Bears-Bengals: Chicago Routed By Cincinnati, 45-10
Published by Nathan Venegas on October 25, 2009
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears
The Bears got blown up at the line Sunday and were embarrassed by the Cincinnati Bengals.
Once again the Bears offensive line failed to do much of anything to help the team. Jay Cutler didn’t have time to pass the ball and Matt Forte had nowhere to run the ball.
Even without their leading pass rusher Antwan Odom, who will miss the rest of the season with an injury, the Bengals put pressure on the Bears offense.
When Jay Cutler has time to throw the ball, he’s proven to be efficient and capable of leading the team to scores late in the game. Without protection, he has no chance to show that effectiveness.
I don’t know how long it will take for the offensive line to gel and play better but if it doesn’t happen very soon the Bears will be out of contention early.
The absence of Tommie Harris was felt as the defense could not get much pressure on Carson Palmer and had no idea how to stop Cedric Benson.
The Bengals very large offensive line pushed the front four of the Bears around at will.
Confusion in the secondary led to easy scores in the red zone and helped to soothe Chad Ochocinco’s ego.
Just to give those that didn’t see the game an idea of how it went, when the Bears finally did force the Bengals to punt, the usually tip-top Bears special teams ran into the Bengal punter, giving them the first down.
The Good: Devin Hester. Aside from his fumble, Hester looked pretty good running routes. Too bad his quarterback didn’t have time to get him the ball.
The Bad: Offensive line. They were outplayed for the second straight week. No zip off the line and not being able to open running lanes was the story on offense.
The Ugly: Offensive line. They get a second mention for the simple fact that they couldn’t stop the Bengals’ four down lineman from getting pressure.
The Difference: Line of scrimmage. The Bengals controlled the line on both sides of the ball. Winning all the little battles in the trenches makes everything else easy.
Five Questions
Isn’t it funny that you play better when you’re not drinking all the time, Cedric Benson?
Didn’t the Bears sign a new defensive lineman?
How tough is Earl Bennett?
Is it time to call up Derrick Brooks?
How long will Lovie put up with the offensive line?
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