Arizona 41, Chicago 21: Please Go Home Now, Bears

I wrote this for FCP, but I have no idea what's going on over there yet, so whatever. Here you go.

Even all these hours after that train wreck of a game against the Cardinals finally ended, I'm still left trying to figure out how the Bears got to this point. Did they ruin their karma during the bye week? Was a second straight gut-wrenching loss in Atlanta too much to take? Did Cedric Benson single-handidly kill the team's will to live? I don't know, and I'm not sure anyone does. The Bears weren't always this bad, though.

There was a time - just a quarter ago, in the coach's mind - when they were 3-1 and the league was their oyster. Not anymore. The second quarter of this season has been a disaster: a stomach punch loss against the Falcons, a pair of blowout defeats against teams that aren't even that good, and one of the most unsatisfying three touchdown victories you'll ever see. The Bears are quite awful right now, and it's hard to imagine them beating anyone outside of Detroit and St. Louis the rest of this season.

Yesterday's loss to the Cardinals was systematic destruction. Arizona won the coin toss and marched down the field for a touchdown. The Bears may as well have quit right there. Sure, the offense answered with a touchdown to Olsen - the second of two gorgeous throws Cutler made on the first drive - but the only way the Bears were going to win this one was if they turned it into a shootout, and the offense still isn't even close to that point yet. It's a shame, because unless this offense explodes, these Bears won't be beating any halfway competent team. This is what happens when you pride yourself on defense, and then your team plays defense like Ben Gordon.

The blame for the collapse of the vaunted highlight-heavy Tampa-2 can go all around. It's Angelo's fault for blowing so many draft picks after years of being able to find guys like Charles Tillman, Alex Brown, and Lance Briggs in the mid-rounds. It's the players fault for wanting to be paid like stars after the Super Bowl run, getting their wish, and then losing their edge. It's Lovie's fault for being too stubborn to deviate from a surely broken system. The Bears defense is bad for many reasons: there aren't enough good players, too many of the former stars look apathetic, the coach doesn't know how to get his message across anymore. As such, this team appears hopeless. Even just halfway through the season, 2009 already appears to be a single-file death march.


Unless there's internal improvement, it doesn't look like things are going to change any time soon. The Bears will probably steal a victory or two they don't deserve as the season plays out, but - even as they sit at 4-4 - we should be able to say with certainty that this team isn't going to the playoffs.

Then the season will be over. The Bears won't be able infuse young talent without a draft pick until the third round. Angelo can cut Tommie Harris, but the ripples of the cap hit from his massive contract will still be felt. It's a good bet that Lovie won't be going anywhere, either. Do you really think the Bears are going to eat $11 million? They won't, especially not when they know that their next coach needs to be one with a big name, and men with the the credentials of Mike Shanahan or Bill Cowher don't come cheap.

This is still the NFL, of course, so anything can happen. Even if the Bears only have one thing going for them, it's comforting to know that that one thing is a quarterback. It doesn't look like he's going to make much difference this year, though. Cutler may be here, but the play on the field is identical to the team that frustrated so many in 2008.