ESPN Chicago's Jon Greenberg nailed it with his article posted late yesterday:
Jon Greenberg ESPN Chicago Article
The problem for the Bears, here, was that it was painfully obvious to all watching that Jay wasn't right. He came out firing with a brilliant first half (particularly the first series), and the decision to start him looked validated. I was certainly fine with it the way he was playing. But when he came out in the second half, I dont know if he had reaggravated the injury, if he was tired/cramped from playing for the first time in three weeks, or if he had just rushed back too early, he just didn't look right. He was gimpy, he couldn't plant on that foot, and he was either sailing balls or throwing them in the dirt. He had zero mobility, and even admitted after the game that it limited what the Bears could do on offense.
Cutler, clearly not fit to play |
The worst part? The Bears' defense finally had given the team a chance to win the game. A victory would have put the Bears in the driver's seat in the NFC North, and with the way that McCown played when he came in the game, would have appeared to have been more likely than not. McCown came in, cold from not playing the entire game nor practicing with the first team all week, and subsequently led the Bears down the field for a touchdown and two point attempt that could have tied the game. Oh, and that two point attempt? Horrible play calling. It doesn't make sense to me, even if the draw call was the result of a packaged play where McCown checked into the run based on the defense. The Bears struggled to run the football all day, and have the envy of every other NFL team with the size of their receiving options. How do they not go for one of those?
The worst thing that comes out of this game though, isn't Trestman's reputation. He'll recover from this gaffe and I'm sure will be very successful with the Bears as he has been for the most part this season. I for one have sung his praises this entire season and I'm more than likely going to continue to do so. No, the problem lies with the effects of what his first real bad game as Bears' coach will have long term on the season. Cutler supposedly has a high ankle sprain and is week to week, with Trestman already stating that McCown will start next week. I don't necessarily believe that the Bears would fake an injury to cover up their own transgressions, but one has to wonder if Cutler sustained that ankle injury as a result of putting too much pressure to alleviate his groin. Regardless, the long term health of Cutler this season is in question, and it didn't have to be. That's on Trestman.
In other bad injury news, Charles Tillman is out at least 8 weeks with a triceps injury. While he wasn't playing particularly well anyways, and could quite possibly be an unfortunate cap casualty next offseason, it hurts not only because depth at every position on defense is weak, but also because his backup (Zack Bowman) is a massive step down in terms of quality. The defense had finally appeared to find some sort of steady ground against the explosive Lions' offense, but with Tillman out, that's yet another huge blow I'm not so sure they can recover from. It'll be interesting to see how this patchwork defense projects going forward.
Tillman's days with the Bears could be over |
This lost opportunity, to borrow from Trestman's parlance, feels like one of those games you look back on after the season as one that should have gone the other way. The Bears have had a couple of those this season, which isn't necessarily Trestman's fault, but this one hurts the most. The NFC North was ripe for the taking, with a chance to take control. Trestman had shown us the ability to buck the normal football trend, and he had a backup quarterback that had shown the NFL world less than a week earlier what he could do in a pinch. I'm all for going with Jay if he's healthy; he's the best quarterback on the team and gives the team the best chance to win. But here, in this instance, the Bears lost a game they could have, and most likely would have, won. Let's hope that we have the opportunity moving forward to look back at this game as one bump in the road, not a pothole that sinks a season.
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