The Chicago Bears 2013 season came to a screeching halt yesterday.  In a win or else showdown against their most hated rivals, the Green Bay Packers, the Bears had the upper hand.  Jay Cutler played a really good game.  Alshon Jeffery had one big catch but he also had two huge drops plus a fumble.  Brandon Marshall had a couple of key drops.  Even with the fumble and the drops, Cutler still had the Bears in position to win the game and advance to the playoffs.  Jay has never had much luck against the Packers in his Bears career.  He had only beaten them one time and he was an interception throwing machine against Green Bay in the past.  There were a lot of hateful eyes watching him yesterday hoping for him to fail since he is going to be a free agent.  The majority of the Bears fans I’ve seen want someone else to be QB next season.  All the pressure in the world was on him and he wasn’t the reason the team failed.

It was Bears Down yesterday for the same reason it has been Bears Down for most of the season.  The defense had a putrid stench of failure dripped all over them.  It started early in the game when the Bears were holding a 7-3 lead.  Julius Peppers had gotten to Aaron Rodgers and knocked the ball out of his hands right before he threw a pass.  The ball bounced around on the ground and Bears LB James Anderson damn near pulled his hamstring trying to avoid the ball like it was a live grenade.  It sat on the ground for a second before GB picked it up and then stood there with it.  After a couple of seconds, Aaron Rodgers started yelling for the Packers WR to run with the ball.  He took off and ran for a touchdown.  What should have been scooped up by James Anderson or at least one of the other Bears defenders and taken for a Bears TD turned into a GB touchdown.  Instead of 14-3 Bears, it was 10-7 Packers.

In the end, that was the play that was the difference in the game.  I’ve seen hundreds of people make the comment that “if Lovie Smith were still the coach, that never would have happened.  They practiced picking up every ball on the ground…blah blah blah.”  I call BS.  Julius Peppers, Tim Jennings, Chris Conte, Major Wright, Lance Briggs and probably some other players that WERE on the field WERE coached by Lovie Smith for years!  They just stood there with their hands on their hips.  Did Mel Tucker fry years of training under Lovie Smith out of their brains in 16 weeks?  It’s a fireable offense for Mel Tucker but don’t tell me that Lovie coaching them would have changed things BECAUSE LOVIE DID COACH THEM!  But that one play doesn’t sum up how bad this defense has been.  They gave up 20 points or more in every single game this season.  That is disgusting.  They only had 4 games in which they kept the other team from rushing for over 100 yards and 3 of those came in first 5 weeks!  Easy to see how that would translate into the worst run defense in the league.  It is amazing that teams down the stretch even passed the ball at all with as easy as it was to run.  Chris Conte was constantly blowing assignments in the passing game and getting juked or trampled in the run game.  Major Wright was almost as bad as Conte.  Jon Bostic was a rookie that never did really learn how to adjust to the NFL.  Julius Peppers finally had his age catch up to him and with no help, he was ineffective all season long.  Finally, don’t even get me started on Shea McClellin.  His only worthy stat on the season was the night he broke Aaron Rodgers’ collarbone.  If the fumble faux paus didn’t completely summarize the Bears season in one play, the final dagger of the day sure did.  Trailing 28-27, GB had the ball and was driving in the final minutes of the game.  The Bears defense had sucked all year at 3rd Down and getting off the field.  The Packers had already converted two 4th downs to keep drive going and faced a 4th and 8 from the Bears 48 yard line with under a minute to go.  Chris Conte completely blew his coverage, claiming he didn’t get the right call and let Randall Cobb get WIDE OPEN way behind everyone.

Plays like this happened all season.  Mel Tucker needs to be fired.  He failed miserably as defensive coordinator.  Chris Conte, Major Wright, James Anderson, Julius Peppers and about three or four other defensive players should never wear a Bears uniform ever again.  It’s a lot to replace but the Bears can find better in the draft and via free agency.

The picture of Brandon Marshall after the game sums up every Bears fan’s reaction to the Cobb TD yesterday…BEARS Down.