Bengals – 45

Bears – 10

Only a week after a disappointing loss to the Falcons, the Bears returned to action only to show how pathetic of a team they really are.  In a game where nothing went right for the Bears, the Bengals easily jumped out to a 31-0 lead before the Bears even knew what hit them.  With the Bears secondary often out of place and confused, Carson Palmer completed 20 of 24 passes for 233 yards and 5 touchdowns.  Cincinnati scored touchdowns on their first 4 drives and were not even held to a punt until late in the game.  When the Bears finally made a stop and forced a punt, a running into the kicker penalty gave the Bengals a first down.

Cedric Benson ran wild as he looked nothing like he did when playing for the Bears. He racked up 189 yards and a touchdown while Bears defenders could do little to slow him down.  He tore through the Bears’ front 7 like it was nothing.

Again, Cutler failed to protect the ball well.  He threw 3 interceptions and fumbled the ball twice on shotgun snaps.  When your quarterback is playing like that, it’s going to be hard to win a lot of games.  In his defense, it’s tough to make good throws when the line can’t block for you, but Cutler still needs to stop forcing so many throws.

Defensively, this was easily the worst performance of recent memory.  For the second straight game the Bears failed to record a sack.  The lack of pressure up front allowed Palmer to relax in the pocket and pick the secondary apart like they were a high school team.  Zack Bowman and Charles Tillman are really proving they are worthless as starting cornerbacks.  Meanwhile the front seven did little to slow down Benson on his way to an excellent game on the ground.

There really is not one positive aspect that came out of this loss.  Lovie Smith simply failed to have his team ready to play.  The players don’t seem to respond to Lovie anymore.  He is unable to motivate them and the result is a game like we witnessed today.  Aside from the poor offensive line and offensive play calling, Lovie Smith is a huge problem for this team.  Lovie is a good coach, but he isn’t good enough to get the job done in Chicago.  He is consistently getting out-coached while not motivating his players enough to play hard and win.  If this continues for the remainder of the season the Bears need to think about dumping Lovie and bringing in a real head coach with a real defensive scheme as well.  Lovie’s cover 2 can’t get the job done for the Bears.  Too many teams know how to rip it apart while Lovie fails to make the proper adjustments to stop the bleeding.

Falcons – 21

Bears – 14

This loss hurts.  In what may prove to be such a crucial game in the season, the Bears went out and really displayed they are not true contenders this year.  The score certainly looks close as the Bears were in striking distance the entire game, but the team simply made too many mistakes to win tonight.  Most of these mistakes would be unacceptable at the high school level.

How does Orlando Pace, a possible future Hall of Famer, not know the snap count on the most crucial play of the game?  On 4th and 1 late in the 4th quarter with the ball deep in Atlanta territory,  Orlando Pace lunged forward prior to the snap for a crucial false start penalty.  This pushed the Bears back 5 yards and the next play attempt was a failed pass to Desmond Clark.  That penalty was unacceptable.

Other unacceptable penalties included having 12 men on the punt return team.  That 5 yard penalty gave the falcons a first down after the Bears made a good defensive stand.  Penalties like that ruin games for teams and in actuality make a team look more like the Rams than playoff contenders.

Cutler played well enough to keep the Bears in the game through the passing game.  He was picked off twice in the first half, once in the redzone, but finished the game with 2 touchdowns and only those 2 picks.  His poise and playmaking ability on the late 4th quarter drives really kept the Bears alive tonight.  He did all this with almost no offensive line play.

Behind this offensive line, this Bears team is not going anywhere.  Cutler has no time to throw the ball, Forte has no room to run, and did I mention the crucial false start?  Simply put, you can’t be a serious contender with an offensive line this bad, especially with Frank Omiyale starting at left guard.  Omiyale is possibly the worst left guard to ever take a field at any level of football.  He might as well just line up on the sidelines and save himself the wear and tear on his body.  He is absolutely awful out there.  Only the Bears would take some no-name scrub and pay him starting money, which is probably why he is still out there as a starter.  Angelo and company are too stubborn to admit they were wrong about this poor excuse for a guard.

The Bears need to be able to run the ball successfully in order to win games this year and this line can’t get the job done for Forte.  When Forte did have the ball, he couldn’t hold on to it.  Forte had 2 crucial consecutive fumbles on the goal line.  Unfortunately the second fumble was recovered by Atlanta, and the Bears surrendered at least 3 points.  In his post game interview, Forte took accountability and said “It’s my job to hold onto the ball and I didn’t do it.”  It is good to hear that he is willing to own up to his mistakes tonight.

Defensively, this was a mediocre effort.  The defense stopped the run well, Nathan Vasher and Daniel Manning each had interceptions, but other than that the defense put on a poor show.  They recorded no sacks and rarely had any decent pressure on Matt Ryan.

Nick Roach, again filling in at middle linebacker, was out of place on a touchdown pass from Matt Ryan to Tony Gonzalez.  As Jim Wascher so perfectly explained it, “Roach had one job, to cover the deep middle.  What does he do?  He goes to the flat.”  Roach has done better than most expected thus far this season filling in at MLB, but this was a horrible time to fall out of position.  It seems as if Lance Briggs was the only player to actually show up tonight.  No surprise there.

The Bears tonight just made too many mistakes.  Superbowl contenders don’t make these mistakes in such high volume during a crucial game that could have playoff implications.  With the Vikings and Saints continuing to roll, the Bears might be fighting for a wild card spot along with the Falcons, who now have the head to head advantage.

