Losing to Tim Tebow hurts so bad that writing this post has actually made my fingers cry. Although that may be blood from throwing many objects while watching the game. I can't really tell. 

The Bears lost 13-10 to the Broncos in overtime on Sunday, here are some observations from the game on each side of the ball. 

Defense

1. Daryl Johnston made the excellent point that the Bears needed to keep Tim Tebow from rolling to his left. They had only limited success.
2. It was very evident that the Bears were determined to limit the run. Lots of guys near the line of scrimmage. Some man coverage with a deep safety.
3. There were a lot of camera shots of Julius Peppers early that left me wondering if his knee wasn’t bothering him more than in previous weeks.
4. I’m not entirely sure why the Bears didn’t have someone spying Tebow. He hurts you badly on the ground. Perhaps it was because they needed everyone in position to defend the option, including Brian Ulacher. Either he or Lance Briggs would have ordinarily drawn the duty. Johnston suggested late in the game that Craig Steltz may have been doing a little of it.
5. I’ll say this. As good as he runs, Tebow does not throw the ball well consistently. He winds up like a top and he’s not accurate much of the time.
6. As both Tony Siragusa and Johnston pointed out, the Bears defense just lost all aggressiveness as the first half wore on. The Bears would run a stunt or rush Tebow and he would run right by them. They were worried about their responsibilities on the option and about Willis McGahee. Too much thinking and not enough reacting. They did better in the second half but they still weren’t always as aggressive as usual.
7. The Broncos offense is an interesting problem. The Bears basically were successful because of their speed to the ball. Without it, they would have been in some trouble.
8. Give the Bears credit for playing with discipline, as well (penalties aside).
9. I’m guessing the long Bears offensive drive in the third quarter was welcome not just because it resulted in a touchdown but because it gave the Bears defense a rest in the thin air.
10. The Bears played very, very soft coverage in the fourth quarter. They had obviously watched the tape of how the Broncos were pulling off these miracles in previous games. The big play wan’t gong to happen.

Offense

1. Caleb Hanie rolled out for his first pass. That was different.
2. The Broncos weren’t stacking the box against the run early on first down against run personnel, apparently believing they could stop the Bears without doing so. Personally, I thought it was a mistake. There’s no reason not to try to pressure Hanie and make him beat you through the air.
3. As you might expect, the Bears took the gift and got started running the ball.
4. Good thing as Hanie was, once again, less than impressive. His accuracy was again suspect as even the screen passes were high (again).
5. The Broncos were blitzing reasonably effectively on obvious passing downs, particularly second down. The offensive line was having a tough time with pass protection and Hanie didn’t help by holding the ball too long (again).
6. The Bears played it conservative early, apparently choosing to rely on the defense. They didn’t go for it on fourth and one on the first possession and chose to run on 3rd and about 17 on the second. The tone was set.
7. As you might expect, the Broncos eventually came to the realization that the Bears weren’t going to beat them through the air. They stacked the box and crowded the line in the second half, exactly like they should have from the beginning.
8. To the Bears credit, they still ran the ball reasonably well. The line did a reasonable job of run blocking to my mind. It’s tough sledding when there’s zero fear of the pass.
9. The wide receivers were also having a tough time but it looked to me like they was separation there on occasion. They weren’t awful. Hanie just wasn’t hitting them in the short windows they were open.
10. As often as I’ve ridden Roy Williams for his drops, credit him with a great catch with 2:00 left in the third quarter on third down.
11. Johnston once again made the excellent point in the third quarter that the Bears needed to keep using Kahlil Bell. He withdrew the comment later but I thought he was right. Bell’s more versatile and he’s a better receiver. Marion Barber did well (until the fourth quarter) but I think he’s more suited to the change of pace back role. Perhaps they should be splitting the carries more evenly.

Miscellaneous

1. Kenny Albert, Johnston, Siragusa were just excellent. Johnston and Siragusa peppered the broadcast with good comments that the average fan like myself might not have otherwise picked up. It was a pleasure.
2. Wonderful job blocking the field goal in the second quarter. Peppers blocked it but give the whole unit credit for getting a good deal of penetration.
3. Robbie Gould could have hit that field goal at the end of the third quarter from a lot farther out than 57 yards. It wasn’t close.
4. Punt coverage was outstanding.
5. Hanie was, once again, not helped by his supporting cast as Devin Hester came out and dropped the first pass to him. The Bears were fortunate that the Broncos were even worse, dropping balls all over the field.
6. Personal fouls on the Bears defense in the first half kept Broncos drives going early. You can’t take shots on quarterbacks high or low. Guys on defense have to play with control or the team will pay.
7. The penalties weren’t limited to the defense. In a game like this one, every one was damaging and special teams and offense contributed their fair share. Lance Lewis had another poor game with some false starts, making me miss Gabe Carimi more than I thought I would at this point.
8. Hester had a face mask at a bad time late in the third quarter. Can’t run the ball when you are putting yourself in those downs and distances.
9. Wonderful interception on the sideline by Charles Tillman in the first quarter. Tebow held the ball too long once all game and the Steltz caused him to fumble the ball.
10. The Bears almost stayed alive in the playoff race because of their defensive speed and discipline. But if you’re going to run the ball offensively and survive that way, then the mistakes have to go completely away. No penalties, no drops, no Barber brain cramps, no margin for error. It’s a tough way to live. 

