The Bears defense redeemed itself last night against the San Fracisco 49ers. The Bears offense couldn't repay the favor. And thanks to Jay Cutler's five intereceptions, the Bears lost again, 10-6.
Four days after the Bears' D yielded 31 points in the first half of a blowout loss to the Cardinals -- leaving Jay Cutler and the offense to fight from behind -- the Bears held the 49ers to just 10 points. But the Bears offense that failed to generate even a single touchdown, leaving the defense on the field for much of the game.
How did the Bears offense fail? Comprehensively. Matt Forte had 20 carries for 41 yards. That's two-point-oh-who-cares-at-this-point yards per carry.
Bears quarterback Jay Cutler's performance was even worse. Cutler went 29-of-52 for 307 yards and five interceptions.
His performance was so bad he felt the need to apologize to his team afterward.
"It was tough. I have to apologize to the defense," Cutler said. "I think the offense as a whole has to apologize. They played a great game and kept us in there even through all the turnovers."
Cutler threw all five of his interceptions in 49ers territory. He threw one at the goal line to end a scoring threat in the second quarter, one that set up Gore's 14-yard touchdown run later in the second, added another early in the third and early in the fourth before the final one ended the comeback attempt after the Bears had moved down the field in the final 3 minutes.
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Even though Cutler has thrown an NFL-worst 17 interceptions this season, his teammates still have confidence in their quarterback with linebacker Lance Briggs saying, "Next week Jay is going to throw the winning touchdown."
With all that, the Bears still had a chance to win the game late in the fourth. A fourth-down illegal contact penalty against the 49ers gave the Bears new life with more than two minutes left; Cutler drove the Bears down the field and gave them a chance to win ... before throwing his fifth and final pick of the day, ending the Bears' hopes of victory.
