Thread: Final film session a bust for Bears

Final film session a bust for Bears

There has been too much talk about the decision to defer after winning the coin toss, about punting instead of attempting a 48-yard field goal and about trying to get cute on a third-down play in the fourth quarter.

If you want to know why the Bears lost to the Packers in the NFC championship game, the tape makes it perfectly clear.

Their quarterbacks failed to make throws that good quarterbacks make, and they did not take care of the football.

Their offensive line failed to protect the quarterback.
Their defensive line failed to generate sufficient pressure.

One of their cornerbacks was picked on all game long and never stepped up.
In short, all of the problems this team has experienced at different points of the season showed up in one game — and it just happened to be the most important game of the season.

Grading key: Grades are between 0 and 10 with 0 being complete failure and 10 being perfect.

Quarterback
Grade: 1
We've seen Bears quarterbacks play like this a time or two. The trio of passers could have easily thrown six interceptions.
Jay Cutler overthrew an open Devin Hester on two potential touchdown passes in the first half. If he hits even one of them, it's a different game. If he hits both of them, the Bears might be making Super Bowl plans.
Cutler was under way too much pressure. He was hit six times, including two sacks. But he was not pressured on either of his overthrows. And he was not pressured on his interception — an underthrow to Johnny Knox.
Cutler's replacement, Todd Collins, does not look like an NFL quarterback anymore. He is fortunate he did not throw two interceptions.
Caleb Hanie, on the other hand, has a nice feel for the game. He handled pressure well, moving around and showing a willingness to throw the ball away. He threw his 35-yard touchdown pass even though linebacker Robert Francois was hitting him low.
Hanie waited a little too long to release the ball a few times, and his receivers paid the price with big hits. No one expected Hanie would win the game, and ultimately he could not. But he did not shrink from the challenge.

Running backs
Grade: 8
If all the Bears played as well as Matt Forte and Chester Taylor, the Bears would have won. They contributed in both the run and pass game, with Forte being very effective after the catch.
With the ball in his hands, Forte did everything a good runner is supposed to do. He showed vision, had burst, put moves on defenders, broke tackles and even used the stiff arm.
Taylor came through in the clutch on fourth-and-1, and scored a touchdown.

Wide receivers
Grade: 7
It wasn't their fault the passing game was a disaster.
Knox and Earl Bennett, in fact, helped their quarterbacks by breaking up potential interceptions.
Knox ran an excellent route and created separation from Tramon Williams on his 32-yard fourth-quarter catch that set up a touchdown. On Bennett's 35-yard touchdown, Bennett had to adjust his body and reach up in the air.
On the end around on third down on the Bears' final possession, Bennett cut up inside instead of following pulling Chris Williams outside. Had he followed Williams, he should have had a first down.

Tight ends
Grade: 4
Greg Olsen also broke up an interception but was largely ignored until the fourth quarter, when he made three clutch catches.

Offensive line
Grade: 2
In the previous meetings against the Packers, the Bears struggled with pass-rushing outside linebackers. This time, big boys Cullen Jenkins and B.J. Raji joined the party.
J'Marcus Webb struggled against outside speed rushes, and Chris Williams played poorly in the fourth quarter. He played high at times and got off-balance at times.
The Bears line run-blocked much better than it pass-blocked.

Defensive line
Grade: 1
Aaron Rodgers had so much time to throw, the Packers could have eaten up the clock by calling for passes.
Julius Peppers didn't have much of an impact on the game. He pressured Rodgers three times. On one of them, Chad Clifton was penalized for holding, and on another, Peppers was penalized for roughing the passer.
No one stepped up to help him in the pass rush. The Bears brought extra pressure on 51 percent of Rodgers' dropbacks but got only one sack out of it.

Early in the game, the Packers' offensive line was opening up huge holes in the running game. The Bears went to sleep on Rodgers' scrambling ability a couple of times and were burned on two big runs.

Linebackers
Grade: 9
The linebackers got stuck on blocks at times in the first half. Brian Urlacher fell for a deke by Brandon Jackson and was victimized on a 16-yard pass play.
But Urlacher and Lance Briggs made big plays, the kind of plays that usually turn games. Urlacher was responsible for preventing at least six points with a sack that took the Packers out of field-goal range and an interception on the Chicago 6-yard line.

Urlacher probably should have had a touchdown on the pick, but he tried to put a move on Rodgers instead of trying to run him over. Then again, Rodgers is 6-2, 225 pounds. There is no guarantee he would have gotten run over.
On an interception that bounced off Donald Driver's shoe, Briggs was a little lucky but a lot alert. Both Urlacher and Briggs made some nice stops in the run game, including Urlacher's tackle of Jackson for a loss of 5.

Safeties
Grade: 6
The safeties had to make too many tackles early in the game, but to their credit they tackled well. Danieal Manning was particularly strong in run support.
The game plan called for a lot of single safety high, and the safeties weren't letting receivers get behind them.

Cornerbacks
Grade: 4
Charles Tillman played very well, but Tim Jennings' performance was on the other end of the spectrum. For the second time in three weeks, the Packers went right at Jennings.
Rodgers threw in Jennings' direction 13 times and exploited him whether Jennings was playing zone or man. Only four of the 13 passes did not result in gains for the Packers. Including two pass interference calls against Jennings, the Packers had 156 in yards from passes thrown in his direction.
Jennings was giving the quicker Packers receivers a cushion, and they took full advantage.

Special teams
Grade: 2
The Packers again managed to negate what should have been a considerable advantage for the Bears. They kicked away from Devin Hester and covered his returns well. It didn't help that Rod Wilson got in Hester's way on two returns.
dpompei@tribune.com