Waddle's World

I have to be honest with you, last week I wasn't visibly upset by the loss. As I mentioned, there is no shame in losing to the Chargers in San Diego. But I'm not real excited by yesterday's win over the Chiefs, either. As I was watching the game, I was saying to myself that it's gotta be easier than this, right? You have to beat an inferior Chiefs team by more than 10 points. Don't get me wrong, a bad win is better than a so called "good loss," if there is such a thing. Let's look at the good and the bad.

Good

Cedric Benson made improvement. I thought Benson ran hard, with more vision than in Week 1. The numbers were good, 101 yards on 24 carries. That works out to 4.2 yards per carry, which would be outstanding if he can maintain that pace. Benson reached the century mark despite another average performance from the O-line.

Another great day from the defense. After limiting LT to 25 yards on 17 carries, they contained LJ, allowing just 55 yards on 16 carries. That is more than acceptable. Lance Briggs and Brian Urlacher were everywhere and look dangerous playing closer to the line of scrimmage. Tommie Harris is back to being one of the league's most dominant down lineman, and Danieal Manning was fantastic in his return to the starting lineup.

And can we say enough good things about Devin Hester? I would pay to see him play in person, and for my money, he is the most exciting player in the game today.

Bad

Once again, we got an up close look at "Bad Rex." As efficient as he was in the first half, he was that bad in the second. In fact, I thought he played better against the Chargers. For the time being, Rex is gonna have to get used to the heat, because opposing coordinators are gonna blitz him relentlessly until he proves he can make them pay.

As I mentioned, the offensive line was less than impressive once again. They allowed three sacks for the second consecutive week and didn't create much space in the running game. They have to return to their dominant form of 2006.

So after two weeks, the Bears are where I thought they would be. The defense is dominant, the special teams are the best in the league, and the offense continues to be a drag. The formula was good enough to get them to the big game last year. It won't be good enough this year. They must get more out of Rex in the coming weeks. A solid outing in front of a national TV audience would go a long way in comforting the Soldier Field faithful.

For now, let's just be happy they got past the Chiefs.