Bears Fail to Respond Against Carolina

Bears 17 Carolina 20

After the first half the Bears seemed to be carrying all their momentum their way despite a Bear turnover by Greg Olsen that lead to a Carolina field goal. But the Bears offense that was doing so-so for a Bears' offense in the first half went completely flat and it was only their defense gave them any real chance to put points on the board. Without any key plays by the offense the Carolina Panthers came back with 17 unanswered points to defeat the Chicago Bears 17-20.

What lead to a Bears' loss?

The biggest problem for the Bears was obviously the offense. There were too many failed completions and key turnovers. Creating favorable field position was also a top contributor.

I lost count of how many times the wide receivers dropped the ball or just the quarterback, Kyle Orton, failed to connect with them. The Bears also had 2 turnovers, which I believe were key parts to the game. Right before those two fumbles by Greg Olsen the Bears offense seemed to be running very smoothly. The fumbles changed the rhythm of the offense and never gave them a chance to establish their will on Carolina and really punish them in the first half.

Finally, Brad Maynard, the punter, just didn't have his punting down. He usually averages 40 yards when punting the ball and his average in the game was about 35. Also his spiral on the ball that creates enough hang time for the Bears; special teams to reach the receiving team wasn't always there. This lead to large punt return yardage by Carolina and thus leading to unfavorable field position for the Bears' defense.

In order for the Bears to be successful in their upcoming games they need to do 2 things:

1: Hold onto the ball and reduce penalties

Like I said earlier those 2 fumbles could have been the difference in the game. During these drives the Bears were able to pick up decent yardage from Carolina. No doubt that they could have scored more points or at least prevented Carolina from scoring on the 2 turnovers that they did commit. The Bears also had 12 penalties totaling 85 yards. Penalties lead to yardage and yardage leads to points and time of possession. If the Bears can reduce penalties they can cut the opponents points down and give fewer breaks for the opposing offense to make long drives.

2: Orton needs to connect

Part of the failure for the wide receivers to connect was overthrown balls and throws that were dangerously close to the cornerbacks who were defending the wide receivers. So for the next game Orton needs to have just a little bit more accuracy in his throws.

Orton also needs to connect more often with his go-to-guy who he says is Rashied Davis. He needs to establish him as his go-to-man so that it will force the opposing team to really pay attention to him. If he can do this it will spread the opposing team's defense and create more opportunities for Orton to pass the ball to other receivers and keep the opposing team guessing. A lot of times in the game Marty Booker or Mark Bradley would enter the for one play and Orton would throw it to them every time. This seems to obvious. You got to keep the opponent guessing to the very end. If you get the opponent to think that 90% of the time you will throw it to Davis then you can switch up your plays and get other players involved to create havoc in the defense. Make the Bears' offense a little more interesting for Pete's sake.

I am confident that if Orton can make just a few more adjustments along with the rest of the offense they will come out with a win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. -You'll see.

MVP:

Jonathon Stewart of the Carolina Panthers is the MVP of the game he had 2 touchdowns which made the difference in the game. If I were to choose from the Bears side it would be Lance Briggs because of the huge hit he made on Panther's quarterback, Jake Delhomme.

GO BEARS!!!