Game Over

The Bears' season ended in a loss to the Packers 21-14 at home Sunday because of a blown call in the preseason when the Bears brass failed to adequately back-up Jay Cutler.

After completing just six passes on 14 attempts and throwing an interception, Cutler injured his knee at some point in the first half, and only played one series in the second half. Todd Collins entered and had two disastrous series, that didn't include one completion.

Caleb Hanie revived the Bears hope, first completing a pass to Johnny Knox that set up a Chester Taylor touchdown, then later throwing a touchdown pass to Earl Bennett. But he threw an interception to B.J. Raji that was returned for a touchdown, and the game was ended on when a Hanie pass to Knox was picked off by Sam Shields with less than a minute to play.

His inexperience was on display.

It was too bad, too, because by the time Collins arrived the Bears defense looked as though it had found its groove. They stopped the Packers on consecutive possessions. Lance Briggs and Brian Urlacher both had interceptions, and they each had a sack. Julius Peppers put big hits on the Rodgers several times, contributing to the QB's rough second half.

Early on the Bears defense got lit up by Rodgers, who notched a 14 point lead before the half.

Chicago's special teams, was effectively neutralized by the Packers, as Devin Hester had just 40 yards on three returns.

Now, Green Bay will head to Dallas to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl, while the Bears will have all the time in the world to study film and figure out what went wrong.

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