There are some Chicago Bears fans that will start rooting for our opponents on Sundays because they are desperate to see turnover at the general manager and head coach positions.  In recent years I have castigated such behavior as at-best shameful and at-worst un-American.  Fans believe their championship answers rest in the roster decisions of Bill Parcells – who has never won a Super Bowl as a GM – and the coaching prowess of Bill Cowher –  whose 2-4 record in AFC Championship Games isn’t exactly making him a first ballot Hall of Famer.

I don’t root for the Bears to lose.  Ever.  I don’t care if a Week 17 win is the difference between the top pick in the draft and the eighth pick, I don’t do it.  I live by the mantra that we’re only granted, at least for the next year, sixteen opportunities to watch our beloved ball club play.  And I want the Bears to win every one of them.

That being said, I decided to spend some time proving to myself that the Bears have no chance to reach the postseason this year.  As a desperate act, a defense mechanism, an attempt to spare myself the Lovie letdowns of the next two months.  Turns out it is much, much, much harder than I thought it would be.

Here are the schedules:
Bears.  @ Bills, Vikings, @ Dolphins, Eagles, @ Lions, Patriots, @ Vikings, Jets, @ Packers.
Vikings. @ Patriots, Cardinals, @ Bears, Packers, @ Redskins, Bills, Giants, Bears, @ Eagles, @ Lions
Packers. @ Jets, Cowboys, @ Vikings, @ Falcons, 49ers, @ Lions, @ Patriots, Giants, Bears
The first thing I thought looking at those schedules was, “Wow.  The Packers and Vikings are both going to lose this week.”  If the Vikes and Pack do lose (and they are six-point underdogs), the Bears will arrive in Toronto alone in first place.  They will have lost two straight games at home, as favorites, and play their next game as lone division leaders.  Don’t say much for the North, does it?  If they win that game, they will end the first half of their schedule at 5-3. 

Objectively speaking, I think the Bears don’t have a single guaranteed win over their final eight but they have several winnable games.  I think the Vikings should not have much trouble with the Cardinals and Bills at home.  I think the Packers should handle the 49ers easily at home as well. (I’m not quite ready to call their Cowboys game a guarantee.)

The conclusion?  These schedules make it basically impossible for any of these teams to pull away.  And contrary to my opinions a few weeks ago, it makes a 9-7 division champion a possibility.  The NFC North will be decided by two Bears/Vikings games and most likely on the last afternoon of the season at Lambeau Field.

And wouldn’t it be fitting for Lovie Smith, the man who proclaimed beating Green Bay as his primary goal the day he was hired, to have to defeat the Packers in order to have a shot to keep his job this postseason?   

The Bears are not very good.  I thought they were and then they weren’t.  If it’s not the offensive line, it’s fumbling in the red zone.  If it’s not fumbling in the red zone, it’s throwing mindless interceptions.  If it’s not throwing mindless interceptions, it’s the head coach having no idea how to utilize the challenge flag.  The Bears have a good enough defense and special teams to compete with just about any team in the NFL.  But to call their offense bad would mistakenly assume that what the Bears do when they possess the football is “offense”.  It’s not.  It’s a series of unrelated plays that only occasionally, and often by pure chance, move the ball forward down the field.  (Never on third down, as Thom Brennaman likes to remind us.)

The biggest problem facing the Bears organization?  The Packers and Vikings aren’t very good either.  Neither are the teams in the NFC East, South or West.  If the Bears manage a split with the Minnesota Vikings – who’ll most likely start Tarvaris Jackson by Thanksgiving – there is no reason to believe any of the teams in this division will be able to run and hide.  The division crown may be on the line at Lambeau Field on the final night of the regular season.

And if that is the case, and the Bears have an opportunity to win the division that night, victory should not guarantee Lovie Smith’s return in 2011.  Michael McCaskey, always speaking at the least appropriate time, has declared that Lovie does not need to win the Super Bowl to return next season.  Starting right now, Lovie Smith should only be considered for a return if he does the following things.  (1) Oversees an improvement in the overall offensive play throughout the year.  (2) Wins the NFC North and the home playoff game that follows.  Even that should not guarantee him anything more than consideration.

