Bears' offense drops the ball

SAN DIEGO -- Based on the Bears' performance against the Chargers, they have a defense that could carry them back to the Super Bowl and an offense that could prevent them from even making the playoffs.

For 44 minutes, the Bears' defense made a field goal hold up -- a kick set up with an interception -- while it kept the NFL's highest-scoring offense off the board. It held LaDainian Tomlinson, the NFL's rushing champion and MVP, to 25 yards on 17 carries, a 1.5-yard average.

Last season the Chargers were the NFL's stingiest team when it came to turnovers, giving the ball away just 15 times.

But free safety Mike Brown picked off Rivers and returned it 27 yards to the Chargers' 36, setting up the game's first score: Robbie Gould's 27-yard field goal on the third play of the second quarter.

But the Bears' offense not only was limited to 202 total yards, it was responsible for 3 of the 4 turnovers that doomed the defending NFC champions to a season-opening 14-3 loss.

"Our defense played well enough to win today," offensive coordinator Ron Turner said, "but we didn't offensively."

It wasn't just the turnovers that accounted for the offense's miserable outing, according to Turner, it was an inability to capitalize when it had opportunities to pad the early lead or to get back in the game after it fell behind.

The defense couldn't have done much more than it did Sunday on a typically warm and sunny San Diego afternoon, especially in a first half in which the Chargers managed just 90 total yards.

On their second possession, the Chargers were positioned for a 33-yard field-goal attempt. But Alex Brown got penetration from the left side, reached up with his right hand and slapped down Nate Kaeding's kick.

Midway through the third quarter, the Chargers were at the Bears' 1-yard line with 3 plays to score, but defensive tackle Tommie Harris knifed through to disrupt the snap, which was fumbled by Philip Rivers and recovered by Mike Brown. Harris either jumped the snap count early, as the Chargers argued, or he's the quickest 295-pound human on the planet.

Brown later suffered what appeared to be a serious knee injury midway through the fourth quarter, which the Bears called a "sprain." But it could be much worse.

After Brown's interception, the Bears' offense received excellent field position the remainder of the first half, courtesy of the defense, but failed to take advantage.

The offense started consecutive second-quarter possessions at their 43-, 21-, 45-, and 40-yard lines.

The first drive ended with a sack, when safety Eric Weddle was unblocked. The third ended when Marlon McCree picked off a Grossman pass intended for Bernard Berrian at the goal line. And the fourth was undermined when Grossman fumbled when he was sacked.

Although running back Adrian Peterson recovered for the Bears, it resulted in a 14-yard loss.

"Let's give (the Chargers) some credit," Turner said. "They're a great football team, a very good defensive team (No. 7 in points allowed last year), and to beat a team like that, you can't turn the ball over. You have to take advantage of opportunities when you have them, and you have to execute better. We didn't do any of it."

The interception was the result of a miscommunication, according to Turner, who took the blame.

"It was a play we put in this week, and we probably hadn't practiced it enough," Turner said. "I shouldn't have called it at that time. It was a miscommunication. Bernard was going behind the safety, and Rex thought he was crossing the safety's face and coming underneath."

The Bears still clung to the 3-0 lead late in the third quarter when Mike Scifres' short punt bounced sideways and hit an unsuspecting Brandon McGowan, who was blocking for an expected Devin Hester return.

"That was a big play at the time," Bears coach Lovie Smith said. "There were a lot of things we did wrong, but you have to go back to the turnovers."

That one set up a 17-yard touchdown pass to tight end Antonio Gates from Tomlinson, who, even though he was stonewalled as a runner, still provided the winning points with his seventh career TD pass on just 11 attempts, including 8 completions.

The Bears moved the ball to the Chargers' 44 on the ensuing possession, but Peterson lost a fumble, and the Chargers turned that into a 14-3 lead on Tomlinson's 7-yard touchdown run.

With a chance to get back in the game, at the Chargers' 36 with second-and-2, Cedric Benson (42 yards on 19 carries, 2.2-yard average, 1 lost fumble) was held to no gain, Peterson got 1 yard and then, on fourth-and-1, Benson was stopped for no gain.

"They kicked our (butt)," center Olin Kreutz said of that sequence. "They stopped us. That's unacceptable."

Although Peterson rushed for 38 yards on 7 carries (5.4-yard average), the only consistent offensive weapon for the Bears was Berrian, who caught 5 passes for 83 yards.

Grossman completed 12 of 23 passes for 145 yards and was sacked three times for minus-23. He finished with a passer rating of 53.7.

"We came out and shot ourselves in the foot," he said. "We never got a rhythm going. They played well, but it just wasn't our day. Well learn from it and get better and hopefully we'll see them down the road."

Not if the offense plays the way it did Sunday.