Week Nine: What We Learned About The Chicago Bears…They Are Really Bad
Published by Christopher Murphy on November 13, 2009
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears
NFL announcers and writers tend to over-analyze everything and repeat themselves over and over and over and over and over again, which is why I will never understand why ESPN shows NFL Live year-round.
Out of all this repetition, we begin to get idiotic comments that go overlooked and are just accepted like “that guy is a football player” or “this team just knows how to play football” or anything that comes out of Chris Berman’s mouth.
I refuse to become a mindless, repetitive robot and continue saying the things the world knows about the Chicago Bears after yet another loss to another beatable team in the form of the San Francisco 49ers.
It is very simple, if you have no offensive line, no running game, dumb receivers, a quarterback who will force too much, a defensive line that doesn’t get pressure, and a defense that gets injured with a strong breeze, you will be a bad football team.
The Chicago Bears are a bad football team.
Of course, blaming a franchise quarterback is the easiest thing in the world to do when calling in radio shows and complaining about a football team and lord knows Chicago fans love going the easy route when analyzing any sport (they still think a fan lost them a World Series appearance and small ball won them another).
The Chicago Bears are a bad football team, not a bad quarterback.
The Defense Stopped Alex Smith….Yay?
Not exactly sure why the Bears defense is being bowed down to after giving up 104 yards on 25 carries to the only difficult part of the 49ers offense, Frank Gore. This was Gore’s second highest rushing total this season.
With nine minutes left in the game and the Bears trailing by four, the Bears defense was able to stop the 49ers…after a drive of six minutes and 14 seconds.
In between going offside three times, one occurrence nullifying a Lance Briggs interception, and giving up 110 yards rushing, the Bears defensive line had two sacks.
The Bears held Alex Smith to 118 yards on 16-of-23 passing with one interception and were able to lock up Smith’s first win in eight starts.
Zackary Bowman left with an abdominal injury. Once again, if you know anyone who can play defense for 16 games, call the Chicago Bears.
Jay Cutler is our Quarterback?
It is getting more and more difficult to stick up for Jay Cutler as he threw five interceptions to push his league-leading total to 17.
Yes, Devin Hester fell on one interception, stopped a route on another, and another was a clear pass interference along with an awful snap by the, for some reason, 500-time Pro Bowler Olin Kreutz, but there is no excuse for throwing interceptions in the redzone, which Cutler did twice and has done nine times in the last two seasons combined.
Two picks in the redzone equals at least six points lost and the win for the Bears.
Cutler’s decision-making just isn’t there and it doesn’t help when there is no time to throw or any type of running game. That combination has disaster written all over it and so far the Bears have seen it.
The gunslinger mentality is only useful when you have weapons and a connection with your receivers, hence why it worked for Brett Favre in Green Bay. The Bears receivers are in no way shape or form weapons nor have they had the time to learn Cutler’s habits when a route breaks down.
If You Can’t Beat Them, Cheat
Interceptions weren’t the only problem for the Bears as they were flagged 10 times for 75 yards showing once again how well-coached and disciplined they are.
As stated above, an offside penalty against Adewale Ogunleye took away a Lance Briggs interception, and an illegal-man-downfield foul on Roberto Garza wiped out a 40-yard pass from Cutler to Earl Bennett.
And to continue the trend of the head-scratching season, the Bears were flagged twice for delay of game penalities during their two-minute drill at the end of the first half.
One penalty came as Robbie Gould hit a 45-yard field right before the half. Gould was forced to hit a 50-yard field goal after the penalty was assessed. What boggles the mind regarding this was the Bears had one timeout remaining.
Where was the coaching staff when the playclock was winding down?
Just read the sequence below of the final drive for the Bears because I don’t feel like writing the details:
1st-10, CHI20 2:47 J. Cutler incomplete pass to the right
2nd-10, CHI20 2:42 J. Cutler incomplete pass down the middle
3rd-10, CHI20 2:36 J. Cutler incomplete pass to the left
4th-10, CHI20 2:31 SF committed 5 yard penalty
1st-10, CHI25 2:23 M. Forte rushed to the right for 3 yard gain. CHI committed 10 yard penalty
1st-17, CHI18 2:15 J. Cutler passed to M. Forte to the left for 12 yard gain. CHI committed 15 yard penalty
1st-20, CHI15 2:00 J. Cutler passed to D. Hester to the right for 10 yard gain
3rd-10, CHI25 1:34 J. Cutler passed to M. Forte down the middle for 20 yard gain
In one minute and 13 seconds the Bears moved five yards while trailing by four in their final drive of the game thanks to two huge penalties.
Playoff teams do not play like this and the Chicago Bears are not a playoff team.
Did I mention I’m tired of sounding repetitive?
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