Missed opportunities doom Cutler, Bears

Jay Cutler played his best game in three weeks, but it was still a long way from his Pro Bowl form of last season.

Cutler completed 18 of 23 passes, but for only 147 yards, a net of 126 after 4 sacks for minus-21 yards are factored in. He lofted a perfectly placed 24-yard TD pass to Johnny Knox.

But Cutler was intercepted twice, once in the end zone and later on a pass that was popped high into the air after Vikings linebacker E.J. Henderson smacked Earl Bennett just as the ball arrived.

In addition to the end zone pick, which Cutler said he "probably underthrew," the offense self-destructed inside the red zone after Knox returned the second-half kickoff 77 yards to the Vikings' 8-yard line. Cutler was sacked on back-to-back plays, the first when an unnamed receiver ran the wrong route, forcing the Bears to settle for a field goal.

"We missed opportunities the whole game," Cutler said. "I think we've missed opportunities this whole season."

According to offensive coordinator Ron Turner, Cutler isn't getting enough opportunities because of breakdowns in other areas of the offense.

"When you give him an opportunity, he's a (heck) of a player," Turner said. "But we have to give him a chance on each and every play, and we didn't do that."

Cutler was sacked four times, but he didn't blame an offensive line that lost starting left tackle Orlando Pace during the game and had Frank Omiyale back at left guard after Josh Beekman started the previous four games.

"Those guys are fighting," Cutler said. "They're doing the best they possibly can. We try to help them out with me getting the ball out of my hands a little quicker, so it's a give-and-take process."

The Bears converted just 2 of 8 third-down opportunities and settled for a field goal on their only red-zone chance, wasting a first-and-goal from the Minnesota 8-yard line.

"Jay did some good things today, but (we'd) like to have a couple passes back," coach Lovie Smith said. "Jay and everyone was kind of in the same boat today, not a whole lot of good I can talk about."

Cutler has been picked off a league-high 20 times against 16 TD passes and the Bears have scored just 36 points in their past three games, all of which were losses.

"It's tough," Cutler. "With as good of a football team as I think we have in here, to go out and week after week not live up to our own expectations, that's the tough part. Turnovers will kill you in this game."