The Redskins Blog

Redskins @ Bears – Second Quarter Reactions

This picture of Angry Mike Shanahan sums up the second quarter of this football game better than anything else I can think of. Despite starting drives at the 50-yard line twice and their own 44-yard line once, the Redskins managed just 3 points and 32 yards in the second quarter and now trail 14-10.

This is, in essence, the reverse of the Green Bay game, except that this time the Redskins are the ones letting the NFC North team hang around.

It’s also the reverse of the first quarter, in that the offense has looked anemic, the defense confused and somewhat mistake-prone — two penalties on Brian Orakpo were especially costly in the Bears final scoring drive of the half — and both sides of the ball failed to capitalize on their opportunities. In contrast, the Bears haven’t had a lot of opportunities, but they’ve made the most of them — it seems likely that the Redskins will need a matching defensive touchdown to have any hope of coming back and winning this game.

Other notes:

• Reed Doughty has been playing free safety ahead of Kareem Moore for the entire first quarter. No reason given yet.
• Albert Haynesworth has continued to look dominant, although whether that’s because he’s feeling comfortable in the defense or because the Bears offensive line is shaky remains to be determined.
• Donovan McNabb has been struggling today; it seems like missing opportunities on his well-thrown passes (as Anthony Armstrong and Chris Cooley did in the first half) is especially costly given his sometimes erratic later throws.
• Oh, and the Bears get the ball to start the second half. Terrific.