Bears' O-line's awful day leads most sacks allowed all season

Brian Robison's strip-sack was just 1 of the five times the Vikings got to Bears quarterback Jay Cutler, the most sacks the Bears have allowed in a game all season.

"At the end of the day," said right tackle Kyle Long who gave up the Robison sack, "we can't let Jay get hit."

Previously, the Bears had not allowed more than 3 sacks in a game, which they've done twice, including a week earlier against Washington.

"Our protection was a little shaky," noted Cutler. "It's not all on those guys. I've got to get rid of the ball."

Cutler could have avoided 2 of the sacks by getting the ball out sooner, but the offensive line had one of its worst days as a group. The offense has only 230 total yards until it got 63 meaningless yards on its final possession.

"They didn't do anything that we didn't expect," guard Matt Slauson said. "We just have to win our one-on-ones. They ran some twists (defensive linemen switching rush lanes). We knew they were going to run twists. They didn't (blitz) a lot, but when they did, it seemed to be effective for them. We just didn't execute well.

By not executing, it's causing us to put ourselves in bad positions physically, which is causing holding calls, and that'll kill a drive real fast."

That was never more true than on the Bears' first play from scrimmage. Matt Forte bolted through the middle and veered down the sideline for 35 yards, but rookie center Hroniss Grasu's holding call wiped it out put them in first-and-20 and three plays later the Bears punted.

A holding call on rookie running back Jeremy Langford on the final play of the third quarter wiped out Cutler's 23-yard pass to Eddie Royal. One play earlier, Slauson's false start set the Bears back five yards.

The Bears were penalized six times for 39 yards, which isn't awful, but the infractions took away an additional 58 yards of offense.

Out of the picture:

Eliminated from the playoff discussions and on a three-game losing streak, coach John Fox and his staff can start looking toward next season, but they won't abandon this season, even though they're facing some hard truths.

"We're going to be marching forward, and we will find guys that will be part of our core," Fox said. "We have officially been eliminated from the playoffs. That's not something we have to talk about anymore. We are going to have a losing season. We have a chance to win two games or not win two games."

Thug life:

The defense got off to a bad start when it allowed the Vikings to go 93 yards on 13 plays with its first possession, so linebacker Pernell McPhee said he might have to take the situation into his own hands.

"It's crazy man, but it's football," McPhee said. "I got my boys' backs no matter what. If I have to be the only thug out there, I will be. We just had a lot of miscommunications and a lot of missed tackles. We just have to fix that in practice, that's it."

Something special:

Special teams had a much better day than either the offense or defense.

Robbie Gould drilled a 51-yard field goal after missing his previous 3 attempts and 6 of his last 15. Gould also helped orchestrate a successful onside kick that was recovered by Sherrick McManis to open the second half.

"It was well-executed," coach John Fox said of the onside kick. "Robbie's 51-yarder was a plus. There were bright spots, but not enough of them."

Sitting it out:

Linebacker Christian Jones, who started 12 of the first 13 games this season, was a healthy scratch vs. the Vikings and was replaced by undrafted rookie John Timu, who was promoted last week from the practice squad.

According to press box statistics, Timu had a game-high 9 tackles, including 8 solos.

"It's all about everything I've done to get to this point," Timu said. "All of the hard work day in and day out up to this point gave me my opportunities (Sunday). You just have to make the most of it. We didn't get the win, and tomorrow is another opportunity for me to get better."

The Bears' other inactives were cornerbacks Bryce Callahan and Jacoby Glenn, running back Antone Smith, offensive linemen Nick Becton and Tayo Fabuluje and wide receivers Cam Meredith.