The Chicago Bears (7-9) got their second straight win, beating the Detroit Lions (2-14) on the road, and have finally been looking like a decent football team.  Too bad it came at the end of the season though, as the Bears were a terrible football team from week 6-16.  Jay Cutler was a big disappointment this season, but he had a great game against the Lions.  He went 22/36 for 276 yards and 4 touchdowns.  Cutler found a late season surprise in Devin Aromashodu, who caught 2 of Cutler’s touchdown passes and is one of the few things the Bears can be excited about heading into the 2010 season. Cutler also hit TE Greg Olsen for some big plays, with Olsen finishing with 5 catches for 94 yards and a touchdown.  Cutler got a lot of help from his running game too (very rare this season), with Matt Forte going for 101 yards on 16 carries and Kahlil Bell adding 44 yards on 11 carries.  This game was nothing to get excited about though, as the Lions were one of the laughing stocks of the NFL this year.

The Bears defense didn’t do a great job, considering they were playing a depleted Lions’ offense.  With Mathew Stafford out, Daunte Culpepper was under center for the Lions and he was pretty effective against the Bears’ defense.  He had 2 touchdowns, 1 interception, and 262 yards on 23/34 attempts.  The Bears also gave up 100 rushing yards on 25 carries, so it was not a strong effort by the Bears’ D.  It was nice to see the Bears wake up a little towards the end of season, scoring more points in their final two games then all of their other games (besides their first matchup against the Lions were they scored 40).  Still, this was a very disappointing season for the Bears and there will likely be a lot of changes in the offseason.

The Bears blew a 16-0 halftime lead forcing them to win this game in O.T.  Jay Cutler finally looked last night like the QB the Bears expected him to be.  He completed 20 of 35 passes for 273 yards with 4 TD passes and 1 INT.  He also carried the ball 3 times for 10 yards (3.3 ypc).  Matt Forte was busy carrying the ball 21 times for 74 yards (3.5 ypc) but he didn’t play well.  Khalil Bell pitched in with 21 yards rushing on 4 carries (5.3 ypc) last night.  WR Devin Aromashodu led the way in the passing game for the Bears last night with 7 grabs for 150 yards (21.4 avg) including the game-winning TD reception in O.T.  Greg Olsen (3 rec, 47 yards), Desmond Clark (5 rec, 39 yards) and Earl Bennett (3 rec, 35 yards) each caught 1 TD apiece last night for the Bears.  The Bears finished up with 363 total yards in this game on offense (105 rushing, 258 passing).

The defense didn’t play well last night but they made their share of big plays which helped the Bears win the game.  Linebacker Hunter Hillenmeyer was all over the place last night with 15 tackles and 1 pass defensed.  DT Tommie Harris (3 tackles, 2 tackles for a loss, 1 pass defensed and 1 fumble recovery) and LB Nick Roach (5 tackles, 1 fumble recovery) both made big impacts in this game for the Bears.  The Vikings finished up with 423 total yards (123 rushing, 300 passing) in this game.  The Bears are now 6-9 on the year.

Just when I thought the Chicago Bears’ (5-9) passing game couldn’t look any worse, they failed to put up 100 passing yards and threw four interception in their loss to the Baltimore Ravens (8-6) Sunday.  Jay Cutler managed only 98 yards on 10/27 passes, throwing 3 interceptions and 0 touchdowns.  The Bears running game did their best to make up for no passing game, gaining 122 yards as a team.  Matt Forte had 69 yards on 20 carries and lost a fumble, while Kahlil Bell ran much better for 30 yards on 6 carries.  Rashied Davis also lost a fumble, giving the Bears offense a total of 6 turnovers.

The Bears defense were obviously given no help from their offense, but they were pretty bad themselves.  They let Ravens’ quarterback Joe Flacco pick apart their secondary, going 21/29 for 234 yards and 4 touchdowns.  They also let Ravens’ running back Ray Rice break tackles all day, finishing with 87 yards on just 16 carries (5.4 avg).  The Bears took a big step back after playing the Packers tough last game.  It will be interesting to see what the Bears’ plans are for their future, especially their coaching.

The Chicago Bears (5-8) looked like they might be on their way to a blowout loss against the Green Bay Packers (9-4) on Sunday.  Down 13-0 early in the second quarter, the Bears settled in and fought their way back to take a 14-13 lead in the third quarter.  The Bears could not hold them though, and with this loss they were officially eliminated from the playoffs.  They did a very good job keeping Packers’ quarterback Aaron Rodgers in check, but they couldn’t contain their running back Ryan Grant.  Grant rushed for 137 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries, including a 67-yard touchdown run to open the scoring up in the first quarter.  They kept Rodgers out of the endzone and forced two fumbles against him, while allowing only 180 passing yards on 16/24 attempts.

The Bears offense looked out of sync once again and they had 13 penalties for 109 yards.  They also turned the ball over twice, with two Jay Cutler interceptions giving the Bears quarterback a league leading 22 interceptions on the year.  Cutler did throw two touchdown passes and finished with 209 yards on 23/36 attempts.  The interceptions have killed the Bears all season and this game was no different.  The Bears also did not get enough from running back from Matt Forte, which has been the story of his season.  He finished with 51 yards on 12 carries, which is right around his average of about 53 rushing yards per game.  The Bears played their rivals tough, but the lack of execution on offense hurt them like it has been all season.

Although the Chicago Bears (5-7) did get the win over the St. Louis Rams (1-11) on Sunday, it was not a very impressive win.  It was a close game throughout and Bears’ quarterback Jay Cutler looked timid and did not do very much.  He passed for only 143 yards on 8/17 passes, but he did have a touchdown and zero interceptions.  Cutler has been throwing interceptions like it is his job, so it was nice to see him only complete passes to Bears’ players.  The Rams are a terrible team though, so it is not a good sign when your franchise quarterback puts up such unimpressive numbers and was afraid to throw it down the field.  Matt Forte had a solid game, rushing for 91 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries.  Those are decent numbers, but the Bears would have probably liked to see better against such a weak opponent.

The Bears defense did there job and kept the Rams out of the endzone.  They only gave up 233 total yards, but they did give up 112 yards to Rams’ running back Steven Jackson.  Jackson is the only offense the Rams really have though, and he is a talented running back, so the Bears did an okay job not letting him have a huge day.  The Rams’ quarterback Kyle Boler is not a good quarterback and ti showed, so the Bears defense did not have much of a challenge in this one.  The Bears did win, which is all that matters, but I would still have liked to see them play better against such a low-quality opponent.