Morning Box Score: Bears Fall To Eagles
By Benjy Lipsman in News on Nov 23, 2009 4:00PM
Playing in prime time for the fourth time this season, the Bears crumbled under the lights yet again -- this time losing 24-20 to the Philadelphia Eagles at Soldier Field. In spite of a few extra days to prepare after playing on Thursday last week, the Bears were unable to pull out a win in a game where the Bears had their chances against a team missing a number of key players.
While Jay Cutler kept the ball out of the hands of the Eagles until the end of the game, he also had plenty of trouble placing it in the hands of his own receivers. Cutler completed just 24 of 43 passes for 171 yards, and missed wide open receivers on at least three plays that would have resulted in TDs. Instead, the offense settled for four field goals by Robbie Gould before Cutler finally found Kellen Davis in the end zone in the fourth quarter. "I missed some throws early," Cutler said. "I missed Greg and then Devin on the slant and go. We can't have that..." Actually, Cutler missed them late in the game, too, sailing one past Johnny Knox that could've been the game winner. One of the few offensive highlights of the game came when Devin Hester inadvertently mooned national television viewers.
Another bright spot on the offensive side of the ball was the introduction of Kahlil Bell, a running back promoted from the practice squad after Garrett Wolfe was put on IR this week. In his first NFL carry, Bell broke free for 72 yards -- the longest run by a Bears running back in 20 years, and the longest run by a rookie on his first carry since Alan Amechi in 1955. Bell finished the night with 81 yards on four carries, but had a couple other nice runs called back by penalties. Matt Forte has been unable to establish any consistency with the running game this season. We'd like to see what Bell can do. An actual running game would also help the passing game by keeping opposing defenses honest.
While the Bears defense had some trouble stopping 3rd-and-longs early on, and ultimately allowed the Eagles to score more points, they did have their moments. Charles Tillman had a monster game, forcing two fumbles and stripping another ball that ended up out of bounds. Zack Bowman also added an interception. But the offense was unable to convert these turnovers into enough points to win the game.
The Bears fall to 4-6 on the season and they'd now have to win out just to improve upon last year. With two games against the Vikings left on their schedule, that's not realistic. And so the blame game begins for this dud of a season. The Sun-Times' Rick Telander is already declaring Cutler a bust, while Rick Morrissey at the Trib seems to place blame on Cutler and Ron Turner. We're going to place most of the blame on the coaching staff given that Rex Grossman, Brian Griese and Kyle Orton have all played similarly in Chicago; we're prone to blaming the offensive system over the QB. It's time for Ron Turner to go. Lovie Smith, too.
The road doesn't get any easier for the Bears next week. They travel to Minnesota to face the 9-1 Vikings and their old nemesis, Brett Favre, next Sunday at 3:15pm.