Plenty can claim the blame

AND SMH at those calling for Lovie's job. I'm glad that the front office doesn't read these forums. Clearly a lot of you are speaking out in anger. But some of you just don't know football.

GO BEARS!!! NFC NORTH CHAMPIONS!!!

The Bears just added another chapter to their new book that is coming out at the end of the season: 101 Ways to Blow an NFL Game. They all need to be blamed and to me, if a player is active, he needs to make plays or not be active regardless of only being on the team for 19 days. It was a bad defensive call and
very poor execution. They should have just held all receivers at the line of scrimmage and take the 5-yard penalty. The Falcons would have then only had enough time to run one more play. Stupid is as stupid does.

George wrote:

AND SMH at those calling for Lovie's job. I'm glad that the front office doesn't read these forums. Clearly a lot of you are speaking out in anger. But some of you just don't know football.
GO BEARS!!! NFC NORTH CHAMPIONS!!!

George, with all due respect, Lovie Smith's job is on the line just like any other head coach who doesn't get the wins. It is about winning in the NFL, not whether the coach is a good man (like Lovie). He needs to start calling his own defenses and fire Babich.

Everybody wants to blame Babich and the secondary, but the two biggest reasons the Bears didn't win the game were its incompetant head coach and the HORRENDOUS play from the defensive end position.

Matt Ryan had ALL DAY to throw the ball the entire game despite the fact Harris and Dvoracek were routinely double teamed (on the same play). Brown has good games here and there, but was mostly invisible the entire game. Ogunleye has been awful since game one, and didn't come close to sniffing the quarterback. Its hard enough on the d when your starting and backup cbs are all hurt, but when your DEs give you NOTHING the entire game your going to get torched (and they did). The Bear pass rush was an utter embarrassment.

Then there's the decsion making of our idiotic head coach. I generally think Lovie Smith does a good job preparing for Sunday, but he drops the ball when it comes to in-game coaching. AGAIN Lovie makes a moronic challenge when the video evidence conclusively showed Harris made a bone-headed mistake. Even though the loss of TO and challenge didn't hurt the Bears, it easily could have. The squib kick at the end of the game was indefensible and illustrates Lovie's incompetancy for on the field decision making.

On a side note I actually LIKED the fact the Bears went for it on fourth and 1. But running a play that takes that much time to develop and that further clogs possible running lanes doesn't make much sense (I thought the 3rd down play was equally bad).

This team could be 6-0 and at worst should be 4-2 (with Philly and Atl being the only teams that played well enough to beat us). If the Bears fail to make the playoffs with the way they've played in this division, the coaching staff has a lot of explaining to do. Right now I think they have a lot of explaining to do regardless.

Good grief, clock again??? Fans without any perspective I can understand, but come on, you are a reporter Mr. Haugh, please stick with facts.
Davis caught his TD & was on the ground out of bounds with 12 seconds left on the clock. The clock operator took an extra second off after that in the Bears favor. Harry Douglas returned the kickoff, his knee went down at the 7 second mark on the clock, and AGAIN the clock operator ran another second off of the clock. Then on Ryan's pass, Jenkins was out of bounds with 2 seconds left, and a 3rd second was run off the clock in the Bears favor. The clock operator did everything within their power to give this game to the Bears, but it still wasn't enough to keep them from losing to the better team. NFL.com has several videos of the final pass, all of them, from snap to out of bounds run 5 seconds in duration. Stop pulling the typical Chicago crap when their sports teams let them down and man up and admit you lost the game, on your on, on the field.

Even though the Clock did run out, the Bears deserved 2 lose this game.

As a Chicago Bears fan for the last 30 years I can honestly say I'd never thought I'd see the day when the defense cost us 3 games. The Bears have always been built to run the ball and play good D. Using that formula if we have a lead late in the 4th we expect the D to win the game. And with 11 seconds left.....DAMN!!!!!!!

Now with that said I do believe we'll be alright. Next week is a big game against MIN and it's a must win for us.

The defensive coordinator is totally incompetent. He needs to be fired as soon as possible. It is a disgrace to see such a talented team so badly coached. Fire Babich and the offensive coordinator please. The coaches need to take responsibility.

Babich, Turner, Smith. The Three Stooges. # of 3 losses had the Bears leading with less than 4 minutes left. Poor play calling each time led to a loss. A team that even most sports columnists and commentators agree should and could be 6-0. The team seems to be getting better. Hester, Orton, Forte, they are all progressing each game. The coaches can't seem to follow the same growth pattern.

Jerseyboy wrote:

typical typical typical wow blame the defense sure. amazing the defense gets blamed for this one to. even in games where the defense creates turnoevers they get blamed for the losses. I agree you can blame the defense but not too mention orton as a part of this haugh is idiotic. this guy was missing for 3 and half qts and he throws a td late in the game thank god for forte and you guys praise him. just pathetic this team is getting worst every week. I thought orton was this potion every drank that lifted the teams moral it seems not even his sorry **** could move the ball on this average defense. wake up people realize this guy is not a bonafide qb. He was out played by a damn rookie Matt Ryan (what a stud).. Maybe this will snap some sense in lovies head to sit his behind because he's so inaccurate down field it's actually effecting our running game. teams will continue to put 9 in the box until checkdown charlie can make them pay..

This m***n and a few others have to watch the game completely before making a complete a** of themselves by offering the knee-jerk commnets about Orton. Part of the problem during the first 3 and 1/2 quarters was that the Falcons were winning the war of the offensive-defensive lines. Orton didn't have much time to throw at times. Ryan had time to throw all day and more. What I do agree with about Orton is that he has to learn how to throw high enough to Olson to make it impossible for the D-back to compete for the ball. Olson is the best weapon in the receiving corps; they just haven't found out how to maximize his height/strength advantages. And, most observers are not so quick to send Ryan to the Hall of Fame already. He had way too much time/space to throw the ball all day.

