UNBEARABLE

Lions - 37
Bears - 27

When the season began, the Chicago Bears had Super Bowl ambitions. Unfortunately, after today's game, these ambitions are mere afterthoughts. Everyone thought that the Bears were to be contenders for recapturing the NFC title, but not it's just a race to get back to .500, to square one.

Brian Griese made his first start today for the Bears, and the decision looked like a genius one by Lovie Smith in the first half. Then with about 30 seconds left in the second quarter and in the red zone, Griese threw a pick (which looked like pass interference to me, but hey, I'm no ref) and killed the Bears momentum for the rest of the afternoon. A banged-up Bears defense collapsed in the fourth quarter of the game and gave up 34 points, but coming in we knew it would be tough with the number of injuries we had. That’s why our offense needed to step up, and once again, we were let down.

There were some great moments in the first half provided by Griese. Twice he avoided a sack and managed to work his way to positive yardage. He looked very poised in the pocket, and he had great awareness. These characteristics were something the Bears had almost never seen in now back-up quarterback Rex Grossman.

However once Griese threw his first interception, the Bears knew they were in for more of the same old offense we've seen the first three weeks. But that brings up the next point, what exactly is the problem?

First off, Cedric Benson appears to be a bust. He constantly fumbles, and unlike Grossman who gave us his "I'm going to work my hardest and get better" speech after every game, Benson just shrugs it off. Benson had maybe two runs over 4 yards in the game, and he fumbles more than Tiki Barber in an earthquake. Something has to be done to correct this. If Grossman sits on the bench for weak play, maybe it's about time Benson does the same. This would mean that Adrian Peterson (the fake one) and rookie Garrett Wolfe would get more carries. I'm all for it, as long as the offense does not continue turning the ball over.

Bears' general manager, Jerry Angelo, is excellent in drafting defensive and special teams player. However, he failed the Bears in a very important area: the offensive line. At points during the Lions game, Griese looked very accurate in his throws. Yet at the end of the day, he threw only two touchdowns and three interceptions. These are in fact Grossman-like numbers. So this begs the question, maybe it wasn't all Grossman's fault? I mean maybe the offensive line is so bad that not even Tom Brady himself could muster a passer rating above 70. The defensive linemen from the Lions managed to brake through and get pressure on Griese all day long.

Finally, offensive coordinator Ron Turner has to go. This man cannot put together a decent string of plays. That two-minute drill at the close of the second quarter that ended in a Griese interception was poor. Why not call a screen or at least one halfback draw? Oh right, I forgot, Benson is fumble prone. However, Turner still doesn't utilize our biggest playmaker, Devin Hester, to his fullest potential. Hester got in on the offense maybe twice and it was screen to the receiver. Why not just line-up Hester as a running back and pitch him the ball or even a simple hand off. The primary problem with Turner's play calling is predictability. It was obvious when Griese was going to hand off the ball to Benson and when he was going to pass. If I was Lovie Smith, I think it would be just about the time to pull the reigns from Turner and start calling the plays myself.

The Bears post-season dreams have now been all but shattered. Hester ran back another kick off for a touchdown today (he has to be hall of fame bound), but even he couldn’t save this sinking ship known as the Chicago Bears. The 2006 NFC Champions now sit at the bottom of the NFC North standing with a 1-3, tied with the Minnesota Vikings. Green Bay solidified themselves as one of the hottest teams in the NFL today by beating the Vikes and moving to 4-0. The Lions also pulled out in front of us as they are now at 3-1. This loss hurt because the Lions are a team we should be beating consistently. Next week gets no easier with the Chicago Bears going to a pumped-up Lambeau Field to face an undefeated Packers team. Once again on the national stage of Sunday Night Football, so get ready for a few laughs.

Even though the Bears are in last place, there still is sometime to turn things around, but to do that they need to starting winning. The NFC is weak and with a 9-7 or 8-8 record, the Bears could still sneak into the playoffs as a wildcard. It's going to be tough though. Earlier this year, pro-football media laughed when Kitna guaranteed 10 wins for his new-look Lions. Now that prediction is on course. What a difference a year makes.