Bears vs. Broncos: 8 Things We Learned from Chicago's 13-10 Loss in OT

I'm angry at the Bears and their coaching staff for one of the most pathetic losses in recent memory. It was simply an ugly loss for the Bears, who led by 10 points with less than three minutes remaining, yet somehow managed to blow the game to the Denver Broncos 13-10.

Despite an offense with almost zero talent, the Bears somehow managed to finally score a touchdown and later added a field goal by Robbie Gould from 57 yards out to give Chicago the 10-0 lead.

But the Bears got Tebowed. Tim Tebow led the Broncos on a last minute drive which resulted in a 59-yard game-tying field goal sending the game into overtime.

The Broncos kicked a 51-yard field goal to win the game in OT and Tebow had yet another incredible comeback. But before you start extolling the virtues of Tebow, I have to tell you that the Bears did more to lose this game than Denver did to win it.

This isn't sour grapes, either. I have had time to calm down and yet I continue to shake my head at some of the idiotic plays, mental gaffes and poor coaching decisions which allowed Denver to pull off another improbable comeback.

It was Denver's sixth straight win, and half of them have come in OT since Tebow became the starter. As for the Bears, their arrow is heading in the opposite direction and that direction certainly isn't pointing toward the playoffs.

With Detroit and Atlanta winning, the Bears have dropped to seventh in the playoff rotation. The Bears need to win at least two of their remaining three games to have a chance, but in reality they really need to win all three, and folks, I don't see that happening.

I really don't feel like going through this exercise this week, but let's see what we've learned from this awful loss.

Marion Barber's Mental and Physical Mistakes Cost the Game

Barber's stupid decision to step out of bounds and stop the clock at the end of regulation played a critical role in allowing Denver to tie the game and send it into overtime.

Why Mike Martz called a run play to the short side of the field is a good question, yet Barber is a veteran and simply must know not to run out of bounds in that situation.

Then, to add insult to injury, the Bears won the toss in overtime and were in field-goal range when Barber coughed up the football at the Broncos' 34 and Elvis Dumervil recovered.

Sure, he also scored the Bears only touchdown, but man that was a real tough thing to watch on Sunday. I hate to pin the loss on one guy, but Barber was the goat.

In all, he ran the ball well, rushing for 108 yards on 27 carries and carrying the load for the injured Matt Forte. The Bears ran the ball effectively, with 159 yards rushing and a 4.2 yard average on the day.

But that brain cramp and fumble trumps all the positives coming from Barber and the run game.

Bears Prevent D Prevents the Win

For much of the game, the Bears defense was solid, getting five sacks, one interception and a recovered fumble.

But the team played way too soft on the final couple of drives against Tebow. It was the result of a very timid and overly conservative way to play football.

Yep, the only thing that "prevent D" did was to prevent the Bears from winning the football game. They weren't aggressive at all, and gave far too much slack while Tebow ate them up inside.

Screens and underneath routes were effective for the Denver offense once the Bears went into this conservative way of playing football.

All that prevent defense did was to let the wide receivers get behind and sit in front of their zones.

They played a lot of Cover 2 and with the Bears generating no pass rush, those dump-off routes begin to add up. On the TD pass to Demaryius Thomas, Tebow was able to step up because he had time. Chris Conte went to the line of scrimmage and Zack Bowman didn’t sink with enough depth, a classic example of Cover 2 breaking down and a WR finding an open hole in the end zone.

Play football like men, not like scared little babies. This was pathetic.

Stupid Play-Calling Toward End of Game and in OT

All season long we've been calling for Mike Martz to run the ball more. So when does he decide to finally get conservative on us? With the damn game on the line and the Bears just needing one first down to win the game.

Now, the way Caleb Hanie throws the ball, I can hardly blame anyone for being afraid to call pass plays with the game on the line.

But they ran straight up the middle and kept going "three and out" on offense, and you just can't keep giving Tebow that many attempts to win a game with all of the confidence this kid has.

