Bears get swept by Packers – coaching staff next?

In all but three games this season, opponents have scored first on the Bears. The Bears have let their opponents drive down the field on their first drive for a score nine times. It could have been eleven times if it weren’t for the other two teams missing field goals. This year we have seen the Bears lose by 35 points to the Bengals, give up 537 yards against the Vikings, both worst in Lovie’s coaching career, and on Sunday commit 13 penalties for 109 yards. Oh yeah, this year, the Bears got swept by the Packers. It doesn’t get much worse than this.

Where do we start? How about the first play of the game – the Bears defense let Ryan Grant run for a season long, 62 yard touchdown run? Josh Bullocks started the game at free safety in front of Al Afalava. Why was Bullocks starting in front of Afalava? Was Afalava hurt? Was he benched because of last week? From what I can remember, Afalava played his best game as a pro last week.

The Bears have not had consistency at the safety positions the entire year. The coaching staff has shuffled Afalava, Kevin Payne, Danieal Manning and today Josh Bullocks in and out of the lineup. When the coaching staff shuffles around young players, wouldn’t that contribute to slowing the development of their players?

On Grant’s touchdown run, Bullocks was clearly out of position as it seemed like he was running from the play instead of trying to bring Grant down. Of course, everyone has to be in position and most of the Bears defenders were out of position, but Bullocks was the last line of defense. At the very least, if he was in the right position, he would have slowed Grant down before the rest of the defense could get in and make the stop.

In addition to Bullocks starting in front of Afalava, Frank Omiyale started in front of Josh Beekman. I don’t see the infatuation the Bears coaching staff has with Omiyale. He makes too many mistakes to be a legitimate guard. He is also playing out of position. Omiyale’s holding penalty erased Jay Cutler’s scramble of 21 yards. This mistake was a drive killing play and the Bears were never able to make the yards up.

There were 4,665 no shows at Soldier Field. These aren’t fans who just bought these tickets on Ticketmaster or Stub Hub the other day. These are mostly season ticket holders who live and breathe the Bears as I do, but who are sick of how these Bears are performing on the field. This is a clear indication that some of the Bears most devoted fans are starting to feel disheartened by their beloved.

Tags: Bears vs. Packers