We were so close, yet so far away in this one. The Bears held onto a 10-0 lead with 2:08 to go into the game. I thought to myself, this game is over and there is no way we can lose at this point. 10 points to zero with only 2 minutes remaining. They found a way to prove me wrong. 

Tim Tebow would find Demaryius Thomas for a 10 yard touchdown pass to make the score 10-7. The Bears allowed Tim Tebow to march down the field in an Elway like fashion on this drive. Not taking anything away from Tim Tebow but, when the defense is playing prevent with their safeties 25 yards deep, it's easy to move the ball down the field by dinking and dunking. Tebow would hit underneath routes and only throw deeper when something was glaringly wide open. The prevent defense, prevents wins. 

The Bears would receive the ball back and Denver had no timeouts. After failing to recover the onside kick (Nick Roach recovered in dramatic fashion), the Bears could run the clock out. If only it was that easy. Marion Barber would get a plunge or two up the middle to drain the clock. Then for some unknown reason the Bears would run the ball to the inside hash mark, where Barber would bounce it outside and...run out of bounds. If Barber stays in bounds, our playoff hopes are alive and still in bloom. Instead he ran out of bounds, gave the Broncos the ball back with 53 seconds and allowed Denver Kicker Matt Prater to hit a 59 yard FG to force overtime. 

Marion Barber must feel awful at this point. It only gets worse from here folks. While in field goal range, Marion Barber would break through the first level of defenders, and then fumble the ball and the game away. Tim Tebow did very little to move his team forward for the win. Matt Prater did most of the work by nailing a 51 yard FG to send the Bears back to Chicago with a 13-10 loss. 

Watching this game was like watching a defensive UFC fight. Both fighters doing their best not to lose, they both forget that they must try to win. Caleb Hanie was 12/19 for 115 yards, 0 TDs, 0 INTs. Jay Cutler does these numbers on 1 drive. He is so good he can throw for 115 yards on a 100 yard regulation size field. Tim Tebow was 21/40 for 236 yards 1 TD, 1 INT. Very pedestrian numbers up until 2 minutes to go in the game when he completed passes against the prevent defense. 

Marion Barber, despite his 2 glaringly huge mistakes to give Denver the win, had a solid game. The first 58 minutes of the game he played great. He had 27 carries for 108 yards with a long of 17 yards. The WR corps was very pedestrian this game. Johnny Knox had 3 catches for 37 yards. Pro bowl numbers right? 

Defensively Julius Peppers had a huge blocked field goal in the 1st quarter. Charles Tillman had an incredible interception on Tim Tebow in the 1st quarter as well. Brian Urlacher had 10 tackles on the day. 

This loss hurts. We could have kept our playoff hopes alive and kept our wildcard spot in the standings. Both wildcard contenders in Detroit and Atlanta won and right now we would be out of the playoffs if they started today. Barring a miracle, it looks like our season could be done. 

Next week the Bears play the Seattle Seahawks. A re-match of the divisional round playoffs last season when the Bears thwolloped the Hawks in Chicago in the snow. 

For those expecting Matt Forte to carry the Bears to the playoffs, think again. After losing Jay Cutler for the regular season just a week before, the Bears are now without Matt Forte for 2-6 weeks with an MCL Sprain. This is the same injury Jay Cutler experienced in the NFC Championship game against the Packers last January. 

On Monday morning Matt Forte's MRI confirmed he had a grade two MCL sprain in his right knee. A grade three sprain is a complete tear. Vaughn McClure of the Chicago Tribune expects Forte to be out 2-6 weeks. Typically an injury of this nature is a 4 week injury. In Forte's history of being injured, he has proven to be a fast healer. My personal opinion would have him returning around 3-4 weeks from now. He would miss games against the Broncos, Seahawks, Packers and potentially returning on January 1st against the Vikings. 

Some experts are placing his return on Christmas day against the Packers. Right now Matt Forte is third in the NFL with 997 rushing yards. He leads the NFL in yards from scrimmage with 1,487. How important is Forte to the Bears? Well, he accounts for 38% of the team's entire yardage total this season. 

