Bad teams invent ways to lose football games. Today was a prime example of that exact statement. Today’s 13-10 loss to the Denver Broncos magnifies the issues within the Chicago Bears. Sure, Marion Barber is a goat. The defense decided to take the last few minutes off. But the issues go deeper than today’s loss.
Look no further than the Houston Texans. The Texans lost starting quarterback Matt Schaub and backup signal caller Matt Leinart in consecutive weeks. Did the Texans fold up the tents and go home? No, the Texans behind third-string QB TJ Yates have won three games in a row. In addition to the injuries at quarterback, the Texans were also without the services of running back Arian Foster and wide receiver Andre Johnson for parts of the season. Johnson even missed today’s game with the Cincinnati Bengals. Meanwhile, the Chicago Bears have completely fallen apart without Jay Cutler. The team went from being a real strong contender to one of football’s worst teams in a matter of three weeks.
Statistically, the Bears defense played a solid game. But if you look deeper at the numbers, the defense once again gave up big plays in crucial situations. Granted, there’s huge pressure on this unit; but the problems go much deeper. Teams seem to get the big conversions at critical times. How many times have teams converted third-downs in ridiculously big situations?
I’m not even going to discuss the offense. There’s nothing positive to be said about this group. They’re painful to watch and even more painful to understand.
The current state of the Chicago Bears falls squarely on the shoulders of management. This team couldn’t figure out that Hanie isn’t a viable NFL quarterback? His performance in the championship game last season wasn’t that spectacular. It looked brilliant because of Todd Collins. But realistically speaking, Hanie sucks. He’s bad, brutal and a disgrace. Jerry Angelo and company didn’t notice that when Hanie was a free agent, no other teams expressed any interest in his services. Even Mike Martz recognized Hanie’s limitations last season. For a team that is painfully under the salary cap, to not even explore the idea of upgrading the quarterback position behind Cutler is ground for dismissal. You get what you pay for in this league, and the Bears have neglected to have much depth on the roster. Meanwhile, the aforementioned Texans signed former Bear safety Danieal Manning in the off season. The Bears didn’t even make him a fair offer. He’s considered a cornerstone of the Texan’s top rated defense, and the Bears are brutal at safety. A certain blogger wanted the Bears to franchise tag Manning. The worst part is…THE BEARS ARE APPROXIMATELY 19 MILLION UNDER THE SALARY CAP. There’s no excuse.
I really could go on for days, but I’ve decided to save it for later. Follow me on Twitter at ChicagoBearJew.
Buy Chicago Bears Tickets | Buy Chicago Bears Apparel
Everyone from Ted Phillips to Lovie Smith needs to go. I think at times fans are fooled by the Bears record. They win but they are winning despite the front office and coaches. Kind of the way the Chargers have won at times even though they are being run by a terrible coach.
I think Smith is a good coach. I think the team probably wins because of him and despite the front office.
I don’t agree. I think he is great at getting the best out of his players but he makes way too many poor choices. For example why did Barber run the ball at all during that last series? Am I the only one that realized all the Bears had to do was snap the ball to Hanie and have him run back for ten yards and then go down. Then do it again on 3rd and in the worst case scenario Denver would have had about 6-10 seconds left. How can I see that but a head coach can’t? Also what is up with laying down and giving up offensively on it’s last four possessions? No way it was Martz’s idea to run the ball every down for four straight series. That was only last week but Lovie makes lots of poor judgement calls as head coach. The team wins despite his ineptitude.