Bears feeling pressure because they aren't providing it
A scowl appeared on Tommie Harris' face.
One question fired up the Bears' fiery defensive tackle.
The question: What can the Bears do to put more pressure on the quarterback?
"Pressure?" Harris said, glaring at a reporter after Tennessee's 21-14 victory in which Titans QB Kerry Collins completed 30 of 41 passes and was sacked just once. "Did it look like we didn't get pressure on the quarterback?
"Do you understand football? How long was he in the pocket? How long did he hold the ball? Yeah, he was quick throwing it the whole time. Something has to give. It has nothing to do with pressure. We're not Superman.
"If he holds the ball, if he drops back and he's patting the ball, then you talk to us about pressure. We're doing our job. All of us have to do it better."
The Bears couldn't have played the run much better. They held Tennessee to just 20 rushing yards, including minus-5 at halftime, on 29 attempts.
But the players took no solace from that. Never mind that the Titans entered Sunday's game with the third-best rushing offense in the NFL.
"Any time you lose it's frustrating," said Brian Urlacher, who was credited with 2 tackles for loss. "It doesn't matter if they ran for 250 (yards) or passed for 250. We lost the game. We stopped the run, but they had some big third downs they (converted)."
Tennessee was 7 of 17 on third downs, compared to 3 of 14 for the Bears. Collins, who had thrown 1 touchdown pass in his last five games, fired 2 Sunday. His second, a 12-yarder to ex-Bear Justin Gage, snapped a 7-7 tie early in the third quarter.
Collins threw for a season-high 289 yards and wasn't intercepted (108.7 passer rating). He completed 12 straight passes at one point. He hadn't thrown for 200 yards in a game all season.
Like Tampa Bay's Brian Griese (67 passing attempts, zero sacks) and Atlanta's Matt Ryan (30 passing attempts, zero sacks), Collins barely had a hand on him playing against the Bears' defense.
Adewale Ogunleye recorded the Bears' only sack, which came in the fourth quarter.
"It's very frustrating," said cornerback Corey Graham, who recovered an Ahmard Hall fumble at the Bears' 2-yard line on a fourth-and-goal play in the first quarter.
"We come into the game talking about how much we've got to stop the run and then those guys come out and are able to have a big game passing the ball against us.
"We're definitely down and we definitely have to figure it out. We can't keep coming out and allowing teams to just throw the ball around on us."
Coach Lovie Smith wasn't putting the blame entirely on the Bears' front four.
"You've got to be able to cover them sometimes," he said. "That'll help the pass rush. It's a combination of both.
"(The opposition) is definitely finding spots in the defense, but we have guys in position to make plays. Normally, most things come down to getting in position and making the play. We were playing the same defense at the end of the game and we were making plays and were able to get them (off the field). We have to do that a little bit earlier."
"They're just going to our weaknesses right now," Harris said. "We just have to play better as a whole team and learn how to finish. We are so good. I just feel like we got to continue to keep playing harder."