Interesting article from the guy who reworked Brian Urlacher's training program back in 2004.

The Design Challenge
Urlacher wanted me to design a program to help improve his fourth quarter endurance. I've always trained Urlacher position-specific by having him work on scraping and filling, pursuit drills, first step explosion, pass drops, change of direction and any other drills to benefit his position at Mike Linebacker.

The first challenge in designing the kind of program Urlacher wanted was figuring out why he was tiring so much in the third and fourth quarters. To start, I had Urlacher send me game cuts from four games. I broke each film into different segments by charting each play, starting with the first series. That included the quarter, down and distance, Urlacher's position on the field and the actual play (blitzed the A gap from the right side, for example). Then I broke down each game into four quarters. Each quarter represented actual game movements from the four games Urlacher played. I included 25 seconds between each play, T.V. timeouts and halftime.

*** Garrett Wolfe is using an example set by Michael Turner, that he has to wait his turn.

"Michael dealt with the same thing I'm dealing with now," Wolfe said. "He played spot duty and on special teams. Then he got his opportunity. I just want to make the biggest impact I can whatever way I can."

*** The Bears have been stout against the run, so the key to this game could be how uncomfortable they can make rookie QB Matt Ryan.

Defenses that create a mess in the pocket have tended to make the Falcons rookie look disheveled. But those that allowed Ryan to get clean drops and crisp throws have paid dearly.

The Bears can make no adjustments against the NFL's leading rusher, Michael Turner, and risk him gashing their Cover-2 defense while setting up the play-action passing game for Ryan.

Or they can crowd the line of scrimmage with hard-nosed strong safety Kevin Payne, force the Falcons out of running plays and dare Ryan to beat them.

*** Brandon Lloyd, Anthony Adams and Nick Roach were all held out of practice on Wednesday.  Tommie Harris, Nathan Vashar and Chris Williams all practiced on a limited basis.

Now that the Cubs are out of it all eyes shift toward the Bears.  Not surprisingly the conversation centers on the Bears QB situation.  Surprisingly however it isn't a bad conversation.  And following his performance versus the Detroit Lions everybody is trying to figure out what exactly the Bears have.

It is true and definitely needs to be pointed out that Orton's best game as a pro came against the Detroit Lions, a team that in 3 games Orton has posted a 105.5 rating.  But one wouldn't be giving  Orton his due to not point out what he has accomplished.  The Bears have been relying on the pass game much more in the last few games now that everybody is stacking the line against the run.  And by and large Orton has delivered.  Yes he still misses the long ball twice a game, but he is making big throws on a regular basis now.

In each of the past two weeks, Orton's arm has given the Bears an early lead -- by design. He threw three touchdowns in the first half of a 24-20 victory over Philadelphia, flawlessly executing a no-huddle offense to catch the Eagles' blitzing defense by surprise. And after feeling out the Lions on their first possession, the Bears called on Orton to throw on 31 of their next 54 plays en route to establishing a 31-0 lead.

Ron Turner is clicking his heels with glee, he now no longer has to hold back on his play calling and is trying to shed the rep that he is a bad and boring offensive coordinator (that is a different post).

*** Article talking about the problems last year replacing injured stars and the differences with guys like Idonije, Graham and Marcus Harrison.

But this year's group may be better equipped to handle the inevitable injuries that occur each season.

"That's why we talk about playing as many players as we can throughout," head coach Lovie Smith said, "not just when we have injuries, where we have to [play them]."

*** Bears break top 10 in power poll

10. Chicago Bears (3-2). Kyle Orton for MVP? It doesn’t sound too crazy if he keeps getting better, because with their running game, defense and special teams, quarterback was the missing piece. A more realistic award campaign: Lance Briggs for defensive player of the year.

*** How about another?

ESPN

10 (18) - You can't fight it right now: The Bears are the best team in the NFC North. Kyle Orton is no mere game manager, either. (KS)

*** Bears find the right balance.

*** A look at the 2006 draftees.

I'm just curious why Orton didn't get a nom.

• New York Giants’ ELI MANNING threw two touchdowns over 267 yards completing 19 of 25 passes in the Giants’ 44 – 6 win over the Seattle Seahawks.