Next week the Bears go on the road again to face a tough Cincinnati team.  This game will be a good indication of whether or not the Bears are ready to play real football and not look like a pop warner team instead.

The Chicago Bears have traded their 2010 second round draft pick for Tamba Bay defensive tackle Gaines Adams.  Adams, the 20o7 4th overall pick has been quite a disappointment in Tampa.  He totaled 12.5 sacks in his first two years, and has only brought down the QB once so far this season.  Bears fans might best remember him for his pick-6 off Kyle Orton in the 2008 season.

The trade likely strengthens the Bears’ already deep DE position.  However, there were certainly other positions of need for the team.  A cornerback, safety, or defensive tackle should be top priority right now, not an underachieving defensive end.  But, in Adam’s defense, he has freakish athlietic skill and never had good talent around him in Tampa.  With Rod Marinelli as his line coach now, Adams may thrive in the Bears system and become a great replacement for soon to be free agent Adewale Ogunleye.

Although right now it’s unlikely the Bears could have made a good move for any needs, they could have used the 2010 second round pick for that purpose.  This trade just does not make a lot of sense at this time.  The Bears pass rush has been very good this season while other positions are struggling mightily.

Bears – 48

Lions – 24

After snapping what seemed to be an endless losing streak, the Lions entered Soldier Field and left with a dose of reality.  The Bears knew this game should not be taken lightly and they played well until the finish as they improved to 3-1 on the season.

The Bears defense got off to a slow start while allowing rookie Matt Stafford to find easy completions all over the field.  After scoring on their first two possessions, the Bears D looked like it was in for a long day.  Fortunately Jay Cutler and the offense responded well and scored with relative ease to keep the game within reach.

Trailing 7-0, Cutler drove the Bears down the field and tied up the game when he leapt for the endzone and got smashed by defenders as he crossed the goal line.  Many Bears fans may have to look as far back as Jim McMahon to see this type of intensity and desire to score.  That was certainly a site to see.

After the Cutler touchdown jumpstarted the offense, the teams went into the half tied at 21.  However, the Bears decided to make adjustments while the Lions failed to do so.  Johnny Knox opened the second half with a 102 kick off return for a score and the Bears never looked back.  The high powered Detroit offense from the first half disappeared as the same bad Lions we all know re-emerged to score only 3 points in the second half.

With Lance Briggs leading the defense, the Lions struggled to figure out the Bears in the second half.  Briggs was again a menace on the field today, totaling 9 total tackles.  He is well on his way to his 5th Pro Bowl.  As a unit, the Bears defense registered 5 sacks today with Ogunleye recording 2.5.

Matt Forte and the running game finally found success today.  Forte totaled 121 yards on 12 attempts and found the endzone on a 37 yard run.  Hopefully this helps snap the offensive line and Matt Forte out of the funk they have been stuck in this season.  A successful running game will be key to allowing Cutler to open up the game more with the pass.

Jay Cutler quietly had a good performance.  He completed 18 of 28 passes for 141 yards and 2 touchdowns.  The high powered passing game was not needed today as the Bears found success on special teams and with the run.

On the negative side, the Bears pass defense really looked awful in the first half while Matt Stafford looked like Joe Montana.  This will need to improve as the Bears move forward.  The defense has to start playing strong for a complete game, not just late in the games.

Also, the injury bug continues to bite the Bears.  Devin Hester, Johnny Knox, and Adrian Peterson left the game with injuries.  Hopefully these injuries are not too serious.  Hester and Knox are key members in the passing game as well as the return game while Peterson is a stud on special teams.  The good news is that if these are minor injuries, they will have an extra week to heal as the Bears have a bye in week 5.  The Bears need to take the bye week to work on the pass defense and running game.  When they return to action, the Bears face two tough road challenges in Atlanta and Cincinnati.

The bottom line good news though is that the Bears are 3-1 after the first quarter of the season, exceeding the expectations of many.

The Blackhawks started their much anticipated 2009 campaign today as they look to build off last season’s success.  The offense looked aggressive while getting 55 shots on net.  Unfortunately, Florida’s Tomas Vokoun was stellar in net, stopping 52 of those shots.  The Hawks got goals from Patrick Kane, Patrick Sharp, and Dustin Byfuglien and had a 3-2 lead late in the game.  However, a crucial turnover in the Hawk’s zone allowed Florida to score a late goal and force overtime.  After a scoreless overtime, Jonathan Toews scored the lone Hawk’s shootout goal as Florida buried two shots for the win.

Today’s loss brings back haunting memories from last year when the Hawks struggled to win overtime games early in the season.  Eventually, they finished up leading the Western Conference in overtime losses with 12.  These overtime games will be crucial for the Blackhawks this year as they need to prove they can win games in clutch situations.

The loss also fails to halt concerns about Blackhawk’s goaltender Cristobal Huet.  After playing a mediocre game between the pipes in regulation, Huet was beat twice in the shootout as the Hawks took the loss.  He will need to perform better as the year goes on to help keep the Hawks in legitimate contention.

Crying over Chicago’s elimination from hosting the 2016 Olympics is nothing short of pathetic.  If you look to the Chicago Tribune’s photo gallery you will see pictures of dejected faces and even “Tears of Sadness.”  What is truly sad, is that so many people have pinned their emotions on Chicago receiving the 2016 bid.  I can’t even fathom how people can be so upset over this news.

Certainly people were hopeful that Chicago would be selected to host the 2016 games, but to become this upset and cry over the rejection is crazy.  Do people really not have anything else in their lives to worry about?  These people don’t deserve to see the Olympic games in their home town.