Bearial Assault

If anything, they'll get an apology from the league, but the result of this game will not be overturned. Even if it's completely obvious that the outcome of the game would have been different, it won't be overturned (like how it was obvious San Diego would have beaten Denver if Cutler's "incompletion" had been correctly ruled a fumble). The wrong call was made in that case, the league recognized it and apologized, but the outcome was still the same.

So with Barton gone and Miller just signing this week... who exactly is going to be our backup tackle if St. Clair or Tait were to get injured this weekend? I can't imagine they'd throw Miller in there yet although they may have no choice. I really hope it doesn't come to that, especially with a DE like Peppers on the other side, because not having a backup that's up to speed on the offense could cost us an otherwise winnable game if someone gets hurt. At least Miller knows the offense, but I'm sure he's a little rusty and may not quite be in football shape yet.

This appeared to be a much better coached game than many of the previous games. The gameplan for the weather conditions made sense, we stuck to it, and we looked like the better team for 60 minutes today. I'd much rather be in the playoffs, but sweeping the Packers isn't a bad consolation prize.

There were two calls and one non-call that I thought were absolutely horrible. The late hit on Tillman at the end of the first half was a weak call. I don't think there was any way for him to avoid the hit as he was making contact just as the player was going out of bounds, not a second or two after the player went out of bounds. The intentional grounding call on Orton was garbage too. He got hit as he threw, which caused the ball to die yards short of the intended target. The pass appeared to be on target for a Bears receiver who was a few yards beyond. I would think that the QB being hit as he throws combined with a receiver being in the general vicinity would mean that it's not intentional grounding. Finally, the non-call for holding on the Viking that grabbed the back of Desmond Clark's jersey was ridiculous. If that isn't holding, then they might as well never call a holding penalty again. I don't think the officiating caused us to lose by any means, but that doesn't excuse poor officiating either. It makes an already frustrating game to watch even worse.

I think Rex will be back under a short-term deal (1-2 years, heavy on incentives) and will start (barring any unexpected injuries). This will cause the QB situation to still be unresolved for the long term, but I don't believe there are any better free agent options (I don't think Derek Anderson is proven enough to be giving up a 1st and a 3rd round pick for him). And Donovan McNabb, I don't think he is worth what the Eagles would likely demand in trade. If we can steal him, then fine, but with the amount of needs we have to fill right now, we can't afford to be giving up high draft picks. We may draft a QB, but I don't think we should count on that person to contribute (if it's to that point, we may be in big trouble for last year). With that being said, hopefully Orton will play well these last two games and be given a fair chance to compete for the starting job in training camp next year.

I thought Ogunleye had a great year, but I don't necessarily think it was a Pro Bowl-worthy year. 7 NFC defensive ends had more sacks, and that stat alone probably worked against him, especially in the fan voting. He did force 6 fumbles, which is good for 3rd most in the NFL (and 1st most among DEs). That's impressive, but it's a stat that's often overlooked. Similarly, Tillman had 4 forced fumbles which led all NFL CBs. However, he was lacking in interceptions, which is again the category that gets the most consideration. I thought he had a good year as well, particularly given that he didn't have the benefit of having Nathan Vasher at the other corner. Tillman's underrated. Hopefully, he'll be rewarded with a Pro Bowl trip next year (or this year if substitutes are needed). If I had to name the biggest snubs, Ogunleye and Tillman would probably be the two guys I'd pick. Urlacher would be in the mix too, but arthritic back or not, he didn't quite play up to his reputation this year, so it's understandable that he was passed up. It might be better that he rest his back rather than try to play in the Pro Bowl anyway.

I think (and it seems pretty obvious to me) that Walker will not see the $5 million roster bonus. Whether we try to bring him back at a reduced rate (or whether he would accept a reduced salary) is a different story. However, Toeaina had a pretty decent impact after just a couple of days with the team, so I think he may be worth keeping around (particularly because he will probably come cheaper than Walker would anyway). I was impressed with the push he was getting into the backfield. I believe he tackled Peterson for a loss at least twice as well as created situations for his teammates to make tackles for loss or minimal gains. He definitely deserves a further look in the last two games, and he should get it with Harris and Walker both being hampered by injuries. Hopefully, he'll prove that his performance on Monday night wasn't just a flash in the pan.

I also thought that was a big factor in Urlacher and Briggs having good games. It was kind of like the "old days" of 5 years ago (or so) when we had Ted Washington and Keith Traylor as our DTs and Urlacher was pretty much free to create havoc. I also thought Toeaina especially stood out. He got into the backfield quite a bit against a good offensive line, made a couple of plays himself, and created opportunities for others. If he can keep this up, he might find himself with a job with the Bears again next year too.

