Thread: Smith admits he should have challenged Cutler's fumble

Throwing red flag on bad quarterback, bad receivers and bad coach

Inexcusable. Inexplicable. Incomprehensible. In the toilet.

Stink is too nice a description. Horrible doesn’t go far enough. Pathetic is charitable.

Jay Cutler threw four interceptions against the second-worst passing defense in the league. The Bears scored one touchdown against the worst defense in the NFL. The Bears lost their second straight home game and their third in four games overall. They aren’t just bad offensively, they are disastrous. They’re over .500 by pure luck. Mommy, make it stop.

To think, the offensive line actually was decent, which is a huge improvement from murderous.

Cutler reverted to last year’s interception-prone misery, leading a parade of turnovers on five straight possessions in the second half. The first four came on their four drives in the third quarter, a period in which the Bears still haven’t scored this season.

What’s worse, the Redskins weren’t much good, either. Sure, DeAngelo Hall was. He was All-Pro. But the rest of the Skins did almost as much to give away the game as the Bears did. The Bears were just more successful at failing.

The second half was a joke. No, again, joke doesn’t completely characterize the tripe we saw. Fumble, interception, interception, fumble, interception, punt, interception. Ladies and gentlemen, your Bears’ second-half drive chart.

What follows is a lot of play-by-play, but I think it’s necessary to understand how they choked away a gimme. Let the facts damn the Bears.

On the fifth play of the second half, Cutler hit Earl Bennett for a potential touchdown, but the Bears receiver was ruled down at the 1. Lovie Smith challenged the call and lost. He wasted another timeout, but that wasn’t as bad as his indictment of his offense. I mean, was the coach that afraid of his team’s goal-line offense?

Yes, apparently, because the Bears finally tried a sneak and Cutler fumbled, recovered by Washington. Thing is, Smith still had another challenge available. But he refused to challenge that Cutler stuck the ball over the goal line or, at worst, that his forward progress was stopped. Smith said if the play was critical, he would challenge it. Hey, yo, it’s a possible game-changing situation. I don’t care if it’s two challenges in a row. Maybe it’s me, but that’s critical.

Replays showed Cutler got the ball over. Smith probably would’ve won that challenge. Figures.

Maybe the Bears should treat the goal-line offense like overtime and just kick the field goal on first down.

The Bears' defense, again sturdy enough before its own offense eventually killed it with ineptitude, forced another punt out of bounds. The Bears had the ball at the Washington 47. They had momentum. They had the lead. They had everything.

Except the ball.

First play, Cutler threw his a pick. He could’ve used some basic route-running instincts from Devin Hester, but that has never been there. Bad enough, but that was another instance where the Bears could’ve challenged because DeAngelo Hall came down with the ball hitting the ground before he had clear possession. Smith kept the red flag in his pocket. Just take it away from him altogether, OK?

But look at that: Danieal Manning made a diving Superman interception to keep the Bears ahead 14-10.

And look at that: On third-and-2 at the Skins’ 33, Cutler rolled right, then threw left to Hester for seven yards and a first down. They stopped the game and sent the ball to Canton.

But on the next third down at the Skins’ 13, Cutler threw a jump ball for Johnny Knox that Hall leaped to intercept and promptly took 92 yards for a crushing and ultimately deciding touchdown.

Last three possessions, three turnovers, two in the red zone. Just to clarify: not a good thing. Cutler fumbled once at the goal line and was picked off twice, one returned for a touchdown. Makes you pine for the days when Rex was our quarterback.

The Bears had moved to the Skins’ 35 when Cutler hit Matt Forte slanting over the middle for what looked like another first down. But, no. Forte lost the ball and the Skins recovered. That’s four straight possessions with turnovers against the worst defense in the league, which tells you what you already knew about the Bears’ offense.

And if you’re still unsure how embarrassing the offense is, then note that Manning was returning kickoffs eight yards deep in his end zone, apparently knowing Cutler’s bunch couldn’t go eight yards before making a mess, much less 80.

Valiantly, the defense made another big play, Manning punching the ball out of Ryan Torain’s grasp, a fumble Charles Tillman recovered at the Bears’ 7.

Stunningly, Cutler was picked off yet again by Hall, but it wasn’t totally his fault. Knox quit on the cut, quit on the play. He gave Hall inside position, gave Hall the pick. Can you fight for the ball a little bit, kid?

But Washington kicker Graham Gano hit the top of the left upright on a field-goal try to keep it a 17-14 game. Unbelievably, a 17-14 game. Undeservedly, a 17-14 game.

Another third-and-4 for the Bears at their own 33, and Cutler hit Forte for 18 yards. But, wait. J’Marcus Webb was flagged for holding. Now it was third-and-14 at the Bears’ 23, and Cutler hit Chris Williams. Yes, the lineman. Cutler’s pass hit LaRon Landry around midfield and caromed back about 20 yards, where Williams grabbed it and fell. Better receiver than he is a blocker, I’ll say that. They just kept getting out of the clown car, don’t they?

Remarkably, the Bears stopped Torain on third-and-1, getting the ball back down by three with 3:31 to go. But forget it. Cutler was picked off by Hall for a mind-boggling fourth time. Rex IS our quarterback.

I pity the Bears defense. Yeah, it gave up 125 rushing yards to Torain, but it gave the Bears every chance to win a game they would’ve had no business winning. The defense forced six fumbles, but recovered only one. The defense grabbed two interceptions, running one back for a score. The defense recorded two sacks. The defense stopped Washington on 11 of 13 third downs.

But it can’t beat two offenses every week.

Mercifully, the Bears will take their bye week, then presumably the defense will vote whether the offense should be allowed to play the rest of the season.

