Bears Woes

Good article from the Trib.

Their 21-14 loss Sunday to the Packers not only mathematically eliminated them from the postseason and ensured their 10th non-winning season in 14 years, it was another come-from-ahead loss. The defeat marked the third time Smith's team has led entering the fourth quarter this season and wound up losing. The Bears blew a lead at Green Bay in the opener, squandered a lead to Philadelphia and also lost at Atlanta after being tied in the fourth quarter. Add in the failed last-minute drive at San Francisco last month and, yeah, this Bears' team is finished.

Smith is now 14-8 since the Super Bowl when the Bears enter the fourth quarter with the lead. And you thought the Cubs had issues with their closer. Things weren't always successful in his first three seasons, but in that stretch the Bears were 26-1 with a lead after three quarters. See a problem here? It was just one of the issues as the Bears were swept by the Packers for the first time since 2003.

Here are 10 more issues coming out of the game, ones that there will not necessarily be answers for in the final three weeks.

1. Penalties. The Bears were called for 13 of them for 109 yards, the most yards a Smith team has been penalized in his tenure. The 13 penalties is tied for the second-most in his six seasons. The Bears have not been very disciplined with nine penalties or more in five games. Smith says the penalties have not been an issue, but he's missing the mark here. Chris Williams' facemask penalty wiped out a pass to Matt Forte that would have moved the offense into Green Bay territory late in the fourth quarter. A holding penalty by Frank Omiyale negated a 21-yard scramble by Jay Cutler on third-and-11 in the first quarter. What's worse? The Packers entered as the most penalized team in the league, and they had four penalties for 30 yards.

2. Slow starts. It has been fashionable to beat up the offense for the slow starts and the big holes the Bears have found themselves in this season, but Ryan Grant's 62-yard touchdown run on the Packers' first play from scrimmage marked the sixth time an opponent has scored on its first possession. The defense isn't coming out ready. Sometimes the offense has a wrinkle the Bears were not expecting. Whatever the case, Smith's team isn't ready to play.

3. Two timeouts, one challenge, no excuse. Smith called the two timeouts lost late in the fourth quarter two different situations, but it was one big mess for the challenged in-game manager. He said the first timeout was needed because the Bears weren't ready. Then, the coaches in the booth must have seen the replays of Greg Olsen's non-catch and decided challenging the play was a good idea, exposing the Bears to lose a second timeout. Here's the biggest problem with that ill-conceived challenge: the principle the Bears were challenging on the Olsen play was the same one used when referee Mike Carey ruled a pass in the end zone to Packers wide receiver Greg Jennings was incomplete because he didn't control the ball to the ground.

4. Decisions, decisions. The play that turned the game came early in the fourth quarter when Cutler faced a corner blitz from Tramon Williams and floated up a pass toward Johnny Knox along the sideline. The ball never got close to Knox and safety Nick Collins intercepted to set up the Packers' go-ahead touchdown. There were other instances when Cutler didn't look to be on the same page as his receivers. Eventually, he's got to make plays in crunch time for his team.

5. Wale World. Remember last week when Adewale Ogunleye said it didn't look like Packers right tackle Mark Tauscher was in shape yet? Tommie Harris got a coverage sack and Lance Briggs had a sack and Ogunleye missed playing against Allen Barbre.

6. Safety dance. What are the chances the Bears change starting safeties this week? Strong safety Kevin Payne took a bad angle on Grant's long touchdown run, putting himself completely out of position to make a play. When Payne erred in the opener at Green Bay on Jennings' game-winning, 50-yard touchdown pass, he lost his job. Smith has changed starting free safeties 19 times since taking over. He has swapped out starting strong safeties 17 times.

7. It's about the carries. Offensive coordinator Ron Turner preached last week that it's about the carries. If the numbers add up by the end of the game, usually it's a good thing. Cutler threw 36 times and Matt Forte carried 12 times. He gained 51 yards, averaging 4.3 yards per carry. Seems that maybe he could have called for more carries. Or is it not about the carries?

8. Lost season. Greg Olsen now has 51 receptions, but for the sixth time this season he had three catches or less. He was supposed to have a breakout season with Cutler and now he might not have 600 receiving yards as he sits at 51 catches for 463 yards with three games to play. Olsen was a first-round draft pick, but he's not doing anything Desmond Clark couldn't have done earlier in his career if he was utilized a little more.

9. Look on the bright side. The Vikings are talking about potentially securing the No. 2 seed in the NFC playoffs before their Dec. 28 game at Soldier Field. It's a Monday night matchup, so all of the week's action will be complete. If Minnesota is locked into that spot, maybe the Vikings rest some key players in the final game of the season at Soldier Field.

10. Numbers game. The Baltimore Ravens opened as a 10-point favorite for Sunday's game at M&T Bank Stadium. That's if you care about such stuff.

Time for purge and replacement. Bears offense is a mess. The D is getting older. The coaches are lost. They don't have early draft picks.

Good luck, Bear fan.