How to Avoid Mediocrity: Chicago Needs to Beat San Francisco

Many members of the media stated that Sunday’s showdown between Arizona and Chicago was going to be an evenly matched game. After all, both teams had 4-3 records, so that obviously meant that the teams were identical on every other level. They both needed a signature game.

Arizona eagerly eapplied their John Hancock, while the Bears scoffed, “It’s Herbie Hancock.”

Anyone who witnessed the game on Sunday saw that the Cardinals are not suffering from a post-Super Bowl defeat hangover, nor are they on equal footing with the Bears. In short, the Cardinals are contenders, while the Bears are poseurs.

Only after Arizona took their foot off of the throttle and placed Matt Leinart, the southpaw version of Rex (a.k.a Wrecks) Grossman in the game, did the Bears play with any semblance of ferocity. Leinart’s first pass went awry into the hands of cornerback Zackary Bowman, who returned the pick to the Arizona 28-yard line. Fifty-two seconds later, Cutler found tight end Greg Olsen for his third touchdown reception of the afternoon and closed the gap to 13 points.

Cutler passed for 369 yards on Sunday, the most in the league during Week 9. However, the yardage seemed porous. The Bears offense moved the ball with some success in the first half, but only generated seven points, and trailed at halftime by 24.

The Bears’ offense was not inebriated. Soporific is much more accurate. They cannot put full drives together until they are in dire straits. Maybe they should just spot their opponents two touchdowns at the beginning of the game to fire up Cutler and company.

Some of the blame can be attributed to the poor play-calling. You can also just look at the false-starts and other offensive penalties, which set back drives to irrecoverable positions on the field. Even with this mind, the offensive personnel are hardly the problem.

Hester has improved tremendously this season. Unfortunately, he still is not a number one wideout. Earl Bennett has been steady, but he is not a number one either. Rookie Johnny Knox’s luster has worn off recently, so it might be time to give Cutler some more options.

Two-time training camp sensation Devin Aromashodu merits a look at some point. Why keep him on the roster if they are not going to give him a chance? The same goes for third round rookie Juaquin Iglesias. If Knox, a fifth round pick, could get reps after playing at Abilene Christian, why not play someone from a more highly regarded program like Oklahoma’s?

Defensively, they have been putrid. The pass rush has been nonexistent, with the exception of Alex Brown, who makes an occasional highlight reel, with his quarterback pressure. The rest of the unit, including veterans Adewale Ogunleye and Mark Anderson just cannot seem to get anything going. Recently acquired end Gaines Adams barely gets his name into the box score. Tommie Harris is troubled. The linebackers and secondary need a shakeup.

If Lovie Smith wants to send a message to his players this week, he should sit Harris once again. Yes, he is their best—read most expensive—defensive lineman, but his behavior was inane. He also could thrust Israel Idonije into the starting lineup and put Gaines Adams into some more pass rushing situations. Smith has the horses for battle, but he keeps too many in the barn.  

But really, how much of a shakeup can the Bears afford this week? Traveling across the country is difficult if you have a full week to game plan? Three days rest is barely enough time for a starting pitcher to recuperate, much less a beaten up quarterback and a downtrodden defensive line. They probably should change the extreme makeover for Philadelphia in Week 11.

Perhaps a tweak to the offensive line or the linebackers, like moving Nick Roach back to the middle to see if he can handle it on a more permanent basis is in order. Jamar Williams is in his fourth year in the league and the Bears still do not know if he has a position for the future. A shift back to the running game is pivotal as well.

For better and for worse, Cutler is the franchise. In Denver last year, he was sacked 11 times all season. Through eight games in Chicago, he has been brought down 19 times. While that is nothing compared to the abuse Aaron Rodgers has taken in Green Bay—37 times!—it is not a nice trend.

A pass-heavy offense is one thing, but a one-dimensional one is onerous. Matt Forte only carried the ball five times. As a team, the Bears ran 12 rushing plays. That is not going to work. With a healthy Adrian Peterson to back up Forte, and a short week of practice, the Bears need to turn their focus back to the ground to keep Cutler off of it.

Can tonight be different? Will former Bear player and current Niners Head Coach Mike Singletary have vengeance on his mind? Does Lovie Smith have anything on his mind? (Rex is our quarterback…Wait that doesn’t work anymore).

Prediction: It’s really tough for any team to travel across the country and the Bears are beat up. 49ers quarterback Alex Smith has quickly developed a rapport with tight end Vernon Davis, which bodes well for San Francisco. On Sunday, Kurt Warner hit both Ben Patrick and Anthony Becht for scores. Davis is more polished as a receiver and should take advantage of an open middle of the field.

Frank Gore should find the end zone one or two times tonight.  His critics will tell you that without his long touchdown runs this season, he is only averaging a touch above three yards per carry. I’d be quick to point out that those runs still count. The Bears have been particularly susceptible to the big running play. On Sunday, Beanie Wells had a 26 yard off of the right side of the line and Steve Breaston picked up 25 yards on an end around. It is very likely that Gore gets a big run or two in as well.

San Francisco will make sure that this is a physical game. Whether the Bears are still equipped to handle that will determine whether they keep their playoff dreams alive or if those dreams officially fade into oblivion.

San Francisco 27, Chicago 23

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