Chicago Bears Week 13 Report Card: Grading Each Unit

The football gods did not shine much light on the Bears today. The Caleb Hanie era in Chicago is officially 0-2, and even the most optimistic Bears fans have to be concerned for the Bears playoff chances.

Quarterback play was spotty. The Matadors of the Midway made a appearance after a six-game hiatus. The Bears lost the turnover battle for the second consecutive week. The secondary failed to capitalize on repeated opportunities to take the ball away.

Freak plays, like Urlacher's sure interception to end the first half becoming a touchdown when a fellow Bears swatted the ball away from his teammate, were a storyline in today's game.  

The immediate media reaction to the game is already swirling around Donovan McNabb. And while Hanie could have played a better game, he shouldn't be the sacrificial lamb here.

That's not to say Hanie played a great game. He most certainly didn't. But when he did make the right moves, his teammates let him down.  It didn't help that the Bears failed on all 11 of their third-down conversions.

Chicago caught a little break with Atlanta falling to the Texans, but they must rely on the Saints and Packers to beat the Lions and Giants, respectively, to keep them in position as the current fifth seed in the NFC.  

Will Chicago make a run at McNabb? Will the Bears be able to overcome the loss of Jay Cutler and hobble their way into the playoffs? Will Matt Forte be available in the coming weeks?

Only time will tell what happens in the next four weeks for Chicago. While the future is cloudy, the Bears Week 13 game against the Chiefs is already in the past. Today, we'll look at the Bears performance against the Chiefs on a unit-by-unit basis and hand out grades. 

The Return of the Matadors of the Midway

The Bears offensive line was truly offensive. There is no way around it. The Matadors of the Midway looked like they couldn't block the Della Lamb Daycare flag football team, much less the NFL's worst pass rush. 

The Chiefs entered Sunday's contest last in the league with 13 sacks. The Bears line allowed them to increase that total by seven. Hanie was constantly under pressure, and Romeo Crennel made Mike Tice and Mike Martz, along with the Bears line, look like amateurs.

Lance Louis—pictured here—was a hero last week when he chased an interception return all the way down the field and saved a touchdown. This week, he was routinely beaten by edge rushers and had his worst game of the season, if not the worst game of his career.  

In fact, Louis allowed sacks on consecutice plays after the Bears moved to the Chiefs 7-yard line, destroying the Bears chances to score a touchodwn and eventually leading to a 41-yard missed field goal by Robbie Gould.

The Chiefs stunning play confounded the Bears linemen and caused issues consistently through the game. And while the players own a lot of the responsibility for the havoc in the backfield, the coaching staff should be held even more accountable. The Chiefs out-coached the Bears.

Run blocking wasn't much better. While the Bears averaged 3.9 yards on the ground, the running game was seriously inconsistent and did nothing to slow the Chiefs pass rush.

The line had a horrible day.  

Grade: F

Defensive Line

Despite the loss, the defense as a whole played well.  The key to that play was a solid performance by the defensive line.

For several weeks, Israel Idonije has been playing below his skill level, but this week Idonije did a fantastic job in all aspects of his game.

Early in the game, it looked as though it would be the Bears that left the game with a high sack total.  Both Henry Melton and Israel Idonije scored sacks on Chiefs quarterback Tyler Palko in the first quarter.  

But the Bears wouldn't reach Palko again. While the defensive tackles did a good job of moving Pelko out of the pocket, Palko did a good job of getting rid of the ball before the defensive ends could capitalize.

Peppers pestered the quarterback regularly, as did Idonije, and forced the young quarterback to throw the ball faster than he wanted to with frequency. In short, the Bears pass rush might not have consummated the deal as often as the Chiefs did, but they kept the Chiefs passing game off-rhythm the majority of the game.

The rushing defense allowed one big play when Julius Peppers over-pursued the play and Lance Briggs was boxed out. But for the most part, the Bears did a good job of containing the Chiefs running game.

Grade: B+

Wide Receivers

Caleb Hanie had a rough day in his second NFL start. His receivers didn't make it any better for him.

Johnny Knox caught five passes for 53 yards, but his lack of adjustment and lackluster ball-fighting skills led to Hanie's first interception off of a trust throw deep to Knox that Brandon Carr flat-out outplayed Knox for the ball. This was shades of 2010 for Knox, who led the league last season in targets for interception. That being said, Knox was also the only receiver who was regularly getting open against the Chiefs talented secondary.

Earl Bennett couldn't create separation. Additionally, he was the target of the Bears last-ditch fourth-down conversion attempt. To be the go-to guy, you have to make those receptions, and Bennett didn't.

Roy Williams registered a drop that could be pointed to as costing the Bears the game. He dropped a pass midway through the fourth quarter at the one-yard line that was intercepted by safety Jon McGraw, taking away yet another scoring opportunity,

Devin Hester caught three passes for 35 yards.

Tight end Kellen Davis made a nice 28-yard reception over the middle and ended the game with two receptions for 40 yards.

While Hanie wasn't lighting the world on fire, his receivers weren't exactly blowing on the embers for him, either.

Grade: F

Secondary

The picture provided is the story of the game. It was the only real mistake by the secondary in this game, but it led to a freak touchdown that decided the game.

