I feel teased. I feel like a perfect 10 didn't bother giving me the time of day when I walked past her at the bar. No big whoop. I wasn't going to think twice about it. But then she starts coyly smiling at me an hour later while drinking a cocktail through a straw. A half hour later SHE comes over to me and asks if I'm single, causing me to wonder whether or not I cleaned my bedroom and stashed my Spider-man pillow in case of a female presence. All of a sudden, when I feel like she's giving me the all-clear, she walks away to chat up douche number six and leaves me high and dry. That's how the Bears' 21-14 loss to the Packers made me feel.
After a none-too shocking three-and-out by the Bears offense, Green Bay running back Ryan Grant took his first carry 62 yards to paydirt, leaving me resigned to an unseemly stomping at the hands of our division rivals. But a funny thing happened at Soldier Field on Sunday... the Aaron Rodgers didn't start throwing 40-yard bombs, the Bear defense tightened and the Bear offense scored! After pulling ahead 14-13 in the third quarter of a game they had no business winning, I actually thought we had a chance. That'll teach me.
A few things resonated with me from this game:
-Devin Aromashodu needed to see the field earlier this season. When Jay Cutler likes a receiver, he's going to look for them. Period. Just see what Johnny Knox has done this season. Aromashodu's 8 catches for 76 yards and one impressive endzone grab came only because Devin Hester was on the sidelines. As the only big wide-out on the roster, Lovie Smith must be able to see the match-up problems he can cause. He may not be Randy Moss, but with Cutler he won't have to be.
-Lovie Smith is still an idiot when it comes to game-managing. Or the idiot is whoever tells him what to do. On one play late in the game, Smith managed to lose two timeouts. One he called after the play's resolution, the other was lost when he challenged the prior play. That left him with one time-out for any comeback attempt. Another bad decision came while the Bears were driving down the field with momentum from scoring on the previous series and Lovie called out the punt unit on a fourth down in Green Bay territory with less then ten minutes to go. It just killed me and any real hope of victory.
-All of these penalties are the coaches' fault. If it happens once, blame the player. If it happens repeatedly, blame the coach. Tommie Harris can't line up in the neutral zone. Frank Omiyale can't be caught holding. Chris Williams can't flinch before the play starts. It's called coaching. DO IT.
-Also the coaches fault: this obvious lack of synergy between Cutler and the receivers. In week 14, it's not that they haven't gotten on the same page, it's that you haven't bought them the same book. Its as though Smith and Ron Turner haven't figured out what Cutler likes to do yet or haven't even asked him about it. It looks that awful.
Pardon my rants. We lost a game we were expected to lose and I'm fine with that. It's the way we lost I take issue with.
Happy Jay Cutler Day!