Lovie Smith not up to the challenge

Lovie just doesn't seem to get the hang of flag football

Bears coach Lovie Smith doesn't reveal much after he reviews game film, and he certainly doesn't criticize players or coaches.
But during the opening statement of his news conference Monday, Smith proactively addressed one of the key plays of the 17-14 loss Sunday to the Washington Redskins, and he accepted responsibility for not challenging Jay Cutler's goal-line keeper.

''There are a lot of things we would like to do differently, a lot of things I would like to do differently,'' Smith said. ''You guys want to know about that, on whether I should have thrown the red flag on the 1-yard fumble down by the end zone.
''Yes, I should have, looking at it, of course, in hindsight.''

His admission is admirable, but the Bears can't afford to let any more winnable games pass them by with a difficult nine-game finish after their bye.

The Seattle Seahawks and Redskins were, at best, mediocre teams heading into Soldier Field. But the Bears invented ways to lose both games in stunning fashion, largely behind the ineffectiveness of its offense.
Difficult future

After the bye, the Bears play the winless Buffalo Bills in Toronto, then close out November by hosting the desperate Minnesota Vikings, playing in Miami, then facing the Philadelphia Eagles at Soldier Field.

Despite their records, the Vikings (2-4) and Dolphins (3-3) are dangerously talented teams, and the Eagles are 4-3 and likely will start electric quarterback Michael Vick.
December doesn't get much easier.

After opening the month in Detroit against the suddenly dangerous Lions, the Bears finish with the New England Patriots at home, the Vikings at the Metrodome, the New York Jets at home, then wrap up their season in Green Bay.
The Bears' last four opponents have a combined record of 16-9. The Packers' last four opponents have a combined record of 14-11, and the Vikings' last four opponents have a combined record of 14-13.

''The schedule gets tougher,'' linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa said. ''We're finding some good things, and we have to find those good things and do them consistently.''

The onus falls mostly on Smith.
He has to right his offense and keep his defense and special teams playing at a high level.

With Rod Marinelli taking over as defensive coordinator, Smith is freed up to provide insight on the other two units, as well as focus on the time management and in-game duties of a head coach.

Smith didn't delve into his team's replay-review protocol. But he made it clear that he takes input from his coaches and staffers in the press box, where they have access to an NFL-provided TV feed.

As his players hustled toward the goal line after Earl Bennett's 48-yard catch on the opening drive of the third quarter, Smith tossed his red challenge flag.

''I thought Earl got in the first time, but it didn't turn out that way,'' he said.

Surely, Smith was motivated by the fact that his offense had -- remarkably -- failed to convert on nine previous downs from the 1-yard line.

In a cruel twist, however, replays showed Cutler had crossed the goal line for a touchdown.
But Smith didn't challenge that play.
''Normally if there's a critical situation,'' he said, ''I throw it whether I have a good look or not on it.''
Smith, though, suggested he didn't because he had challenged the previous play.
Even after the fumble, though, Smith felt good about his team's position.

''Well, I had just used one up before that, and at the time, I thought we were in control of the game,'' Smith said. ''We've given the opponent the ball on the 1-yard line before and forced them to punt it, and I felt like we would get the ball back right away, which we did, and we would be able to get it back down.''

The Bears' defense did force a punt, but Cutler was intercepted on the next play near midfield.
A bad stat

For his career, Smith is 18-for-58 in getting reversals on replay challenges. The 31 percent rate is below the 10-year average for NFL coaches (35.5 percent). But Smith is only 1-for-5 this season (an overturn of a 15-yard run in the third quarter against the Packers), and he was only 2-for-10 last season.

The Bears are facing many challenges, but linebacker Brian Urlacher insisted Sunday his team wasn't about to start pointing fingers.

''We won't do that,'' he said. ''I've never been on a team like that. We won't do that. That's not an issue. Our head coach doesn't let that happen.''

good video clip of ball breaking plane:

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/page/Mi...-Rules-Analyst

More of the comedy of errors

we can kill this to death but come on already. If Cutler had real wrs we wouldnt have seen 4 picks. As of right now I think Bennett can be a spectacular number two guy. I think Knox is no better then a slot guy. And again we have no go to number one guy. They tried it with Knox last sunday and got 4 picks out of it cause of bad horrible horrendous route running. Dont tell me we dont need a number one we do. We arent running NE, Broncos, or KC offense here. If anything the last game proved a number one go to guy is what is needed. We lost cause of turnovers not just one no challenge play

Originally Posted by motownbear

we can kill this to death but come on already. If Cutler had real wrs we wouldnt have seen 4 picks. As of right now I think Bennett can be a spectacular number two guy. I think Knox is no better then a slot guy. And again we have no go to number one guy. They tried it with Knox last sunday and got 4 picks out of it cause of bad horrible horrendous route running. Dont tell me we dont need a number one we do. We arent running NE, Broncos, or KC offense here. If anything the last game proved a number one go to guy is what is needed. We lost cause of turnovers not just one no challenge play

Thing is, he challenges that play and it gets overturned, up by 2 scores, good chance some of those turnovers don't happen.

so Knox would have started running right routes if that play was challenged?

Originally Posted by motownbear

so Knox would have started running right routes if that play was challenged?

LOL.. i doubt that.. but think we do WIN the game if win that challenge and at end cutler not focring the ball to knox with the lead, so at least 1 INT doesn't happen.. and "maybe" we run on 3rd and 7 and take the FG instead of that forced play that ws returned for a td..and its a 20 -10 win and its a whole different convo this am about bears

Originally Posted by motownbear

so Knox would have started running right routes if that play was challenged?

No, with a 2 score lead ,the Bears run the ball to chew the clock up. Oh wait, nevermind, Martz doesn't run the ball. lol