Fire Ryan Poles | Fire Matt Eberflus

All of the Bears’ problems of this season were summed up in one game. Bad defense, no wide receivers and a blown lead.

– First of all, Danieal Manning has done some really good things on kickoffs and defense. This game however, he was bad on both. He had blown coverage on the first touchdown that the Texans scored when Andre Johnson was wide open. The same thing happened in the Super Bowl where he didn’t cover when Manning threw a 60 yard pass to I believe Harrison. Then the very next play, he fumbled a kickoff return which lead to another touchdown. There was 14 points right there that he gave the Texans.

– Kyle Orton’s 22/37 for 244 yards weren’t bad. It would help if they ran the ball more and actually had better receivers to catch the ball. Another solid offensive lineman wouldn’t be too much to ask of either. I still believe Kyle Orton can be a good quarterback in the NFL if he can get at least some help on the offensive side. When your running back is your best wide receiver and your tight ends are usually the only ones open, then your offense has problems.

– As I have mentioned more than enough, the Bears should not have even been in this situation. They blew three games that easily should have been wins (Carolina, Tampa Bay and Atlanta). The coaching and management problems are too much of a headache to write about. This team needs to add some receivers, an offensive lineman and a couple of safeties. The quarterback position should be the least of the Bears’ worries going into the off-season. I said this defense has had some awful games but I can also point out that if the offense could quit having three and outs, that the defense could play a little bit better because they would have more rest. That falls into the responsibility of the coaches.

– That is a wrap for Bears talk for a while. I will have a new thread next week about something. Possibly a Blackhawks or a Bulls article. I wish everyone a safe and happy new year.

Happy Holidays everybody. I just wanted to say thank you for sticking around on the new site as well as the old one. Over the last few years, we have became pretty good friends on here. Although I am trying to emotionally distance myself from baseball, this site is not going away. I will think of something in the next few months on what exactly to do so stay tuned.

I always welcome new readers but then again, I am glad that we have kept our base small and loyal. I couldn’t thank you guys enough. I really appreciate the support. You guys are the ones keeping this site running.

Thank you very much.

                                              – Fro Dog

Robbie Gould: You are my hero. You too Alex Brown.

– The Bears need to win their last two games while the Vikings to lose both of their games to get into the playoffs. This shouldn’t have been a problem if the Bears didn’t blow one of three games that they should have won. The game against Carolina where they had I believe a 17 point lead and pissed it away. The Tampa Bay game where they had a two-score lead and they gave it away much in part due to Charles Tillman’s stupid penalty in overtime. Last but the most frustrating game was the Atlanta game where the Bears scored a touchdown with 11 seconds to go only to let Matt Ryan throw a 30 yard pass with one second to go leading to the game winning field goal.

– The Chicago Bulls are doing OK with their near .500 record. Derrick Rose is showing it more and more every game that he is the real deal. He is their best player on the team. In fact, he is probably their only good player. I like Drew Gooden as well. He is not the dominant post player that teams need to contend but he is doing a good enough job so far. He is having some games in which he putting up 20 points and around 10 rebounds a game but not consistently. Everyone else on the team needs to be let go or traded away for draft picks in order to contend in the next couple years.

– The Chicago Blackhawks have been kicking some ass in the last couple weeks. As of this writing, they are tied for 3rd place in the Western Conference with a three game trip in Canada. I was at my first Blackhawks game this past Sunday and it was amazing. I had a lot of fun and it was very relaxing for me. The young lady and I sat right next to the tv cameras in the club level, first row. The crowd really got excited when the Hawks had a chance to score and when they did, the crowd went nuts. If you haven’t been to a Blackhawks game yet, I suggest you do. For the best in-depth coverage of the Blackhawks, check out the good guys over at http://www.hockeenight.com.

– If you guys want to discuss anything else, feel free to.

Let me start off by saying that this game should not have even been close in the first place. The Bears were in control midway in the 3rd quarter with a 21-7 lead while driving down the field until Rashied Davis had the ball go right off his hands for an interception and that is when the collapse began.

The Bears had four turnovers and all of them turned into points. Two interceptions, one fumble and the turnover on downs on the fake punt all hurt the Bears. Dropped passes was another thing that hurt this team. Orton has thrown the ball well pretty much all season long. It is up to the receivers to actually catch the ball.

The defense did all they could trying to hold the Saints. The Bears did not stick with running the football and that caused trouble in the 3rd. This caused the defense to stay on the field. The Saints almost had the ball for double the time that the Bears had it. That cannot continue. This defense is not the same it was a few years ago. They can still be productive but the offense has to have the ball more. The Bears need to run the football more and pass less. This will give the defense more rest. Running the football takes time off of the clock and rests your defense just a little bit longer. Are you listening Lovie Smith? How about you Ron Turner?

Danieal Manning had a kickoff return for a touchdown and also gave the Bears good field position after the Saints scored their first touchdown thanks to Olin Kruetz snapping the ball before the offense even moved.

At the end of the night, Robbie Gould proves that he is one of the best kickers in the league by kicking the game-tying and then game-winning field goal to give the Bears the win.

I know some of you are having problems posting comments. I think I just fixed the settings. WordPress changed up the format when I log in. Supposedly, I was given an option that if an article has two or more links to a website that it will ask me if I want to approve of it or not. I think links in posts should work. I will keep testing it out so hold on until I figure this out.

*Update: I posted a few links in a post and it went through fine. Everything should be fine now as long as comments are concerned.

So the Bears beat another bad team but unfortunately, the Lions could not pull one out against the Vikings so the Bears are still behind a game with three left. From what I understand, the Vikings also hold all tie-breakers just in case they end up being tied with the Bears at the end of the regular season.

Kyle Orton did a nice job throwing the ball although for the second week in a row, receivers have problems catching whatever is thrown to them. Orton seems to be healthy. It is up to the players around him to start producing other than Matt Forte.

The defense did enough to stop Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew. The secondary and corner backs still need to learn how to defend and stay on their guy. Danieal Manning was productive for a change as he intercepted a pass on the first drive of the game and provided good field position on special teams.

The Bears play the Saints on Thursday on the NFL Network. In Chicagoland, the game will be on channel 50. Personally, I hate Thursday night games. It doesn’t give players a chance to rest a full week and not everyone gets the channel.

An old friend of mine told me about a website that you can watch live sports for free as long as you have a decent computer with high speed internet. I heard about it last year but recently, I have been using it and I must say, it is the best. You can watch any sports game at your computer live. If anybody does not get NFL Network or does not live in Chicagoland and wants it, just let me know and I will email the link with instructions on how to set it up. It is very easy to do.

– Also, I am attending my first Blackhawks game next Sunday. That should be awesome.