Had the Bears shown as much spunk during Sunday’s 12-10 loss to the Lions as they did after it, they might not have left as losers.
Before walking off Ford Field after Jason Hanson kicked a game-winning field goal with 39 seconds left, Bears center Olin Kreutz involved himself in a melee that resulted in an angry exchange with Detroit’s Ray Brown. Emotions soared enough to require the intervention of Kreutz’s teammates.
“It was just us being bad losers,” Kreutz said. “It hurts. It’s football. You lose and it’s the heat of the moment and you talk a little trash. It’s nothing personal. It just happens.”
Maybe Kreutz lost his head because he knew the Bears may have lost more than a game Sunday. They lost the momentum built in a two-game winning streak and any hope of realizing a playoff goal.
“We’re disappointed,” linebacker Brian Urlacher said. “We thought we had a chance to get to 4-5 and maybe [then to] .500. But we have seven to go, and we’re not throwing in the towel.”
Facing what amounted to a must-win game, several Bears noted a lack of fire for which they had no explanation.
“We didn’t have that energy and that spark,” wide receiver Marty Booker said. “There was no real emotion.”
That nagged the Bears on the way home almost as much as the reality that, despite their lethargy, they still could have beaten the Lions if kicker Paul Edinger had enjoyed a typical game.
But Edinger uncorked a low-trajectory kick on a 48-yard field-goal attempt in the second quarter that the Lions’ Jared DeVries blocked, and he pushed left a makable 41-yarder in the fourth quarter. It was the first time Edinger had missed a kick that wasn’t blocked in 17 tries this season.
“That’s the way it goes; there are ups and downs,” Edinger said. “I’d like to have the [41-yard] kick back, but I can’t.”
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CHICAGOSPORTS.COM
Can’t Bear to watch
How many more Bears games will you watch this year?
29 percent
Of those responding (164) said no more; 31 percent (175) said one to three more; 30.3 percent (171) said all seven and 9.6 percent (54) said four to six. 564 total responses at ChicagoSports.com
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Edited by Phillip Thompson (plthompson@tribune.com) and Chris Courtney (cdcourtney@tribune.com)