And I’ll add one more thing.  In two weeks, in Toronto, the Bears will play the winless Buffalo Bills.  The Bills are bad but they moved up-and-down the field on one of the best defenses in the league in Baltimore yesterday.  If the Bears hand this team their first win of the season, Lovie Smith should be fired before he walks through American customs after the return flight.  And Dave Toub – not Rod Marinelli or Mike Martz – should assume the head coaching throne.

I don’t mind when a quarterback throws interceptions, especially when those interceptions are the result of trying to make a great play.  But that’s not what took place yesterday at Soldier Field.  What happened on the lake yesterday was a quarterback – with careless disregard for his teammates, coaches and fans – throwing away a football game and quite possibly a season. 

Lovie not challenging the game-changing touchdown was bad enough.  The offensive line’s first half was bad enough.  Donovan McNabb failing to get his pick six off on time was bad enough.  Jay Cutler was worse.  Worse than his head coach and offensive coordinator.  Worse than his offensive line.  He missed wide open backs in the flat.  He missed a wide open Devin Hester on a crossing route that could have gone for days.  His interceptions – all four to Mr. Hall – each revealed the singular flaw in Cutler’s regressing game.  What is that flaw?  Jay Cutler is not a smart quarterback.  He’s an arrogant thrower with no game sense.  On each of the interceptions, the pass had no business being thrown.  How does one teach a player to be intelligent?

As I sat in the bar watching the Vikings and Packers, a buddy turned to me and said, “I love watching this moron [Brett Favre] play quarterback but I am so happy he is not the quarterback of my team.”

Unfortunately, I think he is the quarterback of mine.

It is the game that will let us know what to expect from the remainder of the 2010 campaign.  Are the Chicago Bears capable of holding their division lead over the next two months, keeping the charging Packers and Vikings at bay?  Or are the Chicago Bears bound for a season’s worth of scoreboard watching, as they clamor to stay above .500 and dream of wild cards and first-round playoff exits?  Just who are the Chicago Bears?

Worst Case Scenario

“Going to Houston after Chicago was night and day. They’re obviously a young franchise, but to go to Houston from Chicago, it almost didn’t feel like the NFL. Washington is a lot more like Chicago. This is a very similar setup.”

Grossman’s career in Chicago is one of the strangest in the history of the organization.  He was both hero and heel, and often both at the same time.  He was the perfect Lovie Smith quarterback.

Other than the victory against the Panthers, which was a near split, the Bears’ offense has lost the time-of-possession battle in four of their last five games. For the season, the Bears are 27th in the NFL with an average time of possession of 27:57.

”It doesn’t matter how much they play,” Jennings said. ”We’ve just got to keep [opponents] out of the end zone.”

The issue I always have with this argument is that it’s always seemed that Lovie Smith has embraced his defense spending extended time on the field.  The bend-don’t-break approach is all the Lovie-Deuce can lean on without an interior-busting defensive tackle (a la Warren Sapp) or a punishing player at the safety position (John Lynch, Bob Sanders…etc.).  The offense clearly needs to improve, increase drive length, and cut down on thirty-yard throws when only three are required for a first down.  But I’m tired of the defense trying to have it both ways. 

The Redskins’ line has allowed only 14 sacks for a loss of 96 yards as opposed to the Bears’ 27 sacks for minus-168 yards.

The Bears’ offense has dipped to a season-low 29th ranking in the 32-team league. They have not only allowed the most sacks in the league, but they’ve allowed seven more than the next-closest team.

I don’t think the Redskins are better than the Bears, however, and Vegas agrees with me this week.  I guess we’ll see what the records of the two clubs are after Sunday afternoon.

Blog Poll Question
Giving me a full explanation why (“I hate the Packers” doesn’t count), who are you rooting for in the Sunday night game – Minnesota or Green Bay?  I literally can’t decide.

