Fire Ryan Poles | Fire Ben Johnson

I am sure some people might be in a frenzy after seeing the Bears score 51 points in a game against the crappy Titans. Yes, there were many good things to talk about but at the same time, many of the same problems were observed by myself and I am sure, many others. Regardless, the Bears are 7-1 and they have a two-game lead on the division with the season at the halfway point.

Offense: Damn Mike Tice. Does he not enjoy running the football? I saw some drives where it would be obvious that the right thing to do would be to run the football. First, the drive that lead to the safety. Instead of running the ball to try to get some breathing room, he has Cutler drop back in the endzone. He nearly gets sacked but got away but then,  a penalty for illegal hands to the face.  Another one of those drives came after the two-minute warning in the first half. The Bears are up 31-2 and are about to score again. What does Tice do? He sets up an empty backfield for Cutler only to have him fumble the ball and the Titans take it to mid-field and end up getting a field goal. I am thinking to myself that if they scored again, maybe Cutler and some of the other starters would be out of the game to rest and instead, they are playing into the fourth quarter.

This offense has to get going. They still have problems in the end zone. Matt Forte did get over 100 yards rushing but only after getting a couple big runs. They need to have efficient and long drives that eat up the clock and keep the defense rested on the sidelines. The defense and special teams can’t always give them great field position in which they only need a few yards or so to score. Brandon Marshall, believe or not, never had a three-touchdown game until now. For the fourth game this season, he had over 100 yards receiving. Even Lance Louis had a catch. With Cutler depending on Marshall more than he should, they really need to get Bennett going and for crying out loud, get Devin Hester off the field. Alshon Jefferey is another two weeks or so away from returning.

Defense: This defense still has some flaws letting the Titans drive down the field a few times and racking up over 300 yards (again) but damn, who are these guys? Better late than never (nine seasons), but Tillman finally is playing like an NFL cornerback. He forced four fumbles. I certainly do not want to get punched by this guy. Urlacher took one back for a touchdown also in this game as well as forcing another fumble. The defense forced six turnovers in this game with four fumble recoveries, an interception and a turnover on downs. Even though the front four only had a sack or two, they forced pressure on Hasselbeck the entire game which lead to that interception and having the Titans punt quite a bit.

Special Teams: They kicked ass once again. Sherrick McManis blocked a punt that lead to Corey Wooten picking it up and running it in for the touchdown. Devin Hester nearly took one back but that set up the offense nicely for a touchdown. Robbie Gould nailed three field goals but it could have been four if Lovie Smith would have just taken the points late in the game instead of having the offense go for it on fourth and goal. Oh well.

Next up, the Bears play an actually good football team in the Texans on Sunday night. Go ahead Chicago Bears. Impress me.

…from our good friend Matt Stairs Superfan:

“Congratulations to San Francisco for winning their second World Series in three years. You see, when teams have good pitching, timely hitting and a strong farm system, they become very successful. Unlike the morons at Clark and Addison that have never figured out how to draft and develop actual talent, sign decent free agents and hire a manager who actually knows the game of baseball. PATHETIC!”

I’d like to add my sincere congratulations to Ryan Theriot for scoring the winning run of this World Series. His current employer is certainly a big step up from the pissant gig of playing for the Chicago Cubs. Two WS Series Championships in 3 years…must be nice!

…back at Wrigley Stadium the sheeple are preparing for a long, cold winter…and the clock is ticking, ever so faintly…

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?