Chicago Bears: Against Denver, Coaches Show Little Faith in Team's Abilities

Professional sports, no matter which, are an unpredictable endeavor. Part of that uncertainty is playing through adversity.

While for some teams that adversity comes in the form of players who are distractions with controversies off the field or in the locker room, most adversity comes in the form of playing short-handed due to significant injuries.

Enter the adversity stricken Chicago Bears.

With two major offensive starters out for what seems like the season, the Chicago Bears have dropped three straight games.

For all intents and purposes, the coaching staff has not publicly sounded the crisis alarm yet, but if you watched the debacle that was Sunday’s loss to the Denver Broncos, it’s pretty clear that their confidence is shaken right down to the core.

Let’s start with the offense.

In a game where the Chicago offense produced a scoreless first half but also minimized the mistakes of the prior two weeks, you would think that there would be little reason to doubt the offensive unit.

Sure, they didn’t exactly march down the field at will (or at all, for that matter) but they were more composed and even made a few plays here and there in the form of some decent runs and completions beyond ten yards.

These weren’t exactly highlight reel plays, but given the need to see some improvement from Hanie, it was a glimmer of progress.

This begs the question: What were the coaches thinking by running the ball into consecutive three-and-outs in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter?

Call me crazy, but “Tebow Time” tends to happen in the fourth quarter. In order for “Tebow Time” to happen, he has to have the ball. Giving him the ball on consecutive three-and-outs does very little to limit “Tebow Time” and does a lot to ensure it.

It was apparent that Lovie and Company had no faith in Hanie’s ability to make decisions down the stretch.

Even though he didn’t complete that many passes, Hanie seemed to find Knox on occasion.

Surely he could’ve found him again on one of those three-and-out possessions. Chicago was one first down away from cancelling “Tebow Time.”

The confidence was not there in the defense, either.

Chicago ran its Cover Two effectively for three-and-a-half quarters and neutralized Denver’s Option offense.

The runs Tebow had in the first half were not as prominent in the second half.

The defense was pitching a shutout until around the five-minute mark of the fourth quarter, and for some inexplicable reason, coaches decided to put the defense in Prevent.

The Prevent is usually deployed in a game’s closing two minutes when the opponent is pinned deep in their own territory.

The Chicago Bears’ Prevent is apparently used for half of the quarter, despite the original scheme working pretty effectively up to that point.

Tebow has made some big plays over the course of his streak this season; however, those plays were not made with his arm 30 yards downfield.

The only time I was not concerned about a big play for Denver was when Tebow threw the deep ball.

The Bears' Prevent defense gave up everything underneath and did a poor job of closing in to stop plays from developing further.

This defensive decision was a clear panic move to contain something that had already been contained for most of the game. And it cost the team dearly.

It is a given that this week all of the coaches will say diplomatic things so as to not seem critical or doubtful of each other or the team.

Confidence in Hanie and his ability to run the offense will be affirmed again. And everyone will talk more about looking forward to Seattle as opposed to dwelling on Denver.

The airs will be typical of a Bears organization that gets points for consistency when it comes to handling the media the same away after wins and losses.

But it is apparent that there are some tumultuous undercurrents beneath the still waters of Halas Hall.