Rapid Reaction: Bears lose 42-21

The Bears started the 2nd half with the ball trailing 24-14 and put together a solid drive getting down to the Rams 4 yard line on 7 passes for 60 yards from Josh McCown (played well). Then for some reason, the Bears brought Michael Bush into the game. Bush dropped a screen pass on 1st down that would have been an easy TD and then on 4th down from the 1 yard line…Bush lost 5 yards. Michael Bush’s purpose confuses me. If he’s a “short yardage” back, shouldn’t he be good at running the ball in situations that the Bears need a yard or two? For the day, Bush had 7 carries for -5 yards. Matt Forte is one of the best running backs in the NFL, it makes no sense to me why we pull him in goal-line situations. If the Bears are going to continue to pull Forte, I hope they give rookie Michael Ford a chance instead of Bush and his -.7 YPC.

My Michael Bush rant aside, the real problem with that drive was that the Bears had the ball on the Rams 4-yard line and didn’t get any points. They were down 10 points at the time and should have kicked a field goal. Of course the Rams drove down the field and got another FG on their next drive to make it a 27-14 lead.

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After a failed drive for each team, Devin Hester returned a punt for a TD! Or he would have if not for a holding call on Craig Stelz. So instead of a TD, the Bears started at their own 28-yard line. Even the Bears backup safeties find ways to hurt the team.

The Bears still managed to put together a good drive mostly behind McCown’s passing and a Rams PI that gave the Bears the ball at the Rams 1-yard line. 1 yard to go, no problem right? Ha. 8 plays later the Bears punched one in for a score. You read that right, 8 plays to get 1 yard!  5 of those plays were Michael Bush runs, there was a TD catch by Martellus Bennett called back for holding (Bushrod), and thankfully two penalties on the Rams (holding, roughing the passer) that kept giving the Bears more chances. Ultimately the Bears did get a TD on a 1 yard run by Bush, but this was really hard to watch. The Bears have 3 receivers over 6’3 and one of the best running backs in the NFL; Why is it so hard for them to score inside the 5?

Despite all the penalties, bad decisions, and red zone incompetence, the Bears were only down 6 points (27-21) with 7:15 left in the game. All they needed was a stop from the defense and they would have a chance to win the game. I’m mad at myself for even thinking this was a possibility. The Bears defense came out and got stream-rolled by Rams 3rd string RB Bennie Cunningham for 61 yards on 6 carries. Cunningham’s 6th carry was a 9 yard TD that effectively put the game out of reach.

Things actually got worse from there. On the Bears next drive McCown fumbled on a sack and it was returned for a 31 yard TD.  Then McCown threw his first interception of the season when the Bears got the ball back. The game was over before these plays, but it was still painful to watch. 42-21 Rams. Gross.

There really isn’t anything to be positive about in this one. The defense gave up 406 yards to a team with Kellen Clemens at QB and a backup at RB for half of the game. For the second week in a row the Bears played sloppy, undisciplined football (23 penalties last 2 weeks) and coach Trestman made some very questionable decisions. Things look pretty bleak for the Bears right now.

Twitter: @MikeFlannery_