Bears hit early snags against Raiders posted by Joe Anello
If you only managed to catch the first quarter or so of Saturday night's preseason game, you saw some pretty fugly football from Lovie Smith's Bears. The offense was mediocre, the defense was bad and the special teams were awful. It's still a preseason game and therefore meaningless, but here's what I took from the Bears' 32-17 loss to the Oakland Raiders.
it was another slow start for a Bears first-team defense that gave up countless first-drive scores last season. Brian Urlacher left the game after only a few plays with a calf injury that's not believed to be serious. The pass rush struggled and the coverage downfield was nonexistent on a drive that ended with a Jason Campbell QB sneak for a touchdown. Corners were out of position and linebackers were missing their assignments. It was a less than stellar effort. Julius Peppers showed up on a few goal line plays late in the drive, but it was too late to jump-start the defense by then.
On the Bears following possession, the offensive line did its best to counter the defense's futility. After a short Forte run, linemen Chris Williams and Lance Louis were beaten by their rushers to allow two consecutive sacks of Jay Cutler, of which there were five in the first half. (Four by new Raider Kamerion Wimbley, who most often beat Chris Williams in one-on-one match-ups.) It was an ugly start. The offensive line improved over the first half, opening a hole for Forte on an 89-yard TD run, but their protection needs considerable work. Mike Tice should start earning his paycheck.
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