Bears can't figure out what's going wrong
THE DAY AFTER | Turner puts offensive woes on entire unit, not just Cutler
The Bears talked a lot about finding out what kind of team they are in November, when the NFL season takes a turn toward the serious, and what they've discovered is pretty grisly.
Stunned by a 10-6 loss Thursday night at San Francisco, their fourth defeat in the last five games, the Bears face the reality that their offense remains more of a wreck in progress than a work in progress, overlooked in recent weeks when the defense was being steamrolled.
A week after Vince Young and the Tennessee Titans hung 34 points on the 49ers at Candlestick Park, the Bears managed two field goals by Robbie Gould. Jay Cutler's career-high five interceptions gave him a league-high 17, one short of the number he threw last season with the Denver Broncos.
Cutler is three interceptions short of the 20 Rex Grossman threw in 2006. He's on pace for 30, one short of the franchise record held by Sid Luckman -- and it's hardly all his fault.
''Feel free to do your job and give me the public ripping I have coming,'' Cutler told Yahoo! Sports.
That ripping is extending to the entire offense, and coordinator Ron Turner had the deer-in-the-headlights look in the locker room after the game after he put a suit on and tried to compose himself.
''It's a team game, and all the attention goes to the quarterback when that happens, but, yeah, there are other factors,'' Turner said. ''We have to execute better. There were times when we were anticipating one thing and we just have to execute better, I don't know, overall, and again, it's not one guy. It's all of us.''
Lovie Smith tried to spin some positives out of the defensive effort -- the game marked the third time the Bears have lost on the road and held the opposing offense under 260 yards -- but holding the 49ers to 10 points is only a couple notches above putting the clamps on the Cleveland Browns, the only team the Bears have defeated since Oct. 4.
The Bears have a big-arm quarterback in Cutler but lack an identity on offense, and they can't say with any confidence what kind of effort they're going to receive from their defense on a weekly basis.
Cutler engineered some late drives earlier this season, but it wasn't meant to be when Michael Lewis picked him off in the end zone on the final play.
''That last drive kind of sums up what we're about,'' tight end Greg Olsen said. ''We have a lot of fight in us, but we just have to do better at finishing it off, so by no means are we packing it in and going to start sulking. We've got a lot of football left to play, and that's really our only chance.''
Here's the thing: The Bears are not offering any solutions with a 4-5 record. Try as they might a week before the Philadelphia Eagles come to Soldier Field, the Bears don't know what to do.