Chicago Bears Waiting For Primetime, Right

After another terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, the Bears’ story stayed the same.

Despite different problems than the Bears' previous two preseason flops, the explanation for the poor performance was placed on not game-planning specifically for opponents.

“Everything we do is about getting ready for Detroit, but of course we’re not gonna show too much of the offense in the preseason,” Lovie Smith told reporters after the Bears 14-9 loss to the Arizona Cardinals.

But does the Bears argument hold weight?

How much blame can game-planning take, when the offense as a whole looks completely out of sync, with poor timing, drops, fumbles, and poorly run routes. Are the Bears’ problems poor game-planning, or rather, a case of not being good enough.

The offensive line was better, but that’s not saying much. The Bears still gave up four sacks, this time acting as a gaping leak instead of a massive sieve. But on Saturday night, the Bears’ problems stretched much farther than Chris Williams struggles, or Roberto Garza overall badness.

No on this night, Jay Cutler and his receivers deserved as much of the blame as anyone. Cutler looked uncomfortable in the pocket, flushing out unnecessarily into pressure. Number 6 also under threw a couple balls, most glaringly a pass to Johnny Knox that would have resulted in a touchdown.

But the player who took the role of representing the Bears offensive ineptitude this week was Devin Hester. The “Windy City Flyer” stayed grounded, with a stat line of 3 receptions for 31 yards, a pair of drops, 2 rushes for -8 yards, and a fumble out the wildcat formation. You have to love the offensive innovation by Mike Martz, but if players like Hester don’t execute, it may be back to the one yard and a cloud of dust we’ve all been too familiar with.

The defense was suspect, especially the secondary. Chris Harris is clearly playing out of position, at free, and needs to be moved over to strong safety.

Instead of addressing the problems this team has, at least to the media, the Bears continue to lie to themselves and hide behind excuses. If Lovie Smith and the Bears are drinking their own Kool-Aid, they will be up for a rude awakening come show time.