Failures to capitalize haunting

Regrets?

The Bears' offense had a few Sunday, not too few to mention.

After a 21-16 loss to the Giants, a defeat that makes a return trip to the playoffs unlikely, the Bears' offense was ruing its inability to put away New York Giants when it had the chance.

"There were opportunities to make plays that we just didn't make," said Bears quarterback Rex Grossman. "For whatever reason we just didn't make them in the second half especially.

Despite great field position throughout the second half -- six of the Bears' seven second-half drives started at their own 40-yard line or better, including one that began at the New York 24-yard line after a fumble recovery by Adewale Ogunleye -- the Bears managed just 3 points, 4 first downs and 98 total yards.

Four of those possessions ended in three-and-out punts. On two others the Bears lost yardage.

"It's frustrating and we'll think about this one for a long time," Grossman said.

But this loss can't be pinned on Grossman.

He completed 25 of 46 passes for 296 yards without an interception or fumble despite being sacked six times.

He and the offense looked particularly sharp early in the no-huddle offense, which the Bears used to dissect the Giants defense on its opening drive.

Grossman went 5-for-5 for 65 yards on that opening march, which he successfully capped with a 1-yard touchdown pass to Desmond Clark for a 7-0 lead.

The Bears used the no-huddle offense twice more in the second quarter on a pair of drives that ended in Robbie Gould field goals, but they abandoned the strategy until the fourth quarter after they had fallen behind.

"Our plan going in was that we were going to jump in and out of it," said Bears offensive coordinator Ron Turner. "We were going to start out in it the first series and see how it went.

"We weren't going to do it the entire game. We tried to mix it up a little bit. That's what our plan was."

There were also dropped passes by Devin Hester and Bernard Berrian that could have changed the face of the game, but perhaps the biggest Bears mistake was a mental one.

After Adrian Peterson ran 4 yards to the New York 7-yard line early in the third quarter, left guard Terrence Metcalf was flagged for kneeing a player on the ground.

Instead of bringing up third-and-4 at the 7, Metcalf's 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty forced the Bears to settle for Gould's third field goal of the day and a 16-7 lead.

"A couple of times we got down in the red zone and couldn't come away with 7 points; that kind of hurt us," Clark said. "If we're able to punch one or two of those in, it's a different ballgame."