Panthers 20 - Bears 17

Way to rip my beating heart out and light it on fire.

Top 5 Reasons The Bears Lost To Carolina

5. Chris Harris

Ex-Bear Chris Harris came into this game with a chip on his shoulder. We've failed to find a hard hitting safety with a nose for the ball since foolishly trading Harris after '06. Harris was everywhere last week, getting his licks on WR's, stopping Hester on special teams and forcing a momentum changing strip on a 3rd quarter Greg Olson reception.

4. Jonathan Stewart

The Bears did a great job of shutting down DeAngelo Williams in the first half, but gave up 76 yards and 2 touchdowns to rookie Jonathan Stewart in the 2nd half. Same old story here with the D playing great in the first half, but with no support from Offense in scoring or field position, the Defense had to try to carry another game.














3. Poor Special Teams Play

Yes, we scored off a Darrel McClover blocked punt, but Special Teams penalties forced us to start with terrible field position the entire game.

Brandon McGowan committed two special teams penalties and would later sustain a season ending ankle injury.




McGowan will be replaced at Safety by Danieal Manning, who was benched in favor of McGowan at the start of the season. Manning (pictured with Urlacher) committed a Special Teams penalty late in the fourth, forcing the Bears to start on the 10 yard line.




Even the usually reliable Brad Maynard had a bad game, punting one ball 30 yards.

Kellen Davis and Jason McKie contributed to Special Teams penalties as well (McKie also had a false start on Offense).

Speaking of Mic's, do you think Patrick Dempsey is known more for this role...

Or the African Anteater Ritual?

2. Kyle Orton's Inability to Be A Playmaker

Matt Forte did his part in the run game, picking up huge chunks of yards throughout the game, but Kyle Orton failed to create a passing attack. He has no accuracy on the deep ball. His best throw of the game was an under thrown ball which Brandon Lloyd managed to catch for 32 yards.








Orton had three chances to score in the fourth quarter. The first one ended on this 3rd and 7 down field overthrow to an open Marty Booker.

On his next possession, after a 6 yard pass to Desmond Clark, he threw a 2nd down incomplete pass to Rasheed Davis. On 3rd down, he was called for a Grossman-like intentional grounding. End of possession.

His last chance with 2:24 left, with a win within reach, started with a monster Matt Forte 9 yard carry on 1st down. A team that gets off the bus running gives it to Forte on 2nd down, 3rd down and 4th down to try for that 1 yard. On 2nd down, Orton throws incomplete to Rasheed Davis. On 3rd down, he calls an audible and throws a terrible wide pass to Marty Booker. And on 4th down, Jason McKie was stopped for no gain.

The expert analysis (Dan Hampton and Doug Buffone) put a lot of blame for this 4th and 1 failure on rookie Tight End Kellen Davis' failure to be ready for his blocking assignment on a short count.

An Offensive Coordinator and QB's fates go hand in hand, so Ron Turner's WTF!?? playcalling shares the responsibility here.


















1. Greg Olson's Fumbles

No way around it. Olson's fumbles cost us the game. The first one came at the end of a long drive, after a Kellen Davis Special Teams penalty and Josh Beekman false start put us at the 6.

The second fumble (pictured on left), in the third quarter, and caused by Chris Harris was the absolute momentum changer in the game.

Olsen wasn't the only one to screw up in this game, but he is now outside of my circle of trust. It was a bad day for all Tight Ends not named Desmond Clark.





Game Notes:




A. Brown (96) had a sack for a 9 yard loss and a tackle for a 6 yard loss.

Yisra-el Idonije (71) had a 4th quarter sack for a loss of 12 yards.





In the battle between our 2 exceptional CB's, C. Tillman again had the better game with an INT of a Kevin payne pass break up. Vasher gave up some yards to Muhsin Muhammad, my least favorite Ex-Bear with a moustache.






And finally, check out this website...

http://www.biggestbearfan.com/

This guy is a bigger Bears fan than me. He's covered.

Here's his Vasher.


And my favorite, the Marcus Robinson!