Fire Ryan Poles | Fire Ben Johnson

This game reminded me of the one against the Packers earlier this year. For most of the game, the offense sucked completely and while the defense wasn’t as good as that game, they still found a way to minimize the damage. This game still pissed me off on every level. The Bears played like shit until the last quarter. When the Bears play good teams (Texans, 49ers, etc.), do they win these type of games? The answer is no.

Offense: I am not pinning this shitty offensive day all on Cutler. Yes. He threw a dumb pass into triple coverage and fumbled causing another turnover earlier in the game, but after that, he was too busy getting sacked and when he wasn’t on his ass, his receivers were dropping passes. The entire offensive line couldn’t block anybody. There were more false start/holding penalties. Matt Spaeth sucks and should never be thrown to again. Marshall and Hester dropped some passes as well that would have extended drives and instead, the Bears were giving the ball back to the Panthers. The running game couldn’t get going either. This was all happening while the Panthers were giving the Bears great field position on just about every kickoff. Then, the fourth quarter arrives and the offense finds it’s mojo. Bennett and Marshall are catching everything in their site and the Bears march down the field for 16 points.

Defense: Cam Newton was having a great time for most of this game. The Panthers had nearly 37 minutes of time possession. For you stat geeks out there (Yeti), that’s  more than half of the game. Newton had drives that went well over eight minutes and one of those drives was 90 yards. He had his I-Pass for sure throwing for over 300 yards. I did mention above that the defense minimized the damage they did, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t lousy. There were some stupid penalties on this side of the ball as well. I believe there were two personal fouls that helped the Panthers score on I believe, two drives. This lack of discipline needs to stop. I don’t know why Tillman wasn’t on Steve Smith during this game because Jennings couldn’t stop him. I want to than the Soldier Field grass for making Steve Smith slip, letting Tim Jennings get an easy pick giving the Bears the lead.  I just had a flashback of Johnny Knox slipping on the same grass. I’ll stop there.

Special Teams: Ron Rivera was looking like a genius with all of those squib kicks which didn’t allow Hester to do anything up until late in the game. Robbie Gould misses a field goal after I was telling myself “Just take the points”. Since Cutler is a man and marched the Bears down the field about as calm as anyone can in the final two minutes, Gould redeemed himself in the end.

The Bears have a two-game lead in the division over both the Vikings and the Packers. The face the Titans next week on the road.

We have reached a milestone here at Fire Lovie Smith. This post is our 400th since our inception in 2008. Along with this, is the news that David Stern will be stepping down as NBA commissioner in 2014. Good riddance.

THIS TEAM IS DRIVING ME FUCKING NUTS. Every time Jay Cutler goes down, I hold my breath. Every time the Bears don’t run the damn ball when they are suppose to, I want to punch Mike Tice in the fucking nuts. Every time I see Jay Cutler go down hard, I hold my breath. Every time the Bears suck ass on defense by allowing teams to drive willingly down the field late in games, I want to throw my remote across the room. The Bears should have been up at least 20 and instead, they are an onside kick recovery away from losing the game because let’s face it, the Lions would have won the game because the Bears, all of a sudden, went back to being chicken shit.

Offense: “DAT JAY CUTLER IZN’T TOUGH TO PLAY CHICAGO BEAR FOOTBALL MY FRENDT.” FUCKING MOTHERFUCKER. PROTECT THIS GUY DAMNIT. Because if the line cannot protect him, sooner or later, we’re going to witness more than just two or three plays from Jason Campbell Todd Collins and he sucks. The Bears should seriously consider signing another quarterback. I don’t give a crap if it’s Josh McCown or (Here’s the meatball in me talking) Chandler Harnish to the roster. As soon as Cutler went down, I immediately thought it was a concussion or a broken collarbone. He was also sacked five times. On the first drive, the Bears score a touchdown. It looked like they were on their way to kicking to shit out of the Lions. They get two field goals but on that last one, the Bears had 1st and goal at the 4 and three straight passes were called; two of which were nearly picked off. RUN. THE. FUCKING. BALL. DAMNIT. The offense was missing most of this game. For crying out loud, can the false start/holding/unnecessary roughness penalties stop? Also, get Devin Hester away from the offense. He isn’t a wide receiver. He will never be a wide receiver.