Very interesting to study the Washington Redskins against the Indianapolis Colts – defensive sister school of the Chicago Bears.  The Colts and Bears have nothing in common on the other side of the ball but that doesn’t mean there was nothing to be learned.  Here are my thoughts on the ‘Skins.

• Brian Orakpo already has five sacks on the season and his strip of Peyton Manning in the third quarter was the biggest play Sunday night for the Redskins.  The Bears have now allowed a league-demolishing 27 sacks, 4.5 per game, so somebody is going to get to Cutler.  They best look out for the Longhorn.
• Donovan McNabb is just not that accurate on underneath routes but the ‘Skins had a lot of success with two plays that historically kill the Bears.  Santana Moss ran what should now be called “The Mike Williams” perfectly – sprinting upfield against the left corner and settling in under his coverage.  Chris Cooley is as good as it gets at finding the hole in the middle of the defense.  That whole is seemingly endless with the Lovie Deuce.  The Bears need a big game in coverage from Brian Urlacher.
• The Redskins coverage units on both kickoffs and punts were terrific Sunday so this will become one of the better matchups of the afternoon.  Both Chris Wilson and Mike Sellers seems to be at the return man before he’s even picked an attack gap.
• Peyton had a clear plan against this defense, specifically in the red zone.  He went three-wide and attacked their slot corner.  Austin Collie’s touchdown to make it 13-7 was a picture perfect example and Manning actually missed Collie a few other times as he ran through the seam uncovered. 
• Mike Shanahan is going to give Ryan Torain the ball between 20-25 times but I just haven’t seen the stretch-play style work against the Bears when they have their starting linebackers out there.  If Lance Briggs plays, I expect to see Shanny put this game in McNabb’s hands.  If Lance doesn’t, Brian Iwuh should expect to be tested early and often.
• When Carlos Rogers and LaRon Landry get an opportunity to intercept the ball, they intercept the ball.  Jay can’t afford any of those toss-em-up-in-coverage moments.  (I know, I know.)
• What I don’t like about the Redskins defense, and most 3-4 alignments, is they require their inside linebackers to cover an extensive amount of field as they commit their outside guys to rushing the passer.  Once again, and I’m tired of writing it, the Bears should be getting the ball outside to their receivers and backs quickly.
• Brandon Banks doesn’t scare me as a kick returner.  (That being said, he’ll score eight times.)
• I don’t know if anybody has the numbers but I’d love to see how many yards Ryan Torain gained after a Colts’ missed tackle.  I don’t know if Torain’s production was a result of his physical toughness or the Colts’ porous run defense.  I have a feeling it’s the latter.
• If teams get obsessed with Chris Cooley, Fred Davis will make a big catch.  And what I mean is if the Bears get obsessed with Chris Cooley, Fred Davis will end up in the end zone.
• I will give McNabb credit for this.  About ten times in this game, the Colts seemed to have him dead for a ten-yard sack and he avoided it with a subtle side step.  I’ve never understood McNabb’s unwillingness to use his legs, his greatest asset, in the aftermath of the Limbaugh controversy.  His other great asset is his ability to launch the deep ball.  If he has time, the ball will go thirty through the air.

What we’ve got here is the making of a field goal / field position game.

I’d imagine the columns have already been written, saved under “Fire Lovie” on the laptop computers of David Haugh, Rick Telander and Steve Rosenbloom.  They contain the phrases that have filled beat pages and blog posts since 2004: poor clock management, wasted timeouts, poor talent recognition, little accountability, offensive incoherence…etc.  I’m sure a few of the finest in Chicago sports media thought those columns might have to wait another year (or two) until they found the Monday morning eyes of commuting businessmen, circling the Loop, wondering what went wrong the previous day on the lakefront.  

Some losses hurt.  This one didn’t, at least it didn’t hurt me.  Here are my random thoughts on yesterday’s coaching disaster at Soldier Field.