"tired of excuses"

January 16, 2006

BY RICK TELANDER SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST

No excuses. We're kind of tired of them. Know what I'm saying? Weren't these Bears hungry and rested and healthy and ready?

Didn't they tank the season-ending game in Minnesota, playing guys you've never heard of, just so the starters could be as groomed and ferocious as pitbulls for their first playoff game in four years?

Didn't coach Lovie Smith say his guys had just had their best Friday practice ever?

Weren't the Bears cocked and loaded like a safari rifle aimed straight at Carolina?

We've heard enough excuses here in Chicago.

To his credit, Smith didn't offer any after the visiting Panthers whipped his club 29-21.

"Not a lot of excuses we can give you,'' he said.

Agreed.

I don't want to say they had been forewarned, but if the Bears hadn't noticed that feisty little Carolina wide receiver Steve Smith had torched them for 14 catches and 169 yards in their last meeting, Nov. 20, then they are too stupid to be invited to postseason contests.

Smith caught a 58-yard touchdown pass on just the second play of the game, leaving confused and tangle-footed cornerback Peanut Tillman lying on the turf, with sliding safety Mike Brown following in his wake.

The Bears must own TVs.

Didn't they see Smith against the Giants last week, while they were theoretically getting healthier and healthier and readier and readier?

He caught 10 passes for 84 yards in that game, rushed once for 12 yards and scored the only two touchdowns in the Panthers' 23-0 rout.

Against the Bears, he had an astounding 12 catches for 218 yards, two touchdowns and three rushes for 26 yards.

Slide rule, please.

That's 22 catches for 302 yards, four rushes for 38 yards and four total touchdowns -- in two playoff games.

Earth to Bears. Come in.

Earth to Bears.

Burnt to a crisp

Tillman apparently believed Smith had to tell him when he was going deep or say, "Mother, may I?''

It can't be fun being a cornerback and playing against a human blur like Smith, but can there be any excuse for getting outwrestled for a deep jump ball that the 6-1 Tillman had but the 5-9 Smith ended up with because, as Smith put it, "I wanted it more''?

And pity poor sub Chris Thompson, who came in for one play in the third quarter and was turned into mush by Smith on a 39-yard touchdown reception.

"I knew he was going to go deep,'' said the third-string cornerback, who didn't look like he knew. "But [safety] Chris Harris had cramped up. The coaches put Nate Vasher in the middle, and I came in at corner. It was a designed play. Once they saw I was in there, they were going there.''

Instant score from quarterback Jake Delhomme to Smith, making one wonder what Smith or whomever was in charge of the Bears' defense was thinking by putting a human ice cube such as Thompson on the red-hot Smith, one-on-one.

"Yeah, I was surprised,'' said Thompson of his sudden call to arms. "I was sitting on the bench.''

Ah, we could pick the nits off this one for a long time.

Quarterback Rex Grossman, for all his injuries, film study, rehabbing and dreaming, may be just what he has proved to be -- a long shot of a hope.

His 54.1 passer rating, after just 17 completions in 41 attempts for 192 yards with one touchdown and one interception, might be all we can expect.

But then, he was starting only his eighth game of his rocky career, making him the game equivalent of a mid-season rookie.

Downed after down time

And Lovie thought not playing Grossman against the Vikings was a good idea. Three weeks of rest for a guy who does nothing but rest.

All you people who thought being "healthy and rested'' was something akin to transcendence might want to ask how the road-weary Panthers keep kicking foes' butts.

Check this out -- if Grossman had gotten hurt in that Vikings game, it wouldn't have been a tragedy. It simply would have shown that he is not physically suited to playing in the NFL.

And the rested and mighty Bears defense? It gave up 434 yards to the Panthers, allowed 123 yards rushing and, of course, allowed Smith to go insane.

There were some weak Bears excuses about wide receiver Bernard Berrian getting injured, as if Berrian is the new Jerry Rice.

But what about the Panthers' leading rusher, DeShaun Foster, going out with an ankle injury?

No, the Bears didn't deserve to win. Aren't good enough to win.

And who knows if they'll even be as good next year.

"Empty, man,'' said a stunned tight end Desmond Clark when I asked him how he felt. "I don't know what the next step is. I really believed we were going to go deep. I didn't plan anything the next couple weeks. It's just ... empty.''

And the mind spins back to an empty era, to the Dave Wannstedt years.

Can it be the much-ridiculed Wannie is the only Bears coach to win a playoff game in the last 15 years?

It can.

Excuse that.

 

that's classic

 

"Three weeks of rest for a guy who does nothing but rest."

Another.

 

This was my favorite.

 

OUCH!