Lovie Smith raved about the play of his defense and special teams against Kansas City. He commended Cedric Benson for running the football “the Chicago Bears way.”
But when it came time to reflect on the passing game — specifically, the two interceptions quarterback Rex Grossman threw Sunday — Smith took an extended pause, trying to find the right words to describe a difficult situation.
“The turnovers on the offensive side are something we have to eliminate. It’s as simple as that,” Smith said Monday. “Passing game-wise, we didn’t get a lot done with it. And we have to eliminate the turnovers in order for us to go to that next step.”
With the high-scoring Cowboys (2-0) coming to town Sunday night, the Bears (1-1) had better find a solution.
They have accumulated seven turnovers in two games, including three Grossman interceptions. And this is a Bears team that tied for fourth in the league with a plus-8 turnover margin last season.
Coming into this season, the Bears believed they were on the verge of becoming an offensive powerhouse, with Grossman maturing and the addition of Greg Olsen and Devin Hester to the passing game.
But Grossman has reverted to his bad habits, Olsen hasn’t played because of a knee injury and Hester has made more of a contribution as a return man than as a receiver.
As of Monday, Grossman ranked 32nd of 35 quarterbacks in passer rating.
Smith is optimistic Olsen will be back soon, maybe even Sunday. Will that be enough to bail out Grossman? Probably not.
But Smith continues to support his quarterback and will not single him out as a scapegoat.
“Right now I’m going to say as an entire operation, we’re just not there,” Smith said. “We had our moments where you can probably point to all the different areas. We’ll just continue to work. It’s still early in the year.”
The progress Smith saw in the running game Sunday — Benson rushed for 101 yards — was negated by the backpedaling air attack. Grossman’s 56.0 passer rating is not good enough for the masses who were angered by his low marks last season.
Sure, he spread the ball around, completing passes to nine different receivers, including tackle John St. Clair. But Grossman was more shaky than sure-handed. And it didn’t help that the Chiefs made him their personal crash-test dummy with relentless blitzing.
Right tackle Fred Miller got beat on the edge too many times. Running back Adrian Peterson whiffed on a blitz pickup on one occasion.
Not even the shotgun could give Grossman adequate time to throw. He was sacked twice while in that formation, once by Chiefs linebacker Napoleon Harris on an unimpeded burst up the middle.
Miller said the inability to hear the calls on the field contributed to the breakdowns against the blitz. Smith said there is a simple solution: Listen better.
Smith was asked if Chiefs defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham “outguessed” Bears offensive coordinator Ron Turner and seemed offended by the suggestion.
“I wouldn’t say that that happened, since we won the football game,” Smith said. “We probably guessed right the majority of the time.
“When you get a 17-0 lead on a team, sometimes you can relax a little bit and not play as well as you need to. And that’s what we did.”
The Bears can ill afford to coast against the Cowboys. Dallas has averaged 41 points in its first two games, leading the NFL.
Defensively, the Cowboys’ 3-4 defense could create some of the problems the Chargers’ did in Week 1. Linebacker DeMarcus Ware comes full steam on just about every down, and cornerback Nathan Jones often blitzes when the Cowboys opt for their nickel package.
The Bears’ offense has to show improvement across the board. And it starts with Grossman.
“I don’t think you make any calls based on what you’ve done after two games,” Smith said, referring to Grossman. “It’s still a little early to say, ‘This happened last year,’ and then start judging it based on what’s happened after two games. I’d say give us a little more time. Hopefully it will be this week.
“If I was a betting man, I’d say that we’ll take a big step. And we need to take a big step, as much as anything.”
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vxmcclure@tribune.com
