Thread: Mon bear practice and injury notes

Injury update: Cornerback Zack Bowman left Sunday's game with a right foot injury and didn't return. Bowman is likely to have an MRI Monday morning to determine the severity of the injury.

Safety Danieal Manning bruised his ribs and had trouble breathing after the game, but Manning said nothing was broken. Josh Bullocks replaced Manning for a few snaps late in the game.

Stepping in: Brian Iwuh, who started at weak-side linebacker in place of Lance Briggs (ankle), was credited with a team-high nine tackles. He had a tackle for a loss and put a crushing hit on running back Marshawn Lynch.

"I felt like I did what I was supposed to do," Iwuh said. "In the first half, I was amped up. But in the second half, I settled down, read my keys, and played the defense."

Extra points: Tim Jennings started at left cornerback for the third consecutive game ahead of Bowman. … Defensive lineman Charles Grant was inactive along with defensive tackle Marcus Harrison, cornerback Joshua Moore, running back Kahlil Bell, guard Roberto Garza (knee surgery) and safety Major Wright (hamstring strain). … Desmond Clark was active for the first time in three games and played special teams. … Todd Collins was the emergency third quarterback with Caleb Hanie moving into the backup role.

Devin Hester was in no mood to celebrate his NFL-record-tying 13th return for a touchdown after a disappointing 23-20 loss Sunday to the Seattle Seahawks.

''It hasn't hit me yet,'' a dejected Hester said. ''I can't get excited about it coming off a loss.''

Hester fielded a punt late in the fourth quarter, picked up some blocks and headed up the left sideline. Once he turned the corner, there was no catching him. The 89-yard return narrowed the Bears' deficit to three with 1:54 left.
The Bears had used all their timeouts, so after a failed onside kick, the Seahawks were able to run out the clock.
''If we can get him to the sideline, with his speed, nobody is going to catch him,'' Corey Graham said.

Hester tied the record set by Brian Mitchell despite 808 fewer returns. His second punt return for a touchdown this season was the ninth of his career, tying him with Mitchell for second all-time, one behind Eric Metcalf. The 89-yarder equaled the longest punt return of his career.

''That was big for Devin,'' coach Lovie Smith said. ''We rely on our special teams quite a bit, but it was a little too late.''

What return?

Earl Bennett has had several good downfield blocks, but nothing that compared to the crunching blow he put on Seahawks punter Jon Ryan on Hester's 89-yard punt return.

''I mean, I wasn't trying to kill the guy or nothing,'' Bennett said. ''I'm playing football, you know?''
Bears kicker Robbie Gould came off the sideline to see if Ryan was OK and was quickly followed by the Bears' and Seahawks' medical staffs. Ryan remained down for several minutes before being helped from the field.
''It sucks when you get one returned on you like that, especially when you don't remember it,'' Ryan said.
Williams 'comfortable'

Former starting left tackle Chris Williams said playing guard for the first time in his NFL career felt natural.
''I felt comfortable,'' he said. ''We have to get more communication and do a better job of letting Olin [Kreutz] know what's going on and playing better football. That's what it comes down to.''

Matt Forte benefitted from a solid block from Williams while scoring on a six-yard touchdown run early in the game. It was Forte's sixth touchdown.

''He did a hell of a job,'' Kreutz said. ''Chris is a smart football player, and he's going to be good wherever you put him. He came out there and took it on his shoulders and played well."
Short-yardage back

When the Bears needed to pick up a key first down on fourth-and-one late in the game, it wasn't Forte who got the call but Chester Taylor, who burst off right tackle for 24 yards.

Short yardage has been a big problem. On nine goal-to-go chances from the 1, for example, the Bears are 0-for-9.
''I seem to be,'' Taylor said when asked if he was the new short-yardage back. ''I had some success. The offensive line did a great job on that play.''

Bear necessities
Brian Iwuh started for Lance Briggs, who was held out because of a high ankle sprain, and had a game-high nine tackles.

• Caleb Hanie reclaimed his backup quarterback spot. Todd Collins, who started against the Carolina Panthers and threw four interceptions, was listed as the third quarterback.

奥 Devin Aromashodu caught two passes for 40 yards. They were his first receptions since he had five for 71 yards in the season-opening win over the Detroit Lions.

Dazed and confused

Whatever, they're 4-2 now, with Washington coming to town next week. The Redskins will be licking their chops, too, but they'll have to decide how to disburse the saliva -- at the chance for a bunch of sacks or at the chance to extend the Bears' 0-for-12 effort on third downs.

Problems on third down are not new for the Bears, but confusion is. They had to blow a timeout when disorientation set in during the fourth quarter. There are teenagers and parents who communicate with each other better than the Bears did Sunday.

They weren't alone in being dumb. The Seahawks' Jon Ryan failed to punt the ball out of bounds with his team up by 10 late. For his trouble, Ryan got a one-way ticket to a parallel universe, thanks to a vicious hit by the Bears' Earl Bennett on Hester's touchdown.

