advertisement

Bears have tougher time with conditions

Try as they might, the Chicago Park District employees working at Soldier Field Sunday had a difficult time keeping up with a winter storm that combined constant snow, face-numbing wind and temperatures in the teens that produced below-zero wind chills.

Before the game a tractor equipped with a brush cleared the hash marks and the yard lines, which were repainted red. But they were barely visible by the opening kickoff and throughout the game, even though the yard lines were shoveled off constantly.

With the snow blowing in several directions, including straight up at some points because of the strong winds, conditions were difficult.

But the Bears said they weren't that bad and had nothing to do with their poor performance in a 36-7 loss to the New England Patriots.

Asked if the weather was a factor at all, Brian Urlacher said, “No. Not for them.”

Good point.

The Patriots did not turn the ball over despite throwing 40 passes and running a total of 78 plays. The Bears had 42 plays but fumbled four times, lost two of them and were intercepted twice while throwing only 26 passes.

“There were some gusts from time to time, but other than that it wasn't that bad,” said Bears quarterback Jay Cutler, who posted a season-low passer rating of 32.9. “We could have been playing anywhere; it didn't matter what the field was.”

Earlier in the week Cutler criticized the playing surface at Soldier Field as the “worst in the league,” but he didn't use that as an excuse either.

“It didn't matter what kind of grass we had down there,” Cutler said. “With as much snowfall as we had, it was going to be tough.”

Defensive end Julius Peppers, who was born and raised in North Carolina, played college football at North Carolina and then eight years with the Carolina Panthers before signing with the Bears, had never played in such conditions.

“I don't think a lot of people in this locker room have,” Peppers said. “But I didn't really think it was too bad. It was cold, but it wasn't unbearable.”

D.J. Moore, from Spartanburg, S.C., followed Cutler, Chris Williams and Earl Bennett at Vanderbilt, so Sunday's conditions were new to him, too.

“On the field, you're just out there playing,” he said. “It's not bad, but on the sidelines you're freezing.”