Blame Game- Bears/Packers

I wasn't going to do a blame game post after this one, for a few different reasons. One, we've done surprisingly little with the Bears all year, and it kinda seems unfair for one of the first posts dedicated to them be ripping them apart for their performance in a game they were supposed to be nowhere near this year. And at halftime it looked like we were just going to be destroyed by the better team, and there really wouldn't be anything to do except tip your hats to the Packers and root like hell for the AFC in two weeks. However, considering how the Packers tried like hell to give the game to the Bears, and they didn't take it for a few glaringly obvious, stupid, bitch-ass reasons.

Lovie Smith (and Mike Martz)- 45%

Sam would like me to mention deferring the ball until the second half, which allowed a red hot QB to come out and give the Packers all the momentum, but I say it was the right call at the time, the D has set the tone for the Bears all year, and we didn't know they'd come out that badly. Here are the decisions I would like to place square at Lovie's feet.

1. Not attempting the 49 yard field goal in the first half and electing to punt. This gained the Bears a whopping 11 yards which the Packers gained back on the first play. Robbie can make a 49 yard field goal, and it would have been really nice if the Bears had been going for the win instead of the tie on that last drive.

2. Playing Todd Collins over Caleb Hanie in the first place. We saw the Todd Collins show against the Panthers. He sucks. He didn't come close to making a good throw on the two series he was in, and on one of those (just after Urlacher's interception) he had excellent field position and momentum. Maybe if Hanie is in on either of those drives we have another TD.

3. The timeout. What a stupid timeout. I don't care if the play clock is winding down, in a close game in the last two minutes, DO NOT CALL TIMEOUT WHEN THE CLOCK IS ALREADY STOPPED. Not to mention the play call after the timeout, which is probably Martz's fault, but still, this was just dumb.

Jay Cutler- 35%

Now I was at the game, so I don't know what was said on TV, but when Cutler didn't come out for that first drive, there was a lot of confusion about what happened, since no one saw any sort of play that would have resulted in an injury. A fan around us with a radio (who we'll get to in a minute) relayed Joniak's info that it was a knee injury, but we were skeptical. When I got back to a computer, I saw this article of NFL players questioning Cutler's toughness. It's one thing for fans that don't know what it's really like to play football, but these are people that DO know, and they are calling Cutler out. Maybe the Rick Reilly article was right, Cutler just is kind of a crappy human being with no heart. I'm going to need more convincing that Cutler didn't punk out in the 2nd half of this game.

Also, he sucked in the first half before he was hurt, too.

Tim Jennings- 10%

Hard to fault the defense for much with the way they came out in the 2nd half, but until the Bears started to get some pressure on Rodgers, he pretty much had his way with Jennings. And in the 2nd half Jennings had to kind of resort to holding people to compensate, which he got away with a few times. Either way, we need an upgrade at this position.

O-Line- 5%

This wasn't their worst performance, but it wasn't their best either, and they had some costly missed blocks at some bad moments (Jamarcus Webb and Chris Williams being the main offenders.) Hopefully Jerry Angelo recognizes this a problem for once and does something about it this offseason.

Brad Maynard- 2%

Brad is usually solid, but that 24 yard punt in the 4th quarter really screwed up our field position at the end there. Sorry, Brad, the nature of being a punter is fuck up once and everyone remembers it.

Lance Briggs- 2%

Again, tough to kill a defender after the 2nd half, but his overeagerness to make a big play in the 1st half led to some big James Starks runs. Maybe if he stays at home it's only 7-0 at halftime.

The fans in front of us-1%

They left before the 4th and 1, that Taylor converted, to beat traffic. This is completely unacceptable, and bad karma.

Absolved-

Caleb Hanie- But let's not go nuts, the throws Hanie did convert were wobbly and inaccurate. He showed a lot of poise, yes, but he held on to the ball too long and had a lot of trouble with his reads (like on the pick-6). He's not an NFL caliber starter. He's just better than Todd fucking Collins is.

Charles Tillman- MVP today. I think they converted two passes on Tillman, and he pretty much had whoever he was covering locked down the whole 2nd half.

Brian Urlacher- Obviously, came up with some huge plays. Got beat a few times on crossing routes, and Starks broke his ankles on one play, but overall Urlacher was solid.

Matt Forte/Chester Taylor- Wish they would have realized while Cutler was still in the game to give it to their best weapons, instead of trying to force the ball downfield to Devin every time.