Smith won't dwell on what happened in Green Bay

Bears coach Lovie Smith didn't have much good to say about Sunday's 37-3 loss at Green Bay, but he was ready to put it in the past.

"It goes without saying that we weren't ready to play the football game this past week," Smith said. "(But) you have to move on, and that's what we've done. We have a six-game season starting up right now."

Smith's players didn't feel any better about their performance after watching the film Monday morning. But they, too, were eager to look ahead.

"We saw a lot of them kicking our butts," said six-time Pro Bowl center Olin Kreutz of the film session. "We've got to get that corrected. "We're really frustrated. We didn't do much (on offense) to help our team."

For the second straight week the offense was saddled with poor field position. And for the second straight week the offense was unable to extricate itself and improve field position.

The Bears were forced to run 10 plays from inside their own 20 at Lambeau Field, and just one of them produced a first down, resulting in Brad Maynard punts from the Bears' 32-, 19- and 10-yard lines.

Offensive coordinator Ron Turner said being buried in their own end limits the Bears' playcalling but that it's the responsibility of the offense to improve its situation.

"You have certain things you want to call, and it does affect how you call it," Turner said. "But it's not a matter of where you get the ball; it's what you do with it. When we get the ball back there, we have to do something with it. We have to help our defense; we have to help change the field position.

"Even if we don't go down and score, we have to get some first downs and change the field position. We're not doing that; we're not doing our part. We have to get first downs."

The Bears' offense produced just 9 first downs all day, compared to the Packers' 24, which resulted in a Green Bay domination in time of possession (37:28 to 22:32) and total yards (427-234).

Bears quarterbacks Kyle Orton and Rex Grossman completed just 4 passes to wide receivers, and only 1 of them was for more than 9 yards.

"It's tough," said wide receiver Devin Hester, who had 1 catch for 7 yards. "What can I say? We've been embarrassed. We didn't come out and play well. We didn't do the things that needed to be done to win the game, and it showed.

"This was a big game for us. Now it's going to be tougher than what we expected, so we just have to dig down deep inside and bounce back."

That will be the Bears' theme this week as they prepare for the 2-8 St. Louis Rams and a tailor-made opportunity to get back on track.

They still maintain a share of first place in the parity-rich NFC North, which they say should be more than enough incentive to regroup.

"We know we're 5-5," Kreutz said. "We know they're 5-5. We know the Vikings (also 5-5) are right there with us.

"We know what's at stake. You have to let this one hurt for a couple days, and when Wednesday comes around we'll look at reality, and reality is we're still in first place and we've got six games left to try to get in the playoffs."

Smith said he has had worse losses as a coach and cited some examples as evidence that the Bears' playoff hopes need not end because of one horrendous outing.

"When I was in Tampa we got beat 45-0; (it was) 45-0 in the third quarter," Smith said, recalling a game during the Bucs' 1999 season.

"We lost (to the Raiders) and (five) weeks later we played in the NFC championship game. Last year the Packers were down here and we beat them 35-7. They played in the NFC championship game. These things happen."

Kreutz said it won't be a challenge to get the Bears' minds right by Sunday, putting it in basic, simple terms.

"It shouldn't be difficult," he said. "This is the NFL. You lose one week, you win one week, and the next week is the next game."

The next game can't come soon enough for a team trying to forget the last one.

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=251578">Receivers slow to catch on <span class="date"> [11/18/08]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>