Chicago Bears vs Arizona Cardinals Recap

How many times in a half can a defense be allowed to give up 3rd & 7+ before it is fair to be described as “expansion-like?”

…Im still shaking my head. That punch tastes a bit sour, doesn’t it?

Chris Harris should be banned for that.

If Matt Leinart and Derrick Anderson look like superstars against this secondary how will Favre, Rodgers, and Stafford look? The d-line looks like it’s getting good pressure on the QB, but a receiver is always open because the secondary sucks.

And once again the Bears come out and look unprepared. How many times did this seem to happen last year? This coaching staff can’t do their jobs.

This was just a horrific performance. I’m sick of people trying to find excuses for this team. “Oh it’s just the preseason” is not acceptable for this type of performance. After the 3rd preseason game this team should have shown that they were indeed what they said they’ve been all along, a good football team. But after these 3 games it’s clear that this team is utter garbage and it’s not fair to Bears fans who continue to wait for the great football team that the coaches say we have. I will continue to root for the team I love but damn if it doesn’t kill me to see how far this team has fallen and to constantly hear the excuses management has for their inept performances. This can be a great team if they had better coaching. Hopefully Lovie and his entire staff get fired at the end of the year so that this team can bring in competent coaches and finally deliver a team we fans have been waiting for ever. Bear Down!

….. O-line ( from everything I’ve read ) was off again , the D couldn’t get off the field , our O as a whole did nothing and Lance Briggs went down . The only bright spots I’ve seen were Peppers ( it looks like we may have gotten a great DE ) and the running combo of Forte and Taylor . I think on D Briggs and Urlacher being out hurt , but how much ? Both them being there ain’t gonna help our good bud Chris Harris make those tackles he missed . On O can you blame Jay Cutler for being a bit gun shy after getting smashed by the Raiders and having to run for his life in this game ? His first two preseason games he looked solid , but tonight he looked rattled due to all the pressure he was facing because lets just be honest here , our O-line looks to suck ( TRADE FOR MANKINS NOW !!!!!! ) . Our D has to big excuses tonight ( Briggs and Lach not being there ) , but our O was fully intact and looked horrid ( like I said from everything I’ve read ) . Lovie better get his ducks in a row and get this team going or I hate to say it hes gonna be gone by week 5 .

it looks like the same old story and its really starting to frustrate. The one thing that REALLY and i mean REALLY bothered me this offseason was that the offensive line was a glaring weakness last year yet we dont sign a new lineman that would be an upgrade? To add to my pal Midway’s point i really think the bears need to explore the Logan Mankins possibility if there is one. Looks like Jay did throw some bad balls but seriously? 8 sacks in the last two games? HE HASNT EVEN PLAYED THE WHOLE DAMN GAME WTF!!!!??!!?

The defense is really bothering me as well because a Larry Fitzgerald less WR core was able to put in some serious work on them. The defense obviously need’s Urlacher and Briggs back but dont forget Major Wright he is a solid tackler and a downright animal and he need someone like that on defense too remind our guys its ok to kick the opposing teams ass on a tackle.

No more its only preseason BS this game is your showcase for the regular season and the Bears are not looking real good at all. Lets just hope we dont go 0-4 or let the poor pre season play carry into the regular season. Hopefully we pick up on our 2 game winning streak from last year.

It looks like Dan the man Lefevour had decent game tonight atleast the offense had something we good could go on.

I have had a chance to mull this team over. This is LOVIE’S team. I do not agree that yelling and screaming is the only way to coach football. But Lovie’s blase and ho-hum demeanor lacks the sense of urgency and aggressiveness that his team desperately needs. It’s OK to be Tony Dungy quiet and meek if your team is already disciplined and motivated, but when they aren’t there has to be SOME emotion. I saw very few plays where the Bears team was the aggressor or had any real effort to speak of. The Bears were basically gutless and weak last night. It was not about simply lacking in execution, but a real dreamlike stupor of inaction. The Bears have been pushed around too easily this season and, IMO, this is a reflection of Lovie’s seeming impotence to rise to the challenge of motivating his players and coaches to be anything more than a football team in name only! Lovie is the only person who can turn this season around. No draft choice or FA or star player is going to do it for him. This is why he’s the head coach. He needs to step forward and drive his players toward success with confidence and resolve; and maybe (just maybe) yell a little.

and the o line was not upgraded I figured that the Bear would be in trouble offensively. I made guesses of around 45+ sacks, 25+ INTs (some would be due to timing like the 1st INT last night and some would be on Cutler like the 2nd INT) but Cutler would pass for 4500+ yards IF he could survive the season…..

I also guessed that the running game would be better with Taylor and Forte BUT Martz will hardly ever use it opting instead to pass around 60 to 65% of the time. At one point last night the Bears had passed 15 times and ran just 5……

I did think that the D would be a little better with Peppers, Urlacher, and Chris Harris back but they would get gassed by the Offense playing so badly but as of right now it looks like more of the same even with that….