The thing that pissed me off more than anything is failing to call timeout at the end of the game. I believe the Vikings took a knee for the last time on third down with about 15 seconds left. Rather than use our timeout and force them to punt, we let the clock run out. We quit. Yeah, they'd probably punt it out of bounds. Who cares? We get the ball back with one more chance. Would it have been successful? Probably not. But to not even try is inexcusable. You never know what can happen, and to not give ourselves that chance is infuriating. Another thing that pissed me off is putting Garrett Wolfe in the game when we have the ball on our own two yard line and running him right up the middle at two Pro Bowl DTs. Even my sister, who hardly ever watches football, couldn't believe that. This coaching staff must decide before the game when they're going to put in the 2nd RB and do it even if the situation makes no sense (we've seen this with them taking Benson out when he started out hot against Seattle, for instance, and now it happened again). They need to adjust to the game situation and not stick with what was planned. Overall, the defense played a decent game. They generated a lot of turnovers, but two plays where the missed tackles that have haunted us all year made an appearance became the big difference in the game (the 35 missed tackles on Ferguson on that long pass play that ended up on the 1 yard line and McGowan's total miss on Peterson's second TD run). It boggles my mind how a defense that had so much pride could be so poor at a basic fundamental.

I also believe much of the blame can be placed on the coaching staff. I think the in-game coaching has been poor much of the year. Things like pulling Benson after he started off hot in the Seattle game just because it was in the gameplan to put in Peterson at a certain point in the game... if you've got a player on a roll, you change your plan. Particularly with a player like Benson who had a reputation coming out of college as a player who got better as the game wore on. Clock management has been subpar... I don't know how many times at the end of the half or a game we've let 20 seconds burn off the clock before using a timeout. I also didn't like how we took a knee at the end of the half a few times when there were more than a few seconds left on the clock. And don't get me started on the "we stopped doing it because they'd eventually stop it" excuse that's been used a couple of times lately. I believe that excuse or a similar one has been used to explain why we've stopped running the ball in one game and why we stopped using the no-huddle in the Giants game. I feel like we play not to lose, and those last two points are glaring examples of that mentality. I also think the way they have utilized personnel has been bad at times. Playing Danieal Manning at cornerback was one of the dumbest things I've ever seen in my opinion. If you want him to play cornerback, let him have a full offseason working at the position. Otherwise, you just leave him at safety and let one of the guys you are paying to be cornerbacks play there. McBride has played better than his 7th round draft status would have suggested and Ricky Manning is getting paid a lot of money, so one of those two should have been in there right away once Vasher went down. I am concerned that the cornerback experiment for D. Manning may have affected his confidence and slowed his development as a safety, which is a disservice to the player and the team. I don't like how they've utilized Hester for the most part... I feel like they haven't been very creative in designing plays to take the most advantage of his talents. Screen passes with no blockers, end arounds that everyone sees coming, passes across the middle, plays like that are just putting him at risk. The hit he took in the Lions game at home could have turned out a lot worse. I also think that Olsen's talents have been pretty much wasted this year. They almost never play him when we are in the red zone, the time you'd think you'd want a big, quick target with good hands out on the field. And for him to not be in on the hail mary at the end of the Giants game? To me, that's just crazy. Finally, giving Mark Anderson the starting DE job was a huge mistake. Alex Brown is simply more a complete player, and I think Anderson would have made a much bigger impact if he was used in the same role as he was last year. Brown plays the run much better and has performed better. Anderson is getting worn down playing every down, and he's unable to get the type of pass rush he was able to give us last year. I could probably go on, but I think there a lot of player personnel decisions this staff has mishandled as well. After all that, I do have to concede that the Bears have had an inordinate amount of injuries to deal with this year. However, for losing only a couple pieces of last years Super Bowl team, there should not have been this drastic of a drop in team performance. The Bears have looked extremely sloppy in several games, with numerous penalties, poor tackling, bad blocking, all signs of a problem with coaching. I hope the last 3 games will be used to re-evaluate all aspects of the organization. The coaches need to take a good look at the strategy they employ, we also need to see what some of our younger guys can do in real games. Guys like Beekman and Hass should get a chance to show what they can do... playing against back-ups in preseason games is not going to tell us much about them. Let's see if guys like them are ready to step in and be contributors next year. It'll help the front office too, giving them a better idea of whether or not we have any solutions already on our roster. It'll be an interesting last 3 games and offseason. Let's hope the Bears can get it all together.

Things can get crazy in free agency. I really want him to stay a Bear, but not if he's getting paid top 10 money. I do think we will be significantly worse at the WR position if he does sign elsewhere, and he may be able to use that to squeeze more money out of the Bears if he re-signs. It doesn't seem like there's a whole lot of talent in the FA market, and I'd hate to be in a position where we end up feeling like we have to take a WR early in the draft, because we have plenty of needs as it is. I think he'll re-sign and it'll cost us more than it should, but hopefully he'll start living up to his potential.

Long time lurker, first time poster. I'm 23 years old, just old enough to have been alive when the Bears won the Super Bowl but not old enough to remember it, so I'm itching for a Bears Super Bowl victory. Hopefully next year will be the year because it sure isn't going to be this year. I figured that the creation of the new board was a good time to get involved in the discussion. I look forward to talking Bears football with all of you!