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Kyle Orton will be the starting QB for Chicago Monday night at the Minnesota Vikings

What a sad sad day it is that the Bears have been reduced to voluntarily going to Kyle Orton to finish their season. But then again at 5-8 with Rex hurt what other options do we have? I am sure we will here plenty this week about Orton going 10-5 as the starter his rookie year. Which is all well and good until you also realize he completed 52% of his passes and had a 59.7 QB rating during those same 15 games. Granted that was two years ago now and it seems that Orton came into this year on a mission. I am going to take a wait and see approach with this but odds are he’s auditioning to be traded more than be next year’s starting QB.

When the season started, we ‘d pictured ourselves walking down state street celebrating a Superbowl victory. Now we will still walk down that same state street, but to only return that tie your kids brought for you on Christmas.

Just as Bears fans have felt after a tough loss, today loss  to the New York Giants 21-16 will led you to drink . Moving the Bears record to 5-7 on the year.

This loss hurts that much more when you see Detroit get off to a 6-2 start, with the help of two victories over the Bears. and to see them get run over 42-10 today. It just leaves a feeling in the pit of my stomach.

This game hurts even that much more due to Rex Grossman outstanding play today, but the coaches did not put the players in the position to succeed. Now we’re out of the playoffs and looking toward an off season that will bring changes around.

My choice is to remove Lovie Smith and call Bill Cowher

This week’s preview will have a bit of a fairy tale theme. In part because I still can’t believe we actually won last week and also because the thought that we’ll make the playoffs is still a bit of a fantasy. Either way this will be a game that goes a long way to determining both teams fate. At 8-5 the Giants could take a deep breath and feel the playoffs are within their grasp, but at 7-6 the shadow of another 2nd half collapse begins to grow. For the Bears a loss means 5-7 and the crack in the playoff window gets slammed shut, but 6-6 leaves them right in the thick of things and I can continue to live in my fantasy land for one more week.

Bears Offense vs. Giants Defense: The Giants defense seems like it would be ideally built to give Rex and Co. a lot of problems. They lead the league in sacks and will be attacking an offensive line that has struggled in pass protection all year. Additionally the Bears will be without Cedric Benson, which could limit their ability to pound the ball inside (please hold the laughing) but more importantly might limit the effectiveness of play-action. But there is reason for hope considering this Giants team just gave up 139 QB rating to Tarvaris Jackson, at least the Vikings beat us with the Evil Twin (Adrian Peterson). This game will undoubtedly come down to the Bears ability to protect Rex and run the ball a little bit. With a little help from his receivers (by finally catching the ball consistently) Rex just might cut down the bean stalk in time to bring this Giants Defense down.

Bears Defense vs. Giants Offense: The Giants come to town with the only Quarterback in the NFL who might be more criticized than our own Rex Grossman. Eli Manning has become the Wizard in the “Wizard of Oz”, and last weekend against the Vikings might have finally pulled back the curtain. He had enticed the people of New York with the mirage that he might become his brother and is instead nothing but an average Quarterback. The problem in this game is the Bears once vaunted Defense has gone a long way this year to making average team look like juggernauts. Add in that they may be without Harris and a slowed Briggs and Vasher and you can see another frustrating performance coming. The Bears must stuff the run and apply pressure to force Eli into the rushed decisions that cause his mistakes. Wally Ogunleye has been on a tear over the last few weeks and if someone else can step up (:cough: Mark Anderson :cough:) to apply pressure from the other side the Bears might finally force some turnovers and give us a little peak back in time.

Special Teams Glance: Ok… I’ll admit it. The only reason I ever added this section was so I could devote an entire paragraph to talking about Devin Hester. Can you blame me? Maybe some of it is because the rest of the Bears outstanding special teams has been so consistent it’s seems rather repetitive to write every week that Maynard and Gould are amongst the best at what they do. Throw in Tillman’s punt block (has there been a more valuable Bear this year) and Izzy and the boys creating lanes for Hester and it just brings a smile to your face. The big question will be how the Giants handle kicking to Hester, but whether they give him the chance to burn them or not the field position will swing big in the Bears favor. Is this enough for our struggling offense? I think somehow Superman comes to the rescue again.

Prediction: Bears 24, Giants 17. Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.

A memo to Jerry Angelo and his draft crew. Please take a offensive lineman with the Bears first pick and please move up to get Jeff Long 6-7 330 pounds out of the University of Michigan. A winning program, Jeff will come in as a winner and bring bear football back.

We need to look no further get this man in uniform to replace the what we have now.

Imagine seeing a guy who can any position along the line with Olin Kruetz and John Tait.   

The Bears family has given out very few big contract, but when they do you have to wonder if they ever live to regret it. Take for example Dick Jarun, Cade Mcnown, Curtis Enis, Phillip Daniels just to name a few.

