Imrem: Chicago Bears decline keeping season relevant

Sunday's 49ers-Bears game wavered somewhere between terrible and awful.

The only consolation would have been to win it. The Bears declined to accept that booby prize.

"Like any close game," head coach John Fox said, "it comes down to making plays in every area of the team. We just didn't make enough."

Robbie Gould didn't make 2 field goals he should have made.

Jay Cutler didn't make 2 deep completions he should have made.

Countless defenders didn't make 2 tackles they should have made on the 49ers' last 2 touchdowns.

Too many 2s added up to 2, uh, make that to San Francisco's 26-20 overtime victory.

Well, if you're going to fall out of the playoff race, you might as well do it with a thunderous thud in an otherwise sleepy game.

The math comes out the same anyway: 1-5 record in Soldier Field, 5-7 record overall and future record of too few victories and too many losses to qualify for the postseason.

This was supposed to be the Bears' breakout game after a series of close victories and close defeats.

Instead, it turned out to be their lockout game just when so much more could have continued to at least dangle in the balance.

The Bears could have reached .500 against San Francisco in a game where they were favored for the first time this season.

Yes, the 49ers are that bad. Nobody should lose to that team except maybe the Philadelphia 76ers.

"It's the second time we had a chance to get to .500 and we blew both opportunities," Cutler said. "It's a shame because we had a good shot."

Not only that but with the Bears' schedule during the season's final five games, the possibility loomed in this town's collective mindset that they could run the table.

Instead, the tablecloth was pulled from under everyone's fantasy feast.

Or as one observer mused after a clumsy first half, "This game should be a reality check for Bears fans."

Even if the Bears somehow prevailed, it would have been like a popup falling at the feet of the shortstop, second baseman and center fielder.

It's still a basehit in the box score, a double even, but nothing to put on a Christmas card. If the Bears beat the 49ers it would have been a victory in the standings but nothing to boast about.

The Bears almost did win a game nobody deserved to win. Gould was set up for a 36-yard field goal on the final play of regulation.

Oops! Gould was wide left for the second time in the game.

"I feel terrible," he said. "The guys did a great job of getting it down the field … I just missed both of them. There's no excuse for it."

Neither did Cutler. His quarterback rating was 64.2 to the 84.9 for San Francisco's Blaine Gabbert, who's never confused for Tom Brady.

The difference was that Gabbert threw a touchdown pass and no interceptions and Cutler threw no touchdown passes and an interception that was returned for a TD.

"I haven't seen the statistics yet," Fox said when asked about Cutler. "I think all in all, like our whole football team today, we came up a little short."

That includes the Bears' defense, which failed to grab Gabbert on his game-tying 44-yard touchdown run and Torrey Smith on his game-winning 71-yard TD catch-and-run.

"That's tough for me," linebacker Willie Young said. "Just knowing that you were a shoestring away and it ended up in a touchdown."

Thud!

mimrem@dailyherald.com