Da (Duh) Bears

OK. This isn't a sports blog - well, it's my blog, and I can make it whatever I want it to be, but still. It's not meant to be just me complaining about how all of my teams seem to fall apart year after year (if they ever even get it together in the first place). But I have to say something about Sunday's game.

The debate is raging in Chicago about whether or not the squib kick with 11 seconds left and a one point lead was a good idea, whether it cost the Bears the game, etc. There are a lot of folks saying that no, the poor defense on the next play was the culprit, or that the poor defensive playcall on the next play was the culprit, or that the Bears not being able to punch it in from the 1-yard line earlier in the quarter was the culprit. They're all wrong. Yes, those factors all played a part in the outcome, but the largest mistake of all was the squib kick. Which is, in my opinion, one of the worst ideas in the NFL (right up there with the "prevent defense," which never seems to prevent a stinkin' thing). Unless you absolutely SUCK on special teams, and I mean SUCK SUCK SUCK, in that situation you HAVE to kick the ball deep.

Here's my thinking. The Bears are a point up with 11 seconds left. Since we're under two minutes to go, the clock starts when the receiving team touches the ball. If they kick it deep - let's say, just for argument's sake, that they kick it to the goal line - then the Falcons have to cover roughly 65 yards in those 11 seconds in order to get into field goal range. By squibbing it, it was picked up at about the 35, and the Falcons only had to cover 30 yards or so in those 11 seconds to get into field goal range. When you throw in the fact that the Falcons had no time outs remaining, which one of those two scenarios do you think they were hoping for? Exactly.

And then people are saying "well, yeah, but the Bears had just given up an 85-yard return on the previous kickoff." To that I say this: that return took 12 seconds off the clock. The game would have been over, no field goal try would have happened. Unless the Bears had advance knowledge that lightning would strike twice in the same place - and Jerious Norwood is no Devin Hester, nor is Lovie Smith Nostradamus - and that this time he'd take it all the way back for a TD, then that's a moot point. Which do you think happens more often in the NFL - two kickoff returns of 80+ yards by the same team in the same game, or a 30-yard passing play along the sidelines? Again, exactly.

Clock management, people. It's not just for breakfast anymore.