Chicago bears don’t get it "See you later"
Week 8 of NFL action is a bye week for the NFC North division-leading Chicago Bears (4-3). Of his 7 games played in the 2010 season, his performances still leave a door open to uncertainty in bringing the first Vince Lombardi trophy to Chicago since Mike Ditka’s champion team in 1985. Head coach Lovie Smith and faculty began the 2010 season 3-0, which includes a controversial week one ‘W’ that remains an arguable loss to the Detroit Lions with a controversial decision on the Lions receiver’s touchdown reception. s, Calvin Johnson, in the dying seconds of the fourth quarter.
The Bears’ strongest performances came against division rival Green Bay Packers, the shockingly below-average 2010 team, the Dallas Cowboys, and the Carolina Panthers. The Bears were officially exposed in their first loss to the current NFC East division leaders, the New York Giants. The Giants dismantled the Bears’ suspect offensive line just as they did Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 42. The Cowboys came close to breaking the Bears’ offensive scheme, but Mike Martz was able to make some effective adjustments to respond to the Cowboys’ lightning defense and pull off a win. This is one of the main problems of this franchise; lack of continuity in the production of their offensive line. The finger may point elsewhere, such as his head coach, poker face thrill Lovie Smith, the receiving corps, and sometimes his “franchise quarterback,” Jay Cutler. Halfway through the season, we keep hearing the same broken record, silly excuses from Lovie and the players we’ve heard since his appearance in the 2006 Super Bowl.
Following their 17-14 loss at Soldier Field, to Chicago native quarterback Donovan McNabb and the Washington Redskins, Lovie stated, “We’re in position to compete for the playoffs.” The competition only gets bigger with their remaining opponents in the second half of the season! This team will not be a champion contender until the obvious issues are fixed. The offensive line needs to be revamped, especially to run an offense under Mike Martz’s system. How much offensive line training can offensive line coach Mike Tice administer each week, only to see no improvement in his quarterback protection? Every week players appear in the media stating that they promise to fix their problems and that there will be some improvements. This team has a good receiving corps with speedy Devin Hester and Johnny Knox to name a few, but they still lack a dominant home receiver to create a threat against opposing teams. Jay Cutler needs to do a better job of getting rid of the ball and acknowledging the blitz.
Lovie isn’t excited about motivating his baseball club and may be after another winless season. This bye week is an opportunity to rest, regroup, and prepare for the second half of the season. Lovie doesn’t seem to get the “bye-bye now” point that there are still issues that need to be addressed before he can consider moving forward with this team as a Super Bowl contender, and he needs to permanently shut down the bad excuses and just get the job done.