Dodge Ball: Chicago Bears, Lovie Smith Like Skipping the Tough Questions

One of the inexorable underlying qualities about coach Lovie Smith’s Chicago Bears has been a complete insistence that outsiders really do not know their game well enough to accurately point out their failings.

Smith treats criticism of the team by skipping over it and going on to what’s next.

“We’ll go from there,” he likes to say.

The players imitate him. Fans and media almost never get real answers about what’s actually going wrong or even right for that matter.

It’s rather difficult to just skim over Sunday’s 41-21 loss to the Arizona Cardinals and move on to the San Francisco 49ers Thursday night, though.

Even players had to admit this time that all the criticism media members gave the team after a 45-10 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals and a butt-ugly 30-6 win over Cleveland ultimately carried a huge stamp of validity.

"It's like I told people during the week, I wanted that Cincinnati game to be a learning point,” defensive end Adewale Ogunleye said. “It doesn't seem like we took enough notes in that game.

“Especially at home, to play like we did, in front of our home crowd, with the 'C' on our helmet, it's embarrassing.”

The only thing stopping the Cardinals’ offense was referee Ed Hochuli’s whistle Sunday when he raised his gunboat arms straight in the air. The Cardinals drove up and down the field for touchdown marches of 81, 74, 70 and 86 yards to start the game.

Those scores brought the total number of touchdowns scored against the Bears defense within the red zone to 16 in a span of 18 red zone possessions. It’s almost like the Bears’ defense has shortened the field to 80 yards for opponents.

Get in the red zone and it’s over, you’re in.

“We’ve got to get off the field on third downs,” offered safety Danieal Manning after the Bears allowed Arizona to convert 57 percent of their third downs.

Getting off the field on any down at any yard marker would be a welcome sight.

The Bears got a forced turnover Sunday when the Cardinals took pity on them and inserted their own version of Cade McNown -- selfish, underachieving, left-handed first-round draft choice Matt Leinart. He threw a poor, floating pass in the open to Zack Bowman and it very nearly helped fuel a Bears rally.

Yet Smith, who calls defensive signals, went a long way toward snuffing the rally out by senselessly ordering a blitz of Warner on third-and-25 from the Arizona 5-yard line. The Cardinals hadn’t even completed a pass longer than 23 yards all game, so Smith blitzes.

The Bears got burned, of course, but “held” the Cardinals to a 24 ½-yard gain. But they lost a ton of field position with their failed gamble and a 56-yard punt took care of the rest of the field position.

Then Jay Cutler’s gamble resulted in an interception that sealed the game. It was Cutler’s only interception of the game, although the offense hardly looked sharp. Nevertheless, you can hang this one entirely on Smith’s defense -- just like the Cincinnati game.

Quarterback Kurt Warner accomplished whatever he wanted a week after he threw five interceptions. The five TD passes he threw tied the most ever allowed in a game by the Bears to a quarterback.

“We didn’t start fast at all,” said cornerback-turned-safety Nate Vasher. “The score indicated that, especially in the first half (31-7 at halftime). We can’t wait that long to turn it on and I guess that’s what the most disappointing thing is when you’re a good football team but don’t perform like it all the time.”

The Bears haven’t performed like they’ve known what they’re doing since beating Pittsburgh at home in Week two. They beat a couple bad teams in Detroit and Cleveland, beat a weak Seattle team without its starting quarterback and Pro Bowl middle linebacker.

Sunday their defense faced the worst running team in the NFL and gave up 182 rushing yards.

Maybe defensive tackle Tommie Harris had the right idea Sunday. In a stupid fit of rage, he got tossed for throwing a punch four plays into the contest. More and more, Harris is looking like the new Curtis Enis or Alonzo Spellman -- a total enigma.

They gave him $40 million and he repays them by missing practices, drawing a suspension, getting ejected. This week don’t be surprised if he’s out again thanks to a league-mandated suspension. His punch was a malicious act which should result in a game away if there is justice in the NFL.

And where was Harris after the game? Did he step up before his locker and answer media questions about why he did this? Did he accept the music? Of course not.

He slid out of the locker room before it was opened to the press.

Why should that surprise anyone, though. It’s the entire attitude displayed by Smith himself when he dodges questions or refuses to give up why things go wrong. The Bears believe they are responsible only to themselves, not the fans.

“You look at reality, to me, and we’re 4-4,” Smith said. “That’s all you can look at. We’re 4-4.

“We haven’t played the defending champs in our division. We have a lot of important football games coming up. You’re disappointed in today, which we are, but then you move forward and you just do everything you can to get a win the next time out, and that’s what we’ll do.”

Life is just one big back door for the Chicago Bears, from the players to their head coach.