Coaching not to lose instead of coaching to win will get you every time. Another example of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Please call Bill Cowher and give him whatever he wants. This Bears team is like a ship without a captain.

Falcons R Better: "The clock operator did everything within their power to give this game to the Bears, but it still wasn't enough to keep them from losing to the better team. NFL.com has several videos of the final pass, all of them, from snap to out of bounds run 5 seconds in duration. Stop pulling the typical Chicago crap when their sports teams let them down and man up and admit you lost the game, on your on, on the field"

If you knew how the Official time was kept I would commend your post but this just makes you sound like a complete boob !!!!

The clock operators don't track the official game time, there is a referee that has the sole responsibilty of keeping the time on the field..... by stating that the clock operators did everythng in their power to hand the Bears the game is rediculously stupid on your part....

Go Bears !!

In all reasonable thinking, Marcus Hamilton, chose between two things at that very moment in his professional career. To go inside, or outside. With eleven seconds to begin with, time had grown ever smaller. Was the receiver going inside for a game-over catch ? Or was he going to the side-line ? Could you, on the last play of the game, cover the outside ... jump a route .... maybe .. instead of going the other way ?

Could've, should've, would've! A heartbreaking loss indeed! Look people its one game, one loss. A win against the Vikings next week and all of this fire the coaching staff stuff will disappear! After the preseason no one would have thought that the Bears would be .500! Four road games, two home games, and the only team under .500 so far has been the Lions! So before we start firing the whole organization lets just see how the season plays out. Poor decisions by the coaching staff may have cost the Bears the game but by some of these post you would think the Bears were the Lions, Rams, or Raiders.

Give the Falcons some credit. The Bears plan was to stop Turner and dare the rookie to beat them and he did! Once again the Bears will be fine!! GO BEARS!!!!

Falcons R Better than U wrote:

Good grief, clock again??? Fans without any perspective I can understand, but come on, you are a reporter Mr. Haugh, please stick with facts.
Davis caught his TD & was on the ground out of bounds with 12 seconds left on the clock. The clock operator took an extra second off after that in the Bears favor. Harry Douglas returned the kickoff, his knee went down at the 7 second mark on the clock, and AGAIN the clock operator ran another second off of the clock. Then on Ryan's pass, Jenkins was out of bounds with 2 seconds left, and a 3rd second was run off the clock in the Bears favor. The clock operator did everything within their power to give this game to the Bears, but it still wasn't enough to keep them from losing to the better team. NFL.com has several videos of the final pass, all of them, from snap to out of bounds run 5 seconds in duration. Stop pulling the typical Chicago crap when their sports teams let them down and man up and admit you lost the game, on your on, on the field.

and thats why they're falcon fans. can't count. no play takes less than 7 seconds .. average. watch and see. 5 seconds. yeah a pass that travels 25 yards, after a qb has drop 7 steps, is 5 seconds in your book, but on a clock it ain't sorry your the loser

You guys are honestly trying to blame the D for losing the game? I'd put more blame on the O and good old, only good for 2 quarter, 3 and out, Orton. Seriously. Had the Bears played like they the last 1.5 quarters for the entire game this game would've been cake. Play calling went pretty well, but our O sucked for 2.5 quarters.

hmmm. Sayers as a GM?! You must be joking. Doug Plank as secondary coach, great, you would start seeing personal foul penalties left and right. Chico would never come back to Chicago because of the way the mccaskeys let him get run out of town by the lov'meister. WE NEED COWHER.

fatchef wrote:

I posted this earlier, but I feel compelled to do it again, so If any body sees this please feel free to comment---Here's the deal. Tony Dungy grows weary in Indy and retires to pursue mission work. Bill Polin seeks replacement immediatley and hires Lovie due to the two men's common and personal beliefs. Meanwhile Ted Philips tired of taking heat from Virginia is forced to fire Angelo. Philips trys to hire Ditka as GM but Ditka agrees to step in as an advisor much like Tuna is in Miami. After reviewing the situation Ditka hires Singletary to coach, Brings Gale Sayers in as GM. Singletary brings back Rivera as Defensive Coordinater, keeps Ron Turner because he believes his hands were being tied with Lovie. Then Rivera brings in Dan Hampton to help and coach the d-line and brings in Doug Plank to coach the secondary. Though not complete, this would work! Am I crazy or what?

That's just an excuse, because you are missing players. It's professional football, not pee wee league. The Falcons have a new coach, rookie cornerbacks, and a rookie quarterback. We went against a veteran team two weeks in a row and won. Excuses are for losers.

Blaming everybody for mistakes and opportunities not capitalized is fashionable, but not getting to the point. Babich's defense unit has lacked concentration often this year. In this game, Tommy Harris's goofy loss of the football even without getting touched after recovering a fumble and allowing the last Falcon's pass play were both lapse in concentration. Dito in Tampa Bay game at several places. The defensive guys have to take self-perceived over-inflated egos ("We are better than the other guys.") out of their system and play whole sixty minutes. Babich needs to be canned, if not for any, just to show that any of them or all are accountable.

Ughhhh, Haugh, you are wrong again. You can't blame poor execution of the Cover 2 when the Cover 2 is a horrible call to begin with. That would be like blaming Hamilton if Babich called a goal line 9 up defense in that situation and blamed Hamilton for letting the receiver by him. It was a terrible call that left the the corner route WIDE open.
Babich should be gone and so should Lovie. 3 losses that SHOULD have been wins now and much of it is due to poor game calling.
Orton was about the only positive in that game. The last 2 drives were really something special. He has some guts and nuts of steel when it's coming down to brass tacks.