On the last play of the second quarter, the Chiefs tried a Hail Mary into the end zone.  Urlacher had a bead on the ball and a sure interception, and a huge momentum boost seemed to be the outcome.

That is, until rookie safety Chris Conte jumped up behind Brian Urlacher and slapped the ball out of his waiting hands. The ball came forward right into Dexter McCluster's waiting hands for the games only touchdown.

Being fair to Conte, his focus is on getting the ball to the ground and ending the play, not on Brian Urlacher. Additionally, had the Bears offense been anything but inept, the single touchdown wouldn't have made a difference in the game.

Outside of the one play, the Bears secondary played a good, but not great, game. They made plays and covered their receivers well, allowing only 153 yards and that one freak touchdown on 30 passing attempts.

But the other story is missed opportunities. There were several turnover opportunities available that the Bears didn't capitalize on. Interceptions were dropped and the Bears lost the turnover battle, including two chances on the end-of-half scoring drive by the Chiefs.

The safety group played an outstanding game against the run. Especially Craig Steltz, who led the team with 10 total tackles after entering the game in place of Major Wright, who was injured late in the first half and didn't return.  

Steltz also saved what could have been a touchdown by taking a fantastic angle on a much faster Dexter McCluster after the running back broke out of the backfield and was racing down the sideline with only yardage and the end zone in front of him.

Charles Tillman was also a standout in the secondary against the run.

Grade: A-

Linebacking Corps

The Bears linebacking group had a very good game.  

Brian Urlacher was fantastic in coverage and had an interception slapped away from him by Chris Conte. Lance Briggs and Nick Roach wee also solid in coverage, and the Chiefs tight ends never saw a reception even as Palko spread the ball around to seven different players.

Against the run, the Bears linebackers were in the right place at the right time regularly, and were a large part of the safeties high tackle numbers as the linebackers took blockers out of the equation and filled holes that slowed rushers and bounced them outside.

While the numbers may not be an indication, the linebackers were a large part of holding the Chiefs to 10 points, and were it not for a fluky play from Conte, would have been an even larger part of holding the Chiefs to just three points.

Grade: A- 

Offensive Backfield

While Hanie played a poor game, the obvious story of the backfield is the injury to Matt Forte. Forte was dropped midway through the first quarter by a knee shot from Chiefs linebacker Derrick Johnson.

No word has been released at the time of this writing as to the seriousness of Forte's injury, but Forte did not return.

The Bears running game suffered from the lack of the dynamic running back on the field, and Hanie was left without a relief valve as the Bears failed to complete a pass to a running back for the first time this year. The Chiefs teed off on Caleb Hanie with the threat of Forte off the field.

For his part, Hanie missed on some passes he shouldn't have and tossed three interceptions. In fairness to Hanie, a lack of receiver separation had a lot to do with his poor outing, as well, and his first two interceptions weren't the result of bad decisions, but of poor receiver play. His final interceptions came as a result of a Hail Mary attempt.

Hanie wasn't horrible, but he wasn't what Bears fans and the Bears coaching staff hoped for, either. For those who are calling for Donovan McNabb, you're probably going to be sorely disappointed. The Bears may sign the veteran, but don't expect McNabb, who has disappointed Washington and Minnesota fans over the past two season in offenses he actually understood.

If the Bears do sign McNabb, don't expect him to start, and don't expect much if he does. Remember that this is the guy that the Redskins were willing to start Rex Grossman over.

Marion Barber did decently in limited attempts, as did Kahlil Bell. Unfortunately, the offensive line did little to help them.

The Bears had, to that point, run the ball 63 percent of the time when Forte was injured, . After Forte fell, Mike Martz called the run on only 41 percent of plays.

In the end, nobody in the backfield was helped by the line or the coaching staff, and Hanie was somewhat hung out to dry by his receivers, too. But the young quarterback is playing with the same coaching staff and receivers that Jay Cutler was playing with. Expecting the young quarterback to perform to Cutler's level with the same tools might not be fair, but we don't grade on fairness.

Grade: D

Weekly Awards

As a new feature of this weekly column, we'll hand out awards to individual players for their performances.

Week 13 MVP: Craig Steltz. I honestly never thought I'd write that, but Steltz's 10 total tackles, his forced fumble and his touchdown saving force-out against a much faster player from behind earn him the nod.

Week 13 LVP: Lance Louis. You can't stand by and watch your quarterback get laid out by the player you're responsible for that many times without landing here.

Week 13 Surprise Player of the Week: Craig Steltz. This one was an obvious choice. Steltz has been a model special-teamer, and one of those players that gets kept around for his smarts even though he suffers from a lack of athleticism. Today, Steltz showed why that is a smart decision.

Week 13 Offensive Player of the Week:  Johnny Knox. Selecting this award was difficult, and Knox narrowly edged center Roberto Garza, who allowed little to no pressure from his responsibility even as the rest of the line was falling apart around him.

While Knox's lack of physicality led to a tough interception, he was also the only Bears receiver who was consistently able to create separation and helped Hanie out more than any other receiver. One poor play doesn't erase that.

Week 13 Play of the Game: Izzy Idonije's 3rd-and-21 sack, beating two blockers around the outside to get there. After calling out Idonije for a couple of weeks, Izzy played a great game and this was his best play.

There you have it, ladies and gentlemen. Now it's your turn. Step up to the soapbox below and let your voice be heard.