The Bears margin for error this season was always microscopic. Now it’s that way in game plans, too.
Since this flawed roster was put together, the Bears have walked a razor’s edge, at the mercy of injury, age and ineptitude. Too many young, unproven novices coupled with too many aging, battle-worn veterans required a near-perfect run of good fortune, much like they enjoyed in last season’s cruise to the NFC championship game.
Adversity hasn’t suited the Bears. It has set in like cancer. Jay Cutler’s injured thumb proved the tipping point. Followed closely by Matt Forte’s impaired knee, the Bears have taken a harmful battering, if not an outright deathblow. This team is the worst thing you can be in professional football: Vulnerable. It’s a condition inferior opponents have exploited.
The Bears woulda, coulda, shoulda won each of the last two games.
Instead, they have been exposed. A team short-listed as Super Bowl contender following a five-game winning streak stands in ruins with three straight losses.
“You are what your record says you are,” Bill Parcells once said.
Coming close may matter in horseshoes, hand grenade toss and spit fights, but it does nothing for you in the NFL. Worse yet, many Bears have done serious damage to their reputations in the last couple of games.
Can running back Marion Barber ever erase his scapegoat status? Will he line up right, stay in bounds, hang on to the ball?
Did Brian Urlacher’s burning desire to douse the Tim Tebow myth merely add to the Broncos quarterback’s lore when Urlacher tried to win the war of words after the Bears failed on the field? Urlacher petulantly referred to Tebow as a “good running back,” allowing Tebow to take the moral high ground by calling the comment a compliment coming from a guy of Urlacher’s status.
Anybody want a recount of the Ed Block Courage award votes teammates recently cast for Urlacher? The award is for, among other noble things, “a commitment to sportsmanship.”
Lovie Smith once seemed deserving of Coach of the Year honors, but now he has suffered his worst loss since blowing a lead with 11 seconds left at Atlanta in 2008. Smith’s chair figures to wind up under a heating lamp by season’s end if the Bears fail, yet again, to win without a star player.
The local economy could get a jolt from fans rushing to jewelry stores this holiday season to purchase gold watches for general manager Jerry Angelo. The architect of this team, Angelo put together a group that opened the season with just five linebackers, one pass rusher and an irreplaceable player in Cutler. Obvious problems then with protection, weapons and depth seem comical now.
Who knows if the Bears could win a game without Julius Peppers, but they apparently have no chance without Cutler.
Sadly, players on the fringe of the roster haven’t been able to occupy center stage, in part because there are so many fringe players. You suspected this thing had the potential to go bust when no fewer than five undrafted rookies made the opening day roster. The many blown draft choices and suspect free agent signings make it a miracle the Bears remain in playoff contention.
You could stump even the most ardent of fans with trivia questions about the likes of Jabara Williams, Ricky Henry and Andre Smith. Williams, for instance, already has been through two numbers. Can you name them?
There have been 27 different first-year Bears on the roster at some point or another this year, including eight undrafted free agents and disappointing free agents like Brandon Meriweather and Roy Williams, who figure to be one-and-done in Chicago.
It has been far from the near-perfect season the team needed. The Bears were one of the healthiest teams in the NFL a year ago, losing just a handful of games from starters and putting only linebacker Hunter Hillenmeyer and running Harvey Unga on injured reserve. Six players are already on that list this year, including starters Gabe Carimi and Chris Williams and long snapper Patrick Mannelly. Cutler and Forte might end up there if the Bears can’t win Sunday when the Seahawks visit.
The Bears have lost nearly 30 games from starters so far, but it didn’t seem to matter until the quarterback went down. Any team losing a starting quarterback is going to struggle, one without another option will free fall rather than slide.
Special contributor Mike Mulligan co-hosts “The Mully and Hanley Show” weekdays from 5 to 9 a.m. on WSCR-AM 670.
