Carolina Blues

By Benjy Lipsman in News on Sep 15, 2008 3:30PM

For a while Sunday, it looked like our Bears just might move to 2-0 on the young season. But a few costly mistakes resulted in the Bears relinquishing a 17-3 lead and losing to the Carolina Panthers 20-17.

The final nail in the Bears' coffin on Sunday came on a 4-and-1 with under two minutes to go. Trying to pick up the first down and get into at least field goal range, the hand-off went to fullback Jason McKie instead of Forte. Before the Panthers called a timeout, McKie wasn't even on the field. What was Ron Turner thinking?

But that mistake was only one of many in which the Bears helped beat themselves. Tight end Greg Olsen fumbled twice: The first killed a sustained drive in the first quarter, while the second almost immediately resulted in a Carolina touchdown.

Penalties and too many deep balls off the mark by Kyle Orton also contributed to the defeat. And losing Devin Hester to an apparent rib injury in the third quarter certainly didn't help things, either.

So what about positives? The defense held Carolina to just 216 total yards. Special Teams blocked a punt that was returned for a touchdown early in the game. And Matt Forte looks like the real deal. The rookie ran for another 92 yards on 23 carries.

This team looked legit for six quarters before falling on their face after halftime. Maybe it's still early yet to figure out if this team is going anywhere or not. They host Tampa Bay in their home opener next Sunday and Philly the following week. Hopefully by the quarter season mark, we'll have a better picture of this team's chances.

AP Photo/Chuck Burton