Berlin Bärin (3-7)
Berlin have just not been very good. A bottom third offense and the worst run defense in the league. That last is confusing, as neither the defensive line nor the linebackers seem to be particularly underperforming.
#Bottom Line
Roster Moves. Move Cutler up. Move Bushrod down.
Draft Needs. DL.
Week Four Draftee Update: Rolland Lawrence. A strong secondary contributor.
#QB
Sid Luckman has been a star, averaging over 20 yards a completion with 16 TDs and 6 interceptions for a QB rating over 120. That’s fantastic, but he’s also had a hard time staying on the field, playing all of only 4 games and missing 3 others in their entirety.
The problem is that his replacement–Matt Ryan–has been pretty ineffective, ending up with a QB rating around 75. Look for Jay Cutler to get some reps if Luckman is unable to stay healthy the rest of the way.
#RB
Walter Payton has been quite good with 806 yards rushing, but has only found the end zone 3 times. His backups, Neal Anderson and Steven Jackson have been sufficient, but not more than that. With Anderson out another month, look for Matt Forte to see a few more carries.
#WR & TE
Brandon Marshall has been the dependable receiver with 42 catches for 637 yards, but Alshon Jeffery has been the real star with 37 caches for 723 yards and 11 TDs. Those two have gotten good support from Alfred Jenkins and Roddy White.
Martellus Bennett has been disappointing at TE, but nobody else has shown much there, either.
#OL
Joe Stydahar has been among the best in the league and Justin Blalock and Jeff Van Note have been decent enough. But, beyond that, Kyle Long and Michael Ola have been mediocre and Jermon Bushrod downright bad.
#DL
John Abraham has 5 sacks and 7 hurries and Osi Umenyiora 10 hurries, but the lack of performance against the run has to be placed at the feet of this group somewhere. Jay Ratliff has suffered at DT, and Lamarr Houston ineffective as a reserve.
#LB
The leading 3 tacklers for Berlin are all LBs: Mike Singletary with 70, Lance Briggs with 69, and Joplo Bartu with 60. Briggs and Singletary have 4 stuffs, and Bartu has 9. Briggs has been very effective against the pass as well, with 7 deflections. Neither Dick Butkus nor Paul Worrilow have made a strong claim for the other ILB performance.
#DB
Ray Brown has 4 interceptions and 9 deflections and William Moore has 3 picks while Charles Tillman, Desmond Trufant, and Rolland Lawrence have 2 each, Tillman leads the secondary in tackles with 56.
Javier Arenas and Charles Godfrey have been good in support.
#P & K
Matt Bryant and Kevin Butler have both been good: perfect on XPs with only 1 missed FG between them. Bryant was injured in week 2, but may be back this month. It’s not clear if he will displace Butler or not.
Matt Bosher has been decent enough.
#Returns
Fine, but nothing spectacular. Arenas is averaging 21 yards on KOs and Devin Hester (now out for most of the rest of the season) a very rough 3.8 on punts, which is quite a surprise.