The Bears put a dress on a pig of a season at Ford Field as they defeated the woeful Lions 37-23 to put an end to a miserable 2009 campaign.
The Bears finish the season at 7-9 to take their post-Super Bowl XLI record to 23-25. Now the emphasis shifts to what the Bears front office will do to improve this team after three straight years of missing the post-season party.
Before we move on to the offseason, let’s wrap up the regular season. This second matchup with the Lions was reminiscent of the first matchup with the Lions. The Bears looked sluggish early and only at the end did they turn it on to pull away and secure the win. Check out the highlights.
Jay Cutler finished the season on a positive note, throwing 4 TD’s for the second time within 7 days. More importantly, Cutler did not throw any picks today to put his season totals to 27 TD’s and 26 INT’s. While it’s not the season we expected from the key offseason acquisition, it was refreshing to see him finish the season on the positive side of the ledger.
The passing attack was keyed by Greg Olsen and the Devins. Olsen hauled in 5 passes for 94 yards and a TD while the Devins (Hester and Aromashodu) led the way for the wide receiving corp. DA added two more TD’s to his season total and showed up huge in the Red Zone while Devin Hester had a huge 48 yard pickup to set up the decisive score.
Matt Forte tallied his second 100-yard game of the season, both coming against the Lions. Does anyone else see a problem with that? And 53 of his 101 yards came on one carry late in the ballgame.
The battered and beaten up defensive side of the ball got just enough out of their walking wounded to slow the pathetic Lions offense. Zack Bowman nabbed his 6th interception of the season to key the highlights.
Heading into the offseason, there are many more questions than answers. In my humble opinion, if it weren’t for the looming work stoppage in 2011, the Bears would blow up the whole coaching staff. I am becoming resigned to the fate that the McCaskey’s won’t fire Lovie and pay both him and the new coach to do nothing in 2011 while no ticket sales coming in.
Even though the regular season has come to a close, stay tuned to Bear Goggles On all offseason. We’ll have plenty of coverage of all the changes – large and small – to get the Bears back to the playoffs. Be sure to check out FIRE LOVIE SMITH on ChicagoNow for even more coverage of any changes on the Bears coaching staff.