In relief will be Marion "The Barbarion" Barber. On the year Barber has 76 carries for 281 yards and 5 TD's. After Forte's injury Barber came in and had 14 carries for 44 yards. 

The Bears will face the Denver Broncos this upcoming Sunday. This is a must-win game for the Bears as they face the highly talked about, Tim Tebow. 

If you had told me we would lose 10-3 to the Kansas City Chiefs a month ago, I would have slapped you in the face and laughed. Now it is I, who has been slapped in the face. Feelings of confusion and disdain now overwhelm me as a fan.

The Jay Cutler-less Bears have now become the Matt Forte-less Bears going into the home stretch of the playoff run. Forte suffered a MCL sprain against the Chiefs, thrusting Marion Barber into the feature back role. 

Here are my general observations from the game. Let's start first with defense...

Defense

1. The Chiefs came out running against the Bears defense with a couple short passes. This was apparently to take the pressure off of KC quarterback Tyler Palko. They were probably also anticipating a defensive game with Caleb Hanie at quarterback for the Bears.
2. Palko came out throwing easy throws accurately.
3. This was a really good game for the defensive line. Julius Peppers was a beast on the pass rush.
4. The Bears supplemented the pass rush with some well timed blitzes but otherwise they were, once again, generally bland.
5. Palko avoided a pretty good rush by simply running away from it. He’s very mobile.
6. I was surprised to see Kyle Orton with Palko not doing too bad to my eye. It was a shame to see him hurt after only one play.
7. Dwayne Bowe always seemed to be a step ahead of the Bears defense. He’s big and he can run after the catch and he always seemed to get just enough yardage to get that critical first down.
8. KC did a really good job of running the ball on the Bears defense in the third quarter as Bears pass rushers eager to get to Palko ran right by the running backs. Some really good play calling there.
9. Bear defensive backs were having a terrible time getting off blocks on the Kansas City wide receiver screens. They’ve got to be stronger than that.

Offense

1. It didn’t take long for Kansas City to bring that safety up into the box to stop Matt Forte. As usual, the Bears opponent wanted to make the Bears beat them through the air. First possession – three and out.
2. Kansas City’s defensive backs dominated the Bears receivers with good coverage.
3. Caleb Hanie came out unable to complete even some of the short passes that Mike Martz called to get him started. His accuracy apparently did not get better in his second week wth the starters. He was missing opportunity after opportunity to hit wide open receivers on broken coverages.
4. Thank you Matt Spaeth for that wiff on the block that got Matt Forte hurt.
5. Caleb Hanie has to get rid of the ball. I know the Bears receivers were well covered most of the time but he’d have had more success if he threw with some anticipation to a spot like the offense calls for him to do.
6. KC did a good job of keeping Hanie in the pocket with a controlled, disciplined pass rush.
7. Glad to see Marion Barber running so well again.
8. The offensive line struggled to block for the run on occasion when they were allowing too much penetration. The Chiefs were crashing line of scrimmage against the run.
9. Caleb Hanie cannot throw a jump ball with Johnny Knox as the receiver. This was a lesson Jay Cutler learned his first year (with Hanie watching). Interception.
10. The pass protection was really poor in the second half. Mike Martz really needed to call some screens and draws. Running the ball with some delayed handoffs like Kansas City did to slow down the Bear pass rush would have been a good way to do it.
11. In fairness, giving Hanie max protection in the fourth quarter did help. It might not be a cooincidence that Hanie’s passing improved at that point as well.
12. I’m not entirely sure why Devin Hester ended up being Hanie’s primary target.

Miscellaneous

1. Like the Bears, Kevin Harlan was off his game. Warning that a punt almost hit Jalil Brown again was, perhaps, unnecessary given that KC kicked it. Getting Dom DeCicco mixed up with Patrick Trahan wasn’t a high point for him. It could be because we’ve been spoiled with the best color men the NFL has to offer this year but Solomon Wilcots didn’t seem to have much of any significance to say.
2. The Chiefs started off the special teams battle the right way with a touched punt that resulted in a turnover to the Bears.The Bears fake field goal was pretty sick. Yellow flags flew everywhere against the Bears special teams. KC kicked the ball off out of bounds midway through the third quarter. Devin Hester dropped a fair catch. Hester had a nice return at the beginning of the second quarter but otherwise special teams were just a comedy of errors. A really bad comedy.
3. Kansas CIty got an interception late midway though the third quarter that just killed the Bears. I thought that’s what the Bears were supposed to be doing. Instead Charles Tillman missed an interception in the second possession of the first quarter. Tim Jennings dropped one as well.
4. The penalty on Bowman for interference with a punt reception in the first quarter was bogus. Marion Barber sure looked to me like he was close enough to the line of scimmage to avaid a penalty on the stolen touchdown in the second quarter. A bogus defensive holding call on Tillman kept a critical drive going in the third quarter that led to a field goal. The referees hurt the Bears as much as the Chiefs did.
5. There weren’t many drops but it figures that the one critical one that resulted in an interception would come from Roy Williams. Its come to be expected.
6. I hope someone explains why the Bears called timeout in the second quarter immediately after one by Kansas City.
7. Late in the third quarter down 10-3. The Bears had first and goal from inside the ten. Two Hanie sacks on some terrible pass protection later, Robbie Gould missed the 42 yard field goal.
   They aren’t a playoff team.
8. Television commercial of the year: Allstate mayhem commercial with the “300 lb streaker painted blue and completely naked apart from the cleats”. Made me smile on a miserable day.

