From Bad to Worse

According to Chicago Tribune, in a response to a question about Brian Urlacher's wrist injury, he replied through text message, (no doubt with just one hand, which texts messages are hard to type that way) "Season's over."And while he certainly meant that as his status for the season, it's sadly a reflection on what the results might be for the Chicago Bears as well.

While one game does not make a season, the inept playcalling from the offensive mind of Ron Turner, who undoubtledly wanted to show off his shiny new toy in the backfield, forgot about the shiny new toy from last year Matt Forte for most of the 1st half. And when they did run in the second half, the Green Bay Packers defense was quick to greet him mostly in the backfield. Running for 55 yards on 25 carries, Forte was mostly a mystery in the offense from the get-go. Zero catches from you're top reciever from last year isn't going to get a whole lot done, not when the Bears are trotting out wideouts who don't seem to complete their routes. And while we hope that Cutler will get better (he has to, right?) without anyone besides Greg Olsen and Desmond Clark to throw to (and they're not immune from bad play either; Olsen with a drop and Clark stopped running in  the endzone), it's going to be hard for the Bears to do anything if they don't get Forte involved.

The Defense however, has been the heart and soul of this team since Lovie Smith rode into town and declared that they will beat the Packers. The once great defense has take some hits recently though and last night only exemplified and shown that it might not be the strength it once was. Nathan Vasher looked dreadful on the touchdown to Greg Jennings, but when you have 8 in the box to stop the run, that leaves single coverage on the outside and Vasher doesn't play corner like he did a couple of years ago when he got his payday. And now you have lost arguably the leader on defense, possibly for the season with a wrist injury. Urlacher isn't the stud from 2004 anymore, but he's still one of the top 5 or 10 middle linebackers in the game and will be sorely missed. This is the time when Lance Briggs, coming off a Pro Bowl year after getting his big contract, will need to step up and be the leader that the Bears are paying him to be. And even then, I'm not sure it will even be enough.