bears caught only 2 passes for 16 yards (8.0 avg).  But, in his last three games Aromashodu has caught 17 passes for 236 yards (13.9 avg) with 2 TD grabs for the Bears.  Previous to this season with the Bears he had played in only 6 games in which he caught 7 passes for 96 yards (13.7 avg).  It looks like the Bears have a keeper in Aromashodu proving that sometimes injuries open doors for players that teams’ never knew they had.

25-year old cornerback Zack Bowman has really stepped up this season for the Bears.  He has played in 14 games for the Bears this season and he has made 55 tackles, defensed 7 passes, forced 1 fumble and he has 5 interceptions.  The Bears are glad to see Bowman step up because they have had issues on defense this season.