Coming into the game against the Kansas City Chiefs, the Bears had a lot riding on the line. They were already coming off a lose in Oakland that snapped a five game winning streak and a win today would have got them one step closer to making the playoffs. However, things started off very slowly for the Bears. On their first possession, they were back up on their own side of the field and went three and out and had to punt the ball. Luckily Chiefs punt returner Jalil Brown muffed the punt and it was recovered by Zack Bowman. When the Bears got the ball back, they once again went three and out and punted the ball. On the Bears next offensive position, things went from bad to worse as Matt Forte was injured on a running play and was later ruled out for the game. This was a devastating blow to the Bears who were already without starting quarterback Jay Cutler. If Forte is seriously injured and out for a prolonged period, the Bears playoff hopes might go down with his injury. Losing a man that accounts for almost 45 percent of your offense is a big one and the offense struggled without him. Another thing that hurt the Bears in the first half was Caleb Hanie's inability to hit wide receivers on the run. Whether it was to gain a first down, or the occasion where he overthrew Earl Bennett, Hanie once again had a horrible first half. The Bears are going to have to find some way to get Hanie involved with the game early and get his confidence going, because without his ability to make plays, their offense will go no where. I don't understand why Mike Martz hasn't called any screen passes or called more quick throws to get Hanie going. The screen pass was such an important part of the Bears offense early and now is nonexistent. The turning point of the first half and possibly the game came as the second quarter was coming to an end. The Chiefs were spread out and the Bears had 8 men back in coverage as Chiefs quarterback Tyler Palko wound up and threw a pass to the end zone. It looked as if Brian Urlacher was going to have an easy interception to seal the first half but right after Urlacher got his hands on it rookie safety Chris Conte batted the ball out of his hands. This wouldn't have been a big deal except he batted it right into the arms of Chiefs running back Dexter McCluster for the Chiefs first touchdown in over a month. This play revealed Conte's inexperience and ended up being the game winning touchdown.
Throughout the second half, neither offense was able to really get anything going, and the Bears defense always seemed to make the big stop on third down to give the ball back to the offense. However, for the second straight week, special teams was almost nonexistent as the Chiefs did a good job of shutting down Devin Hester. Caleb Hanie once again showed some flashes in the second half, but was unable to make the big third down conversion when needed. One thing that consistently disrupted Hanie's timing was the Chiefs blitzing, which causes fits with the Bears offensive line. It seemed as if the Bears line had trouble all game picking up the blitzes and that resulted in 7 Chief sacks. Towards the end of the fourth quarter, Hanie lead the Bears down the field and got them into the red zone. On their first play in the red zone, Hanie dropped back and slung a very catchable ball to Roy Williams, who juggled the ball which led to an interception. These are things that cannot happen when you have a young quarterback trying to come back and wing games. Once against, Roy Williams achilles heel has been his inability to hold onto catchable balls. Earlier in the game, the Bears had 6 points taken off the board from a wide open touchdown catch by Marion Barber. The play was called back because Barber did not line up on the line of scrimmage which eventually really hurt the Bears. Overall, the Bears missed on to many plays and opportunities to win the game. The offense as a whole needs to step it up and get going if they have any hopes of making the playoffs. The offensive line has to play better and open up more running lanes for the back and give Caleb Hanie more time in the backfield. Caleb Hanie needs to be more accurate with his passed and hit his wide receivers while in stride. He left a lot of big plays on the field and you would only hope that fixes its self with time on the practice field and viewing films. And finally, the wide receivers needs to help out their quarterback more. The Bears can not afford to have wide receivers line up incorrectly and drop balls with all of the other things going wrong on offense.
The game was overall very hard to watch because of its sloppiness and because it was a very winnable game. The Bears definitely let one get away and will have to work hard all week to come back for a victory next week. So until next time, Bear Down Chicago!
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