Thinking It Over

In the 4th quarter and in overtime, Lovie Smith showed Bear fans that he has the same concerns that we all do. Those concerns are the defense, the quarterback, and his place kicker.

With 1:17 left in the game, the Bears got the ball on their own 10 yard line. Cedric Benson proceeds to rip off a 9 yard run. With the team out of the shadow of the goal posts and a full compliment of time outs, Rex Grossman looked to the sideline to see what Lovie wanted to do.

Not much was the response.

One more run for Cedric and regulation was over.

Why not try to get into field goal range? Why not try some safe out patterns and see if you could win in regulation? Why risk the coin flip and never getting the ball?

Several reasons. First, for all of the Rex Renaissance of late, his mechanics show the coordination of a Sharon Panazzo press conference. Throwing off his back foot seems to be Rex's style, not an occasional mistake. Sooner or later that's going to get Rex in trouble. Lovie didn’t want that trouble to occur inside his own 20.

Second, the defense decided to let as more people get behind them than are behind Taylor Hayes. Lovie didn’t want to risk Rex going three and out, then giving the ball back to Tampa with 30 seconds and only needing 20 yards for a game-winning field goal.

Better to risk all of that in overtime.

As to Robbie Gould's problems, it certainly seems like Lovie thinks Gould has a confidence problem. While the kick on third down is smart football, there is only reason for the game winner to happen on first down. Lovie didn’t want to win on a TD. He wanted Robbie to get it to redeem his earlier miss and goose his confidence before the playoffs start. That's a smart coaching move.

What's obvious about this team is just how much they miss Mike Brown. As much as people say Brian Urlacher is overrated, and this page would be a part of that chorus those, Mike Brown is underrated. Injuries have derailed what should have been a stellar career. He makes a lot of what Urlacher does possible work with strong run support, especially in Lovie Smith's Cover-2 defense.

None of this really appears to matter. Hard to see anyone beating the San Diego LaDainian's anyway.