The Bears played offense the way they played defense in the last eight minutes of the game. They played not to lose instead of playing to win. 

In OT, they ran Barber on 3rd-and-7.

Barber may be the goat, but ultimately the coaches lost this game for Chicago.  

The Option Was a Non-Factor in the Game

The vaunted option play that everyone talked about all week never really got on track on Sunday, because the Bears defended it really well.

This was the result of good reads at the line of scrimmage and sideline-to-sideline explosiveness at the DE position to string out the QB and the pitch.

There was one play in which Tebow completely fooled Julius Peppers, but after that, the defense shut down the option and in the end, it was not even a factor in the game.

Bears Do Not Deserve a Playoff Berth

The difference between the two teams that played today is that Denver had a better option at the backup QB position than the Bears did. Shame on Martz and Lovie Smith for thinking that they had a guy in Hanie who could legitimately hold down the position while Jay Cutler got healthy.

There is no reason to view the Bears as a playoff threat, and with this pathetic offense, they wouldn't win a game even if they somehow got in, unless Cutler and Forte came back to save the day.

But that is foolishly optimistic. For one, Cutler and Forte may not play another down this season. For another, the Bears may not win another game. To expect them to beat Seattle, Green Bay and Minnesota is a pipe dream at this point.

Sure, you can blame the injuries, but last year the Packers won the Super Bowl despite having more injuries than any other team. And look at their two last two losses to K.C. and now Denver. Injuries or not, those are games you have to win, even with a backup QB.

Some Bears Came To Play

I hardly feel like giving shout-outs to players in such an ugly loss, but Julius Peppers, Brian Urlacher, Robbie Gould and Adam Podlesh had strong games for the Bears on Sunday.

And hey, who knew? Craig Steltz played his second consecutive solid game. Perhaps I was wrong and this kid can actually play. It's only two games, but he has looked real good against the Chiefs and the Broncos.

Steltz had five tackles (three solo) one sack and provided effective coverage at safety. Gould hit a franchise-record 57-yard field goal. Urlacher led the team with 11 tackles

Tillman had an interception, but he was also burned on a deep play in the third quarter that would have resulted in a TD had it not been dropped by the wideout. Lance Briggs had nine tackles but also made mistakes.

Stephen Paea quietly had two sacks. Israel Idonije recovered a fumble and converged with Peppers to block a field-goal attempt. Henry Melton had one sack.

But it's hard to find positives when you lose in this manner.

Did Broncos D Play Well or Was Bears Offense Just That Awful?

The Denver defense was as solid as expected, and they applied plenty of pressure on Hanie throughout the game.

D.J. Williams, in particular, had a big game for Denver. He led the team with nine tackles, all of them of the solo variety. He also had two sacks to go along with four tackles for a loss. 

Von Miller caused Lance Louis to jump offsides and was in the backfield far too often. Elvis Dumervil had a sack and three QB hits to go along with five tackles.

In all, the Broncos defense had four sacks and 10 tackles for a loss on Sunday. On a couple of those sacks, Hanie held onto the ball too long.

Still, against this pathetic offense and their porous offensive line, it's hard to know how much of this was just a function of how poorly the Bears played.

I Miss the Honey Bears!

For those of you old enough to remember, the Bears actually did have their own cheerleaders called the "Honey Bears" at one time. That is, until Michael McCaskey got rid of them.

I must admit those Denver Broncos cheerleaders were hot. Then again, I was hot as hell watching the way the Bears blew this game.

Yet, seeing those Denver women reminded me of how cheap and clueless this Bears organization is.

Heck, George Halas himself decided that he wanted his team to have cheerleaders, or "dancing girls" as he called them, back in 1976. In fact, Halas himself promised that "as long as I'm alive, we will have dancing girls on the sidelines."

But he passed in 1983 and as soon as he died, the Bears tried to get rid of them but had a binding contract. Following their appearance at the Super Bowl, they never returned.

Since then, we have never won another Super Bowl. I'm not saying, just sayin'...