man, that was a horrible game. i considered it a must-win and a nigh-sure-win for the Bears (that and the Vikings game), so this really throws a wrench into their playoff hopes.
besides being horrible on both sides offensively, it was flat-out weird:
- Matt Forte leaves in the first quarter with a knee injury after being upended on a tackle. (his cleats might've stuck in the new grass momentarily, making his leg more vulnerable, per the announcers.)
- Kyle Orton comes in for his
first play in the 2nd quarter, and when throwing a bomb on a flee flicker, dislocates his throwing hand index finger in a collision with Major Wright.
- Palko throws a hail mary for the Chiefs at the end of the first half. two Bears are in position to intercept it in the endzone, jumping up for the ball with no Chiefs having a visible shot at it. Brian Urlacher tries to catch it, while Chris Conte decides to volleyball spike it -- unfortunately, driving it right into the arms of the Chiefs' Dexter McCluster for a touchdown.
Caleb Hanie wasn't as bad as his 0 TD / 3 Int line indicated. in the first half, he threw a touchdown to Marion Barber that was called back because Barber lined up wrong (though they would get a field goal out of it). his last interception was on the final play of the game on a hail mary, as they needed to go 80 yards with 6 seconds left, so it's hard to blame him. his 2nd interception was near scoring on a ball that Roy Williams could have caught on the Chiefs' 2-yard line, but bobbled, and after several Chiefs juggled it, they made the interception in their endzone. had the receiver held on, the Bears would've scored on that play, or been damn close. Hanie actually led the team on a very nice drive up to that, throwing a lot of quick accurate passes, mostly up the middle. also, the offensive line was back to sucking, giving up 7 sacks.
though at least one of those was Hanie's fault from holding the ball too long. also, on a couple of the sacks, it seems the young QB was employing a 12-step drop, because he'd lose 9-10 yards on each of them. seriously, when does Cutler ever lose that much yardage?
two consecutive sacks prefaced a rare Robbie Gould field goal miss. of course, it would have been easier if the Bears could see the future and have him do a 25-yard chipshot on 2nd down rather than the 41-yard attempt two plays later. :P
still, kudos to Kansas City's defense and to their rookie QB, who really started showing more poise after re-entering the game in the second quarter. the hail mary completion was a fluke, but he did lead them on a nice, long drive before that. also, props to the Bears' defense, who had to deal with gobs of three and outs from their horrible offense (
that, complete with 0-11 on third down conversions and lots of incompletions was the real flaw with Hanie, not the misleading interceptions tally).
Forte's early departure shows how dependent Chicago is on him. not just for yardage, but as a pressure release valve. by that, i mean there were lots of plays this year where Cutler would dump it off to him on a 3-5 yard pass, and then he'd run for many yards after the catch. since it was often successful, i think Bears viewers saw it as a sign of strength, and coincidentally, the once-horrid offensive line improved a lot over a handful of games. but in some ways, it was a sign of
weakness. why is your cannon-armed quarterback throwing the ball 3 yards in the first place?! because the defensive linemen are closing in on him on the current play, or because he just ate ground on the last play. so a play borne out of desperation became a staple of the Bears' offense.
Barber is a decent back, but he doesn't really have the track record of receiving and adjusting after the catch like Forte does. so when the latter left the game with the knee injury, this key aspect of Chicago's offense was gone, and the offensive line's issues were revealed anew.
worst of all, i turned on the TV at 12:05pm CST sharp, expecting to see the game starting, but they were already 2 minutes into it because it actually began at 12:00pm! the horror!!
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