First off, I have to say it absolutely did not feel right rooting for the Packers to win a game. It felt a bit dirty and a bit wrong. To top it all off, they failed to pull it off, making that disgusting act a futile one. May us Bears fans never have to root for them again.
Looking back at my preseason post about the Bears, I guess I did get their final record right. Of course, I thought they'd go 5-3 in the first half, and 5-3 in the second half. Turns out they were able to beat the Cowboys and the six crummy teams they played in the first half of the season. Unfortunately, they were unable to match my projections for the second half, going 3-5 instead of 5-3. In many years 10-6 would be good enough to get you into the playoffs. This year, however, it wasn't quite good enough, at least for the Bears.
Although I got the record right, I can't say I was so close on how they got that record. The optimism about the offense was misplaced, as the offensive line, receiver, and at times Jay Cutler stank it up on the field. Brandon Marshall had a good season, but that tends to happen when you are the target of 99.9999%* of all passes thrown. As fun as it was to watch him catch the ball, it was much less fun watching Kellen Davis, Devin Hester, and the rest drop catchable balls. I suppose Alshon Jeffery could become a good number two in the next couple of years, provided he doesn't get injured.
The less said about the offensive line, the better. To be fair, they did seem to get better as the year went on, and they probably weren't as bad as Dallas, or Buffalo, or Arizona. Even the Packers had about as bad of a line as the Bears did. That doesn't change the fact that it was miserable every time one of them false started or held, killing a game changing drive.
So if the offense was as aggressively bad as usual, how did they win ten games? Why, because the questionable old defense somehow pulled out a pretty great season. Charles Tillman had a monster year, and Tim Jennings played very well. Even the safeties, ever a concern since Mike Brown suffered his last season killing injury as a Bear, weren't egregious. Many times the line was actually able to get pressure, helping create more turnovers. Those turnovers are the life blood of a Lovie Smith defense, and without them the "bend, but don't break" nature just will not work.
So where do the Bears go from here? Considering this is being posted at 8:00 AM CST the morning after the season ended, I can't quite say yet. It kind of depends on where GM Phil Emery comes down on Lovie Smith. Even if Smith is retained for one more lame duck season, or somehow is given a undeserved contract extension, the team is at a crossroads. The post Brian Urlacher era may be fast approaching, and several other defensive players will soon be too old, too slow, or too expensive to keep on the team. They clearly have work to do with the offensive line and tight ends. This could get much worse before it gets better. I'm not sure of anything other than the Bears don't win a Super Bowl with Smith as the coach.
*A bit of an exaggeration, although not by enough.
UPDATED
Turns out the Lovie Smith era is over in Chicago. Although I don't think Smith was a bad coach, his teams often failed to do the little things that championship teams tend to do. All of those stupid drive killing false starts, frustrating timeouts because Cutler didn't get the play fast enough, and questionable replay flags made being a Bears fan annoying. The fact is, you can't keep your job as a coach when you miss the playoffs two years in a row after 7-3 and 7-1 starts.
The names being thrown around at this time are all offensive coordinators. Hopefully whoever they hire will be able to do what's necessary to fix the team. Frankly, I'm surprised how quickly the Bears did this, as far too often in the past they tend to dither and dawdle when making decisions like this. I'm pretty sure the 2013 Bears will look much different than the 2012 Bears.
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