The Bears converted Devin Hester to wide receiver because they wanted him to touch the ball more than the half dozen times a game he would on special teams.  (He has 25 touches on offense this season, a tad more than 3 a game).  They wanted to use his speed to stretch defenses vertically, keep defensive linemen honest with the occasional end around and get him the ball in the open field – where he’s most dangerous.  They were willing to abandon the game-changing skill and crowd-inspiring thrill his returns provided on an almost-weekly basis.  And the Bears did get their speedy wide receiver.  They drafted Johnny Knox with the 140th overall pick in the 2009 NFL draft.

• This was exactly the game Cutler/Martz needed to have and they were aided by an improving offensive line (although we’ll learn how improved next Sunday).  Cutler was efficient and smart with the football, making a couple spectacular throw when he had a chance to set his feet and hurl it.  Those few extra seconds the offensive line give him allow him to make the choice to run and his legs were the reason the Bears won yesterday.
• When Earl Bennett is running routes and Devin Hester isn’t, the Bears are a better team.
• I have to admit I was dead wrong about one thing this preseason: the safeties. Danieal Manning has had an excellent year and I never would have believed this group would be a strength of the team while getting nothing from Major Wright.
• Chan Gailey’s late fourth-quarter challenge was Lovie-esque.  Man that was stupid.  How is it that so many of these coaches don’t understand clock management?  There should be a budget line to hire a guy to stand next to the coach and say, “Don’t do that.  It’s stupid.”
• If Robbie Gould kicks the first-half field goal, it’s a different game.
• I know it was a game the Bears could have easily lost but they played tougher yesterday than they have in a while.  They played with real guts.  And it was good to see.
• Israel Idonije is quickly developing into a solid defensive end and I don’t think I’m overstating the point by saying that if he continues to develop at this rate the Bears may end up in the playoffs.
• I wouldn’t trade our linebackers for any group of linebackers in the league.
• I wouldn’t trade J’Marcus Webb either.  I think that kid may end up being something special.
• Somebody tell Roberto Garza the snap count.
• Somebody step up in practice and beat out Frank Omiyale already.
• You know what the Bears need to establish a solid, tough running game?  A fullback.  Remember those.  They work.  Every great running team in the league currently has a solid fullback.
• I have nightmares now about bending but not breaking.  The broadcast booth was dumbfounded by the Bears corners playing off the marker on every third-down situation but I wasn’t.  How could I be?  I just accept opponent third-down conversions now because my head coach certainly does.
• The Bears are an unsatisfying 5-3 but satisfaction may be just around the corner.  While Green Bay is soaking in national praise, the Bears can move back into first place with a home win over the Vikings next week.  And they are underdogs to boot.

Today’s show comes complete with the Picks Contest Standings.

I can’t remember, in my lifetime, a Bears team that had a winning record this late in the season and elicited so little excitement from fans.  They’ve now had two weeks to ponder their losing streak.  Two weeks to sit in the film room.  Two weeks to read media clippings and doomsday prognostications.

Sunday the Chicago Bears cross the border into the land of moose meat and shady prostitutes lingering outside check cashing establishments a mile from the Niagara Falls casinos.  (I may or may not have firsthand information on this.)  They face the winless but gutsy Buffalo Bills.  A team that has turned a corner in their 2010 campaign.  A team that has taken two superior opponents, in consecutive weeks, on the road, into overtime. 

And if the Bears come back to the states with a .500 record, hanging the Bills their first win of the year, the hourglass will have flipped on Jerry, Lovie and the boys.  This is a not a must-win game for the 2010 season.  That was two weeks ago against the Washington Redskins.  This is a must-win for an organization regime that has designs on signing a new lease on their swanky Chicagoland estates. 

If Lovie Smith’s Chicago Bears lose this week to the Buffalo Bills, he’ll cease to be a concern for fans and media.  His name (as well as Jerry Angelo’s) will be replaced on the airwaves by Bill Parcells, John Fox, Jon Gruden and Bill Cowher.  If the Bears lose to the Bills this week, there is no hope for Lovie Smith.  No possible winning streak to ignite the fans.  No brilliant performance capable of convincing the McCaskey family he’s the man for the job.  If the Bears lose to the Bills this week, the only question that will remain is whether or not the Bears will fall below the Vikings and Lions in the standings as the season progresses.

And the bye week does not help matters.  Fair or not, most analysts use a team’s performance in the aftermath of the bye to accurately evaluate a coach’s ability to adjust mid-season and inspire his team on the field.  We should know about ten minutes into Sunday’s contest whether or not Lovie’s voice has been lost on the 53 men who have been charged with keeping his paychecks coming.  With the Bears, it usually doesn’t take much longer than that.

…and the NFC North picture is becoming more clear by the day.

The New York Jets played an awful lot like the recent Chicago Bears at the Meadowlands this afternoon, turning the ball over on the Packers side of the field three times and allowing their punter to call his own fake with eighteen yards needed on an early fourth down.  (I’m still shaking my head over this.)  With the Packers victory they are now alone at the top of the North, playing the quit-on-the-season Cowboys at Lambeau next Sunday night.

The Minnesota Vikings, at least, have a better record than the Detroit Lions.  Oh wait.  No they don’t.  They have a defense that is struggling when it doesn’t get to the quarterback.  They have a head coach who lacks guts and instincts.  And they have a quarterback who seems hellbent to die on a football field at some point during the 2010 season.  (I think he’s going to get his wish.)

The Bears are in this thing but the Packers are in the pole position.  Beating them early in the season is looking quite significant right now.  Having watched the Bills plays the Chiefs today, the Bears have no excuse not to be 5-3 in seven days.  Having watched the Packers, they have no choice.

Garza Returns to Right Guard

Bears quarterback Jay Cutler said developing the timing with his receivers is ongoing.

“I think it’s always going to be a process, not only for me, but also for the receivers,” he said. “They’ve got to be at the right spot at the right depth at the right time against the right coverage. There’s a lot of variables involved and it’s a process.

We’re still going through it.”

The receivers and quarterback not being in rhythm with the scheme is not an excuse for the terrible decision-making which led to four game-murdering interceptions against the Redskins.  I simply don’t accept this nonsense that Cutler needs to haphazardly throw the ball to a particular space because Martz’ play-of-the-moment calls for it.  Throw the football away.  Throw the football to a back in the flat.  Use your legs and take off.  I understand the system is difficult to comprehend, I do.  But no more throwing the ball to a spot on the field because, hey, a guy is scheduled to be there.  If a friend of mine is scheduled to land at JFK at 1:45 pm, and I’m picking him up, I don’t just show up at the terminal at 1:45 pm.  I check the flight status because I know sometimes, and often times, things change.  I just hope the Bears, at some point this season, will do the same.