Quarterback 
1/2
Anthony Wright is a perplexing quarterback. At times, he looks very comfortable, steps up into the pocket and steps into his throws to deliver a very catchable ball. Then there are other times when none of these things happen and when you mix in some poor decision making, it adds up to too many three and outs. On at least two occasions Wright had a chance to make a play with Todd Heap but delivered the ball down at Heap’s ankles. Had the ball been delivered to Heap chest high and on the run, Heap could have added no less than another 20 yards after the catches. He also had a chance to connect deep downfield in the fourth quarter with Derrick Mason but his throw was well off the mark. Let’s concede that throw to the poor playing conditions.
While leading an impressive drive towards the end of the first half, Wright fumbled the ball on a second and 9 from the Bears 11 with 43 seconds remaining. Then, instead of taking a shot at the end zone, Wright dumped the ball off to Justin Green well short of the first down.
Wright was under heavy pressure much of the afternoon, in part because of the team’s failure to consistently deliver anything more than 2 yards on first down. Add in some holding penalties and the Ravens often faced second and third and long. That’s not exactly what you want to do with an offensive line that struggles tremendously in obvious passing situations. Even then, Wright could have thrown the ball away when outside the hash marks but instead he chose to take the sack.
Running Back
During his post game interview with Sage Steele, Jamal Lewis loosely suggested that he may be behind the curve in learning the Ravens new offense leaving the viewer to conclude that that is one of the contributing factors in his struggles. And if one accepts this as gospel it could explain Jamal’s hesitancy and poor decision making. Offensive line coach Chris Foerster has said that Jim Fassel implemented some new blocking schemes into the running game which might explain in part Jim Coletto’s departure. The truth be told, the crux of the problem boils down to this – the Ravens are so one dimensional with Jamal Lewis in the game and opponents have simply adjusted. The cutback opportunities have been taken away from Jamal and the Ravens have done nothing to respond to such defensive adjustments. Throw in his incarceration, bad ankle, lack of confidence, pressures of a pending contract and the results are there for all to see: 113 carries, 326 yards, 2.9 yards/carry.
Chester Taylor needs to carry the ball more than 2 times. Wonder if he’s counting the days to free agency?
Receivers 
1/2
It’s somewhat ironic that the unit most often criticized over the past few years is arguably the best unit on the team these days. If the Ravens could get better yardage on first down more consistently thus giving Anthony Wright more time to throw, we might even see a 100 yard game from this group. Derrick Mason and Todd Heap are threats to be reckoned with. Randy Hymes continues to make plays when called upon. He needs to be used more in single coverage opportunities to allow him to out physical the defender.
Offensive line 
1/2
This unit does not fire off the ball and attack defenders in the running game. They simply try to engage them and lay their massive weight on opponents hoping to seal off and provide cut back opportunities. They are a slow, lumbering unit that consistently gets beaten to the punch by quicker and more athletic defenders. To make matters worse, they are penalized often and some appear to be fundamentally challenged. As a result, the reaching and holding penalties accumulate. The footwork just isn’t there. Was that grass or quicksand out there at Soldier Field yesterday?
Defensive line 
Terrell Suggs offset a decent physical performance with critical mental errors. He was solid at the point of attack, contributing 6 tackles which amounted to only 10 rushing yards. His blown assignment on Marc Edwards cost the Ravens as did his questionable roughing the passer penalty against Kyle Orton that kept a Bears drive alive, ultimately resulting in 3 points.
Kelly Gregg and Maake Kemoeatu played well early but faded down the stretch as the Bears controlled the clock in the second half for 18:18. This paved the way for Thomas Jones’ productive second half (17 carries, 97 yards) sealing the win for the Bears.
Linebackers 
1/2
Adalius Thomas played well and contributed a sack, although his roughing the passer penalty contributed to the game’s only touchdown scoring drive. Ray Lewis was largely unnoticed as was Tommy Polley.
Secondary 1/2
Chris McAlister was solid, limiting Muhammad to 3 catches and was outstanding in run support. He was the surest tackler on the field yesterday. Chad Williams as a dime back consistently makes plays. As the starting strong safety, he was hardly noticed except for some poor tackling. Samari Rolle barely got his uniform dirty. The Bears seemed to shy from his side of the field. Tell me again, why is Dale Carter on the team?
Special teams
Despite the unfavorable conditions, Dave Zastudil punted effectively helping the Ravens to out net the Bears in punting 38.1 to 35.9. B.J. Sams struggled to find running room on any of his 3 punt returns which amounted to only 11 yards. His counterpart Bobby Wade averaged 11.3 yards. Matt Stover had kickoff responsibilities yesterday as the Ravens placed Aaron Elling on the inactive list. The only kicker to reach the goal line on kick offs this year was jettisoned after one effective preseason game – Wade Richey.
Hey, wasn’t Zastudil a high school quarterback?
Coaching
One has to wonder how much time the Ravens spent game planning for the Bears this week. Offensively they remain completely one dimensional when Jamal Lewis is in the game. You might think that with teams so heavily prepared to stop Jamal that the Ravens might use play action on first down when Jamal is in the game. Not only are 8 men committed to the run, the weak side safety rushes to the line to seal off cut back lanes after the handoff occurs. A solid play fake there could open up possibilities down field. The Ravens are so near sighted offensively, they rarely look beyond 20 yards downfield and almost never do they look deep down the middle where receivers can adjust to poorly thrown deep passes. The entire offensive staff should be embarrassed after using Chester Taylor just twice running the football.
Defensively, everyone including the Chicago Bears, expected a more aggressive effort from the Ravens defense. Outside of Thomas Jones and Muhsin Muhammad, the Bears have very little offensive firepower. It is nearly unconscionable that Rex Ryan didn’t come after Kyle Orton more aggressively, in much the same way that Mike Nolan went after Eli Manning last year. A third round rookie quarterback with limited weapons and a slightly wounded offensive line should have come under fire and forced into key mistakes. The fact that they didn’t leaves this writer wondering why.
Upon Further Review
* The Ravens now have a whopping 69 points after 6 games. The only chance that Jim Fassel has to become a head coach next year is to successfully lead the Ravens this year as an interim head coach. And that’s not going to happen nor should it.
** The inactives yesterday were: Kyle Boller, Aaron Elling, Ed Reed, Ovie Mughelli, Adam Terry, Clarence Moore, Mark Clayton and Anthony Weaver.
*** Adam Terry has yet to be active on game day. If he is that bad that he can’t take any reps away from Orlando Brown or Tony Pashos (not exactly all world tackles), why then did the Ravens trade up to get him at No. 64 this year and give away No. 84 this year, a sixth round pick this year and a third round pick next year? Didn’t they boast that they liked Terry nearly as much as Khalif Barnes? Last time I checked, Barnes was the starting LT for the Jaguars.
**** 11 more penalties for 100 yards…43 penalites for 344 yards over the past 3 games.
***** How appropriate that the Ravens play the Steelers on Halloween. That is certainly a scary thought! BOO!
