Bears And Panthers Recap: Wasn't Pretty But We'll Take The Win

One thing could be said about the Bears and Panthers game on Sunday. It sure was entertaining. If you are a football purest who loves defense, I sure hope you did something else on Sunday. Matt Forte and the Bears ran at will against the Panthers and the defense held on to give the Bears a much needed 34-29 victory Sunday at Soldier Field to improve their record to 2-2 on the season.

Throughout the past few weeks the media, both nationally and locally, has criticized the Bears for not running the football. This criticism was well deserved especially when you have one of the top running backs in the league in Matt Forte and didn't give him many handoffs against the Saints or Packers. Today the Bears finally figured it out and Forte obliged by rushing the ball 25 times for 205 yards and a touchdown. The Bears as a team ran the ball 31 times while passing only 17.

From an offensive standpoint it was nice to see "Bears Football".  Whether it was Gale Sayers, Walter Payton, Neal Anderson, Anthony Thomas, or Matt Forte, the Bears have succeeded when they have run the ball.  Even last year when they were one game away from the Super Bowl, they started slow as a team but got a lot better when they ran the football. Hopefully Sunday was just the start of a more balanced offensive attack.

Then there's the defense. One thing we've learned the last few weeks is how much the Bears need Chris Harris. The defense was torched again this time by rookie Cam Newton.  Newton continued his impressive rookie campaign this time throwing for 374 yards and a touchdown. Newton also had two more touchdowns running the ball. The Panthers as a team racked up 543 yards of total offense.  The Bears defense was able to score a touchdown thanks to an interception return by D.J. Moore. Adjustments need to be made because a team built around defense can't afford to give up 543 yards of offense.

Special Teams was huge for the Bears in their win on Sunday. Devin Hester had a huge kickoff return that led to points and also ran back a punt return for a touchdown. The special teams also blocked a field goal. The Bears special teams definitely contributed to the Bears winning on Sunday.

The Bears are now 2-2. Considering how difficult their schedule was the first few weeks, I'm sure most Bears fans would have put them right about there and be content with that. Things won't get any easier as the Bears will now travel to Detroit to play the first-place Lions who won again on Sunday after trailing most of the game.

The coaches listened to the masses and ran the ball and did well. Now we need to work on the defense and get them turned around.