| Christopher Reina. 15th September, 2008 - 9:20 pm
 When the Bears open up at Solider Field against the Buccaneers they will be 1-1, but there are a lot of 'what ifs' and without being too greedy, Lovie Smith's team could very easily be 2-0.
1. The maligned Orton and Turner
The Bears scored one offensive touchdown on Sunday, and that came when Charles Tillman picked off Jake Delhomme near midfield and took the ball down to the Carolina 23 yard-line.
The other 12 times when Kyle Orton and the rest of Ron Turner’s offense trotted out on the field, they were on their own side of the field and were inside their own 20 during seven of those possessions. For the day, their average field position was on their own 15.5.
Expecting a ball control offense that cannot/does not go vertical to drive 80 yards is a lot to ask. They did it once in the first half behind a couple early short passes, runs up the middle to creep into field goal position before being unable to connect with former Arena Leaguer Rashied Davis on both second and third down (bad drop).
For all of his limitations, Orton has had a higher QB rating than his counterpart in each of his past five games since the end of last season.
2008
Week 2: Orton, 71.0/Delhomme, 55.3
Week 1: Orton, 83.4/P. Manning, 72.6
2007
Week 17: Orton, 77.7/Brees, 75.7
Week 16: Orton, 103.2/Favre, 40.2
Week 15: Orton, 59.5/Jackson, 50.0
The decisions to throw the ball on both 2nd and 1 and 3rd and 1 at the 50-yard line with the two-minute warning a play away was incredibly ill-advised, and giving it to Jason McKie on 4th instead of Matt Forte compounded the decisions on the prior downs. Orton made the call on 3rd down.
2. Olsen’s fumbles
Greg Olsen’s two fumbles were a terrible cost for the Bears; the first one denied them at least a field goal of their own while the second one was deep in their own territory and setup Jonathan Stewart’s first touchdown.
The touchdown turned a bearable 17-6 lead into a tense 17-13 lead.
Olsen didn’t fumble any of his 39 receptions in 2007 and never fumbled at Miami.
"I don't really have an explanation. … They were two things that pretty much were close to costing us the game," Olsen told the Chicago Tribune.
"It's unacceptable. You let down a team of guys who played well. When one guy doesn't do his job and makes two critical errors like that, it's hard to handle."
3. The defense in the second half
The Bears have still not given up a touchdown in the first half of 2008, but gave up 17 points to the Panthers and seven points to the Colts in Week 1.
Against the Colts, Briggs returned a Marvin Harrison fumble for a touchdown in the third quarter. This week, Briggs hit Jake Delhomme in the head as he was sliding following a six-yard gain on third down that setup a John Kasay field goal.
Whether it was karmic or merely a riled up Panthers’ side, Devin Hester was hurt on the ensuing kickoff, Olsen fumbled on Chicago’s first play from scrimmage, and Stewart would punch it in from four yards out five plays later.
The Bears’ defense was on the field way too long and seemed to tire in the Charlotte heat.
DeAngelo Williams was almost completely nullified (11 rushes for 31 yards), but Jonathan Stewart rushed for 74 of 77 yards in the second half. |
