Post by GrizzlyBear on Nov 28, 2016 5:57:47 GMT -6
www.chicagotribune.com/sports/columnists/ct-haugh-bears-titans-apathy-spt-1128-20161127-column.html#nt=oft01a-1li2
Interest, opportunity slip away for Bears
Down 20 to the Titans early in the fourth quarter Sunday at Soldier Field, the Bears never quit.
Even if their fans already had.
In the big picture, that should concern folks at Halas Hall as much as dropped passes or missed tackles. By the time Bears wide receiver Deonte Thompson inexcusably lost the grasp of what should have been the game-winning touchdown pass on fourth-and-goal with 34 seconds left in a 27-21 loss, the place was more than half-empty. And please don't say half-full — not this season, in which the Bears dropped to a dreadful 2-9.
"It was a pretty gritty, hard-fought game to get back into it,'' Bears coach John Fox said.
It was, but what happened in the furious, final eight minutes only obscured what didn't occur in the previous three hours: Almost nobody except players and coaches cared. On a late autumn Sunday with ideal weather conditions for football, Chicago shrugged at the Bears. Forget what the schedule says. Apathy is the biggest enemy the rest of the way.
Officially, the Bears announced attendance at 48,408, with 11,086 no-shows, but those numbers hardly passed the eye test. Entertaining referee Ed Hochuli had to feel disappointed to have his flamboyance wasted on a sparse crowd.
Team mascot Staley carried a rectangular orange sign around that said "Quiet, Bears At Work," but there was no need for the reminder. For an afternoon, the Bears' home stadium became Chicago's biggest library. Shhhh.
Those hardy souls who stuck it out produced a collective groan when wide receiver Josh Bellamy let quarterback Matt Barkley's pass go through his hands in the end zone three plays before Thompson's near-miss. Those were two of 10 passes Bears receivers realistically could have caught but didn't — by unofficial count. Keep the expensive Christmas ornaments away from the Bears receiving corps. The drops were bad enough to cut someone Monday.
"We lose as a team,'' said Barkley, who deserved better in his first NFL start against familiar counterpart Marcus Mariota.
Sunday's starting quarterbacks faced off once before, on Nov. 3, 2012, when Mariota's Oregon Ducks beat Barkley's USC Trojans 62-51. Mariota was finishing his first season as a starter with Barkley wrapping up a decorated college career — and both lit it up. Mariota threw four touchdown passes that night four years ago while Barkley managed five. That game accentuated the explosiveness of both quarterbacks.
This one didn't necessarily, but a more polished Mariota enjoyed the upper hand again. He completed 15 of 23 passes for 226 yards and two TDs for a passer rating of 126.4 and rushed for 46 yards.
A master ballhandler, Mariota kept the Bears guessing. Before one snap, confused Bears safeties Adrian Amos and Deon Bush yelled at each other like guys reading music off different sheets, disharmony exploited later when tight end Delanie Walker got free down the middle for a 38-yard catch on the Titans' first scoring drive. Mariota was on the money.
Meanwhile, Barkley finished with a flurry but struggled early, completing 28 of 54 for 316 yards with three TDs and two interceptions.
"All in all, for a guy in his first start for us, he was pretty good,'' Fox said.
On Barkley's first interception, picked off by Titans linebacker Wesley Woodyard, he forced the ball to rookie tight end Ben Braunecker. Or given how often the Bears looked for him, you can call the new tight end threat "Braunck.''
Before Barkley got comfortable, the best luck for big gains came when he threw it in the vicinity of receivers and hoped to draw pass-interference penalties. It worked twice for 78 yards.
The offense finally staged a professional-looking drive after the Bears caught the Titans napping as badly as the folks in Section 435 with an onside kick to start the second half. Alas, Barkley eventually blew it by floating a pass easily intercepted in the end zone by Titans safety Da'Norris Searcy.
Somewhere, Craig Krenzel and Jonathan Quinn welcomed Barkley into the debate over worst Bears starting quarterbacks this millennium. Barkley leading two fourth-quarter scoring drives against the Titans' prevent, don't-get-beat-deep defense saved him from keeping that company, for now.
No matter how much suspense the final series provided, this was like watching the fourth exhibition game to see which backups make the 53-man roster. If this were that type of game, Barkley proved he belonged on an NFL depth chart, just not at the top of it.
"I know who I am and what I'm capable of,'' Barkley said.
The Bears remain capable of finishing as the worst team in the NFC.
Five games remain, including three at home, a threat more than a promise to Chicagoans. Every one represents merely another step toward an offseason the Bears must devote to finding a franchise quarterback, whatever the cost. Before the draft arrives, the Bears need to exhaust every option to acquire Patriots backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, an Arlington Heights native with enough talent and charisma to reinvigorate a sleepy organization. That should be Plan A. No other plans sound better — or have worked.
A position the Bears neglected too long requires attention. More significantly, a fan base tired of redundancy needs to be revived.
Down 20 to the Titans early in the fourth quarter Sunday at Soldier Field, the Bears never quit.
Even if their fans already had.
In the big picture, that should concern folks at Halas Hall as much as dropped passes or missed tackles. By the time Bears wide receiver Deonte Thompson inexcusably lost the grasp of what should have been the game-winning touchdown pass on fourth-and-goal with 34 seconds left in a 27-21 loss, the place was more than half-empty. And please don't say half-full — not this season, in which the Bears dropped to a dreadful 2-9.
"It was a pretty gritty, hard-fought game to get back into it,'' Bears coach John Fox said.
It was, but what happened in the furious, final eight minutes only obscured what didn't occur in the previous three hours: Almost nobody except players and coaches cared. On a late autumn Sunday with ideal weather conditions for football, Chicago shrugged at the Bears. Forget what the schedule says. Apathy is the biggest enemy the rest of the way.
Officially, the Bears announced attendance at 48,408, with 11,086 no-shows, but those numbers hardly passed the eye test. Entertaining referee Ed Hochuli had to feel disappointed to have his flamboyance wasted on a sparse crowd.
Team mascot Staley carried a rectangular orange sign around that said "Quiet, Bears At Work," but there was no need for the reminder. For an afternoon, the Bears' home stadium became Chicago's biggest library. Shhhh.
Those hardy souls who stuck it out produced a collective groan when wide receiver Josh Bellamy let quarterback Matt Barkley's pass go through his hands in the end zone three plays before Thompson's near-miss. Those were two of 10 passes Bears receivers realistically could have caught but didn't — by unofficial count. Keep the expensive Christmas ornaments away from the Bears receiving corps. The drops were bad enough to cut someone Monday.
"We lose as a team,'' said Barkley, who deserved better in his first NFL start against familiar counterpart Marcus Mariota.
Sunday's starting quarterbacks faced off once before, on Nov. 3, 2012, when Mariota's Oregon Ducks beat Barkley's USC Trojans 62-51. Mariota was finishing his first season as a starter with Barkley wrapping up a decorated college career — and both lit it up. Mariota threw four touchdown passes that night four years ago while Barkley managed five. That game accentuated the explosiveness of both quarterbacks.
This one didn't necessarily, but a more polished Mariota enjoyed the upper hand again. He completed 15 of 23 passes for 226 yards and two TDs for a passer rating of 126.4 and rushed for 46 yards.
A master ballhandler, Mariota kept the Bears guessing. Before one snap, confused Bears safeties Adrian Amos and Deon Bush yelled at each other like guys reading music off different sheets, disharmony exploited later when tight end Delanie Walker got free down the middle for a 38-yard catch on the Titans' first scoring drive. Mariota was on the money.
Meanwhile, Barkley finished with a flurry but struggled early, completing 28 of 54 for 316 yards with three TDs and two interceptions.
"All in all, for a guy in his first start for us, he was pretty good,'' Fox said.
On Barkley's first interception, picked off by Titans linebacker Wesley Woodyard, he forced the ball to rookie tight end Ben Braunecker. Or given how often the Bears looked for him, you can call the new tight end threat "Braunck.''
Before Barkley got comfortable, the best luck for big gains came when he threw it in the vicinity of receivers and hoped to draw pass-interference penalties. It worked twice for 78 yards.
The offense finally staged a professional-looking drive after the Bears caught the Titans napping as badly as the folks in Section 435 with an onside kick to start the second half. Alas, Barkley eventually blew it by floating a pass easily intercepted in the end zone by Titans safety Da'Norris Searcy.
Somewhere, Craig Krenzel and Jonathan Quinn welcomed Barkley into the debate over worst Bears starting quarterbacks this millennium. Barkley leading two fourth-quarter scoring drives against the Titans' prevent, don't-get-beat-deep defense saved him from keeping that company, for now.
No matter how much suspense the final series provided, this was like watching the fourth exhibition game to see which backups make the 53-man roster. If this were that type of game, Barkley proved he belonged on an NFL depth chart, just not at the top of it.
"I know who I am and what I'm capable of,'' Barkley said.
The Bears remain capable of finishing as the worst team in the NFC.
Five games remain, including three at home, a threat more than a promise to Chicagoans. Every one represents merely another step toward an offseason the Bears must devote to finding a franchise quarterback, whatever the cost. Before the draft arrives, the Bears need to exhaust every option to acquire Patriots backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, an Arlington Heights native with enough talent and charisma to reinvigorate a sleepy organization. That should be Plan A. No other plans sound better — or have worked.
A position the Bears neglected too long requires attention. More significantly, a fan base tired of redundancy needs to be revived.
