A season of inconsistency

The Chicago Bears 2010-11 season was a mirage. The 11-5 record, NFC North title and birth in the NFC Championship game were all part of a fluke season. The Bears’ season is mercifully over, but all of their problems both on and off the field still remain.

Each week no one knew which Bears team would show up. The fact is that even with the 14th easiest schedule in the NFL, the Bears coasted through the 2010-11 campaign.

On the field, lady luck shined on the Bears all season until they fell 21-14 to the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship game.

The Bears’ good fortune started in week one, when a Calvin Johnson touchdown catch was overturned after a review. Johnson got both feet down and secured the ball, but did not maintain possession when he got up from the field. Although the NFL’s rules dictated that it was not a completed pass, anyone who watched the game knew that the Bears’ 19-14 victory over the Detroit Lions was complete luck.

After beating the underachieving Dallas Cowboys and edging Green Bay 20-17 in a hard-fought Monday night game, the Bears laid their first egg of the season on Sunday night in primetime. In one of the ugliest games in NFL history, the Bears were outplayed and outcoached in their 17-3 loss to the New York Giants. The Bears allowed a team-record nine sacks in the first half.

After a win over lowly Carolina, the Bears had back-to-back ugly home losses to the Seattle Seahawks and the Washington Redskins.

But the Bears played their best football the next four weeks, which culminated with a big 26-21 win over the Philadelphia Eagles, giving the Bears their fourth consecutive win.

Sitting at 8-3, the Bears went into Detroit and fought their way to an ugly win. But the New England Patriots came to town in in week 14 and the Bears failed to show up. The Patriots annihilated the Bears 36-7, showing that the Bears are pretenders, not contenders like New England.

After the thrashing, the Bears beat third string quarterback Joe Webb and the Minnesota Vikings.

After beating Minnesota, the Bears had the New York Jets coming to Soldier Field. In what was anticipated as a defensive battle, the Bears won a shootout 38-34.

The Packers were the last team on the regular season schedule and the Bears’ offense was anemic, falling 10-3 and allowing the Packers to reach the playoffs.

The Bears’ 11-5 record earned them a first-round bye in the playoffs. They walloped the Seattle Seahawks in the Divisional Round before falling to Green Bay in the NFC Championship Game.

The season can only be summarized in one word: inconsistent.

Off the field, the problems begin with Jerry Angelo, the general manager of the
Bears. Angelo has consistently shown that he struggles to find talented free agents. This past year, Angelo had the task of finding a suitable backup quarterback for Jay Cutler. Instead of finding a backup who is capable of playing quarterback in the NFL, Angelo decided to go the cheap way out and sign 11-year veteran Todd Collins.

The signing, which cost Angelo $2 million, came back to haunt the Bears in their most important game since the 2007 Super Bowl. Collins, who played horribly against the Carolina Panthers earlier in the season, had to come in the NFC Championship Game after Cutler got injured. He did not complete a pass and wasted two offensive series, one of which started at midfield.

Right below Angelo is head coach Lovie Smith, who came into the season on the “hot-seat.” Smith, who failed to reach the playoffs in each of the last three seasons, has recently received praise for getting the Bears deep into the playoffs.

This is the same coaching staff that put Collins on the depth chart as the number two quarterback over Caleb Hanie. That is the same Collins that threw for 36 yards and four picks against the NFL’s worst team.

On a third-and-three, down a touchdown late in the fourth quarter of the NFC Championship Game, this staff called a sweep to wide receiver Earl Bennett, which netted a one yard loss. After the debacle, the Bears failed to convert their fourth down attempt, ending their season.

This team needs a change, plain and simple. Over the last seven years, Smith has shown that he does not know how to handle critical game situations. His stoic expression on the sideline and his emotionless answers in press conferences are not making the Bears any better.

Even though the Bears did win the NFC North for the first time since 2006, Smith and his coaching staff have repeatedly shown that the Bears are still years away from being a legitimate Super Bowl contender.