Bears play ugly, let underdog Seahawks escape with win

The Bears were the worst third down team in the NFL heading into the game. They must have addressed this in practice last week because they really committed to continuing this trend of complete suckitude. I mean hey, if you're leading the league in something, you might as well keep it up, right? They were 0-for-12 on Sunday to bring their third down conversion percentage to 17 percent on the season. For comparison's sake, the Falcons have converted on 43 percent of their third downs this season. You should really convert at least one of twelve attempts just by accident. A lucky tip, a QB scramble ... something. But no. The Bears may as well have punted on third down every drive just to ultimately give themselves more time at the end of the game.

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One of the reasons I was most excited about the Chester Taylor signing in the offseason is his blocking ability. He was often in the backfield for the Vikings on third-and-long because he can pick up the blitz. But Taylor was rarely in there even on those passing downs against Seattle. Another element Taylor brings to the table is the ability to catch the ball out of the backfield. Third-and-six? Check it down to Taylor and see if he can pick up the necessary yardage. But no, Taylor caught just one pass the entire game and was targeted only one other time. Why'd they get this guy?

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I'm going to sound a bit hypocritical here, but hear me out: The Seahawks shouldn't have been kicking to Devin Hester in the fourth quarter. I said earlier that the praise and fear of him has been overblown since his punt return against the Packers. But if you're up 10 late in the fourth, don't give him a chance to bring the Bears back. Field position didn't matter in that situation--if the Bears end up with 10 more yards because you punt it out of bounds, so what? They still need 10 points in two minutes. But if you punt it to him, THAT might happen. Which was about the only thing that could have really hurt the Seahawks at that juncture.

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I don't know if the Bears' playoff chances can survive this offensive line. Heck, I don't know if Jay Cutler can survive this offensive line. The Bears have allowed 27 sacks this season, seven more than any other team, and Cutler has been dropped 14 times in his last two games. The coaching staff has continued to tweak the line as they seek the right combination--Chris Williams was moved from left tackle to left guard last week, for example--but they sure as hell ain't found it yet. That has to improve, or the Bears won't.

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Give Cutler this: he spread the ball around. Seven different receivers caught at least one pass. But Cutler spread the ball around so much that most of his passes landed on the turf (after bouncing off a defender's hands, in many cases). It was a pretty horrific performance all-around, which is why his QB rating ended up below 70.

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I hope Briggs is back next week. My feeling on this defense is that they're pretty good, but that they need all hands on deck in order to be so. No Urlacher? Done. Missing Briggs? Bad. If Peppers were to miss a game? /Shudder. There's not a real big margin of error here.

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On the bright side, there must be some serious panicking going on north of the border after the Packers lost a home game to Miami. A team that was supposed to dominate the NFC, the Packers find themselves just 3-3 and still a game back of the Bears. Let's end this on a high note: