The Hangover

Well I guess we know why the Bears were hot to reunite with Kyle Orton this week. In a game where both teams were missing not just key players, but dynamic superstars as well, the Chicago Bears lost to the Oakland Raiders 25-20.

Both teams had plenty of chances to run away with the victory. The Raiders left plenty of points on the field, as their offense had no trouble moving the ball on the Bears from 20 to the 20. The Bears also had red-zone problems, particularly late in the first half with the Bears driving deep in Oakland territory down 9-7. Caleb Hanie threw an ill-advised passed which was intercepted and returned by the Raiders. Were it not for an unbelievable chase down by Lance Louis, it more than likely would have resulted in a Raiders touchdown.

Anyway, it was a winnable game for both teams, and unfortunately there are no moral victories. Here's what I (drunkenly) witnessed :

Offense : In the interest of fairness, I expected a lot worse than I got from Caleb Hanie. Don't get me wrong, Hanie still came through with some "WTF are you looking at?!" throws, but he made some passes that actually looked decent. Hanie also surprised me by displaying some nice scrambling ability. Unfortunately the game still came down to him, and he blew it, plain and simple.

While Matt Forte didn't have one of his better days, (at one point it looked like he was benched again), the Bears running attack produced 122 yards on 22 total carries (discounting Hanie scrambles). Forte also hauled in 6 passes from Hanie as well, but they didn't really add up to much. The Bears needed to produce more rushing yards than they did, particularly against one of the worst rushing defenses in the NFL. The Bears lack of explosive runs forced the Bears to rely on Hanie to make plays.

In terms of the forensics of Hanie's performance, we all saw the three hideous interceptions he threw. His 254 passing yards were padded by an 81 yard prayer to Johnny Knox. Hanie did throw 2 touchdowns, but his accuracy isn't there on a consistent enough basis to leave any Bears fan with any hope for him to get better.

Defense : Bend but don't break essentially. Carson Palmer has historically shredded Lovie Smith-coached defenses over the years. A point reflected in the fact that despite Palmer playing in his fourth "preseason" game since coming off the couch, still threw for 301 yards.

Still, the defense played well enough to win. They were stout against the run, limiting Raiders running back Michael Bush (by cracky!) to 69 yards on 24 carries. They generated a good pass rush in the first half sacking Palmer 4 times, 2 by Julius Peppers alone. Even though the Bears didn't generate as many turnovers as they wanted to, the secondary also got a key interception by Corey Graham.

It would have been nice however, if the Bears decided to cover Marcel Reece, as he had 5 catches for 92 yards. The defense even let the corpse known as Darrius Heyward-Bey have 4 catches for 42 yards, as Palmer threw to 7 different receivers on the day.

Despite not doing as much as they needed to, bend but don't break...

Special Teams : A mixed bag in many respects. Devin Hester got grounded by the lead foot of Shane Lechler. On a personal note, an 80 yard punt is a lot of fun to witness. On the other hand, Robbie Gould kicked a 53 yard field goal, and accounted for 8 points on the day.

Where Do We Go From Here? : The 4-7 Kansas City Chiefs are coming to Soldier Field. Ron Jawarski's favorite quarterback Tyler Palko might be under center, then again it might be Orton.

Either way, the Chiefs aren't very good. They have an awful run defense, as well as an inept offense. The problem is, it's impossible to know what the Bears are going to do? They have to be able to run the ball down their throats, just like they had to against the Raiders.

Will they be able to get the ground game going against the Chiefs? In my view, the Bears don't have a choice. If Hanie has to throw the ball more than 25 times again, it will be a bad day for the Bears.

Please get healthy soon Jay...