Defense: The defense kicked ass in the first half. Props to Charles Tillman for making sure Calvin Johnson wasn’t a factor. While only getting three catches, he forced two fumbles and knocked the ball out of Johnson’s hands in the endzone which sustained the shutout to that point. As the Bears defense usually goes in all of these years, they seem to take their foot off of the gas in the second half and let teams back in games. We saw that in this game. Stafford drove the Lions down the field with ease only for some fluke fumbles and an interception with a desperate throw. Too bad Stafford didn’t give a shit about his face being in the grass after that interception because he got the ball back and promptly, scored on the Bears defense and gave his team a chance. The defense cannot rely on forcing turnovers every game. This shit will slide in these types of games but in the playoffs, if they get there, they will be fucked. I give credit where credit is due but the defense gave up 340 yards; most of them in the second half. I cannot understand why they can’t just stick to what has worked like in the last few games. Getting back to those fluke fumbles, if Joique Bell doesn’t fumble at the goal line, the Bears probably lose this game.

Special Teams: Robbie Gould nailed two field goals and another was blocked. The special teams did recover a fumble by Stefan Logan and it lead to one of those field goals. Two things pissed me off about the special teams. First, what’s with the illegal block in the back/holding penalties? Why do players do this while knowing it’s not allowed? It’s fucking annoying on every level. Lastly, Devin Hester should be back on every kickoff/punt. There were some punts where he wasn’t on the field. Is Lovie that stupid to think that someone else back there is better?

Ugh. The Panthers are in town Sunday. I don’t care about their 1-5 record. If anybody remembers last year’s game (I was there), Cam Newton had a field day but the Bears found a way outscore them.

maybe a change would do Joe good…

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1352161-is-theo-epstein-right-to-view-dale-sveum-as-the-long-term-cubs-manager

Sorry I was late getting this post up, guys…was on the road….chomp chomp!!!

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_21753277/dusty-baker-ponders-his-future-cincinnati

Who’s ANGRY today?

Thanks to YouTube user “DaJoel” for this video that clears the air about who really hit C.M. Punk in the crowd on Monday night. I can see where Punk thought the guy behind him was the one who hit him. It turns out, a douche two rows back was the one who did it. Some of these fans are idiots. On the other side, in the moment, Punk’s natural reaction was to retaliate. Reports have the guy who was attacked, filing a police report with Sacramento police.

If this is a work, I commend Vince McMahon but I highly doubt it.

Many of the so-called “experts” had the Bears running away with this one. At halftime, it didn’t seem that way. In fact, before halftime, it looked like the Jaguars were about to take the lead until the defense forced a turnover. When the second half started, the offense for the Jaguars didn’t see the field much and the Bears dominated. They stay in a tie for first place with the Vikings at 4-1.

Offense: Cutler threw an interception on his first throw. Even though it was 3-3 at halftime, I thought the play-calling was pretty good by Tice. They were running the ball a bit more which I liked. All because they sometimes only gained a yard or two, it’s still a good thing to do because it will keep the other team guessing. In the second half, the Bears took advantage of that. Matt Forte had over 100 yards rushing. In fact, with three rushers and Cutler, the total yards were over 200 for rushing. We need to see more of that.

On the passing side, Brandon Marshall kicked ass once again. He had just over half of the catches for the team along with a touchdown. Alshon Jeffery scored a touchdown but hurt his wrist on the play. I am sure most of us were concerned when he was shown with his arm wrapped up as the game was winding down. Earl Bennett is already out but may return for the next game but if this is going to be a problem if it’s serious. I am not a doctor but if it’s a sprain, then he may only miss a game or two. Lastly, Gabe Carimi was horrible. Two false start penalties and he allowed a sack to Cutler.

Defense: Gabbert drove the Jaguars on two different occasions down the field in the first half. As mentioned in the intro, if it’s not for the fumble that Corey Wooten forced on him, this game might have gone the wrong way. Wooten came out nowhere in the game to force that sack and another one. Looking at the replay, it looked like it was just an incomplete pass but I digress. Now we go to the fun part of this game which was the second half. First, Tillman takes intercepts a pass and takes it for a touchdown. Then, Briggs, who added a sack in the game, repeats the process. What I liked better was the amount of total yards the defense gave up as well.

If it wasn’t for Armando Allen scoring a touchdown in garbage time, the defense for the third straight game would have scored as many touchdowns as the offense did. I cannot believe how well the defense has played for the most part this year. I am seeing cornerbacks and safeties actually covering the receivers. I am seeing the front four forcing more pressure on the quarterbacks and getting more sacks. It almost makes me wonder where this shit was all these years. I don’t want to get ahead of myself but the Jaguars are still a bad team. If they do these kinds of things against teams like the 49ers and Texans, then I’ll start getting excited.

Special Teams: Why, oh why do idiots on any team commit obvious penalties in punt/kick returns? There were two block in the back penalties by Sherrick McManis. Players know this an illegal play so why in the hell do they keep doing it? Idiots.

With the bye-week here, this gives time for players like Forte, Bennett and now, Jeffery to heal up. The Lions come to town on Monday Night Football in just over two weeks.