Bears' Season Ends in Houston

Now that I’ve had some time to cool off, I can now address the Chicago Bears’ heart-breaking loss to the Houston Texans last Sunday. Chicago entered Sunday’s must-win contest with two possible scenarios to make it into the playoffs. If they won and Minnesota lost to the Giants, the Bears would claim the division title and host a wild-card game. If the Vikings won, the Bears could still make it in as a wild-card with losses from Dallas and Tampa Bay. Minnesota ended up beating New York with a last-second field goal, Tampa Bay ended up losing a fist-fight with the Raiders of all teams, and Dallas fell into despair thanks to the Eagles in the afternoon game. Of course, all of these possibilities required a Bears win in Houston that never happened. Lovie Smith’s crew never showed the desperation and intensity you would expect of a team fighting to make it into the post-season.

Kyle Orton and the offense jumped out to an early 10-0 lead in the first quarter, mostly due to their passing attack. Unfortunately, they couldn’t keep up as the Texans pulled ahead in the second. Orton had a solid statistical outing, going 22 for 37 with two touchdowns. However, like he has all season, he routinely missed on his deep throws, unable to stretch the field. Matt Forte was continually found on the sidelines, only running the ball 13 times for 50 yards. When the post-season was on the line, I expected to see my team’s best player with the ball in his hands. Forte has been the reason for Chicago’s offensive success, as his production has caused defenses to tighten up at the line of scrimmage. This shift allowed mediocre Bear receivers to make more plays downfield, since there are fewer defenders in coverage. Chicago couldn’t keep the pressure on the Texans, punting on six of their eight drives following their first two scores. They sputtered as the pressure mounted, going three-and-out three times and two for ten on third downs, never giving the defense times to rest. Danieal Manning did his best to help Houston, fumbling the kickoff following the Texans’ first score. Manning has been doing his best Devin Hester impersonation this season, providing a spark on special teams mixed in with awfully-timed mistakes.

Speaking of the defense, it was nice of them to just step aside as Houston burned them time and time again. Andre Johnson added Chicago’s suspect secondary to his long list of victims this season, catching ten passes for 148 yards and two touchdowns as part of Houston’s 31-point explosion in the final three quarters. Manning was out of position on one of Johnson’s two touchdowns, not helping his case for the afternoon as he filled in for the injured Mike Brown along with rookie Craig Steltz. Charles Tillman forced the early Steve Slaton fumble that led to Chicago’s second score, but was overmatched against Johnson’s strength on a jump ball in the end zone.  It was sloppy play by a defense that allowed 455 yards of total offense. Every time Chicago’s offense pulled closer, the defense managed to give up another score. Matt Schaub dissected the Bears’ secondary, hitting on 75% of his 36 pass attempts. Schaub was only the last in a series of quarterbacks who found great success against the Bears porous pass coverage and non-existent pass rush. It is only fitting that the defense’s Achilles heel is showcased in their final game of the season, a loss.

The Texans’ only focus was on keeping the Bears out of the playoffs, while some Bears were too distracted by the other scores. It was stated by the broadcast’s sideline reporter that some players were checking their iphones or Blackberry’s in order to find out what the score was in Minnesota. The scoreboard in Houston wasn’t showing that particular score, probably on purpose in order to sidetrack the Bears. It worked. Chicago let up after scoring its first ten points and let the Texans regain their confidence. Chicago lost track of what was at stake, forgetting that if they lost, it wouldn’t matter if the Vikings won or not. I guess they didn’t care enough. That’s why they don’t deserve to keep playing. Now they’re just like the rest of us, watching the playoffs on TV. That’s exactly where the 2008 Chicago Bears belong.