Drivin’ Deez Nuts: Out of Time
By Deez
No matter how the Bears are playing, it’s our job as fans to critique everything they do. Whether it be the poor play of the offensive line or the size of the shirt that Jay Cutler is wearing on the sidelines. That’s just the way fans are. Cheer them on when they’re good and point out every mistake they make when they’re bad. Each week, you can take a ride with me and find out what’s Drivin’ Deez Nuts.
The Rolling Stones said “Time is on my side,” and apparently the Bears don’t understand what that means. Each game, they have complete control of the clock six times. I’m talking about timeouts. They can literally freeze time and do whatever they want within their little football world. Apparently, the Bears don’t see them as important as I do.
Last Sunday, while everyone focused on the horrendous play of the offensive line/running backs, etc… and Mr. Ridiculous tying punt return records, I couldn’t help but wonder about timeouts. In the first half, the Bears only used one of their timeouts and it was on defense when Urlacher realized they were about to give up a big play. Not a bad use of a timeout. But after that, Lovie and the Bears offense kept the other two in their pocket. They didn’t need them. Being down by one point at half time was good enough. They had a third down inside the Seahawks 10 near the end of the 2nd quarter, threw an incomplete pass and settled for a field goal. How about using one of those game freezers to come up with a play that works? Nope, the Bears didn’t need that.
Then the second half comes around and Cutler wastes one of them early in the 3rd quarter on 1st down because someone on the offense didn’t know the play (Hester? Olsen? Everyone?). Fool me once. They won’t waste another one on a first down, will they? They sure did and it was still early in the 4th quarter. Again, someone on offense didn’t know the play and Cutler looked pissed. The five yard penalty would probably have been a better option.
Now, the Bears only had one left. One lonely timeout, no points to show for using the first two and a 10 point deficit late in the 4th quarter. Finally, the Bears are forced to use their last timeout to save some clock for a Devin Hester punt return. Again, it was a waste, even though Hester scored. The ensuing onside kick failed and Seattle had the ball with 1:53 remaining in the game. It turned out that three downs were enough to run the clock out. Wasted time. Tick tock, there goes the clock.
So the time has come today when the Bears, despite being atop the NFC North, have all the time in the world to wonder what went wrong and where they are going this season. They stood on the field watching precious seconds tick off the clock with nothing they could do about it against the lowly Seahawks. The so-called “easy” part of their schedule is almost over and the winter looks awfully cold in the “easy” win department. Let’s hope that the Bears have learned the value of a timeout when you have a Devin Hester on your team. I’ll take a five yard penalty over taking almost two minutes off the clock anyday.
We will have to watch and see next week when the Bears will throw up the “T” against the Redskins. Waste not, want not is my advice because the Bears sure are wasting. And that’s what’s Drivin’ Deez Nuts this week. Thanks for taking the time out of your day to let me share my thoughts with you.