Its going to be a long season and right now I have to think the over under for Lovie being fired mid season is by the 9th game with there being 3 former HCs on the coaching staff…..

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but it already seems like we need to draft another Running Back.

regardless of the numbers that surely will be quoted, Chester Taylor looks like he knows how to play, Bell almost always fights for more yards, and it just always looks like he gets a good burst when he runs…where as Forte is just getting hit for 2yds, it’s sad, especially since Chris Williams is starting to not look like an oustanding Tackle…we could have had Rashard Mendenhall, and someone like Phil Loadholt or something

And ours aren’t good. Peppers is good, but no man can be a D-line by themselves. It was good to see Tommie Harris make a couple of plays but Anderson and Izzy were both a second late all night and our Nose performance hasn’t been good since…Well, its been a while.

Offensively our interior is miserable. Whether Williams does or doesn’t pull his head out, the interior of our line is good at 1 thing – Pull blocking to the outside…Too bad they can’t do their primary job, blocking Nose Tackles. I am glad they are fast enough to out run a Defensive Tackle and put pads on a Linebacker for a screen or sweep, but at some point we have to push the line of scrimmage…And we can’t.

Jay really needs to bring his passes DOWN. It seems like half of our completions are leaping grabs, the ball is never just there…Even the screen pass required a massive jump ball performance. We don’t have San Diego’s receivers or tight end, bring it down.

Can’t wait to see what Lovie says this time, after making all kinds of “we weren’t game planning excuses” last week.

I just read this over at si.com. Even Wade Phillips has bigger balls and more fire than Lovie. Here’s the link

http://www.fannation.com/truth_and_rumors/view/218750-perturbed-phillips-may-play-cowboys-starters-vs-miami

going around…..missed blocks,tackling,coverages,and that’s just the really obvious coaching deficiencies. Not to mention the O-line that never got addressed in the off season, perhaps Virginia has given the three stooges enough rope and they clearly are knowing what to do with it!!! Toub can stay, he knows how to get alot out of what he’s got.

that the players don’t at all care about the preseason and are saving themselves for when the games count. We’re certainly not the Colts, but I suppose there’s still a chance they come out versus the Lions and play a good game. If not, this team will fall into the doldrums of the NFC.

Does anyone know what the severity of Briggs’ injury is?

This team is no better than last year. Sorry to say, we’ll be another 7-9 or 8-8 team this year.

He didn’t seem concerned at all. Hopefully they are just not trying in the pre-season. I mean on the wildcat play to Hester, Hester looked like he was not playing, most of the time, the wildcat QB is low and ready to run.
I still have hope, there is no sense in jumping off of a cliff just yet, now if we lose to the lions…

Wright- was our best DB when he was in
Urlacher and Briggs- Our two top linebackers, Urlacher is the playcaller and the Breaston TD happened due to late shifts.
Zach Bowman- I’m not sure how long he was out but I heard he had a hand injury
The offense is where the problems were and they didn’t seem to care too much in interviews

The first two games at least receivers were running free and open everywhere. Last night not at all and to compound the problem Cutler was making too slow of reads and poor decisions. Someone said it earlier that they are just soft, no fire. I watch the other preseason games and guys are flying around jumping up and down hootin and hollerin, we have none of that and they secondary plays extremely passive, they refuse to make a play on the ball and be aggressive at all. All this pressure on Lovie and we have this?? I can’t believe I have to pay to see this. 4-12 this year..

Step two is acceptance
im in step 2 now

I’m a life long rugby player and in that game you can NOT be a a terrible tackler. Rugby teaches that you have to make the stop on defense no matter what. Tackle, tap tackle… whatever it takes. I think Lovie’s approach is too girly. I think they’re poor tacklers because Lovie preaches take-aways as opposed to stopping the ball carrier first. Now I do agree that take-aways are important, the defense isn’t always in a position to create one so trying to when there’s no chance is quite stupid. We need a coach to stress the importance of proper tackling first and then focusing on take-aways later. That’s why Patrick Willis is a monster. He makes the stop no matter what and if there’s a chance to create a turnover he’ll take it. Coach Singletary gets on his guys for not making tackles. I know I sound like a broken record but when I see these guys play defense I always find myself screaming “JUST MAKE THE DAMN TACKLE ALREADY!”

The first quarter was actually not bad. Minus the cutler int

martz called some good plays to convert his own third downs on offense

The defense was able to get off the field and make the needed stops

im watching te 2nd quarter now and this is where the defense looks to begin the slacking

the end of the world is not here yet. Do we have some issues that need to be fixed? Yes. Definitely. But isn’t the preseason when we can see where we need to work? Yes. While it is the 3rd game, and many will argue that we should have fixed the problems by then, we were also playing a different team which brings different challenges – showing new errors.

