Truth is, Bears are mediocre at best

By S.C. Zuba
Sports Columnist

Maybe the Bears had you fooled, but six weeks into the season, the truth is coming out.

Slowly, but surely, the truth is coming out.

After falling to the Seahawks 23-20 Sunday, Oct. 17, the Bears somehow managed to retain their first-place status. They are 4-2—a full game ahead of the Packers.

They may be in first place in the NFC North, but if you look at the games they’ve played, they could just as easily be 1-5. The past two games, the Bears have looked absolutely awful.

If you look at the first six games of the season, two major factors have contributed to the Bears’ success—smoke and mirrors. Now, it looks as though the smoke has evaporated and the mirrors have broken. The truth is coming out.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, this is not a good football team. Regardless of their record, the Bears are not a championship contender.

Now, with each game that passes, fans are starting to see more clearly what the 2010 Chicago Bears are—and that’s a mediocre football team, at best.

Every facet of the game is faltering. To list everything wrong with this team would take hours and way more column space than I am allowed. So, let’s look at the major issues:

→ Offensive line—The offensive line is where the majority of the Bears’ problems start. They’ve allowed their starting quarterback, Jay Cutler, to be sacked 23 times in five starts. That’s about 18 sacks too many. If Cutler doesn’t have time in the pocket, the offense can’t do anything.

→ Third-down conversions—If you watched the game Sunday, you probably noticed the Bears were 0-12 on third-down conversions. It’s pretty tough to move the ball down the field in the National Football League when you’re 0-12 on third down.

That’s the best way to kill any momentum your team might have, while simultaneously tire out your defense because they don’t have any time to rest. The Bears rank dead last in the NFL on third down conversions—something that drastically needs to change if the Bears want to become contenders.

→ Lovie Smith—Despite their awful play, the Bears had a chance to win against the Seahawks Sunday. They trailed by 3 points with just under 2 minutes to play when the Bears were unsuccessful on an onside kick.

If the Bears had a timeout or two left at this point, they could have forced the Seahawks to punt and had one more shot at the win. However, the Bears had squandered two of their timeouts early in the second half because of poor clock management. Issues such as this fall directly on the shoulders of the head coach.

Smith has proven time and time again he doesn’t have what it takes to be a head coach. It’s time for him to go.

The truth is coming out, and it doesn’t look good for the Bears.

Smoke and mirrors can only trick people for so long—and it looks like that time is about up.

Share your thoughts with S.C. Zuba via e-mail at samuelczuba@gmail.com.

From the Oct. 20-26, 2010 issue