Deep-sixed

Week 10: 49ers 10, Bears 6


The Bears brought in Jay Cutler so he could fling the ball around and do things we're not used to seeing Bears quarterbacks do.

He did just that on Thursday, but not in the way Jerry Angelo had hoped. Five interceptions, including two in the red zone and one with a chance to win the game. A 33.6 QB rating. He was King Midas's evil twin--everything he touched turned to s**t.

We just turned the clocks back, but the Bears are turning them forward--as far as they're concerned, it's 2010. If you lose to the Bengals and Cardinals by a combined score of 86-31 and can't score a touchdown against the 49ers, your season is over. Many people aren't aware of that rule, but it's a rule.

Remember a few years ago when it was the Bears who would win the coin toss and defer so that their defense could go to work? Thursday it was the Niners deferring so they could get an early start on eating Jay Cutler for dinner. They hit him six times and had him running frantically from the pocket all night.

And why not come after him? Forte had another forgettable performance with 41 yards on 20 carries. The only glimmer of hope on the ground was early in the second quarter when the Bears had a 2nd-and-10. Forte hit a hole (he had a hole?!) and then bounced off a tackler (he bounced off a tackler?!) and then made a move (he made a ... a move?! like a ... like a juke?!) to pick up 16 yards (sixteen yards?!). We've seen that far too rarely this season. The next play looked more familiar: he went up the middle and got swallowed up for no gain.

And he repeated that play time and time again, averaging just 2.1 yards per carry and having essentially no impact on the game.

But I haven't even mentioned the most frustrating thing of all: penalties. The Bears came into last night's game averaging 54 penalty yards per game, which ranks 25th in the NFL. They're not even as disciplined as the Raiders. The Raiders pretty much always play like a prison intramural team, and yet the Bears have significantly more penalty yards than they do.

And that was before the Bears racked up 77 yards of additional flaggage last night. Lovie's got some 'splainin' to do, because a lack of focus and a lack of discipline are unacceptable. This team appears to have very little interest in winning football games. The good news is that they have seven more games to figure out how to change that before the 2010 season begins.