Despite the great performance given by the players last night, it was all kind of brushed under the bus by inadequate coaching down the stretch.
As we have seen time and time again this season, Lovie Smith and Ron Turner cannot manage a football game, especially with a lead.
Without sound like a hypocrite; what were we doing in the second half of that game playing with such carelessness for the football?
Last week, I will admit, that I said we went into a shell offensively against Jacksonville when we got the lead. But, that is not to say that against the Saints, one of the worst rush defenses in the NFL, that we neglect the run all second half!
Why does it seem our coaches have everything backwards when it comes to play calling? We have no courage to make the tough decision to go for it when we should, but at points in the game where we just need to punt or take a field goal, we all of a sudden find courage to go for it!
Against the Packers, a terrible rush defense, we chose to throw it all game! Then we have Minnesota, a great rush defense, and we chose to run for most of the game in key situations. Then against Jacksonville, in the second half, who had a weak secondary, we chose to run all second half.
Now against a terrible run defense in the Saints, we chose to pass all second half giving Drew Brees at least two more possessions than he should have had!
Our offense again after playing a good first half, only mustered three points in the second half again!!!
So let’s recap the horrendous decisions/execution coming from the sideline in the second half.
First, we chose to pass way too much! We only ran the ball five times; yes, five times the whole second half, while throwing the ball 23 times. That is 23/28 or 82 percent of the time throwing the football.
Could somebody remind me again what the Chicago Bears are based upon? I thought it was smash-mouth football. To run the ball and control the game and play the field position game and let you defense give you opportunities? But I guess I could be wrong.
Maybe now we have turned into the New Orleans Saints, who rushed 17 times in the second half and only threw the ball 20 times. Now, that is what we call balance 20/37 or 54 percent of the time throwing the football.
And let’s not forget, the Saints are built to throw 80 percent of the time, but their coaching staff established balance and time of possession by running the ball in the second half. Whereas the Bears coaching staff became one-dimensional!
So, at halftime, the game was 21-7, and the Saints had not once taken the ball from outside the Bears 50 and scored. They only scored because of a fumble on the one-yard line by Orton/Kreutz.
In the second half, what most people would do as coaches is control the clock. Lovie Smith and Ron Turner decided to come out throwing! Did they possibly forget they have Matt Forte? One of the best backs in the league!
He only ran the ball 11 times all night. You have to be kidding me. We only had 227 total yards of offense, why? Because we were pass happy!
You cannot control a game and sustain drives without a running attack. If it wasn’t for two pass interference calls on poorly thrown balls by Orton, then the Bears would have lost last night!
Ok, so the Saints came out in the second half with the ball and we forced them into an interception. Then we drive all the way down the field for the first time in the game and “butterfingers Davis” drops the pass again (why is this guy playing?) and it gets intercepted.
Huge change in momentum, going from taking a 24-7 lead or 28-7 lead to now giving the Saints great field position at the Chicago 45 with the score 21-7. The Saints punched it in and now it is 21-14 with 3:44 to go in the 3rd Quarter.
Next possession, we ran the ball a little right? No, we ran once and threw twice, forcing a 3 and out and taking a whole 1:36 off the clock! Wow, what time management.
Saints took the ball down the field, for the only time all night from the NO 25 to the Chicago 12 and were forced to a field goal. Again, the first time all night they were able to sustain a drive over 50 yards and come away with points!
Now, there is 9:07 left in the game. We will certainly run it now and control the clock right? No, we run once (on second down every time) and take a whopping 1:16 off the clock! But wait, there’s more!
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