Receivers fall short in Bears loss

NEW ORLEANS — Among other things, Bears wide receivers weren’t so hot at hot reads in Sunday’s 30-13 beating at the hands of the blitzing New Orleans Saints in the Superdome.

The Saints and defensive coordinator Gregg Williams figured to bring every blitz known to man in their quasi-46 defensive scheme, and it was up to Bears wide receivers to know when and where to shorten their routes for quarterback Jay Cutler.

The 6 sacks taken, a critical lost fumble on a sack, and only 8 passes completed to the five wide receivers active for the game testify to the fact that some pre-snap reads were missed by either receivers or Cutler.

“Really, we’ve just got to get better when those situations come up,” said wide receiver Devin Hester. “We’ve got to adust to it. It’s something we didn’t do today.”

Hester included himself in the problem. He failed to make a catch until 12 minutes remained in the fourth quarter, and he made no more receptions after that 17-yarder.

Cutler targeted Hester nine times.

“They did some of the stuff that we thought they were going to do,” said Cutler, who completed 19 of 49 passes for 244 yards. “Obviously there’s looks (from the defense) throughout the game that you’re going to have to adjust to.”

It didn’t help when wide receiver Earl Bennett suffered a first-half chest injury on a 9-yard catch over the middle.

Bennett is Cutler’s go-to guy in many blitz situations, and he didn’t return to the game.

Playing without starting wide receiver Roy Williams because of a calf injury only made the problem worse.

“It’s tough when we lose some of our key players,” Hester said. “At the receiver spot, we normally have a nice rotation going.

“Other than that, we’re hoping the guys get back and the injuries the guys got weren’t too serious and they come back ready for next week.”

Rookie Dane Sanzenbacher had to step in for Bennett in many situations.

Although he produced his first career touchdown on an 8-yard pass to start the scoring, Sanzenbacher had a drop and caught just 3 passes for 33 yards when he was targeted seven times.

Still, that put him near the top of his receiver class on this day.

“You’re expected to pick up right where the guy in front of you left off,” Sanzenbacher said. “That’s your job, that’s what you get paid for.

“They don’t expect you to miss a beat.”

Realizing the Bears situation at receiver, New Orleans only made it tougher by going with more complicated schemes or by blanketing the hot receivers.

“I think you have to give them a ton of credit for how well they were able to move around and change things up and make it hard on us,” Sanzenbacher said.