I have to just keep telling myself how much I love this team, because they are torturing me this season. I know I'm not alone. Last night's game should have been so much easier. The Packers were reeling big-time. Yeah, you do have to assume they are gonna show up to play spoiler in the rivalry game. Bravo to them for being professional enough to play with pride like that. They deserved to win the game, as they outplayed the Bears in nearly every facet. In the end, though, two huge special teams plays swung the pendulum in the Bears favor, and clutch-kicking Robbie Gould put the icing on the already frozen cake.
The Bears offense was dreadful. Just dreadful. The defense played admirably when you consider how many bad situations in which they were repeatedly put. The most notable example of this being a blocked field goal -- by Alex Brown -- to send the game to overtime after a ridiculous horse-collar five yards out of bounds by Adrian Peterson after terrible kick coverage.
If you'd like the Packers fan point of view here, I've got Bruce Ciskie on the horn:
"Partial stream of consciousness from around 11:40pm ET last night:
- Hey, the Bears took a stupid penalty. Maybe it is our night, for a change.
- Great. They're actually going to push to get closer to the end zone. Maybe McCarthy learned his lesson from the Minnesota game.
- Nice third-down play! Keep pushing for the end zone.
- Huh? Did we already win? Why are we running out the clock?
- Ugh. Don't do this, Mike. Nothing has gone right this season. You're asking for a bad snap and a miss or for someone to whiff on their block so the Bears can block the kick.
/head explodes"
Thanks, Bruce. I think that's probably a pretty accurate summary for all Packers fans today.
Back to the Bears, you have to give them credit for taking advantage of a Packers miscue on an early third quarter punt return. If they didn't score a touchdown after that play, it would have been a real bear to overcome a 14-6 deficit, considering the circumstances.
You also have to give Alex Brown credit for blocking that field goal. That is one thing about these Bears: They never give up.
Two terrible interceptions, underthrown deep passes (as usual), poor run blocking, dropped passes, allowing a fake punt conversion, allowing a conversion on fourth and one, and not being able to stop a quick slant were among the reasons the Bears were outplayed for the majority of the game. If those things linger, there's no way this team can go into Houston and win. The Texans play well at home, and have had a prolific passing attack for some of the season. Even if the Bears do pull it off, the Vikings can eliminate them with a win over the Giants -- who will be playing a meaningless game.
Still, would you bet against the Bears after everything we saw in Week 16? I wouldn't.
Bear down, Chicago Bears.
The Bears Just Won't Go Away, Despite Their Self-Sabotaging Efforts originally appeared on NFL FanHouse on Tue, 23 Dec 2008 11:55:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