But, again, it didn't amount to much. Seattle recovered the ensuing onside kick and ran out the clock. It ended the way it should have ended, given the Bears' shrug of an effort.

''I'm not going to say we weren't ready to play,'' safety Chris Harris said.

The Seahawks scored on their first possession, which is the clinical definition of ''not ready to play.'' Try walking backward on your heels for 80 yards, and you'll get a good feel of what it was like to be a Bears defender Sunday.
Someone asked linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa whether ''disappointing'' was the right word to describe the loss.
''It's more frustrating than anything,'' linebacker said.

Actually, no. It's more incriminating than anything.

''We just got our butts kicked,'' Tillman said.

That works.

Originally Posted by dabears54

''I'm not going to say we weren't ready to play,'' safety Chris Harris said.

You don't have to. Lovie already said that for you.

Originally Posted by The Benjamin

You don't have to. Lovie already said that for you.

And they are all lying... they just done got beat. The Bears weren't "unprepared". They just got beat. Tip your hat to the Seahawks and remember, they get paid too. They didn't get the memo that they were just supposed to lay down.

Chaos theory: Could turmoil lead to more changes?

By John Mullin
CSNChicago.com

The wonder of the Bears’ 23-20 loss Sunday to the Seattle Seahawks may be less that the defeat itself than the chaos that seemed to pervade a team that had been 4-1 and believing itself to be one of the best in the NFC.

And the chaos appeared to be virtually everywhere, and not only after the ball was snapped.

“With our motioning and shifting, we’ve got to have everyone on the right page,” Cutler said. “A few times we weren’t.”

Offensive linemen were blunt about communication difficulties among themselves. Quarterback Jay Cutler, sacked six times and unofficially hit nine more besides being forced to scramble twice, noted that the offense needs to identify what defenders are coming and which are not, and “the receivers got to see it too,” he added.

The receivers weren’t necessarily taking all the blame either, although four of the six sacks involved Seattle defensive backs and one was by a linebacker. Bears receivers did not appear to be adjusting to being the hot reads in all instances.

The Seattle blitzing, which the Seahawks admitted was something of a feeding frenzy after they’d seen what the New York Giants did to Cutler two weeks ago, befuddled the Bears despite their claims that Seattle did nothing they hadn’t seen before.

“We obviously were licking our chops a little bit in the way the Giants had success,” said veteran safety Lawyer Milloy, who logged one of the sacks.

Seattle blitzed, the line failed to pick it up, receivers failed to adjust at times, and Cutler missed throws, when he managed to stay upright and didn’t hold the ball too long.

“They’re bringing their corners off the edge, nickel guys, and we’ve just got to pick them up and make it hurt when they do stuff like that,” wide receiver Devin Hester said. “When they blitz like that, they leave someone open.”

Line issues

The pass protection under coach Mike Tice is approaching a state of free fall. On his last 65 drop-backs to throw, Cutler has been sacked 15 times and hit 16 other times: 31 impact blows in 65 plays, not including two forced scrambles Sunday.

“It’s becoming a problem,” Cutler said, including his own holding the ball too long as part of the problem.

The Bears fielded their fourth different starting offensive line in six games, with Chris Williams moving in at left guard in place of Roberto Garza, who underwent knee surgery late last week, and Edwin Williams making his second straight start over Lance Louis at right guard.

It was the first time for Chris Williams and left tackle Frank Omiyale starting alongside each other and just the second for Edwin Williams next to rookie J’Marcus Webb.

“We did have some plays where we weren’t on the same page,” Omiyale said. “Some of it worked out, some of it hurt us, but that’s part of talking to each other. Once we were on the same page, everything was good and going.”

Defense breaks down

A defense that prided itself on stopping the run allowed 114 rushing yards to a Seattle team that was 29th in the NFL at 79.8 yards per game. The pass rush failed to sack quarterback Matt Hasselbeck even once, hit him exactly once, and could turn and look downfield to where one-time Detroit Lions bust Mike Williams was catching 10 passes for 123 yards.

“They kept us off balance,” said safety Chris Harris. “I felt like we were on our heels today and we didn’t really control their running game. That makes it hard to play defense when a team is two-dimensional.”

Fixing things may be dicey, if in fact the pace and amount of change is part of the problem rather than the solution. Because it is not clear that more upheaval may not be coming.

“We are going to continue to tweak our entire football team,” said coach Lovie Smith, whose own grasp on the game seemed in question for a head coach.

Coordinator Mike Martz called just 12 running plays against 47 passing plays.

“Yeah, after getting beat like that,” Smith said, “I wish we had run it a little bit more.”

chris harris Please if u don't have anything positive to say don't say anything RT @DBye78: @ChrisHarrisNFL I'm tired of ... http://tmi.me/2l7jk

Originally Posted by dabears54

“Yeah, after getting beat like that,” Smith said, “I wish we had run it a little bit more.”

Yeah Lovie. You had the lead for 2 freekin min. Your defense allowed 6 rushing first downs, you are at home, but let's blame it on the offensive playcalling.
After all, Justin Forset is a fukin Pro Bowler.