OFFENSE

QB – Jay Cutler

RB – Matt Forte

WR – Devin Hester, Johnny Knox, Earl Bennett

TE – Greg Olsen, Desmond Clark, Kellen Davis

OL – Chris Williams, Josh Beekman

Notes – Orlando Pace is incapable of protecting the blindside at his age.  Roberto Garza and Olin Kretuz are serviceable players but also easily upgraded.  The offensive line – as a whole – needs to be the focus of management during what will be a long offseason.

DEFENSE 

DL – Alex Brown, Israel Idonije, Gaines Adams

LB – Lance Briggs, Brian Urlacher, Pisa Tinoisamoa

CB – Charles Tillman

Safety – No one

Notes – This unit needs serious attention and it needs serious improvement.  The Bears can not enter the 2010 season without a capable player at the safety position and they must find a way to generate a pass rush from the front four if they’re going to stay in this defensive system.

The Chicago Bears didn’t play a terrible football game last night.  They committed too many penalties.  They missed too many open receivers.  They allowed the Philadelphia Eagles to convert way, way too many third-and-longs.  But those things are going to happen to mediocre teams and that’s what the Bears are.  They’re a mediocre team.

The next six games have to be intelligently about the 2010 season.  Here are things I would do this week.

Relieve Ron Turner.  I don’t blame the coordinator for all of the team’s offensive woes but his predictable play-calling and pedestrian scheme does not serve the talent currently on the roster.  Every game this quarterback plays under Turner will injure his future with the team.

Play Kahlil Bell.  Have you watched the Minnesota Vikings?  When Adrian Peterson doesn’t have a hole up the middle, he turns and bursts the run outside.  Matt Forte doesn’t do that.  Forte lacks any burst at all these days and last night Kahlil showed one and energized the entire running game.  Give the kid a shot.  Find out if he’s got something.

Start Gaines Adams over Adewale Ogunleye.  Ogunleye is not going to be with the team next year so it’s about time the organization work Adams steadily into the rotation.  Let’s put that second-round pick out on the stoop and see if the cat licks it up.

This is all very depressing.   

Literally.  It hurts.  I pretended not to believe but I did.  Because I come from a long line of fools called Bears fans. 

We got a nice effort tonight.  Nothing to fire Lovie about.  We shall talk tomorrow.

Atlanta at New York

San Francisco at Green Bay

There are no particularly bad outcomes of either of these games.  If the Giants win, the Bears are chasing both wildcard spots.  If the Falcons win, they’d be effectively chasing just one.  I’m rooting for the 49ers over the Pack because the Pack are a bunch of unscrupulous clowns.

If they win…
Maybe the Chicago Bears can’t rescue the 2009 season from the perils of a wasted winter on Sunday night against the Philadelphia Eagles.  Maybe they can’t put the bloom back on the quarterback’s rose or elevate the coach from his first visit to the warmest of warm seats.  Maybe they can’t make us all forget about Cincinnati and Arizona.  But they do have an opportunity – believe it or not – to make next week matter.  When you’re a game under .500 after nine games, that’s all an organization ask for.  If the Bears win Sunday night, Minnesota matters.  And right now next week mattering is like the Super Bowl.

If they lose a close one…
And close does not refer to score.  If the Bears lose a hard-fought, penalty and turnover-free battle against a better team, so be it.  We wake up Monday morning, piss out the previous night’s booze/sorrow, and start discussing where we need to improve to compete with the Vikings and Packers in 2009.  The problem is that the Bears haven’t lost one of those games this season.  They’ve either been blown out or blew a victory with costly errors.  But if, by some chance, they lose a tough one…we’ll cope. 

If they lose big…
We kill the beast.  We don dark robes, light torches and call for the head of of the absent-faced wet blanket that tells Jamar Williams which gap he should be in (which he’ll subsequently avoid like a Chelsea gigolo at the free clinic).  Mike Shanahan is the guy for this job and if the Bears lay another egg in front of a national audience, fans and media should unite to call for his services.  We should ask the organization to deliver what we deserve.  How?  I’m not sure yet.  But I promise you all this.  If the Bears are blown out Sunday night, this site will be a much different experience Monday morning.

For the thousands in attendance, and the millions watching around the world…

There really is nothing interesting about the Bears v. Eagles game Sunday night if you’re not intrigued by the playoff implications.  So at the risk of continuing my admittedly-forced optimism, let me breakdown the NFC.

The Saints, Vikings and Cardinals are going to the postseason (and probably in that seeding order).  The Cowboys, Eagles and Giants will jockey for the NFC East right to the end, but for the sake of argument let’s say the Cowboys win the division.

That leaves two wildcard spots and seven teams in the hunt.  Six of the 5-4’s (Eagles, Falcons, Packers, Giants) and 4-5’s (49ers, Panthers, Bears) square off this weekend, with the Panthers facing the Dolphins on Thursday night.

Here is the Week 11 Guide for the Straw Clingers
Miami @ Carolina – Thursday Night
You may think it’s early but the idea is to eliminate teams from the running and a Miami win would do that to the Panthers, raising the volume on the Bill Cowher talk tremendously.

Atlanta @ New York
There are two ways to approach this game.  (1) Let the Falcons run and hide with the top wildcard spot.  The Bears lost the tiebreaker in Atlanta and chances of surpassing a club with two Tampas and a Buffalo left is a reach.  (2) Let the G-Men jump up a game and hope they come back to the back with a very difficult six-game final stretch. 

San Francisco @ Green Bay
A Green Bay victory wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, especially with them still on the schedule.  But the Bears want this thing to be as jumbled as possible heading into the final six games.  So root for the damn Niners.

So here’s what you want in a perfect world.  Bears over Eagles.  Miami over Carolina.  Niners over Packers.  Thus either the Falcons would hold the top wildcard spot at 6-4, leaving the Packers, Niners, Giants, Bears and Eagles at 5-5.  Or the Giants would be 6-4 with Atlanta sitting in the 5-5 pack.       

Seriously?  Rex Grossman’s dad?
I like Fred Mitchell a lot but his column with quotes from Dan Grossman should be the last football piece he writes this season.  Nobody cares what this man thinks about ophthalmology (he’s an ophthalmologist) let alone how a pro football organization manages the quarterback position.  The Bears stink at developing quarterbacks.  I get it.  So maybe the Bears need to bring in a coach who is good at it.  Like a Charlie Weis.  Or a Norm Chow.

Bears not sending a Pro Bowler    
According to Brad Biggs, the Bears have almost no shot at being represented at this year’s Pro Bowl.  Lance Briggs, the only starter on either side worthy of consideration, is fifth at linebacker.

Move Hester Back to Specials
Every quote in Vaughn McClure’s Devin Hester article reveals the receiver’s lack of focus and instincts when it comes to playing the position.  Hester is a kick returner, his greatest asset being a remarkable ability to recognize a hole and sprint through it.  He altered the way teams approaching the Bears in the kicking.  Stop this terrible experiment and utilize your most exciting weapon.