“Big Cat” Williams on Bears’ First Game


Former Bear James "Big Cat" Williams joins us to talk about what went wrong Sunday at Soldier Field. Turnovers and a tepid run defense contributed to the Bears break down against the Bills.


Bad decisions and a couple of injuries kept the Chicago Bears from having an ideal first game of the season. The Bears dropped the ball 23-20 to the Buffalo Bills in Sunday’s season opener. Alshon Jeffery, Matt Slauson, and Roberto Garza’s injuries sidelined the players. Despite these injuries, the Bears forced the Bills to overtime, giving Chicago fans a glimmer of hope. But that hope dissipated as the Bears learned the repercussions of bad choices. 

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Jay Cutler

Jay Cutler

Quarterback Jay Cutler looked anything but impressive in the game. His fourth quarter interception (second of the game) and his unfavorable attitude turned off fans and the press. During the post-game press conference, Cutler directed his anger toward the media.

“You guys are going to be as negative as possible,” Cutler said when asked why he threw the failing pass that led to the interception. "Nobody knows exactly what we're doing out there. You guys think you know, but you don't."

Although his two interceptions led to 10 Buffalo points, Cutler threw 34 complete passes of 49 attempts for 349 yards and two touchdowns. But it is his comments that will make his bad decisions the highlight of Sunday’s close game.

Too Many Injuries

Alshon JefferyThe Bears’ offensive line took a hit when both left guard Matt Slauson and center Roberto Garza left the second quarter with ankle injuries. NFL veteran Brian de la Puente replaced Garza while Slauson’s replacement was Michael Ola. Having two linemen out was a bad sign for the Bears, but things got worse when wide receiver Alshon Jeffery left during the third quarter. He sat out the fourth quarter after suffering a hamstring injury. Jeffery was classified as “probable to return,” but never made it back to the field by the end of overtime. His departure gave Michael Spurlock and Josh Morgan some time in Sunday’s game. All three injured players are scheduled to have MRIs.

Ratings Win

The real winner in Sunday’s devastating loss was WFLD-Ch. 32. The game did a 30.3 rating on the station and peaked at 34.9 in overtime. With 1 local ratings point worth about 35,000 homes, the Bear-Bills game drew an average of about 1.1 million homes. But, the team’s disappointing loss in its season opener could compromise local ratings moving forward. The next two Bears’ games will not be broadcast on WFLD, with Sunday’s game against San Francisco on NBC and Monday’s game against New York on ESPN. National ratings for these games should be an indicator if fans still have faith in the team.

Ray Rice Punished

Ray RiceBaltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice may be the biggest name in the NFL right now for an off-the-field story. The Ravens announced Monday, Sept. 8, that they will cut Rice. Shortly after that announcement, the NFL suspended him indefinitely. This comes after TMZ released a video from Feb. 15 that shows Rice punching his then-fiancé while inside an elevator. The NFL previously gave Rice a two game suspension but opted to suspend him indefinitely following the tape’s release. The league says it did not see the video back in February and believes their latest effort to reprimand the football player is appropriate for his action.

View the footage of the attack below.

 

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