 Pittsburgh’s BEN ROETHLISBERGER completed 26 of 41 passes for 309 yards and three touchdowns in the Steelers’ 26 – 21 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Arizona’s KURT WARNER completed 33 of 42 passes for 250 yards and two touchdowns in the Cardinals’ 41 – 17 win over the Buffalo Bills.

This column is going to be a bit lopsided this week.  Given we completely dominated a team it is harder to find the bad and the ugly.

THE GOOD

Don't know how often we will get to see this, so I am getting it down in writing for posterity.  Orton finished with a 121.4 rating, second only to Eli Manning's 136.6.

Secondary. It would be easy to put down the run defense, but they play good every week.  Our group of cornerbacks and safeties did a great job on the  Lions receivers.  Roy Williams and Calvin Johnson are both big, strong and talented receivers.  The Bears never let them get behind them and limited their yards after the catch.  CJ was all but shutdown and Williams yards came late in garbage time. The Bears pass rush did improve, they knotched 4 sacks, but still did not bring consistent pressure the Lions QB tandem had time to throw and still could not.

Ron Turner.  Everybody has been hard on our offensive coordinator and most of the time rightly so, but recently with a QB who can make the throws and a running back who can run the ball his play calling has improved.  He is letting Orton do what he needs to do and giving him the best chance to do it.  I still don't know if he is the best answer for us, but he certainly isn't holding us back.

Receivers.  The Bears receivers stepped up.  There were some concerns with Brandon Lloyd out, but between Devin Hester, Rashied Davis, Marty Booker and Greg Olsen Orton had  more than enough open targets to get the job done.

Marty Booker's one handed catch....nuff said.

Devin Hester's spin move/cut back...nuff said.

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For the most part everybody played great, but there were some places that could have stood some improvement.

Quarterback: A

Kyle Orton had a career game, but not a defining one. His 121.4 rating is lower than the average allowed by the Lions' NFL-worst defense (122.1).

 

Running backs: C

Matt Forte's rushing yards (36 on 15 carries) declined for the fourth straight week -- against a team allowing an NFL-worst 5.6 yards per rush.

 

Receivers: A

For the first time, Devin Hester looked like a receiver who also returns kicks. Marty Booker had the play of the day with a one-handed catch for 30 yards.

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In a day in which rookie Matt  Forte should have had his best day as a pro, it was QB Kyle Orton who did.  The Bears went into Detroit tied for first place in the NFC North and came out in first place, thanks to the win and next week's opponent Atlanta, who beat the Green Bay Packers.

OFFENSE

Quarterback:

Orton looked sharped and made throws all over the field.  He finished with 334 yards, 2 TDs and 0 INTs.  Orton still overthrew some throws down field, but he looked good.  He moved well and took care of the ball.   There was only one throw that looked to be in danger of being picked off and on that played his man was knocked off the route.

Orton consistenly made big plays.  He had throws that went for 52, 34, 32 and 30 yards.  He spread the ball around and used his receivers more than in any other game.

Running Back:

Perhaps cause for concern?  Detroit has the leagues worst run defense and Forte tallied only 36 yards on 15 carries with a 2.4 average.  Yes, he still made some big plays and Orton was finding it through the air, but his numbers should have been better.  Whether Detroit just decided to stop the run and let Orton gash them or our line was breaking down, I don't know, but Forte should have easily had 100 yards this game.  He did have a rushing TD as well as a receivng one to go along with 4 receptions for 25 yards.

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends:

With Brandon Lloyd out there was some questions as to who would step and as it turns out, almost everybody did.  Rashied Davis led the Bears in receiving with 6 for 97 yards.  In a day of bests Devin Hester also had his best day receiving with 5 for 66 and 1 TD off of an awesome move.  Marty Booker had 2 catches for 37 yards and had the catch of the day on a falling one haded grab that Coach Smith had to challenge to get to go through.

Desmond Clark continues to be the Bears starting line up, but again it was Greg Olsen who was excelling.  He had 3 catches for 87 yards including a 52 yarder in the first half.

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