Sigh... this hasn't been a good sports weekend for me. The Hawks somehow lost, Northwestern (I didn't go there, but I happen to like them) couldn't keep up with Ohio State and now this. The Bears turned into turkeys today against the New Orleans Saints.
The Saints showed they're one of the best offensive teams in the NFL today. And the Bears, well, they still need some work done. They suffered from multiple pass protection breakdowns and were flagged for 6 penalties while only accumulating a grand total of 12 minutes of possession time.
The offense wasn't real bad, though. Alshon Jeffery had over 200 yards of receiving, a personal record for him, and Jay Cutler was able to protect the ball a lot better. But the Saints defense and big mistakes by the Bears offense combined with Saints defensive coordinator Rob Ryan's schemes, the Saints stopped most of the Bears' drives. Jimmy Graham had 10 receptions for 135 yards, shredding the Bears offense.
The offense only gained two first downs in their first five series, a product of miscues and the Saints defense. The Saints quickly jumped out to a 13-0 lead, helped in part by the Saints blitz play. It took some time before the Bears could finally get on the board, but they had to play from behind the whole game while the Saints offense get having their way with the defense.
Thankfully, they were able to make the necessary adjustments, but by then it was too late. The mistakes that cost the Bears included a fumble by Matt Forte, three sacks on Jay Cutler and Earl Bennett dropping an easy pass on a 4th down situation with just over two minutes left.
I had hoped the Bears could recover from the beating they took last week against the Lions. In a way they did, but the Saints forced them to make the mistakes I keep talking about. When you only have 12 minutes of possession, there's something wrong. Coach Trestman will have to figure out just what happened and make the necessary adjustments.
He's only got until Thursday when the Bears welcome the New York Giants for a Thursday night game. These mistakes cannot be repeated against the Giants, or else this will be a long season with way too many growing pangs.
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