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.