So when signing Lovie Smith to the extension making him one the top ten highest paid coaches. Do you get the feeling in the pit of your stomach that Ted Phillips is taking a lot stomach  medication  after giving Lovie the big extension and now seeing it come back to possibly haunt the Bears  in the long run.

Bill Cowher is siting out there, along with Bill Parcels and hey even Jimmy Johnson could have come back for the right price.

Now, don’t get me wrong the Bears family backed themseleves into a corner by saying to Lovie prove it, that you can win two years in a row and that’s when he took them to the SuperBowl last year, but with one year left on his old deal. They had to make the deal.  You have to wonder, if the bears fail this year will Lovie be on the hot seat next year.

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What will it take for teams to realize that Devin Hester is in a league of his own. If you kick to Hester you will lose and lose big.Two return by Hester were the the key  in the Bears  37-34 victory and keeping the Bears playoff hopes alive for another week as they  play the New York Giants next Sunday.

 The thing for the offense to do is make Hester the focal point.His skills are needed to bring excitement to offense that is needed to bring stability to a team with the defense that is sputtering. Hester can be the difference maker on offense. “Please Ron Turner, give Hester the Ball.

This week the Bears travel to the West Coast again, but this time with much maligned quarterback Rex Grossman at the helm. While Rex did come in for the injured (and mostly ineffective) Brian Griese last week and save the day, he has not made any Bears fans forget the torture of the first three weeks let alone last season. Still this is Grossman’s chance, his moment: the do-or-die, last chance, million to one shot at redemption… those always work, right? Well at least he has a 2-0 record against this week’s opponent the Seattle Seahawks. Which I’d feel a whole lot better about had they not just completely dismantled the 49ers on Monday Night Football. Oh well, “In Rex We Trust”… sort of.

Bears Offense vs. Seahawks Defense: Last year Rex Grossman led the Bears to two victories of the Seattle Seahawks. However, there will be two things this week that are very different from both of those games: 1) The game is in Seattle which is an incredibly though place to play and 2) Unlike then the Bears can no longer run the ball with any sort of consistency. These two factors will put a lot of pressure on the passing game and in turn Rex… yippy (I don’t think sarcasm gets across the why I’d like it to in text). Anyway, it seems that the Seahawks win when the apply pressure and get sacks and their defense, 20th against the pass, gets torn up a bit when they don’t. Lucky for us we have a sturdy offense line and a veteran Quarterback who knows how to avoid sacks… oy vey. The more I look at this the fewer and fewer chances I see for the Bears offense to get on track and be effective. Their best chance probably lies in a lot of screens and short passes to the tight ends with at least one bomb early to hopefully loosen up the D enough to get some semblance of a running game going. The problem is all that seems like a lot to ask of a QB who just got his job back and wasn’t all that good or consistent to begin with. I want to be optimistic, but this could get ugly.

Bears Defense vs. Seahawks Offense: Over the last two weeks the Seahawks have gone pass happy. With Shaun Alexander and the ground game unable to provide any sort of support for Matt Hasselback, our good friend Mike Holmgren went back to his routes and a more traditional version of the West Coast offense. As such the Bears are likely to see a lot of short slants and swing passes as replacements for the Seahawks stagnant running attack. This is going to put a lot of pressure on the Bears defensive backs who will once again be without Nathan Vasher. This means rookie Trumaine McBride as well as Rickey Manning Jr. must step up and have big games. Additionally it will be of the utmost importance that the Bears provide pressure without blitzing. This means you Mark Anderson, at least if you ever plan on making an impact in the second half of the season. This is a dangerous game because this is the kind of offense the Bears struggle with. Just like the Green Bay game earlier this year, if they can’t provide pressure and disrupt the timing the Seahawks will likely march the ball up and down the field. Pressure and turnovers are going to be the Bears best chance to win this game. Unfortunately the Bears have not done either with any consistency this season. Not exactly a situation which breeds confidence.

Special Teams Glance: To say the least last week is one Devin Hester would like to forget. The Oakland Raiders showed no fear in kicking to him all day and Hester could not respond by making them pay, especially since his one big return was called back for holding. The quickest way to make that a distant memory is to come out and have a big game against the Seahawks. The Bears will need Superman in top form if they are to win this game, and removing the bad taste from last week would simply be a bonus. On the kicking end of things the Bears continue to have an above average season. Brad Maynard has become Mr. Reliable to the point where I don’t think Bears fans really appreciate the fine season he’s had. Robbie on the other hand continues to struggle beyond 50yrds but he has been so consistent from 49yrds in that it’s hard to complain. It’ll also be important for the Bears to be solid against Nate Burleson in their coverage units. With the Bears not matched up well in the other two phases they can not afford to lose any portion of this battle.

Prediction: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. I am not waiting around to be fooled a third time. The Bears just have not shown they can carry any momentum from week to week, and the Seahawks are just a team they don’t match up well with. Bears 17 – Seahawks 28.

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