I think the Bears need to "Clean It Up" so to speak as an organization. Can you really think of a professional sports team that would allow this to happen?  2 late game collapses, and in the fashion they happened?  Maybe it's a result of not having God out there on the field, but at what point do the Bears stop accepting these losses?  Finish games.  Yeah, we got it after the 1st time it happened.  It's beginning to look more and more like the Colts just played plain BAD against us and we benefited from it.  It's easy to say we could and should be 3-0, but the fact that the 2 straight losses came in the manner they did is disheartening.  The Bears fans were teased once this season with the Colts victory, so shame on us.  Any more teasing after these last two crushing defeats will be shame on you Chicago Bears.  Please, make us forget all about these last 2 games and rebound nicely with another Sunday Night win and all will be forgiven, for now.

The Moral of The Victory: We need Hester on the field or healthy to win.  Missed the majority of the 2nd half collapse against Carolina and missed the entire Tampa Bay game.  GOD has never been so evidently important to our team's success as now.

Now on to the observations.

• It is a little disappointing to notice that we still need the DB's to get pressure on the opposing quarterback.  The front 4 is flat out not getting it done and I think we need to keep Tommie on the shelf until he can play 100% and provide some pressure on the QB's.  Until then we'll have to settle for Mark Anderson's lack of production, which I'll get to later.
• The Bears' 1st play from scrimmage was a beautiful play where they did a play action to the halfback with the fullback going to the flat for a short gain, which I've been preaching as an easy 5 yards all season.  Well Philadelphia covered up McKie, so Orton found Davis wide open after going in motion for a nice tone-setter to start the offensive drive that ended in Olsen's TD.
• Mark Anderson bit HARD on 2 reverses to Jackson that led to huge yardage for the Eagles.  What has happened to Mark Anderson?  Where are the days of him sacking Matt Leinart?  The "Sophomore Slump" can no longer be used.  Ben Stein: "Anderson?  Anderson? Anderson?"
• Mike Brown, as WCG pointed out, was a lot more involved Sunday night laying some nice hits,  helping in the run game, breaking up a pass to the TE at the goal line, and pressuring McNabb.  Hopefully Babich keeps him involved.
• The 1st Philadelphia TD reminded me of the '05 playoffs against Carolina where Urlacher intercepted Delhomme near the Goal Line, except Urlacher didn't come up with this one.  Is this a sign of him losing a step and one too many surgeries later he's peaked in his career?
• Ron Turner did a nice job calling plays in this game, just weeks after people calling for his head.  Orton is slowly progressing and he will only get better with more and more games under his belt.  One play in particular was the fake run up the middle with McKie on a 3rd and 2 and a pitch to Forte to the outside to pick up the 1st.  Not running up the middle is music to my ears after the 4th and 1 call in Carolina.
• Why are we seeing Corey Graham and Nick Roach on Defense more often these days?  I understand Vasher was struggling and Tillman was hurt, but Nick Roach?  Is this because Hillenmeyer presents matchup problems if TE's or RB's split wide and he has to cover them?
• Tillman obviously gets the boneheaded play of the night on the punt block attempt, and he was lucky it was offsetting penalties.  Talk about demoralizing.
• Hester shows flashes on offense with his nice TD catch, but also had a drop on a little high pass from Orton that was still catchable.  I'm hoping his catching ability will become more consistent and we don't have any more drops late in the season like the one against the Giants last season.
• Vasher was struggling in coverage badly in the first half with him jamming receivers at the line, but no real safety help over top after he released them.  He seemed to get better in the 2nd half, but he needs to put 2 halves together.
• At times Orton takes too much time to get rid of the ball, and with the Eagles pass rush coming down on him, that lead to his 1st INT.  I also think that affected him in the 2nd half with trying to rush his passes.  Also, his INT in the end zone is an iffy one for me to place the blame on him.  He clearly threw to a spot instead of to the receiver and the Eagles' LB held up Clark from getting to the ball.  I would blame Clark more for the INT because he didn't sell the interference well enough.  Alas, the Bears leave 3 points on the field on that one.
• I'm not sure why Hester wasn't returning the opening kickoff of the 2nd half, but don't we want him AT LEAST out there on all returns?  If we have to sacrifice him not being out on returns for him to get more snaps on offense, I'd rather him get LESS snaps on offense in order to be fresh for returns.  I think his return abilities are more polished than his receiving abilities.
• Kevin Payne is continually getting better after his 1st game against the Colts and he keeps feasting on poorly thrown balls by Griese and McNabb.  Good to see someone with sure hands out there.
• The Bears defense showed a lot of resolve overcoming the offense turning the ball over TWICE on their 1st plays of their series because of not being on the sideline very long to catch their breath.
• The OTHER Goal Line stand by the Bears went a little unnoticed as well, even though they gave up 3 points.  The Eagles had 1st and Goal from the 2 and were aided by McNabb tripping over his own lineman's foot.  Very big for them to hold Philly to 3.
• Hester looked like he tried to "Sauerbrun" David Akers on his biggest kick return, but Akers was having none of the leap.  Maybe next time shove them out of the way and only try to jump over them if they're on the turf?  Also, Hester gave us field position once again on a pooch kickoff away from Hester that put us at the 40-yard line with only a 1-point lead and the offense reeling.
• With the offense reeling, the Bears called a reverse pass with Booker, but Forte wasn't open.  Interesting play call by Turner.
• Orton called a heck of an audible out of shotgun formation to single back formation under center and threw a pass to Forte on 3rd and 7 for their 1st 1st down of the 2nd half that later led to a Hester reverse for good yardage and getting into Field Goal range.
• My only hangup on Turner's playcalling was calling the middle screen to D. Clark on a 3rd down before our final FG.  That play went for a TD by Gaines Adams the week before and I asked why that play is called to Clark?  Why not call it to Olsen?  Or why not sratch the play out completely?
• The Bears DID again go into panic mode a couple of times: on 2nd down with the clock running down Forte got tackled w/ :40 left in the 1st quarter, and the Bears could've run the clock out to get to the 2nd quarter, but instead they tried to squeeze a play in and got sacked.  Again, before the 2 minute warning of the 1st half they threw an incompletion when they could've just composed themselves and gotten their next plays called after the 2 minute warning.  I just don't understand the thought process of trying to force the issue.
• Finally, I want to commend Lance Briggs playing absolutely possessed in this game.  A lob screen to Buckhalter set up his short TD run in the 1st  half and the lob screen went for over 20 yards.  Briggs completely BLEW UP the same play in the 3rd quarter on a 2nd and 10 for a 3 yard loss.  Briggs then tipped a pass at the line of scrimmage while jumping up on a big 3rd and 10 late in the game.  Finally, it was Briggs who helped force Buckhalter to the outside to get tackled by Payne, M. Brown, and Vasher on the 2nd and goal run from the 2 before the infamous Goal Line Stand.

The Bears have a real good chance to reel off 6 in a row including the Eagles game before we meet Tennessee at home in Week 10.  That would put us at 6-2 and 3-0 w/in the division.  I think we need to focus on each opponent each week and not look ahead, but it's possible the NFC North could turn out to be the AL Central of the NFL.  9-7 could possibly win this division with the Packers banged up, Minnesota not able to get QB play, and the Lions being the Lions.  It's encouraging that Orton could possibly put 2 halves together and this team could really take off.  Patience is a virtue, and right now Orton is testing ours.  A win is a win, but I'd like a game where the tums bottle isn't needed afterwards.  I asked you guys to rebound nicely against Philadelphia and you did; and now I ask of you to give me ONE WEEK of an easy win.