Bears' 2008 Achilles' Heel Proves to be Consistency

The Chicago Bears' postseason hopes were eradicated Sunday with their disappointing loss to the Houston Texans. Although the loss was upsetting to Chicago's players and fans, it is hardly surprising. For the Bears, it was a season of could-have, would-have, and should-have.

It's so easy to point to the big plays and penalties that hurt them in crucial situations as the reason the Bears missed the playoffs. After all, how can we forget the first three meltdown losses that would have made the difference in the end?

But if we think objectively, we see that the Bears got lucky as well at times, with other teams falling apart late and allowing Chicago to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

This is why the Bears don't have the luxury of pointing to any one play or even one game as the reason why they will be watching from home this January. They will instead have to look themselves in the mirror and start to dissect the season, play by play: the dropped balls, the blown coverages, the sloppy tackling, and the senseless penalties that plagued them all year.

They also don't have the luxury of blaming injuries for this season's woes like they seemed to do for the duration of the 2007 season.

In an article I wrote following the loss to Minnesota, I voiced my skepticism that the Bears could win four in a row, and I was right. But I didn't feel that way because I thought they were a lousy team after getting blown out for the second time in three weeks by a division opponent, or that years of watching them lose had me feeling jaded.

It was the lack of consistency they'd shown all season which ultimately proved to be their downfall. There were times when Kyle Orton played phenomenally, only to have the defense shredded on subsequent drives. Likewise, there were times when the defense was stellar and the offense would come out and lay an egg, handing the other team the ball with a short field.

To be totally honest, I sat down to write this article with the intent of making it a discussion of the Bears' needs during the offseason, and possibly taking a look back on what they could have done better this year to improve their chances of making the playoffs.

But I can't write about that anymore, because it's just not true. Chicago has all the ingridients they need to be great next year, and they had them all this year. The Bears have good players in all three phases, as well as coaches with experience who know how to win games. They simply have not executed and played consistently as a team this season.

And no number of draft picks or free agent acquisitions can make Chicago consistently play like a team.

The Bears came into the season with many NFL analysts predicting that they'd be among the worst teams in the league. But even with a tough schedule, they were in the playoff hunt until the end.

This offseason will bring new players and possibly new coaches, and if Chicago can continue to grow at the rate it did following the 2007 season, the Bears have an excellent chance of turning the ship around next year. After all, there were many improvements from last year to this year. But the one missing ingredient for this team is consistency.

As the Bears once again retreat into hibernation for the rest of the winter, the Chicago faithful will once again begin counting down the days to Bourbonnais, where the promise of a new and better year surely awaits.

"The season had ended, but another one had begun. People everywhere, young and old, were already dreaming of heroes" -H.G. Bissinger