So the Bears travelled to San Diego for the season opener and dropped the ball a few times. Final score: Bolts 14, Bears 3.
This felt suspiciously like the Bears last meaningful game, when they lost to the Colts in the Super Bowl. Namely: if they could just NOT turn the ball over, they could beat anybody. Heck, they turn the ball over and the beat a heck of a lot of teams, but they can't afford to do that against teams like the Chargers or the Colts.
Pros: the defense looked mid-season good. They held all-universe stud RB LT to 25 yards on the ground. The only Charger scores came on turnovers - the defense blanked them the rest of the game. Rex hooked up with Berrian for some pretty passes. Tommie Harris is back in a big way.
Cons: well, they lost for one. The running game was non-existent, and notable only for turning the ball over. McGowan was involved in a couple of boneheaded plays. Looked like Mike Brown sprained a knee on an uncalled hold/takedown.
Overall, I was pleased with how the defense played, but Lovie's got to get these guys to hold on to the ball.
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A few thoughts on the game...
1. The D looked great. Of course, it's looking now likie Mike Brown may be out for a long time, and Dusty Dvoracek is up in the air too. This would be bad news on both fronts, but in particular Brown, who has always been one of my favorite Bears, and who will probably be cut loose after another season ending injury. As great as he is, you can't constantly pay & count on a guy who's never there.
2. Special tems needs to clean up its act. Hester never got much of a chance, and McGowan killed us getting hit by that ball.
3. The offense needs to hold onto the damn ball. I thought Rex looked ok, but Turner needs to do a better job mixing up play calls, the RBs need to hold onto the damn ball, the the O-line needs to do a better job opening holes.
All this said...the loss sucked, but the fact is San Diego is a very good team, the Bears were on the road, we hung with them the entire game, and Week 1 usually is a weird one.
We should come back & win against KC at home next week, and I think we'll see a much better showing from the offense and special teams. As unhappy as I was after that loss, I've started feeling less bad about it, since San Diego on the road is probably the toughest game we'll have all year. If you play a sloppy game on the road against the best team you'll face all year, and only lose by 11, you should have success.
There are still questions to answer, but not to the extent Chicago's chicken-little sports media is portraying it.
No reason to panic. Good for them to feel the sting of a disappointing loss when it's early and doesn't mean as much. The division is won in November and December, and I think the Bears will be the only NFC North franchise playing well into January.
KC's got next. NOT an enviable position to be in. The Bears will be unhappy on Sunday.
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