Bear fans were expecting the magic Caleb Hanie displayed in the NFC Championship game last January against the Packers, they got something else. Caleb Hanie threw 3 interceptions and overall played a decent game against the Raiders yesterday. Were our expectations too high? Did Hanie perform just fine for his first NFL start ever? Are we as a fan base too critical? Let's delve into those questions. 

First off Caleb Hanie was 18 of 36 for 254 yards, 2 TD's, and 3 interceptions. He added 5 carries for 50 yards on the ground. His mobility contributed to several very nice runs. One of which came on a 3rd and 18, which he scrambled and picked up the first down with a gain of 24 yards. As I watched that play live, my jaw dropped to the floor. If Hanie can develop his throwing skills, he will be a very valuable asset to have at Quarterback. Having the ability to pick up 24 yards on 3rd down and 18 is great. It appears he has the perfect medium of when to stick with the designed routes, and when to scramble. That is one huge plus for Hanie. 

As far as his interceptions go, he didn't throw any in the 2nd half of the game. That is one plus. One huge negative was he had 3 1st half interceptions. Two of which were errant passes and the 3rd was an abysmal playcall at the goalline. Instead of punching it in with Forte or Marion Barber, we decide to call a roll-out, TE screen pass that would get picked off. Luckily Lance Louis sprinted down the field to stop the touchdown. Pretty admirable considering he's our right guard. 

His two touchdown passes were pretty nice. One of them came on a short pass to Kellen Davis which he went through all of his progressions to find Davis coming across the formation in the end zone. The second of which was a BOMB to Johnny Knox which almost reminded me of a Rex Grossman heave. 

Hopefully the jitters are out and Hanie performs well against the Kansas City Chiefs next week. I would give him a C-, which is about what you would expect for a 1st career start. He has a lot of potential, let's hope it strings all together. We need to give him more help and not allow Forte to have less than 25 carries again. 

If you were expecting Caleb Hanie to perform like Dan Marino, chances are you wound up disappointed. The Bears lost to the Oakland Raiders 25-20 in Oakland, in their first game of the season without Jay Cutler. Cutler is out for the foreseeable future with a broken thumb on his passing hand. Due to this injury, back-up QB Caleb Hanie is now the starter. Despite being thrusted into the spotlight, Sebastian Janikowski of the Raiders stole the show. 

Janikowski belted a team record six field goals in the 25-20 victory. The Raiders benefited from great field position coming off 3 interceptions from Hanie and the rangy leg of Janikowski. Carson Palmer appeared a little more comfortable as he threw for 301 yards. Michael Bush also had a big 4th quarter TD. The defense could only do so much with the offense sputtering and Hanie turning the ball over. For his first start he didn't play so bad. He was really shaky in the first half, while he played much more mature in the 2nd half. 

Hanie was 18 of 35 for 254 yards and 2 TD's. He had 3 interceptions, 2 of which were misfires, and 1 was an awful playcall by Mike Martz near the goal-line (Really, a TE screen from 12 yards out?). He had a 58.5 passer rating on the day and Bear fans are hoping he plays a little better next week against the Chiefs. One startling fact about the game, Matt Forte only had 12 carries. WHY!!!!!????? 

Forte had 12 carries for 59 yards, and Marion Barber had 10 carries for 63 yards. If we want to win games with Hanie, we need to get Forte the ball at least 25 times a game. It's nice to see Barber contributing but Forte is where we win ball games. Johnny Knox had a breakout game with 4 catches for 145 yards and 1 TD. Kellen Davis caught 2 passes for 25 yards and 1 TD. 

Defensively Julius Peppers had 2 sacks on the day on Carson Palmer, it's nice to see Peppers getting into the mix a little more. Also Corey Graham had an interception for the 3rd straight game. 

The Bears face the Kansas City Chiefs next week at 1:00 PM EST