Chicago Bears’ Season Is Quickly Slipping Away
Published by Kevin OBrien on September 30, 2011
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears season opener this year against the Atlanta Falcons at home held out promise that the Bears would be able to at least duplicate last season’s success of finishing at 11-5 and earning a trip to the NFC title game.
That convincing win against the Falcons now seems like a very distant memory. Injuries, poor offensive play with no running game and a host of other things have just not gone the Bears’ way.
Last year, the Bears defense was consistent and dominant at times. They were getting turnovers, forcing many 3-and-outs and could carry the team even when the offensive was struggling.
This year, the defense has been on the field so much that fatigue has certainly played a part. I would attribute the injuries to the secondary as the most crippling so far.
For whatever reason, this defense does not look the same without strong safety Chris Harris in the lineup. Replacing Chris Harris with Craig Steltz is just too much of a dropoff in skill to be able to mask in their secondary.
Steltz is slow and doesn’t have very good ball instincts. Harris, on the other hand, is the quarterback in that secondary. He looks to be absent at least another couple of weeks. Great.
On the offensive side of the ball, Roy Williams has been a complete flop, but who really expected much from him anyway? Marion Barber has yet to dress up for a game and is already showing why Dallas was not too interested in resigning him.
As for the Bears quarterback situation, I would say Cutler’s play has been mediocre to poor. He had a very nice first game against Atlanta and has done really nothing since.
It would be easy to attribute some of his struggles to the play of the offensive line, but Cutler has been inaccurate on too many passes this year. I can recall at least four touchdowns he has missed because of bad throws.
Cutler now almost seems shell-shocked in the pocket and gets happy feet at even the slightest bit of pressure. He eventually reverts back to his bad habit of throwing the football off his back foot that lead to errant throws.
I think what we see with Cutler is somewhat the type of QB he is: a good arm, can make the tough throws at times, but is a little bit too scared of a pass rush to be an elite QB.
I know I will catch some flack from Cutler fans, but I’m just calling it the way I see it. Cutler, including his career with the Denver Broncos, has thrown as many interceptions as he has touchdowns. Pass protection was never an issue or problem with the Broncos.
Obviously, the Bears need to run the ball more. The problem with that is everybody they play will be expecting it. Rushing yards will still be hard to come by.
I stated in my previous Bears article that I would fire Mike Martz now and promote Mike Tice to offensive coordinator.
If the Bears happen to lose on Sunday to the Carolina Panthers, then I wouldn’t be surprised to see Lovie Smith make a change. We can only hope, right?
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