MVN - Most Valuable Network

Collins too much for Bears in Thursday night showdown

If there was any doubt the Bears need to draft a quarterback come this spring, they’ve been slapped away now.  Lovie Smith trotted out both ineffectual quarterbacks against the Washington Redskins, and the result was 16 points, and the 8th loss of the season, all but assuring the Bears will miss the playoffs.

After Grossman left the game with a knee injury, who’s seriousness has yet to be determined, but doesn’t appear minor, Brian Greise looked as if he’d never played football for about two quarters.  Sacks, interceptions, and numerous delay of game penalties helped to bog down an offense that was far from spectacular to begin with.

Oddly, when Jason Campbell went down with an injury of his own in the second quarter, Washington backup Todd Collins  (who hasn’t thrown a pass in a regular season game in two years) sparked an sparked a previously lethargic offense by completing 15 of 20 passes for over 200 yards and 2 touchdowns.

While Greise’s play was far from spectacular for most of the game, he did pull himself together in the 4th quarter, and the real turning point was a Lovie Smith  decision to kick a field goal on 4th and goal from the 4 yard line that put the Bears down 17-13 with 6 minutes to go.  It was a gutless call from a coach who didn’t seem to realize that the season was on the line.

The Redskins answered with  a march down the field to give them an 11 point lead, and essentially put the game out of reach.  Griese and the Bears showed fight, driving back down the field again themselves, but had to settle for another field goal, and when the onside kick went out of bounds, the game was lost.

So at 5-8, the Bears can truly begin their offseason plans.  Time to give Garrett Wolfe some starts to see what he can do with a full game’s worth of carries.  Time to give some starts to Kyle Orton to see if he should compete for a job next season, and time to earnestly find out what we can get for Rex Grossman.

And it’s time to find another defensive coordinator.  Ron Rivera was highly underrated.

Special thanks to Rick Schwartz of MVN’s Hog Heaven who posted a complete play by  play during the game.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 6th, 2007 at 11:44 pm and is filed under Bears Offense, Bears Defense, Brian Griese, Devin Hester, 2007 Season, Rex Grossman, Game Recap. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.