Not since the Super Bowl 2006 season have the Bears been able to stack wins. The "win one, lose one", or "win two, lose two" approach creates mediocrity and complicates a teams' December.
With three of their final four games at Soldier Field, the Bears have to knock off Jacksonville and New Orleans in a span of five days, then punch out Green Bay on Monday night, December 22. Along the way, Minnesota has to lose. The season could very well come down to the final week at Houston for the Bears.
"You hate to be in that position," said defensive tackle Anthony Adams. "Things like that have happened before. We just have to keep chopping wood as they say."
Provided the Bears pull it together and make the big plays at critical times they didn't make Sunday night in Minnesota.
ANOTHER MAN DOWN
In a matter of days the Bears have lost a starting cornerback(Nathan Vasher, defensive tackle(Dusty Dvoracek), and fullback(Jason McKie). Dvoracek's season is over after he suffered a torn biceps on the first series of the game.
"Losing Dusty is big," said Israel Idonije. " He's a great player for us on the inside and he does a lot of great things. Someone needs to step up and play that role.
Dvoracek played only one game in the first two years of his career because of season ending injuries and battled through off-season and pre-season injuries to claim a starting job at defensive tackle in the season opener against the Colts. He leads Bear defensive lineman in tackles with 40.
The Bears are rotating their defensive lineman and will rely heavily on Idonije, Adams, and rookie Marcus Harrison for the remainder of the season. They also have Matt Toeaina on the roster, but he has yet to be active in 2008.
FILM REVIEW
After coaches review, linebacker Lance Briggs was credited with 16 tackles and cornerback Corey Graham had 13 tackles, including 12 solo tackles. He is a better tackler than injured corner Nathan Vasher. Graham is tied for fourth in solo tackles, despite only starting five games this season. His 52 solo tackles are as many as middle linebacker Brian Urlacher has collected.
MIND BLOWER
In the second quarter of Sunday's loss, the Bears defense gave up 234 yards on 16 plays. That includes the 99 yard pass play to Bernard Berrian and the 59 yard run by Adrian Peterson. Conversely, the Bears managed only 57 yards of total offense on 20 plays and 44 of that came on 10 Matt Forte' runs.
In the second half, the Bears defense forced five three and outs and held the Vikings to 91 yards of offense. That included holding Adrian Peterson to 31 yards on 14 carries. The problem was Kyle Orton was intercepted three times in a span of seven throws in the second half. The Vikings turned that into 17 second half points.
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