Offensive line providing little protection
Jay Cutler dropped back to pass 21 times in the first half Saturday night.
On five occasions, Oakland's defensive line made him taste the Soldier Field grass in the Bears' 32-17 exhibition loss.
This wasn't the work of a potentially vengeful defensive coordinator trying corner blitzes and tricking things up.
This wasn't Cutler holding the ball for an extra second to allow a Mike Martz fly pattern to take flight.
This was the Bears starting offensive line getting whipped at the basics.
"Of course, we have to play a lot better," Bears coach Lovie Smith said. "The protection, the amount of sacks - of course we can't allow that to happen."
Yet it happened from the start.
On the Bears' second play from scrimmage, 300-pound veteran defensive tackle Tommy Kelly engaged new right guard Lance Louis and tossed him aside to earn a 9-yard sack.
"I can't speak on anybody else," Louis said. "But I think I could have did a number of things better protection-wise and run block-wise."
He could have spoken for left tackle Chris Williams, too.
On the game's next snap, defensive end Kamerion Wimbley blazed past Williams' outside shoulder for an 11-yard smashing of Cutler.
That bit of back-to-back slacking inspired the first spate of boos this season, but the 52,258 fans that showed up weren't done seeing Cutler and Wimbley meet in the backfield.
Wimbley, who posted 61/2 sacks in 15 starts for the Cleveland Browns last year, sacked Cutler three more times in the second quarter.
On the first one, Wimbley took advantage of an obvious passing down (third-and-8) to sprint past Williams' outside shoulder again for an 8-yard sack.
"Not good enough," Smith said of Williams. "Simple as that. Any time you give up a couple of sacks as an offensive lineman, that's not good. Chris is a better player than that - that's too much pressure."
On Wimbley's second sack of the quarter, with the Bears trying to launch a late drive from their own 24 with 1:00 to go, he stunted inside and joined teammates Trevor Scott and Desmond Bryant at the quarterback before Cutler had a chance to throw.
On the third one, Wimbrey chased down Cutler for a 2-yard sack on the final play of the first half.
Even on some of the Bears' more successful plays, Cutler (7 of 15, 99 yards) had to pick himself up off the ground.
On Cutler's 22-yard touchdown pass to Johnny Knox late in the first half, he had to step up and roll to his left as Wimbley whipped Williams outside and collapsed the pocket.
Cutler released his throw a split-second before defensive tackle Chris Cooper knocked him to the turf.
Don't look for changes before next Saturday's home exhibition with Arizona.
"Chris Williams is our left tackle," Smith said.