Chicago Bears: Mini-Mouses of the Midway

Last week I wrote about how the Bears were in Barney as in Barney Rubble, Trouble! This week.. well lets just say they're a notch below awful. After saturday's pre-season game, my primary thought is "these guys went to the superbowl?". Here's a collection of my random thoughts following the game:

1. The Bears offensive line played as if it was the first time they had every seen a blitz. It was open-mike night at Zanies, with a bunch of amateur lineman giving their act.

2. While I think Seattle violated some unwritten rule about blitzing in the pre-season, their was no excuse for Ron Turner's play calling during that first quarter. They kept on blitzing and he kept on calling 5-7 step drops or even worse, play action fakes, when we hadn't run the ball once in the first few drives. The line was bad, but Ron Turner made things ugly by not adapting to the constant blitzes.

3. Rex Grossman and Kyle Orton are average NFL QBs. They can play good, and even Great in REx's case if they have time to throw the ball and if they had players other than 1st graders at WR. Its not that hard to figure out that a QB needs time to throw. If you can't provide that protection, not even Brady or Manning are going to have a good day.

4. Marty Booker's career is over. Like New Kids on the Block, Booker is someone I would just rather not see. He made one nice catch when the they called an under throw route where the WR fakes like he's going long, but just stops and catches an under-throw. While Booker is exceptional at this b/c he can't get passed a DB anymore, this is not enough to make it on this team. Bears better not cut a young player with promise (e.g. Bradley, Haas or even Monk) for the one year lack of production of Booker.

5. Daniel Manning is terrible. I harp on this too much, but he's just awful. How he plays over Ricky Manning as a slot corner, I don't know.

6. Kellen Davis's catch was brilliant. Maybe its okay if D. Clark is hurt.

7. But on that note, where is Greg Olsen? Why aren't we getting him the ball.

8. So we can't pass. I get that. But, we can't run either? I'm beginning to think that we should just punt on 1st down.

9. I've always been a fan of Grossman. I believe if he was on a professionally managed football team he would be a pro-bowler for 1 or 2 years. But, he has to stop dropping back 10 -15 yards. Just step up and take a sack and minimize the loss.

10. Reports are that Mark Bradley, Garret Wolfe, Dan Bazuin and Michael Okwo are on the border of making the team. They were all early round draft picks in the last couple of years. Either a) Angelo sucks or b) our coaching staff can't grow our players. Which leads to one conclusion, fire everyone (except scouting department) if Bears fall on face. Its my true feeling that Lovie Smith isn't equipped to win a Super Bowl.

Again, sorry for the pessimism. But, Bears look a lot like a 5-11 team. Lets hope something good happens Thursday night.