Who's to Blame for the Bears 1-2 Start? How About the Defense?

I know that a lot of people will want to jump all over for Kyle Orton and the WR's for today's 27-24 OT loss to the Buccaneers.  And certainly, Orton's two picks (one which took away a TD and the other that was returned for a TD), the pivotal dropped passes, the inability to score a Touchdown on the opening drive after starting at Tampa Bay's 15, and the offensive line's inability to give Orton decent protection all hurt today's effort.  But this loss falls squarely on the shoulders of the defense.

At the end of the preseason, everyone who knows the Bears was questioning the defense.  They looked uncaring and disinterested at times, and at others they simply looked out-willed.  But they said "don't worry, we know what we're doing."  Then came the Indy game, a game virtually everyone predicted the Bears would lose.  The defense came out and dominated the game from start to finish, allowing only one TD drive and scoring a TD of their own on a fumble recovery.  After the game, Brian Urlacher was visibly angered when asked a question about how they were able to upset the Colts.  His reply was "We believed we could do it."  After that we were all willing to say that the preseason was just that, the preseason.  We were willing to admit that this defense simply knew when to turn on the aggression and how to use it to dominate the league once again.  The Bears were 1-0 and once again had one of the best defenses in the NFL.

In each of the last two games, the Bears have had a double-digit lead at some point past the halfway mark of the 3rd quarter.  In both of those games, the opposition's offense had done virtually nothing with the ball in the first half.  Then, for some unknown and inexplicable reason, the defense decided to turn itself off.  Whether it be with a rookie running back gashing them for big yards every carry, or with a veteran quarterback not known for a big arm driving his team down the field, the Bears "great" defense has surrendered 30 points over roughly a 30 minute stretch of the season.  And what makes it worse, these 30 minutes have been played at the end of the ballgames.  Now the Bears are 1-2.

Obviously the defense is better than this.  They have showed it in the first game and through the first 2/3 of the second game and the first 4/5 of the second game.  But unless they want to hear words like "quitters" and phrases like "inability to finish" used to describe them, the defense needs to solve this problem now, before it costs their team any more games.  It's time for Lovie Smith to turn to his defense and say "You have costs us two victories over the last two weeks.  Don't make me shake things up."  This problem needs to be fixed now if the Bears are to have a chance at making the playoffs.