Bears Blitz

Published by Bryan Dietzler on December 12, 2010
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears

The Chicago Bears, winners of five straight, hosted the red hot New England Patriots at Soldier Field in what ended up being a cold and snowy affair. 

In the end, the Bears saw the Patriots start off strong behind an avalanche of points and watched themselves get buried in a 36-7 loss.

The loss ended Chicago’s five-game winning streak and made things just a little more difficult in terms of making the playoffs, but certainly not impossible.

The weather was a factor in this game as it caused errant passes, dropped balls and some slick field positions, but it certainly wasn’t the big reason why the Bears lost this game. 

Poor play by the defense, as well as a a stagnant offense, helped lead to the Bears’ defeat at home on Sunday.

Let’s just hope that it doesn’t happen again this season, or the Bears may fail to make the playoffs.

Chicago knew going into this game that, thanks to the Detroit Lions, who beat the Green Bay Packers, it could extend its lead in the NFC North and make things much easier on itself. Despite that, the Bears still lost and lost big.

Let’s take a look at a summary of the Bears’ loss to the Patriots, and try to find out why Chicago lost this game.

Scoring Summary

The Patriots scored first in the first quarter after quarterback Tom Brady hit tight end Rob Gronkowski for a seven-yard touchdown to put the Patriots up by seven; New England would make it 14-0 in the second quarter, after running back Danny Woodhead burst into the end zone from three yards out after a long, time-consuming drive.

New England’s defense made it 21-0 after wide receiver Johnny Knox fumbled the ball after a catch. Inside linebacker Gary Guyton picked up the ball and ran it into the end zone from 35 yards out for the score.

The Patriots got a 30-yard field goal from kicker Shayne Graham to put New England up, 24-0; the Patriots got another field goal (a 25-yarder) to make the score 27-0.

The final score of the half came when Brady hit wide receiver Deion Branch for a 59-yard touchdown strike (the kick missed wide right) to make it 33-0 heading into halftime.

The Patriots got the first score of the second half when Graham kicked a 29-yard field goal to make it 36-0.

Chicago finally scored after running back Chester Taylor ran into the end zone from one yard out to make it 36-7.

Stud of the Game

Really, the only player to make a big impact in this game for the Bears was Devin Hester.

He had a couple of nice runbacks with one (which almost went the distance) that helped put the Bears in good field position, allowing them to get their only points of the game.

He was clearly the best player on the field for the Bears on Sunday.

Dud of the Game

Every single member of the Bear’s defense can be considered a “dud” in this game. They started out the game well, getting a three-and-out right off the bat (on the Patriot’s first series), but it was all downhill after that.

The tackling was poor, players missed assignments and got out of position frequently and were clearly bested by a far superior team.

They should have been able to put up much more of a fight than they did.

Analysis

The weather may have played a subtle factor in the Bears’ loss to the Patriots this Sunday at Soldier Field, but what bested the Bears on this day was the superior play of the Patriots offense and defense, along with their special teams. 

The Bears had no answer for Brady, as he carved up Chicago’s defense like a Christmas ham and sent the Bears reeling with a loss.

Defensive players were caught out of position on a regular basis, tackled poorly and were manhandled by the blocking that New England’s offensive players had for them. 

The Bears defenders were blown off the ball at the front line, blocked completely out of plays in the secondary and basically outsmarted by New England’s offense.

The Bears offense couldn’t get much of anything going against New England’s defense.  The Patriots defense had broken down at times during the season and was vulnerable, but the Bears offense couldn’t find a way around it and didn’t do much damage against it. 

New England’s defense held the Bears when it needed to and made plays when it had to.

Special teams coverage units played very poorly as well, allowing some significant returns, including a return for a touchdown which was called back due to a holding penalty.

The Bears’ coverage units haven’t been doing well in the past few games and finally suffered the kind of breakdowns feared by some in this game.  

Overall, this was a poorly played game by the Bears on both sides of the ball and on special teams (coverage units), and can be considered their worst loss since they lost to the Vikings for the first time during the 2009 season.

Chicago was outgained 475 to 185 yards by the Patriots on Sunday. After playing so well for most of the season, including this five-game winning streak, the Bears have clearly hit a bump in the road that they need to recover from quickly in order to win their division.

The Bears can and will bounce back after this loss.  

Next Up

The Bears will travel to Minneapolis (assuming that the snow damaged Metrodome is repaired by then) to take on division rival Minnesota on Monday Night Football.

A full preview of that game will be coming at the end of the week.

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