NFL Game Recap: A Wasted Effort By The Defense As The Bears Fall To 4-3
Published by Jake Perper on October 26, 2010
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears
The 2010 Chicago Bears are very frustrating to watch.
They started the season 3-0 and looked like a solid team. Then they post a record of 1-3 in their next four games.
When they look bad they look bad, but often they find ways to snap out of it. When they look good, they look good, but can reverse fortunes quickly. The Bears seemingly did both of those things against Washington last Sunday, though the look that won out was looking bad.
I knew from the very first play of the game that the Bears were in for a long day. If you don’t remember, Washington’s kick returner fumbled the ball and both Rashied Davis and Josh Bullocks. looking as though they could get to it, failed to recover.
The Bears seemed to shoot themselves in the foot all game; they almost recovered one fumble on the play after Jay Cutler’s fumble at the goal-line and D.J. Moore had an interception for a touchdown called back due to a delay of game penalty on Washington.
Although the defense was playing pretty well, they didn’t put consistent pressure on Donovan McNabb and allowed Ryan Torain to run for 125 yards.
However the Bears ability to force turnovers kept them in the game. Danieal Manning added an interception, Israel Idonije deflected the pass into D.J. Moore’s hands which lead to a touchdown and Charles Tillman forced two fumbles, recovering one.
The offense was another story.
They failed to get anything going in the first half, and the line was horrible, alllowing Jay Cutler to be hit far too often.
The second half was a different story. The offensive line actually was giving Cutler time, but he kept making mistake after mistake. You can’t completely blame him, as the receivers didn’t seem to be where they were supposed to be, but Cutler could have thrown the ball out of bounds.
They were winning the game for most of the second half, they could have just settled for field goals on a couple of drives instead of trying so hard for touchdowns.
Speaking of touchdowns, Cutler clearly had one late in the third quarter when he ran a quarterback sneak. The ball was obviously over the goal line, but he “fumbled” the ball and the referees called it a fumble and Washington took over.
For Lovie Smith not to challenge that play is pathetic. Lovie decided to challenge the play before that one, when Earl Bennett hauled a long pass and took it to about the two of Washington’s. It was obvious on the replay boards that Bennett was short of the goal line. How Lovie can challenge that play but not the obvious touchdown by Cutler blows my mind.
Lovie should be blamed for the loss because the game would have been 21-10 at that point and the Bears defense was shutting down McNabb and the Redskins. If the season goes downhill from here, Lovie and the rest of the coaches will all be out of town.
Cutler should get a lot of blame for the loss, but not challenging that play is inexcusable and for Lovie to admit to the mistake shows how bad of a coach he is.
The offensive gameplan should have been geared towards running the ball against one of the worst run defenses in the league, but the Bears again for the second straight week leaned on the arm of Cutler.
Thank goodness for a bye week because this team needs to draw things up on offense. The receivers and Jay Cutler need to get in sync or they could be in serious trouble against the revamped Bills in Toronto. The offensive line doesn’t worry me as much because they played much better in the second half and Roberto Garza should return against Buffalo.
Rumor has it Chris Williams will move back to left tackle, which will put Frank Omiyale back at right tackle. That means rookie tackle J’Marcus Webb will be on the bench and that is a great thing for the Bears. Webb has looked pathetic so far this season at right tackle.
Bears fans don’t worry that much, as we’re still technically in first place. The good side of the Bears will reappear against the 0-6 Bills two weeks from now in Toronto. Trust me.
Jake Perper is the creator of www.BearsBacker.com and also covers the Bears for www.NFLTouchdown.com and NFLBlogblitz.com
Read more Chicago Bears news on BleacherReport.com