I’m not happy with the result, but everyone here acts as if the sky is falling. Lovie said before the game that they weren’t really game planning. While I’m not sure I would take that route, he did. We don’t need new running backs (as I’ve seen many of you suggest). They’re not the problem, the fact that they don’t have openings is. We don’t need a new team, we just need to rethink the direction we’re taking and how to fix our low points.

While the game was a little tough to watch, there were plusses. LeFevour came and did better than he has been, Knox had some great catches, the running game started opening up when Taylor came in, and we had a lot of successful screen passes. While it’s easy to look at all the faults and what we need to work on, try to stay rational and look at the positives and what we’re fixing already, as well.

…. I’m now not as nervous about our regular season . The O did look sluggish but Frank Omiyale and Chris Williams both played well , Cutler admitted after the game that he did get a bit of happy feet because his trust in the line is a bit shaken ( deservedly so ) , Cutlers performance was OK overall ( the INT’s hurt but the WR drops hurt even more ) , if not for the blocked FG and the missed field goal we win this game ( come the regular season I think our special teams will be fine ) and the defense looked great in the first quarter stopping the Cards ( Harris got consistant pressure as did Peppers ) only when Briggs went down did we start to look really bad ( and thats still minus Urlacher and Major ) . So overall I’m not feeling as bad as I was ealier . We work out these kinks we should be fine .

Also I was impressed with the play of Brian Iwuh when he replaced Briggs . He should be on our team come the regular season . He showed good form with his tackling and made ever tackle that he was presented . Also after watching the game Chris Harris was completly gassed when his play started to slip . Maybe if we had some healthy guys back there that wouldn’t have happened .

And really Almighty1080 trade Hester ? Come on man . And miss Berrian ?? Now really come on man .

3rd and less than 5 the Bears were 3 of 4 with the one non-stop on a 3rd and 1
3rd and 5+ the Bears were 3 of 9 with one of the stops on third and 18 and one TD on third and 13
I did not count the kneel at the end of the game which was on third and long
How do they manage to do this, how?

I’ve noticed that LeFevour and Bell were really good last night.

Where are the guys that are already calling for LeFevour to be the starter? I figured that would start by now…

Last night was one of those times. Ugh!

In what amounts to an overtime game’s worth of action, Cutler has had 16 possessions and led two touchdown drives. He has completed 19 of 37 passes for 275 yards with one touchdown, two interceptions and 10 sacks, four pinned to left tackle Chris Williams.

His passer rating of 62.4 is three points better than Dan LeFevour’s after the sixth-round draft pick had a nice showing against the Cardinals, completing 10 of 12 passes for 100 yards and a 3-yard touchdown…..

Coach Lovie Smith was bothered by missed field-goal opportunities against the Cardinals and called it a “glorified practice.” ……

“We’re putting in a new offense, and guys are a little uptight about making mistakes out there. We’ve just got to relax and go out there and play. With the talent we have and Mike calling plays, we’re going to be hard to stop if we’re clicking.”…..

A bunch.

Without Briggs and Urlacher, watching Williams torch the defense on the seams was just… well, awe inspiringly bad, it really shows why speed and athleticism and knowledge of how to cover is as important in this scheme as anything else…

That and the ‘creativity’ and the blitzing, they’re both reminiscent of last year’s play calling, but even more blitzing to try to create pressure. That said: dispensing of Alex Brown was probably the last thing that the Bears should have done.

See, the problem is, I constantly have to be comparing to 2006-2008 Bears defenses, where, the coverage isn’t sloppy, the pass rush is efficient, you feel comfortable sending in five every so often… but not every down… especially the safeties… watching the safeties blitz was probably the most effective blitzing i’ve seen from the bears in a long time… maybe that it’s a bit dramatic, but I feel that it’s a strength (even though tackling isn’t a strength of Danieal Manning, and I laughed when I watched him make that open field tackle on Williams, thinking that I might never see that again).

Oh man.

I’d prefer not to talk about the offense, the clownsevelt of a guard non gratis in omiyale… did anyone else nearly gag when the crew said that ‘Omiyale was a rising star in the offensive line (or something relatively close)’? I lost it, because, as far as I can see, he’s lost there. He might have a lot of raw talent, but the man cannot put it on the field. He gets no push, no aggression, looked only half decent on the screens, two penalties… you’d think that someone, anyone, in the bears organization would have said ’y’know, jerry, you REALLY need to find us a new right tackle… i don’t care what it takes… do it.’

plain and simple. They actually look worse then last year which is a hard feat to accomplish

Not the kind of comments I was hoping after their last game.

Anderson to a no name WR? We made them like Montana and Rice all game.