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Wednesday Links

Not a lot going on new wise in Bears town today, but we do have a few.

Jim Covert, Jay Hilenberg, Dan Jiggetts, Ted Albrecht and Revie Sorey all weigh in on the Bears and their blocking.

Jim Covert, left tackle 1983-90
"You can play 70 snaps and beat a guy up for 67. And if he gets two tackles for loss and a sack on the other three, that's all anybody will remember.

"When a team's record is not good, the fingers point to the offensive line even though it's such a team game. You have to protect the quarterback but you can't have drops. The quarterback play has not been very good, though Brian Griese is doing as well as can be expected. You have to get production out of your running back.

"You can say the offensive line is old, but at that position you can play well into your 30s. They didn't lose it in a year. You don't get old overnight. You had a 1,000-yard rusher [Thomas Jones] last year who strapped it up every day. He might not have scared anybody but what would you do for that now?

"You still have to knock people off the ball and it comes down to movement and leverage. I don't know about a cutback runner [like Jones] being suited for a particular line. We ran it at the hole. The only times we worked in a cutback was if we played teams that overpursued. A good runner runs through the hole. He gets tougher with each carry. With the good ones you can see it in their eyes like you could with Walter Payton and Neal Anderson."

Dropped passes, being taken out of context and the age of the O line.

According to research by STATS LLC, the Bears dropped six passes in their last game against the Detroit Lions. That gives them 22 drops, which is third in the NFL to the New York Giants' 24 and the New Orleans Saints' 23. The Bears had the fewest drops last season with only 12 in 16 games, according to STATS.

Here is hoping the fix is in.

To paraphrase coach Lovie Smith, the bar has been set in the first half of the season, and it's low enough that a flea could clear it with a standing jump. Now comes a run of eight more games for the 3-5 Bears. Forget about the playoffs; that's fool's chatter at this point. How about some explanation of what went wrong or a clue about how it can be fixed?