Matt Forte Thrives in Receiving Game

I hate being wrong, but it's bound to happen in this line of work. No one is ever going to be right on 100 percent of their fantasy football proclamations. When it does happen, though, it's nice to be wrong about a player on your favorite team losing much of his fantasy football value. I had completely written off Matt Forte because of the Bears' inability to effectively run the football. The trend continued Thursday night, as Forte gathered just 41 rushing yards on 20 carries.

He did manage to salvage a very solid fantasy stat line, however, due to the Bears' effectiveness in using him on screen passes. He caught eight passes for 120 yards. After watching the game and seeing how he arrived at this total, I'm ready to spin a complete 180 and say he's definitely worth an RB2 slot moving forward. He still has "it," the Bears just need to get him into space so he can do his thing. They have found a way to do so, which is a good sign for Forte's fantasy owners.

Click through to see some more fantasy football observations from the Bears-49ers Thursday night game.

• Inexplicably, the Bears defense looked like the one from 2005-2006 for the most part. Alex Smith did very little through the air and was constantly harassed by an all-of-sudden feisty Bears pass rush. This rendered Vernon Davis a bystander for the most part. Michael Crabtree was the best receiver for the Niners with four catches and 48 yards. I wouldn't let this game deter Davis owners. He's in the middle of a breakthrough season and will return to form soon. The Niners' remaining fantasy stretch -- at Green Bay, vs. Jacksonville, at Seattle, vs. Arizona, at Philly, vs. Detroit -- isn't even remotely rough on tight ends. He'll be a beast the rest of the way. As far as Crabtree, keep him on your radar in all leagues. He looks the part and it's only a matter of time before we see his breakout game.

• Speaking of beasts, the Bears' defense played ferocious all game and Frank Gore still managed over 100 yards and a score. If you had any doubt about him being a bonafide RB1 in all formats, that should now be erased.

• I felt pretty good about Earl Bennett as a deep play. He would have had four catches for 67 yards, but an ineligible lineman down field cost him a 40-yarder, so that hurt. Moving forward, considering all bye weeks are done, he'd only be worth a desperation play in the deepest (16-teamers that start three wideouts) of leagues.

• Johnny Knox's value has pretty much evaporated, along with that of Josh Morgan and Jason Hill.

• Greg Olsen caught seven passes for 75 yards and was Jay Cutler's end zone target on each of the last two plays of the game. He's a definite TE1. Don't give up on Devin Hester, either. He's a WR2. Yes, still.

• We hyped Cutler, with plenty of statistical backing, and it blew up in our face. He did throw for over 300 yards, but his decision-making rendered him a poor fantasy play. Had he turned the two end-zone picks into touchdowns, he would have been a great play this week. Instead, he failed and so did we. He's still a low-end QB1 in 12-team leagues, but it's hard to be confident that he won't give away most of his points on any given week.

Overall, this game was a perfect indicator of how predictable fantasy football -- and real football -- is. We had two badly struggling defenses enter the game opposite offenses who had been playing pretty well. And we end up with one offensive touchdown -- which was on a short field following an interception return. Hopefully all Thursday games don't end up like this. It sends us to the weekend with a bad taste in our mouths, that's for sure.

Of course, I'll send you off with a positive note: both of my IDP sleeper plays -- Zack Bowman and Dashon Goldson -- had an interception. So it wasn't all bad.

(And I'll give a virtual chest-bump to R.J. White for recommending I list Goldson. Teamwork is fun.)