When I'm lazy, the Bears score lots and lots of points

I like to think that I'm busier than roughly 91% of college kids. I work every Wednesday-Saturday (at least), take classes, do homework, and write for a bunch of blogs. That's why I'm occasionally prone to mailing in posts here- I've got so much other stuff to do, I sometimes want to spend my free time doing something other than pwning John Paxson (crazy, I know). Still, I try to get that Friday Bears column done every Thursday night.

But twice so far this year, I couldn't bring myself to put a lot of effort into it. The first time was before the Week 5 game in Detroit, the second was last week against the Vikings. In those two games, the Bears scored an average of 41 points. In the other five games, for which I wrote lengthy previews, the Bears averaged 22.8 points.

I'm not what the point of this is, but I feel like it's worth noting.

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After a Week 3 loss to the Bucs, I wrote this about Kyle Orton:

...if Bears management has any idea what they’re doing, he won’t be the starting quarterback next season.

Now I'm convinced that Orton will be the Bears quarterback for the next five years. It's not that I think he's great, because he isn't. But I'm confident that if the rest of the team is strong, the Bears can win with Orton. His performance yesterday was one of the most impressive I've ever seen from a Bears quarterback.

It's one thing to protect the ball and complete 65% of your passes. But the way Orton took charge of the offense at the line of scrimmage was what made yesterday really cool. During our live chat on the Sun-Times, people kept saying things like "Is that Orton or Peyton Manning!?" every time Orton would change the play at the line. Whenever he did it, I kind of laughed because Orton is the last person you would expect a group a dudes to listen to.Yet when Orton called an audible, it almost always worked. Orton wasn't being a game manager yesterday, he was being a game changer. His throws were crisp and on the money, and his recognition of the defense gave the Bears a chance to be successful on plays that likely wouldn't have been otherwise. The Bears won yesterday because of their quarterback (I guess the Vikings' boneheaded special teams didn't hurt, either). That's pretty crazy.

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KO's final numbers: 21-of-32, 283 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT, 1 fumble

Then consider...

- Marty Booker dropped a sure touchdown.
- Marty Booker dropped a sure touchdown again.
- Desmond Clark fumbled at the one-yard line, another touchdown that Orton didn't get credit for.

Basically, Orton legitimately should have thrown five touchdowns yesterday against a talented Minnesota D. That's nutz.

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Marty Booker's 51-yard touchdown made no sense. How did he break free from all those guys!? Booker racked up more YAC on that play than he probably will the rest of the season combined. It was sort of like when you're playing a kid in Madden and you press the dive button, thinking you're controlling your d-lineman, but it switched the the defensive back without you knowing. That is the only possible comparison.

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I realize I'm probably alone on this one, but I'm not all that concerned about a defense that gave up five touchdowns to an offense led by Gus Frerotte. The Bears were down their three best corners yesterday, and they did about as good a job as a team can down slowing down Adrian Peterson. Take away Peterson's 54-yard touchdown run (which is stupid, I know, but whatever) and the Bears held him to 67 yards on 21 carries.

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Bulls preview coming this week, hopefully Wednesday.